Paris Nice 2018 - May Contain Spoilers

cunavalos

Tomorrow sees the start of Paris Nice and this years race to the sun is not as starstuddered as the past few years, but nonetheless we do have some interesting profiles. There will probably not be enough interest to justify individual threads so a single thread for the whole race makes sense.

The route is as classic as they come, with stages favoring sprinters, puncheurs and climbers.

Irish cyclists are well represented with Roche, Martin and Bennett all competing.

Dan is an outside bet for the overall (He will be targetting Stage 1 & 7) but its hard to look outside Team Sky for a winner (Poels/Henao) with competition likely to come from Zakarin, Mollema, Alaphilippe or Fuglsang.

For the sprinters Demare, Viviani, Degenkolb, Groenewagen, Greipel and Bouhani provide the opposition for Sam.

Eurosport will be providing live coverage all week

MPFGLB

Tim Wellens or Sergio Henao are my picks for GC

Marc Soller as an outside bet

neris

Velogames league code 71580179 if anyone wants to play

All My Stars Aligned

Just entered. Reckon I have a good chance of making the podium this year.








.... 2 enteries so far

Halloween Jack

I just signed up to the Eurosport player to watch this, but on the various apps can only find an option to watch from 14:20, I had assumed I could watch the entirety of this live, was I incorrect?

cunavalos

MPFGLB wrote: »

Tim Wellens or Sergio Henao are my picks for GC

Marc Soller as an outside bet

Surprised by you MPFGLB, no love for Teejay;)

Only a 3 man break away. 2:30 up the road and no surprise to see Pierre Rolland there.

MPFGLB

cunavalos wrote: »

Surprised by you MPFGLB, no love for Teejay;)

Well TEEJAY is in my fantasy team btw

You can never be sure with Teejay ...He can TT but he can also come out and not finish a stage. He is BMCs leader but that could the wind up him

Nico Roche hasnt hit his best form yet ...but in better shape that last year . Dylan Tuens could be a good outsider if his TT is up to scratch

The TT and bonus seconds is key

GP Industria & Artigianato is just starting live coverage on ES player, will pass the time nicely until coverage of Paris Nice is live.

neris

Deleted User wrote: »

GP Industria & Artigianato is just starting live coverage on ES player, will pass the time nicely until coverage of Paris Nice is live.

the indoor circular cycling dutch world champs on bbc aswell

Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack wrote: »

I just signed up to the Eurosport player to watch this, but on the various apps can only find an option to watch from 14:20, I had assumed I could watch the entirety of this live, was I incorrect?

Depends on the race, sometimes they'll have a raw ad free stream with no commentary on the player early on into the race. They go to live coverage with commentary usually with an hour or so to go. Thats usually down to the race organisers and all broadcasters will air at the same time with a package showing off the local and the break going etc.

neris

Looks just as miserable as here. Best viewing spot for this is the couch

MPFGLB

Teejay has abandoned ...

cunavalos

MPFGLB wrote: »

Well TEEJAY is in my fantasy team btw

You can never be sure with Teejay ...He can TT but he can also come out and not finish a stage. He is BMCs leader but that could the wind up him

Nico Roche hasnt hit his best form yet ...but in better shape that last year . Dylan Tuens could be a good outsider if his TT is up to scratch

The TT and bonus seconds is key

Oops I may have cursed TEEJAY

Abandoned after innocuous looking crash

MPFGLB

Simple crashes can cause bad injuries

MPFGLB

Nico went down with him

Dan hanging at the back....not looking great

Boscoirl

Dan has moved to the front now

rushfan

neris wrote:

Looks just as miserable as here. Best viewing spot for this is the couch

Absolutely agree. Great to have it back. Although I'm almost sick of watching TV after the last few days.

neris

cunavalos wrote: »

Oops I may have cursed TEEJAY

Abandoned after innocuous looking crash

Start as you mean to go on so for teejay

neris

Crash with less then 5 to go

neris

What the **** was demarre up to there on the line

cunavalos

Dan finishes in the group of favourites @ 2seconds so only loses small amounts of time to Izagirre, Alaphilippe and Wellens on GC.
Nico finished about two minutes back so will probably ride for Teuns who may still have GC aspirations or hopefully be given free reign for stage wins later in the week

Top 30 on GC



Zakarin and Fuglsang the big losers on GC today (As well as Teejay)

Yeah Fuglsang was 1:38 down. He's looked far better than that coming into this so far this year. Roche on the same time as him.

