The Official 102nd Tour de France, thread.

[Stat Brother]

[MENTION=435]Stat Brother[/MENTION] Your mate BooHoohanni as abandoned after crashing in to a ditch.

I bet he wasn't first one in, either.

We were in the van with the radio on, when Le Tour was mentioned.
My reflex reaction instantly kicked in and I turned the radio off, only to realise it's 13:45 and not much has happened.

I got the radio back on just in time to hear the news he was out.
Nobody will be surprised to know there were no tears shed. .

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Quite a bad crash by the sounds of it and a couple others now struggling, very wet and miserable, hope its better for our foray out there tomorrow.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

A nice touch by the organisers to honour the 100th anniversary of the ANZACS that fought in the area they are passing through.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Thought I was going to get my first stage win of the race just now....damn!
Weather looking ok for tomorrow over there, so I'm off to get my gear together before heading down to the ferry port later tonight!

 

[Stat Brother]

 

[1066familyman]

For a minute there, from the flash of what looked like pink on the helmet, I thought this was a Lampre rider. WTF are Lampre doing in this Tour!? Came here with a strong team and yet so far they have been woeful (admitted they should be better when things start to go uphill). Today they only had Rui Costa for GC, and Cimolai on his own for the sprint in that front group - the whole of the rest of the team over 14 bloody minutes down

Then I saw later in the video it was a Giant-Alpecin rider doing the recording, so...........and relax.

 

[Bold Seagull]

The gorilla is on fire!

Another perfectly executed and judged sprint by the German. Form of his life by the looks of it.

 

[1066familyman]

The gorilla is on fire!

Another perfectly executed and judged sprint by the German. Form of his life by the looks of it.

I think you're right, because Cav seemed to be the in form sprinter coming into this Tour, not Greipel. Perhaps it's a confidence thing, like it is with goals and football strikers as well.

Another day today that shows just how strong Sagan is at the moment.

Unlike SB, I'm gutted to see Bouhanni crash out. I still like him and reckon he's one of the best of the big sprinters in terms of getting over lumps in the road or surviving crosswinds too.

 

[1066familyman]

Gutted for Greenedge, they really are having a lot of bad luck in this Tour.

Albasini now out with a fracture to his upper left arm

Not sure how many riders the poor buggers are going to have left for the TTT at this rate.

 

[Stat Brother]

Stage 5

1 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 4:39:00
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo
3 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx - Quick-Step
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN - Qhubeka
6 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
7 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr
8 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Team Europcar
9 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida
10 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
11 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits

General classification after stage 5

1 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step 17:19:26
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:12
3 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:25
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:33
5 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:00:38

 

[Stat Brother]

Tour de France 2015 Stage 6: Abbeville - Le Havre, 191.5 km





Stats & Facts

Le Havre has hosted 18 Tour de France stage finishes in total. The last was 20 years ago, when Mario Cipollini won a sprint.
The winner of the 1991 stage, Thierry Marie, did so with the second-longest solo break in Tour history – he rode 234km alone, and won by 1-54, to retake the yellow jersey he’d already worn once by winning the prologue.
The longest solo break in Tour history was by Albert Bourlon, in 1947, at 253km. His record is safe – solo breakaways are rare these days, plus the longest stage of the 2015 Tour is only 223.5km

Prognostication

3 words:-

John
Degen
&
kolb

GreenEdge are too beaten up for a stage they would have targeted.
It doesn't seem punchy enough for the Belgiumists.
So I see a straight fight between JD & Sagan.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Tour de France 2015 Stage 6: Abbeville - Le Havre, 191.5 km

View attachment 66773

View attachment 66774

Stats & Facts

Le Havre has hosted 18 Tour de France stage finishes in total. The last was 20 years ago, when Mario Cipollini won a sprint.
The winner of the 1991 stage, Thierry Marie, did so with the second-longest solo break in Tour history – he rode 234km alone, and won by 1-54, to retake the yellow jersey he’d already worn once by winning the prologue.
The longest solo break in Tour history was by Albert Bourlon, in 1947, at 253km. His record is safe – solo breakaways are rare these days, plus the longest stage of the 2015 Tour is only 223.5km

Prognostication

3 words:-

John
Degen
&
kolb

GreenEdge are too beaten up for a stage they would have targeted.
It doesn't seem punchy enough for the Belgiumists.
So I see a straight fight between JD & Sagan.

I really want Sagan to win today - he's sprinted well, worked for his team, shown a bit of humour. He definitely deserves it.

 

[Stat Brother]

I really want Sagan to win today - he's sprinted well, worked for his team, shown a bit of humour. He definitely deserves it.

He has more of a chance for the victory since 8:22 than he had at 8:20.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

He has more of a chance for the victory since 8:22 than he had at 8:20.

General feeling is that a lot of the finish is 7% plus which makes me lean more towards Sagan that JD or even a flyer from someone else.

 

[Stat Brother]

General feeling is that a lot of the finish is 7% plus which makes me lean more towards Sagan that JD or even a flyer from someone else.

Sure you'd think there's nothing between the 2 with Sagan having the advantage.
I only went of JD on the strength of that ridiculous finish he won up some dam in the middle east.

Plus he has no other duties within the team and his rage at losing to Martin.


I quickly talked myself out of a GVA/Jumbo/Soudal as I think any sign of 'spring' racing will get snuffed out by QuickStep.
I guess that would leave the door open for Stybar, but if I'm picking him I might as well go the whole hog and select Jeff Soup or Bob Jungles. (who's losing his shine now P&P seem to be using him to fill their Schleck void)

 

[Bold Seagull]

For those that missed it the other day, here is the moment Sagan suggested a breakaway after contesting the intermediate sprint. Griepel and Degenklob have a right giggle...

 

[1066familyman]

Sure you'd think there's nothing between the 2 with Sagan having the advantage.
I only went of JD on the strength of that ridiculous finish he won up some dam in the middle east.

Plus he has no other duties within the team and his rage at losing to Martin.


I quickly talked myself out of a GVA/Jumbo/Soudal as I think any sign of 'spring' racing will get snuffed out by QuickStep.
I guess that would leave the door open for Stybar, but if I'm picking him I might as well go the whole hog and select Jeff Soup or Bob Jungles. (who's losing his shine now P&P seem to be using him to fill their Schleck void)

Not sure JD is in the same form now as he was for that brilliant finish you talk about in Tour of Dubai.

If Daniel T makes it from the break today I won't know whether to laugh or cry. Was tempted to take him at 400/1 last night but didn't. I do have him in my fantasy team though ready for his KoM quest which by the likes of it starts from today.

 

[Pantani]

Top crashing Caruso

 

[Stat Brother]

Top crashing Caruso

It must have been like landing on an overfilled water bed.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

What a stupid move by Martin. All his own fault, that kind of shoulder charge was pointless.