Professional Cycling For the Fans - Stage 18: Morzine - Mâcon

Stage 18: Morzine - Mâcon, 193 km

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Will the leaders' teams things together for a mass sprint?
I say McEwen takes another,

Pizza Man, best screen name ever....

I like your McEwen, but I'm going to give a blanket prediction: Some French guy who is way back in the GC is going to go for it... or my boy Phil Gilbert from FDJ.

;)

well I'm not sure I wanna go against Panic's prediction given
the way yesterdays went but I gotta
say it will be a valiant but futile breakaway that will be
eaten by a charging peloton, Robbie removes his invisibility
cloak and pips Friere at the line.

marty

The GC teams will keep the pace so high the sprinters will be out the back and a GC domestique will take it.

Does Robbie even need to score any more points?

It will be fast and brutal, but any significant breakouts will be contained.

Pizza Man, best screen name ever....

I like your McEwen, but I'm going to give a blanket prediction: Some French guy who is way back in the GC is going to go for it... or my boy Phil Gilbert from FDJ.

;)

AG2R Prevoyance looks like the best bet to make a move in my eyes. Two guys in the top 10. Aren't they French or something?

I wonder how possible it will be having Floyd, Oscar and Carlos going for the intermediate sprints to gain valuable seconds before the TT? Given this tour, it's probably to be expected.

i dont know how hard floyd will be able to go after today.. my bet is he stays with the front of the peleton, but a break will happen on the second climb.. which probably wont succeed... but really put a hurting on the chasing group.

I say TMobile TTTs away from peleton with a few GC contenders in tow, and outruns phonak and IB who are only ones that chase.

I'm normally a McEwen fan. But I think that T-Mobile and CSC will have this thing ramped up tomorrow. And Periero will be in there too. Phonak will have to ride like hell to keep it together. It will be crazy because the small time bonuses on the road will make a difference. Nobody will be giving anything away. Other than Landis, nobody wants this thing coming down to the TT on saturday.

After looking at today's goings on do yers really think any teams have got it in them to ride off the front carrying their GC hopefulls? I doubt it unless they juice up right good tonight.

Most of Davitamon-Lotto hasn't been sighted all tour. They'd have to take the prize as the most useless team fo the tour so far considering how little help they've given their contenders for green and yellow. Maybe they'll stop being useless and time trial Cadel to the finish and win by 10. Yeah I can dream. :rolleyes:

At 110km, Phonak will come to the front and drive the peloton at blazing speeds to the base of the Cat 2 climb. There, with the pack splintered to bits, except for a few guys left at the front who managed to hang on, Floyd will launch up the climb at 45kph not to be seen again until the finish, where he will have taken another 5 minutes out of the leaders.

Later, Floyd will admit that the bonk in Stage 17 was a big ruse - that he was just screwin' with everyone.

Phonak will make sure, one way or another, that some breakaway will take time bonuses so Sastre and Pereiro can't get them.

Yeah, well Phonak let Pereiro get 30 minutes and take the yellow on one stage. CSC and T-Mobile let Landis get 8 minutes back on one stage, two before the TT. Nothing is a given in this tour.

After looking at today's goings on do yers really think any teams have got it in them to ride off the front carrying their GC hopefulls? I doubt it unless they juice up right good tonight.

Most of Davitamon-Lotto hasn't been sighted all tour. They'd have to take the prize as the most useless team fo the tour so far considering how little help they've given their contenders for green and yellow. Maybe they'll stop being useless and time trial Cadel to the finish and win by 10. Yeah I can dream. :rolleyes:

Those teams don't have a choice but to try. Floyd looked dead on the road yesterday.

You're right about D-L. Robbie has practically been sprinting all by himself. And Evans has been riding by himself. I guess the team has been back with McEwen on all of those climbs.

It appears that everyone agrees on one thing - it will be interesting.

And Evans has been riding by himself. I guess the team has been back with McEwen on all of those climbs.

Guess they like Robbies jokes to much.

