Professional Cycling - stage 17 - Embrun L'Alpe-d'Huez 210.5 km Spoiler

THIS IS A TOUR STAGE THREAD - POSSIBLE SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!

Triple HCs the day after a double HC stage.

Man oh man i wish i could be there to watch and cheer.....

I love how they put a bonus sprint for the green jersey right at the base of Alp d' Huez. What are they thinking? :D

I love how they put a bonus sprint for the green jersey right at the base of Alp d' Huez. What are they thinking? :D

Probably more oriented for bonus time which coincides with the green jersey locations. There isn't likely to be any green jersey contender getting those points. But for 6 bonus secs before ascending Alp d' Huez I think it's only for someone who has beaten down the opposition in the Alps, is in command of the stage, and is just taking a nice little GC padding for the stage.

It appears they may have dropped the time bonusses, so the sprint may have become really moot.

Man oh man i wish i could be there to watch and cheer.....

ditto

This has to be one of the most difficult stages in recent tour history.

brutal.

Maybe those sprinter points could be used for someone like kirchen if he has it in him to get over the mountains that could probably give him a little boost

This is the make or break stage. Put time into Evans or he'll whoop'em in the TT.

italians seem to to well on the alpe...now that piepoli is gone, i'm thinking cunego is a possibility; evans is motivated, since he's in the yellow and hasn't won a stage yet, and he seems to be in good climbing form.

Whoever is taking the best drugs will win. Nobody is beyond suspicion. Some will be caught, some won't.
The last rider to win the tour clean was riding before the drugs were invented.

I love Barry Bonds! What a show!
Let them all drug themselves silly for our entertainment.

Whoever is taking the best drugs will win. Nobody is beyond suspicion. Some will be caught, some won't.
The last rider to win the tour clean was riding before the drugs were invented.

I love Barry Bonds! What a show!
Let them all drug themselves silly for our entertainment.

Ok sweet, the token the winner is drugged post is out of the way early.

Moving on....

As long as Evans doesn't win I don't care.

It appears they may have dropped the time bonusses, so the sprint may have become really moot.

Correct. No time bonuses.

Correct. No time bonuses.

...and a better tour because of it.

ITs going to be the thoughest and best stage... while rooting for all spaniards, Dennis Menchov can still take it... Love this tour is truly up for grabs!!!

i thought of menchov too...or one of the spaniards.

I think Sastre has been had this day circled on his calendar for a while. CSC will be doing something special, for sure.

Hello everybody,

By waiting for this terrific stage, I want to prove that a frenchie can win (sometimes).
Please sing with me my new hit "Alpe d'Huez (my heart is gone)". You'll see, I can top Cadel Evans for the award of the worst accent ever.

Regards,

Pascal d'Huez / sporterotism.blogspot.com

Certainly there will be a breakaway. Also, certainly the pure climbers will be on the attack while the GC guys attempt to defend. Damn is this going to be fun to watch! :thumb:

... Brad

That "It will break you" spot on versus was cool. I can't find it now! Does anyone have a link to it?

i could see vdv winning it or taking it far the way he looked in the climb yeasterday impressed me. I loved his strategy sticking with schleck and evans but csc will be on their guards now so its tough they will not let evans get away but someone like sanchez or vdv maybe ahhh im sooo excited for this stage

I love how they put a bonus sprint for the green jersey right at the base of Alp d' Huez. What are they thinking? :D

:lol: That is beyond curious. Guess it's main purpose is to make someone 800 euros wealthier.

i could see vdv winning it or taking it far the way he looked in the climb yeasterday impressed me. I loved his strategy sticking with schleck and evans but csc will be on their guards now so its tough they will not let evans get away but someone like sanchez or vdv maybe ahhh im sooo excited for this stage

Things could be quite a bit different after tomorrow, but if the yellow jersey changes hands on stage 17, it won't be because one of the teams "let them go". The winner on this stage is going to have to earn it.

Methinks VDV can hang with the leaders, but can't muster the power to attack them. (Nor does he have the firepower on the team to wear them down) He has to limit his losses and give his all on the TT.

That said, I'm rooting hard for this guy.

As for Sastre, no way is he going to blow away everybody by 6 minutes, which is about what he will need if he wants to survive the Time Trial.

As for Sastre, no way is he going to blow away everybody by 6 minutes, which is about what he will need if he wants to survive the Time Trial.

2:30 on Menchov and Evans on this stage, and 3:30 on them Tuesday :D

It would be pretty great if Cadel, VDV and Evans all lost some time (but not too much) to several other contenders before the time trial. I'd love to see the TT be an all out battle with more than 2 or 3 riders still hanging on to their hopes.

ummmm do you mean menchov when you said evans????

If you could only watch one stage of the Tour...this is the one. How many do you think abandon either before or during this stage?

CSC has to attack early. Cannot wait for final climb. Break evans early!

ummmm do you mean menchov when you said evans????

No, I meant Menchov when I said Cadel :innocent:

I think VDV has to do something here, he's too far down to get that back in the time trial. Unless he sabotages the bikes of Menchov and Evans and they pull an "Ullrich" on him! :D

That said, I'm going with Sastre to win the stage.

So is anyone attacking on the Croix Fer, or are they going to wait until the Alpe? Maybe someone 6-10 minutes down, someone that can't just be let go?

