Tour de France 2015 Stage 3 Antwerp - Huy *contains unmasked spoilers*

Darkglasses

C-cycling preview

Oddschecker: Valverde 13/8, Rodriguez 11/2, Dan Martin 11/2, Albasini 18/1

MPFG

Joaquin Rodriguez

Dan Martin it is then

Brian?

Joaquin Rodriguez

Vincenzo Nibali, for the craic.

Arrow in the Knee

Bling Matthews

Thomas Voeckler

georgieM

Joaquin Rodriguez

Dan Martin for the win. He has been getting gradually better at this finish and should be there at the end today. Was confident before crashing out earlier this year.

spock.

I fancy Gerrans for today.

Koobcam

Joaquin Rodriguez

Heart and part of the head says Dan. If he doesn't snag the win then I'd be happy with Gerrans, Valverde or anyone else on my fantasy TdF team...

letape

Dan Martin

Valverde has been in very good form lately so he's my favourite for today. Would love to see Dan do it though after a tough start for him in the race so far.

Morrisseeee

Joaquin Rodriguez

Should be a cracker of a stage.
The finish is interesting, there's a railroad crossing and a stiff climb to get over before the actual fireworks.

After Côte de Ereffe (2.1 km / 5 % avg), the riders enter Huy with just under 10 km to go. Those riders who took part in Flèche Wallonne this year will know the final part of the stage very well. It’s exactly the same route with the inclusion of Côte de Cherave. This ascent starts with 6.8 km to go as the peloton crosses the railroad tracks. The 1.3 km towards the top have an average gradient of 8.1 % with parts of 13 %. The riders who know they can’t challenge the top favorites at the finish, have a golden opportunity to get a gap before starting on Mur de Huy.

If puncheurs like Cancellara, Sagan or Kwiatowski try to go on the first climb, they might stay away.
Otherwise hard to see past Valverde (unfortunately). Would love to see Dan the man storm to victory

/According to letour.com Uran weighs in @ 54kg and Froome @ 72kg !!!

ionadnapokot

Joaquin Rodriguez

This is Dan's! He is aiming for a win on this stage.

ben.schlomo

Vincenzo Nibali

Nice to see Martin do it but im on Pinot and Sagan at decent e/w prices.

Leroy42

On what basis do we all have such confidence in Dan? I don't recall him showing any particular form to suggest that he can take this. Don't get me wrong, would lover him to do it, but I don't see why he is tipped ahead of others who have shown better form.

ZiabR

Joaquin Rodriguez

Has to be Dan the man.

Pudsy33

Joaquin Rodriguez

Leroy42 wrote: »

On basis do we all have such confidence in Dan. I don't recall him showing any particular form to suggest that he can take this. Don't get me wrong, would lover him to do it, but I don't see why he is tipped ahead of others who have shown better form.

Who has shown better form and is suited to the type of finish? I'd argue only Valverde and Allaphillipe and the latter ain't here.

Dan was 7th in the Dauphine, that's pretty serious form.

Morrisseeee

Joaquin Rodriguez

Leroy42 wrote: »

On what basis do we all have such confidence in Dan? I don't recall him showing any particular form to suggest that he can take this. Don't get me wrong, would lover him to do it, but I don't see why he is tipped ahead of others who have shown better form.

I guess the fact he's Irish, he has form on the Huy and he's fresh

gordongekko

Leroy42 wrote: »

On what basis do we all have such confidence in Dan? I don't recall him showing any particular form to suggest that he can take this. Don't get me wrong, would lover him to do it, but I don't see why he is tipped ahead of others who have shown better form.

According to his diary

Things break up a lot on the Mur de Huy and we’ll be hoping that whomever has the yellow jersey starting the stage will finish back on the climb and lose time. That plus the win bonus could be enough; I’ll try to do the best ride that I can and see where things end up.
At the very least, a good ride there and on the Mur de Bretagne at the end of stage eight should put me in a good position overall heading into the team time trial and then the big mountain stages.

johnk123

Nairo Quintana

Is this kicking off at 12:10 irish time? With the weather, lunch at the desk could be a good call today!

ThisRegard

Leroy42 wrote: »

On what basis do we all have such confidence in Dan?

