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Tour de France Discussion
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 23-12-2014 10:11
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At one point it looked like Schleck was having a bit of a bad day but suddenly he is charging away in the lead. Good tactics again to hold back on the descent and then let it rip into Briancon. It's quite a stunning gap considering Madrazo and Spilak were right on his wheel with 1km to go. And finally there is a proper gain on Pluchkin, 37 seconds. That puncture earlier in the race could come back to cost him though, as this rate.
Really not sure what to expect from the monster Mountain ITT coming up. Schleck surely has to be one of the quickest on the climbs, but that section between the first and second climb could hurt a lot. It is Stage 18 though and Schleck's better recovery should increasingly be a factor.
Also, what a fantastic bit of work by Kirsch today. At first I would have rather seen Medvedev in there to go for the KoM lead but Kirsch did a great support job for Schleck to be there to collect bottles and support him down on the descent to Briancon. I can imagine him just coming to an almost complete exhausted stop as Schleck made his move, given how he seemed to crawl up the final kilometre. It's moved him nicely into the Top 30 GC as well
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| Kami |
Posted on 23-12-2014 11:54
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Nice that Uran managed to break into the top 10, although it's still very close with Kritsky. Hope he manages to hold him off. As for a stage win, we're almost out of stages, so i don't think that will happen anymore.
Edited by Kami on 23-12-2014 12:06
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 23-12-2014 11:58
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I still believe in Spilak bouncing back 
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 23-12-2014 12:49
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I think Vanendert should have been in the breakaway. This was a better stage KoM wise than stage 19. With this one and stage 20, he could have had the jersey in the bag. I doubt he'll go in the breakaway in both the 19th and the 20th stage, which puts the polka dots in danger.
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| Roman |
Posted on 23-12-2014 13:18
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König still riding nicely. 20th place would be amazing. I believe he would be the first Czech rider ever in Man-Game to finish in a top 20 overall of a GT. Would be a fantastic achievment.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 23-12-2014 13:41
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Unfortunately Fothen's crash has left us pretty much empty-handed now. I'm just hoping he sticks in the top20, but tbh it doesn't matter since it isn't going to change much things.
Thanks again for the reports roturn 
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| Heine |
Posted on 23-12-2014 14:01
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I had some hope that some of my less strong climbers would try to go early, seems like I said earlier. Monsalve too strong for them to go, and too weak to get results by himself :/
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 23-12-2014 16:15
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Ahhhh Mathias!!!!! What a great Tour this is. If Amador can hold on to 5th, and we walk away with 2 stage wins, this will be a huge success.
The fight for the podium is really getting interesting now. Schleck really looks like he should be in yellow. Tomorrow should be very interesting, hard to predict a winner as well. I'd pick Phinney for the win.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 10-12-2025 21:15
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| niconico |
Posted on 23-12-2014 16:43
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Really hope Pluchkin can take back some time in the ITT... a little surprised he hasn't been able to distance his opponents a single time in the mountains. Really hoping he can hang on now!
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| dave92 |
Posted on 23-12-2014 23:20
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Massive ride from Phinney. Truly performing above and beyond my wildest expectations.
Echoing what a lot of you are saying, not really sure what to expect out of the TT.
I still feel like Schleck will pull out the overall for some reason.
I
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| roturn |
Posted on 24-12-2014 06:48
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GC very close after the tt.
The three best climbers on the podium now with Phinney not able to stay ahead due to recovery reasons. Probably the biggest factor in this tt.
Keizer might not be the best climber but good tt and recovery skills helped him today to get a similar time as Phinney. |
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 24-12-2014 07:30
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10th place, good MTT by Kritskiy (11th now in GC), top-10 in Paris is still possible, but thanks to yesterdays crash Kritskiy is still 12 seconds behind Uran. Also Kolesnikov is fighting for the GC, he is aiming for top-20 (or stage win).
