*Official* 2008 Tour de France Thread

[Craig]

I will tip Bernhard Kohl for the KOM jersey. I don't think Sebastian Lang will last much longer.

 

[Matteh]

47  (- 1)  Mørk        (468, +23)
68  (-32)  Pickup      (459, + 9)
174 (+62)  Mitchell    (425, +41)
310 (-10)  Bowen       (375, +19)
330 (+15)  Walsh       (361, +33)
347 (-18)  Thomas      (350, +11)
379 (+ 8)  Dwyer       (322, +35)
380 (- 8)  Clapham     (316, +16)
401 (-12)  Gray        (292, + 7)
415 (+-0)  Reddlapalli (270, +25)
427 (- 3)  Young       (253, +27)

A group of riders went off down the road and were uncatchable, Australian Simon Gerrans won the sprint for the line to claim the stage win. Behind the front group was a group containing all the top 10 GC riders, Team CSC had Sastre and the two Schlecks causing problems through the last climb, eventually Kohl went for broke with Menchov following. Schleck finished behind both them and took the Yellow jersey, 7 seconds ahead of Kohl and 8 seconds ahead of Cadel Evans.
Pickup has a mare and we have a new leader. Mitchell picks up a 24th for the stage after moaning for days about wanting the Alps. Young and Manju have solid days at the back of the pack.
Rest day tomorrow.

 

[Bobisback]

Really enjoyed the stage. Going to be a very good final week.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Really enjoyed the stage. Going to be a very good final week.

Dwyer in enjoying something shocker.

Agreed with him though. Close stuff.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Amazing stage - hope I can keep in touch amidst the mess of moving house this week!

 

[Johnners]

Good thing for Evans that he's given up the yellow imo, bit less pressure and can concentrate on his own race. Awesome win for Gerrans though, and a shocking crash for Oscar.

 

[Craig]

Thank you Stijn Devolder

That decent of the Col Agnel brought back a lot of memories of last year, both climbing and desending wise, yeah it is bloody cold and boy is it fun to go downhill though! Congratulations to Simon Gerrans, thought it was about time he got a stage win and I hope Credit Agricole get a new sponsor now, the team has been around for over 42 years in different forms (guys like Lemond, Broadman for example rode for them) so I would hate to see it end.

 

[Matteh]

48  (- 1)  Mørk        (469, + 1)
73  (- 5)  Pickup      (459, + 0)
175 (- 1)  Mitchell    (428, + 3)
307 (+ 3)  Bowen       (380, + 5)
337 (- 7)  Walsh       (361, + 0)
337 (+10)  Thomas      (361, +11)
374 (+ 5)  Dwyer       (335, +13)
389 (- 9)  Clapham     (321, + 5)
408 (- 7)  Gray        (292, + 0)
424 (+ 3)  Young       (271, +18)
426 (-11)  Reddlapalli (270, + 0)

Today's stage was a hard one to pick, Dessel won it, before the rest of the break of 7 riders crossed the line. Stefan Schumacher had a lead over everyone of 12 minutes before the final climb, but hit the wall and ended up 8th. The GC contenders were in the next group to finish but Kohl and A. Schleck finished in the last two points positions with Evans, F.Schleck and Valverde all annoyingly finishing 11th-13th.
Special mention to Augustyn who decided he'd had enough and cycled off the side of the mountain, ended up in the shale several feet below the road, the bike went on much further never to be seen again.
As for the game, obviously low scoring, but Stephen Young came up with another of his specials to finish 11th on the stage and once again get off the bottom. Greg catches but can't overtake Craig.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Mitchell starting to run out of GC stages. Only tomorrow & Saturday should give those.

 

[Matteh]

Thurs looks alright. Friday is breakaway material.

 

[Johnners]

Tonights stage looks a killer, hoping Evans can hold on enough so that he can take advantage of his superior TT ability on Saturday. Of all the others in contention, who is the best TT rider? Menchov?

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Tonights stage looks a killer, hoping Evans can hold on enough so that he can take advantage of his superior TT ability on Saturday. Of all the others in contention, who is the best TT rider? Menchov?

Yeah. TT rank order is Vandevelde (but too far back in overall), Menchov, Kohl, Sastre, Schleck imo.

Mitchell: they're never above 800 metres on Thurs. Yeah, there's one steep climb but it's 30 km from the finish. Fairly sure they'll let a big group go.

