Tour Stage 3 Preview

The first hills of the Tour de France with the infamous Mur de Huy and its 20% slopes as the finish. Unlike the spring classic this is climbed only once so there are subtle differences between today’s stage and April’s Flèche Wallonne race.

Stage 2 Wrap: the split-screen coverage appeared to show two different races. One in benign conditions, another in a raging storm. As much as the forecast predicted the race would enter a storm it was still hard to reconcile the dulcet images of the bunch with the grim scenes on the finish line.

Surely enough the two worlds collided and in the maelstrom the bunch was broken into pieces. A crash here, a roundabout there and soon it only took the smallest gap to prise apart the race. Many were caught on the wrong side including yellow jersey Rohan Dennis while BMC Racing were working for Tejay van Garderen who was well placed in the front group. Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana were caught in the place at the wrong time too with Nibali looking panicky.

The finish was on an artificial island and André Greipel got his sea legs to win the sprint after Etixx-Quickstep fluffed the finish by launching too early, Greipel “only” had to sit tight before taking his easiest Tour stage. Of course there was more to it, Lotto-Soudal were instrumental in splitting up the race and their tactics worked to perfection. Some accused Cavendish of sitting up but he only stopped pedalling right before the line and presumably because he legs had turned to jelly while Fabian Cancellara sprinted to third place for the yellow jersey.

Fabian Cancellara

Greipel gets his annual stage win, perhaps he’s less charismatic than Cavendish and less handsome than Kittel but he gets the job done for Lotto-Soudal. There’s a rivalry with Etixx-Quickstep too, Lotto-Soudal are often overshadowed by the Belgium superteam so getting one over like this must make the victory taste that bit sweeter. Indeed Trek Factory Racing may have a US flag but it’s got some Flemish connections with DS Dirk Demol and seeing Fabian Cancellara wear yellow when it could have been Tony Martin must have left Etixx-Quickstep boss Patrick Lefevere wishing the sea could engulf the finish and wash the disaster away.

A win too for Chris Froome and Alberto Contador who took almost 90 seconds on their rivals. So much more will happen in the comings weeks but the advantage gained today is a big ask in the mountains. Freeze today’s results and store them for a week and it looks like van Garderen could take yellow in the team time trial only to find Froome and Contador laying siege to his lead. But there’s the Ardennes and the cobbles to come…

  • Km 109.0 – Côte de Bohissau, 2.4 kilometre-long climb at 5.5% – category 4
  • Km 143.0 – Côte d’Ereffe, 2.1 kilometre-long climb at 5% – category 4
  • Km 154.0 – Côte de Cherave, 1.3 kilometre-long climb at 8.1% – category 4
  • Km 159.5 – Mur de Huy, 1.3 kilometre-long climb at 9.6% – category 3

The Route: expect giant crowds as the race crosses Belgium, no other country loves pro cycling as much. After leaving Antwerp the race heads across the country to the hillier French speaking lands.

In order to make the finish as safe as possible the teams need to get rid of the sprinters and others cluttering up the bunch, they have an interest to force the pace over the Côte d’Ereffe. Here and onwards we’ll see the World Championship halfwheeling competition as teams fight to place their leaders into position. It’s high risk work with the narrow roads and twisty descents. There were crashes in April.

The Côte de Cherave, just 5.5km from the finish, is listed as 1.3km at 8% average but mostly over 10%. It’s steep enough to see the gradient illustrated by the way each house is higher than the next. Vincenzo Nibali tried a pointless attack here in the spring, the point being that you cannot attack here and expect to stay away on the Mur. There’s only a short descent and then a couple of kilometres along the Meuse valley before the race flicks right for the final climb.

The Finish: the graphic above doesn’t do it justice and 1.3km at 9.6% doesn’t sound like much. But beware the average as this climb starts off slow when riders pass under the flamme rouge and then rises up through a nasty S-bend, the road might be five metres wide but take the inside line and the road is viciously steep. On the inside line the slope reaches 26% and if you have the luxury of choosing your line then it is only 19%… but longer. The road is very narrow so few get to pick their line. Typically the top-20 can come in 20 seconds apart and all it takes is a few gaps between riders to spread things apart.

The Contenders: with the same finish as the Flèche Wallonne it’s easy to think we’ll get the same riders and the same result. But there are differences, the GC candidates have been working on their mountain climbing and forsaken their explosiveness. Also today’s stage is shorter and only climbs the Mur once so it’s not as selective. It makes for a mini team time trial because if a team can drop their man into position with 1.5km to go then half the work is done, the Mur is so steep and narrow that making up places is very hard.

The safe pick is Alejandro Valverde, even if the scenario is different he’s won here before which reassures. If positioning is everything in the approach to the climb, timing is everything else once on the Chemin des Chapelles. That’s him winning ahead of Alaphilippe and Michael Albasini who is one of three options for Orica-Greenedge with Michael Matthews and Simon Gerrans. Joaquim Rodriguez knows this climb so well but can he deliver in this short sprint? Five years ago you would have bet on him but now he’s not so bankable.

Chris Froome
Fight for the seconds and you can lose minutes. Chris Froome rode the Flèche Wallonne in April only go get caught in a crash and make his way to finish by himself. But this time he’s got a very strong team who fight hard place him and this counts for plenty. I’m keen to see what Vincenzo Nibali can do, it’ll be a good test of his explosive power and if he’s in top shape few can stay on his wheel. By contrast Tejay van Garderen isn’t so spiky, can he keep his high GC position?

