Stage 16: Le Bourg-d'Oisans - La Toussuire

[Guest]

Stage 16: Le Bourg-d'Oisans - La Toussuire, 182 km


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[Ceiliazul]

The one I want to see live! Will Basso run away with it? Can Rasmussen stay on his bike? All this and more early-early Wednesday morning!

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[Ceiliazul]

Will Basso run away with it?

Sigh... I guess not!

[godspiral]

5000m of climbing! (just counting the classified climbs)
I think this is the hardest stage this year.

[Piuma]

Hmm, that looks pretty easy. I could do that on my fixie with both legs tied behind my back.

[BryE]

Hmm, that looks pretty easy. I could do that on my fixie with both legs tied behind my back.

Yup, it is pretty easy. I did it yesterday, doing a handstand on my pedals. On a unicycle.

[Helmet Head]

It's an interesting profile. Any early breakaway on Bourg-d'Oisans (the first climb) is probably doomed to fail, unless it's a relatively large group, like today's was (the remnants of which took 1st and 2nd).

It's the 3rd week. After today, many of the riders are going to weaken. Floyd Kloden and Sastre looked strong, so they will probably do well again. But Sastre has an inconsistent streak, so we have to watch for that.

Hopefully Levi will hang tough and make up some big time by the finish.

Speaking of the finish, the final climb is a cat 1, not an HC. I think that favors Floyd and Kloden over Sastre and any other pure climbers.

[Guest]

Yup, it is pretty easy. I did it yesterday, doing a handstand on my pedals. On a unicycle.

I did it on a unicycle yesterday too... and I was doing a handstand on my pedals, but the whole left crank was gone! :p


Koffee

[ericy]

Wouldn't you know it - I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning :mad: . Not until 9:15 though, so I should be able to see the climb of the Galibier, and I can be back in time for the finish.

[Kris Flatlander]

I'm going to go out and pick Levi for the win again. Maybe he can make it up for not winning on L'Alpe D'Huez yesterday. Here's hoping. Go Levi!

[Panic]

I like the Levi pick.

By the way, did anyone notice Phil called Floyd "Flandis" today?

We had a nice chuckle.

[gpelpel]

I was impressed on how Landis controlled his race today. He looked really easy on the bike. I do not think he wants to wait for the TT to be the decisive stage, it would be too much risk to take in case of a spill or a flat. Klonen did a lot of efforts and might have to pay for it tomorrow. I liked the way Lepheimer came back on the Landis group but he had to pay for the effort at the end, he seems to have the will to climb on the GC and rode the same route during the Dauphiné.
This stage should be a great one.

[user0ne]

It's an interesting profile. Any early breakaway on Bourg-d'Oisans (the first climb) is probably doomed to fail, unless it's a relatively large group, like today's was (the remnants of which took 1st and 2nd).

It's the 3rd week. After today, many of the riders are going to weaken. Floyd Kloden and Sastre looked strong, so they will probably do well again. But Sastre has an inconsistent streak, so we have to watch for that.

Hopefully Levi will hang tough and make up some big time by the finish.

Speaking of the finish, the final climb is a cat 1, not an HC. I think that favors Floyd and Kloden over Sastre and any other pure climbers.

+1
I think landis might step it up also, and hopefully Levi does to.
"That was a bonehead move by Stefano Garzelli " Al Trautwig speaking of the last second pass on Floyd for 3rd place :lol:

[Hitchy]

the hardest stage of the tour....will be extremely interesting to see who has some 'legs' after yesterdays 'battle royal'. Ned flanders is obviously the strongest in the mountains, but all he needs do is follow wheels & not get in strife to win the tour. Having said that, I'm sure he will be keen to get a stage win as well as winning the tour....so it's realistically tonight or the ITT if he's gunna get one. I reckon 'Ned' looked pretty comfortable yesterday, while most of his opponents were in a 'suitcase of pain'....so although he doesn't need the win...I reckon he'll go after it.....Go cadel!

[Merriwether]

This should be an exciting stage. The GC contenders-- Kloden, Menchov, Sastre, and Evans-- are all within three minutes of Landis, and even closer to one another.

I expect Kloden, in particular, to attack. He's the only one who could climb with Landis yesterday. He has to believe that overall victory is still possible for him. But if Landis is to be beaten, Kloden *must* take time out of him today. Floyd has more than two minutes on Kloden, after all, and that's a bit much to hope to take away on one single day. Kloden cannot count on winning significant time in the time trial, and indeed might have to have something of a cushion against Landis for that stage. (The two were close on stage 7, with Landis about eight seconds to the good.) There just aren't any good opportunities after tomorrow (stage 17) to win back large amounts of time, so this is it. If Kloden is going to take time away, today and tomorrow are his only realistic chances.

So, the most likely thing is for Kloden to try to get away from Floyd on the uphill finish. If Kloden is willing to go all in tomorrow, T-Mobile might try to organize something earlier, on the Mollard, or even the Croix-de-Fer. I don't expect the latter strategy, for two reasons, though. First, Kloden can realistically move up to second today. He's not likely to risk that in desperate attack on Landis. Second, if Kloden *can* get away and take real time away from Landis today, he doesn't have to get it all back. He can hope to take more tomorrow.

