Tour de France Stage 11 Carcassonne › Montpellier

Pudsy33

The route

After a breakaway victory for Michael Matthews yesterday, the peloton takes on the easiest stage they've had in quite some time. The 162km stage has only 2 categorized climbs, both of which are lowly cat 4s which come early in the stage. As such the sprinters teams will be keen for a result tomorrow, especially those who have not gotten a win to this point. The final kilometer contains a 2% drag, but it is unlikely to cause many issues for the big men. What might cause a problem is the wind, with guts of 20-30km per hours forcasted across the route. Hopefully we get some echelons



Contenders


Mark Cavendish will be the bookies favorite, and for good reason. He has dominated the sprints so far, with three wins to his name. He'll be looking for a good result to close his defict to Sagan in the points competition. The German duo of Griepel and Kittel will likely be his closest challengers. The former traditionally gets stronger as races move towards their conclusion, and the latter has a team capable of taking advantage of any crosswind opportunities that present themselves. Other names that could feature are Sam Dumoulin, Degenkolb, Coquard, and Kristoff. Hopefully Bennett is feeling fit enough to contend, but with his broken finger I think I'm being a bit optimistic here.

Prediction

Kittel to get the better of Cavendish, with Sagan in third.

Lusk_Doyle

Greipel to join the party today.

Taxuser1

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Greipel to join the party today.

do you think ? I think his head is gone. King Cav back doing his thing and Greipel seems to have had position and team train but still loses the head around the 400 metre mark.

Genuinely think Cav is 3/4 bike lengths better than him and maybe has the better lead out than Etixx this year to put him in the position to beat Kittel - seems to be the only difference (bike length or so)

Kristoff should be closer today

TheBlaaMan

Cav is missing Renshaw in the lead out, so it will be interesting to see if it makes much difference.
Gorilla for the win....

topcat77

I do a good bit of cycling around Villespassans and Saint Chinian when i'm on holiday in Cebazan, I'm looking forward to seeing it on the big screen.

Taxuser1

savage crosswinds today according to Robbie McEwen

WinnyThePoo

Like Rob houses pants and belt. I didn't think i'd be typing that out.

Andy Magic

My money is on Kittel then tomorrow he'll drop out cause there's a time trial and mountains. :pac:

dastardly00

A few crashes already. Everyone okay I think. Pinot was the highest profile rider involved.

It's going to be a nervous day in the peloton.

REBELSAFC

Rumours that Mont Ventoux stage tomorrow will be shortened due to the high winds. From BBC:

13:58
There are rumours that tomorrow's Bastille Day trek up Mont Ventoux may be truncated. Wind speeds of 100km/h are being forecast and that is not good for bike racing.

I went up the Beast of Provence, in a car, while on holiday a couple of years ago. It was windy then, on a non-windy day!

A decision will be made in due course but the plan B is to stop the race at Chalet Reynard which is around 500m lower in altitude and 6km from the summit.

pelevin

Pity Contador wasn't there genuinely in the running. I guess he with Tinkoff would be much more likely to spark things off in terms of echelons than the likes of Movistar. Such a stage the year of Froome's first TdF win was one of the best stages of cycling I've seen. Contador rallying & spurring on the likes of Cavendish & Sagan to work holding off the peloton was a very impressive sight - a real general in action.

Inquitus

REBELSAFC wrote: »

Roumours that Mont Ventoux stage tomorrow will be shortened due to the high winds. From BBC:

13:58
There are rumours that tomorrow's Bastille Day trek up Mont Ventoux may be truncated. Wind speeds of 100km/h are being forecast and that is not good for bike racing.

I went up the Beast of Provence, in a car, while on holiday a couple of years ago. It was windy then, on a non-windy day!

A decision will be made in due course but the plan B is to stop the race at Chalet Reynard which is around 500m lower in altitude and 6km from the summit.

Who's hands does that play into? You'd have to think it disadvantages Froome and Quintana? and is likely good news to the rest of the GC hopefuls who might have expected to be gapped on the final stretched up tp the top past the Chalet?

pelevin

REBELSAFC wrote: »

Rumours that Mont Ventoux stage tomorrow will be shortened due to the high winds. From BBC:

13:58
There are rumours that tomorrow's Bastille Day trek up Mont Ventoux may be truncated. Wind speeds of 100km/h are being forecast and that is not good for bike racing.

100km/h!? Hope one of the key stages aren't messed up.

pelevin

Cavendish before the stage saying he thinks not enough changes in direction for the peloton to get split up during the stage though people could get dropped out the back. Though things look pretty splintered into a few groups as I look . . .

TheBlaaMan

Echelons !!!

cunavalos

It is a beautiful sight

mathie

I understand they're caused by trying to hide from crosswinds but why are the guys at the head of the echelons not cycling on the right to get everyone in the gutter?
Road going left up ahead?

pelevin

mathie wrote: »

I understand they're caused by trying to hide from crosswinds but why are the guys at the head of the echelons not cycling on the right to get everyone in the gutter?
Road going left up ahead?

But it's a symbiotic relationship. It's not the war of each against all!

manwithaplan

mathie wrote: »

I understand they're caused by trying to hide from crosswinds but why are the guys at the head of the echelons not cycling on the right to get everyone in the gutter?
Road going left up ahead?