 

[Craig]

48  (- 1)  Mørk        (469, + 1)
73  (- 5)  Pickup      (459, + 0)
175 (- 1)  Mitchell    (428, + 3)
307 (+ 3)  Bowen       (380, + 5)
337 (- 7)  Walsh       (361, + 0)
337 (+10)  Thomas      (361, +11)
374 (+ 5)  Dwyer       (335, +13)
389 (- 9)  Clapham     (321, + 5)
408 (- 7)  Gray        (292, + 0)
424 (+ 3)  Young       (271, +18)
426 (-11)  Reddlapalli (270, + 0)

Today's stage was a hard one to pick, Dessel won it, before the rest of the break of 7 riders crossed the line. Stefan Schumacher had a lead over everyone of 12 minutes before the final climb, but hit the wall and ended up 8th. The GC contenders were in the next group to finish but Kohl and A. Schleck finished in the last two points positions with Evans, F.Schleck and Valverde all annoyingly finishing 11th-13th.
Special mention to Augustyn who decided he'd had enough and cycled off the side of the mountain, ended up in the shale several feet below the road, the bike went on much further never to be seen again.
As for the game, obviously low scoring, but Stephen Young came up with another of his specials to finish 11th on the stage and once again get off the bottom. Greg catches but can't overtake Craig.

So unlucky, and very lucky not to be seriously injured.

Tonights stage looks a killer, hoping Evans can hold on enough so that he can take advantage of his superior TT ability on Saturday. Of all the others in contention, who is the best TT rider? Menchov?

Cadel. Frank Schleck can't TT to save his life.

 

[Johnners]

I meant after Cadel, Craig

Thanks Hakon

 

[Chubb]

Well, that makes things even more interesting. The gap is big enough to worry Cadel if Sastre pulls out the ride of his life (and he will need to), but small enough to think he can overhaul it. It was fascinating to see the strategy of the Schleck brothers on the Alpe d'Huez, and how Cadel Evans responded. At one point about halfway I thought they might have dropped him, but he pulled it back. Andy Schleck was particularly impressive, though Frank looked too blown to mount an acceleration. Still, a great team ride.

 

[Matteh]

Think i've just had a decent day...waiting for the site to update though damnit.

 

[Matteh]

46  (+ 2)  Mørk        (505, +26)
123 (+52)  Mitchell    (480, +52)
137 (-64)  Pickup      (475, +16)
306 (+ 1)  Bowen       (416, +36)
316 (+21)  Walsh       (410, +49)
353 (+21)  Dwyer       (385, +50)
367 (-30)  Thomas      (380, +19)
407 (-17)  Clapham     (336, +15)
420 (-12)  Gray        (313, +21)
421 (+ 5)  Reddlapalli (312, +42)
425 (- 1)  Young       (300, +29)

On what was a GC heavy day, Sastre won the stage by 2 minutes from a group containing everyone else. Sastre takes Yellow by a minute or so, Schleck now out of the running in theory, Evans still favourite because of his time trialling.
Pickup loses ground and drops out of the top 2 for the first time, Young's back at the bottom after Altoz has a good day, but is definitely still within touch.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

(Y) Thought Evans did a decent job of damage limitation when the rest of the field refused to help too.

CSC can't work every day either. Looks like AG2R might be the team to catch the breakaway tomorrow.

 

[headhunter]

Gah, more than a day off the bottom would be nice!

 

[Craig]

I haven't seen the stage yet so I can't comment.

I'm going go for the likes of Chavenal, Cunego (surprised he hasn't abandoned) and Voigt to be in the break. The TT should be interesting, I mean Schlek (Frank) is probably a better time trialist then Sastre, but will he be looking at trying to beat his own team-mate though? It would be nice to see Sastre win, more so to see a guy actually attack and get reward for it, instead of wheel suckers like Evans.

On a different note, thanks to the selfishness of Piepoli and Ricco, Saunier Duval have pulled their sponsorship of the team, bike supplier Scott remains and they will race under that banner (certainly not the Tour of Germany and most unlikely the Vuelta), I hope they are happy with what they have done As for Gerolsteiner and Credit Agricole, both don't have new backers for next year, I really don't see how they could do anymore to get new sponsors and it would be terrible if they both have to shut up shop, as they are both teams you can trust in regards of being clean.