Well more importantly it's a stage that looks well suited to a panda, and you know what the appearance of a panda means for Dan.

G1032

Morrisseeee wrote: »

If puncheurs like Cancellara, Sagan or Kwiatowski try to go on the first climb, they might stay away.
Otherwise hard to see past Valverde (unfortunately). Would love to see Dan the man storm to victory

/According to letour.com Uran weighs in @ 54kg and Froome @ 72kg !!!

How come Valverde is such an unpopular rider? I used to watch the racing years ago but only started taking an interest again in the last couple of years. I've seen a few suggestions of dislike for Valverde on this forum but I don't know why. Is he unpopular in the peloton?

godtabh

G1032 wrote: »

How come Valverde is such an unpopular rider? I used to watch the racing years ago but only started taking an interest again in the last couple of years. I've seen a few suggestions of dislike for Valverde on this forum but I don't know why. Is he unpopular in the peloton?

He sucks wheels and doesnt do any work

mcgratheoin

godtabh wrote: »

He sucks wheels and doesnt do any work

I must be hated so

Pudsy33

Joaquin Rodriguez

G1032 wrote: »

How come Valverde is such an unpopular rider? I used to watch the racing years ago but only started taking an interest again in the last couple of years. I've seen a few suggestions of dislike for Valverde on this forum but I don't know why. Is he unpopular in the peloton?

godtabh wrote: »

He sucks wheels and doesnt do any work

That and he's a unrepentant ex-doper.

G1032

godtabh wrote: »

He sucks wheels and doesnt do any work

Pudsy33 wrote: »

That and he's a unrepentant ex-doper.

Well that explains that then!! Cheers.

dastardly00

Only just read this now:

No three kilometer rule in case of crashes today as its considered an uphill finish

So expect a lot of crashes then as all the GC guys try to stay at the front of the bunch.

dastardly00

Tom Dumoulin is 3rd in GC and is only 6 and 3 seconds behind Cancellara and Tony Martin respectively. He's 26 seconds ahead of 4th place (Sagan). Will Dumoulin be wearing the malliot jaune after the stage today?

kenmc

watching on a stream in work, the english ones aren't working for me, so i've a choice of bog4 or a dutch station. the dutch one is SOOOO much easier to listen to. Even understand bits of it too.
No idea why bog4 persist in covering it, surely they can't have that much audience from it, relative to how much they pay for it?

gordongekko

kenmc wrote: »

watching on a stream in work, the english ones aren't working for me, so i've a choice of bog4 or a dutch station. the dutch one is SOOOO much easier to listen to. Even understand bits of it too.
No idea why bog4 persist in covering it, surely they can't have that much audience from it, relative to how much they pay for it?

What the hell is bog4?

kenmc

gordongekko wrote: »

What the hell is bog4?

the foreign language channel on saorview.

Pudsy33

Joaquin Rodriguez

dastardly00 wrote: »

Tom Dumoulin is 3rd in GC and is only 6 and 3 seconds behind Cancellara and Tony Martin respectively. He's 26 seconds ahead of 4th place (Sagan). Will Dumoulin be wearing the malliot jaune after the stage today?

I reckon so, yeah. He should take 6 seconds from Spartacus.

Darkglasses

Nairo Quintana

Love these cooking bits from Jonathan Harris-Bass. I know I'm supposed to be only interested in the racing, but I love quasi-related featurettes. Very classy.

Darkglasses

Nairo Quintana

gordongekko wrote: »

What the hell is bog4?

I think he's referring to TG4.

MPFG

Joaquin Rodriguez

I expect Cancellera and Nibali and a few others to attack on second last climb or maybe even 3rd last

Two riders who rode this very well this year are Albasini & Vuillermoz (Ag2R)
But the latter is working for Bardet so I expect Albasini , Matthews & Gerrans to be all there or there abouts...wonder if the will work for Albasini

If he is on the climb in a good position then Dan Martin is fastest up the climb for my money and he is in great form but the problem is the team helping him onto the climb with all the heavy weight organised teams vying for position and Garmins lack of organisation

gordongekko

kenmc wrote: »

the foreign language channel on saorview.

Which one of rte one rte two rte news rte jr Tv3 3e and utvi are you talking about??

BQQ

Have a good feeling about Dan today.

