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Tour de France Discussion
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 09-12-2025 19:17
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| SotD |
Posted on 08-12-2014 06:55
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10th is a bit less than I had hoped for, but the time gaps aren't that big. I'm interestered in seeing if Tzortzakis can somehow pick the right wheel from time to time here.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 08-12-2014 08:01
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Wow, quite an "opener" here! Quickstep achieving it's goal already on first day, which appeared to be one hell of a stage. Could make for some interesting stuff to come with already some GC-contenders losing additional minutes. Always a mixed feeling about such things, but surely wind and a quite challenging flat route made their impact there. Nice report, as expected 
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| Smowz |
Posted on 08-12-2014 08:01
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Wow, a massively decisive opening road stage. Massive win for Quickstep and as usual a massive AI fail for the punchy riders with only GC favourites coming to the front which is BS.
I suspect many of the GC favourites were more focussed on yesterdays TTT which actually bar ING's total dominance created small gaps. But actually this stage was far more important not that really you can do much about it just have fingers crossed and hope.
Clearly now Sicard should control lead jersey for a few days. But that time loss for Madrazo and Schleck is going to really hurt - Schleck is going to be a long ways down after the ITT now.
Pokerstars actually rode pretty strong here, so despite now bigger time gaps there will be som hope for sprinters to pull together rather than breakaway city.
Nice report - will be interesting to see some of the managers reactions here!
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| roturn |
Posted on 08-12-2014 08:14
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Losing time with Keizer was somehow expected on hilly stages.
So I am glad to be in the big group and not one of the dropped 2nd tier leaders.
The fight of the big guns surely became interesting with Vesuvio and Santander are forced to show something now.
Very happy for Quickstep. Great start for them.
And most impressive to watch was Boonen, how he tried to win the stage. |
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| SotD |
Posted on 08-12-2014 08:25
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Very nice stage, and a great way to get some back from the time lost in the TTT. Spilak didn't exactly seem like the strongest in the sprint, but taking time on Andy Schleck is really important.
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| ember |
Posted on 08-12-2014 09:52
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Nice win for Quickstep, congratulations Alakagom! Very surprising to see the GC riders have a go at it thanks to Pokerstars impressive performance, but not so cool to see us drop Levarlet in the crosswinds together with Pokerstars when he definitely was our best option here 
Thanks for a very nice report. The managers coming away from the stage with no time losses for their captain must be thrilled. Especially a bad day for Santander with both Madrazo and Tenorio a minute behind.
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 08-12-2014 09:54
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Not Amazing by Schleck, but I'll still support him.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 08-12-2014 10:38
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World Champion
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Woah...I am not dreaming?
Holy crap, didn't expect that. What a stage. How cool is that first road stage at PT and our first win 
Kenneth was a perfect rider for break on such stage, superb tactical decision by the manager Vanbilsen should probably keep KoM jersey tomorrow as well, which is a nice bonus.
Well no matter what the Tour is now success which is nice only after 2 stages
Edited by Alakagom on 08-12-2014 10:38
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| rjc_43 |
Posted on 08-12-2014 11:28
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How that stage was classed as flat is a mystery to me.
[url=cleavercycling.co.uk]  [/url] |
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| Heine |
Posted on 08-12-2014 12:33
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Extremly interesting stage to read, congrats to Vanbilsen and Quickstep. He fought til the end and ended up with a big stage win for the team.
Agree with rjc, that was a hilly stage. The way the stage worked out however (gameplay) seems to me to be really realistic
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| Roman |
Posted on 08-12-2014 13:59
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Wow, what a stage. As expected König already lost a few minutes, hopefully that will only mean he will go as soon as possible for KOM points. The battle between main favourites is already getting really interesting!
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 08-12-2014 14:26
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It's awesome that Sicard is in yellow and even distanced some of his strongest rivals in such a dramatic stage. I hope he'll keep it even after the ITT, though it'll be hard.
Congrats to Quick-Step, what a win!
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 08-12-2014 14:39
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Surprising to say the least, but this could never be a flat-rated stage. It can't be good for Fothen to be 2min down on the yellow jersey, already on stage 2, but at least Allonca showed himself on the break.
Nice to see Quickstep taking this stage though. Congrats Alakagom.