Dan Martin would be a good pick but his Cannondale-Garmin team all missed the split yesterday which bodes badly. Still if he can start the climb among the first ten riders then he’s got a great chance as he’s in excellent shape and knows this climb so well.

Bauke Mollema did a great time trial on Saturday, ditto Robert Gesink and both climb well although they’re infrequent winners. Michał Kwiatkowski was the pick for this stage a month ago but his disappointing Tour de Suisse form has been parleyed into a lacklustre time trial on Saturday making it hard to imagine him triumphing, this could just be in range for Zdeněk Štybar if he’s in great shape but Etixx-Quickstep could be all in for Tony Martin to get yellow but Tom Dumoulin has a great chance at yellow too, he climbs better than Cancellara and Martin.

Don’t exclude Peter Sagan. They only have to go up the climb once and if can be dropped into position he could surprise, his test is the penultimate climb of the Côte de Cherave, watch if he can stay smooth here alongside Alberto Contador.

Alejandro Valverde, Dan Martin
Vincenzo Nibali, Michael Matthews, Alberto Contador, Bauke Mollema, Robert Gesink
Rui Costa, Gerrans, Sagan, Kwiatkowski, Froome, Albasini, Štybar

Weather: sunny, mild with a temperature of 24˚C and a westerly breeze of 20km/h.

TV: it should all be about the late finish so tune in to catch the intermediate sprint in Havelange from 4.30pm Euro time before the finish expected for 5.15pm.

It’s on in almost every country going and Eurosport too and if all else fails you can rely on Cyclingfans and steephill.tv for links to feeds and streams.

138 thoughts on “Tour Stage 3 Preview”

  1. Good win for Andre but felt sorry for Wilco. Maybe a KOTM campaign awaits. Actually with a few good riders losing time yesterday, any chance of a really strong break getting away either on d’Ereffe or maybe on the first cat 4 and making it more than a ‘AV sit and sprint’ at the top of Mur de Huy?

  2. As anticipated, the second stage was exciting and worthy of the epic Tour. Missing the split, and with a team time trial coming up before the high mountains, Quintana, and perhaps Nibali, look to be out of the running for the top podium already! But who knows? Anything can happen still. Forte Spartacus! Vai!

  3. feel horrible for Tony Martin. Workhorse of the squad completely devoid of selfishness and did not get the reward. Cavendish can say what he wants but if he was a bit more humble and push on through till the line he’d pay Tony back for all that hard work. Tony did not look happy in his post race comments… Still he’ll get the job done. Cav could take a lesson in humility from Kwiatkowski (or maybe vice versa then Lwiatkowski would deliver more wins)

    • What does humility have to do with this? Of course Tony isn’t happy, he is 3 seconds away from yellow, probably understands that it takes a team effort to stuff a lead-out like that.

      • It does, but also when Cav finds himself behind his struggling last man, don’t go round him into the wind. Stay there. Then, if one of the others overtakes you, you take their wheel.
        This is not rocket science – neither is working out that if you stop Fab taking 3rd Martin gets the yellow – and the DS must have told them this.

        • As ever, a lot of excuses being made for Cav – ‘heat of battle’, etc. You’re one of the greatest sprinters ever, you should know this stuff: shouldn’t have to think it through during the sprint.

      • Because humble people are able to keep pedalling longer. Everyone on the internet knows that the reason Cavendish didn’t hang on to 3rd is because of his lack of humility, rather than the lack of energy in his legs after starting his sprint too soon.

    • Cavendish can come across as arrogant in the media at times but his sprint yesterday just saw his legs turn jelly for the final metres, it’s not like he decided to ease up and have a snack or look at the scenery, he was stuffed. The real problem was a collective one with EQS launching the sprint too early and Martin should have tracked Cancellara too.

      • I’d agree, if Cav at least threw his bike into the finish line like the podium guys did. But I think he just rode “normally” as soon as he saw Greipel and Sagan pass. Maybe he was not aware of Cancellara sprinting the most right and steeling yellow from TM, but I’d dispute Cav giving it all.

      • Easy to draw comparisons between EQS messing up the latter end of yesterday’s stage and Het Nieuwsblad, think I’m right in saying they had more than just Renshaw in the final group to help Cav go for the sprint.

        Kudos to Greipel though, made the most of the group he found himself in and benefitted from the great teamwork done by Lotto-Soudal in establishing the break.

        • I would agree that it was more than Cav and Renshaws mistake. There was 6 Eixx guys but they seemed to be in to groups.

          I know it was a hard race but would have thought they could have got into a traditional lead out train and then Renshaw would have to have gone so early.

          Finally I think we are all a bit quick to have a go at racers and assume they stopped trying etc. I expect everybody was on the limit by the end of that stage.

      • Agreed – the whole team is to blame, not just Cav.

        And it’s not exactly the first time this season that EQS have snatched defeat from the jaws of nailed-on victory.

  4. Exactly! Had Cavendish only pedaled all the way over the line, Cancellara wouldn’t have slipped past him and Martin today would’ve been in yellow today.

    • I think that attitude belittles what Cancellara did. According to the dimension data email, he clocked the fastest speed in the sprint, and that thrust to the line had a true champion’s timing.

    • Except Cancellara rode the fastest sprint of the four from fourth position. The data show this (yay! for data).