As I say, Kloden could realistically move up to second overall today. He looked significantly better than Menchov, Evans, and Sastre yesterday. He's surely going to try to take even more time away from these guys today.

So, likely Floyd will be in a similar situation to yesterday. He will have to stay with Kloden while Kloden goes after the others. If Floyd can lose no time to Kloden today, then Kloden and the others might give up the idea of attacking him, and fight it out for the two remaining podium places.

It would be exciting if Sastre or Menchov could pull a great ride out of the hat, and force Landis and Kloden to chase them. I don't expect that to happen, though.

Landis looks really tough. The race is still close, but Landis is very close to winning it. After all, no overall contender has demonstrated the ability to take even a second away from Landis climbing or time trialing. There may be a lot of subtlety to this sport, but in the face of a fact that bald it does not require great insight to see a winner emerging.

We'll see more soon enough, though.

[* jack *]

By the way, did anyone notice Phil called Floyd "Flandis" today?
I heard it, but wasn't too sure that's what he said... thanks for verifying!

[softertail]

If Floyd wins the TDF he owes Axel Merckx a huge bonus!

He is an incredibly strong and tough rider (it must be his genes).

[merlinextraligh]

It's an interesting profile. Any early breakaway on Bourg-d'Oisans (the first climb) is probably doomed to fail, unless it's a relatively large group, like today's was (the remnants of which took 1st and 2nd).

.

Just for clarity, Bourg-d'Oisans is the town at the foot of L'Alpe d Huez. The first climb on today's stage was the Col de Galibier. It's both the highest point in the TDF, and one of the oldest, first run in 1911.

[OrionKhan]

Uh oh, Floyd is in trouble. Giving all that time to Periero was a big mistake!

[pathdoc]

Landis is falling back. Crap.

[* jack *]

Flandis cracked

[wvxc]

Floyd cracked, no team, too many attacks.

[SunSwingsLow]

Ugh...Not good for Floyd

[OrionKhan]

If he gives up a couple of minutes, he could fall back several places.

[OrionKhan]

Man, he looks bad. Looks like he's going to give up LOTS of time....

[OrionKhan]

Sastre is riding strong, but that chase group might not give him enough time to get yellow.

[merlinextraligh]

Landis is in trouble on the final climb. He needs to limit his losses to 3 minutes, and he should still have a shot in the TT.

[cydewaze]

Well it's certainly anyone's race. Another hard day of climing tomorrow. No telling what will happen.

[pathdoc]

Sastre may take the yellow jersey today.

[TRaffic Jammer]

where is the rest of Phonak? Did the race leaders rip that fast a pace or did they all burn off? Landis ran hard yesterday, it's lookin' like maybe a bit too hard.

[OrionKhan]

Did I say Floyd is looking bad? Cripes! Big climb tomorrow too. At the rate he's going, he'll be to far back for the TT to matter.

[* jack *]

I've been impressed with Flandis so far this year, but not with his team...

They have certainly lost the yellow.

[cooleyjb]

Leipheimer will be the top American at this rate

[CyLowe97]

Floyd cracked hard..... Son of a B*TCH!!

What a race....

[OrionKhan]

This really shows the depth of CSC and T-Mobile. Those guys are riding strong.

[TRaffic Jammer]

3minutes over Landis

[OrionKhan]

OMG! It pile on the yellow for, Floyd...He seemed to be in total control yesterday and throughout the other stages.

[CyLowe97]

Sastre is flying....

[Laggard]

T-Mobile is damn impressive.

[* jack *]

Cripes. Now Levi is out the back door.

[Jose R]

And this explains why Landis *gave* away the YJ to Pereiro a couple of days ago.

[1slowbastard]

Landis is digging a hole he can't TT out of.

[Jinker]

What a stage! I'm just reading the progress online...

This is going to be tight.

Personally, I hope Landis gets it together over the next couple of kilometers so he doesn't lose too much more time. I want to see as many people as possible right up near the top of the leaderboard time wise!

[merlinextraligh]

The fat lady is clearing her throat for Landis. He's down 4:30 to Sastre, so more than 2 minutes down on GC. Unless he recovers he's toast.

[Allen H]

What a bizarre race. Kloden and T-Mobile had 4 or 5 riders in that GC chase group....but it's Sastre who breaks away. Levi has almost made up all that time he gave away in the ITT and his bad day in the Pyrenees.

Landis just showed us it takes a team to win the TdF, unless you're absolutely superhuman - and Phonak is no Postal/Discovery, nor is Landis Lance.

[OrionKhan]

I wonder if Floyd will at least be able to keep the yellow bike?

[SunSwingsLow]

What a mistake giving Pereiro 29 minutes earlier in the tour.

[OrionKhan]

What a bizarre race. Kloden and T-Mobile had 4 or 5 riders in that GC chase group....but it's Sastre who breaks away. Levi has almost made up all that time he gave away in the ITT and his bad day in the Pyrenees.

Landis just showed us it takes a team to win the TdF, unless you're absolutely superhuman - and Phonak is no Postal/Discovery, nor is Landis Lance.

Gerolsteiner isn't impressing either...

[CyLowe97]

What a mistake giving Pereiro 29 minutes earlier in the tour.
Hindsight = 20/20

[fruitless]

a completely new GC