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Stage 4 from Saumur to Limoges is the longest of the 2016 Tour de France in terms of kilometers with 237.5. But stage 3 might remain the longest with 5.59.54 needed to ride from Granville to Angers on a slightly shorter distance (223.5km). It's another flat stage coming up with only one point up for grabs in the King of the Mountains competition. Therefore, Jasper Stuyven should continue with the polka dot jersey. Among the pure sprinters, only Mark Cavendish has won so far. With 28 Tour de France stage victories under his belt, he can now eye at Eddy Merckx' record of 34, albeit not this year, but his rivals Marcel Kittel and André Greipel must be very hungry by now. After 75km of racing, Sylvain Chavanel who is doing his sixteenth Tour de France will be able to greet his family and friends at Châtellerault before he'll try to break away on stage 5 on a terrain that suits him more in the Massif Central.
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And as ever, the contenders from Inrng:
The Contenders: an uphill sprint, just. It’s not long enough nor steep enough to make it a certainty for Peter Sagan but he’s an obvious pick given his power and consistency.Among Mark Cavendish, André Greipel and Marcel Kittel all have won uphill sprints on a similar finish to this over the years. Kittel struggled a bit yesterday with a gentler uphill finish and so he’s downgraded today while Cavendish looked explosive which won’t be so easy to repeat after such a long stage. So André Greipel is the deductive second pick.
Now or never for Bryan Coquard, third yesterday and now with a finish to suit yet it’s hard to imagine him getting the better of everyone.
A sprint stage, but with a bit of a kick. 2 names the mighty Inrng hasn't mentioned srping to my mind, Kristoff (if I keep picking him, he MUST win at some point) and Greg Van Avermaet. We shall see.
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Tight
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fantastic gurning from Greipel 😀
Predictions?
Porte, Bertie and Sagan make a solo strike for the Cat 4 points and make their time back 😉
They stay away but Cav sprints from 10km back to win by 2mm again
I know he is universally hated on this forum, but I met him once on a training ride in Spain so am officially a fan.
Valverde was sneaking about at the back of the sprint yesterday. If the sprinters blow it on the run in...
Valverde was sneaking about at the back of the sprint yesterday. If the sprinters blow it on the run in...
True.
It seem an odd stage to me, it's right on the edge of being hilly enough to rule out the pure sprinters and bring in some of the others. So, in theory, it's a Kittel/Greipel/Cav kind of day. But, it could equally be a Sagan/Matthews/Van Avermaet day too.
I think to day could be a Kittel finish, I don't think he will be happy after being boxed in yesterday and will be looking for a finish ahead of both Greipel and Cav,
Outside bet on Sagan, if he doesn't manage to stop the whole peloton for Coffee somewhere he will sneak up to within 300mtrs behind Ettix and then nick it.
Kristoff (if I keep picking him, he MUST win at some point)
Just doesn't seem to quite there this season.
and Greg Van Avermaet.
After the other day, if I was BMC I'd have everyone protecting Porte and Tejay!
Valverde, doesn't look selective enough.
Bit of a tailwind predicted, may help Greipel and Kittel on the drag to the finish.
3k rule apply today? Funnily enough I was thinking about the 3k rule the other day at the same time [url= http://inrng.com/2016/07/rethinking-the-3km-rule/ ]this article [/url]popped up on inrng.
I'll be cheering on Matthews today, but mostly because I find it funny when Ned & Millar call the team Orica BikeEdge.
Ned & Millar call the team Orica BikeEdge.
Not as amusing as Sean Kelly's Ulrika Green Hedge 🙂
"Today was a very relaxing day for us because in the breakaway there was only one rider," the Slovak said."He went slow, we went slow also in the group, it was nice. I was thinking in one moment that we would take a coffee, we had time. I saw a bar but afterwards there was no time."
Made me chuckle.
Right then, just sorted out my ITV player login and downloaded the app to my iPad so I can watch from my desk.
4 in the break, Oliver Naesen (IAM Cycling), Alexis Gougerard (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Markel Irizar (Trek-Segafredo) and Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon18), are over five minutes up the road. Dull, boring day so far.
Dull, boring day so far.
Or a day to crack open the wine, some cheese, biscuits and wish Duffers was still around to provide a travelogue without any of that pesky racing getting in the way 🙂
Absolutely. They're talking about trout tickling now.
Wake up! 8k to go.
I'd like to be at home today with a bottle of something cold watching it on a big TV. Really quite boring racing so far but quite relaxing to watch 🙂
My "work" today might just involve having ITV4 on the TV on my desk.
Oh! there appears to be a bike race going on 😆
Now that was bloody close. Kittel I think.
Good finish though. No idea who won
Crikey! The photo shows about half a tyre between Kittel and Coquard.
I thought Coquard had got it initially. However I'm glad for Kittel because Etixx is my office sweepstake team so that's my first £1 in the kitty. 🙂
Fantastic finish. Surprised to hear Nibbles get a mention today, is forgotten he was riding
I had to smile at Coquard's "monster mash" style of sprinting, as viewed from the overhead camera. He's not the smoothest of sprinters 
@mikey if I was smart enough I'd add this to the TdF highlight film (from 1962 🙂 )
Are today's highlights on ITV player? Only showing first 3 days for me..
gah ! Coquard is ruining my "losers league" team - the little shit
Likewise 👿
Why would you put Coquard into a losers league team? He beat Arnaud Demare at the Route du Sud and has a pretty solid (if very French) background even including a track world championship.