I'm split between strategic and aggressive but it's a February stage race so why not
[Ride aggressive - set the pace and attack hard]
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Voting so far, will be open until late tomorrow. Choiches:
[Ride conservative - follow the bigger teams]
[Ride aggressive - set the pace and attack hard] x6
[Ride strategic - early breaks and late attacks] x3Edited by hillis91 on 28-07-2017 10:54
Albert Lejune, owner of two newspapers Le Petit Journal based in Paris, and Le Petit Niçois based in Nice, created Les Six Jours de la Route in 1933 to establish a link between the two newspapers. For him it was about showing the charm of La Cote d’Azur to his readers with the help of a cycling race on an innovative route. For six days at the end of the winter season, the event went through the Valley of the Rhone; avoiding carefully the Alps and its difficulties, sparingly using the hilly hinterland of Nice, to be finally used as a favourable training ground for the spring Classics. The jersey of the leader was azure and gold in colour, evoking the blue of the Mediterranee and the golden sun in Nice.
Riders to lookout for:
***** Richie Porte Roman Bairdet Nairo Quintana
**** Alberto Contador Rigoberto Urán Vincenzo Nibali
The race has often started with a prologue, but this year will kick off with a criterium race in Bois d’Arcy in the Yvelines area on the outskirts of Paris. The peloton will rack up 148.5 kilometres before the likely bunch sprint for the line. The sprinters will also come to the fore on the following two stages, which take the race south to Amilly and Chalon-sur-Saône, respectively.
Stage 4 is where the general classification battle will come to life, with the only race against the clock of the 2017 edition taking the riders up Mont Brouilly – the 3km climb that was meant to make its debut in the race last year on a road stage. The time trial is 14.5km long and is benign until the road starts to kick up in the final three kilometres for the climb, which averages 7.7 per cent and features ramps of over nine per cent in the final kilometre. The climb is shorter, but steeper, than the Col d’Eze, which has been used for time trials in previous editions.
The sprinters should be slugging out once again – and maybe for the final time – on stage 5 to Bourg-de-Péage, before three decisive stages in the south of France.
The first is a 192km leg from Aubagne to Fayence, featuring no fewer than six categorised climbs, and riders will be on the rollers in the morning since the climbing begins from kilometre zero with the 9km first-category ascent of the Col de l'Espigoulier. There are 100km to wait until the next two climbs, but they’re soon followed by a double ascent of the first-categeory Col de Bourigeille, which forms part of a finishing circuit. After the second descent, the stage packs a punchy finish with the line positioned 1.3km up the climb.
The next day is a record-breaking one for the Race to the Sun as the Col de la Couillole takes the race to higher ground than it has ever visited before. The 15.7km climb, which averages 7.1 per cent, is one of the toughest summit finishes in the race’s history and, in a grueling final 60km, is preceded by the first-category Col de Saint-Martin, which was used on the 1975 stage to Pra Loup when Eddy Merckx was dropped by Bernard Thévenet.
The final stage, starting and finishing in Nice, follows a familiar format and provides a finely-balanced parcours where, depending on the GC situation after the previous stage, the race can be won or lost.
The stage starts out slightly differently to last year, but then follows the same path, with the climbs Côte de Levens, Côte de Châteauneuf, Col de Calaison, Côte de Peille and, finally, Col d'Èze, before the run-in to Nice. Last year saw Alberto Contador spring an ambush in a bid to wrestle the yellow jersey off the shoulders of Geraint Thomas, but the Team Sky rider held on to claim the overall title by four seconds.
The traditional finish on the Promenade des Anglais will be moved along the coast to the Quai des Etats-Unis “in respect of the memorial period declared by local authorities” after the terror attack of last July.
This year's Tirreno-Adriatico route is similar to recent years, starting in the Tyrrhenian in the Tuscan holiday resort of Lido di Camaiore on Wednesday, and ending next Tuesday as per tradition in San Benedetto del Tronto. The racing starts with an out and back 22.7km team trial along the Camaiore and Pietrasanta seafront.
The BMC Racing team won last year, giving van Garderen a boost and setting up Van Avermaet for a surprise overall win due to snow forcing the cancellation of the key mountain stage. BMC beat Etixx-QuickStep by just two seconds, with FDJ a surprise third at nine seconds.
We can expect a similar result this year perhaps, with Movistar, Team Sky and Team Sunweb also expected to be within a few seconds. The time gaps and time loses will be vital for the battle for the overall classification and losses over 20 seconds could seriously compromise the chances of leaders with any hope of winning the race.
