• TV
  • MOVIES
  • MUSIC
  • SHOWBIZ
  • SOAPS
  • GAMING
  • TECH
  • FORUMS
  • Follow
    • Follow
    • facebook
    • twitter
    • google+
    • instagram
    • youtube
Hearst Corporation
  • TV
  • MOVIES
  • MUSIC
  • SHOWBIZ
  • SOAPS
  • GAMING
  • TECH
  • FORUMS
Forums
  • Register
  • Login
  • Forums
  • Entertainment
  • Sport
The Pro Cycling Thread
<<
<
20 of 169
>>
>
swingaleg
03-07-2012
Stage 4 - Abbeville to Rouen

207 Kilometres, pretty flat with four category 4 climbs which shouldn't cause too much trouble

The route runs along the coast for about half it's distance........strong winds off the sea look to pose most danger to the yellow jersey contenders, but the likelihood is that the peloton will chase down any breaks and we'll have a bunch sprint finish

Another one for Cav ?

I'm guessing that Sky are not going to deploy their troops to chase down breaks so Cav's chances would appear to depend on other teams taking it up. Could be a lot of bluffing with the other teams looking at Sky and saying 'you've got the fastest sprinter, you chase 'em down'..........arguments in the peloton could leave the way open for a break to succeed ?

Just looking ahead to the next few days the sprinters keep centre stage on Thursday and Friday then the battle for the yellow jersey gets under way on Saturday with the first category 1 climb, seven categorised climbs on Sunday then a time trial on Monday

After that it's a rest day on Tuesday.........then into the Alps on Wednesday and the first of the massive 'hors category' climbs
borodave
03-07-2012
I swear, If I hear Phil + Paul talk one more time about a 'nervous peloton' I am going to scream.
swingaleg
03-07-2012
Originally Posted by borodave:
“I swear, If I hear Phil + Paul talk one more time about a 'nervous peloton' I am going to scream.”

there's a bit of discussion going on in the Broadcasting section of DS as to the relative merits of the ITV and Eurosport commentary teams..............

I think it's safe to say that P&P are not coming out too well.........
Jules 1
03-07-2012
Originally Posted by swingaleg:
“I didn't know how much he'd lost !

I agree that a minute is neither here nor there at this point”

I was originally thinking that it is not good for a contender to lose time on such an "easy" stage, but the tacticial reason mentioned above makes more sense.

A good win for Sagan today, but as it was a Medium Mountain stage "only" 30pts for he win, compared to 45pts on flat stages.

3 flat stages for Cav to try to cut the deficit on Sagan, if he wants to keeps the green for another year, his inter sprints suggests he hasn't given in yet.
Sherlock_Holmes
04-07-2012
Originally Posted by Jules 1:
“3 flat stages for Cav to try to cut the deficit on Sagan, if he wants to keeps the green for another year, his inter sprints suggests he hasn't given in yet.”

Donīt think that he will go to Paris this year (London Calling) and Sagan will probably ride out this tour (also good in the mountains, for a sprinter at least, so he will not come in out of time in any of the stages).
swingaleg
04-07-2012
Eurosport coverage has been underway for 10 minutes........we join the race with around 140K to go and a 3 man breakaway about 7 minutes up the road

Morkov has missed out - first day he hasn't got in the break

David Moncoutie from Cofidis is in the break...........he was already 10 minutes down on the race leader at the start of today

Harmon surmises that the Cofidis team must have had a bollocking as they are the only French team that hasn't had someone in a break............
grassmarket
04-07-2012
Originally Posted by swingaleg:
“
Morkov has missed out - first day he hasn't got in the break
”

I think he's got an invincible lead for a few days, doesn' he?
afx237vi
04-07-2012
Originally Posted by grassmarket:
“I think he's got an invincible lead for a few days, doesn' he?”

Yeah, until Saturday at least.
swingaleg
04-07-2012
Yes, there's no big points in the Mountains jersey till Saturday...........whoever wins that first category 1 climb will jump over everyone straight into the lead

I think there's 25 points to the winner on the Cat 1 and Morkov has only accumulated 9 points in total on all the little bumps they've gone over so far !
TheFridge
04-07-2012
Sagan was nowhere near Cav then regardless of what the commentators say.
swingaleg
04-07-2012
Intermediate sprint............3 breakaway riders have gone through, now the peloton and the green jersey contenders go for the minor poins

Cav gets it ....in 4th place......Sagan in 7th ...

We've now got 69K to go and the breakaway has 6 minutes

Doesn't look as though the feared cross winds have materialised on the coast road so it looks a straightforward run in for a bunch sprint as long as there's teams willing to pull the breakaway back and they don't all try and bluff each other
afx237vi
04-07-2012
Originally Posted by swingaleg:
“Yes, there's no big points in the Mountains jersey till Saturday...........whoever wins that first category 1 climb will jump over everyone straight into the lead

I think there's 25 points to the winner on the Cat 1 and Morkov has only accumulated 9 points in total on all the little bumps they've gone over so far !”

10 for a Cat 1, 25 for a HC this year. So if he picks up another point on Friday or on the 4th cat on Saturday, he has a chance of keeping it.

Either way, he's going to lose it by Sunday because there are 33 pts available on stage 8 alone.
TheFridge
04-07-2012
What ever happened to Hushovd (sp?) Cavs rival for green the last few years ..... injured i presume ?
afx237vi
04-07-2012
Originally Posted by TheFridge:
“What ever happened to Hushovd (sp?) Cavs rival for green the last few years ..... injured i presume ?”

Been injured / ill for most of the Spring, so decided to skip the Tour and recover in time for the Olympics.
swingaleg
04-07-2012
Originally Posted by TheFridge:
“What ever happened to Hushovd (sp?) Cavs rival for green the last few years ..... injured i presume ?”

I've checked out the news on him..........he pulled out after 5 days in the Tour of Italy feeling ill and was found to have a virus infection

Wasn't fit enough to take on the Tour but is intending to ride the shorter Tour of Poland which starts next week

Re - this Tour of Poland........they're struggling to find a place for it in the calender. For years it clashed with the Tour of Spain, now it clashes with the Tour de France !
TheFridge
04-07-2012
Thanks for that.
TheFridge
04-07-2012
Jeez.
mounty
04-07-2012
ouch Cav took a real pounding. Hope he's ok
TheFridge
04-07-2012
Cant help but think he only won that because Cavendish crashed.
afx237vi
04-07-2012
Originally Posted by TheFridge:
“Cant help but think he only won that because Cavendish crashed.”

Part of sprinting is being in the right position at the business end of the stage. No lead-out train... it's shoulder to shoulder.
mounty
04-07-2012
aye and Cav looks really pissed off too!
Denley
04-07-2012
Cav not having the lead out does make these sprints more wide open. Hope the anger from today fires him to the win tomorrow. and on Friday too.

Greipel didn't get lucky today, his team did the business for him.
grassmarket
04-07-2012
It does tend to confirm that Sagan is not a 100% sprinter, though. He didn't get a sniff against the real speed guys.
Denley
04-07-2012
On the flat he's beatable but he's a damn good all rounder. What's his climbing like?
borodave
04-07-2012
In terms of proper mountains? Not good at all.
<<
<
20 of 169
>>
>
VIEW DESKTOP SITE TOP

JOIN US HERE

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Hearst Corporation

Hearst Corporation

DIGITAL SPY, PART OF THE HEARST UK ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK

© 2015 Hearst Magazines UK is the trading name of the National Magazine Company Ltd, 72 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 9EP. Registered in England 112955. All rights reserved.

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Complaints
  • Site Map