TDF Stage 18*Warning-contains unmasked spoilers

ednwireland

Blagnac – Brive-la-Gaillarde

Distance: 222.5km
Highest point: 337m
Category: Rolling

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-18

kenmc

Yawn. Sorry, nearly dropped off there again.

Ultegra

Cavendish?

on_the_nickel

The highlight will be Chris Froome going back for bottles and Sean Yates pushing him into the ditch.

flying11

a day for a breakaway or one for the sprinters?

it could go either way i think,the sprinters teams might be too tired after the last few mountain stages to chase down a break but then again there is only 1 more chance for victory after this stage (as stage 19 is a time trial).

The green jersey competition is over so im not sure if GreenEdge would be willing to chase down a break in the hope that Goss finally wins a stage. Same thing for Lotto-Bellisol and sky wont chase for Cavendish either. Seems to point towards a successful breakway day.

Also that climb with 10km to go would also but alot of sprinters in difficulty so maybe a day for someone like Gilbert?

happytramp

on_the_nickel wrote: »

The highlight will be Chris Froome going back for bottles and Sean Yates pushing him into the ditch.

Is it also true that they intend tying him to the car with one of those extendable dog leads?

retalivity

its less than 2 km long...dont see anyone attacking out of the peloton & managing to stay away

Beasty

No discussion of any of the GC, KOM or other classifications following today's stage before midnight

Stick to today's thread

Thanks

Beasty

AG2R

on_the_nickel wrote: »

The highlight will be Chris Froome going back for bottles and Sean Yates pushing him into the ditch.

Actually made me laugh out loud

ednwireland

‏@MarkCavendish

No more mountains! No. More. Mountains. Only 400 flat(tish) kilometres left! And maybe some sprints. I hope. I can always hope...

lol

buffalo

Sagan, maybe Greipel. Gilbert as an outsider. If Cav has a sore leg from yesterday's collision, I can't see him winning it. He'll probably be saving himself to heal for Sunday.

I'm still trying to decide whether the break will stick, or as flying11 pointed out, will there be anyone willing to chase it down? It is possible for Sagan to lose the green?

AG2R

Nah don't think he can lose green now tbh

buffalo

So if Liquigas don't have to pull to ensure Sagan stays in green, and nobody else is going to chase to try get their sprinter into green, the only thing that anyone can get from today is a stage win, aye? I'm sure we'll see soon enough if a particular team have their eye on that prize.

petethedrummer

Sky to lead out Cav* in a show of force. Wiggins to be the last man to pull off.

*or Boasson Hagen if Cav is injured. Cav will win if it's him. Boasson Hagen won't.

petethedrummer

Interesting piece here from a few weeks ago by Robert Millar on who causes crashes on the run in.

The culprits are the second and third line sprinters who maybe just maybe, one day, get real lucky and end up on the right wheel at the right time then they'll finish in the top three by staying in the slipstream of the guys who can actually sprint. They usually then bang the bars and gesticulate wildly to anyone that'll listen that they got boxed in otherwise they would have won. In a month of Sundays maybe but there are only four in the Tour mon ami.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/robert-millar/robert-millar-one-second-more

His articles are fantastic.

joker77

There's a 450km transfer drive after today's stage!

Something to factor in thinking whether a break will stick, the day before the penultimate stage ITT.

joker77

(I think it's highly likely a breakaway will stick by the way, don't think today will come down to the sprinters)

buffalo

Boasson Hagen's in the break, there's your winner for today. You heard it here first!

Also, Ag2r without a man in the break, rather unusual.

petethedrummer

buffalo wrote: »

Boasson Hagen's in the break, there's your winner for today. You heard it here first!

Never thought of that. Sky won't chase him down, so it's up to OMEGA-LAMA-DING-DONG.

joker77

Yep - that break will stick.

Hard to call the winner - a few big hitters - someone like Costa maybe seeing there's that little hill before the finish?

Surely Boassan-Hagan has been doing too much work the last couple of weeks

I'll go for Costa / Millar / Hansen - one of the three

buffalo

joker77 wrote: »

Yep - that break will stick.

Hard to call the winner - a few big hitters - someone like Costa maybe seeing there's that little hill before the finish?

