Tour de France 2015

[phantom13]

Love Martin. Very happy to see him wear Yellow the rest of the week. Very impressed with Quintana as well.

Does anybody give Van Garderen a chance at GC? He's only 13 seconds behind Froome right now.

My brother in law is convinced of it. I told him unless the top 4 go down he wont win. Genuine best of the rest. Its stage 4. They have alot of mountains to climb where Froome, Nibali, Contador and Nairo will ride away from the field.

 

[Papa Juggs]

BMC are looking really strong and I think Van Garderen is a chance for the podium but I don't think he can beat Froome.

A few flat boring stages in the first week but so much mountains to come. It's going to be a great race when it heats up.

 

[grouse mate]

Do they rig up with different tyres for today?

All the changes in here. http://cyclingtips.com.au/2015/07/tour-de-france-tech-bikes-built-for-the-pave/

 

[Belnakor]

BMC are looking really strong and I think Van Garderen is a chance for the podium but I don't think he can beat Froome..

Van Garderen will crack in the mountains like everyone else will vs the Froome onslaught unfortunately.

What stage do we win it will start heating up? i know in 2013 Sky started putting gaps on the field within the first couple of stages.

 

[monty1104]

Stage 5: Arras - Amiens Metropole
With all of the hype surrounding last night's stage due to the effect the cobbles had on last year's race, it really didn't live up to the hype. Yes it was a good stage with the epic finish by Der Panzerwagen Tony Martin, but it didn't result in the expected shake up of the GC contenders. Thibalt Pinot was the big loser on the day, losing over 3 mins to the main contenders.

Current Jersey Leaders
Yellow: Tony Martin (EQS)
White: Peter Sagan (TCS)
Green: Andre Greipel (LTS)
Polkadot: Joachim Rodriguez (KAT)
Lantern Rouge: Michael Matthews (OGE)
Team: BMC

General Classification after Stage 4
GER 1 MARTIN, Tony (ETIXX - QUICK STEP) 12:40:26
GBR 2 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 12
USA 3 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 25
FRA 4 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 38
SVK 5 SAGAN, Peter (TINKOFF - SAXO) + 39
BEL 6 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) + 40
COL 7 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (ETIXX - QUICK STEP) + 46
ESP 8 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF - SAXO) + 48
GBR 9 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 1:15
CZE 10 STYBAR, Zdenek (ETIXX - QUICK STEP) + 1:16
FRA 11 BARGUIL, Warren (GIANT - ALPECIN) + 1:19
NED 12 MOLLEMA, Bauke (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 1:44
ITA 13 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) + 1:50
NED 14 GESINK, Robert (LOTTO NL - JUMBO) + 1:51
CZE 15 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF - SAXO) + 2:03
ESP 16 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR)
COL 17 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 2:08
ESP 18 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 2:12
FRA 19 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 2:19
USA 20 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE - GARMIN) + 2:51

Sprinters day today. Look for Etixx Quickstep to control the race, both because they have the yellow jersey and because they have Cav on their team. I all honesty though, he doesn't look in great form. Nacer Bouhanni on the other hand, looks in the best form he has been in for a couple of seasons now and could be one to look out for in the final sprint. Kristoff looks a bit down and Greipel had a tough day yesterday. Having said all of that, I'll be tipping John Degenkolb tonight. He looks in great form and is one of the fastest sprinters out there - only Cav and Greipel would beat him for top end speed and as mentioned, both don't look to be at the top of their game.

 

[grouse mate]

Van Garderen will crack in the mountains like everyone else will vs the Froome onslaught unfortunately.

What stage do we win it will start heating up? i know in 2013 Sky started putting gaps on the field within the first couple of stages.

Reckon Sky will put a decent gap on most in the TTT. Movistar have not been great in TT's in recent years.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Going through Villers Bretonneux

 

[eth-dog]

Reckon Sky will put a decent gap on most in the TTT. Movistar have not been great in TT's in recent years.

Dowsett helps that, and IIRC Valverde runs a pretty decent TT.

 

[Papa Juggs]

Cav will win tonight. Looks like his stage.

 

[monty1104]

Reckon Sky will put a decent gap on most in the TTT. Movistar have not been great in TT's in recent years.

Dowsett, Castroviejo, Izaguirre, Malori, Valverde all good TT riders. I'd be most worried about Nibali losing time in the TTT. I could actually see Movistar winning it.

 

[eth-dog]

I'm not 100% on this, but does it matter whether Quintana is in the top 5?

 

[monty1104]

I'm not 100% on this, but does it matter whether Quintana is in the top 5?

He has to cross the line with the lead group, otherwise he gets a separate time.

 

[Sasquatch]

Dowsett, Castroviejo, Izaguirre, Malori, Valverde all good TT riders. I'd be most worried about Nibali losing time in the TTT. I could actually see Movistar winning it.

Astana's team is good. Nibali won't be losing much time. Think Movistar will win it though. Their team is so much better and it's a hilly course which favours them more.

 

[eth-dog]

He has to cross the line with the lead group, otherwise he gets a separate time.

That's unfortunate for him. He really needs to stay with them until the end then.

 

[Mateyman]

He has to cross the line with the lead group, otherwise he gets a separate time.

Was eth-dog talking about the TTT?

 

[monty1104]

Was eth-dog talking about the TTT?

Yeah, I think so

 

[Mateyman]

Yeah, I think so

Couldn't Nibali not even ride then and get credited with the same time as the top 5? From what I read they took the 5th rider over the line's time and after that it doesn't matter about the rest of the team?

 

[monty1104]

Couldn't Nibali not even ride then and get credited with the same time as the top 5? From what I read they took the 5th rider over the line's time and after that it doesn't matter about the rest of the team?

The time the team gets credited with is the time the 5th rider crosses the line.

As long as a rider is in that group, everyone in the group gets the same time, similar to a bunch sprint.

If a rider drops off the back, they won't get the team's time, they get their individual time.

 

[BotsMaster]

Can someone tell me what region I have to be in to get the live coverage from the tour tracker?

 

[Papa Juggs]

Gotta love a stormy summer

Too bad about the guys that crashed into a ditch though, don't want to hear that sort of stuff. Hope the guy that had to abandon is ok.

 

[eth-dog]

Who will win the race for 2nd at the intermediate sprint point? My money's on Greipel.

 

[eth-dog]

Who will win the race for 2nd at the intermediate sprint point? My money's on Greipel.

First Lyth out for 6, now this. I'm on fire tonight.

 

[Papa Juggs]

Peleton looking a bit thin already. Steady going right now just having lunch.

 

[monty1104]

Lol, police bike crashed.

 

[Vader]

Weird watching a sprinters' stage, with no sprinters' teams riding on the front of the peleton.

Normally the peleton is led by the teams of either the sprinters, or the yellow jersey wearer. Not the 2015 Tour. Almost every stage so far has been led by the teams of the GC contenders, with Movistar, Astana, UK Postal, BMC and Saxo-Tinkoff riding line abreast across the road. The sprinters' teams are getting an armchair ride this tour.