Professional Cycling For the Fans - TDF 2010 stage 7 - Tournus - Station des Rousses 165.5 km, Sat. Jul 10

profile:

http://www.letour.fr/PHOTOS/TDF/2010/700/PROFIL.gif

map:

http://www.letour.fr/PHOTOS/TDF/2010/700/CARTE.gif

love this lumpy profile; great stage for breakaways & opportunists but not difficult enough to shatter the field
unless the weather is awful.

I predict a small shakeup here. We'll see for sure who is having a bad day. Hoping for attacks, even if they don't amount to much.

I don't see any real changes in positions of contenders. It may be enough to sift out those in the top 10 that are not real contenders. But there may be some important psychological seconds gained and lost in the last few Kms.

I think Egoi starts his assault on polka dots here.

Were is Bastille day this would be the stage Virenque chose to win solo. If he were still racing of course.

plus some of those descents look to be fairly hairy. should be a 'fun' stage.

Is this considered a mountain top finish even though there is a little run out after the peak of the Lamoura?

Were is Bastille day this would be the stage Virenque chose to win solo. If he were still racing of course.

if it were July Jaja would choose to win solo. The tour seriously misses him.

Were is Bastille day this would be the stage Virenque chose to win solo. If he were still racing of course.

if it were July Jaja would choose to win solo. The tour seriously misses him.

The scenery should be incredible. Hope a break makes it. But the selection probably won't happen until Sunday.

Looks like the final climb is a gain of approximately 700 meters. That's a decent climb. One or two contenders may lose 10 to 20 seconds, or more if they are having a bad day.

Richard

Interested to see how determined Cancellara is to hang onto the yellow jersey for one more day. I suspect Sky might try to put a bit of pressure on to see if they can get Thomas into yellow, however briefly. Rumour has it the boy can climb reasonably well.

The fun is about to begin.

I don't think much will happen today. Fabian will keep yellow, the GC guys will stay together, and you'll see a late attack from a strong rider who's lower on GC. Maybe a guy like Cunego could take it.

It would be interesting if Radio Shack sent Horner, Kloden, or Leipheimer on the attack to see how other teams would react. They'd still have strong guys left over for tomorrow's stage, and the day after that is a rest day.

Lance being left alone with the Astana team on the climb? That is not how this was supposed to go. Who has a team for the mountains and who doesn't? If Radio Shack doesn't show better than this, Lance may as well abandon.

There are a whole bunch of Radioshacks in Armstrong's group still I think, just not right next to him.

Great race! Congrats to Chavanel!

Did Armstrong have any teammates near him?

There are a whole bunch of Radioshacks in Armstrong's group still I think, just not right next to him.
Yup.

Good stage today! Quick Step had a fantastic day. Tomorrow should be a good one too.

Did Armstrong have any teammates near him?

Horner, Leipheimer and Brajkovic finished with the same time as he did.

Did Armstrong have any teammates near him?

Yes he had one, I didn't catch who thow. Still looking.

Why is it that Contador looked protected and LA looked alone?

Lance being left alone with the Astana team on the climb? That is not how this was supposed to go. Who has a team for the mountains and who doesn't? If Radio Shack doesn't show better than this, Lance may as well abandon.

Ooops! my bad- I didn't see them. The two teams are keeping an eye on each other. Tomorrow will be interesting indeed.

Versus' coverage wasn't too good today. Phil and Paul missed ever giving us the contents of the peloton up the climb. For instance, rat shack had 4 riders in the peloton up the climb. Who was with Schleck ? etc .....

They missed it all.

Why is it that Contador looked protected and LA looked alone?

Looked that way- i don't see why Levi wouldn't stay closer if he were nearby.

A lot of Shack riders got dropped early on the last climb, but caught up as it flattened out some. Astana certainly looked strong today. I was surprised Kloden got dropped so early.

Richard

Versus' coverage wasn't too good today. Phil and Paul missed ever giving us the contents of the peloton up the climb. For instance, rat shack had 4 riders in the peloton up the climb. Who was with Schleck ? etc .....

They missed it all.

Versus has no control over the tv camera that are shown. It the world feed. With Frenchmen leading the race and the KOM, that's where the cameras are going to be. Especially if no one from AC/AS/LA group is doing anything. Phil and Paul see what we see. Plus, they get radio info.

I've always like Sylvain Chavenel. His name sounds like he should be a professional gentleman of leisure.

Versus has no control over the tv camera that are shown. It the world feed. With Frenchmen leading the race and the KOM, that's where the cameras are going to be. Especially if no one from AC/AS/LA group is doing anything. Phil and Paul see what we see. Plus, they get radio info.


Sure, they don't control the feed, but even I could tell how many riders of which teams were in the peloton on my TV set.

Great job by Chavenel! He's a class act.

Great job by Chavenel! He's a class act.

+1

Good job by Chavanel today. I always appreciate aggressive riders and even though I barely knew Chavanel before, I want to see him do well. I think "the pack" needs to be careful not to be too comfortable out there. Sure it's unlikely that a lead-out win can happen each day or win the overall tour, but it could happen and everyone will feel really stupid if it does. Pretty unpredictable tour so far.

Great ride by Sylvian Chavanel.

Good to see Nicolas Roche moving up the GC to 8th at +2'28". He'll certainly find it harder tomorrow to stay with the big guys but he's still had a great first week in the Tour.

Great job by Chavenel! He's a class act.
agreed!!