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| knockout |
Posted on 08-12-2014 14:52
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Great racing there from Pokerstars and quite cool to see Dzamastagic right up there with the best as Boonen's last man.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Forever the Best |
Posted on 08-12-2014 15:55
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Schleck,Madrazo,Tenorio and co. with a big loss here.Pity for them because of the splits.
The user formerly known as 'The Schleck Fan'
Gracias Alberto.
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 08-12-2014 17:12
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A pity but quite logical looking at the FL and SP stats:
| Group 1 +11s | Fl | Mo | Hi | TT | St | Rs | Rc | Co | Sp | Ac | Fi | Do | Pr | |  Dekker | 76 | 82 | 76 | 79 | 78 | 83 | 81 | 62 | 68 | 72 | 70 | 68 | 79 | E1 |  Pluchkin | 74 | 85 | 75 | 79 | 78 | 78 | 79 | 70 | 67 | 74 | 67 | 66 | 79 | E1 |  Sicard | 73 | 82 | 78 | 76 | 80 | 79 | 82 | 57 | 64 | 70 | 77 | 65 | 76 | E1 |  Spilak | 72 | 85 | 80 | 77 | 80 | 81 | 78 | 70 | 67 | 74 | 71 | 68 | 77 | E1 |  Taaramäe | 75 | 82 | 78 | 80 | 79 | 80 | 79 | 52 | 60 | 76 | 70 | 70 | 79 | E1 |  Phinney | 73 | 82 | 77 | 83 | 77 | 74 | 76 | 58 | 72 | 75 | 68 | 71 | 83 | E1 |  Amador | 70 | 84 | 75 | 78 | 77 | 74 | 79 | 51 | 67 | 72 | 71 | 71 | 77 | E1 |  Kritskiy | 75 | 82 | 75 | 79 | 78 | 76 | 78 | 58 | 68 | 67 | 68 | 62 | 79 | E1 | | Group 2 +1min |  Schleck | 71 | 85 | 75 | 74 | 77 | 82 | 82 | 53 | 62 | 79 | 70 | 64 | 73 | E2 |  Úran | 72 | 82 | 74 | 78 | 75 | 81 | 77 | 55 | 55 | 71 | 67 | 62 | 78 | E2 |  Tenorio | 68 | 83 | 76 | 80 | 78 | 76 | 79 | 59 | 58 | 64 | 84 | 68 | 79 | E2 |  Fothen | 72 | 81 | 74 | 77 | 75 | 79 | 79 | 55 | 56 | 69 | 68 | 63 | 77 | E2 |  Henao | 70 | 82 | 71 | 71 | 75 | 79 | 77 | 51 | 58 | 73 | 70 | 62 | 71 | E2 | | Madrazo | 68 | 85 | 76 | 77 | 81 | 80 | 81 | 55 | 61 | 72 | 66 | 69 | 77 | E2 | | Group 3 +3min | | Intxausti | 70 | 82 | 71 | 77 | 78 | 78 | 77 | 51 | 61 | 70 | 67 | 63 | 77 | E3 | | Suaza | 66 | 80 | 65 | 73 | 65 | 76 | 67 | 51 | 60 | 79 | 57 | 64 | 73 | E3 | | Ratiy | 65 | 80 | 70 | 74 | 70 | 73 | 76 | 53 | 53 | 58 | 53 | 55 | 74 | E3 |  Kohl | 70 | 80 | 74 | 70 | 75 | 82 | 77 | 55 | 57 | 72 | 68 | 64 | 70 | E3 |
Edited by OlegTinkov on 08-12-2014 17:18
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| Smowz |
Posted on 08-12-2014 17:40
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Nice stats there Oleg, certainly helps clear the picture up a bit and sorta makes some sense for the GC riders.
Of course this stage was a bit misleading to say it was for sprinters - my first reaction was that it looked that way. It was a 'Muur of Bretagne' type day really. Just noticed in the detailed preview (which made no mention of stage 2 finale!) actually has stage make Emmea popping in promising strade bianchi in stage 3 (no effect on riders really) ... may be more wind though!
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 08-12-2014 17:51
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For 1t4i everything went as expected in the second stage: nothing happened.
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| Forever the Best |
Posted on 08-12-2014 18:11
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Classics Specialist
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Yeah,true.It is logical
The user formerly known as 'The Schleck Fan'
Gracias Alberto.
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 08-12-2014 18:18
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Team Leader
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Ballz.
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