The key will be to find the right balance between speed, power and teamwork, as Ryan Mullen of Cannondale-Drapac explained: "A 22-minute, 56-kilometre an hour blast. Easy, right? We'll all whack out five million watts and be done with it."
After the fast start, stages 2 and 3 head south through Tuscany, not far from the coast, with finishes in Pomerance and then Montalto di Castro. Both should end with a sprint finish of a kind. However, stage 2 is a testing 229km long, and the finale before Pomerance includes several rolling climbs and sharp kick up at 15 per cent just three kilometres from the finish. It is ideal for a finisseur or even a late attack, as Stybar proved last year. He surged clear over the top of the late gradient and then swooped down the short, twisting road that followed to open a small gap. The final 2.5 kilometres rose and dipped, giving it the feel of an asphalt cyclo-cross course. Small wonder, then, that the former triple world champion felt so at home in this corner of Tuscany and won alone.
Stage 3 includes several early climbs in the Maremma hills before heading to the coast for the flat finish. The final kilometre is similar to that of 2016 where Gaviria dispatched his rivals with ease as the finish kicked up slightly. It will be fascinating to see how the Colombian does on the big stage again, and if he can then get everything right at Milan-San Remo after his late crash and touch of wheels debacle last year.
The race route heads deep inland on Saturday for stage 4, and into the Apennine mountains for the big and most likely decisive finish on Terminillo near Rieti. The 16km climb is often the first mountain stage at the Giro d'Italia and was last climbed in the 2015 Tirreno-Adriatico. On that day Quintana won in heavy snow, and with the climb to the finish posing the only risk of poor weather conditions, the Queen stage is unlikely to be affected by the Extreme Weather Protocol. Quintana put more than 40 seconds into his rivals in the whiteout in 2014, going on to beat Mollema, Uran and Pinot in the final classification.
"Flat stage, we had every man around Alberto all stage, and our main goal was to get him unscaved through the stage. The break went early, nothing special. It ended in a bunch sprint and we let Edward Theuns try himself in the sprint. Demaré took the stage."
"Another flat stage, perfect for the sprinters. The break went early, in search of tv coverage and price money. We did what we planned, protect Alberto. The break was caught and it ended in a bunch sprint. Cavendish dominated, beating everybody to the line for the stage win."
"The third flat stage in a row, we did our job without spending to much energy. The sprinters teams controlled the entire day. As usual the break went early, but was caught before the bunch sprint. Cavendish looked very good, and yet again he takes the stage win."
"The individual time trail, what a stage for us. This was the first proper test of Alberto after his injury. He looked lazer focused during the team breifing before the stage and im telling you, he is back. We all knew the importance of this time trail, you won't win the race but you sure can loose the race.
"After the great day we had the day before, it was up to us to control the peleton and defend our lead. The break went early, as we expected. The group of 13 got a sizeable gap, and we kept them close but not to close. Wich resulted in the sprinter teams taking over the duties and with the up and down terrain it drained the field hard. But, we managed to get Alberto to the finish without any problems. The break never got proberbly caught, and a suprise win for Zurlo (UAE).
"The meeting went as planned, everybody looked focused. Haimar had a pump up speech before we left the bus. Everybody was ready. We went over the riders we should keep an extra eye on, and made sure everybody knew their role for the day.
The stage started like everybody expected, the break went early. We worked a lot in the front to make sure the break we wanted was the one that got away. We suceeded. There was a group of 4 that got away from the front of the peleton.
Then, on the first decent of the day, disaster happened from the middle of the pack and backwards. A group of 103 riders went down, amongst them Majka and Thomas. The chase was on, we had three riders that was affected of the major crash so we did not put any pressure on the pace at the front. The group of 103 worked together with the majority of the work being done by Team Sky.
As the first of two major climbs of the day drew closer, the pace went way up. It was Cannondale and Astana putting pressure on us. Alberto got isolated, seeing as both our best domestique climbers went down in the crash earlier and was clearly feeling the effect of that.
Over the first climb everything went ok, nobody attacked and Alberto had control in the front of the group. 3 KM from the top of the last major climb of the day, Alberto went. Riding aggressive, just like we have told him to do. Antonio Cabello cheered so loud in the car i almost lost my hearing.
Nobody was able to follow, but the distance to the finish was to long. And the group managed to bridge the gap. And when it was time for the sprint, Alberto was spent. He rolled over at 11nt place, and kept his lead. Pinot took the win in the sprint.
