Stage 8: Saturday, July 9 189 km Aigurande → Super Besse
 

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love it when they include the massif central. lacking the grandeur of the alps or pyrenees but undisputably scenic nonetheless,
millar or chavanel here...

and given the hurly-burly of the first week, i think we'll see another cadel/alberto neck and neck finish. it may not be for the win,
but they seem to have the legs that most of the gc contenders aren't/haven't show(n)ing yet...

25km from the top of Col de la Croix to the finish. Is that enough time for the sprinters to get back? And, if they do, will the finish going up Super-Besse throw them back off again? Probably, I suppose. But, after the ride Hushovd put in the other day, it seems anything is possible. Looks like an entertaining stage.

Don't see much of a selection here for the GC. Probably more impact on the green jersey race. These stages are where Gilbert and Hushovd can gain distance themselves from the pure sprinters like Cav and Petacchi. If the pace isn't to brutal they might be with the front group overt he col de la croix. And even if they fall back, they should be able to make it back before the finish. I'd like to see Evans launch an attack. He might be able to gain a few more seconds on a finish like this.

After looking at the finish profile, I think there's enough climbing in the last 3k to really stir things up. I think it's a little too steep for Thor/Rojas to win outright, probably ideal for Gilbert if he rides smart, and not long/steep enough for the pure GC guys, although the "attacking" GC guys could win it too if they ride smart.

Cadel could take the yellow jersey from Thor in the last 1k if he really wants to.

Contador could make up some time IF he has the patience to mark wheels and wait for the last 1k where it's steepest. This isn't steep enough for him to just take off and expect to get away with it.

Gilbert will try to take the green jersey at the finish line.

Probably not, u wont even see cav tomorrow, he will crack maybe around the 1st cat4 tomorrow if not at the second one he will be toasted, the same with pettachi and the other sprinters. Why? because tomorrow will be pandemonium with a fast and steady pace and nasty attaches from contador, horner (if he can race) and evans to get rid off AS. I see evans winning tomorrow.

The main problem for the Schlecks and team tomorrow is that any of the following ones, contador, Vino, Horner, Kloden, Levi, basso and maybe one or two that I'm missing right now can really cause them headaches because almost 99% of the whole peloton can time trial better than him. So Leopard tomorrow if they want to have some chance in the individual classification they have to take care of too many people and keep the group compact, they can't let any of the GC guys to go tomorrow. They have to be at the defensive because if AS goes to the attach tomorrow evans and mainly contador will eat him alive based in what i have seen from the guy (nothing) this year.

Big chance we could see alternating punches from different people. Before and in the last climb.



For Cadel or cotador is not that important to lose 30 secs tomorrow because they still have the TT as an extra card. AS doesn't have that so any screw up tomorrow will affect them in my opinion.

Look for a breakway to work here.

Someone from this group will win tomorrow's stage:

Chanvanel, Voeckler, Moellma, Vinokourov, Gadret, Flecha, Casar, Moncoutie, Cunego, Karpets, Poels, Coppel

I have to admit that I'm definitely ready for the mountains to get started. Even though stage 8 is not a true mountain stage, at least there are a few climbs in there. Enough of the flat days with all the accidents and 175km of 'tempo riding'.

With Bradley out (gutted) I think Eddy will go crazy on medium-mountain stages. Edvald or Cadel.

Zorro: You should throw in the last k profiles also.
http://www.letour.fr/PHOTOS/TDF/2011/800/PROFILKMS.jpg

last time they rolled up to super besse in 2008, the last few kilometers did a nice
job of stringing out the riders. with the top 25-30 riders within 2 minutes or so of
each other, contador will continue his slow but sure ascent into the top 20.

i suspect the top 12 post-stage will consist of (give or take one or two and in no particular order):
cuddles, frank, millar, kloden, andy, tony martin, gesink, vino, van den broeck, basso, barredo and gilbert.

gilbert, millar and barredo aren't true climbers but they have shown the legs/form to hang with the big boys on what climbs we've had so far. none of the big gc contenders is gonna gain an entire minute on everyone but feel that one or more of the contenders could lose upwards of 45+ seconds here. not a hard enough climb to shatter contenders but hard enough to stir the gc...

this is the kind of where stage David Millar would do well...

I like your thinking. I'd love for Chavanel or Voeckler to go on a break, they'd do wonders for my fantasy team. Have them on the roster just for this kind of stage. But you're right any of those listed could go out on a long flier and hand to the finish if the GC teams decide not to push the issue.

WOW. I turned it on with 30k left, and couldn't believe what was going on. Awesome stage!

Can't wait for it to start again in a couple hours. :)

AC has been gritting his teeth a lot this year. I can't recall him doing that last year.

Great finish. Contador did some more testing. Andy looked much better today. Hard to tell if either of them had more in them. But both of them should be very concerned with how Evans good is looking.

<<AC has been gritting his teeth a lot this year. I can't recall him doing that last year. >>

Could be that huge Giro effort coming back to haunt him.

So now you agree with me OrionKhan? :)

That such an entertaining stage. THOR!

No GC shake-up, but for me the most impressive ride was by Thor Hushovd. I did not expect to see him up there with the leaders over a category 2 climb. For a guy that made his reputation as a sprinter, that's really impressive. For comparison, the rest of the sprinters finished 20 minutes behind.

Still can't believe Vino got 22nd place after all of that...

Big loser today was Robert Gesink (Rabobank) +1:23 drops from 10th to 17th on GC.

The first sign of a mountain and he's struggling. Doesn't look good.

just goes to show how motivating that yellow jersey is. I'm super impressed that Thor can hang with the GC guys and the climbers on these shortish, steep climbs.

Thor is the new Sean Kelly.

Thor wire to wire.

Great effort by Tejay. Got the red number and the polka-dot jersey. :thumb: