Discussion
Digger said:
Anyone else think Cavendish would have stood a better chance if he'd followed wheels on the run in rather than try to power them off his wheel, over-confident possibly?
Um, yes 
john7 said:
Going across to France later in the week to watch a couple of stages.
Cool - which stages? I'm watching the Alpe d'huez stage.Those barrages/dams towards the end looked awesome! Good to see some proper time gaps amongst the GC boys as you'd think Quintana and Nibali are now going to have to try something spectacular to get a sniff of yellow; for Nibali that'll have to be on the cobbles as I can't see him relying on putting too much time at all into the others in the mountains. I wouldn't be surprised to see Froome taking a little more time tomorrow as he's very good on the steep stuff and may want to build up a buffer so as not to have to take too many risks on the cobbled stage if he does get caught out there. I know he divides opinion but you can't have a go at him for not trying - he was gunning it to the line today when many of the non-sprinters in the lead group had sat up. Result - a little bit of time eeked out over Contador. It might amount to nothing in the grand scheme of things, but you never know...
s
te leadout from Renshaw I thought - big kudos to Fabian though, didn't get out of the saddle and apparently he was going fastest in the sprint (left it too late obvs) !
I think Froome has probably had it drilled into him HARD from the team to stay out of trouble near the front, that was evident today, a GC rider coming 8th on a stage like that is good going I think, he perhaps has learned his lesson. But lets not speak too soon - cobbles await (though I bet he has been practicing like hell!).
te leadout from Renshaw I thought - big kudos to Fabian though, didn't get out of the saddle and apparently he was going fastest in the sprint (left it too late obvs) !I think Froome has probably had it drilled into him HARD from the team to stay out of trouble near the front, that was evident today, a GC rider coming 8th on a stage like that is good going I think, he perhaps has learned his lesson. But lets not speak too soon - cobbles await (though I bet he has been practicing like hell!).
The profile of today's stage (maximum elevation: 6 metres) didn't look too promising, but crosswind stages are always fascinating and exciting to watch and so it proved. EQS really messed up the leadout and sprint, but they had been riding hard so maybe didn't have a lot left to set Cav up properly.
Tomorrow's visit to the Mur de Huy should be entertaining, there'll be a big fight for position on the run in, maybe more crashes.
Madness60 said:
Why do the crosswinds make it so easy to fracture the pelaton and so hard for a bigger group to close up even a smallish distance?
All it takes is for someone to lose a wheel coming out of a turn or roundabout (which is what it was today apparently) and suddenly you're faced with a wall of wind, nobody wants to take it on alone and before you know it the group in front is moving out of sight - if a team are committed and working then it can be closed, but when you have strong riders driving the pace in the front group then as you saw the gap goes out and not a lot anyone can do about it. Its hard to explain how horrid strong crosswinds are generally, but when you're a smaller rider and you lack the absolute firepower of a bigger rider it really makes it hard, so when Quickstep eventually BMC, Sky and Saxo were pushing on it was really moving, and there wasn't really much the others could do about it!
Madness60 said:
Why do the crosswinds make it so easy to fracture the pelaton and so hard for a bigger group to close up even a smallish distance?
To add to okgo's comment, if a team is trying to cause a split in a crosswind, they'll send all their riders to the front. If the wind's coming from the right, they'll position themselves diagonally across the road so there's just enough room for their team in the space to the left hand gutter, and most of them are getting shelter. So that means the next rider in the peloton has to ride more in the wind without getting any shelter. Before the break happens, you'll often see a "mini echelon" of 8-9 riders at the front, then a desperate looooooooooong line of people struggling to hang on in the gutter as they have less shelter. When someone finally loses the wheel, they have to form another echelon which instantly puts a sizeable gap between the groups.A lot of the tactics in cycling are ultimately driven by the physics of air resistance, and this is probably the most spectacular example.
Somewhat telling the team's that coped better yesterday were those from northern Europe packed with experienced classics riders. Not saying that the rest are not or were caught napping but BMC, Sky, Quickstep et al were at the front when it mattered and pushed so hard you make it stick.
Its that, but also that the classics riders are strong riders, Cancellara, Martin, Stannard etc are all big units that will be able to withstand the wind somewhat better than the small GC boys, that is why Froome should be commended I think, 66kg and 6,1 is not idea in strong winds!
Ghent WVG this year is a good example of how strong the winds can be over there...!
Ghent WVG this year is a good example of how strong the winds can be over there...!
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff