Professional Cycling For the Fans - GC Post Stage 8

Will Thor keep yellow until Thursday?

No. It would be a massif task. Stage 9 will be a step up in climbing.

If the GC guys ride as safely as today maybe. Cheers to Vino for lighting it up, even though it didn't work. Nevertheless, I hope there's more attacking amongst GC contenders tomorrow.

I was cheering for vino when I saw him go. Sad did not work. Well BMC had to chase because vino can TT and climb the same than cadel. I dont what contador will do, probably the best he can do now is just dont do nothing and let AS to panic. There is a problem with that tho....

Maybe. Depends on what the GC guys do tomorrow.

since he held onto the yellow today *and i thought it likely he would pass it to cadel today*, he should be able to hold onto it tomorrow. garmin-cervelo
is doing an outstanding job and it looks like thor would have some time to recover after the hardest climbs and have the team guide him to the finish.
the last 50+ kilometers trend downhill; the ferocious part is in the middle.

Definitely tomorrow will decide if he loses it or keeps it for three more days. I was thinking along the same lines as ooga-booga: their is a chance to chase back on after the last cat 2. If it was ending on a cat 2 he would have no chance.

gilbert has amazed this first week. we all knew he was a special rider in the classics but the consistency so far at the tdf has been fun to watch. will be interesting to see if he still has the legs, post-pyrenees, to contest stage 16 and possibly 17 as those seem to be the only stages he'd be capable of challenging for. maybe he will just transition into a super-domestique for van den broeck. or maybe...just maybe, he will fight for the green jersey the whole way. that seems a more likely reality vs a high podium finish for van den broeck. rooting for gilbert to win the green.

I think he should be able to hold it tomorrow considering it's a flat finish so not much infighting so go on during the climbs. He may be totally wiped after today though, so we'll just have to see.

No. It would be a massif task.Very punny :D

Don't like his chance because stage 9 will be fairly nasty and I think he'll be too taxed. He's certainly in great form but 8 2 and 3 climbs tomorrow will likely splinter the field a bit leaving probably 40 rides finishing in the peleton and that doesn't include GC guys breaking away.

I think he should be able to hold it tomorrow considering it's a flat finish

It's not a flat finish. Last 1.5kms is 6.1% uphill gradient. Not as bad as todays 7.2% but still not flat.