We also learned after the stage, that the crash early in the stage was more serious the we first realized. Majka had to leave the race with an injury along with Griepel and Coquard.
"This was the day we had to control, no exuses. The plan was like the day before, no big breakaways allowed. We spent the majority of the pre-race meeting going over the last two climbs and who to look out for.
After we got the break we could live with, the pace went down and the break setled the points over the first climbs by themself. We made sure everybody got tons of food and water before we hit Col Saint-Martin, because we had plans.
As soon as the climb up to Col Saint-Martin started, we turned it up. The peleton got smaller and smaller, and we got help from BMC, Astana and Cannondale. When we went over Saint-Martin, the peleton consisted of 31 riders, and we hade 3 left, one of them being the race leader Contador.
With 2KM left, Porte couldn't keep up with El Pistelero anymore. I screamed over the radio, pushing him to go harder. But Alberto was on the limit himself, but still managed to win the stage and with a gap of 23 seconds down to Porte.
What a day for us, just like we planned. We dominated to the best of our ability, capping it off with a stage win on top of that. The last day awaits us tomorrow so it's not over, we had to stay sharp."
"The last day was stressful, at least if you look at the profil. Up and down all day, with hungry wolfes all around. Riders in hunt of a stage win and GC riders looking to gain time. We stressed the issue of control to the team. The task was simple, keep Alberto with the threats over the last climb.
The stage started with a bigger group going away from the front, we went straight up and reeled them in. From there a smaller group of 4 riders went clear, i told the guys to ease up and let them go.
The stage was standard from there until the final climb's into Nice. No major crashes or attacks, everybody seemed to be waiting for the last time over Col d'Èze. 7.7 km-long climb at 5.7%, it should on paper not be a problem for Alberto, he seemed fine all day long.
Talansky went clear from the first group, going for the stage win, but Pantano was going all out in the peleton and reeled him in before the downhill down to Nice. In the chaos that insued, Richie Porte lost contact to the first group. Which made Bahrain and FDJ help setting the pace. Eyeing a podium and 2nd.
The stage ended in a bunch sprint, and Navardauskas took the sprint. Contador won the 2017 editon with a briliant ride from both him and the team. Chapeau!"
Stage Result
1
Ramunas Navardauskas
Bahrain - Merida
2h49'29
2
Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
3
Rigoberto Urán
Cannondale - Drapac
s.t.
4
Philippe Gilbert
Quick-Step Floors
s.t.
5
Tanel Kangert
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
6
Sergey Chernetskiy
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
7
Ion Izagirre
Bahrain - Merida
s.t.
8
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
9
Pello Bilbao
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
10
Michael Matthews
Team Sunweb
s.t.
GC
1
Alberto Contador
Trek - Segafredo
28h52'51
2
Richie Porte
BMC Racing Team
+ 1'10
3
Vincenzo Nibali
Bahrain - Merida
+ 1'46
4
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
+ 1'50
5
Rigoberto Urán
Cannondale - Drapac
+ 2'04
6
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
+ 2'06
7
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 2'13
8
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+ 2'29
9
Tanel Kangert
Astana Pro Team
+ 3'20
10
Geraint Thomas
Team Sky
+ 3'29
Point
1
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
13
89
2
Mark Cavendish
Team Dimension Data
0
83
3
Richie Porte
BMC Racing Team
0
76
Mountain
1
Anthony Turgis
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
8
60
2
Cyril Gautier
AG2R La Mondiale
7
53
3
Andrew Talansky
Cannondale - Drapac
27
44
U25
1
Adam Yates
Orica - Scott
28h58'04
Team
1
Team Sky
s.t.
86h58'02
Greg Lemond: "This was truely a spot-on performance by the team, so alot of the guys here just made a major statement regarding making the team to Catalunya and Basque Tour. Let me get Giovanni Ellena so we can disscues this properly and of course, go over the Tirreno - Adriatico aswell."
Fatigue in July? Doesnt matter when you can lit fire in February 
Paris - Nice
Richie Porte 
Nairo Quintana
Alberto Contador 
Vincenzo Nibali
Daniel Martin 
Tom Dumoulin
Rafał Majka 
Kristijan Durasek 
Simon Spilak
Trek - Segafredo:
Edward Theuns
André Cardoso
Peter Stetina
John Degenkolb
Mads Pedersen
Grégory Rast
Sam Bennett
Sven Erik Bystrøm
Team Dimension Data
Astana Pro Team
Bob Jungels
Daniel Martin
Tanel Kangert
Ramunas Navardauskas