Brian?

Joaquin Rodriguez

kenmc wrote: »

watching on a stream in work, the english ones aren't working for me, so i've a choice of bog4 or a dutch station. the dutch one is SOOOO much easier to listen to. Even understand bits of it too.
No idea why bog4 persist in covering it, surely they can't have that much audience from it, relative to how much they pay for it?

Are you talking about TG4? It's hardly their fault you didn't pay attention for over a decade in school.

Pay for the Eurosport player, it's worth the money.

ThisRegard

Darkglasses wrote: »

Love these cooking bits from Jonathan Harris-Bass. I know I'm supposed to be only interested in the racing, but I love quasi-related featurettes. Very classy.

And we had heathens complain about them yesterday. Eurosport cycling coverage rools.

retalivity

Thomas Voeckler

Morrisseeee wrote: »

/According to letour.com Uran weighs in @ 54kg and Froome @ 72kg !!!

Also from letour -

"Movistar team manager Eusebio Unzue spoke to letour.com this morning: “The Tour is decisive every day. It might be the case again today with the crowd, the wind and many other things that can impact the race. Our leader Nairo Quintana only weights 50kg."

Its a wonder he didn't blow away into the North Sea yesterday...

JamJamJamJam

Brian? wrote: »

Are you talking about TG4? It's hardly their fault you didn't pay attention for over a decade in school.

Pay for the Eurosport player, it's worth the money.

How much is it? Tempted, although I'm fairly sure I'm going to win the competition on TG4 this year so I might just watch it for that...

retalivity

Thomas Voeckler

2 of my hard earned euros on Rui Costa e/w @66/1

neris

two contenders on eurosport for worst ads of the tdf so far. the 3 mobile ad & the alpecin ad with marcel kittel

Darkglasses

Nairo Quintana

JamJamJamJam wrote: »

How much is it? Tempted, although I'm fairly sure I'm going to win the competition on TG4 this year so I might just watch it for that...

6.99 a month, I used it last year when I had no telly and was very happy with it. Had no trouble cancelling it when the season was over.

Brian?

Joaquin Rodriguez

neris wrote: »

two contenders on eurosport for worst ads of the tdf so far. the 3 mobile ad & the alpecin ad with marcel kittel

I liked the Alpecin add. It's very Eurosport

. I was surprised by the 3 add, it's an a brand most people have heard of with an add on Eurosport!

Darkglasses

Nairo Quintana

Skoda always do a good ad. Think this one was the best TdF ad -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbDprjPR8yE

JamJamJamJam

Darkglasses wrote: »

6.99 a month, I used it last year when I had no telly and was very happy with it. Had no trouble cancelling it when the season was over.

The deed is done! I spend that on a Netflix account I rarely use - no excuse!! :cool:

Darkglasses

Nairo Quintana

JamJamJamJam wrote: »

The deed is done! I spend that on a Netflix account I rarely use - no excuse!! :cool:

Well wear - if you've any issues I find their twitter account helpful. Remember to cancel it after the Vuelta!

MPFG

Joaquin Rodriguez

Darkglasses wrote: »

Well wear - if you've any issues I find their twitter account helpful. Remember to cancel it after the Vuelta!

After il Lombardia surely

GetWithIt

MPFG wrote: »

After il Lombardia surely

That's how it starts. Next thing it's "well, after the Tour of Beijing", and before you know it you're watching the European Junior Biathlon Championships

(repeat)

.

Darkglasses

Nairo Quintana

MPFG wrote: »

After il Lombardia surely

Don't think it's worth paying for a full month to watch a one dayer, but each to her/his own.

pajor

Simon Yates

kenmc wrote: »

watching on a stream in work, the english ones aren't working for me, so i've a choice of bog4 or a dutch station. the dutch one is SOOOO much easier to listen to. Even understand bits of it too.
No idea why bog4 persist in covering it, surely they can't have that much audience from it, relative to how much they pay for it?

NOS all the way to Paris. I can stream anywhere legally for freeee.

pelevin

Joaquin Rodriguez

GetWithIt wrote: »

before you know it you're watching the European Junior Biathlon Championships

(repeat)

.

Looking forward to that. Should be great this year.

gordongekko

Irish road race is on at 5pm