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With the Tour now fully in France, this is the first of three days in the far SW corner; flat today then very definitely not flat as the race hits the Pyrenees on Wednesday and Thursday.
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Yesterday gave an insight into the sprint teams on a hectic but ultimately relatively safe technical run in. Today's stage is much flatter and after some twists and turns through the town of Nogaro it heads onto the local motor racing circuit.
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Who to win...? Alpecin-Deceuninck got everything right yesterday to lead out [b]Jasper Philipsen[/b] but it wasn't a done deal by any means, no one team had overall control for very long and [b]Phil Bauhous[/b] was a close 2nd thanks to some great leadout work from Fred Wright. WvA wasn't far off, his sprint stymied by the curve of the barriers with Cav only inches behind him.
No coastal scenery today so it'll be chateaux and churches for a while.
[img] https://img.aso.fr/core_app/img-cycling-tdf-jpg/et4-slr-region-occitanie-1/44472/0:0,1200:800-600-0-70/89db8 [/img]
My photo manager @Klunk will be along shortly with some more images... 😉
best gates ever !
not as picturesque as the first three days :/
"(Spoilers)"
Really.... 🙄
another view of the gates
not your typical church
more from yesterday
Maybe powless will give himself a day off today
yesterdays winner snap
Lets see if Cav can get himself in a better position this time then. So many times in recent races we've seen him trying to come from 10-15 lengths back in the last 400m. But it really needs to be closer than that or earlier as he showed in Rome. Obviously that's easier said than done of course but it feels to me like he has enough speed to be closer, just needs to be positioned better.
I think today may be a 'turn on for the last 20km' type day with minor breaks all day being out and hung there without worry, then giving it to the big boys for the pull-back.
stiltage
I think today may be a ‘turn on for the last 20km’ type day with minor breaks all day being out and hung there without worry, then giving it to the big boys for the pull-back.
I've mistimed my WFH this week. I'm in the office tomorrow, the first day in the Pyrenees. 🤔
I'll have the whole stage on today - it's relatively unobtrusive to just have it on quietly in the background for a bit of scenery. Tomorrow is going to require some strategic use of Twitter and maybe a minimised screen on somewhere.
“(Spoilers)”Really…. 🙄
Come on, the general rule is for this thread to contain all the spoilers and the rest of the forum to be free from threads of "LOOK AT CAV GO!!! WHAT A WIN!!!" which has been posted in the past. I get that in The Old Days it was fairly easy to avoid knowing who won until the highlights programme whereas now you pretty much have to cut yourself off from the internet entirely if you don't want to see the result somewhere but whatever - it stops people moaning that they've opened a TdF thread only to see the result plastered across the posts...
more goodbye Atlantic coast
That was a phenomenal drone shot. DId you see the geology segment on ITV4 highlights show? Really interesting. There is a website and Twitter feed (of course there is) for the geology of sporting events.
https://www.geo-sports.org/2023/stage-4-invisible-mountains-of-salt/
25th tdf looked "fun"!
listening to Never Strays Far, Cadel Evans is a very strange chap !?
Never ceases to amaze me that people are surprised to find spoilers on a dedicated thread on a cycling forum 🤣
@crazy-legs and @klunk - thanks for doing these threads !!
Maybe powless will give himself a day off today
There can't be many KOM points today can there?
Never ceases to amaze me that people are surprised to find spoilers on a dedicated thread on a cycling forum
Indeed, it's not hard to avoid it.
Come on, the general rule is for this thread to contain all the spoilers
That's great. But you don't need to put the word "spoilers" in the thread. Youre just pandering to the hard of thinking. It's a thread titled "TdF Stage 4: Dax – Nogaro " posted on the day of TdF Stage 4: Dax – Nogaro. If anyone opens that thread and gets upset that it contains info about TdF Stage 4: Dax – Nogaro then **** them
the rest of the forum to be free from threads of “LOOK AT CAV GO!!! WHAT A WIN!!!” which has been posted in the past.
There is indeed a debate to be had about the ethics of someone posting such a thread ( I don't see the problem personally on a cycling forum) but I still don't see how you putting the word "spoilers" in your thread alleviates that [ non] issue.
I get that in The Old Days it was fairly easy to avoid knowing who won until the highlights programme whereas now you pretty much have to cut yourself off from the internet entirely if you don’t want to see the result somewhere but whatever – it stops people moaning that they’ve opened a TdF thread only to see the result plastered across the posts…
As above, **** 'em. Why dumb things down to the lowest level?
<p>Not to take anything away from the sprinters, but yesterday’s finish showed how important the lead out can be. Quickstep had one tiny wobble in the last km and that did it for Jakobsen.</p><p>will be interesting to see how the less powerful but more Wiley guys like cav and wva fare in todays finish. It’ll take some clever riding not to get nuked by the watt monsters</p>
Anyone else having issues logging in to GCN+?
more "only in france" oddities :/
Jumbo bringing out the 1x again for aero gainz
https://twitter.com/opaisdociclismo/status/1676176364620136449?t=zOVODfo3cNgkbla5a3AcJA&s=19
Maybe powless will give himself a day off today
perhaps he'll be "flying the flag" with Quinn "the trumpet" Simmons
hi chris 😉
and mr thoughtful
Anyone else having issues logging in to GCN+?