      EQS used / were obligated to use their numerical superiority to ensure the front group stayed away (plus Trentin disrupting chase efforts) – try and you might win; don’t try and you have already lost. I presume that compromised their ability to organize any semblance of an organized lead out vs. the others who had to do much less work (yes, Greipel and Sagan took turns, and the latter had to chase back after a late puncture).

      Either that or the storm disrupted radio communications and they couldn’t do exactly what they were told to do from the team car 😉

      That geo-location tech applied to the broadcast sure would have been handy when the race got split, which happened to coincide with the rain which main TV pictures pretty worthless. No one knew who was behind, who was on the deck, where Quintana was, etc. I did see a lot of “Dimension Data” signs though 😉

      • But did EQS have to work as hard as they did? They only needed a small gap to get the stage/yellow jersey. They did not have to work so hard as to pull out ~1.5 minutes. They could and should have saved their legs a bit. They keep making these errors.
        I knew where people were and I think they showed it pretty well.

        • I would say, ‘yes’ – the gap to the chasing group, once they got a bit organized, was hovering around 1 minute even with their efforts. Given that the chasing group was larger and carried the interests the rest of the GC and sprint field, any recommendation that EQS should have either a) taken less initiative or b) soft-pedaled a bit, seems counter to their purpose of setting up a sprint for the win.

          “I knew where people were and I think they showed it pretty well.”

          Do you have a secret broadcast feed? Does it help that France Televisions labels a bunch of riders as “Gr. Peraud” without ID’ing who is in it individually? C’mon! We knew where people were about 10min after the race started splintering – for now “real time” means “eventually”.

    • An outside chance and we’ll see how hard the teams go in the approach to the finish, the Côte de Cherave could rinse a few away. I think Sagan and Matthews are better than Degenkolb here.

    • Bardet is having a terrible time and I can’t see his team barging others out of the way. Nibali’s been added to the piece about, it was written (too) late last night and the more I think on it, the more he should do well.

  5. Why did bmc and sky didn’t contribute more to the break yeterday? Sure bmc had dennis behind but once you commit you should go for it. Sky had fewer guys but still.. It looked to me they thet lost an oppurtunity to put 3+ minutes to NQ, Nibali and the rest.

    • For Sky, if the use up Stan and G and then something happens, they’re screwed. They both went to the front once they felt safe to do so.

  6. I think Contador could surprise today, he was second on that giro stage Gilbert won and it had a short steep climb at the end

  7. Re Sky and BMC: Sky only had two riders with Froome and probably felt the need to save a bit in case of his having a puncture and needing help. Plus Stannard was visibly suffering in the last 5k, so probably couldn’t have done anymore anyway.

    But BMC – they had about six in the finale and could easily have used three to drive the break while still having a couple in reserve in case of a puncture etc for TJvG. So an opportunity lost definitely.

    Tom

    • If you have a legitimate excuse not to work, i.e. your yellow jersey missed the break, (on purpose maybe?), then those 4 guy’s just have to look after TJVG, any chance to save a match must be taken, Etixx had to drive it for Uran not Cavendish as Uran arguably had more to gain than Froome and Conatdor by gaining time on Quintana and Nibali, they did a great job but weren’t strong enough in the final because of it, Tinkoff will do anything for Contador and look very good as well.

      Fantastic start to this race and it should just get better and better.

      Inring, 4 grand tour winners, having won the last eight of nine between them, has the field ever had such depth in the past?

      • > 4 grand tour winners, having won the last eight of nine between them, has the field ever had such depth in the past?

        1989 comes to mind. Lemond, Fignon, Roche and Delgado all started who up to that point in their careers had 9 GT wins between them (Lemond 1; Fignon 3; Delgado 3 and Roche 2); including 6 of the previous 9 (going back to the 86 TdF).

        Incidentally, if Contador wins the Tour de France this year, he will have won the last three GTs in succession (2014 Vuelta; 2015 Giro / Tour) – something perviously only achieved by Eddy Merckx in 1972 / 1973 and Bernard Hinault in 1982 / 1983, when the Vuelta was the first GT of the year.

        Tom

    • Agree, BMC should have committed, they could have put TVG minutes ahead of Quintana and Nibali – possible podium opp. missed. As we know he will lose odd 10-20 secs on the climbs – it will all add up.

      BTW.. Nibali was definitely paced in the cars after his puncture – lucky boy I think to not get a penalty.

    • +1 BMC should have committed, lost an oppurtunity to put minutes into Nibs and Quintana – TVG will lose 10-20 secs here and there on the mountain finishes – it will all add up.

      Sky did what they had to do – Yogi and G definitely pulled towards the end, but that was only when they needed to, not before.

      Am i on the only one who thinks Nibali was also paced in the cars after his puncture…. I know there is a rule for allowing a bit of time in the convoy – but it looked like he was behind certain cars for longer than 10 secs a time.

      • You are not the only one, re pacing post puncture. Sagan re-appeared in the peloton at the end very quickly too, but the cameras didn’t record how that happened (or at least didn’t broadcast it).

        Cracking stage.

        • Sagan got his puncture “right”, riding on the flat and calling his team for a spare bike so everything could be changed in a flash. Nibali by contrast took a lot longer to get up and running again and then went through the race convoy to get back, lot more effort. He had a very stressful day, looked panicky at times.

