The Official 102nd Tour de France, thread.

[Pogue Mahone]

Is anyone else worried about the speed - yesterday was the quickest ever TT and today they are talking about how high the speeds are given the conditions, I really hope this does not turn in to another 1998

Not yet.

A short TT, the perfect length for really fast average speeds, and state of the art TT bikes, this was always going to be a blisteringly fast first stage.

And today is the flattest stage in the history of the World. Even with the winds, it was going to be fast.

I don't think it's 'out of this World' yet.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Ahhh Cav - went a bit early, I so wanted you to get that. Do it Thursday into Le Harve when we will be cheering you on.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

G 5th overall - come on sky get him in yellow

 

[1234andcounting]

Bit of a lacklustre first stage IMO, hopefully tomorrow will be more interesting...

Got your wish and then some. I was thinking before it started shall I bother watching? Glad I did, gripping stage from start to finish.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Cav deprived Tony Martin (his teammate) of the Yellow Jersey, by sitting up in the sprint. Cancellara then took it with the time bonus for beating Cav into 3rd place. May not be mates tonight.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Cav deprived Tony Martin (his teammate) of the Yellow Jersey, by sitting up in the sprint. Cancellara then took it with the time bonus for beating Cav into 3rd place. May not be mates tonight.

D'oh!

Brilliant from Cancellara to be up there and getting in the top three. I'm delighted he's in yellow.

 

[1066familyman]

Now that's proper racing!

Chapeau to the Gorilla. Lotto done well to get so many in that lead group considering they had more than their fair share of crashes and mechanicals, and then played the lead out to perfection using Cav and Renshaw as their train effectively.

Think the Steppers burnt their matches too early there - dropping Cav off at 300 meters is just too far out.

Clever ride by Cance to nick the bonus seconds and take Yellow.

Superb sprint by Sagan!, considering he had to chase back on after his puncture AND lost lead out man Bennatti to a puncture as well.

Very surprised to see Kristoff not contest the sprint having made the lead group.

Briliant stage for the race as a whole by setting up some decent GC time gaps already. The organisers, with the help of the weather, have done a great job there. Easy to see how Quintana could get dropped by I'm very surprised to see Nibs dropped like that as well. Will make for some great attacks later on though

In amongst the chaos it's funny to see normality still jogging along in the background - no prizes for guessing which Sky rider has hit the deck already

 

[Stat Brother]

Much to my surprise Martin has never worn yellow.

 

[1066familyman]

Much to my surprise Martin has never worn yellow.

Good job him and Cav go back a long way and are mates then

The Steppers do have a habit of ballsing things up once they've put themselves into the driving seat.

 

[Stat Brother]

Good job him and Cav go back a long way and are mates then

The Steppers do have a habit of ballsing things up once they've put themselves into the driving seat.

A conspiratorist (that is a word) could easier be forgiven for thinking they like to screw up the first one to drive Cav on to win the other 5.

 

[1066familyman]

A conspiratorist (that is a word) could easier be forgiven for thinking they like to screw up the first one to drive Cav on to win the other 5.

After watching this effort you could make as many words out of conspiracy as you like and get away with it I think.

Can't pass up an opportunity to post this classic, in every sense of the word, for those who might have missed it:

[yt]oQRSisiaC9A[/yt]

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Much to my surprise Martin has never worn yellow.

Ouch, I assumed he had TT into yellow before

 

[pb21]

Got your wish and then some. I was thinking before it started shall I bother watching? Glad I did, gripping stage from start to finish.

Quite, just finished watching the highlights. How on earth did Movistar, Astana and FdJ lose over a minute against 20 or so riders though?!

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Come on Fignon - your in my spot

 

[Stat Brother]

Greipel wins storm-swept stage 2 to Neeltje Jans

1 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 3:29:03
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo
3 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing
4 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx - Quick-Step
5 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team
6 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
7 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
8 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin
9 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step
10 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin

General classification after stage 2

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing 3:44:01
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:03
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:06
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:33
5 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:35
6 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:42
7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx - Quick-Step
8 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:44
9 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:48
10 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky

 

[1066familyman]

Will your preview of tomorrow's stage be safe tipping Dan Martin, J Rod and Valverde SB?, or are you going out on a limb for surprises?

I can see Sagan surprising here and taking yellow and potentially more time for Bert as well. Would like to see Nibs try something audacious too.

 

[Stat Brother]

I think it has to be Dan Martin all the way.

A la Rohan Dennis the moment the the route was announced DM must have gone 'all in' for that stage win.
He probably would have been dreaming about wearing yellow too.

It's tough to call which lieutenant will be allowed to do what, so to that end the BMC boys might get a slightly more relaxed role.
Allowing Oss & GVA to 1-2 punch their way towards yellow, assuming Oss goes first the rest might not be able to catch him pulling GVA with them.





It'll be chilly in hell before I tip AVV.

 

[The Hon Sec]

Huy is the town where the BBC drama 'Missing' starring James Nesbitt was filmed last year. Will the missing son be seen in the crowds I wonder?

 

[Pantani]

Just caught up. That was incredible stuff. Disaster for Nibali, Quintana, Pinot and 'they call him JC'. As for great French hope Bardet, he is now 3 minutes down after just two stages!

The Etixx tactics in the final were an absolute joke. What were they doing? Three in a row at the front, then Cav and Renshaw hanging out behind some other riders?!? Why were they doing that? Then Renshaw dragging Cav round his own team mates, dropping Cav off with over 300 metres to go? It is almost a perfect demonstration of how not to do a sprint finish. Cav would win that sprint, against those riders 99 times out of a 100. Some how Etixx managed to make that finish the 1 where he did not win. Unbelievably bad after so much work all day.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Come on Fignon - your in my spot

I'm trying!! Quite a few climbers in my team, so expecting better things as the roads start going upwards!!