I see CSC sending Voight up the road again in an early break for later on. CSC setting another blistering pace in the valley before L'Alpe d'Huez.

After the selection is made on the climb Kohl will attack bringing Sastre with him and breaking the elastic with Evans. If all of the early break is caught then Kohl FTW taking 2mins from Evans. Andy will continue to ride well and pace Frank all the way to the line possibly with VDV, now whether they are in front or behind Evans...I'm not sure, maybe just in front by 20sec or so.

I think Menchov will gain a small amount of time on Evans also.

Oh and Valverde...he'll be toast on this climb.

I have a feeling CSC is going to put up a blistering pace tomorrow right from the gun. Everyone on CSC is going to be wiped out before the final climb, barring the brotherly duo and sastre. Andy will lead out sastre and schleck. I think when sastre's wiped, he'll lead out frank or vice-versa depending on who's got the legs (frank should be the geared winner).

I know alpe d'huez is the most fabled climb of the tour, but it seems shorter than the ones today. Is it much steeper?

i am sure there will be quite a few abandons tomorrow or just non starters. It's the last week, if you don't have a hope in hell, or you're going to Beijing, then why kill yourself getting over the alpe? sprinters are the most likely to drop out at this point or anyone who's injured and not feeling great.

Watch the spaniards, watch sastre or any of the basques, samuel sanchez, and italian climbers usually do well on the alpe.

Hi... cadel might crack tomorrow... sad anyways but something to think is that the shcleck brothers are doing ok but they do not look a super climbers, besides... tomorrow it will hurt for them too. Valverde is toasted, probably will do better in the TT. Menchov is doing ok but again doesnt look as a couple of years ago.

I'm still with cadel but i know he will crak for sure, unless he has somebody on his team to help him out or have somebody from euskatel to give him a hand or something, he needs help tomorrow. Christian is doing ok but tomorrow he will lose a bunch of time unless he has somebody to help him out in his team, same as cadel... he doesnt have team to support him.

The TT will decide for sure.

Thanks.

Well, if the Schleck/Kohl climbing axis needs to put 2min into Evans, they might have to start earlier. There are 3 HC climbs, right? I think they will try and soften up Evans on the first, and try and go on the second. If one of the CSC riders can pace them on the flat before Huez, they could put big time into Evans. Otherwise, their only hope is that Evans cracks on l'Alpe. I think he will ride his pace up that and limit his losses, in which case he should win. Vandevelde and Menchov need to gain some time on Evans and not lose any to the climbers, so they might well work with him til the last climb. Should be interesting anyway.

Btw, where are the Rabos? Last year, Menchov and Boogerd where everywhere, working for Rasmussen. It's strange that Menchov has so little support this year.

Well, if the Schleck/Kohl climbing axis needs to put 2min into Evans, they might have to start earlier. There are 3 HC climbs, right? I think they will try and soften up Evans on the first, and try and go on the second. If one of the CSC riders can pace them on the flat before Huez, they could put big time into Evans. Otherwise, their only hope is that Evans cracks on l'Alpe. I think he will ride his pace up that and limit his losses, in which case he should win. Vandevelde and Menchov need to gain some time on Evans and not lose any to the climbers, so they might well work with him til the last climb. Should be interesting anyway.

Btw, where are the Rabos? Last year, Menchov and Boogerd where everywhere, working for Rasmussen. It's strange that Menchov has so little support this year.

Boogerd retired. Flecha and Weening are about all Denny has.

As much as I'm not a fan, I think Kohl is likely going to put serious time into the other leaders.

playing hookie this morning. hope the stage is all it should be!! later.

Massive attacking straight away with a lot of nobodies getting away as the GC men watch each other. They'll want to save as much as they can for the final climb and if Sastre doesn't attack today, he's finished. Save for Menchov. Kohl also needs more time on Evans. If VdV tried to go away early, the others just might let him go, thinking to pick him up later. Doubtful, though.

Some of the pure climbers will get away, get a huge lead, and eventually win the stage.

Does CSC have anything left in the tank? They hammer the pace up only to have nobody attack off the front. They did dislodge Menchov and VdV yesterday but today is a different beast altogether.

My favorite Alpe d'Huez video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GHJErrp4eOw

playing hookie this morning. hope the stage is all it should be!! later.

+1

playing hookie this morning. hope the stage is all it should be!! later.

My boss is letting come in late today. What a nice chap.

From cycling news...

Christian Vande Velde of Team Garmin dopped yesterday...
=)

....
only one position in GC, from fifth to sixth, but the time loss was bigger: from 39 seconds down to 3'15.

what's a dop?

uh oh. popo looks like he's gone

Looks like most of the break from yesterday is cooked today. I expect Cunego to loose a lot of time on L'alpe Duez.

I'm very surprised of Schumacher being out front again. That was along ride yesterday.

anyone got a video link, the one I have been using is down

go here http://cyclingfans.com/

On the left side near the top
Eurosport audio feed


Scroll down a little and on the right use
RAI Tre
(Italian)

i don't think the hard work by csc on the croix de fer was intended to get rid of evans and menchov, like paul is saying. i think it was intended to isolate them both on d'huez while they have 2 or 3 members there