July 4, Stage 3: Olonne-sur-Mer - Redon 198km

ednwireland

Christian Prudhomme has described the fact that Mark Cavendish has won 15 stages over the last three years without ever taking the points title as "an anomaly". It's one that partly explains the overhaul of the intermediate sprints, which have been reduced from three to one, albeit one with a significant haul of points on offer. Will the sprinters' teams now try to control some stages from beginning to end? That's certainly the concern of some team directors. An onshore breeze might complicate the finish but this will surely go to either Cav or his green jersey rivals.

velopeloton

The only KOM on the stage the Côte du Pont de Saint-Nazaire, the climb is 1.1 km at 4.9 % and is ranked as Category 4

Rovi

velopeloton wrote: »

The only KOM on the stage the Côte du Pont de Saint-Nazaire, the climb is 1.1 km at 4.9 % and is ranked as Category 4
<snip picture>

WOW! :eek:

Looking forward to the helicopter shots of that!

ednwireland

velopeloton wrote: »

The only KOM on the stage the Côte du Pont de Saint-Nazaire, the climb is 1.1 km at 4.9 % and is ranked as Category 4

they've been over that a few times, havent they ? sure i remember a few tours. now if they went over the millau viaduct that would be something ( but its an autoroute so they prob wont

bcmf

I will give the French this: They dont fook around when it comes to bridges. I think it would be simply to dangerous to go over the Millau Viaduc though would be supremley spectaular.
I wanna see them go over the bridge on the Loire @ Nantes.

Anyway I think Thor will have a point to prove and with Millar in 2nd (he is in 2nd isnt he??) I would fully expect the poor slave boys of worked to the bone tommorrow to keep either Thor or at least Millar in Jaune.

Inquitus

Hard to see past Cav for this unless he makes a bags of it...

velopeloton

Inquitus wrote: »

Hard to see past Cav for this unless he makes a bags of it...

Has his name all over it!

ThisRegard

Rovi wrote: »

WOW! :eek:

Looking forward to the helicopter shots of that!

Here's a 3D preview for you
http://www.steephill.tv/players/cyclingthealps/?relative=cote-du-pont-de-saint-nazaire&dashboard=tour-de-france

De Bhál

Hushovd is 40/1 today on Paddypower.

Worth an eachway bet maybe???

tawfeeredux

I went over one of those type of bridges on the touring bike a few years ago - they're a bit scary when you've a strong sidewind hitting you. The Tour on the Millau Viaduct would be cool alright!

kmart6

What is with Nico and his rear wheel.... :rolleyes:

on_the_nickel

De Bhál wrote: »

Hushovd is 40/1 today on Paddypower.

Worth an eachway bet maybe???

Well in theory, Farrar will be man Garmin are working for. I was thinking of backing Cav, but at that price, with his previous at the start of tours, I've restricted myself to a massive €1 e/w on Hinault (100/1) and Rojas (40/1).

ednwireland

cav takes the intermediate from the bunch (6th place), nice warmup

kmart6

How many points is that worth to him?!

ednwireland

kmart6 wrote: »

How many points is that worth to him?!

10

Lumen

kmart6 wrote: »

How many points is that worth to him?!

10

ednwireland

Lumen wrote: »

10

beats him in the sprint

De Bhál

on_the_nickel wrote: »

Well in theory, Farrar will be man Garmin are working for. I was thinking of backing Cav, but at that price, with his previous at the start of tours, I've restricted myself to a massive €1 e/w on Hinault (100/1) and Rojas (40/1).

best of luck.

ben.schlomo

on_the_nickel wrote: »

Well in theory, Farrar will be man Garmin are working for. I was thinking of backing Cav, but at that price, with his previous at the start of tours, I've restricted myself to a massive €1 e/w on Hinault (100/1) and Rojas (40/1).

I've €12 0n Cav and 3e/w on Galimzyanov at 25s.

ednwireland

ll

Pherekydes

Jeez that little "hill" split the peloton handy enough. I wonder is Contador behind again? :pac:

HTC rider trying to slow the peloton down so Cav can catch up?

kmart6

Pherekydes wrote: »

Jeez that little "hill" split the peloton handy enough. I wonder is Contador behind again? :pac:

HTC rider trying to slow the peloton down so Cav can catch up?

