Totally agree. Just look at the wet start to this year's Giro. There were a bunch of favorites that fell and got knocked out (Purito) or lost a bunch of time (Kreuziger, Brajkovic, Arredondo, etc). It's all a part of bike racing.

Watching his post race interview he sounded concerned about all the crashes and injuries. It was certainly an intriguing stage for the fans and it obviously played out well for Boom, Nibali, Sagan and Fabian.

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

I read that from him somewhere before the stage. Can appreciate why he might have a different perspective after.

BTW, the day after Fabian neutralized the stage he got into a break on pave with one of the Schleck and suddenly he was happy.
Strange ;-) //

Well he got into the break today and did quite well, but he still was leaning on the stage being out of place for the TDF. Thats when i can really respect an athlete, when something may have turned out good for them, but they can still see that it was not good overall, and speak up about it. I'm sure he would love pave every day in every stage for his own racing, but he recognizes what is good for the sport and the riders and sticks to it..I think he really understands that there was a huge amount of luck involved in todays stage, and he just lucked out.

Cancellara made his feelings pretty clear in this quote from Velonews:

“The race was a mess. When I hear in the radio what was happening just with our riders, I can imagine what must be happening with the others – in my opinion this does not have a place in a Grand Tour. It was completely different than in April because the field is so different. Also the wet roads made it very dangerous – the whole course was now dangerous… Rasty [Gregory Rast] helped me a lot. The problem was there was always a gap because someone was tired, or slipped a bit, and you could not pass him on the cobbles. When the three Astanas and Boom went, this is what happened. Also, on wet cobbles it is very different, you cannot use a high cadence like when it’s dry, how I like to do… It was already a situation where I was pulling, and when they went everyone was looking at me and Peter [Sagan] to do the work. Just me and Peter could not make the difference, so I had to calculate my energy. I did not want to pull, pull, pull and then the others pass me at the end, so I had to manage myself and play a bit or otherwise I would have been even more behind. Hey, chapeau to Astana who did a fantastic ride – they honored the yellow jersey.”

Read more at http://velonews.competitor.com/...#1or078PKzElekJZv.99

Teejay was frustrated, and who wouldn't be. Lots of pressure on him. It seems like most of the young guys have their Tyler moment in the press and then regroup. Talansky had his rant last year and of course Farrar- the master.

Cycling is funny. Whine once, and you're a whiner. You just have to eat it and move on. These guys are all super tough yet as we know, right after a race one is really vulnerable.

I think Contador has become a master with the press. Like Nuke LaLoosh. Just want to help the team, taking it one day at a time.....

Are you not entertained?

http://www.iamtedking.com/...meaning-of-the-term/

Anyone's stage 6 stream just say Coverage beginning shortly?

Supposed to start at 8:15 EST.

.....97 miles in 3:18?....that's fracking nuts!

Thanks! Missed that below the button I don't read and just click. ha! Just saw that they were already racing and figured it would be on.

It does, in some ways, suck that the combination rain and cobbles add so much chaos and randomness to the results.

But, you can't control the weather, such is life. Happens all the time. See the Giro.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

mortals....until you realize they covered 97 miles in rain, over cobbles in 3hr18min (29.4mph!)......crazy!

Let's be honest; yesterday's stage was one of the most thrilling and exciting stages to watch that wasn't a mountain stage. Just because the peleton was ripped apart b/c of the wet roads/cobbles, doesn't mean they shouldn't do it again in the future. Maybe riders will actually practice riding on wet cobbles more. It was clear that the skilled bike handling riders had an advantage just like the climbers have an advantage on mountain days. They need to keep this around! Maybe do a different classics course each year. I hope they don't nix it next year.

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http://www.natemillertri.com/

Two sections of cobblestones were cancelled due to the dangers in the pouring rain. That made the course 13.4k of cobblestones. That's a small percentage of the 155k course and many of the crashes (including Froomes two) occurred on slick roads rather than the cobblestones. Everyone seemed to be racing quite fast for the (poor) handling conditions.