I think both U25 (Phinney) and Best Team (Santander) are final, both Points and Mountain Rankings are still an open battle, but most importantly: We have some very close battles in the General Rankings to look forward to:
| GC | NAME | TIMELOSS | TEAM | TIME | BATTLE | | 1 | Aleksandr Pluchkin | | Team B&O | 73h37'18 | Battle Royal | | 2 | Andy Schleck | punctureS10 | Vesuvio - Accumalux | + 20 | Battle Royal | | 3 | Simon Spilak | | Festina-Canal+ | + 1'13 | Battle Royal | | -- | --------------------- | -------------- | ------------------------- | ---------- | ---------- | | 4 | Taylor Phinney | | Wikipedia | + 1'57 | Battle 4.6 | | 5 | Andrei Amador | | Swisscom - UBS | + 4'19 | Battle 4.6 | | 6 | Rein Taaramäe | | Bouygues Telecom | + 5'44 | Battle 4.6 | | -- | --------------------- | -------------- | ------------------------- | ---------- | ---------- | | 7 | Romain Sicard | | ING - Pro Cycling | + 8'02 | Battle 7.9 | | 8 | Angel Madrazo | | Santander | + 8'17 | Battle 7.9 | | 9 | Thomas Dekker | | Team Vueling Airlines | + 8'52 | Battle 7.9 | | -- | --------------------- | -------------- | ------------------------- | ---------- | ---------- | | 10 | Rigoberto Úran | | Bacardi Limited | + 14'14 | Battle Top 10 | | 11 | Timofey Kritskiy | CrashS17 | Tinkoff | + 14'22 | Battle Top 10 | | 12 | Beñat Intxausti | | Bacardi Limited | + 14'43 | Battle Top 10 | | 13 | Justo Tenorio | | Santander | + 15'54 | Battle Top 10 | | -- | --------------------- | -------------- | ------------------------- | ---------- | ---------- | | 14 | Bernhard Kohl | | Pendleton's | + 23'15 | Battle Top 15 | | 15 | Martijn Keizer | | Rothaus - Aegon | + 26'18 | Battle Top 15 | | 16 | Florentino Marquez | | Quickstep | + 27'32 | Battle Top 15 | | -- | --------------------- | -------------- | ------------------------- | ---------- | ---------- | | 17 | Yonathan Monsalve | | VolksWagen-Mapei | + 31'00 | Battle 17.18 | | 18 | Markus Fothen | CrashS17 | Prio - Porto | + 31'14 | Battle 17.18 | | -- | --------------------- | -------------- | ------------------------- | ---------- | ---------- | | 19 | Sergio Henao | Crash10/13 | Project 1t4i | + 46'47 | Battle Top 20 | | 20 | Leopold König | | Becherovka | + 48'53 | Battle Top 20 | | 21 | Sergei Kolesnikov | | Tinkoff | + 49'50 | Battle Top 20 |
DNF
Spoiler | DNF | Anders Lund | Aker-MOT | Stage 11 | | DNF | Hugues Mottin | Bouygues Telecom | Stage 12 | | DNF | Panagiotis Vlatos | Festina-Canal+ | Stage 9 | | DNF | Mathieu Bernaudeau | Festina-Canal+ | Stage 11 | | DNF | Luke Rowe | Good Energy | Stage 11 | | DNF | Adam Blythe | Good Energy | Stage 11 | | DNF | Ramunas Navardauskas | ING - Pro Cycling Team | Stage 9 | | DNF | Dennis Van Winden | ING - Pro Cycling Team | Stage 11 | | DNF | Martyn Irvine | Lotto - Australia Post | Stage 11 | | DNF | Bradley Wiggins | Pendleton's | Stage 12 | | DNF | Nick Ingels | Pokerstars.com | Stage 11 | | DNF | Tom Boonen | Pokerstars.com | Stage 11 | | DNF | Wim De Vocht | Pokerstars.com | Stage 11 | | DNF | Mark Dzamastagic | Pokerstars.com | Stage 11 | | DNF | Daniel Allonca | Prio - Porto | Stage 11 | | DNF | Koen De Kort | Project 1t4i | Stage 12 | | DNF | Kenneth Vanbilsen | Quickstep | Stage 9 | | DNF | Tom Van Asbroeck | Quickstep | Stage 11 | | DNF | Maxime Vantomme | Quickstep | Stage 12 | | DNF | Giacomo Nizzolo | Rothaus - Aegon | Stage 11 | | DNF | Lucas Schädlich | Rothaus - Aegon | Stage 11 | | DNF | Frederik Frison | Rothaus - Aegon | Stage 11 | | DNF | Mario Gonzalez Salas | Santander | Stage 12 | | DNF | Rafaâ Chtioui | Swisscom - UBS | Stage 9 | | DNF | Silvan Dillier | Swisscom - UBS | Stage 9 | | DNF | Dimitri Champion | Swisscom - UBS | Stage 11 | | DNF | Zakkari Dempster | Team B&O | Stage 11 | | DNF | Dion Beukeboom | Team Bpost - Vlaanderen | Stage 11 | | DNF | Rick Flens | Team Bpost - Vlaanderen | Stage 11 | | DNF | Michiel Van Aelbroeck | Team Bpost - Vlaanderen | Stage 11 | | DNF | Sven Vandousselaere | Team Bpost - Vlaanderen | Stage 11 | | DNF | Niels Scheunemann | Team Vueling Airlines | Stage 11 | | DNF | Emilien Viennet | Team Vueling Airlines | Stage 11 | | DNF | Marcel Kittel | Vesuvio - Accumalux | Stage 11 | | DNF | Rick Zabel | VolksWagen-Mapei | Stage 9 | | DNF | Nacer Bouhanni | VolksWagen-Mapei | Stage 11 | | DNF | Ivan Kovalev | VolksWagen-Mapei | Stage 11 | | DNF | Stelly Robert | Wikipedia | Stage 12 | | DNF | Luke Durbridge | Wikipedia | Stage 12 |
