July 9, Stage 9: Arc-et-Senans - Besançon 41.5km *Warning -contains unmasked spoilers

ednwireland

Arc-et-Senans – Besançon

Distance: 41.5km
Highest point: 379m
Category: Time trial

Esroh

1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 38:17:56 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:10 3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:00:16 4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha Team 0:00:54 5 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:59 6 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:01:32 7 Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan 0:02:08 8 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 0:02:11 9 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:21 10 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:02:27 11 Tony Gallopin (Fra) RadioShack-Nissan 0:03:13 12 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:03:24 13 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 0:03:41 14 Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack-Nissan 0:03:43 15 Frank Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan 0:03:47 16 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team 0:04:03 17 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:04:08 18 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:04:12 19 Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan 0:04:24 20 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar 0:04:26



So whats Nico going to loose to these guys tomorrow

themandan6611

4 mins

funnights74

Evans looking strong, he has given it a few lashes but Wiggins seems to have his measure. I expect the Sky rider to put heaps of time into most if not all of the main GC contenders over this course. Wiggins, froome, cancellara, evans, martin all to be in the shake up.

buffalo

Likewise, Wiggins will hammer this home. Rest day tomorrow for recovery, and then even if he fears that Evans will beat him in the mountains, he'll have a nice buffer.

Cancellara, Wiggins, Martin is my prediction. Highly original, I know.

Beasty

buffalo wrote: »

Cancellara, Wiggins, Martin is my prediction. Highly original, I know.

Could be very original, depending on which Martin you mean ...

C3PO

What time should I skive off work to see the sharp end of the TT?

ednwireland

C3PO wrote: »

What time should I skive off work to see the sharp end of the TT?

full start order

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=53263
16:00 Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan)
16:03 Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat)
16:06 Rui Costa (Movistar Team)
16:09 Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan)
16:12 Rein Taaramae (Cofidis)
16:15 Nicolas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale)
16:18 Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol)
16:21 Maxime Monfort (RadioShack-Nissan)
16:24 Chris Froome (Sky)
16:27 Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack-Nissan)
16:30 Denis Menchov (Katusha)
16:33 Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale)
16:36 Cadel Evans (BMC)
16:39 Bradley Wiggins (Sky)

so wiggo off at 15:39 our time

buffalo

ednwireland wrote: »

so wiggo off at 15:39 our time

And 40km will take them a little less than an hour, so everything will probably be done around 4.30pm, although Eurosport coverage doesn't end 'til 5.15pm.

dastardly00

buffalo wrote: »

Likewise, Wiggins will hammer this home. Rest day tomorrow for recovery, and then even if he fears that Evans will beat him in the mountains, he'll have a nice buffer.

Cancellara, Wiggins, Martin is my prediction. Highly original, I know.

Cancellara gave it his all on Saturday's stage in mountains but he definitely took it easier yesterday so he should be rested enough for today's TT.
Likewise Tony Martin took it easy enough yesterday but he has been nursing a few injuries from crashes so he mightn't be in tip-top shape.
I reckon Wiggins could win it.

Maybe somebody like Bert Grabsch could make the top 3 (he came 4th in UCI World TT in 2011) but it's hard to see past the trio of Cancellara, Wiggins and Martin.

AstraMonti

Martin is leading by 13" at the the first checkpoint.

buffalo

Anywhere to keep an eye on this? Text only. Millar's off at 11.11, would like to know how he does.

edit: Astra, where are you getting that from?

edit2: sweet, found the ticker - http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2012/us/live/aso/

edit3: anyone else think the letour site this year is far more difficult to navigate than last year's?

CptMackey

Ya the le tour site is muck this time round. I'm finding the app to be crap aswell

petethedrummer

Eurosport Ticker - http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/cycling/livematch/491464.html

There is one on cycling news but I think it starts later.

Rovi

Tony Martin has taken the lead by 29 seconds; 53:40 over the 41.5km course, 46.4km/h.

dastardly00

buffalo wrote: »

edit3: anyone else think the letour site this year is far more difficult to navigate than last year's?

CptMackey wrote: »

Ya the le tour site is muck this time round. I'm finding the app to be crap aswell

+1 with your opinions about the website and the app.

dastardly00

Concentrating on Nico: we all know he will give it 110% but he is an average TT-er.

