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Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1?
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Here is the profile for Sunday's stage:



Which idiot is going to attack on the first climb 30 min into tomorrow's riding?

153K in on the second Cat 1, Col de La Peyra Taillad, there is a steep section that is 14%. There is going to have to be an attack on this section for sure because after that it is mainly downhill other than the short Cat 4. Bardet has to go on this one!



What do you guys think?
Last edited by: devashish_paul: Jul 15, 17 19:52
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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seems like finally a day for the early break to survive, maybe think guys like cummings, someone from lotto who are loaded with riders for these stages - de gendt, wellens, gallopin or even benoot. lotto and DD are desperate for a result having had their sprinters foiled in various ways

matthews might go in the break for the intermediate points if he believes green is still in play but i can't see them letting him hold on over the last cat 1
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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GC should stay the same, possibly we lose one as the race is getting deep into the fatigue point. Break will likely get away and win.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [pk1] [ In reply to ]
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pk1 wrote:
seems like finally a day for the early break to survive, maybe think guys like cummings, someone from lotto who are loaded with riders for these stages - de gendt, wellens, gallopin or even benoot. lotto and DD are desperate for a result having had their sprinters foiled in various ways

matthews might go in the break for the intermediate points if he believes green is still in play but i can't see them letting him hold on over the last cat 1


Pretty hard to disagree with your prognostication. The cat 1 at the beginning might cause Sunweb to ride hard to drop Kittel if they can't get Mathews in the break. Perfect opportunity to make up ground on the green jersey

Oh, we will see voelkler at least trying to get in the break. If he does he won't make it past the second cat 1
Last edited by: grumpier.mike: Jul 15, 17 20:35
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Today's the day for the stage win to come from the break.

Caruso
Kreuziger
Navarro

"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [Alvin Tostig] [ In reply to ]
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Alvin Tostig wrote:
Today's the day for the stage win to come from the break.

Caruso
Kreuziger
Navarro

Barguil is padding his KOM lead. Here is what cycling news is saying which I am stuck on until Sportsnets1 goes live at 8:30 am EDT here in Canada:

Team Sky, meanwhile, have shut up shop and are just tapping out a steady tempo on the front of the main field. Aru, Contador and Quintana are all near the front, along with Uran, D Martin and Bardet. The Barguil group have 4'18.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [Alvin Tostig] [ In reply to ]
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The massive group at the front has Pinot, Barguil, Mollema and are 5 min up.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Micheal Matthews moves within 75 points of Kittell in the green competition. Also I don't think the Champs finish is a slam dunk for Kittell if it is in a traditional 4% ish uphill part., so Matthews is keeping the door open. If he can get over the Cat 1 today win the lead group, who knows, he could move inside 50 points.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Well, well. Froome isolated without his super team and chasing the lead.
Meanwhile, the AG2R are dropping the full team hammer for Bardet.

Fireworks!
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Game on now!! Froome had to take a wheel, which isolated him with only 1 teammate.


float , hammer , and jog

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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:

What do you guys think?

I think my head might explode listening to Phil's inane commentary.

The farmers have been doing those clock "sculptures" out of hay bales, they show several a day.

So they did one shaped like an hour glass, and were running sheep through it as the sand.
Liggett says "that's the most complex sheep pen I've ever seen, it almost looks like a time glass". Ya think?
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Wow. Interesting to see both Landa and Mollema ride so well after have done the Giro, especially given Nario's horrible form. Mollema seemed to go super deep at the Giro and he sure hasn't looked "fresh" on a number of stages.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Froome will be glad of the rest day tomorrow! Looks like he is back on ominously good form again, closing down that gap was impressive. Guess last week was either a bonk, a cold, or maybe just one of those inexplicable days when you don't have it.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [grumpier.mike] [ In reply to ]
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grumpier.mike wrote:
Wow. Interesting to see both Landa and Mollema ride so well after have done the Giro, especially given Nario's horrible form. Mollema seemed to go super deep at the Giro and he sure hasn't looked "fresh" on a number of stages.

You know I was wondering how Landa, after doing the Giro, has this magical form, whereas everyone else is pretty human with days on decent form and other days really sucking badly. The only thing I can think of is that Landa was only really stage hunting and climber jersey hunting at the Giro, so he could lay off the gas on some days and not go as deep in the tank as someone having to keep the pressure on every day.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [cartsman] [ In reply to ]
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cartsman wrote:
Froome will be glad of the rest day tomorrow! Looks like he is back on ominously good form again, closing down that gap was impressive. Guess last week was either a bonk, a cold, or maybe just one of those inexplicable days when you don't have it.

