Le Tour de Pharmaceutical 2014

Possibly a day for someone like Gerrans?

Nobody wants to risk Sagan entering a mini sprint. Hard luck for him, nice ride by Gallopin.

Did you see any post-race interviews trike ? Peter Sagan tactfully said as much afterwards.

"That's cycling. No one wants to help me" ...... or as near as damn it. He didn't actually say because they know my finishing ability - but the implication was clear enough.

Don't you think it would be kind of fitting if he were to win the stage victory on the Champs in a couple of Sundays time ?

How nice would that be? But hard to look past Kittel for that one. Maybe he can spring a surprise. Another stage tailor made for him (or Degenkolb) tonight though.

OGE have been pretty quiet so far. Maybe tonight they'll have a crack?

Another good stage for the Gallopin Frenchman. Another intermediate stage today. Shouldnt have much effect on the GC.

Kristoff outsprints Sagan and no pussyfooting like yesterday either.

Although not riding in this Tour, so a bit of a sideline ....

Team Sky have sacked Jonathan Tiernan-Locke following a two year ban for a doping offence committed before joining Sky.

Looks like an interesting stage today. Could be a huge sorting out on the final climb.

taipan wrote:Looks like an interesting stage today. Could be a huge sorting out on the final climb.

Aye. Most of the commentators have been saying the first venture into the alps will sort out the pretenders.

Climbing finish today.

Is that really a sprint intermediary at the bottom of a Cat 1 climb?

Important day for the little Tozzie legend.

lardbucket wrote:Important day for the little Tozzie legend.

Aye. Go Richie. I do fear for him on the HC climb though.

He must have amazing physiology ... he really is only a little guy. I've seen him a couple of times in one of the local cafes with the local MAMILs ... he was quite inconspicuous - I wouldn't have known who he was if he hadn't been pointed out to me - and locally unknown (outside cycling circles) at that time. Suspect that will never again be the case.

JGK wrote:

lardbucket wrote:Important day for the little Tozzie legend.

Aye.   Go Richie.  I do fear for him on the HC climb though.

No need to, Mr K - He was at his best on these kind of stages helping both Brad Wiggins & Chris Froome win the last two tours. They suit him so far as riding in itself goes. If I have any concerns, it's how he'll handle the mental challenges of being thrust into the role of "skipper" as he was, with no preparation - and ultimately with the yellow jersey (should he actually qualify for it over the following days).

I think he light have led Sky in some of the smaller classics.

He won Paris Nice last year and was supposed to lead the Giro but had an illness and lost form.

Looks as though Thomas has cracked.

Porte in trouble.

Aye Wally - 12Km from the finish & he's been spat out the rear of the peloton.

Thing is, he may not be the last one yet .....

Ouch !!!

8 Km to go - peloton shattered into 4 groups, with Richie almost 3 minutes down & essentially losing time with every turn of the wheel .......

Nibali on another level in this race. Brilliant attack. Porte's lucky to have Nieve today, could've easily ended up ahead of Porte the way he's going.

Vincenzo Nibali - A totally dominant performance.

It sure looks like it will take something extraordinary to stop him winning from here. he looked as though he could kick on at will, with energy to spare.

Richie Porte was almost 10 minutes down coming home, so won't, in all probability, even make the podium. It was like someone pulled out the power lead. That said, he had a similarly disasterous day last year - but recovered to help Froome in later stages. For that reason, I wouldn't discount him trying for a stage win at some point.