Tour de France 2014 - Stage 5, Ypres > Arenberg Porte du Hainaut 155.5 km
 

Stage 5, Hilly, Wednesday, July 9th Ypres > Arenberg Porte du Hainaut 155.5 km

Cobblestones gon' be a biotch! I heard some may run 28's or even 30's for tires.

Can't they just switch bikes for just the cobblestones, then switch back to traditional road bikes for the rest of the stage?

The slow mo video of them bouncing all over makes the chip seal I ride on look like glass. Hard to believe they roll at 25-30 on that ****! Supposedly the heavier riders/sprinters do much better.

Did you see the GCN Stage 5 video preview?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrCT_-6SGNc

:thumb: :thumb: :cry: Awesome. Thanks.

Yeah I don't see how the younger presenter guy (don't know all the GCN guys' names) was able to do that without gloves. Holy smokes the road buzz must have been horrendous.

Could be a classic in the making. Multiple races going on at once. Race for the stage between the hardmen and sprinters, and race for the GC guys to survive. If teams attack a wounded Froome for GC, this could be one of the best stages we've seen in a long time.

Can't wait!

Froome is now out of the tdf, and Valverde and Van Garderen are banged up.

Should have left the cobblestone roads to the Paris-Roubais bull**** as Bernard Hinault once called it.

I somewhat agree. It's not fun seeing all the GC guys going down. I don't want the winner to win because the rest have crashed out. I want to see some competition. I'm disappointed.

Yes I agree. What a sad sight watching him get into the car.

What cobblestone section did he crash on?

He didn't even make it to the cobbles but weather conditions and roads I suspect were in pretty bad shape.

Froome didn't make it to the cobblestones

Posters are bashing the cobblestone sections but the crashes were on normal roads....the rain being the culprit

They should have left this stage for later on when things were a little bit more built up. THey knew this place was going to shed riders, it's too early to start shedding contenders. Stage 2 in Britain was enough for the first week of racing. This stage should have been in the last week. Start in the Pyrenees, head southeast towards the alps and finish in Roubaix then Paris. The weather is appalling.

Should they cancel stages due to rain? Didn't he crash yesterday in the dry?

They took out the two most dangerous cobble sections due to weather. THEY ARE MUD! Even if they cancel it, doesn't really matter. Froome got banged enough to seek further medical attention. It's gotta be terrible going down 3 times in two days. Those crashes definitely take a toll on the riders.

WOW! Froome gone! What a train wreck of a day!

I get that, but the battle for position before the cobbles led to the crashes.

Contador now in trouble.

Can't blame the cobbles for Froomes exit, and neither will he.

Just poor handling, look like he went straight in the hay/bollard earlier today all by himself.

Its wet, 170 riders haven't fallen, nowt wrong with the stage.

Shame it is wet though as it will negate most of the field i imagine, unless someone on the fringes ofGC decides its worth a risk

Eh, quit whining about the conditions. Contador, Talansky, etc are doing just fine.

All the drugs in the world won't save handling skills. Bye bye Frooomey.

Froome crashed before the cobblestones. Basically Froome can't ride in the rain and is pretty fragile.....he's not a tough rider. I think his lack of bike
handling skills were also exposed. The I'm British but it annoys me that theUK commentators just can't admit that Froome just doesn't have any guts.
I'm pulling for Nibali.

so why has contador dropped off? Puncture, fall?