MPFGLB

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah Fuglsang was 1:38 down. He's looked far better than that coming into this so far this year. Roche on the same time as him.

They were caught in the crash ..or otherwise they would have been up there at 2" back ....steep final climb but not difficult to stay up there for GC

MPFGLB

MPFGLB wrote: »

They were caught in the crash ..or otherwise they would have been up there at 2" back ....steep final climb but not difficult to stay up there for GC

I knew Nico had been down but didn't know Fuglsang was one of the ones who took a tumble too.

MPFGLB

Seemingly Teejay went down (with Nico) and then they got up and rode on (this we saw on TV)


Later Teejey was hit by a team car ....Gerrans and Nico were bringing him back

Talk about bad luck

He and Porte have it in spades

cunavalos

Team UAE reports Dan was feeling ok but the finish suited more powerful riders and his lightweight frame was a disadvantage on the cobbles
https://twitter.com/TeamUAEAbuDhabi/status/970334326654107650

cunavalos

MPFGLB wrote: »

Seemingly Teejay went down (with Nico) and then they got up and rode on (this we saw on TV)


Later Teejey was hit by a team car ....Gerrans and Nico were bringing him back

Talk about bad luck

He and Porte have it in spades

Yeah, Teejay sort of admitted that the second crash may have been his fault as he rode into the back of another team team car while trying to adjust his chain which was damaged after the first crash.

https://www.bmc-switzerland.com/sp-es/experiencia/feedzone/van_garderen_sustains_cervical_sprain_in_paris_nice_crash/

cunavalos

Just over 10km to go and breakaway of 2 riders have a gap of 15 seconds, so looks like a sprint finish, Sam is safely in the bunch and will contest the sprint

neris

Looks like Sam went early with no lead out and got boxed in

He was done I think by the time he was boxed in. The incline wouldn't have suited him either.

CrowdedHouse

Sam has abandoned

marvin80

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

Sam has abandoned

Is he injured?

Saw today was the last sprinters stage so maybe he's saving himself for a race in a few weeks.

Kristoff not well they said and it's showing he's hanging on at the back.

Oh no he's actually out the back in the cars.

Think Dan is in first larger group behind Wellens and Alaphilipe

Not on the main ES channels live today, it's been relegated to the player for live coverage in favor of live coverage of tirreno adriatico on ES1. Paris Nice should be shown on ES1 afterwards.

lissard

Watched the last 10k of yesterdays stage to Sisteron. There was a 2 man breakaway and the Direct Energie rider wheel sucked all the way to the finish and predictably won the sprint. The interviews afterwards were very entertaining!

The winner:

"When I saw that the victory was possible I worked hard to go after the Katusha rider and I played with his balls a little. That's the way I won."

The loser:

"He didn't want to work with me and stayed always on the wheel. So, in the end, I was thinking, '****, it is better to take the second place then nothing.' "

Whyner

lissard wrote: »

Watched the last 10k of yesterdays stage to Sisteron. There was a 2 man breakaway and the Direct Energie rider wheel sucked all the way to the finish and predictably won the sprint. The interviews afterwards were very entertaining!

The winner:

"When I saw that the victory was possible I worked hard to go after the Katusha rider and I played with his balls a little. That's the way I won."

The loser:

"He didn't want to work with me and stayed always on the wheel. So, in the end, I was thinking, '****, it is better to take the second place then nothing.' "

I watched it yesterday also. I'm newish to watching cycling but why was he so irate with Cousin, who refused to work with him...they stayed out of reach from the peloton so it was up to Politt to drop him, which he couldn't or out-sprint him, which he didn't...