  8. Hoping for some lively action today preferably from Nibali who seemed terribly short of organised team mates yesterday, easier said than done I know. Valverde no doubt aiming for the win and Bertie and Froome have some sliding room abelt not from each other. Should be very interesting.

    • Agreed. At one point, before his flat, Nibali was actually leading a chasing group and urging others to keep up. Where were his mates?

      • Agree. It seemed like Astana were scattered all over the peloton yesterday. There was no organization, as we saw from Sky, Etix, Tinkoff. This cost Nibali any chance of catching back on after the crash in front of him and possibly even the Tour. It’s still early, but I think this is now Froome’s race to loose.

        • +1
          Even if it’s a strange Tour and we may hope it will grant some surprises. Generally speaking, as inrng pointed out, the Tour is the easiest GT to control, but this year there is a number of peculiar factors. However, this week Sky could deliver another couple of hard blows and buy Froome a yellow ticket to Paris.

  9. just so his efforts aren’t forgotten – Kristijan Koren made the front break for cannondale yesterday and then dropped back. D

  10. What chance the Dutch get their first yellow jersey in 26 years today? Don’t think Dumoulin will win but six seconds is nothing on the Mur de Huy, and he’s definitely six seconds better than Cancellara on this terrain…

  11. Great review and preview as always.

    What about Purito ? He should get at least 2 stars imo.
    Isn’t the mur too steep for Matthews ?
    Gallopin probably deserve a mention for the underdog pick, he was strong yesterday and sounded extremely motivated for more in the interview yesterday.

  12. I don’t think a Degenkolb win is too unlikely. He won a similar finish in Dubai this year ( valverde being present) and he should be able to get over those climbs if he’s on his top form. With dumoulin so close to yellow though, it’s difficult seeing the teams priorities on him.

  13. I’ve got my (imaginary) money on Dan Martin today. He’ll be bang up for it and not as heavily marked as Valverde. Albasini is a good shout too. Orica have a few cards to play with Gerrans, the Yates twins and Matthews too, they can afford to send someone in every move in the finale. I think for Sagan or Degenkolb to be in with a shout it would have to have been a very slow day, surely they’ll be shaken out before the Mur.

  14. Re the GC battle, 90 seconds at this stage is nothing. Froome could lose that on one cobbled sector tomorrow, Movistar have a very strong TTT squad and Quintana could light up the mountains for at least a minute. Losing time in the crosswinds is pot luck, there isn’t room for everyone at the front and Tinkov, Quick Step and Lotto had it pretty much on lock down. I don’t buy it that the time lost yesterday is a bad omen for anyone, it’s just not ideal. Unless your Europcar that is, they had their entire team in one group and managed to lose 5 minutes! As an aside, has there ever been a worse time trialist than Pierre Rolland? If you look at the stage 1 results he must have been by far the slowest of people who were actually trying. Anyone he beat was a domestique who was just trundling in.

  15. Can we mention the frankly appalling job done by Eurosport yesterday? In a world of seven billion people can they not find an English speaking commentator with more ability than Carlton Kirby? It really brought home to me how much a competent commentator brings to the race. Or vice versa. If I wanted my racing soundtracked by incoherent babble then I’d get the three year old from next door round. 3.8km to go in the most exciting first days stage of the Tour in decades and he is talking about the field of cabbages by the road? It’s beyond amateur. You could take his commentary yesterday and post it on You Tube as ‘Alan Partridge – Tour De France’ and no-one would know the difference. And don’t tell me “oh Andy the feed they get on a day like yesterday can be really sketchy, they have to work with what they are given”. Bull shit. Two random examples: ” we’ve not seen Greipel for a while”. A minute back the camera was on his face for at least 20 seconds. ” Contador not showing anywhere Sean” Errrrr.. the camera just panned across to him and Mick Rogers talking and then Bertie on his radio. Meanwhile Kirby is rambling on and giggling away at his own jokes like a free associating meth casualty. It’s breathtaking in it’s disregard for the viewers.

    Secondly, when there is 50k to go and the race hits the most exposed section of the stage and the weather is turning I am at no point thinking “oo what would liven things up is a split screen with a three minute insert of former pros saying EXACTLY THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER” at PRECISELY THE POINT when that eventuality may be happening. Fair enough, if it’s a pan flat day when the peloton is asleep and the only excitement will come in the final kilometre run your pointless little inserts. But not when two of the main contenders of the most wide open Tour in years are on the wrong side of a split ON THE FIRST STAGE! Can we just see what’s going on? PLEASE!

    I guess the use of these inserts are an admission that Kirby is not up to the job. If he was they wouldn’t be needed.

    I stopped watching football because the facile level of commentary was destroying the viewing experience for me. Yesterday on Eurosport UK was an embarrassment for all concerned. Millar / Boulting at the Dauphine have set the standard. Delivering anything less than the quality they brought to the coverage of this years Dauphine is doing a huge disservice to viewers. English speaking viewers have been given this rubbish by the broadcasters for too long.

    To paraphrase Ian Brown: ” Amateurs. Fookin amateurs.”

    • I hope you’ve shared those feelings with Eurosport UK, not just this comments section.

      Fortunately not a problem here, the only dilemma was whether to watch Eurosport NL (José Been and Karsten Kroon), NOS or Sporza. Even when Jose de Cauwer is talking about his mayonnaise-making skills (really happened yesterday), Sporza tends to be most insightful, and when the race doesn’t go to script, they drop the script too.