Surely Boassan-Hagan has been doing too much work the last couple of weeks

I'll go for Costa / Millar / Hansen - one of the three

BH is both a decent climber and a good descender. He won two stages last year, stage 17 had a second cat hill in the last ten km, finished right after the descent. Though yes, his workload might affect him.

Costa might be out to get his own stage after helping Valverde yesterday.

I'd say the other danger men are Vino, Vanendert, Roy, Albasini, Nuyens.

joker77

Yea would be keeping an eye on Vanendert as well

Break still hovering under the 3:30 mark, need a bit more daylight.

Edit: Yea I know Boassan-Hagan is quality - but he's been the lead man for Sky all tour and over a lot of climbs, has to be feeling it a little

BQQ

Vino looked strong the other day when 4th behind Tommy.

Astana need a win too.

buffalo

joker77 wrote: »

Edit: Yea I know Boassan-Hagan is quality - but he's been the lead man for Sky all tour and over a lot of climbs, has to be feeling it a little

Likewise Popo, but then again Voight has pulled out some sterling stages, and they've probably been doing the same amount of work for Radioshack.

buffalo

There has been an accident in the peloton that's been caused by a dog rushing on to the road. Gilbert (BMC) is one of the riders involved and he's just made a point of walking over to the owner of the dog to give them a piece of his mind...

Bloody ridiculous. Does this happen every year? Millar, Casar, Burghardt off the top of my head. Surely people know better by now? :rolleyes:

joker77

At least it's not a cow!

Ah - it's probably going to keep happening, they cover so many roads, it's impossible to control everything and dogs if not on a leash are going to do their own thing.

AG2R

is the dog ok :pac:

BQQ

gap only 2:25 and never been bigger than 3:30.

Maybe one for the sprinters after all

AG2R

Tyler was in the crash oh dear

BQQ

AG2R wrote: »

Tyler was in the crash oh dear

Seriously?

He must have smashed up a room full of mirrors

AG2R

BQQ wrote: »

Seriously?

He must have smashed up a room full of mirrors

yeah he was, Eurosport lads were talking about it and half ;laughing at the amount of crashes he's been in

joker77

hmmm.... gap coming down, a few unrepresented teams on the front of the peloton now drilling it...

I suppose they're under team orders and they have to - but do any of them have a sprinter with a realistic chance of winning? Seems a bit silly

Darkglasses

Crashing...Windows...Tyler 'Windows Vista' Farrar. :pac:

Hungrycol

joker77 wrote: »

hmmm.... gap coming down, a few unrepresented teams on the front of the peloton now drilling it...

I suppose they're under team orders and they have to - but do any of them have a sprinter with a realistic chance of winning? Seems a bit silly

TV airtime for the team sponsor most likely.

retalivity

so many teams have got bugger all to show for their efforts in this team...orica greenedge, ag2r, astana, katusha...i can see orica closing it down in the vain hope of going for a win for goss, only for sagan & greipel nip in before him for the win!

BQQ

Hungrycol wrote: »

TV airtime for the team sponsor most likely.

Or punishment for not getting in the break :pac:

buffalo

Break down to under a minute - come on BH, attack, attack!

joker77

Break doomed

AG2R

23km left 45" gap

monkeyslayer

15:41 Narrow handlebars for two of the escapees

Of the 14 in the lead of stage 18, there are two who are using handlebars that are signifcantly narrower than has been common for road racers in recent years. Adam Hansen (LTB) enjoys experimenting with equipment and he's been riding with 34cm wide bars for a couple of years now. (The standard is more like 40 or 42cm.)


You can see the difference in style that these narrow bars put him in.
David Millar's are also narrow but perhaps not as extreme as what Hansen's are...

AG2R

Hansen and Roy trying to attack
rest of the break about to be caught

AG2R

GO ON ROCHE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AG2R

bastards Rolland and Kloden straight onto his wheel

AG2R

Luis Leon trying to bridge the gap to Roche and Kloden, If Roche can get Luis Leon and work together he has a good chance to get away

Oldlegs

Nico leading out the chasing Pelaton with <10secs to close the gap

wonderfullife

Kloden straight on Nico's wheel!

BQQ

Go Nico.

Knew he'd try something

AG2R

Roche group has caught the leaders!!

Oldlegs

Gap at the front closed. 6 riders now leading out by 10 secs

AG2R

stop looking aroudn and work together idiots!

Oldlegs

Front group stretching a bit too much. 12 secs gap now