Ahead of him are:
8 Jurgen Van Den Broeck @ 00:10
7 Maxime Monfort @ 00:13
6 Christopher Froome @ 00:49
5 Haimar Zubeldia @ 01:22
4 Denis Menchov @ 01:27
3 Vincenzo Nibali @ 02:05
2 Cadel Evans @ 02:11
1 Bradley Wiggins @ 02:21

Nico will lose time to all of the riders ahead of him in the GC in the TT except for Zubeldia I think.
Van Den Broeck, Monfort, Froome are closest to Nico and are all good TTers. Froome could be told to take it easier today, for the long term benefits of Wiggins' GC chances but I don't think so.

Behind Nico are:

10 Rein Taaramae @ 0:06
11 Tony Gallopin @ 0:52
12 Rui Alberto Da Costa @ 01:03
13 Thibaut Pinot @ 01:20
14 Christopher Horner @ 01:22
15 Frank Schleck @ 01:26
16 Janez Brajkovic @ 01:42
17 Tejay Van Garderen @ 01:47
18 Ivan Basso @ 01:51
19 Andreas Klöden @ 02:03
20 Pierre Rolland @ 02:05
21 Levi Leipheimer @ 02:25

Taaramae, Brajkovic and Da Costa should gain alot of time on Nico today and could pass him out on the GC.
Nico should be faster than Frank Schleck and Pinot.
Van Garderen and Basso are good TTers but they mightn't give it 100% in order to save energy for later stages in the Tour as they are domestiques to Evans and Nibali.
Hopefully Klöden and Leipheimer are too far back to overtake Nico in the GC.

I think Nico could be 12th/13th overall after today's stage, and I would be happy with that.

joker77

Another puncture for Tony Martin today, that is some really bad luck. Or poor tyre choice?

To be still 29 seconds ahead with a puncture is saying something. He won't finish Top 3 now though

buffalo

Go on Jens!

Really enjoying his blog. Apparently Friday's crash that took so many riders down was because somebody was taking off their shoe covers!

mcgratheoin

Dan 1:18 down after the first 16.5km - 19th through the checkpoint

Rovi

Dan Martin 1:18 down at checkpoint 1.

buffalo

He's not going to pushing himself very hard - no point in trying to shave a few seconds off your time when the GC is out of sight, you've got a head cold, and there are lots of mountains to come.

joker77

buffalo wrote: »

He's not going to pushing himself very hard - no point in trying to shave a few seconds off your time when the GC is out of sight, you've got a head cold, and there are lots of mountains to come.

Is the head cold the reason for his poor showing over the weekend? He was saying on Friday that he fancied Saturday, it would suit him, but he was nowhere in the end

buffalo

joker77 wrote: »

Is the head cold the reason for his poor showing over the weekend? He was saying on Friday that he fancied Saturday, it would suit him, but he was nowhere in the end

He put it down to inexperience:

The guys went to the front and rode hard for me towards the end of the stage, trying to keep me towards the front and out of trouble. It was really good to have them do that and show confidence in me, but unfortunately things didn’t quite go to plan.

I’m still learning and I think I made two errors. Going onto the final climb you want as little weight as possible as it slows you down uphill.

Because of that, I threw my bottle away. However I did it too early and I could definitely have done with another drink. I was also sitting too far forward in the peloton – the guys were riding, but I was just behind them and taking too much wind. It was really hard work staying there, and the guys further back had a much easier ride.

By the time we hit the climb I felt that effort in my legs and didn’t have it when the pace ramped up. I ended up 17th on the stage but if I had been healthy and done things right, I should have been much closer to the win.

It’s all about experience, though. It’s my first Tour, I’m learning, and hopefully I’ll be 100 percent healthy soon.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0709/1224319635005.html

mcgratheoin

Dan in 13th at 1:52 after 31.5km - very good ride so far....

buffalo

Kessiakoff about to start, Cancellara in 30mins' time. Looking forward to seeing standings after lunch!

Rovi

Dan Martin finished, currently in 15th place at 2:30.

mcgratheoin

2:30 down on Tony Martin is a great ride. If Nico can pull something similar out of the bag it'll really set him up for the second half of the tour.

I wonder was Dan trying to show his team that he has genuine GC potential in the next few years?

A_Sober_Paddy

What happens if a rider fails to make it around a stage within the time limit? Are they off the tour or are they given a time?

riparooo

Good ride from Dan Martin - hopefully this is a sign of better from him after two surprisingly poor days in the (mid) mountains.