I've got a feeling Kloden might do something today but it wont be enough. It'll just be a party for the rest of the tour for everyone else so Floyd can take the overall.

Attack from Agritubel, Mirlam, Ag2r... Lotto and phonak will keep the pace up..

I am secretly hoping that Pereiro or Mechov or somebody a bit lower tries to attack..

I'd love to see Floyd make a serious run not only for the yellow, but also rack up enough to cause some serious damage to the polka dot jersey too. He had an awesome ride. But I bet everyone is pretty friggin wiped out, and though there will be attacks, I don't think they're going to amount to much- provided that Floyd et. al keep things in check.

Koffee

Guess they like Robbies jokes to much.

I've got a feeling Kloden might do something today but it wont be enough. It'll just be a party for the rest of the tour for everyone else so Floyd can take the overall.

Yeah, other than Stegman(sp?), none of D-L has done anything. And he screwed Robbie up on one of the sprints.

I'm not betting anyone taking it easy tomorrow. Nobody wants it to come down to them vs. Landis in the TT. I can see alot of crazy all out attacks tomorrow. Don't have anything to save it for.

Well, one things for sure, any Phonak rider will ride themselves out of the tour to keep Landis in contention. I'm not too sure about T-Mobile or CSC, they haven't really been about team in the past.

I'll be surprised if they don't at least try to test Landis and see if he can recover again and again. But good point about the Phonak team, if I were their boss, unless they died and left their guts litterally on the road, they better not even think about trying to get back in the van. Work their asses off and then fall back to be dqed because of time gap :)

After looking at today's goings on do yers really think any teams have got it in them to ride off the front carrying their GC hopefulls? I doubt it unless they juice up right good tonight.

Most of Davitamon-Lotto hasn't been sighted all tour. They'd have to take the prize as the most useless team fo the tour so far considering how little help they've given their contenders for green and yellow. Maybe they'll stop being useless and time trial Cadel to the finish and win by 10. Yeah I can dream. :rolleyes:


That's what happens when you try for both green and yellow. Just ask the Jan about that, You can win green {Zabel** but the GC man will suffer.

BTW-Rodriguez had one nice leadout but then he crashed on the next day or two.

I'll be surprised if they don't at least try to test Landis and see if he can recover again and again. But good point about the Phonak team, if I were their boss, unless they died and left their guts litterally on the road, they better not even think about trying to get back in the van. Work their asses off and then fall back to be dqed because of time gap :)

Yep.

There are too many teams that are close but can’t win the MJ with conventional tactics. Tomorrow is going to see attacks galore.

Sastre can’t expect to hold onto 22 seconds ahead of Floyd in the TT, let alone overtake the 8 secs he trails Pereiro. More semblance of mini-moountains tomorrow than Sunday, so I’ll expect Sastre will attach himself to Voight’s wheel. Anyone brave enough to speculate on what Voight has in mind?

Menchov, nearly as good a time trialist as Floyd, is almost 4 minutes behind Landis, even if he has a great day Sat and Floyd is off, his best chance is to breakaway. More hills tomorrow than Sunday and with the limited hills and Rasmussen and Boogard, better tomorrow than Sunday. Friere is a sprinter who can climb and if Friere has any chance at overtaking Robbie, so Rab needs a breakaway that shuts out Robbie.

Evans is 2 ½ minutes behind Floyd, he can’t make that up any other way but a breakaway-although maybe he’ll defer till Sunday.

Moreau and Dessel need a breakaway, and AG2R loves to breakaway.

I doubt Pereiro can survive a Landis TT assault, but at least he has enough of a lead and is enough of credible TT darkhorse he might consider seeing if the attacks wear down Floyd enough before the TT. But if Floyd can recover this well overnight from stage 16, it'd be hard to believe anything thrown at him stage 18 will do anything more than wear down to Floyd worse than just behind TT specialists on Sat.


Klondig is a good time trialist so maybe he hopes Floyd gets worn down defending the attacks and if not attacks himself Sunday. Or maybe he figures his best bet is breaking away on 18. He at least has the luxury of waiting till Sunday that many others do not.

