Tour de France 2015 Stage 17 Digne-les-Bains - Pra Loup *contains unmasked spoilers*

ZiabR

Stage Summary:

The city welcomed its first stage of the Tour de France in 1933, crowning the futur winner, Georges Speicher. The following year, it was again on a stage heading to Digne that Vietto had conquered his nickname, “Roi René” (King René) while Eddy Merckx won there with the Yellow Jersey on his shoulders on his first appearance in 1969. More recently, in 2005, David Moncoutié had claimed his second Tour stage after a 40-km solo effort. Three years later, victory went to Oscar Freire after a bunched sprint.

Finish Line:

While the southern Alps ski resort only welcomed two stages of the Tour de France, it was the theater of one of the turning points in cycling history: the end of Eddy Merckx's reign in 1975. After having won five editions of the Tour de France, “the Cannibal” suffered a major blow on the final climb of stage 15. Making it to Pra Loup with a 2-minute time deficit, Merckx would lose his last Yellow Jersey, headed to the shoulders of Bernard Thévenet. The Frenchman claimed his sixth Tour stage, a victory that would allow him to add his name, a few days later, on the victory list of the event.

With 5 categorised climbs, this is going to be a tough stage for the riders and now is the time for the GC contenders to start attacking Froome and Team Sky's lead.

Climbs:

Km 40.0 - Col des Lèques6 kilometre-long climb at 5.3% - category 3
Km 67.0 - Col de Toutes Aures6.1 kilometre-long climb at 3.1% - category 3
Km 96.0 - Col de la Colle-Saint-Michel (1 431 m)11 kilometre-long climb at 5.2% - category 2
Km 139.0 - Col d'Allos ( 2 250 m)14 kilometre-long climb at 5.5% - category 1
Km 161.0 - PRA LOUP (1 620 m)6.2 kilometre-long climb at 6.5% - category 2

Stage Profile:



Mountain Passes and Hills:

ZiabR

I am going to go with Nairo, even though I know Froome is most likely to strong, but we need someone to put him under pressure for the good of the race.

Talib Fiasco

It'll be interesting to see if the rest day has a positive/negative effect on some riders like last week.

ZiabR

Really looking forward to todays stage. Bertie has been talking himself up and commented that the TDF is not over, but I think he knows 3:10 to Froome is a very tall mountain to climb... (see what I did there? )

Either way, I don't think today will be a day for the break.

el tel

Which stage is the queen stage this year?

MPFG

el tel wrote: »

Which stage is the queen stage this year?

Did we not have it...over the Tourmalaet ?

If nto then it must be Friday

YeahOK

MPFG wrote: »

Did we not have it...over the Tourmalaet ?

If nto then it must be Friday

Yes, Friday is the Queen stage.

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2015/us/stage-19.html

PowerToWait

Camping in the wilds of Donegal since Thursday. Arrived back Monday, looking forward to yesterday's stage. Rest day! Lazy oiks.

Looking forward to this.

retalivity

Thunderstorms due for Allos at 4pm
Expected time in Allos (@39km/h): 3:53pm

Talib Fiasco

You'd feel this has to be Contador's day to keep alive his hopes. Lose time here and it's over. I think JRod is good for this if he's in the break. Decent descender and doesn't fare bad in the rain. I'm also hoping Kelderman and/or Kruijswijk could do something.

eagle eye

Fancy Nibali for this one with the big descent just before the final climb.

YeahOK

Interesting stage profile. Looks like one where the rest of the peloton might try and break up the Sky team dominance. It's short and hilly enough to do just that and I personally thought the Sky train looked tired on Monday. Really depends how teams went over the rest day and whether or not it was enough for them to fully recuperate.

Bertie to have a rattle, it's getting close to p*ss or get off the pot time for him.....

lennymc

am i the only one who is reminded of duran duran when they see rigaberto uran uran?

Darkglasses

I think this suits Sky pretty OK, thursday more likely to be the day the others have a chance to make up some ground.

Talib Fiasco

lennymc wrote: »

am i the only one who is reminded of duran duran when they see rigaberto uran uran?

I'm reminded of the boxer Roberto Duran alright...not the band though.

retalivity

lol....sagan on the attack again

neris

YeahOK wrote: »

Yes, Friday is the Queen stage.

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2015/us/stage-19.html

is saturday with aple dhuez not the queen?

ZiabR

retalivity wrote: »

lol....sagan on the attack again

Seriously? What size is the break?

retalivity

break didnt get away....peloton is all together ahead of the first climb

neris

retalivity wrote: »

lol....sagan on the attack again

i really hope for your sake your not watching eurosport

Talib Fiasco

Yeah Sagan has numerous break attempts foiled. Along with Pinot, JRod, Talansky, Kruijswijk among others. Peloton letting nothing get away. Sam Bennett dropping off already.

