Professional Cycling For the Fans - stage 10 - Pau Hautacam 156 km stage 10 - Pau Hautacam 156 km Spoiler

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

So looking at the profile, it doesn't finish on the Hautacam, but some other uncategorized monster?

If so, I think the leaders won't attack much on the Hautacam, they are all boring and adopting the technique of evans.

So looking at the profile, it doesn't finish on the Hautacam, but some other uncategorized monster?



It does finish on Hautacam, at 1520 meters, an HC category climb. The profile above doesn't show the "HC" but you can see it on the map below the profile.

I am going to pick Ricco once again. I had my heart set on Zubeldia, but his poor showing on Sunday has me reconsidering. Ricco and Valverde finishing together with "Il Ratto" pipping Valverde on the line. Evans will lose time due to the stiffness from his injuries.

This stage will break a lot of riders. I'm going to go with Sastre on this one.

This stage will break a lot of riders. I'm going to go with Sastre on this one.

Yeah. I think Sastre will come out swinging tomorrow.

tourmalet and hautacam on the same stage just before a rest day. i think this is going to go nuclear. i expect to see large splits develop here. ricco is an obvious choice, but i wonder if he did some damage on the d'aspin that he will need to recover from. i think valverde may be able to use his climbing skills to get away today. and suzie makes a good point about zubeldia having a bad sunday, but how many times have you seen someone have a jour sans and come back strong the next day? he may be the outside pick for this stage

....and suzie makes a good point about zubeldia having a bad sunday, but how many times have you seen someone have a jour sans and come back strong the next day? he may be the outside pick for this stage


You know I'm going to be crying in my beer if you're right.... :cry: He's so far under the radar now that surely the pack would let him go if he jumped on the Tourmalet!

<snip> but how many times have you seen someone have a jour sans and come back strong the next day?


Phloyd?

Phloyd?

the obvious answer, but in all seriousness, have you ever noticed how someone will have a bad day for some reason, then come back the next day really well? i've had it happen to me, and no, i don't take drugs. i'm still going to go with valverde, though. he had a lot of his team around him during the climbs today; i think they're warmed up to blow the race up tomorrow

I would like to see Vandevelde go on the attack..

Phloyd?

Vino?:innocent:

I would like to see Vandevelde go on the attack..

If that means making Evans respond, then I am all for an attack.

Someone keeps positing in other threads about Ricco's obvious drug use. The worst thing the tour has going for it right now is the level of bored Evans brings to the table.

I think Evans will answer his critics today and attack and not many people will stay with him

the obvious answer, but in all seriousness, have you ever noticed how someone will have a bad day for some reason, then come back the next day really well? i've had it happen to me, and no, i don't take drugs. i'm still going to go with valverde, though. he had a lot of his team around him during the climbs today; i think they're warmed up to blow the race up tomorrow

The 2 years in between Big Mig & Lance, Pantani & Ullirch won. One of those years, Ullrich looked like a dead man riding in the cold rain, then miraculously won the next mountain stage. It was nearly as good as Floyd's ride.

The 2 years in between Big Mig & Lance, Pantani & Ullirch won. One of those years, Ullrich looked like a dead man riding in the cold rain, then miraculously won the next mountain stage. It was nearly as good as Floyd's ride.

That could be said for Indurain too! I think he hated the rain even more than Ullrich. :)

I'm picking Rico to add another stage in a lead-up to a very Rassmusen/Vino like mid-tour ejection.

If that means making Evans respond, then I am all for an attack.

Someone keeps positing in other threads about Ricco's obvious drug use. The worst thing the tour has going for it right now is the level of bored Evans brings to the table.

This is true. Its a shame the clean ones generally wont have the goods to grab the race by it's cahones the way the juicers can.

If it wasn't for Ricco, this tour would be an absolute snore.

And what is up with Kirchen already busting out the yellow bike, after taking the jersey on Schumacher's fall no less? That nonsense is turning my stomach and making me root against him.

It does finish on Hautacam, at 1520 meters, an HC category climb. The profile above doesn't show the "HC" but you can see it on the map below the profile.
I am going to pick Ricco once again. I had my heart set on Zubeldia, but his poor showing on Sunday has me reconsidering. Ricco and Valverde finishing together with "Il Ratto" pipping Valverde on the line. Evans will lose time due to the stiffness from his injuries.

Huh?

YES!!

stuck in Orlando at a fancy smancy Marriott with NO VS on the in room television. i was bumming yesterday when we got here. i know, its sad, but i wanna watch me some tour. plus, the wife is at a conference during the day. what is a guy without his bike and wife to do?? :)

back to the YES. i had them put it on the telly in hotel lobby where they have several DirecTV feeds. i fell better. :)

later.

Ricco is only 2:35 back, they're going to have to start putting the reigns on the guy...if that's possible.

Il Ratto is going to tear the legs off the GC hopefuls.
after that Sastre is my pick.

Van de Velde hangs on for dear life, comes in 2 minutes down on the stage winner.
(and I like him).

Marty

wow. csc is just putting a relentless pace on. and have you noticed, the schleck brothers have been hiding in the bunch, not assisting up the tourmalet? they're gonna hit the hautacam and i bet the schlecks put sastre in tow and just launch like rockets. these guys think it's been a bad day so far, it's about to get REALLY hard, i think

I agree. How about VandeVelde and Kirchen hanging tough? What an impressive stage. It even has the token Frenchie off of the front on Bastille Day.

Come on Hautacam!

Michael

Forgot to mention that Cunego and Valverde are dropped....working themselves back on the descent.