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

talansky finished about where van garderen finished. vastly different response when the press asked each for their comments on yesterday's stage. talansky is a top-10 tour finisher and he won 1 of the 2 typical get-ready mini-tours for this race, and he still talks as if he's just grateful to be here.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

As mentioned previously, they were racing much faster than they normally would in those conditions because they knew the cobbles were coming up. Cobbles are far easier to negotiate if you have a good line of sight and can pick your course, therefore on a cobbled day it's even more important than normal to stay at the front of the peleton. Unfortunately they can't all be at the front...

From what Froome said, the issue wasn't just the conditions but his wrist impairing his ability to control his bike. Greg Lemond had an interesting take on this:

"If he had injured his wrist then it may have put a slight hesitation in his braking, which means you over-brake and, in those conditions, that is fatal."

I don't have a problem with this kind of stage being included. After all it's a bike race, and bike handling skills are as much a part of being the 'best cyclist' as fitness. That said, it's a shame for riders who get taken out in a crash by another rider and through no fault of their own. That can happen on any TdF stage, but obviously the chances of it happening on a stage like yesterday's is much higher.

Also, for those claiming most of the crashes occured before the cobbles and therefore it was just the same as any other wet day, this is not really true. Tire pressures and bike set ups were very different to account for the cobbles and this may have contributed to some of the crashes on the slick roads ahead of the cobbles. And of course some crashes did occur on the cobbles, and some riders lost time simply because they could not overtake slower riders on the cobbles.

Or today's stage.

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

Exactly. Lots of crashes today already and two riders have abandoned on the road.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Out of interest, what differences would you expect? Wouldn't have thought they would mess with rider's positions, and if they did the changes would be aimed at giving them better handling (maybe shift their seat back and raise the front end slightly) which would work to their advantage on the slickroads as well. Same thing with tire choice - they might switch to something with a bit more grip (and puncture resistance) to help negotiate wet cobbles but that shouldn't hurt them on the slick roads.

The only thing I could think of that would benefit them on the cobbles but hurt them on the slick roads would be if they decided to run a higher tire pressure than they normally would in the wet in order to avoid pinch flats on the cobbles.

Most ran 27-28mm tubbie's. Velonews estimates they run 50-80psi on the cobble stages which I'd think would be fine for slick roads (under normal speeds). GCN The TdF bikes for the cobbles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GET2h0j0loA VeloNews What will the GC men ride on the cobbles? http://velonews.competitor.com/...-ride-cobbles_335092

I still think the crashes were basically just caused by biking too fast for the conditions rather than the pavé stage or the equipment.

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

The only thing I could think of that would benefit them on the cobbles but hurt them on the slick roads would be if they decided to run a higher tire pressure than they normally would in the wet in order to avoid pinch flats on the cobbles. //

I said it before and others too, just knowing the cobbles are coming up puts a tremendous amount of pressure to go faster on the normal roads. In the old days on our wednesday ride, we had several gates that were one bike length wide to go through. And once the bike racers joined us, they of course like to use them to form breaks. So after folks missed breaks only because the gate would single file the 100 riders, there became this made race to the gates. And guess what, people started crashing all over the place, where there were not crashes before. After some bad ones i finally made a rule, not attacking after the gates. If you were first through, you had to sit up and wait for everyone to get on before the racing could continue. Take away the advantage, and now no crashes.


Now i enjoyed watching that stage as much as the next guy, but having been in similar situations in other races, i do believe it is too much for a grand tour. Just too much luck involved. Even though Nibili got through and had a fine race, he too crashed and just as easily could be in the back of a car with Froome. When it is like this it is not as much about handling as it is just blind luck. How many riders who handled well still went down because someone else did? I would say for every wheel that slipped out that 4 or 5 more were casualties and were not going to crash on their own at that instant. That is just too much lottery for a grand tour.

Cancellara made his feelings pretty clear in this quote from Velonews:

“The race was a mess.//


Ya, that is pretty much what i was hearing from him in the interview. Since english is not his first language you could tell he was thinking a lot about how to say what he wanted to say without seeming like a crybaby. That is why i have much respect in the fact he did do well but still complained for the others.