      • Yes, I’ve mailed a number of people at Eurosport UK. For what it’s worth. I guess I’ll resort to ITV4 for the rest of the Tour. Hinge and Bracket may be painful but they are marginally less infuriating than Kirby.

        • Much to agree with there Andy, I felt for sure it would be Hatch/Kelly for 3 weeks which for me provides the best combination. Kirby should not have been the pick for this pinnacle of the cycling calendar, he is ok for the Tour of Turkey stuff etc. I cannot resort to itv so may choose Sporza instead. It could be a long long 3 weeks. (and I was a Duffield fan, just to add).

          • Kirby is Eurosport’s first call for all cycling events – if he’s available, he does it. If he’s not, Rob Hatch does it. If he’s not available then it’s Quigley or Stephens. That’s the pecking order for now. Kirby did over 100 race days for Eurosport last season as well as another 30+ doing international commentary for RCS events.

    • cycling coverage is appalling end of…… ***((and I won’t start on finding Phil Liggett’s endless defences of Lance Armstrong…… incredibly scary……..))***

      how an earth they’re so pathetic when Football, F1 even Rugby etc is constantly showing the way is insane!!!!!

      – a) we should have had rider radio’s years ago,
      – b) likewise gopro footage
      – c) sprint finale’s should be shown by the brilliant wire-cam on the Champs Elysees or at least via helicopter *(who can see anything with the finish line camera? Imagine showing the Olympic 100meters like this???????)
      – d) race radio
      – e) fan interviews during race
      – f) proper post race press conferences in front of the fans of top 3 in stage & top 3 in GC *(there’s some great moments of hostility with these in f1 – plus it would end the boring line about only the top on GC having to get tired with all the post race stuff…….. a line to really put the boot into the fans!)
      – g) & it might sort out the ridiculous thing of a rider having to come up multiple times to get more than one jersey. it’s the stupidest thing ever.
      – h) and the commentary……… Sean Kelly is actually good at times but could be so much better with company………. it’s a shame cycling was never our summer sport like cricket, could be incredible if we had people like Vaughan, Tuffers & Boycott to chuckle us through the boring bits but get interesting and insightful during the interesting bits – plus a bit antagonistic!

      (do the french have Hinault et al to spice up the commentary similar to TMS?)

      Be amazing if in a few years we had Wiggo, Cav, Geraint, Kelly, Boardman, Boulting, Rendell & Miller all taking turn – plus a bit of Juan Antonio and some non Brits/Irish – love hearing the Aussies & West Indian’s etc on TMS. Could US cycling coverage, Australian coverage merge with British to up the ante a bit?

      Anyway – ITV4 has Boulting, Miller, Boardman & Rendell now, why an earth don’t they use them in the commentary box and follow TMS’s example. If it meant losing their bollocks viewers question sections I’d be fine with that!!! I like Boardman & the others a lot.

      But Liggett a legend my arse! – wish he’d bugger off.

      • Yes, you could have the riders sat around for hours answering inane journalist questions in front of bored looking people, never mind recovery for tomorrow, yeah bollox to that, who needs to recover. What tosh, this isn’t F1 ffs.

        • no – I’m saying three or four quick questions on podium from an ex cyclist – not sat around for hours on a post race conference…..

          anyway the above was just asking for a few idea’s to improve coverage – not all may be good, but surely it could be so much better than what we have now.

          I’m not actually an F1 fan, I love cycling – but having seen Lewis Hamilton being shown an overtake on ipad after the event – it’s amazing how his face lights up and great how he describes it – can image Cav doing similar, given the chance.

          It also seems like the riders want to improve coverage, with Bauke Mollema even wearing a gopro in the neutral zone yesterday so why can’t it happen.

          In the most selfish/greedy way possible *(I don’t believe most are) some smaller cyclists might even benefit in the long term from having a bigger forum than twitter to get their personalities out there on TV in a brief podium post race interview.

          sorry I’ve been aggressive in my previous post and deserve the what tosh line, but I don’t think all of what I’m saying is madness. Cycling coverage needs modernising desperately.

      • I agree with some of this – the good commentators are there, they just don’t use them.
        However:
        – c) sprint finale’s should be shown by the brilliant wire-cam on the Champs Elysees
        That camera is terrible – doesn’t show the race unfolding, just shows the front guy and maybe the second bloke if he’s really close.
        – a) we should have had rider radio’s years ago,
        – b) likewise gopro footage
        – d) race radio
        – e) fan interviews during race
        We have enough pointless distractions during the race, as Andy T says above, we don’t need more. I want to see the race.
        Also, whilst race radio could be useful and rider’s radios interesting, I can think of nothing more inane, infuriating and purposeless than interviews with random punters at the side of the road. Why would you care what they think? Do you think they’re going to say anything informative or interesting? They’re going to say ‘I like X/I hate X/I hope X wins/I’m from Canada’.
        – f) proper post race press conferences in front of the fans of top 3 in stage & top 3 in GC
        F1 drivers don’t have to do it all again tomorrow. Or for the next three weeks.
        Also, sports people rarely have anything interesting to say – and cyclists need to keep in each other’s good books, so that they can work together at a later date, hence they never say anything controversial.

        • yep – I probably better stop getting into this on a day off and as it’s off topic will get shut down soon.

          But yes – you’re probably right on some of the above.