Posted 20 minutes ago
I was at that point, but just logged in ok now
25th tdf looked “fun”!
Didn't @richpips and @minipips ride that rourte on summer (albeith they may have taken longer than three weeks)
say cheese
And they're off!
And.... absolutely nothing is happening, not even an attempt at a breakaway! 🤣
work to rule!
Angry phone calls coming from A.S.0 in 1,2,3....
Boooo, the riders wanted to organise another "Belgian Day" when all the belgians would ride off the front (as they did back in - umm 2018 I think?) but the DSs all said "No, you stay in the bunch and look after our sprinter"
Are they doing a ride slow as a protest against yesterday's finish? Seems fairly early to be having a de facto rest day?!
oooo it's kicked off!
false dawn 🙁
Is that... A crosswind?!
didn;t he play football for the national team til about age 13? Or was that another rider?
Adam Blythe there reminding us that Belgian Day was Paris Nice 2021, not the TDF as I thought, which may explain why I can;t find any mention of it online. There IS an attack featuring a number of belgian riders, might thislead to an actual breakaway? Looks like they're trying to force something becuase there are crosswinds...
and then it was over and they all came back together...
DId you see the geology segment on ITV4 highlights show?
Sure did, might be a bit geeky but I really liked it.
there's a bit of a crosstail but doesn't look exposed enough to exploit
Wasn't it Remco who had the choice (football/cyclist)?
Yeah it was Remco Evenpoel that could've been a pro footballist.
Let's hear it for those participating in a true test of extreme endurance today ....... the commentators:)
Let’s hear it for those participating in a true test of extreme endurance today ……. the
commentatorsaudience 🙂
LMFTFY 😉
One of those stages that demonstrates how badly GT stages can be as a spectator sport, absolute yawnfest, wake me up with ~15Km to go in ~1.5 hours!
@43.7658714,-0.0380811,3a,75y,46.99h,77.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRTdrkvIVg4morHf3r9Gr1Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en-US&entry=ttu">the gate that's being talked about....
Have they not temporarily removed the rest of the fence and the cycle racks? Seems like the kind of thing you'd do if the Tour was visiting your locale. At the end of my road they removed an entire traffic narrowing section when the Grand Depart turned up and reinstalled it the following week.
possibly it's difficult to tell/not sure it's the same gate ?
https://twitter.com/NBCSCycling/status/1676242320025612291
Ooh, that's a narrow run in!
Surprised they've not managed to widen that...
Going to be two sprint finishes - first one to get through that gate, second one to the actual finish.
20km to go is going to get frantic.
Yeah, looks like they've taken the other section of fence and the racks out. Actually looks narrower just afterwards when they turn onto the circuit.
Still nothing happening
That image is @43.7701459,-0.041279,3a,75y,65.58h,97.15t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sHqEjcIOmawN5HGMvqA_C8A!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DHqEjcIOmawN5HGMvqA_C8A%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D340.32178%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en-US&entry=ttu">here ?
Still nothing happening
It doesn't look it but it's pretty bloody quick right now. 60kph or so.
The roundabout caught them out a bit. Rapid now.
Cav's in a good position, loads of teams now disorganised, Jumbo taking it on but WvA is nowhere.
Jakobsen down and out.
Cav, Girmay and Ewan all through
Dare we hope yet with less than 3km to go? I think I have enough finger nails!
**** me that was insane, nailbiting!
Photofinish time, no idea who got that.
Jasper Philipsen, Caleb Ewan
Cav 5th maybe?
After all that, all the crashes were on the big, wide circuit!
Whew, breathing again. Carnage inside the last km.
Cav was a bit too far back when it kicked off
Good leadout from MvdP.
Found a gap, went for it and had a phenomenal acceleration.
Dunno @klunk i thought he was about right, not quite there, but close enough throughout the last 1500m, then he seemed to lose a little ground, but not enough that would have affected him winning or not i thought. Just wasn't quite quick enough today i felt.
Cav was a bit too far back when it kicked off
He looked spot on, right on Philipsen's wheel behind MvdP and then Luka Mezgec got between only to suddenly go backwards and let another couple get in front of him (Mezgec). So then Cav ended up four back from Philipsen instead of right on the wheel, and then had to come round the traffic instead.
We'll never know if he could have stayed on to match MvdP's acceleration and then come round even, but he'd have had a chance that disappeared when Mezgec pushed him out..
Looks like the narrow gate was the least of their worries.
Bloody Eurosport put the result on their YouTube thumbnail. I was looking forward to watching the highlights this evening. God it winds me up.