Where does he go once he's done his turn then?

Heisenberg1

Good explanation from Le Mond on the sprinters teams tactics and technique on the getting their man home first.

dragratchet

sean kelly asked about conor dunne when he was in an post.. didnt know his name. then mis-named him conor henry.....

RobertKK

I hope Mont Ventoux is not affected by winds tomorrow, I think it is a mountain we all look forward to.

check_six

RobertKK wrote: »

I hope Mont Ventoux is not affected by winds tomorrow, I think it is a mountain we all look forward to.

Does Ventoux not mean windy? Let's hope it's just right for interesting racing!

RobertKK

check_six wrote: »

Does Ventoux not mean windy? Let's hope it's just right for interesting racing!

Yes, was reading up on it before tomorrow, an average of 240 exceptionally windy days, and winds over 200mph have been recorded at the summit.
Looks like the mistral could spoil things.

The wind today is shaking things up, not the way I like...

neris

chrirs froome to lead thomas out in the finish

irishrover99

This is interesting now. 4 good TT riders could hold this

xxyyzz

OOh now we're talking

velo.2010

Jesus, Froome could take a minute here.

Sagan.. what a beast!

xxyyzz

Why are the GC teams not chasing???

isitraining

xxyyzz wrote: »

Why are the GC teams not chasing???

Think they were all set up for the sprint. A delay in realising what was happening and it was too late.

Moflojo

Has a decision been made on Ventoux tomorrow yet? Are Sky taking a gamble that tomorrow's stage won't go to the summit?

godtabh

brilliant ride from Sagan and Froome

Eamonnator

That was just fantastic.

irishrover99

11 seconds but Froome could suffer for that tomorrow.Big effort but Sagan is a beast

xxyyzz

Chapeau Froome. Have to hand it to him

neris

great finish what a ride from those 4 at the end

Borderfox

Great stuff, going to rename it to the Tour de don't know what Froomey is going to do next!!

GetWithIt

Wonder if Sky have taken the view that Mont Ventoux will be neutralised tomorrow - or effectively - by the wind.

lissard

Dare I say it, Froome is actually quite entertaining this year. These type of stages are turning out to be far more exciting that the mountain ones.

manwithaplan

Just shows you the difference it makes when a team loses their GC man. Sagan is free to cause havoc now and of course he has his own reasons to get away from the pure sprinters.

pelevin

What a monster Sagan is, & superb work by his teammate also. Fabulous mentally & physically from Froome to be alert to what Sagan could do at any moment, & great to see him fully committing to the move also. In fairness, whether he's just in such condition that he can afford to put in these kind of efforts or whether it's stuff he might end up paying for, either way great way to see big gc contenders perform in this manner.

2smiggy

what time did Froome take out of the rest , not including bonus seconds ?

isitraining

The last two stages have been more like one day races than part of a Grand Tour because of Sagan. He has been amazing.

Tigerandahalf

Dan Martin doesn't seem to have much support from his team. It makes it pretty hard for him if he has any issues with his bike.

Was Quintana caught out or just not have the legs? Surprising he didn't respond.

I wonder is he capable of putting a couple of minutes on Froome in one of the mountain stages or does he have the support from his team.

Froome certainly laying down plenty of markers but long way to go yet.

velo.2010

Phew! My heart climbed towards the end there. Tinkoff clearly had a idea to attack much like they did in 2013 as you could see them grouping at the front. Froome hesitated in 2013 and got caught in no mans land when that group went... but not today.

If he wins the race by the 40 seconds he's gained by the two attacks, then he very much deserves it.

And Sagan is the best rider in the world.

godtabh

velo.2010 wrote: »

Phew! My heart climbed towards the end there. Tinkoff clearly had a idea to attack much like they did in 2013 as you could see them grouping at the front. Froome hesitated in 2013 and got caught in no mans land when that group went... but not today.

If he wins the race by the 40 seconds he's gained by the two attacks, then he very much deserves it.

And Sagan is the best rider in the world.

Totally agree

happytramp

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Dan Martin doesn't seem to have much support from his team. It makes it pretty hard for him if he has any issues with his bike.

Was Quintana caught out or just not have the legs? Surprising he didn't respond.

I wonder is he capable of putting a couple of minutes on Froome in one of the mountain stages or does he have the support from his team.

Froome certainly laying down plenty of markers but long way to go yet.

Quintana is always in danger of losing time in crosswinds, he's just too small. Even if he'd been alive to the danger i'm not sure he could have stuck with them. Even Kristoff wasn't able for it. Movistar looked all over the place and didn't seem to be at all instrumental in organising the chase, despite what Valverde said in the interview afterwards.

Anyway if Ventoux is cut tomorrow it may turn out to be a very smart move by Froome.

topcat77

I enjoyed Dave Brailsford interview on the extra segment. He had a dig at the other teams for not racing, it seams Sky want to win not only the tour but peoples affections also. Great to see the yellow & green jerseys at the front like that, respect!!!

REBELSAFC

Confirmed that tomorrows stage will finish at Chalet Reynard

retalivity

Balls to that anyway

TheBlaaMan

Oleg enjoyed that....

https://twitter.com/Laura_Weislo/status/753257990996824064