Those teams don't have a choice but to try. Floyd looked dead on the road yesterday.

You're right about D-L. Robbie has practically been sprinting all by himself. And Evans has been riding by himself. I guess the team has been back with McEwen on all of those climbs.

Come on Orion you've got to be kidding me. Freddie R is one of the main reasons that Robbie wins those sprints. Robbie has been giving kudos to Freddie and his replacement ever since Freddie crashed out. Robbie is good but only as good as his leadout guys.

I'd love to see Floyd make a serious run not only for the yellow, but also rack up enough to cause some serious damage to the polka dot jersey too. He had an awesome ride. But I bet everyone is pretty friggin wiped out, and though there will be attacks, I don't think they're going to amount to much- provided that Floyd et. al keep things in check.

Koffee

By my count, even if Floyd gets all 23-26 remaining points, he still is at least 7 behind Rasmussen. Floyd attacked to late to chase Rasmussen. One jersey has been decided today.

Guys such as Kloden, Evans, Menchov, Dessel, and Moreau know they can't expect to beat Landis in the time trial. So, if they want to wear the yellow jersey in Paris, they need to beat Landis by three or four minutes today.

Landis may have inspired some riders with his crazy long-shot, one-chance-in-a-million ride that brought him back to contention. So, I'm guessing at least ONE of the K,E,M,D,M bunch will follow his example and make an attempt to steal the Tour today. And then Landis, Sastre, and Pereiro will have to hunt them down. This may turn out to be a much more interesting day than advertised.

That's what happens when you try for both green and yellow. Just ask the Jan about that, You can win green {Zabel** but the GC man will suffer.

BTW-Rodriguez had one nice leadout but then he crashed on the next day or two.

But I just don't know what the rest of the team other that Robbie, Cadel, Gert, and Horner have been doing. I think Aerts had a pathetic attempt at a couple of breakaways but I've never seen them set up a train for Robbie at the finish or Cadel to pull breakaways in. The TMobile and to a lesser extent CSC teams back up day after day. But D-L haven't even got one good coordinated effort out of theirs. They've been bludy useless.

Come on Orion you've got to be kidding me. Freddie R is one of the main reasons that Robbie wins those sprints. Robbie has been giving kudos to Freddie and his replacement ever since Freddie crashed out. Robbie is good but only as good as his leadout guys.

Robbie is the best sprinter in the Tour this year. Irregardless of his team. Are you saying that D-Lotto has been controlling all of the bunch sprints? No way.

Hey, how many of those sprints was Robbie following someone else other than a teammate? He's had one very good lead out. The rest have been subpar. Robbie is probably the best improvisor out there during a sprint. They've been trying to lead him out but they've been doing anything but controlling the group sprints. He's winning them because he's the best sprinter out there. Even the ones he hasn't won, he's placed high because he found a way to weasel between or around rivals that had good lead outs. How many times was Boonen in perfect position to take a sprint because of his leadout? Just about every one. But Robbie had to work his way around. If Robbie was on Quickstep he'd probably be sweeping all of the sprints. Sure he gives props to his guys. What's he supposed to say, "they suck"?

So, I'm guessing at least ONE of the K,E,M,D,M bunch will follow his example and make an attempt to steal the Tour today. And then Landis, Sastre, and Pereiro will have to hunt them down. This may turn out to be a much more interesting day than advertised.

It's much easier to hunt breakways down on the flats than it is in the Alps, so to gain a 3-4 minutes, any of these guys will have to ride as well tomorrow as Flandis did today. Not easy.

It will be interesting, though...

Im backing McEwen!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/tour055/44.jpg

^^^^^I think Robbie Mcewen is great. Certainly, no one can match him in sprinting this year. However, when I see that picture, for some reason I hear the song "Your So Vain" by Carly Simon. :roflmao:


Team Phonak need to come up with something special to support their leader Floyd Landis. It would be a shame to let the amazing acheivement on Stage 17 go to waste. I would think his efforts would inspire them to keep the time increments where they are at for the ITT on Saturday.