Seems like it was just a big bonk. It was impressive how he closed the gap today after the flat and then later lead the chase to Martin. You gotta hand it to Froome. The guy is a true racer, does not panic, is always in great position and when bad things happens, he pulls himself together and makes it happen. And kudos to Landa today dropping back to pick up Froome for the final close. Also on Martin, without that crash, he would be sitting in yellow now, but he might have also had less latitude from the peers if he was not as far behind. He should benefit from a few nights of recovery given the rest day tomorrow. Will be interesting to see who betwen Bardet, Aru and Martin do best in the final ITT. In the first one, they were all 3 seconds between each other and almost 40 seconds down on Froome. That day 1 ITT is really helping Froome's margin today.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Great stage, great ride by mollema. Happy for him and for trek segafredo after how their tour has gone so far
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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This has actually been a great race so far. Definitely not the snooze-fest I was expecting after Cav-Sagan. I'm going to add to the chorus saying that Froome might not be the best rider this year: he's just on the strongest team.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [GreenPlease] [ In reply to ]
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Let's see what happens on Galibier and then Izouard. Froome was in pretty great shape in the prologue, and other than that ramp where Aru took yellow he's looked fairly comfortable both closing down attacks and putting others on the back foot. He hasn't yet ridden everybody off his wheel, but then we haven't yet had the sort of HC summit finishes that have allowed him to do that. Wednesday and Thursday will sort the men from the boys.

Have to say it's been a great itinerary.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
cartsman wrote:
Froome will be glad of the rest day tomorrow! Looks like he is back on ominously good form again, closing down that gap was impressive. Guess last week was either a bonk, a cold, or maybe just one of those inexplicable days when you don't have it.


Seems like it was just a big bonk. It was impressive how he closed the gap today after the flat and then later lead the chase to Martin. You gotta hand it to Froome. The guy is a true racer, does not panic, is always in great position and when bad things happens, he pulls himself together and makes it happen. And kudos to Landa today dropping back to pick up Froome for the final close. Also on Martin, without that crash, he would be sitting in yellow now, but he might have also had less latitude from the peers if he was not as far behind. He should benefit from a few nights of recovery given the rest day tomorrow. Will be interesting to see who betwen Bardet, Aru and Martin do best in the final ITT. In the first one, they were all 3 seconds between each other and almost 40 seconds down on Froome. That day 1 ITT is really helping Froome's margin today.


You do have to hand it to Froome. And he has been very gracious and appreciative of the effort his team has put in. And although I still think he looks very vulnerable - he lacks acceleration and top end power - no one else seems to have the legs to attack when they should. Froome put in a herculean effort to get back up to the group. Had Aru or the other contenders had the legs or were otherwise the best rider in the Tour, they would of, and should've attacked Froome at that moment when he dropped back and even later when he was trying to catch up. They did not. And could not. That series of events showed right their everyone's form. Froome, though not at his best relative to his career, is still better than the others. Except for Landa, who if he otheewise were riding for himself or as team leader, would be in yellow right now...
Last edited by: aerobike: Jul 16, 17 15:47
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Random thought. Froome sure seems to have more than his share of mechanicals. Perhaps it's simply a case of Froome being in the Yellow Jersey so much of the time that this puts everything he does at the center of attention. But it doesn't put his bike/component/tire sponsors and/or the Team Sky mechanics in a good light.

"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
cartsman wrote:
Froome will be glad of the rest day tomorrow! Looks like he is back on ominously good form again, closing down that gap was impressive. Guess last week was either a bonk, a cold, or maybe just one of those inexplicable days when you don't have it.