I get the whole etiquette thingy but why would Cousin take a turn instead of reserving his energy for the last few hundred meters, bar to keep his head held high

What would have happened if Politt sat up? Do they ever do that when they're pretty sure they won't lose another position?

What happened Dan Martin , he lost massive time today.

EDIT: He had a mechanical on the descent that cost him 10 minutes.

MPFGLB

Deleted User wrote: »

What happened Dan Martin , he lost massive time today.

EDIT: He had a mechanical on the descent that cost him 10 minutes.

Broken wheel

but on a brighter note ...a good bet for the stage tomorrow me thinks ...from the breakaway

Just saw on the cycling news ticker Dan abandoned. Nico is out in the break with some good company but gap is only 2:35.

De Marchi could have had it so much worse there, great to see him able to climb back up on the road and look relatively ok.

Just watching highlights now , no secret from last season that I'm a fan of Dylan Teuns but even I didn't expect those kind of legs on the lad today. Delighted for Yates but had BMC worked for Teuns today like MS worked for Yates????

MPFGLB

Deleted User wrote: »

Just watching highlights now , no secret from last season that I'm a fan of Dylan Teuns but even I didn't expect those kind of legs on the lad today. Delighted for Yates but had BMC worked for Teuns today like MS worked for Yates????

Tuens had team mates to the bottom of the climb and on the climb there was no one strong enough to stay with the top riders ? Kreuziger was strong and blew Luislu out the back...and that helped Tuens too ...There was no one to chase Yates and if they were there they would have been strong enough for a top place themselves ??
Working for someone is trotted out all the time as some how going to give the leader better legs. KIrby is always trotting it out without a clue ....But unless you are riding tempo , placing arider into a climb where positioning is key or chasing an attacker ..what is there to do exactly if another team is doing the necessary to drop the weaker leaders ?? All you have to do is follow wheels

Not one rider from BMC today could have improved Tuens second place. Yates was the strongest

Today no but BMC could have had a team to get him there based on today but they invested in tejay again and a hiding to nothing with Nico in a break.

MPFGLB

Deleted User wrote: »

Today no but BMC could have had a team to get him there based on today but they invested in tejay again and a hiding to nothing with Nico in a break.

Yes there is a case for making Tuens the leader but BMC are wedded to TJ and again next week he will be the leader at Catalunya

I think Tunes has made a case though for being a leader from now in several races.But BMC were all in for TJ from the start of Paris NIce

Dont think Nico would have been of much help...he is carrying weight and current form on the climbs is not great...

irishrover99

MPFGLB wrote: »

Dont think Nico would have been of much help...he is carrying weight and current form on the climbs is not great...

Their was a shot of nico riding out of the saddle just as he was been caught by the peloton and I immediately noticed his belly.

I seem to remember him been the same at the start of last season.
I wonder if he is as committed in the off season as he used to be and how many seasons he has left.
He must be realising now that he's never going to lead a team or get a good crack at a GT overall when even now they put him supporting TJ who's never going to win anything major.

MPFGLB

irishrover99 wrote: »

Their was a shot of nico riding out of the saddle just as he was been caught by the peloton and I immediately noticed his belly.

I seem to remember him been the same at the start of last season.
I wonder if he is as committed in the off season as he used to be and how many seasons he has left.
He must be realising now that he's never going to lead a team or get a good crack at a GT overall when even now they put him supporting TJ who's never going to win anything major.

Yes indeed one would ask how committed he is in the off season but then his off season was very short and he said he is a month behind and targetting the Giro. Finds it hard to get to form early

I do think the older he is getting the harder it is ...but he is usually good in second part of the season

There was talk here or elsewhere, maybe someone linked to an interview Nico did but I recall weight in early season being mentioned and it taking a while to get to race shape in the year.

Race looks like its on in a big way from the CN ticker. Hurry up and be 12:30 Eurosport.

Eurosport have the wrong commentary stream up

Boscoirl

Alaphilippe was leading with an Astana rider but has spectacularly blown up. Caught by the yellow jersey group and straight out the back