Tour de France 2015 Stage 9 Vannes - Plumelec TTT *contains unmasked spoilers*

pajor

This stage is unique in the history of cycling. Usually a team time trial is contested in the first third of a Grand Tour but eight stages have already taken their toll. Orica-GreenEdge, the last squad to have won the TTT at the Tour de France two years ago, is three riders down due to the abandons of Simon Gerrans, Daryl Impey and Michael Albasini after crashing. Vannes to Plumelec is also an atypical course as it's lumpy with an uphill finish in a famous cycling heartland. Mûr de Bretagne stage winner Alexis Vuillermoz claimed the GP Plumelec one and half month ago. It's also the place where Alejandro Valverde took stage 1 in the 2008 Tour de France in which Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali were making their debut at the Grande Boucle. The three of them are under stress ahead of this 28-km long stage set to be decisive for the overall classification, as Chris Froome stated after stage 8. Their respective teams, Movistar, Sky and Astana, are potential winners, so are Tinkoff-Saxo and BMC. It won't be just physical but a tactical affair as well in terms of using the different riders' power smartly in the first part of the race and saving some energy for the conclusive hill where the fifth rider's time will count for the rankings.

Looks awful lumpy for a TTT. :pac:

stecleary

Lotto - Soudal

wheres the poll? everybody loves a poll

pajor

Lotto - Soudal

stecleary wrote: »

wheres the poll? everybody loves a poll

It's there now. At least it should be..

MPFG

BMC

Cannondale Garmin burnt a few matches yesterday so may have an effect today. Even Talansky lost time just like Nibali

The key is how the TTT is ridden. Keep riders together and pace at optimal level for all

Hard to pick a winner from these top 4
BMC have great TTers but the course favours climbers.
Movistar have both great TTers and climbers but climbers not best at TTT
TCS did a great TTT at the Giro and most of the team are here and used to riding together .
SKY have best climbing team but need to get the technical side correct. Not sure how much practice they have had together since the Dauphine


I guess I would still go for Movistar. They brought 3 brilliant TTTers just for this so must be targeting this stage for an age

SummerRebel

Lotto - Soudal

Looking forward to seeing the 6 man Orica team getting on.

68 lost souls

Lotto - Soudal

Katusha should put in a good showing no?

retalivity

Iam are my dark horses, top 5 anyway, maybe top 3

dastardly00

68 lost souls wrote: »

Katusha should put in a good showing no?

Not sure if serious......

68 lost souls

Lotto - Soudal

dastardly00 wrote: »

Not sure if serious......

Did well in the Giro and Tour of Austria. Wouldn't e surprised if they pulled off something special today. Possibly not a win but I'd say they'll be up there.

Talib Fiasco

Movistar

Froome to drop his own team on the climb ala Lance.

SummerRebel

Lotto - Soudal

All you need to know about aerodynamics:

https://youtu.be/hVqKnWudp38

niceonetom

Van Garderen to be in yellow by this evening.

68 lost souls

Lotto - Soudal

Be interesting if Tinkoff push to get Contador back up into contention they could do well enough to put Sagan in yellow. Not exactly there plan stated at the start of the tour.

MPFG

BMC

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

Froome to drop his own team on the climb ala Lance.

Considering he has Thomas, Porte & Konig who are top TTers and two of which were better than him in opening TT I can't see that

Plus unnecessary to compare Froome to Armstrong ( very obvious what is implied)

irishrover99

Lotto - Soudal

Sagan to be in yellow at the end of day, froome will loose about 40 seconds on the stage winner which might be BMC

Boscoirl

What's the running order?

GC or the team GC?

Eamonnator

Lotto - Soudal

Boscoirl wrote: »

What's the running order?

GC or the team GC?

GC

Sky off last.

retalivity

irishrover99 wrote: »

Sagan to be in yellow at the end of day, froome will loose about 40 seconds on the stage winner which might be BMC

Barring a complete ballsup, I only see BMC beating sky, possibly movistar if they gun it

cunavalos

irishrover99 wrote: »

Sagan to be in yellow at the end of day, froome will loose about 40 seconds on the stage winner which might be BMC

With only 2 seconds separating TJ and Sagan a victory for BMC should be enough for TJ to take yellow

Talib Fiasco

Movistar

MPFG wrote: »

Considering he has Thomas, Porte & Konig who are top TTers and two of which were better than him in opening TT I can't see that

Plus unnecessary to compare Froome to Armstrong ( very obvious what is implied)

It happened at the Dauphiné this year so it could easily happen again. Less likely but considering Froome is looking incredible it could happen.

Eamonnator

Lotto - Soudal

Eamonnator wrote: »

GC

Sky off last.

I'm sorry, I got it wrong.