Talib Fiasco

It's scary to think that Sagan is ahead of the likes of JRod, Uran, Peraud, Majka, Hesjedal in the GC. The guy is a monster.

retalivity

neris wrote: »

i really hope for your sake your not watching eurosport

No, cyclingnews live tracker

13:43:32 CEST
Timmer and Navarro are joined by the chasers and we now have a group of 36 riders out in front. They have 25 seconds on the peloton and this one might be sticking. Pinot is in there along with the green and polka dot jerseys.

13:40:37 CEST
Attack
Another attack as we start this first climb of the day for real. Albert Timmer (Giant-Alpecin) and Dani Navarro (Cofidis) have gone clear. There's a large group forming, though, ahead of the peloton and it includes Sagan and Rodríguez.

Talib Fiasco

Quintana has attacked! Where the f*ck are the live pictures:(

neris

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

Quintana has attacked! Where the f*ck are the live pictures:(

1pm on eurosport think itv normally come on at 2

neris

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

It's scary to think that Sagan is ahead of the likes of JRod, Uran, Peraud, Majka, Hesjedal in the GC. The guy is a monster.

be interesting to see how he goes from today on in the high mountains. his physique has changed over the last number of years and hes more bulkier and muscly now aswell

Talib Fiasco

neris wrote: »

1pm on eurosport think itv normally come on at 2

Lol yeah I know but it goes to show, sometimes they should have live pictures from the start, especially for mountain stages. Same thing happened with Contador in the Vuelta a few years ago. People were going mental as news broke he launched a massive solo attack.

Pudsy33

Tejay has blown up allegedly!

Talib Fiasco

Tejay VG dropped apparently....ugggggh come on with the TV

Edit: Over a minute down already?

Arrow in the Knee

The other GC contenders have to do something today. I don't want hear about tomorrow, Friday or Saturday.

I just want to see proper attacks not the half hearted Valverde attacks we've seen so far.

wirelessdude01

Van Garderen gone out the back already. Approx 60 riders have gone out of the main bunch at this early stage.

D3PO

I looked at todays profile and thought breakaway and not too much going on with GC. Its seriously kicking off. Cant believe Im in the office !!

Brian

Come on Sagan!

Talib Fiasco

0 f*cks given by Sagan again.

D3PO

TVG could blow a top ten not to mind a podium today hes clearly undercooked after the rest day.

Talib Fiasco

Have to say I am delighted to see TJVG blow up so early. Wouldn't surprise me too see him abandon.

velo.2010

Damn, can't believe I'm missing this action.

Pudsy33

velo.2010 wrote: »

Damn, can't believe I'm missing this action.

We all are, no pictures

neris

TVG looking for the doctor accorsing to lemond on tour

wirelessdude01

TJ, called for the medical car. Gonna guess he won't finish the stage today.

Decuc500

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

Have to say I am delighted to see TJVG blow up so early. Wouldn't surprise me too see him abandon.

Nice post. Seems like he's in big trouble. Apparently he's looking for medical assistance. I suppose you want the two Spanish role models to pass him in GC...

stecleary

TG4 shows live pics a few min earlier than Eurosport, but even they are showing a round up at the moment.....

PeadarCo

Feel sorry for Sam and the grumpetto. Not the start they wanted especially with the next few days coming up.

Boscoirl

Cmon tg4 show live pics

stecleary

tg4 are live

Talib Fiasco

Decuc500 wrote: »

Nice post. Seems like he's in big trouble. Apparently he's looking for medical assistance. I suppose you want the two Spanish role models to pass him in GC...

I want anyone who actually consciously races and looks to attack and not protect take advantage of this. Had Quintana waited until the second to last climb to attack TJ would most likely be still wheel sucking his way up, but credit to Quintana, taking matters into his own hands early and destroying those who cannot hold on.

retalivity

finally pictures...and sagan is out front on his own

Talib Fiasco

Sagan is the new Tommy V being the most combative rider day in day out. Got the green jersey and all to match.

Decuc500

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

I want anyone who actually consciously races and looks to attack and not protect take advantage of this. Had Quintana waited until the second to last climb to attack TJ would most likely be still wheel sucking his way up, but credit to Quintana, taking matters into his own hands early and destroying those who cannot hold on.

Maybe something to do with Quintana actually being better than Van Garderen in the mountains and being able to attack? Cycling ain't rocket science. Either you have it or you don't.

neris

that sky sports ad on eurosport must be new. variety

retalivity

Porte, Roche, Uran, Adam Yates, Hesjedal, Majka all ahead of the peloton, according to the live data tracking