July 12, Stage 10: Aurillac - Carmaux 161km

ednwireland

here we go again

Breakaways versus sprinters

A short stage follows the rest day as the race continues south through the Cévennes. Although rolling, there are no outstanding difficulties on today's route and that should benefit the sprinters. One factor that might come into play is the intense heat that can affect this region. Another might be the growing desire for teams that have not made an impact so far to do so on one of the two remaining stages before the race reaches the Pyrenees. Regardless of the heat of both the day and the competition, this should be a day dominated by the green jersey contenders.

ben.schlomo

Cav is 11/4 as of now, interesting.

GetWithIt

I can't see HTC being able to control the race.

Presumably Velits and Martin will be hiding in the bunch. After the sprint I'd expect a group to get away and, depending on the composition, Europcar may be happy to let it have 5-10 minutes.

And even then the cat 4 with 15K to go, all downhill, is made for someone to grab 30 seconds and hang on.

It will probably take 2 or 3 teams to control the bunch to the end for a sprint.

Hermy

Another crash!

AG2R

Nearly missed the PMU

BQQ

Roche involved in the crash, but safely back in the peloton now

AG2R

Crash was nothing apparently.

kmart6

Nice to hear the lads talk about Roche...prob the most time he's been given since it started!

ashleey

This was on telegraph.co.uk and is worth a break for fun,
http://youtu.be/D568_-2E2Uo

Yi Harr

Also nice to see Marcato competing/winning the KoM points.

AG2R

I think I'm falling in love with Gilbert

el tel

Gilbert is the boss.

Wish to fook that ligget would stop saying "Voik Ler" :mad:

mahoo

gilbert away again. amazing man. best rider on the planet at the moment. well my favourite anyway

didn't work out but you gotta love him

AG2R

Yeah got caught, Good to see two leader jerseys out in the break.
Gilbert still in the group

AG2R

Greipl done Gilbert a favour for once.

mahoo

greipel beat cav! didn't see that one coming... gilbert paid for that effort. not many points for him there. doh. that will learn him

kenmc

Sweet. Not Cav. Wait for the whinge.

manwithaplan

Cav went too early. It was an awkward finish to judge with the line so close to the last bend.

mahoo

kenmc wrote: »

Sweet. Not Cav. Wait for the whinge.

for once he won't have much to complain about there. he didnt have the legs today. he got himself in to the perfect place... actually, very narrow windy run in is what he'll complain about

AG2R

Poor Lead out for him, He really does need a long lead out with 2/3 people. Martin hadn't the legs to give him the lead out as he was in the break working to bring Gilbert Back.

mahoo

interesting to hear that the gilbert break was part of the plan to mess up HTC. worked a treat. cav on his own. thought he did well to steal a lead out from roujas at the end.

manwithaplan

No change on GC (from Roche up anyway).

ColSheehan

Hurrah! Greipel gets me a win for my fantasy team Gilbert still in green and Voeckler still in yellow.. good day I must say

petethedrummer

AG2R wrote: »

Poor Lead out for him, He really does need a long lead out with 2/3 people.

He doesn't. He has won loads without a lead out. The lead out just makes it a foregone conclusion. I believe he was hanging out the back of the peloton during the climbs, probably had no zip in his legs at the end. Greipel doesn't seem to suffer as much on climbs.

austinbyrne21

kenmc wrote: »

Sweet. Not Cav. Wait for the whinge.

Cav on Twitter... "Well, that's me beaten. Went with 250m to go, but didn't 'kick' until 200m. Greipel rode it perfect & got speed by running up on me #hatsoff". Right bitter b*stard, that fella.

Nice finish to today's stage, very quick pace throughout!

mcgratheoin

petethedrummer wrote: »

He doesn't. He has won loads without a lead out. The lead out just makes it a foregone conclusion. I believe he was hanging out the back of the peloton during the climbs, probably had no zip in his legs at the end. Greipel doesn't seem to suffer as much on climbs.

Yeah, took a while to get him to the front after the final climb - I thought he might have been shelled out the back. Surprised that Martin disappeared, not as if he did any work in the break and then HTC just seemed to vanish. With 500 to go Cav was maybe one person too far forward and Greipel had the ideal position and had the legs to get the win. Really surprised at Gilbert sacrificing himself in the break - never thought that had a chance of staying clear and he was gone for the sprint then.

kmart6

mcgratheoin wrote: »

Yeah, took a while to get him to the front after the final climb - I thought he might have been shelled out the back. Surprised that Martin disappeared, not as if he did any work in the break and then HTC just seemed to vanish. With 500 to go Cav was maybe one person too far forward and Greipel had the ideal position and had the legs to get the win. Really surprised at Gilbert sacrificing himself in the break - never thought that had a chance of staying clear and he was gone for the sprint then.

Well considering there seems to be a lot of trouble within Lotto mainly from Greipel that he's their sprinter and wasn't getting the support he desired I'd imagine Gilbert sacrificing himself was under team instructions, and worked perfectly since htey got the stage win!

mcgratheoin

kmart6 wrote: »

Well considering there seems to be a lot of trouble within Lotto mainly from Greipel that he's their sprinter and wasn't getting the support he desired I'd imagine Gilbert sacrificing himself was under team instructions, and worked perfectly since htey got the stage win!

I know Greipel wasn't happy, but (to take an example) look how Roche and AG2R all rowed in behind Nocentini's (sp??) days in the yellow jersey a few years ago, regardless of predefined team roles. To my mind Gilbert was favourite for green but not getting any points today keeps Cavendish in with a real shout still. Maybe Gilbert did think he had a chance with a break, but I'm surprised that he hasn't put more emphasis on the jersey.

Lumen

I did wonder what the hell Gilbert was doing going off up the road, but as the lads on Eurosport said, when you win your tactics are faultless. :pac:

mahoo

it wasn't a complete sacrifice by gilbert. heard an int with gilbert after. he said the tactic was to disrupt cav and HTC by making a break on the climb. if the break stuck, he'd go for the win, if he was reeled back in, cav's legs would be tired and hopefully he would have lost his lead out for greipel to go for the win. The second burst he made was a burst for victory but he said his info on the last climb was wrong. he thought it was only 200m but it was more like 600m. thats why he sat up. then it was plan B which was to get on greipel's wheel to make sure no-one else could take it for the sprint. . . it was interesting to hear the tactics being played out in such detail.

glad to see cav being a gracious looser for once