Professional Cycling For the Fans - TdF Stage 10 - Tuesday July 14 - 193 km - Limoges → Issoudun

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Bastille Day. It's almost inevitable that at least a FDJ, Confidis, Ag2R and Bbox rider will be prominent in a breakaway attempt at glory.

Frenchmen in the breakaway, but big Jens for the win though.

This is a no-radio stage.

This is a no-radio stage.Probably gives Jens an even better chance--he's got the reputation for good instincts.

Probably gives Jens an even better chance--he's got the reputation for good instincts.

I'll definitely cheer for him.

Who are the fast French men?

Big day for the polka-dot jersey.

Big day for the polka-dot jersey.

Really? With only three cat 4 climbs?

I'm excited about the no radios bit.

Probably gives Jens an even better chance--he's got the reputation for good instincts.

Yeah, but everyone else is thinking the same thing. You can't have a breakaway if half the peloton is trying to get away at the same time - you would have chaos.

This is a no-radio stage.

I wish they were all no radio stages. With radios it's too easy to track who's in a break, what kind of gap do they have, and where are your rivals. I feel that it makes the racing a lot more predictable. Put them on bikes with their water bottles and send them on their way. Follow them with neutral support vehicles and see what shakes out at the finish line.

Mike

No radios should be a fun little experiment, not sure they should go full on no-radio for the whole tour yet.

But, I'm not expecting much drama tomorrow, personally though, who knows, sh*t happens, right?

This stage is basically "rolling hills" for us plebeians, not sure what can be done, outside of some surprisingly fresh legs on an organized breakaways just jumping off and never looking back or another French dude getting a little national pride with a 2, 4, 9, 150 man sprint to the finish?

Bastille Day - so how many Frenchmen can get on the breakaway?

ALL of them.

Maybe LA will "sneak" into a break.... ha ha

This week is going to be boring.

Because most of the riders and the teams are quite unhappy about the radio ban, they may well stage a "work slowdown" and poke along at 15mph. Remember the stage in the Giro where the riders revolted due to the "unsafe" conditions.

On the other hand, since there's no radio and safety is such a concern for the riders who don't like the ban, teams will be trying to ride up front. Ag2R and Astana will certainly be up front.

Columbia will be working at some point for Cavendish; he needs the sprint points.

Because most of the riders and the teams are quite unhappy about the radio ban, they may well stage a "work slowdown" and poke along at 15mph.


It would never happen. How do you keep people from breaking away other than picking up the pace in the peloton? If the peloton stuck to 15mph, a breakaway could gain huge chunks of time and kill the chances of all of the GC contenders in the peloton..

I suppose they could take a nature break at the finish line as a means of protest :D.

I've listened to some opposite opinions - that some riders like the idea of a radio-free stage. On the other hand, apparently all the team managers have come to be completely dependent on having their voice in their riders' ear, and they all hate the radio ban. It will be interesting to see how things work out.

No radios should be a fun little experiment, not sure they should go full on no-radio for the whole tour yet.


Worked like a charm for many many years

edit - sorry don't mean to come over as a complete Luddite.

I think the radios have a purpose - safety info, reporting breakdowns etc. But knowing every breakaway to the second etc. I can do without.

If the radio ban were "full on no-radio for the whole tour" don't you think that various forms of passing the same info would quickly be adopted? This would open the tour to another form of cheating that would be easy to do and hard to prevent. I think the temptation would be huge. Better to just allow radios IMO.

Passing info = cheating? elaborate please.

The riders are talking to each other all of the time.

No radios? I guess I'd wear my iPod...

Radios on, radios off. Pick one or the other. The TDF is no place to "experiment". ASO is full of crappola.

I've got a feeling this is going to be a long, not so exciting stage as the fear from no radios is not going to let anyone get too far. I hope a Frenchman can win in a breakaway so we don't have another boring bunch sprint won by you-know-who.
:cheers:

ASO is trying something that's worth trying. Not everyone likes the metronomic-discovery-blue-train approach to the tour.

I think it will be fun, today's route and situation doesn't really call for much so the no-radios is kinda moot (unless some sh*t somehow goes down), but outside of potential hazards on the road the radios provide info for, i.e. the safety issue, I'd prefer no radios, I like smarts + ability vs. just ability and let someone else take the smarts.

Passing info = cheating? elaborate please.

The riders are talking to each other all of the time.
I was thinking more of folks along the road passing information to riders possibly in conjunction with cellphone or radio usage between folks (not team car or riders) along the course. Whether it would be cheating or not would depend on how specifically the ban was stated, but if the purpose of the ban was to keep riders from being able to know what the time gaps were it might be futile. Maybe I have the wrong idea of what the ban is supposed to accomplish. I can see where it might successfully prevent communication directly between the team car and riders, but I don't see it keeping riders completely in the dark about time gaps.

