Professional Cycling For the Fans - stage 8 - Figeac Toulouse 172.5 km Spoiler

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

so will this be a sprinter finish, or will those series of early climbs make it more likely for a breakaway to go out and stay out?

I'll go with a sprint finish, and my pick will be Oscar Friere to win the stage. I think the Columbia boys will be too busy protecting Kirchen to lead out Cavendish again. :)

next year year i'm going to be living right near villefranche de rouergue. wish i was there now. to me this region is one of the most beautiful and special of france.

I don't have a pick, but I'm sure it'll be one of the sprinters as the categorized climbs are done by the halfway point of the stage. They'll have plenty of time to catch up. I'd guess one of the guys who can hold their own on the mountains like Zabel and Hushovd proved today. I think the GC guys will be playing it close to the vest with the Pyrenees a couple of days away. That being said, I'll guess Cunego since he has some time to make up.

Cunego looks like he's either over-trained or under-trained. I'm hoping it's the latter, as I'd like to see him play a part in the hard mountain stages. I think stage 10 will tell if he's rounding into form...if he lasts that long! Lampre has been nearly invisible to this point.

Voeckler in the early break for the KOM points seems like a gimme. He'll certainly want to be wearing the polka dot jersey on Bastille Day. It does seem like an excellent stage for the sprinters teams to organize and finish in a bunch sprint. The sprinters teams really are letting these stages get away from them. I don't expect they'll make the same mistake tomorrow.

Michael

I'll go with a sprint finish although I do like it when they throw a couple of bumps near the end to give the opportunists a chance.

Cavendish is on my fantasy team so I'm hoping for another victory.

Zabel for the win.

I noticed on cyclingnews that they said one of the breakaways switched his rear wheel so that he had a clincher on for the descents rather than a tubular. Is this normal?

Ricco & Voigt take a tumble with 30 miles to go. They're ok but it's going to be a hard chase back as the peloton is now in an angry mood.

I noticed that too. Does the rain have anything to do with it?

Yes, also the heat is being turned on in the peloton, a lapse of concentration & down you go.

This is kinda fun to watch. never really watch it befoe.

Ricco's back after hard chase thanks largely to the slowing of the peloton....they don't want to catch that break too early!

So who's going to blast over the top of one of these little humps?

...and cavendish gets it. What a turn of speed. But were's McEwen, he just doesn't seem to have it this year.

what a finish! in the rain, that was great. i gotta hand it to cavendish, the kid can freakin kick!
as phil would say- now this is the tour de france !

Great finish, the camera angle from above on the replay really showed his speed.

Damn this kid is fast! Not even at his peak yet.

Strong work by Team Columbia.

And Cavendish is quite impressive.

Michael

I wonder how long it will be until someone calls out silence-lotto? They've done nothing all tour. I barely saw them in peloton at all today.

Silence is keeping the powder dry for Cadel in the high mountains....anything short of a win though might not bode well for Belgium's second ProTour team (especially after a poor classics season). At least they get Gilbert for next season.

Cavendish is a missile in the last 3-200m. I am loving this columbia team more and more everyday. Too bad McEwen doesnt ever have a lead out man. And so much for my Zabel pick...didnt even see him the last 200m.

Robbie doesn't have anyone to help him because the Team's working for Cadel. He's doing okay for that. There's no way he can match Cavendish's speed, but he's damn good at working his way through the field and I'll never forget his 'back from the dead' victory last year when he won after having crashed late in the stage.

Cavendish is on my fantasy team so I'm hoping for another victory.


Have you stopped grinning yet? :D




And so much for my Zabel pick...didnt even see him the last 200m.


He was in the top 10...possibly 6th I believe? The problem is, he's watching Cavendish and seeing his younger self in a mirror!

...and cavendish gets it. What a turn of speed. But were's McEwen, he just doesn't seem to have it this year.

they are all working for evans so mcewen is on his own to the point he has to use other teams for the lead out...uggh

The speed of Cavendish is remarkable.

Have you stopped grinning yet? :D






He was in the top 10...possibly 6th I believe? The problem is, he's watching Cavendish and seeing his younger self in a mirror!


I also have Gerard Ciolek on my fantasy team so yes, I'm really grinning right now.

they are all working for evans so mcewen is on his own to the point he has to use other teams for the lead out...uggh

But that's just it, he's awesome at getting on the right wheels in the last 3K. I just don't think he's clicking quite right at the moment. 17 today is not typical for him. Team or no team!