...futile breakaway that will be
eaten by a charging peloton, Robbie removes his invisibility
cloak and pips Friere at the line...

marty


Hi Marty, because you really think that after the heat and the tough mountain stages, there will be "charging peloton"??? lead by which teams? Don't forget Boonen and Bennati are out. So forget Quick Step and Lampre. Then forget T-Mobile, Phonak, Credit Agricole and CSC. Who do you have left? Milram, Rabo and Davitamon? Well, I guess Rabo are completely stoned, good luck to the remaining 2 then.

Have a nice day

ok.....today Phonak lets Pereiro get 1.5 hours down the road while Floyd tries to sort out his designer 'stubble' for the final podium photo's & whether or not he should ride the yellow bike blah, blah.......before Robbie Mac blows everyone away & gets yet another stage win....Go Cadel

Come on Orion you've got to be kidding me. Freddie R is one of the main reasons that Robbie wins those sprints. Robbie has been giving kudos to Freddie and his replacement ever since Freddie crashed out. Robbie is good but only as good as his leadout guys.


can I have some of whatever you're smokin'?.....Robbie has never had a proper lead out train, do you even watch what goes on at the end of these races?......Freddy wasn't even on the team when Robbie won the other 2 greens.....imagine how many wins he'd have if he had a 'Fassa Bortolo', or a 'Quickstep' or even Cipo's lead outs?......sheesh

Well, one things for sure, any Phonak rider will ride themselves out of the tour to keep Landis in contention. I'm not too sure about T-Mobile or CSC, they haven't really been about team in the past.I know why you say this about T-Mobile, though I'm not convinced it's accurate for this TdF. But why in the world do you say this about CSC?

Wow just heard on eurosprorts.com... Jan Ulrich has been fired by Team Mobile.

^^^^^I think Robbie Mcewen is great. Certainly, no one can match him in sprinting this year. However, when I see that picture, for some reason I hear the song "Your So Vain" by Carly Simon. :roflmao:

The most despised rider by his peers apparently.
I think Landis should Ebay the yellow bike for charity, just don't ride it again. TT your ass off Floyd and win the Tour!!!!!
Get your hip replaced and be the only one to come back from that operation. Sad to think he may never compete at this level again.

The most despised rider by his peers apparently.

I'm sure he's concerned by what LOSERS think!

Most *******s don't. You can be great and not be a tool.

So what if Levi goes out to a 25 minute lead?

So what if Levi goes out to a 25 minute lead?

Man, could you imagine? Tour de WTF??? :roflmao:

Go Levi, it would be great to see him get a stage win and move a few minutes up in the standings (NOT 25 minutes). He's really earned a chance at a stage with his strong racing this week.

Wow just heard on eurosprorts.com... Jan Ulrich has been fired by Team Mobile.

Heard that too... :eek:

Man, could you imagine? Tour de WTF??? :roflmao:

Imagine? I'm hoping for it. You wanna talk about panic in the peloton....:D

The most despised rider by his peers apparently.
I think Landis should Ebay the yellow bike for charity, just don't ride it again. TT your ass off Floyd and win the Tour!!!!!
Get your hip replaced and be the only one to come back from that operation. Sad to think he may never compete at this level again.

Robbie Mcewen chasing the camera crew motorbike. Priceless. :D

Go Levi, it would be great to see him get a stage win and move a few minutes up in the standings (NOT 25 minutes). He's really earned a chance at a stage with his strong racing this week.

Stanger things have happend. Ask Pereiro and Landis.

Ullrich is done. Between the doping scandal and his knee (& etc) problems doubt anyone will hire him for the euro peloton. T-Mobile has certainly realized that they don't need him to be a top team in the last 3 weeks.

I think he deserves it, he's ridden a great Tour, and he's no threat to yellow at 5 minutes ahead. Famous last words :lol:

Yep... a sprint end for Levi. I think he's too motivated to lose this one. He was so close he could taste it last time he was this close to winning the stage.

Koffee