Interesting to read his tour diary on the head cold as I was baffled at his performance on Sat and Sun and figured something had to be wrong. If you looks at this video post Sat stage

http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/bicyclingbc/?title=Dan+Martin+Post-Stage+7&dashboard=tour-de-france&id=1725170624001&yr=2012

you will notice his cough which is more like a cold than clearing his throat. Looks like today effort indicates his over the worst of it. He should end up in about 40th today which would be very good and shove him up a few more places.

As for Nico he has to do the TT of his life and I think he will surprise today, he has been getting better this season and I think he could limit his losses to around 2.30.

Great tour so far but I must say Bradley Wiggins has to be the most boring rider ever. I'm hoping Froome will do a Roche (87 Giro) on him during the tour and take the yellow to Paris. It would be great for the sport and make me €1220 richer!)

mcgratheoin

:eek: Cancellara 39 seconds up on Martin at the first checkpoint

joker77

Martin's still got a fractured wrist. From reading about it, it's in a cast and not getting any worse, but wouldn't say it's healing too much with him still riding

retalivity

cancellara is an animal

dastardly00

Spartacus is ripping up the tarmac. He's passed his 3 minute man.

Good TT from Peraud.

dastardly00

Chavanel is putting in another good TT. Only ~6 secs behind Cancellara at 1st time check.

manafana

chavanel is proving to be highly effective in all sorts of tt's this season, could be outside threat for a medal in olympic or world tt's

Colonialboy

It must be that little motor in the bike stem at work .... I jest.
Cancellara is class as an individual and sportsman , pure poetry in motion .
This is Nicos chance to demonstrate he is the new improved and achieving his potential. Theres a top 10, even top 5 , potential pdium available to him if he can put in a decent ITT. So many team plans are out the window cos of the crashes they dont know what their at.
I hope he read his own book and learned a few of his mistakes.

Well done Dan, hope you get another chance, dont be throwing away the bottel until your half way up the hill and given the head a good soaking ..

joker77

Sagan looking human after all

dastardly00

Sagan finished his TT but didn't do a wheelie :pac:

Lumen

joker77 wrote: »

Sagan looking human after all

He only needs to make it in under the time limit.

joker77

Suppose, just make it in under the limit if he's going for green

buffalo

manafana wrote: »

chavanel is proving to be highly effective in all sorts of tt's this season, could be outside threat for a medal in olympic or world tt's

Half a minute ahead of Tony Martin at second check. Fark!

dastardly00

Was Cancellara wearing the Swiss National TT Champions jersey, or the regular Radioshack jersey? It just popped into my head because I think he was just wearing the Radioshack skinsuit.

BQQ

Van Garderen up on Cancellera at first time check :eek:

Amazing if he can keep this up.

Aln_S

Schleck 1:23 down after 16.5K. Not too bad if he can hold it at that, but i doubt it.

Darkglasses

Could someone please explain the elliptical rings Wiggo was using?

CramCycle

Darkglasses wrote: »

Could someone please explain the elliptical rings Wiggo was using?

Was he using Biopace rings?

Aln_S

Osymeteric gear rings have the effect of putting you in a higher (harder) gear when you are pushing your foot down and a lower (easier) gear when you are raising your foot.

Well thats my simple understanding of it anyhow!

Columbia

Darkglasses wrote: »

Could someone please explain the elliptical rings Wiggo was using?

Essentially it gives him a 'big' front ring during the most powerful part of his pedalstroke (let's say 2-5 o'clock), and a 'little' ring during the weakest or dead part of his stroke (11-1 o'clock).

mcgratheoin

Aln_S wrote: »

Osymeteric gear rings have the effect of putting you in a higher (harder) gear when you are pushing your foot down and a lower (easier) gear when you are raising your foot.

Well thats my simple understanding of it anyhow!

Close. But if it was easier when one foot is going up it'd be the same for the other one going down. Basically it's easier at the top and bottom of the pedal stroke - where you need to get your leg over the top of the circle you move through. Then it's a bit harder when you are pushing down on the pedal so it supposedly means you can eke a bit more power out of each pedal stroke.

buffalo

BQQ wrote: »

Van Garderen up on Cancellera at first time check :eek:

Amazing if he can keep this up.

Still two seconds ahead at second time check... will he fade over the last 15km?