July 10, Stage 7: Tournus - Station des Rousses

ednwireland

Let the games begin

Sawtooth to the station

This will get everyone's climbing legs warmed nicely. Rather than go for a full-on mountain stage, Tour boss Prudhomme has opted for something slightly gentler but potentially unpredictable.

It's a shame the Tour seldom comes to the Jura region, because this is wonderful cycling country, with narrow roads switching back and forth through dense forest. There are six climbs, which get progressively harder as the stage progresses. The favourites shouldn't get into trouble, but this is ideal ambush country.

IM0

Cadel in yellow after today.

doccy

Dunno, i have a sneaking feeling we could have fireworks tomorrow. If Contadors in last years form maybe they'll have to attack him from the off.

michaelm

Roche to do something today?

"The stage finishes on a mountain top at the ski resort of La Rousses. We have five mountains before the finish, each one getting progressively harder. I don't think we will see fireworks on the stage, but I think it could come down to a small group sprint at the top. I'll have our climber Christophe Riblon alongside me and I'd love to be coming to the finish in a small front group to have a go for the stage. Hopefully, I will be fine."

From his diary in the Independent which is great reading as always.

drogdub

Joaquim Rodriguez at 20/1 and Cunego at 9/1 for the stage are both good bets. Could be a day for either

petethedrummer

Very interested to see how Roche gets on. Seeing as its an intermediate mountain stage I hope he can keep up with the front group.

Paul Kiernan

Will the green jersey guys target the first two sprints?

12 points going a begging in the flat first 45k. Would certainly liven up the early running.

I'll have to tune into TG4 just in case.

IM0

Paul Kiernan wrote: »

Will the green jersey guys target the first two sprints?

12 points going a begging in the flat first 45k. Would certainly liven up the early running.

I'll have to tune into TG4 just in case.

No. the early break will take those

niceonetom

I'm wondering how this finish will suit Nico. I know he's targeting GC rather than stages but, if he's shadowing the favourites, a steady climb with a couple of km of flat might create a situation where he's one of the few guys left at the end with a decent sprint.

Unless the break stays away.

Or the GC climbers decide to try to put time into each other.

This should be a good stage.

IM0

going by his form in the PN earlier in the year, this stage will suit him well
interesting to see how he goes depending on what the GC guys do..or not

also BBox thinking of voeckler or even fedrigo, remember he had an impressive mtn top stage win in the criterium internationale
in spring

corkandproud

What's that square shape inside Cav's jersey?

Bambaata

anyone know an alternative place to view it other than TG4? my irish aint so hot!

uberwolf

my stream just died

bbosco

Bit strange by the Bouygues boys. Gautier puts the hammer down with Voeckler right at the back of the group. Comes to nothing, but strange tactics unless Voeckler is cooked and told his teammate to go for it?

Edit: Nope, Tommy V puts the hammer down now. I can understand them both attacking alternately to split the group, but not when one of them is right at the back.

DirkVoodoo

God damn chalkbot! Lance and Nike destroying something as simple as people painting messages on the ground. Passing through that town and it was message after message in pixelated chalk. Ughh!

Good stage though, bring on the final climb!

ROK ON

Looks like a nice part of the country.

bbosco

ROK ON wrote: »

Looks like a nice part of the country.

Was in that neck of the woods last month. Lovely area alright. Stayed in Tournus as well. Beautiful little town. Lovely food....they do unbelievable things with cheese sauces in that part of the world.

jwshooter

25km left ,they are letting rip on the decent

mcgratheoin

Was it just me or did the peloton look pretty devoid of other AG2R riders to help Roche up the climb?

Bambaata

uberwolf wrote: »

my stream just died

Have you managed to find a new one?

snollup

mcgratheoin wrote: »

Was it just me or did the peloton look pretty devoid of other AG2R riders to help Roche up the climb?

Where is Roche? Havent seen him in the main group for a while?

uberwolf

Bambaata wrote: »

Have you managed to find a new one?

nope

titan18

ITV4 are brutal.They seem to be commentating on a different feed than what's on the screen, and they're taking a lot of breaks.

petethedrummer

Kloden hasn't had his 'Weetabix'.

Also seeing them spray Chavanel from a bottle. How come they don't have a small tank of water, an electric pump and a hose in the team car?

IM0

cheating b*stards look at the way the gap from chavannel out front going for yellow was shown as 2min ahead of the yellow jersey [who was shown in the graphic as being in the peloton]

and then a minute later it suddenly jumped to 5 min+ :eek:
you cant argue and cover up gps data guys, its the tour OF FRANCE and there is \FRENCH rider up the road riding his way into yellow and the 'neutral' race comms are sandbagging the gap....shameless :eek::eek::pac:

uberwolf

Roche in there?

mcgratheoin

uberwolf wrote: »

Roche in there?

Last I saw him, he was still with the main contenders.

*edit* Into the virtual top 10 on the road

petethedrummer

snollup wrote: »

Where is Roche? Havent seen him in the main group for a while?

He's in there. Just saw him.

Blowfish

uberwolf wrote: »

nope

http://atdhe.net/21084/watch-tour-de-france working for me.

Dodge

Roche in main leaders group. No Gadret or Riblon though

bbosco

Am I right in thinking that Contador has only one teammate with him?

mcgratheoin

petethedrummer wrote: »

He's in there. Just saw him.

Yeah, about 14 or 15 back in the group over the top of the climb.

ednwireland

great ride from chavanel, chapeau

roche finished 11th

8th overall

twiggo 11th overall

IM0

ednwireland wrote: »

great ride from chavanel, chapeau

chapeau indeed. But Icant help feel why in a way, he'll lose it tomorrow when the gc guys come out to play for real. When he first got it made sense, now not so much, but he obviously has his reasons:)

Dodge

Yep, top class rider. Delighted for him. Roche surely into top 10 now

Dodge

Roche confirmed in 8th GC

jwshooter

great ride by roche

IM0

evans not taking yellow today means he is in it for keeps and looking for the overall, despite his run of form practically the whole year including a punishing giro, interesting to see if he can be right up there, clearly he thinks so

alibabba

Great ride by both Chav and roche. Brilliant to see him in 8th. Hopefully it will boost his confidence more

jamsieboy86

Great to see Roche up in the top 10 on GC.

fran oconnor

well happy for Roche with that result today.i didnt get to see any of it,how was Roche on the climbs??.

RobFowl

fran oconnor wrote: »

well happy for Roche with that result today.i didnt get to see any of it,how was Roche on the climbs??.

He was comfortable in the middle of the lead group, never at the front but nowhere near the back.

A Perfect ride TBH.

kerryscoob

Looked strong, would wish Eurosport would give him a bit of airtime.Where's Basso!!

JacksonHeightsOwn

RobFowl wrote: »

He was comfortable in the middle of the lead group, never at the front but nowhere near the back.

A Perfect ride TBH.

sounds good

imagine how great it would be for him to do well on the stage tomorrow

ooh i cant wait

Esroh

Looking at the GC group who came into gether N.Roche should be ringing P Diegnan and getting him to broker a deal with C Sastre as they the only guys with no team riders to help:D

jwshooter

tomorrow will tell a tail , a lot of guys suffered big time today ,teams are falling to bits .the shack .astana looked ok saxo had little to offer schleck .

they will be happy to pull the covers over the heads monday morning .