They all did though which makes its funnier!!

on_the_nickel

ben.schlomo wrote: »

I've €12 0n Cav and 3e/w on Galimzyanov at 25s.

After he won the intermediate I put €6 on Cav. That's how I roll.

ben.schlomo

on_the_nickel wrote: »

After he won the intermediate I put €6 on Cav. That's how I roll.

Haha we are gonna take PP down slowly but surely with these stakes

Inquitus

http://data.srmlive.de/TDF/

Live Power / HR data, interesting enough.

ThisRegard

That giant bike made from tractors and quads rules.

BQQ

Gadret dropped on the climb :eek:

Who's gonna help Nico in the mountains now?

ColSheehan

The Vladimir Karpets jokes are hilarious!

"Floored by a crash, now weaving his back to the peloton, Vladimir Karpets is putting down wall-to-wall effort"

"It's curtains for Karpets"

"He's nailed to the floor" "He's Wilton in the back"
"Karpets is a clean rider, he's never taken stairoids"

"I fear if Karpets were to sign for Quick Step they'd walk all over him."

"Wonder if wood flooring specialists Quickstep ever considered signing Karpets? Get rid of the competition"

"Come on Karpets! As speedy Gonzales said, underlay underlay."

kmart6

Where the hell did Cav disappear to!?

ednwireland

i'm assuming he got wiped out in that last corner overshoot

TinyExplosions

ednwireland wrote: »

i'm assuming he got wiped out in that last corner overshoot

I think he was dropped a little further back, when htc split for a bit

Mint Sauce

Who (team) went over the handle bars on the final corner.

:eek:

Cav was too far behind there.

kmart6

He was gone before that!

on_the_nickel

kmart6 wrote: »

Where the hell did Cav disappear to!?

Whatever happened to him, he still made up a hell of a lot of ground to come in 5/6th. He wouldn't have done that a year ago.

Lumen

4th July. I call shennanigans!

kmart6

Fair play to Hinault getting 4th for AG2R

Mr Velo

Well done Farrar!!

BQQ

interesting that Farrar didn't feature in the intermediate sprint. Possibly saved himself for the finish.

There is a school of thought that you can't win both on the same day

kmart6

Mr Velo wrote: »

Well done Farrar!!

Nice tribute to Woulter Weylandt too!

Nico not exactly saying much!!

Hail 2 Da Thief

Had a small e/w bet on Farrar @ 11/2 :cool:

ednwireland

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cavendish-hushovd-relegated-in-tour-de-france-sprint

Mark Cavendish and Thor Hushovd have both been disqualified from the intermediate sprint on stage 3 of the Tour de France after making contact in the mid-race points classification battle.

Cavendish had crossed the line in sixth, leading the bunch over the line behind a break of five riders. However, the race commissars deemed both his and Hushovd’s actions inappropriate.

Judges said the Norwegian deviated from his racing line, while Cavendish clearly used his head either to keep upright or fend off Hushovd.

Rolf Aldag confirmed the news to Cyclingnews. “The chief commissar confirmed the news and talked to Allan Pieper. He said that Thor and Cav were disqualified. Thor lost his line but Cav can’t use his head,” he told Cyclingnews.

dumb-ass commissaires

kmart6

Bad day for Cav so...

kmart6

From his twitter:

MarkCavendish Mark Cavendish
Just discovered Thor & I have been disqualified from the intermediate sprint today. Seriously no idea why?! #devastated

buffalo

hehe! Feillu's frustration just after he crossed the line second makes him look like a cartoon villain!

bcmf

What is it with HTC and headbutting. Did they not learn from last year with Renshaw!

kmart6

Well Hinault was doing his fair share of it as well and he hasn't been penalised! Think it can be a case of the more high profile riders being done more than others!

surripere

Nicely done by the Garmin lads, pleased for them. HTC made a right ballls of it .