The team of the Yellow jersey goes off last, other than that it's by Team GC.

Eamonnator

Lotto - Soudal

Start list and starting times are listed in this article.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/tour-de-france/tour-de-france-stage-nine-team-time-trial-start-order-181944

isitraining

BMC

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

It happened at the Dauphiné this year so it could easily happen again. Less likely but considering Froome is looking incredible it could happen.

I don't think he'll be pulling Nico to the line like he had to that day at the Dauphine!

Talib Fiasco

Movistar

isitraining wrote: »

I don't think he'll be pulling Nico to the line like he had to that day at the Dauphine!

Yeah definitely less likely, but it can still happen. Sky did a terrible TTT in the Giro too allbeit with less established guys there.

Darkglasses

Thank you for making the thread pajor!

Adam Hansen will riding on a road bike because of his shoulder injury

https://twitter.com/HansenAdam/status/620208927117078528

Talib Fiasco

Movistar

Darkglasses wrote: »

Thank you for making the thread pajor!

Adam Hansen will riding on a road bike because of his shoulder injury

https://twitter.com/HansenAdam/status/620208927117078528

He'll do anything to ensure he races every single stage of every GT :pac:

Talib Fiasco

Movistar

Orica struggling badly already

godtabh

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

Orica struggling badly already

With 6? They'll be luck to cross the lane as a group and be competitive

Darkglasses

godtabh wrote: »

With 6? They'll be luck to cross the lane as a group and be competitive

Think they're just hoping the Yateses have a crack next week and then roll into Paris in one piece.

Darkglasses

FDJ 45 seconds slower than Lampre, more bad news for Pinot.

godtabh

Darkglasses wrote: »

Think they're just hoping the Yateses have a crack next week and then roll into Paris in one piece.

That's the focus for them alright. The Yates look a very good prospect. Which one the the Giro? He looked strong in the mountains

Darkglasses

I read on twitter that OGE may actually be close to the time cut-off. In that situation is the whole team a DNF? That seems ridiculously harsh.

retalivity

Darkglasses wrote: »

I read on twitter that OGE may actually be close to the time cut-off. In that situation is the whole team a DNF? That seems ridiculously harsh.

Surely common sense woukd prevail.
Also question, do the dropped riders get the same time as the first 5 that finish? Or do they get their own time?

Talib Fiasco

Movistar

Darkglasses wrote: »

I read on twitter that OGE may actually be close to the time cut-off. In that situation is the whole team a DNF? That seems ridiculously harsh.

They should be safe enough but they are going casual enough about it alright. 30% time limit. Should be fine

Darkglasses

By my calculation 28'30 or so would put OGE in danger of the cut off..28km long, so about 60kph avg speed? Not too likely

MPFG

BMC

Darkglasses wrote: »

FDJ 45 seconds slower than Lampre, more bad news for Pinot.

When its not your year

Mind you he had a shocker in 2013 and a great year in 2014

Boscoirl

Astana in all sorts of trouble

JamJamJamJam

Lotto - Soudal

Why do the teams have 1 rider with a different helmet?

Edit - only some teams?

Darkglasses

JamJamJamJam wrote: »

Why do the teams have 1 rider with a different helmet?

I think it's to make it easier for the riders in front to pick out the team leader, but I could be wrong. When BMC did their TTT in the Belfast Giro, Cadel wore a different colour helmet.

Zzippy

retalivity wrote: »

Surely common sense woukd prevail.
Also question, do the dropped riders get the same time as the first 5 that finish? Or do they get their own time?

They get their own time and must still finish within the time limit. Ted King was eliminated from the Tour in 2013 as he finished outside the limit in the TTT due to injury.

Talib Fiasco

Movistar

Been a horrible Tour for Astana so far...definitely looked to have peaked for the Giro

Eamonnator

Lotto - Soudal

Boscoirl wrote: »

Astana in all sorts of trouble

seem to have got themselves a bit organised.

Darkglasses

Super time for Movistar, great work for Quintana

retalivity

great tt from movistar

Talib Fiasco

Movistar

Quintana was immense. He looks to be in great form.

Boscoirl

Who's is the second commentator on itv? He seems to be stuck in a loop, saying the same thing over and over again

Talib Fiasco

Movistar

Sky phenomenal...quite surprised by that. Froome putting in a monstrous shift at the front for most of it.

Eamonnator

Lotto - Soudal

Froome is going to stay in yellow, by the looks of it.

retalivity

froome has been at the front throughout....ridiculous

Talib Fiasco

Movistar

retalivity wrote: »

froome has been at the front throughout....ridiculous

I'm shocked by his strength

pajor

Lotto - Soudal

BMC now quickest by just 4 seconds.

But I don't think for long..