Edited by OlegTinkov on 24-12-2014 08:16
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 24-12-2014 07:41
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Schleck again! I think he will win the race. 
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Heine |
Posted on 24-12-2014 07:47
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Well done by Tenorio, makes you wonder if he could've done better without the underperforming Madrazo...
I have a feeling Schleck will win this, even though i believe B&O deserves it when we consider last year
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| Smowz |
Posted on 24-12-2014 08:37
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I am surprised by that stage slightly - Tenorio does seem to enjoy these Mountain chrono's but apart from that it seems to swing towards I don't really know what. Alarcon came second in the Vuelta - I don't know whether it is recovery or even relative recovery.
Pluichkin now really needs to start being less defensive and try to find alliances against Schleck. To be honest Schleck has actually been the best rider in the race really so he would deserve the win. But all is not lost of Spilak or Pluichkin they could win this with one big stage. Spilak has carelessly lost too much time in transitional stages but still could benefit from the battle royale ahead of him.
Phinney should now finish 4th I think - but some good battles behind. Madrazo is still 8th like what?
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 24-12-2014 08:49
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What a ride by Schleck 
I clearly wasn't expecting to lose the polka dots jersey in a time - trial. It's now time for Vanendert to step up his game.
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| SotD |
Posted on 24-12-2014 09:46
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Well if Spilak hadn't lot it all on those stages Where he should be the best, he would have been in yellow now. That sucks a bit to be honest. Andy Schleck is just amazing, and should win...
Merry Christmas to you all btw!
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| niconico |
Posted on 24-12-2014 09:57
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Heine wrote:
Well done by Tenorio, makes you wonder if he could've done better without the underperforming Madrazo...
I have a feeling Schleck will win this, even though i believe B&O deserves it when we consider last year
Thanks, and I still hope Pluchkin can hang on!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 24-12-2014 10:06
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Hmmm, well... Guess i need to change my mind about Spilak winning this. It's looking more and more like Schleck actually completing his great comeback here to take yellow soon. I would be rather surprised to see him not going for yellow tomorrow. Massive ride.
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| Crommy |
Posted on 24-12-2014 10:22
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Rein you magnificent bastard. Over 2 minutes now to 7th, I'm now expecting him to hold onto 6th.
Very exciting race up front, I reckon Schleck might just take this
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