Has this stage started yet?

Sorry couldn't find my usual live feed on Velonews. Had to find another. Looks like a 4 man breakaway at 2:34 ahead of the peleton.

It's fine to try something, but they could experiment all they want in lesser stage races earlier in the year.

But, as I said, I have a feeling the strongest teams may not let anyone get away too far. The strong teams that don't want the ban can just say . . . OK . . no radios . . we won't let anyone get away and we'll control the race to a bunch sprint. It may make the racing downright boring. I guess we'll find out.

The world seems not to be ending out on the road.

Note that the Tour is run under the auspices of ASO, whereas most of the other races for the season are UCI. UCI seems unwilling to test the "no radios" in their "lesser races", so here we are, with some of the old schoolers associated with ASO attempting to influence things. In the grand scheme of things, probably won't have any more effect than American football teams wearing "throwback" jerseys for a game or two during the season.

Has this stage started yet?


Yes.... but no.



lol.





Versus online, like the Max Keenan (sp?), real even, covers things nicely, but here comes Phil & whatever.

I'm looking forward to the no radio stages. Good, bad, or indifferent I'd like to see it's effect on the race. Although with all the outcry I feel as if we're going to get a neutralized stage more than anything. I hope I'm wrong. I'm not buying the safety issue so much. I think the radios do provide a safety aspect to the race but are largely used to manage riders and the race. If it were solely a safety issue I wonder if the teams would agree a radio that is universal throughout the peloton. One that informs riders of dangerous situations originating from the referee's car or a "safety" director but does not allow race strategy or time losses to be discussed. In the end I don't think the radio ban will stick but I'm anxious to see how it effects the race.

Pretty quiet stage...... are we witnessing a "slow down" protest?

Are any of the 4 guys in the breakaway any threat?

Nope, just frenchies looking to ride out front on Bastille Day.

The peloton's going so slow.... Just fast enough to keep the breakaway in check, but everyone's just chillin' along. Must be nice after a day off to just spin the legs, probably a "recovery ride" for a pro. lol..

Some of the flatter tour stages are like this, pretty uneventful. I'd prefer to see the flat stages be shorter, rather than these very lengthy preludes to a bunch sprint.

But, this is Bastille Day . . . the racing should be great. . . .so far not so good. The peloton is just letting the 4 leaders
be carrots for them until they want to eat them up for the sprint.

Well.... at least the country side if pretty.

LOL... they are talking about LA and the Astana team strategy about yellow like AC doesn't even exist. Then they did talk about AC's little breakaway to get into 2nd and how he was sneaking some motorcycle slipstreams! Man.... funny stuff. Play to your audience, but c'mon guys.

Man I feel for you guys watching Versus.


Some trivia... from http://stevetilford.com/2009/07/13/july14th-bastille-day-tour-de-france/

# Number of French winners on Bastille Day in the last ten years – three (Jalabert 2001, Virenque 2004, Moncoutié 2005)


# Number of bunch sprints on Bastille Day in the last ten years – zero.

LOL the snails!

Man I feel for you guys watching Versus.

Online, it's fine, no commercials, decent quality, but once Max (?) let's P&P take over, the bias can just get pretty funny at times.

They like LA, Astana, & Brits, and I've swear I've caught a few little swipes at Australia here and there (and not even Evans related)

I just started watching. How does it seem to be going without the radios?

i just started watching. How does it seem to be going without the radios?

yawn

It appears this is a riding protest, the actual racing may begin at 40k or so.

I've been listening to the British Eurosport commentators today . . they know how to fill the time better than Versus.
http://www.fromsport.com/video-40824.html

I just started watching. How does it seem to be going without the radios?


less drama than hoped for.

looks like an etape today.

All the commentary is on the radios, seems that everyone s being super cautious as opposed to the allowing chaos. Start line gossip was that the teams may use radios regardless of the "trial" on Friday.

Not a drama stage anyway with the standings and the "rolling hill" bunch sprint friendly stage, no? Which stage is the other one?


Favourite phrases of the Tour "take a natural break". Going to use that myself at work for now on.

looks like an etape today.

All the commentary is on the radios, seems that everyone s being super cautious as opposed to the allowing chaos. Start line gossip was that the teams may use radios regardless of the "trial" on Friday.


Using radios on the ban? Do you think anyone would risk disqualification over a radio?

Eurosport: Dutch news sites are reporting that the peloton are going to keep it under 40kmh all day today in protest.

I guess that's fine until the bunch sprint

The team cars are feeding the info to the riders.

Using radios on the ban? Do you think anyone would risk disqualification over a radio?

They can't disqualify everyone. Maybe that explains the slow pace "protest" today.