SO far ricco is the only one that showed total control of the mountains... after of what i saw yesterday of ricco he might be able to kick ass and win the tour no problems. The question is if he wants to do it. Probably not?

grigorio looks fried, poor guy. The climb up hautacam is going to be crazy!

Evans attacks :eek:

go vandevelde!

Evans attacks :eek:

deserves a thrad of its own surely - mind didnt last long before going back to sucking someones tub

Valverde is gone. Hope he enjoyed that stage I win.

Still can't believe VandeVelde is in the elite group.

What a stage..

Lost my online stream:mad:

Vino?:innocent:

Lance?:innocent:

geez, what a day.

VandeVelde. My heart was racing waiting for him to explode....and he made it. Damn that was awesome.

What an absurd stage. Evans in yellow by one second!

even though they took 1-2 saunier duval has to be the dumbest team i have ever seen. rico attacked a few times and was pulling the evans group back up to his teammates with him and pip and cobo kept looking at each other allowing schleck to pull time back...

VandeVelde. My heart was racing waiting for him to explode....and he made it. Damn that was awesome.

He had a pretty awesome day. Too bad I missed the finish :notamused:

Evans in yellow....shweet!

Wow, loved watching Vandevelde really crank up those inclines!!!

Also, I think Evans showed some heart even though he generally rode "as he should" in the contender group.

Finally, those SDV climbers are truly brilliant.

Great stage. Great Tour.

wow - 1 second now separates the top 2 GCs, and who'd have EVER thought:

Valverde dropped 5 minutes today
Sastre never attacked, despite having a whole team around him

when it looked like each had the strongest teams around them in the mountains (yesterday for Valverde, and today for Sastre).

I kept waiting for Christian to crack but he never did - even taking a dig at the front near the line! He's already surpassed all expectations... incredible ride!

Rico played a perfect card really, he softened up the Evans group with accelerations which
were all marked, in the end though it didn't matter on either the stage or the GC.
Van de Velde was amazing, he seriously hung tough.
Sastre isn't quite up there, when push came to shove he got shelled.
Valverde did exactly what a lot of people expected, cracked. Might as well get sick and
go home.

amazing stage. wish my VS was working at home, all I had was Eurosport feed here at
work, no DVR of the stage today.

marty

Ill see the race tonite but so far i still cant explain why ricco deosnt want to take his chances to win the darn race. Ok he cant TT and probably in the TTT they wont do that good but darn... Duval has enough climbers to get 10 minutes of advatage from here to the Team TT, bunch of WUSSIES!!!!!!

Regarding Vandevelde, awesome day for him. Evans? what else he can do? He has no team to go with him and he is not a climber so he needs to figure it out the best he can i think he did good also. Tomorrow CSC will prepare something special with sastre maybe?

Thanks

Ill see the race tonite but so far i still cant explain why ricco deosnt want to take his chances to win the darn race. Ok he cant TT and probably in the TTT they wont do that good but darn... Duval has enough climbers to get 10 minutes of advatage from here to the Team TT, bunch of WUSSIES!!!!!!

Regarding Vandevelde, awesome day for him. Evans? what else he can do? He has no team to go with him and he is not a climber so he needs to figure it out the best he can i think he did good also. Tomorrow CSC will prepare something special with sastre maybe?

Thanks

there is no TTT, and these guys are no wussies.

Ricco and SD are stage hunting to perfection.

yes they are!

Ill see the race tonite but so far i still cant explain why ricco deosnt want to take his chances to win the darn race. Ok he cant TT and probably in the TTT they wont do that good but darn... Duval has enough climbers to get 10 minutes of advatage from here to the Team TT, bunch of WUSSIES!!!!!!

Regarding Vandevelde, awesome day for him. Evans? what else he can do? He has no team to go with him and he is not a climber so he needs to figure it out the best he can i think he did good also. Tomorrow CSC will prepare something special with sastre maybe?

Thanks

Because despite what people are lead to believe, Ricco does respect his teamates, and he wasn't going to attack the group and kill his teamates chances of taking a stage.

That, and its likely he was a little tired today after TTing the final 30 km yesterday.

VDV!!! amazing, god i hope he can maintain. he sounds so good and confident in interviews, like he's really having fun and kinda tripping out on what he's doing.

and how about Jens? can you hardman? the guy is ironclad in my book.

evans looked pretty surprised pulling on the yellow, like he couldn't believe it...

but there must have been a monster of a DS yelling in his ear, telling him the gap to Franck Shleck (sp?). and he made the attacks and pulled the pace at the front of his group more than i have ever seen him do before. his face looked like it hurt a lot, though. bet he's glad of a rest day tomorrow.

well done, and piepoli too. good ride.

Ill see the race tonite but so far i still cant explain why ricco deosnt want to take his chances to win the darn race. Ok he cant TT and probably in the TTT they wont do that good but darn... Duval has enough climbers to get 10 minutes of advatage from here to the Team TT, bunch of WUSSIES!!!!!!

Regarding Vandevelde, awesome day for him. Evans? what else he can do? He has no team to go with him and he is not a climber so he needs to figure it out the best he can i think he did good also. Tomorrow CSC will prepare something special with sastre maybe?

Thanks

What is CSC planning for Sastre tomorrow? Some sort of party? A PR event? I'm fairly certain Sastre won't gain any time tomorrow.:D

Originally I said "It does finish on Hautacam, at 1520 meters, an HC category climb. The profile above doesn't show the "HC" but you can see it on the map below the profile." And you responded...



Huh?


So, when would you like me to schedule your appointment with the optometrist?

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