Tour de France Stage 14 – July 19th, Grenoble - Risoul **Unmasked Spoilers**

Darkglasses

GC standings:

1. Nibali
2. Valverde 3'37
3. Bardet 4'24
4. Pinot 4'40
5. Van Garderen 5'19
6. Peraud 6'06
7. Mollema 6'17
8. Van den Broeck 6'27
9. Costa 8'35
10. Konig 8'36

KOM standings:

Nibali - 70 pts
Rodriguez - 53 pts
Pinot - 41 pts
Valverde - 40 pts
Majka - 40 pts

Oddschecker: Nibali 7/2, Rodriguez 5/1, Majka 15/2, Nieve 9/1, Rogers 12/1, Valverde 15/1

Some of you are getting into dangerous territory, so I will remind everybody right now - do not even hint that somebody has doped if it has not been proven in the public domain. Do so, and you will be taking a holiday from the forum for the rest of the race.

lennymc

Konig

Only 3 climbs? Pffft. Easy day

pelevin

Bardet

They should get rid of the downhill bits.

pelevin

Bardet

Random mad guess - Frank Schleck to profit from being in a breakaway. Doesn't look like anyone has the beating of Nibali in a straight fight.

letape

Van Garderen

Old man Horner to go early on the first climb and take the yellow by the finish.

pajor

Roche

It seems like anybody in the top 20 of the GC could win today, especially Nibbles of course.

Choice is Pinot though as one of the Frenchmen who are actually in a good place to capitalise on something.

snollup

My wife was just wondering if Nibali was any relation to Luis Suarez

Dr. Bre

Nieve for me today sky have to let him loose and take revenge for their miserable day yesterday. Also Purrito has to be in breakaway today!

seany15

Majka

Fancy j-rod today, he'll want to get the polka dots back. I know he's probably wearing them anyway, but you know what i mean.

Brian?

Majka

Rodriguez to go early for the KOM points. Frank Schleck to win the stage, he been riding into form the last few days.

Edit: Nibali will happily allow Rodriguez to take the polka dot jersey back. He's no threat on GC and the good will of Katusha could come in handy.

retalivity

Majka yesterday, Rodgers the day before, its nico's turn again to have a go...doubt it will stick though.

Apart from the obvious nibbles prediction, I'll go with vangarderen, been doing ok without being spectacular

Inquitus

Dr. Bre wrote: »

Nieve for me today sky have to let him loose and take revenge for their miserable day yesterday. Also Purrito has to be in breakaway today!

He's in the break with Thomas to help him out, got to be in with a shout.

Pudsy33

Roche out there too. That break is not coming back. Hope he's given a shot and not working for Majka

ThisRegard

Yeah, there's some decent riders in the break alright.

MPFG

Roche will have to work for Majka..Majka wont work for him I think

Also Majka could go for the polka dot jersey today..not far behind J-Rod so will want the win ...so I am sure team will have Roche work for him

ThisRegard

Inquitus wrote: »

He's in the break with Thomas to help him out, got to be in with a shout.

I see on the tracker he dropped from the break, what happened?

pajor

Roche

ThisRegard wrote: »

I see on the tracker he dropped from the break, what happened?

Dunno, but he's back now.

Edit: Duh.. it did say 'crevaison' when eurosport cut away to asking the riders what their first car was. :rolleyes:

Inquitus

ThisRegard wrote: »

I see on the tracker he dropped from the break, what happened?

He got a puncture, should get back in fine.

REBELSAFC

Pinot

MPFG wrote: »

Roche will have to work for Majka..Majka wont work for him I think

Also Majka could go for the polka dot jersey today..not far behind J-Rod so will want the win ...so I am sure team will have Roche work for him

I think it will depend how they are feeling. Nico stated in his Independent piece today that he knew he didn't feel right and he decided to collect the bottles for Rodgers and Majka.

I think they might get to the bottom of the final climb and decide there. The climb up to Risoul should suit Majka better but we saw Nico climb brilliantly in the Ruote du Sud.

