sprince

Martin was 17th on stage 5 last year.

Giacomo 1 

I expect to see Nibali and Astana ride the cobbles tomorrow like scalded dogs, and there won't be anything the other GC riders can do about it. I've never seen such a demonstration by a GC rider on the cobbles like Nibali put on last year, so I think he'll be back in contention after tomorrow. He knows this is his best stage outside of the mountains to do some damage.

Out of the other GC riders, I think, although I'm not certain, TJ will have the advantage tomorrow because he is a better all-arounder than the others and he has a strong team around him to get him through to.

jyl

Early days I know, but Contador didn't impress in the ITT and he didn't impress up the Mur. Maybe he's timing to peak in week 3, but maybe this is a sign that he hasn't recovered enough.

PepeM

Cancellara withdraws. Really sucks.

sgtdirt

The crash happened with a little under 60 kilometers (37 miles) remaining, forcing the stage to be neutralized and then stopped altogether shortly after - for nearly 20 minutes - while organizers allowed those who fell to catch up.

Stopping so they can catch up? what the heck is that all about? i thought this was a RACE.

https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nbc-ya...164500149.html

jyl

See the other thread on this topic. There was a good reason for this very unusual stoppage. Purpose wasn't to let fallen riders catch up, although that is what happened. Purpose was because all available medics and ambulances (and I heard the medical helicopter) were swamped by the injuries, so if the race had continued immediately, riders injured in a subsequent crash would have received no medical attention. Which would be unacceptable, imagine the backlash if that happened.

TCR Rider

There was nothing average about Nibali's performance on the pave last year. I'm waiting to see if Froome manages to keep the rubber down this year. Does anyone know the weather forecast for tomorrow?
How about Tony Martin being denied again...by one second. Ouch.

jyl

Cobbles will be dry tomorrow, that will remove some of Nibali's bike handling advantage.

Of the GC men, Froome surely has the best cobbles ******* - Thomas, Stannard, Rowe. TvG, Nibali and Contador seem to have multiple strongmen too. Quintana's team looks thin on this score, Pinot I think so too.

PepeM

Unlikely to rain.

cthenn

Ready to answer the OP. Froome will win by 5+ minutes barring crashes/mechs. Dude is glowing so hard, he'd break a Geiger Counter. He's already prepared his defense for when he destroys all the previous doped-up climbing records, by saying "technological advancements" has led to a 10-15% improvement in times, and doped records will be broken because of it. He's already showing his true egg beater form, Ventoux 2013 will look slow when he goes full ret@rd on the first big climb. He will obliterate the field, and the other guys will be in a close battle for the minor placings. LA 2.0 v.UK!

jyl

Froome has always had the horsepower, both for TT, long climbs, and hard attacks. His weaknesses have been crashes, positioning, bad weather. If he's figured those things out . . . watch out.

79pmooney

It's not just Froome, it's the Sky mindset. Riding for the team leader and considering his welfare more important than one's own is the mantra of many of the great teams. But that mindset is not part of Sky. Witness last year. On an early, meaningless flat stage for the sprinters with very nervous riding. In the opening miles of that stage, there was not one rider beside Froome to protect them from shaky riding. Then, this spring at the Giro, Ritchie Porte, their GC man twice stopped with no teammate support; when he accepted a wheel from a countrymate but not teammate, then again when he was caught after a crash. (And on that second incident, Contador went down. His teammate saw him, jumped over fallen riders, handed Contador his bike and pushed him off. That's team mindset. And Contador, who went down, gained minutes on Porte who didn't.

Ben

Leinster

There's 13km of cobbles, total, almost all loaded into the last 60km of the stage. Froome will have experienced cobble racers like Thomas and Stannard looking after him. There's an assumption that Froome is going to lose time on the cobbles, but the truth is he's an unknown quantity on them; he didn't even get to the first pave last year.

