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Welcome all, today's post is brought to you by the power of a bottle of Cote du Rhone, 3 cocktails and 2 pints of Enville last night. So I apologise in advance for needless rambling and lots of spelling mistakes. Anyway:
Talking about the Tour de France route he studied during the off season, Chris Froome highlighted Andorra as the first major appointment for a fight between the favourites. He didn't expect to be in the yellow jersey ahead of stage 9. Moreover, he didn't expect to win the way he did at Bagnères-de-Luchon, riding away solo in the downhill after cresting the col de Peyresourde. He didn't create a massive gap and the Tour is far from over. He has 23 seconds lead over Nairo Quintana and Fabio Aru. Alberto Contador is further down at 3.12 as injuries from the first two days have taken their toll. Five big climbs are on the menu. The first two are on Spanish soil like the first 120 kilometres after the start at Vielha-Val d'Aran in the province of Lérida before entering the principality of Andorra. This is the third stage finish at Arcalis in the history of the Tour de France, after Jan Ullrich sealed his overall victory in 1997 and Brice Feillu claimed the only victory of his career up to date in 2009. Colombia's Oliveiro Rincón also won a mountain stage in Andorra but that was at Pal when Quintana was only three years old (in 1993). But Nairoman knows all of the career of his fellow countryman from Boyacá and he'd love to mimic him 23 years later to take a stage win at the 2016 Tour de France. Breakaway from far out can always work out in long mountainous stages, especially with the Port de la Bonaigua located only 19km after the start, but shall the protagonists be willing to challenge Froome, the terrain is ideal for the great climbers.
Lumpy
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Really lumpy
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And so to [url= http://inrng.com/ ]Inrng [/url]for the contenders:
The Contenders: Chris Froome again? A win in the yellow jersey on a summit finish would turn a sneaky downhill stage win into a vice-grip on the race. Yesterday Sky mixed things up but perhaps today they’ll revert to type with the set piece summit finish. In one way Sky don’t need to move, Froome is in control of the race and can look forward to the upcoming time trial stages but it’s too good a moment to waste. The risk of an attack though is being countered by Nairo Quintana. Sergio Henao was strong yesterday and might take his chances.Everyone’s asking what Nairo Quintana can do and today we’ll get some answers. He’s not just inscrutable, he’s almost invisible as he’s been sitting tight for so long. The finish today is at altitude and he’ll be keen to try some attacks. Remember he often attacks several times, the first one or two goes can look bad as if he’s not got it only for a third committed attack. Team mate Alejandro Valverde is another option, especially if a group comes in and he’s been able to avoid too much work.
Dan Martin‘s been threatening a stage win for some time. Can he do it in a summit finish? There are questions about his climbing but if he can hang on then he’s got the jump. He’ll know everywhere meter of the road as he now lives in Andorra.
Another local is Joaquim Rodriguez who is looking better than expected this race after a disappointing start to the season. Still his problem this year has been the loss of his finishing kick so it’s advantage Martin but perhaps Rodriguez has the edge for consistent climbing.
BMC Racing’s two leaders sat back yesterday rather than chase Froome. Will they move today? It’s not as far fetched as it seems. Tejay van Garderen won the last high altitude finish he contested and we know Richie Porte can match Froome on a good day. If the two have been in the shadows but there’s no hiding on the final climb.
Several other climbers made the front group yesterday without showing too much. They’re all outsiders for the win but they’re not going to get much room. Neither Team Sky nor Movistar will sit still if Fabio Aru or Romain Bardet tries a late attack. Aru seems to be back in contention but hanging with the lead group yesterday was one thing, repeating it today quite another.
Among the breakaway candidates Vincenzo Nibali stands out for his pedigree. L-L Sanchez and Thomas De Gendt seem contenders too. Simon Gerrans is another “local” in Andorra but this is probably too mountainous.
And finally a couple of pics from yesterday:
The break:
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Froome, on the attack:
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Cav, not his kind of stage:
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Rolland, skin removed:
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For more of these type of pics, the images from Cycling tips [url] http://cyclingtips.com/2016/07/photo-gallery-2016-tour-de-france-stage-8/ [/url] are awesome.
Well...
It's a rest day tomorrow, the next 2 stages after are not that lumpy so it's time to do something. BMC were very quiet, the commentary was that TJ doesn't have the kick to match the accelerations but can hang in there. Perhaps they will hold on and then see who else gets dropped. Could do with them kicking on at Froome if they want to get somewhere otherwise Sky will just nibble away a few seconds here and there.
I'm sticking with my prediction from yesterday that Froome's climbing isn't quite up to its usual standard and he'll lose a bit of time to Quintana. Hoping to see Porte do well and start edging towards a podium position and poss stage win today.
blimey, that's a lot of near-continuous climbing at the end
Quintana's GOT to race today, surely ?
Yesterday I said Froome would attack and it turns out I was right, albeit I didn't think he'd attack in that way. So today, I think everyone will attack, it's a nasty day and the rest dat tomorrow meant the tanks can be emptied today.