VERY happy to see him get a second stage and the yellow back.

I've always like Sylvain Chavenel. His name sounds like he should be a professional gentleman of leisure.

HAHA! That's funny.

As was said before, we (Versus) are forced to watch the feed given to us by French TV. You think they were going to turn away from a Frenchman winning the stage and getting yellow? Listening to the 2 interviews after the race, both Levi and Andy Schleck said it was a day harder than they expected, but from what we were able to watch of the peloton, Radioshack did not look good. How many Saxo's were there with Schleck? How many BMC's with Cadel (probably none)?

The most important part of the stage was the beginning of the final climb, and the peloton was not covered well by TV at that point. Kloden was dropped surprisingly, and for a while, LA was completely alone. Many of the Shack boys finished with LA, but when Astana took control, I didn't see any of them. I also didn't see Vino as one of the Astana riders, so I don't know what was going on. Again, TV did not cover the peloton well at that point, but today, Astana wins.

However, LA looked really good. Never looked in trouble. But at the same time...was AC even breathing on that climb, LOL?!?!?!

As was said before, we (Versus) are forced to watch the feed given to us by French TV. You think they were going to turn away from a Frenchman winning the stage and getting yellow?

Thank goodness they didn't! Frankly, I'm finding the more balanced coverage quite nice this year. That probably has alot to do with the fact that I listen to audio provided by a European source. I like Phil and Paul alot, but they do seem to be forced to talk about Lance and company to the detriment of the other riders and the Tour as a whole. The story was not Lance and Alberto. The story was Chavanel and the tremendous effort he made to arrive at the finish over 7 minutes ahead of the peleton, and over 13 minutes ahead of the Major Players.

I am thankful that Versus is providing live coverage. I just prefer the audio provided by other sources.

Yellow and polkadot, a little something to make the French proud. Who knows, one of these years the ol' Badger might even get to pass the torch to one of his countrymen while he's still young enough to climb the podium.

Thank goodness they didn't! Frankly, I'm finding the more balanced coverage quite nice this year. That probably has alot to do with the fact that I listen to audio provided by a European source. I like Phil and Paul alot, but they do seem to be forced to talk about Lance and company to the detriment of the other riders and the Tour as a whole. The story was not Lance and Alberto. The story was Chavanel and the tremendous effort he made to arrive at the finish over 7 minutes ahead of the peleton, and over 13 minutes ahead of the Major Players.

I am thankful that Versus is providing live coverage. I just prefer the audio provided by other sources.

yeah, the "rivalry" between Contador and Armstrong just seems so contrived in the coverage. Lance is over the hill and still doing great but no where near his championship days, while AC is into his prime and dominating.

Looked that way- i don't see why Levi wouldn't stay closer if he were nearby.

he was marking Vino

Yellow and polkadot, a little something to make the French proud. Who knows, one of these years the ol' Badger might even get to pass the torch to one of his countrymen while he's still young enough to climb the podium.

Don't piss off the Badger.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXLSUpPS6So

Thank goodness they didn't! Frankly, I'm finding the more balanced coverage quite nice this year. That probably has alot to do with the fact that I listen to audio provided by a European source. I like Phil and Paul alot, but they do seem to be forced to talk about Lance and company to the detriment of the other riders and the Tour as a whole. The story was not Lance and Alberto. The story was Chavanel and the tremendous effort he made to arrive at the finish over 7 minutes ahead of the peleton, and over 13 minutes ahead of the Major Players.

I am thankful that Versus is providing live coverage. I just prefer the audio provided by other sources.

I'm not complaining. I'm just answering why the TV coverage of the peloton was not there at the beginning of the final climb when seemingly a lot was going on in the peloton.

And Phil and Paul are making more out of Team Sky than they are Radioshack. I'm sure they have to pump up LA, but they seem to get really excited with a Sky rider comes into view.

I don't think much will happen today. Fabian will keep yellow, the GC guys will stay together, and you'll see a late attack from a strong rider who's lower on GC. Maybe a guy like Cunego could take it.

It would be interesting if Radio Shack sent Horner, Kloden, or Leipheimer on the attack to see how other teams would react. They'd still have strong guys left over for tomorrow's stage, and the day after that is a rest day.

Cancellara almost held on to yellow. Just missed it by 14 minutes ;-)

I guess I'm not the only one thoroughly enjoying the Chavenel win. I know strategy is a big part of any race(and this stage isn't considered a big attack stage), but it was pretty cool to see Chavenel break away and fly over the mountains and on a Mercx nonetheless! Seems like this is what every stage should be like. Any chance that the major GC contenders will keep a closer eye on him, or is there just no hope?

Cancellara almost held on to yellow. Just missed it by 14 minutes ;-)

Yeah, once he started getting dropped on the penultimate climb I knew that half of the prediction was wrong. Sometimes he can hang on the easier climbs, but Astana was pushing the pace a little today. They might have a stronger team than people thought, especially if Vino keeps behaving himself.

Cancellara almost held on to yellow. Just missed it by 14 minutes ;-)


Yeah, once he started getting dropped on the penultimate climb I knew that half of the prediction was wrong. Sometimes he can hang on the easier climbs, but Astana was pushing the pace a little today. They might have a stronger team than people thought, especially if Vino keeps behaving himself.

Well he climbed like a beast over the Grammont while winning Flanders. Maybe he forgot to replace the batteries on his motorbike! :roflmao2: