Tour of Switzerland - spoiler tags must be used

GetWithIt

Started today.

GetWithIt

A good ride from Roche in the prologue. Just 31 seconds off the winner and the same time as Gesink.

He wasn't shown on Eurosport, though he was one of the quickest in the first split. The course was up and down, the first sector up.

ednwireland

yeh saw that time for roche, saw an article saying hes been practicing and doing wind tunnel tests, maybe its working

dastardly00

yeah very good prologue by Nico. He got the same time also as Valverde and he beat Danielson. Hopefully it is a sign of things to come.

The prologue course was quite tough & technical, which is great to see. The descent from the climb was very narrow at certain places. Fantastic performance from Sagan, and it's also good to see Spartacus back in action!

RobFowl

Nico 5th on GP after todays hill finish

Sundy

Good ride by Nico, kept his pace and didnt waste energy on an attack that wouldnt stick and then finished strong.

dave2pvd

dastardly00 wrote: »

He got the same time also as Valverde and he beat Danielson.

MASSIVE change of attitude towards TTs by him/Ag2r. About bloody time. He's had this this result in him for a long time.

dave2pvd

And what a result today! Great to see.

GetWithIt

I think it'd be easy to overstate Roche's result in the prologue. There was a significant climb on it and, on the basis of yesterday, he appears to have the legs in the mountains. He was about 6th or so on the first part of the course, which was mostly uphill, losing time on the downhill and flat section.

Great ride yesterday. No reason why he can't go for the overall win now, though his team seems to be a man short with John "me fein" Gadret doing his own thing.

dastardly00

Highlights of the last km of Stage 2 are on NBC (it's not geo-restricted) - Linky.

Aln_S

Can anyone confirm where Nico is in the GC now? AG2R tweeted that he is 5th overall and Gadret in 8th, but Steephill shows him in 10th 2:13 down and cycling news doesn't show him in the top 10 at all

mcgratheoin

Official overall standings here after the 3rd stage

kilns

Passes my office today, come on Nico!

ednwireland

nico dairy

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/rather-than-risk-getting-a-belt-of-a-highspeed-train-we-decided-to-take-the-chance-of-a-rest-3136680.html

pprendeville

that NBC link is brillant. finish to stage 3 was unreal. i can only imagine the carnage if that was an A4 race. how they stayed upright is beyond me.

dastardly00

Peter Sagan is having a phenomenal 2012!
3 wins out of 4 stages in the Tour of Switzerland along with ... (*deep breath*) ... stage wins in the Tour of Oman, Tirenno-Adriatico, Three Days of De Panne; a whopping 5 stage wins in the Tour of California; and 4th in Milan- San Remo, 2nd in Gent-Wevelgem, 5th in the Tour of Flanders, and 3rd in the Amstel Gold Race!!!
It will be fascinating watching him in the Tour de France.

dastardly00

Cracking win from Sagan. I didn't think he would after he got fairly cozy with the barriers!
Roll on the TT and mountains now!

dastardly00

Today is a good opportunity to see Nico Roche TT'ing. He starts 5th last, so he should get a decent amount of TV coverage.
He will probably lose a few places in the GC to some better TT'ers such as Leipheimer, Valverde and Danielson. But he should definitely beat Gadret, and give Frank Schleck a good run for his money. It's a fairly lumpy profile today.
Eurosport don't seem to have live coverage because of tennis (as per usual!), but there are highlights on from 4.30-6pm.
Official live stage ticker here.

Last 10 starters (times are GMT):

15:12:00 DANIELSON Tom GRM
15:14:00 NIEVE Mikel EUS
15:16:00 GADRET John ALM
15:18:00 VALVERDE Alejandro MOV
15:20:00 LÖVKVIST Thomas SKY
15:22:00 ROCHE Nicolas ALM
15:24:00 PINOT Thibaut FDJ
15:26:00 KREUZIGER Roman AST
15:28:00 SCHLECK Frank RNT
15:30:00 FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto MOV

Current fastest time is from who else but Cancellara!

TheBlaaMan

dastardly00 wrote: »

Eurosport don't seem to have live coverage because of tennis (as per usual!), but there are highlights on from 4.30-6pm.
Official live stage ticker here.

Last 10 starters (times are GMT):

15:12:00 DANIELSON Tom GRM
15:14:00 NIEVE Mikel EUS
15:16:00 GADRET John ALM
15:18:00 VALVERDE Alejandro MOV
15:20:00 LÖVKVIST Thomas SKY
15:22:00 ROCHE Nicolas ALM
15:24:00 PINOT Thibaut FDJ
15:26:00 KREUZIGER Roman AST
15:28:00 SCHLECK Frank RNT
15:30:00 FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto MOV

[

Given the diff between BST and CET, I think that ES are starting live coverage at the time the yellow jersey starts his run (15:30 CET/16:30 BST), hence we should see all top 10 finishes, no?

dastardly00

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Given the diff between BST and CET, I think that ES are starting live coverage at the time the yellow jersey starts his run (15:30 CET/16:30 BST), hence we should see all top 10 finishes, no?

I was a bit confused by the times myself
But Nico has just started his TT, and Rui Costa will be starting in a few minutes. However the Eurosport programme starts at 4.30 so the stage will be over by then.

buffalo

dastardly00 wrote: »

Official live stage ticker here.

Hasn't mentioned Roche once, though he's started and has passed at least the first intermediary line at this point.

Inquitus

buffalo wrote: »

Hasn't mentioned Roche once, though he's started and has passed at least the first intermediary line at this point.

All the coverage is crap, the Swiss TV is like trying to unravel a cryptic crossword, it cuts here there and everywhere and only shwos the odd rider passing a split time. The ticker is crap.

buffalo

Just caught it on video...

Roche at second intermediary: 33:57
Fastest time at second so far: 32:25

dastardly00

Nico is currently about 36th fastest through the 2nd time point (~22km), roughly about 1min 30sec behind the fastest time, with 3 riders still to pass through. He had quite a dodgy moment going through a 90 degree left turn. The back wheel slid a bit and he lost a lot of momentum when correcting the slide.

dastardly00

Frank Schleck and Rui Costa were about 30 seconds and 1 minute faster than Nico respectively at the 2nd Intermediate time point.

buffalo

Roche at 48:48, 40th place so far.

46:36 for Kessiakoff, so +2:12 for Nico

dastardly00

Provisional Classification after Stage 7:
1. Rui Faria Da Costa - 26h 10min 55sec
2. Roman Kreuziger - 50sec
3. Robert Gesink - 55sec
4. Alejandro Valverde - 1min 4sec
5. Frank Schleck - 1min 4sec
6. Tom Danielson - 1min 12sec
7. Levi Leipheimer - 1min 15sec
8. Vladamir Gusev - 1min 17sec
9. Thomas Lovkvist - 1min 22sec
10. Steven Kruijswik - 1min 27sec

Nico is 1min 52sec back I think

dastardly00

No live coverage on Eurosport today :mad:
*shakes fist*

It's a very tough finish today. The last 32km are all uphill baby! :pac:

With 72km left, a group of 4 riders (Velits (OPQ), Dekker (GRM), Albasini (OGE), Cusin (TT1)) have a 7:06 lead.

ednwireland

from yesterday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bTCXpBBbp0

lol

dastardly00

25km left and the peloton is looking very small. I guesstimate less than 20 riders in there. Most of the main guys are still in there apart from Gadret and Kloden. Leader Rui Costa is hanging on at the very back of the bunch. Nico is keeping up near the front. Rabbobank are controlling the tempo.

ROK ON

dastardly00 wrote: »

25km left and the peloton is looking very small. I guesstimate less than 20 riders in there. Most of the main guys are still in there apart from Gadret and Kloden. Leader Rui Costa is hanging on at the very back of the bunch. Nico is keeping up near the front. Rabbobank are controlling the tempo.

Can anyone PM me workable tv links.
The usual ones on steephill, are full of spam, or have been blocked by my laptop security as being full of malware etc.

dastardly00

Lone breakaway rider Albasini has the stage in the bag. Less than 3km left and he has around 3 minutes. The last couple of km are flat-ish. Frank Schleck has attacked out of the main bunch with Leipheimer and Nieve. Nico along with Danielson, Gesink, Lokvist and a few others are about 15 seconds back. Rui Da Costa is about 20 seconds behind Roche group.

flying11

Roche has now been dropped from the Danielson group and has fallen back to the group with Rui Costa about 40 seconds behind Frank Schelk

flying11

Not a bad ride from Roche, finished 11th on the stage but he is still outside the top 10 overall

dastardly00

Stage result:
1 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team 3:45:39
2 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:15
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma - QuickStep 0:01:15
4 Frank Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan 0:01:15
5 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:36
6 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 0:01:36
7 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:01:36
8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:39
9 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana 0:01:57
10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) RadioShack-Nissan 0:01:57
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:05


General classification after stage 8:
1 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 29:58:39
2 Frank Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:14
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma - QuickStep 0:00:21
4 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:25
5 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:40
6 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana 0:00:42
7 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:43
8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:01
9 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:04
10 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 0:01:13


13 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:52

dastardly00

It's all after kicking off here big time on the final stage!
The leaders have reached the top of the Glaubenburg HC climb and are descending.

A breakaway group (Kangert, Roy and Montaguti) is at the front of the race.
Bookwalter was in the breakaway group but he has been dropped.
Frank Schleck attacked a while ago as in 5th position, and has just reached the summit.
About 30 seconds behind is Danielson.
About another 30 seconds is the group of Rui Costa, Nieve, Gesink, Valverde, Leipheimer, and Nico.
Nico was dropped but he made it back to the Rui Costa group.
Kreuziger was dropped earlier on the climb.

The breakaway group has a lead of over 4 minutes with 36km left

dastardly00

This is where they are currently:

Inquitus

Schleck is holding his 50 sec lead so far on the descent. Good job by Nico getting back on when he was dropped, gotta be in with a good chance of getting into the top 10 here now. There's a good few people who were in front of him who are now nowhere.

dastardly00

It's all come back together. A group including Kreuziiger and Sorenson has caught the yellow jersey group.
Schleck has slowed down and sat up, allowing himself to be caught by the yellow jersey group.
20km left.

maloner

Roche 10th overall

dastardly00

Final overall standings:
1 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 35:54:49
2 Frank Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:14
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma - QuickStep 0:00:21
4 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:25
5 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:40
6 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana 0:00:47
7 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:48
8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:59
9 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:42
10 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:52


Good result by Nico to squeeze into the top 10. All the riders ahead of him are very good. Hopefully he can bring this form into the TdF.
He still needs to improve in TT though.