A break will form, it will have Pinot in it again along with perhaps someone from Sky, Kiri maybe, to offer a launch pad for Froome. The main contenders will drop everyone, the selection will be made, Froome, Nairo, Porte, TJ, likely Henao and Valverde too. The attacks will come, Nairo will drop everyone bar Froome and Porte. So, I think it'll be Porte today, he'll get everyone all excited that he's got it before blowing up big style on Ventoux and loosing 20 minutes.
1. Porte
2. Froome
3. Nairo.
I'm going for Bardet today.
I don't really understand why people go for Porte. He's improved but I think he'll struggle to hang onto Froome and Quintana. I'll be interested to see how Dan Martin gets on today.
Quintana's GOT to race today, surely ?
Still two weeks and a lot of mountains to come! He may want to get his nose ahead before the TT though.
No mention of Aru? Be interesting to see him match Froome.
How important will the teams be (a lot I think) Sky have seemed very dominant to me so far, especially yesterday where they had many more riders at the front controlling the race.
Froome to extend his lead perhaps conclusively
Froome to lose his front wheel and some teeth today with his comedy descending.
On his day Porte is more than capable of sticking with and beating Quintana as we saw this time last year, however he does always seem to have a bit of bad luck which ruins his GC chances. I'd like to see how well he can do over 3 weeks if he doesn't lose time to random racing incidents.
I'd also like him to beat TJVG and establish himself as the team leader because TJ is a pretty dull racer and at least Porte is usually willing to attack.
Mental start to the stage, split pelotons etc
Contador looking like he may abandon. Mark Renshaw picked up an illness last night and has abandoned early on.
Froome on Twitter. Please don't try this at home 🙂
[url= https://mobile.twitter.com/chrisfroome/status/752034022302314496 ]Linky[/url]
and Bertie goes home. Fever this morning apparently but not really been in the race since day 1
I'm no fan of Contador but it's always sad to see someone abandon. Knowing how hard and resilient these guys are, he must have really been struggling.
Bert is done.
Agreed, Mikey. Clearly some bad blood in the team as well (and not doping relate for once) as he's off on Trek.
Well setting up for something on the last climb, sky looking strong so far but at the moment do any of the others need to do a team destroy? Hold sky and pick your moment to go head to head with Froome. Anyway another late night finish for me on this one, glass of red and enjoy.
this is all a bit tedious or even Einstein definition of insanity.
Little bit of excitement when the motorbike tried to take out the movistar rider. It's all grinding out till the last climb I reckon
not even that they'll probably attack with a 1 km to go 🙄
other channels are available. There's sewing on BBC2, probably.
Watching a bloke going downhill at 60mph sat on his top tube yesterday didn't strike me as tedious.
with most if not all riders using power data to measure their effort, why do they also bother with HR data? does it tell them anything else useful?
I would guess its useful to have the two together to see how much effort its taking to generate the power ?
Starting to get interesting at the front, Sky look comfortable with Froome though
other channels are available.
who's watching this snooze fest ?
Spectator flattened by rider when he stepped into the road without looking - wtf is wrong with these people!?
Hail 😐
That'll give you a chill, 41 degrees earlier now mountain top in the hail !
zebra crossing he had right of way 😉
Henao!!!!
Interesting whats happening here, mini Sky break ?
Adam Yates hanging in well, G doesn't seem to have the form this Tour
Froooooome
He keeps looking back for team mates but there are none !
Froome and Nairo go.....Porte struggling to follow, this is what a mountain stage should look like!
All. Fun and games 🙂
Porte looking strong still, marking Froome like he knows him so well
A different ffs Phil he's not from the west of Tasmania, nobody lives there
Nairo has to do something one day
Martin launching one now
Wish they'd show the GC guys!
Who cares about Bennett wobbling over the line in 10th
Yates....stellar ride. Dan Martin looks strong
So Froome / Quintana together, no real change at the top ?
Great battle at the end, awesome to see Porte attacking up there and Yates going for the seconds. Team sky had the numbers but if you can sit long enough they fall away at the end. Plenty to play for
Slightly surprised by Porte but pleased for him. Good showing by Dan and Adam plays another blinder.
As someone else said, almost inevitable that Porte will ride in with the grupetto at some point on a mountain stage.....looks good now, but I'm yet to be convinced by him.
Surprised Froome didn't go harder.....Quintana completed the final week about a minute quicker than him last year. Guess that he's banking on the TT's to give him a decisive lead.
Froome will probably take some time on Quintana in the ITT but not that much. Quintana is no slouch, he won a short ITT in the Route du Sud. And Movistar do a lot of aero testing (he's tiny so should have an aero advantage on Froome.) And we've got the stage up the Ventoux the day before the ITT so it'll also be down to what's left in the legs.
Only had half an eye on today's stage and not caught up properly. Did see Porte looking back a lot. Looking for Tejay? Did wonder it would be an issue for BMC if one of their leaders had the opportunity to force a selection at the expense of the other leader.