Seems like it was just a big bonk. It was impressive how he closed the gap today after the flat and then later lead the chase to Martin. You gotta hand it to Froome. The guy is a true racer, does not panic, is always in great position and when bad things happens, he pulls himself together and makes it happen. And kudos to Landa today dropping back to pick up Froome for the final close. Also on Martin, without that crash, he would be sitting in yellow now, but he might have also had less latitude from the peers if he was not as far behind. He should benefit from a few nights of recovery given the rest day tomorrow. Will be interesting to see who betwen Bardet, Aru and Martin do best in the final ITT. In the first one, they were all 3 seconds between each other and almost 40 seconds down on Froome. That day 1 ITT is really helping Froome's margin today.
To be fair, if Martin hadn't had that crash there's no way they'd have let him escape today.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [BayDad] [ In reply to ]
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BayDad wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
cartsman wrote:
Froome will be glad of the rest day tomorrow! Looks like he is back on ominously good form again, closing down that gap was impressive. Guess last week was either a bonk, a cold, or maybe just one of those inexplicable days when you don't have it.


Seems like it was just a big bonk. It was impressive how he closed the gap today after the flat and then later lead the chase to Martin. You gotta hand it to Froome. The guy is a true racer, does not panic, is always in great position and when bad things happens, he pulls himself together and makes it happen. And kudos to Landa today dropping back to pick up Froome for the final close. Also on Martin, without that crash, he would be sitting in yellow now, but he might have also had less latitude from the peers if he was not as far behind. He should benefit from a few nights of recovery given the rest day tomorrow. Will be interesting to see who betwen Bardet, Aru and Martin do best in the final ITT. In the first one, they were all 3 seconds between each other and almost 40 seconds down on Froome. That day 1 ITT is really helping Froome's margin today.
To be fair, if Martin hadn't had that crash there's no way they'd have let him escape today.

I am not sure about that. If Martin was in Yellow right now and did that attack would the others have been able to close the gap. Why would everyone but Froome not instantly chase him down if they had the legs...and if Bardet-Aru-Uran had legs today, why did they not attack Froome when he was trying to TT back on. It seems the two strongest guys on the road today were Froome and Martin among the GC guys. Let's look at it another way. They pace today on the 14% grade was not even hot enough to drop Contador. Maybe Contador's form is better now, but I am not sure. Auru-Bardet-Uran should have been able to shed Bennet-Contador-Yates-Meintjes, but they could not. Seems like they were out of gas.
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Re: Tour De France Stage 15: More Surprises with 2x Cat 1? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
BayDad wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
cartsman wrote:
Froome will be glad of the rest day tomorrow! Looks like he is back on ominously good form again, closing down that gap was impressive. Guess last week was either a bonk, a cold, or maybe just one of those inexplicable days when you don't have it.


Seems like it was just a big bonk. It was impressive how he closed the gap today after the flat and then later lead the chase to Martin. You gotta hand it to Froome. The guy is a true racer, does not panic, is always in great position and when bad things happens, he pulls himself together and makes it happen. And kudos to Landa today dropping back to pick up Froome for the final close. Also on Martin, without that crash, he would be sitting in yellow now, but he might have also had less latitude from the peers if he was not as far behind. He should benefit from a few nights of recovery given the rest day tomorrow. Will be interesting to see who betwen Bardet, Aru and Martin do best in the final ITT. In the first one, they were all 3 seconds between each other and almost 40 seconds down on Froome. That day 1 ITT is really helping Froome's margin today.
To be fair, if Martin hadn't had that crash there's no way they'd have let him escape today.


I am not sure about that. If Martin was in Yellow right now and did that attack would the others have been able to close the gap. Why would everyone but Froome not instantly chase him down if they had the legs...and if Bardet-Aru-Uran had legs today, why did they not attack Froome when he was trying to TT back on. It seems the two strongest guys on the road today were Froome and Martin among the GC guys. Let's look at it another way. They pace today on the 14% grade was not even hot enough to drop Contador. Maybe Contador's form is better now, but I am not sure. Auru-Bardet-Uran should have been able to shed Bennet-Contador-Yates-Meintjes, but they could not. Seems like they were out of gas.
Agreed. Martin has clawed back several seconds on a few stages now. I expect he might have gotten less had he been in the top 3 but the others didn't really look able to control things so I still think he would have managed to get some time and would be well up there if Porte hadn't taken him down.
Dan's looking good so far and sounded pretty confident yesterday. But realistically, at this stage, to be in with a chance he needs to drop all the other GC contenders and get a decent gap on Stage 17 or 18 and I'm don't think he'll be able to do that. If he can stay with them on the big climbs he may or may not make small gains and/or time bonuses with late attacks but I don't see him getting big gaps. Of course it's also possible he'll get gapped on the big climbs!
Bardet and Froome are both looking good and Aru is still there. As it stands they have to be the favourites for the podium.
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