Professional Cycling - STAGE 5, July 12, Chablis - Autun, 182.5km

Ooh, this one actually has a hill int it, at last. I doubt it's enough enough to separate the men from the boys, though it would be nice to see a break on the Cat 3 hold the peloton at bay over the final 50 km.

Vino FTW!

I don't think we'll see Astana, CSC, Discovery, Rabobank or T-Mobile take a gamble this early on. I'll be foolhardy and predict a larger break. My guesses for participants:

Mayo - Saunier Duval (although his presence could doom the break early on)
Aerts - Predictor Lotto
Barredo - Quick Step (probably won't make his attempt until the final climb)
Tschopp - Bouygues Telecom (Voeckler might wait until Saturday for Bastille Day glory)
Jalabert - Agritubel
Lovkvist - Francais de Jeux
Turpin - AG2R
Valjavec - Lampre
Grivko - Milram
Verbrugghe - Confidis
Halgand - Credit Agricole
Landaluze - Euskatel

If it does come down to a sprint finish, I like Friere's chances, with Hincapie in the mix.

Vino FTW!
INDEED!!

Look for the KOM contenders to break for those KOM points.

I can see Rasmussen or Contador in a breakaway with a couple of mountain goats from Euskaltel.

Somebody like Ballan of Lampre could win it, too.

This is one of those days I could see a break with some non-gc contenders actually succeeding. Somewhere right around the 90k mark.

Launch for 40k up the climb, recover on the descent, hammer the last climb and cover the last 8k with a 3-5 minute gap on the field.

Ballan and maybe Scheck, not sure how Schleck would work it in with the team dynamic though.

Thos Hushovd is so hungry now for the green jersey i think he can take the win today. :D

Today might be Mr Z day (or O'Grady). There'll be a few Frenchmen up there in the front as well. I'm almost sure Cancellara will lose the jersey today, beause CSC won't be chasing everyone. Best bet for them is to try and insert one of their own boys in the get aways.

Schleck.

The last 60k are all up and down... break has a chance + I doubt CSC is going to pull the whole day again.

I think CSC might send Kurt away in a break if they struggle to keep the pace of the break. Kurt can win today to!

Leif Hoste

I heard Kloden fell... was it on TV? Is he ok?

He fell into the grass. Two guys helped pull him back and last I saw he was checking in with the race doctor. Didn't look like he fell too hard, though.

Looks like he's alright, he got pulled back up to the peloton pretty quickly by Salvodelli and one of the other AST riders.

First Kloden, now Vino? Not good luck so far for Astana.

The whole team is back to fetch Vino now... Well, everyone but Kloden. Should be exciting to watch them working together.

The cat 2 climb isn't steep enough to drop a lot of people out of peloton, so there should be some fresh legs that could break out on the last climb. Somebody will catch Chavenel

over 1 min behind vino it is

Maybe some teams should be pushing to get some time on vino + astana

Motorcyclists fault it seems.


Has anyone seen any images? According to eurosport's audio commentary, Vino was really upset. I wonder if it really was a motorcycle... What an outrage that would be!

Motorcyclists fault it seems.
All I saw was after the wreck with him fixing his bike and whatnot.....what happened with the motorcycle?

uhoh, vino is now losing time to the peloton

vino seems really injured... the right side of his upper thigh is bleeding and his shorts are ripped around that area...

All I saw was after the wreck with him fixing his bike and whatnot.....what happened with the motorcycle?


Not sure... According to eurosport, a motorcycle was "possibly" involved.
Looking for further info -- if anyone knows.

uhoh, vino is now losing time to the peloton

vino seems really injured... the right side of his upper thigh is bleeding and his shorts are ripped around that area...
Hopefully it's just superficial. If he ends up being pretty badly bruised tomorrow, it'll probably hurt his chances for the tour.

Christ allmighty!!! Eurosport audio no longer works !! :mad: :mad:

I hope there's not too much carnage on the descent. Sounds like it might be dicey.

vinos just got only 1 teammate left, wow... the team must of really tried hard to pace vino back into the peloton, lets just hope that he makes it :)

and phil and paul are saying that the decent of this climb is gonna be dangerous many switchbacks, lets hope that they do it without crashing...

EDIT: vino's all by himself, all the other teammates have dropped off

je ne c'est pa.

Friendly correction:

Je ne sais pas.

Merci quand meme!

main field almost at the decent,

EDIT: vino's all by himself, all the other teammates have dropped off

Is Vino really alone? -- I cannot believe it!! WTH is his team doing?

main field now on the decent

damn google.


Its not google. I am French.

holycrap... those turns are bloody sharp

oooh a few riders with fabian just went wide on a corner onto the grass, but gets back on the road

Its not google. I am French.

Apparent by your "LANCE DOPED" line under your name. ;)

holycrap... those turns are bloody sharp


Fabian fell?

What's going on ... C'mon fellas, have pity on those of us in the US without TV.... :)

Holy Descent

Apparent by your "LANCE DOPED" line under your name. ;)


Finally, someone figured it out... :rolleyes:

Fabian fell?

What's going on ... C'mon fellas, have pity on those of us in the US without TV.... :)


http://www.velonews.com/tick/html/stage198.html

Fabian didn't fall, close, but didn't

vino about 50 secs behind, also is tom boonen with that group

oooppppssss

Ok so Vino lost 1min 20 sec. At eurosport, they say its a "disaster." Surely, if he's not badly injured, this does not ruin his chances... Or does it?

Well, those last few minutes were way more entertaining than I was expecting.

Vino's got guts. It was fun watching Boonen cooperating with him.

you misunderstood. i used google. it lied.

Ok.

Next time you want to write in French, ask me ;)

depends on how he reacts to it. if he attacks foolishly(like his old self) in the alps and blows it, it could turn into an even bigger loss...

Definitely a "disaster" in terms of what a GC contender is to do during the first week. It's certainly going to make the co-leader format of Kloden/Vino a bit more interesting in the mountains.

Ok so Vino lost 1min 20 sec. At eurosport, they say its a "disaster." Surely, if he's not badly injured, this does not ruin his chances... Or does it?

That hematoma on his hip looks pretty nasty!