Stage 14 - Sunday, July 18 2010, Revel - Ax-3 Domaines, 184 km

ednwireland

does contador have the legs, does schleck ?

Bathing in Basque sun

The Tour’s decisive stages start with a tough test that begins easily enough but has two tasty peaks to spice up the closing kilometres.

The Port de Pailhères didn’t feature before 2003 but has become a Tour favourite. It ramps up severely over a series of hairpins towards the summit, from where there’s a rapid descent into Ax-les-Thermes to the foot of the final climb.

Ax-3 Domaines isn’t long and not overly difficult but the main contenders’ speed here should result in some significant time gaps.

IM0

Ive been waititng for this one, to put to rest whether the guys behind schleck and Bert are sandbagging, I doubt it but you never know, energy is energy afterall. Should be good though.

Inquitus

Should be an interesting last 90 minutes, One of the few chances Shleck has to put some time into Contador ahead of the TT.

IM0

Astana takes up the pace at 80k to go, things are getting down to buisness

furiousox

Does anyone have a link to watch the TDF online?
Thanks.

jwshooter

who will take the decent on ,,not schleck ,maybe sammy .

nutzzz123

furiousox wrote: »

Does anyone have a link to watch the TDF online?
Thanks.

http://www.iraqgoals.tv/ch3.html

IM0

Sky could be brewing something here, they have a rider in the break and they are coming to the front in numbers now as we home in on the pailaires

NickDrake

Sky are a joke of a team. Talked up by Sky Sports

Contador will win today and take the yellow.

ednwireland

NickDrake wrote: »

Sky are a joke of a team. Talked up by Sky Sports

i wouldnt go as far as saying they are a joke but i dont think they have the team to do what they are trying

go sastre !

Russman

Anyone know where I can get an audio stream so I can watch on TG4 ? Thanks

DirkVoodoo

Ok, Lance is out of the race, we get it, he is famous. Can the cameras stop showing him slipping out of every race and give more time to the real contenders?

If this goes on for another week I may scream.

As for Sky, massive budget and rigorous preparation. Theire only problem is they have built the team around creating a british winner for the tour and I don't think that will be Wiggins.

titan18

It's weird how some of the bigger riders are hanging right at the back.Schleck,Contador and Evans are all right at the back and guys like Menchov,Gesink,Basso etc are right at the front.You'd hope they'd attack and see if the others panic

Hermy

Wiggins is letting them go!
I don't think he has any choice Phil.

TinyExplosions

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Ok, Lance is out of the race, we get it, he is famous. Can the cameras stop showing him slipping out of every race and give more time to the real contenders?

If this goes on for another week I may scream.

As for Sky, massive budget and rigorous preparation. Theire only problem is they have built the team around creating a british winner for the tour and I don't think that will be Wiggins.

I quite like seeing Lance get dropped, brightens up my day no end

As for Sky/Wiggins, I think that they aren't doing too bad as a new team, and that the hype over Wiggins this year was (to say the very least) excessive, but I do think he has potential in the next few years, and Sky will be able to get that out of them -don't forget after all that they have a long term plan, and never said that they thought Wiggins would win. Publically, they said that so long as each rider did their best, they'd be happy and refused to be drawn into if they thought Wiggins could win. It was the media that hyped Sky more than Sky themselves... I'd say they could be a force in 3 or 4 years

Beached

Russman wrote: »

Anyone know where I can get an audio stream so I can watch on TG4 ? Thanks

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/audioplayer.html
There you go, maybe a minute behind real time

ednwireland

2 page spread on the tour in the sunday times :eek:

Beached

Take it easy Roche, ur doing fine.
A lot of big names in the group with him

jwshooter

vino is fure class , contador or schleck ...schleck by a wheel .

Hermy

GO BERTIE!!!

Beached

This is amazing, Go Menchov

DirkVoodoo

Yup, great viewing.

Did you guys hear the mention of that "rumor"? Apparently Contador and Schleck might be on the same team next year. Could that work?

jwshooter

no ,how could it work .dont think it would do cycling any good .

great ride by riblon ,sammy also showed style ..what were the two boys thinking

TinyExplosions

It could work, but would mean a few more years with no grand tour win for Andy (unless Contador concentrates on a different GT)

Also, think how boring it would be with Bertie, Franck and Andy riding together, taking it easy and generally faffing around... the 90's Arsenal of the Peloton?

Russman

Beached wrote: »

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/audioplayer.html
There you go, maybe a minute behind real time

Cheers !

leftism

TinyExplosions wrote: »

It was the media that hyped Sky more than Sky themselves... I'd say they could be a force in 3 or 4 years

Rupert Murdoch = Sky = The Media

So really that sentence should read:

It was Sky that hyped Sky more than Sky themselves....

I'd agree that the hyping up of Wiggo was definitely excessive but it seems strange that we haven't seen any sign of the climbing form we saw from him last year. His ride up Ventoux was was probably one of the biggest surprises of the 2009 tour for me. But this year he has struggled on much easier climbs than that, and again today seemed to fade off the back of the peleton without so much as a whimper. Was the Ventoux last year just a fluke, or are the Sky lads not able to get him up the climbs as well as Garmin did last year? They definitely seemed to do plenty of work for him on the early stages of the big non-cat climb today...

IM0

they cant physically carry him, pacing an easy climb is totally different to pacing a harder one. Wiggans is crap untill he shows otherwise.

ShevY

Didn't wiggims admit himself today last year was a fluke

IM0

ShevY wrote: »

Didn't wiggims admit himself today last year was a fluke

yeah he 'fluked' it.... that is all :cool:

"paiging ND to the forum"...

ednwireland

Sky's Bradley Wiggins ended the first Pyrenees stage today in Ax 3 Domaines upset with his Tour de France performance. He cleaned himself at the team bus and then spoke frankly with the press.

"To be honest with you, I am f**ked, mate. It is as simple as that, I ain't going to lie to you," explained Wiggins. "I am just trying my hardest, battling on. Rather than give up."

The first day in the Pyrenees included the two high-mountain climbs. Wiggins lost time on the first and never recovered for the second to the finish in Ax 3 Domaines.

Wiggins finished nearly five minutes behind winner Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale) and, more importantly, 3'51" behind overall leader Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank). He now sits 18th overall, 11'30" back, with three more mountain stages to come and a long time trial.

Expectations were high for Wiggins after he finished fourth overall last year behind Alberto Contador. Pressure mounted when he switched from Garmin to join and lead the British-based Team Sky.

"It is a huge learning curve, my first year where I really tackled it full-on like this," Wiggins continued. "Last year was a bit of fluke. It is easy to think you can get it right this year."

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/491790/wiggins-at-2010-tour-i-haven-t-got-it.html

ROK ON

While I havr doubted his ability in the past, I admire him for the honest and frank admission.
Very rare for a top sportsperson.