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Crystael posted:Yes, this. It'll certainly make the final week interesting - Contador has to have some time in the bank before that TT. Also, the need to get time gaps on Froome will hopefully lead to some more exciting riding earlier on - stage 2 and the cobbled one (5 I think) both look ripe for an ambush. Stage 2 reminds me of that Tirreno stage last year where Nibali managed to steal a march on Froome in the wet. The Yellow Jersey is really up for grabs the whole FIRST week of the Tour, all the way to the Belle-Fils. Since there's no prologue, every break will probably have someone who can threaten for the GC lead if it stays away. Are the GC teams going to be alright with conceding seconds or minutes to these riders hoping to leave them totally behind when they get to the high mountains? It strikes me as unlikely. I bet we'll see breaks really trying for it on the stages that aren't pancake (2,5, sort of 7, 8) through to the mountains, but the GC teams are really going to destroy the peleton to catch them. I think we'll see very select group finishes on these stages after some harder-than-usual rides for the 1st week of a Grand Tour.
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Jul 2, 2014 00:12
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 14:06 |
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Albinator posted:The Tour has lots of sub-competitions, and the leader in each wears a distinctive jersey. The overall leader (ie, quickest time through all the stages so far) wears yellow. That will be Kittel tomorrow, since he came first today. The best sprinter gets a green jersey - there are set places to sprint throughout the course, and there's points for first, second and so on in those sprints. Similarly with King of the Mountains competition, there are points available at the tops of climbs for the first few riders, and the rider with the most points gets a polka-dot jersey. Most aggressive rider from the day before (one of the guys up front in the breakaway, almost invariably) gets red numbers. Another interesting thing happens when someone owns more than one of the four leader's jerseys. All four must be worn by someone, so if rider A owns two, then the second place rider in the 'lesser' competition actually wears a jersey owned by someone else. I believe that in order of importance they go yellow (overall leader), white (young leader), green (sprint leader), polka dot (mountains leader). The order of the last two doesn't matter so much because almost no one could lead both the mountains and the sprints. So, stage one was won by Marcel Kittel. He is thus the race leader, and so he gets to wear yellow. Peter Sagan leads the young riders classification (he was second on stage 1 and Kittel is too old), so he wears white. Kittel also leads the sprint competition, but he can't wear the green, because he has to wear yellow. Normally the second placed sprinter would wear green, but that's Sagan and he can't also. In this very special case, the third placed sprinter will wear green tomorrow, Bryan Coquard. Jens Voigt wears polka dots because he is the mountains leader at the moment and gets red numbers too because he was voted the day's most aggressive rider. Team Sky will have yellow numbers because they're the best placed team. Most/all of these jerseys and awards will change tomorrow, but wearing a leaders jersey for even a day in a grand tour is an honor for riders and a really big deal in terms of their professional careers.
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Jul 6, 2014 05:18
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I see Cancelarra sitting on Nibali's wheel in the leading group. Bet he attacks on the last section of cobbles.
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Jul 9, 2014 15:40
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They decided to cancel the stage and use today for a time trial. Tony Martin won, Cancellara came second. A whole bunch of people tied after that. Most of the favorites took a day off and lost time.
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Jul 13, 2014 22:21
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Europcar goes on the attack!
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Jul 17, 2014 15:55
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TJ can probably get 2m7s on Bardet in the TT, so the final top five will be Nibali 1, Peraud/Valverde 2 and 3, Pinot 4, and TJ in 5th. Majka won the mountains jersey today; Bardet can't get 2m17s on Pinot so the latter gets White. Sagan has had Green locked up since the first week, so it seems like we're just watching for stage wins now (and I guess 2nd and 3rd place overall). I'm really annoyed at NBC showing the women's race on Universal Sports instead of NBC Sports. Now I can't watch La Course. What are they showing on the regular channel? A replay of the boring TT stage. 
Legendary Ptarmigan fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Jul 24, 2014 |
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Jul 24, 2014 18:51
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:Does that mean him and Bardet will be sprinting for the line tomorrow? Van Garderen outsprints the bunch to win the stage. Sagan gets 2nd.
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Jul 26, 2014 17:22
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 14:06 |
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serious gaylord posted:Once Contador was gone there was literally no point in the tour. Nibali could have ridden off a cliff in the Alps two days after Contador went out. There's quite a difference between leading the race on the first rest day and winning it in Paris. It doesn't matter if you're an enormous favorite; you still have to perform at the end of the day.
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Jul 26, 2014 17:50
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