There's a similar assumption that Sky will put time into Movistar on the TTT, but Movistar put 30" into Sky at a similar length test in the Dauphine, and won the opening TTT at last year's Vuelta. If anything, the one in the Tour is tougher, which should suit the Spanish team.

Quintana dropped Froome on Alpe d'Huez and Semnoz in 2013, but Froome already had the race locked up. I'm not aware of them going head to head many times since then; Quintana was leading the Vuelta (28" ahead of Froome in 5th) when he crashed out last year.

LMaster

Eh, maybe that's not the mindset but something else. Porte is a legitimate GC contender in my book, and usually guys like that have at least some trouble committing to full domestique. Porte sure didn't, he held back in the opening ITT, and then slayed himself on the front doing 7+ w/kg up all the climbs in the final 25' before the Mur de Huy, he put so much into it he lost a full 4:00 on a climb that took the leaders 3:10.

Athens80

We're "outraged" when riders phone it in and don't do what they can for their team. Just one more second of effort was needed on stage 2. The reference to Cav beating Froome up the Mur is ridiculous as you know and the suggestion that we'd expect Uran to give up his long term GC placing is also ridiculous.

In stage 2 we wanted Cav to care about competition for one more second, even if it was a competition for third instead of first. Maybe that's impossible. But you'd like to see someone go the extra meter for competition and for the team.

WCroadie

It is impossible for Cav to follow froome up the Mur, impossible. Cav is one of my favorite riders, but he deserves a punch in the face from Martin, he should have never sat up on stage 2 and Martin would have had the yellow he deserved.

PepeM

Well he just went ahead and got the jersey for himself.

diphthong

good for tony martin. if you want something done...

Blue Belly

How many Riders have won a TDF stage on a team mate's bike? Brilliant move & shame on the other sprint teams for the delayed reaction

Athens80

Nice! Martin has been a powerhouse on a number of Tour stages in recent years. I'm glad for him to have the honor of wearing yellow. He is a credit to the jersey. He's happy and the team's happy and I'm glad for that.

And it was a team effort, and a credit to them for getting Martin back to the front group and in place to ride away in the way that Tony does so well.

(And yes, the other wearers this year have also each well earned their jersey.)

WCroadie

Great ride by Martin, happy to see him in the yellow that he deserves. And I was glad to see Cav helping out Martin, even tho he should have done that the other day.

Leinster

Unless they have Kittel on board, Giant always leave other teams to set their man up. So they were waiting for EQS to get a train going. The only other teams with enough men in the group to get any sort of leadout were Tinkoff ("We're looking after Bertie here, guys, if Pete gets anything it's a bonus") and Sky ("You mean if Tony wins we don't have to defend the yellow for the next week? GO! TONY, GO!!!") so as soon as Martin went, there was pretty much no motivation for anyone but Degenkolb to chase.

Tomorrow is the first obstacle-free stage, so we might see someone retain the jersey for the first time on this Tour.

Blue Belly

Yes, giant were looking around with a curious face. They should have known better. Yes, so long as the weather cooperates we may get a "relatively" calm day & a good sprint.

patrickgm60

4 stages, 4 teams in yellow. I wonder if that's a first.

LMaster

Sweet! Nice to see Martin do it, especially in a kickass final effort like that taking it to the field. Tired, reduced field didn't have the team structure or energy to bring him back for the sprint. Very happy for Tony.

Froomes' stock rose a ton today. I now see him as the favorite, really curious to see how if Nibali2014 shows up in the mountains. He looked good today, but not good enough to crack Froome. Quintana's stock rose quite a bit too as he didn't take any losses. Was on the verge of losing main field a few times on the cobbles, but he always kept in contact once back on regular pavement.

Sucks for Pinot. I didn't really see him as an overall contender, but mechanicals at inopportune times really suck. Until we have bikes that are either indestructible or self repair on the road there is no "fair" way to handle it, but can't say I have any love for mechanicals.