July 17, Stage 15: Limoux - Montpellier 187km

ednwireland

Last sprint fling til Paris

Usually in a Tour, the sprinters and breakaway specialists can count on contesting at least two and perhaps even three "transition" stages between the Pyrenees and the Alps. This year though, they've got just the one. With the prevailing wind off the Med likely to be pushing them onwards at a blistering pace, the main issue today could be the heat and the cumulative effect of two weeks in the saddle. But the thought that they are on the verge of the second rest day in St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux should give everyone a boost, especially the sprinters.





race for green resumes
last chance for cav before paris, has to win really to maintain a lead in the green jersey

elduggo

Interesting spat going on between the sprinters at the moment. Everyone else claiming Cavendish is holding onto cars in the mountains. Its one thing if its only Rojas is saying it. But now the great Gilbert is apparently involved too. Could add some spice to things.

ednwireland

elduggo wrote: »

Interesting spat going on between the sprinters at the moment. Everyone else claiming Cavendish is holding onto cars in the mountains. Its one thing if its only Rojas is saying it. But now the great Gilbert is apparently involved too. Could add some spice to things.

yeh wind cav up that normally ruins his sprinting :rolleyes:

funny he was accused of the same at the iro and no-one managed to find any pics or footage, i expect the same here

elduggo

ednwireland wrote: »

yeh wind cav up that normally ruins his sprinting :rolleyes:

funny he was accused of the same at the iro and no-one managed to find any pics or footage, i expect the same here

it doesn't affect his sprinting but it makes the commisaires watch him like a hawk. If he blows his nose the wrong way he'll find himself relegated.

Lumen

ednwireland wrote: »

yeh wind cav up that normally ruins his sprinting :rolleyes:

funny he was accused of the same at the iro and no-one managed to find any pics or footage, i expect the same here

Whilst attempting to prove you wrong I came across this:

"2.3.030 Whatever the position of a rider in the race, he may receive such assistance only to the rear of his bunch and when stationary. The greasing of chains from a moving vehicle shall be forbidden."

Hasn't Cadel had his chain sprayed from the team car every day?

ednwireland

there was a photo of cav peeing of abridge (after the intermediate on 12 or 13) if theres photos of that i cant see how there isnt photos of everything else all over the interweb

annoyingly i cant find it now

and yes i'm a cav fanboy

Johnners1878

Strong whiff of sour grapes from some of the other sprinters, but it's not that surprising really. Cav's better than them and he's cocky with it. No wonder they're pi55ed off. He'll be hard to beat tomorrow.

ednwireland

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/8469/Giro-dItalia-Ventoso-accuses-Cavendish-of-holding-onto-team-car-up-Mount-Etna.aspx

whose the lead out man for rojas ? (ventoso)

hmmm change the freaking record movistar

AG2R

PMU is close enough to the finish today

Unregistered.

Roche to do well on this one.

mahoo

every day when i turn on the tv, the first thing i see is FDJ rider in a breakaway. they havent missed a move this year. fairplay to them

^^ doubt it! id say tomorrow is his only chance left this year to do anything

oddsoxrule

Hey everyone, what is the time limits for the stages??

UpTheSlashers

mahoo wrote: »

every day when i turn on the tv, the first thing i see is FDJ rider in a breakaway. they havent missed a move this year. fairplay to them

^^ doubt it! id say tomorrow is his only chance left this year to do anything

As in Tuesday? I thought tomorrow was a rest day

mahoo

UpTheSlashers wrote: »

As in Tuesday? I thought tomorrow was a rest day

sorry. forgot about rest day. yes, next stage has a few climbs but nothing to hectic. its a bit like fridays. if nico can get into the break id say it has a good chance of staying away.

mahoo

oddsoxrule wrote: »

Hey everyone, what is the time limits for the stages??

its a percentage of the winning time based on the average speed... its something like 6% @ 30km/hr and goes up as the speed increases.. yesterday was a very slow stage so it was probably only 7% vanendert's time

Super Freak

Hey everyone, what is the time limits for the stages??

It goes on a sliding scale depending on the average speed of the stage. Not 100% sure of the exact figures but the commentators were talking about 6-8%

ednwireland

oddsoxrule wrote: »

Hey everyone, what is the time limits for the stages??

Time limit - Riders in each day's stage must finish with a certain percentage of the winner's time or they are eliminated from the race and not allowed to start the next day. The exact percentage varies according to the type of stage, the terrain and the speed. For a slow, flat stage it can be as low as five percent, while for a fast, mountain stage it can be 16 or 17 percent. In certain circumstances the race organisers have discretion not to eliminate riders, for example if doing so would eliminate a very large part of the field.

i'm not pasting this but it gives you the percentages fro differnet stages and different average speeds
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/bicycles-faq/part1/section-24.html

mahoo

didn't realise that the ITT had a cut off time... 25% of the winners time. now that would be an embarrassing elimination

mahoo

ha. were the TG4 commentators just calling that astana rider and idiot and G.I. Joe.. he only broke off the front so he could stop for a piss

niceonetom

Well we were overdue a boring stage I suppose.

ednwireland

niceonetom wrote: »

Well we were overdue a boring stage I suppose.

20km till it gets exciting

niceonetom

ednwireland wrote: »

20km till it gets exciting

I doubt it - it'll be as formulaic as it gets I think. I hope I'm wrong though.

Either way, we've been spoiled thus far so I won't complain too much.

AG2R

COME ON GILBERT

AG2R

ah **** you HTC

AG2R

Thomas can really turn a gear

BannerBarry

Whats happening Nicolas Roche? I havent seen his face on Eurosport all day... Is he still in race?
Wasn't he 13th last week. Thought he was supposed to be good in the mountains??!

AG2R

Green is now Cavs

ednwireland

brilliant - that looked seriously hard for htc

Morrisseeee

Whats happening Nicolas Roche?

Fairy sure I saw him tracking Greipel there

mahoo

i guess you cant argue with cav getting the green. its amazing he hasnt won one by now... tyler was coming up fast on him at the end there though. . roche was in there somewhere. first time ive seen ben swift this tour.

AG2R

HTC done brilliant. Cav being himself in the Interview as usual lol

AG2R

mahoo wrote: »

i guess you cant argue with cav getting the green. its amazing he hasnt won one by now... tyler was coming up fast on him at the end there though. . roche was in there somewhere. first time ive seen ben swift this tour.

Second time I've seen him now. hasn't looked up to it in either though, Chose the wrong wheel today. Still nice that he was up there

kmart6

Both Cav and HTC deserve it to be fair! They are such a well oiled machine...it's ridiculous how they can be that consistent with it!

There were 3 AG2R lads up there at the end...good showing for them!

C3PO

AG2R wrote: »

Green is now Cavs

Assuming he can avoid "timing out" on the rest of the mountain stages!

bcmf

RPL1 wrote: »

Assuming he can avoid "timing out" on the rest of the mountain stages!

Well Rojas was accussing him of getting 'towed' up the steep climbs. Cav of course vehemently denies it.

C3PO

bcmf wrote: »

Well Rojas was accussing him of getting 'towed' up the steep climbs. Cav of course vehemently denies it.

Well good luck to him - really can't see why they "have it in for him"!

kmart6

bcmf wrote: »

Well Rojas was accussing him of getting 'towed' up the steep climbs. Cav of course vehemently denies it.

And with all the attention that Cav gets that woulda been caught by camera or photos!