MPFG

REBELSAFC wrote: »

I think it will depend how they are feeling. Nico stated in his Independent piece today that he knew he didn't feel right and he decided to collect the bottles for Rodgers and Majka.

I think they might get to the bottom of the final climb and decide there. The climb up to Risoul should suit Majka better but we saw Nico climb brilliantly in the Ruote du Sud.

mjka is bound to be the fresher ....he did nothing in the first 10 stages of the Tour ....Roche worked hard as a domestique

Darkglasses

Schleck

Demare going for a poo...?

Pudsy33

Demare just walked into some spectators caravan

Boscoirl

Those McClarens must be evil, one of the Astana lads has one, and he is covered in bandages

Darkglasses

Schleck

pajor

Roche

Diarrhea according to the website ticker. Blegh.

Darkglasses

Schleck

pajor wrote: »

Diarrhea according to the website ticker. Blegh.

Some very tolerant campervan owners there.

death1234567

pajor wrote: »

Diarrhea according to the website ticker. Blegh.

Just glad he didn't do 'a Greg LeMond' on it.

me89

Breakaway won't last much longer at this rate

Darkglasses

Schleck

Nico and the rest of the breakaway are now climbing the Izoard

ThisRegard

pajor wrote: »

Diarrhea according to the website ticker. Blegh.

Or, as Carlton told Europe, the scutters as it's known in Ireland.

dastardly00

Van Garderen

Nico is cooked.

Pudsy33

Too steep for him?

John.Icy

You have to wonder did Roche pay everyone to let him win the Route du Sud!

In poor poor climbing form! Bertie duties earlier on are no excuse, considering he's took it easy enough in plenty of stages and other domestiques are performing better in the break. Very disappointing.

Talib Fiasco

Rogers

Finally Horner bonks

dastardly00

Van Garderen

Pudsy33 wrote: »

Too steep for him?

It was steep, but the pace wasn't too high. He just doesn't seem to have his climbing legs.

He's only about 30 seconds behind the lead group so he'll probably make it back before the start of the final climb, and then work for Majka as long as he can.

dastardly00

Van Garderen

Thibaut Pinot leading the peloton on the descent of the Col d'Iozard :eek: :pac:

pelevin

Bardet

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

Finally Horner bonks

Age has finally caught up with him.

MPFG

I agree its very disappointing for Nico but he may not be well ...we don' know

He has climbed just as steep climbs in the past and been up with the contenders ...so something isn't right ... he has very variable form .....

MPFG

Bardet attacking on the descent....wanting to but Pinot in trouble as he heard he was not confident on the descents

pelevin

Bardet

Bardet seems a right gutsy character.

nerraw1111

Any chance Nico dropped back deliberately? Save legs for last climb while also having a team mate in breakaway.

dastardly00

Van Garderen

Nico is all the way back with the Nibali/Bardet/other GC guys.

A_Sober_Paddy

Did sagan crash?

MPFG

Can't imagine anyone wud leave first group.....maybe he had to take a moment like Demare but there were no mobile homes !!!

Eamonnator

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Did sagan crash?

I saw him, a while ago, changing a front wheel.

Darkglasses

Schleck

He dropped off the back by himself a good while ago, just saving himself.

dastardly00

Van Garderen

It's a sprinter's stage tomorrow so it makes sense for Sagan to take it easy for the rest of today.
Although he'll probably finish second tomorrow anyway!

Paddigol

Poor ol Nico does seem to get a hard time from a lot of folk.

REBELSAFC

Pinot

Darkglasses wrote: »

He dropped off the back by himself a good while ago, just saving himself.

What is he saving himself for???

Darkglasses

Schleck

REBELSAFC wrote: »

What is he saving himself for???

Tomorrow's stage, he still hasn't won one and the profile isn't too bad for him. Better chance if he goes into it a bit more fresh.

Talib Fiasco

Rogers

AG2R going HAM