          A stage like yesterday doesn’t need much more to be fantastic, but some of what I was thinking in the above was for extremely dull sprint stages – even here INRNG will admit it’s only worth turning on for the finale 20mins – and I guess I’m actually a little less disdainful of fans beside the road, think they may be able to contribute in interesting ways given the chance – for example a lot of the contributors here given a moment and a voice would be really nice and spark interest put downs or explanations from Kelly, Miller et al at boring moments. But I do listen to and enjoy 606 despite not liking football.

          Different tastes I guess.

          Understood on wire-cam, I actually love it, but you could easily get wider angle to see everything unfold similar to 100meters running – or maybe helicopter is best? – I don’t believe you can really see anything unfold with finish line camera?

          Answered the post stage interview thing above – I understand recovery, but it’s not a nice line to hear as a fan – and I’m only saying two or three questions from a ex-pro on the podium to the top3 on any given day? The top 1 is there anyway, is it that hard to give him a microphone? Having seen a few of these presentations in the flesh (as I’m sure most here have) they’re pretty poor for any fan who’s made the effort to come there, I bet most riders would like the opportunity to speak and say thank you?

      • Liggett and Sherwen aka Statler and Waldorf are toe curling. It only took 10 minutes into stage 1 for Liggett to call Nicholas Roche Stephen. I have (repeatedly) tweeted Ned B and ITV4 to ask why they persist in using the 2 old crones when they have so much talent in the team – does their cliched drivel come as part of a package for English-speaking footage? Most long-established cycling fans will be tired of them, and the newcomers won’t be aware of their supposed legend status (and I’ll avoid writing entire pages about the LA connection) so I’m not sure why else anyone would choose to use them.

        Anyway, a terrific stage and I agree BMC missed a huge opportunity to help secure TVG a decent position- he may not be part of the “Big 4” but that’s all the more reason why they should have capitalised on putting time into Pinot, Bardet etc.

        • Phil and Paul both are knowledgeable, so the only excuse I can see is their producer must have asked them to dumb down the coverage. Truly terrible, so bad I muted the sound. I’ll take Eurosport any day.

        • just to say the above wasn’t me! different dave!

          But I’m done. Just to say thank you for this blog INRNG – been an avid reader for years, the writing is superb, and comments likewise.

          Always enjoy reading your comments J Evans – keep them coming!

          And I will complain to Eurosport & ITV4 but ANYONE who reads this an has power in cycling coverage please nag for modernisation.

          D

    • Agree with every word. Stage 2 and I’m already thinking of watching with the sound off. Hatch – did the Giro – is much better and they can surely find someone better than Kirby. (And yet he’s still a million times better than PL & PS.)
      The ‘Quintana has lost 2.5 mins’ debacle during the TT was embarrassing – I was screaming at the TV. Do you not think that if that had happened you’d have noticed it at the time Carlton?

    • I’ve abandoned Eurosport for the tour, especially their higlights show which starts at Xpm but may start anytime they feel like it! I press play on the recording and end up watching football/tennis/golf etc. Having to resort to the torrents to watch the stage!

      ITV4 highlights seem good so far, Chris Boardman and David Millar. Also it’s more than just the last 30km of the satge, it’s actually… Highlights of the whole stage!

    • Can I just point out the wonderful irony of a huge debate on piss poor commentating being started by somebody called Andy Townsend. Love it.

      But agree, get Boulting / Millar in the commentary box with Imlach and Boardman doing the highlights show and Matt Rendall ‘in the pits’, perfect.

    • I could not agree more.
      Kirby is just unbearable. I like Kelly’s insight, but not enough to put up with Kirby.
      I was quite hopeful that we might get Hatch + Kelly on Eurosport, and/or Millar/Boulting on ITV.

      But no, we get the rambling idiot that is Kirby, and ITV have stuck with cliche-ridden Phil & Paul.
      I guess it will be ITV4 with the sound muted until the studio bits, and flicking back to Eurosport when the interminable ITV4 advert breaks come on.

      • + 1000 for all those who feel let down by the absolutely appalling level of TV commentary. The irony is that when we are all concerned about the outdated model of TV presentation in general, we are saddled with either a couple of ‘old codgers’ well past their sell by date or someone who wouldn’t know a back from a front wheel !

        And yes, I have made my views very clear to the companies concerned.

    • Hope you’re right but I seriously doubt it. He might be able to get over the “climbs” in Milan San Remo, but he’s always avoided the hilly Classics because they don’t suit him.

    • Yep, Ned back on reporter duty and Millar joining Boardman for post race analysis.

      Seeing Andy’s comments above with regards Eurosport, I think all the UK options could probably be improved, however I’m not too fussed about the commentary during the race, what I really want is decent post race analysis.

      I think Millar is really good at this – probably due to him being recently retired. Flecha was also good at Giro for the same reason

      • What a bloody shame as a viewer you couldn’t pick your own audio mix, mine would be Lemond/Kelly some days and Hatch/Kelly others. Wonderful little piece yesterday on the debrief when Lemond described his win against kelly at San Remo where he wound up the sprint ever so slowly so that as the line approached both were flat out, which is how he said he won the sprint against kelly.

        • that sounds amazing. love Lemond.

          apologies for rant & spelling mistakes above – just think cycling is such a great sport but could be so much better with a revised calendar & better coverage. unfortunately no one cares and it’s left in the doldrums. D

          • As INRNG mentioned I think I will be forwarding my comments to Eurosport, as if they will do anything I very much doubt.

  16. Bit harsh to compare Kirby to Kelly or Lemond… they are co-commentators who chip in whereas Carlton has to provide a general covering flow of jabber. That said, I do prefer Rob Hatch, even if that means wincing every time he attempts “Kruiswijk”.

    • Yes I appreciate there has to be a straight man/ funny man combo for the general audience, just a shame its not Hatch/Kelly.

    • During the Giro Hatch said of Kruiswijk: “His shoulders are so broad it looks like he didn’t take the hanger out of his jersey before he put it on.” I think the he does great commentary. Here in the US we are stuck with P and P, they are completely biased in their comments.

  17. I don’t think Valverde gives a flying one about Quintana’s GC prospects and will have been saving himself yesterday, so I tip him for the win.
    Maybe Dan Martin – depends how early he gave up trying to pull back the gap yesterday (Can-Gar’s GC hopes seem over already – not that they were high in the first place.)

  18. I agree with Andy on the coverage. I can’t abide P&P and so endure Kirby on Eurosport. Hatch is much better and would work well with Kelly. Flecha & Laura M are good at getting the rider interviews you want to hear (which rider is going to tell Laura to “p@@ off” after all) and Lemond is insightful after the show. One more “expert” for the post race analysis and I think they’d be doing okay (eg. Robbie McEwen for the sprint stages? (See below)). I used to like David Harmon and wish he’d return.

    I mostly reside in Australia and it is scandalous that talent as good as Keenan, McKenzie, Vogels and McEwen (who is terrific) are not used as much as they could be and SBS reverts to the P&P feed.

  19. I think this could indeed be within the realm of Sagan – 13th alongside Valverde at FW in 2013 after a long classics campaign and on a harder, longer route – great form, possible headwind on the penultimate climb and a (very) faint sniff of yellow…

    • Yesterday’s combination of driving it for Contador, getting back on after the puncture then running Greipel very close was quite convincing.

  20. I strongly fancy Dan Martin to do well today.
    I think that there is almost bound to be a crash. If there’s such a thing as poetic justice, it would be BMC involved ; they really were the free loaders in that front break yesterday. Didn’t do a thing.
    I don’t wish ill on anyone, but I was disappointed in their efforts yesterday.

    ITV4 – at least it’s on terrestrial tv, free of charge. I’m not complaining.

    Looking forward to another action-packed stage today. What a great start to the tour.

  21. The SBS coverage of the Giro for Australia this year was pretty good – and they weren’t even on location. 2 x ex riders and lots of interactivity. Taking tweets & emails live and responding…made it look easy too. They were still working with the same visuals and lack of data but it was a pleasure to watch. They also weren’t afraid to discuss tech and details in a manner that wasn’t just designed for the non-cyclist casual viewer.

    By comparison; why does half of the P&P (and others) commentary consist of explanations and simplifications? Surely they realise that the only people who watch cycling for hours (often in the middle of the night) are cycling tragics who would love more detail? How many sports do this constant pandering to the uninformed? Do football fans have to put up with explanations about why they can’t touch ball with their hands every five minutes?

    • Because their commentary is part of a syndicated deal. So you may be listening to them ‘live’ in Oz at the middle of the night but the UK ITV audience are hearing it during the European day – and then there are also the nightly 1 hour highlights. Same goes for other markets eg US. Basically not everyone watching is a hardcore cycling fan watching it at stupid o clock – for many it may be the only race they watch on TV during the year, and look upon it as a 3 week travelogue through France. So the deal is that they have to go through the ‘what-is the-role-of-the-domestique’ stuff.

  22. Interesting take on Kwiatkowski. Agreed he seems to have gone off the boil, but he showed up well yesterday I thought, and I just read that he won the most aggressive rider. Difficult to gauge – you’d think that given he’s not historically done well in the high mountains that they’d have got him “on top form” for the start of the tour – ie no point him building towards the end. I expect to see him and Uran close to it at the end (and cav will work hard for them at the start of the stage I think given he / ETQS ballsed up tactically yesterday).

  23. Stop Presse!!!

    Tonights coverage just commenced and P&P have mentioned social media and responding to questions! They found the internet! Shouldn’t be too harsh, Robbie McEwan & Matt Keenan are there to rescue them and are doing a great job.

  24. Really enjoyed the Stage it truly lived up to its predicted insanity!

    Nibali was furious at being “out Nibalied” on the stage, Heartbreak for the French, trauma for Moviestar, lets hope for more to come.

    Thanks for another great write up Inring

  25. Just a note on another commentary option – BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra is also doing live coverage with (I think) Simon Brotherton & Rob Hatch. The DAB broadcast will sometimes get bumped for cricket but apparently it will always be available via the BBC website.

    • Tried that last year, not sure if it was some sort of delay but on occasion heard the words before I saw the image, found it confusing so stopped. Might try again via tablet.

    • well this turned out to be a good shout!
      think INRNG was fair enough based on yesterday’s crash and this morning’s moaning and recent form….. but what can you say – he kept his cards close to his chest!
      D

  26. Just to go back to Cavendish’s sprint. There was an excellent interview with him on BBC radio 5 recently. He went through in detail the different sections of the sprint from a few kilometres out. He made interesting comments on the amount of muscle damage done depending how hard & long you sprint. This has big recovery implications in multi-day races so completely understandable that the afterburners come off when the win isn’t there. Even at my poor amateur level I feel the muscle difference afterwards between sprint or tabata like sessions & more aerobic long efforts. Sprinters dig so much deeper & can do themselves more muscle damage.

    I recommend looking up that interview on BBC iPlayer, gave me much more appreciation of all the sprinters.

    • Thanks for the heads up Uphillonly, I missed that first time around, will listen to it later….here’s the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05zhnbt

      Fantastic blog as ever INRNG, I have pretty much abandoned following the cycling online with the exception of this site, so much to learn and enjoy here, cheers!

      • Action packed again.
        That crash was sickening.
        Alberto’s legs look a bit heavy perhaps after the Giro.
        Feel again for Tony Martin, 1 x second off yellow now.
        But well done Chris Froome. I didn’t think he’d ride away from them all there.
        And the little sprint in yesterday. Going well so far.

  27. a chance for Martin (T) to at last find a little love for cobbles perhaps? could this be the start of a beautiful relationship?

  28. Upss.. Inrng! You did mention Jo Rodriguez in your forecast text – but you didn’t give him any ‘rings’ at all!!
    That’s all …. no, I won’t comment on Froomys hairstyle…..

  29. Is every stage going to become a forum about the commentary? It’s getting tired and it’s only Stage 3.

    Be thankful our sport is getting TV time at all, many don’t, and if you know all there is to know about the racing, you can mute the sound. Simples! x

  30. Another extraordinary stage. Cobbles tomorrow… How long till the first ‘normal’ stage? On Purito, innuendos aside, Katusha have pulled off a fair few surprising victories this season. And what a finish by Froome; vaugeuly reminiscent of La Planche De Belles Filles in 2012. Sky look the absolute opposite of 2014 – strong, in-form, confident and a bit lucky.

  31. Great ride by Contador’s classics troopers on Sunday. Maybe he himself spent a bit too much, considering he’s not in great form.
    Effective protection and wise use of their resources by Team Sky. Looks like they know how to ride when they mean it (compare Stannard and Thomas positioning near Froome with the Giro situations). Wonder if BMC will regret their conservative (to say the least) attitude.
    Worrying performance by the Astana team. It was quite hard that Nibali could remain in the front group without an adequate team support. Among the 24 men who finally made the first split, only Cancellara didn’t have any teammate. But we’re speaking of Cancellara.
    Nearly every team had at least three men (6 Etixx, 5 BMC, 4 Tinkoff…), which means that it was mainly a matter of team strength & strategy, not just of individual form or cleverness.
    Apparently, Nibali found himself separated from the front group because another rider fell ahead of him; but if it wasn’t that random factor, anything else would have probably happened all the same. A gregario from a rival team getting “unluckily” distanced when Nibali is on his wheel during the last 10kms (forcing him to chase when everyone is at full speed. Repeat) or any other of the infinite ways through which a motivated group can cut off (or try) a single rider when needed.
    It’s not deterministic and it’s probable that Nibali made some mistake, too (I couldn’t see what happened exactly), but you’re certainly more prone to, when riding in such conditions.
    The team rode horribly, even before the splits they often looked scattered arounf the peloton, with a significant lack of personal protection which became very apparent in a number of situations (including the flat tyre). Not to speak of appearing absolutely clueless when things got complicated (Movistar were by far more organised).
    Not a good premise for Nibali towards tomorrow (Tuesday) and Sunday. Today (Monday) I think I saw Boom and Westra taking some sort of rest day, hope for Astana they’re preparing themselves for tomorrow, sparing energies. It will be another day for the teams.
    Very happy for Purito, who went from soooo far, but the most impressive power output on the Mur was obviously Froome’s (Tejay and the first two French were good, too).

    • I think Nibali made a mistake yesterday. Pinot was sitting on a team mate’s wheel and the rider in front of him lost the wheel (these are Pinot’s words). No comment about a fall. The TV cut to them soon after and showed Nibali and Pinot at the front with Nibali telling Dennis to close down the gap to save his jersey. At this time the gap was only a few bike lengths. Given his current form I would not be surprised if he could have. He told Nibali to close it down himself. As Nibali and Pinot both didn’t want to spend any energy by the time a chase was organised the gap was at 25s and the rest is history.

      Nibali’s mistake was thinking that the Jersey was worth more to Dennis then time for his team leader. As has been said BMC didn’t really capitalise on this sacrifice. They seemed in two minds for about 30kms.

      • I agree about trying to close the gap as soon as possible, still we should understand that it’s quite hard that a single rider can close on a group where turns are rapidly switched. Hence, generally speaking, any rider is hesitant if he find himself in that position. The risk to waste yourself only to be subsequently attacked is too high. That said, I think that panick and confusion reigned both in the team and in Nibali.

    • “Among the 24 men who finally made the first split, only Cancellara didn’t have any teammate. But we’re speaking of Cancellara.”
      There was also Kristijan Koren, who was then called back to shepard his leaders. In an interview for slovenian national television he was pretty stoic about it – what can you do, I was called back, that’s why they pay me to do.
      On how he made the break – I was simply keeping my self in front as per usual.

      • That’s true, and Koren is known to be a good classics rider since his times in Liquigas, but, whatever the reason, he finally wasn’t in the first group. It’s not like I don’t get the difference, still the question is we simply can’t know if he would have survived later turns of the screw.

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