Officially flat, but today could be the first one for the GC guys. The Cote Du Fangas is steep enough to make the day difficult at least for the sprinters,so we're expecting a reduced group at the finish.
Commentators Picks
David Harmon: That descending finish looks perfect for Le Chou Chou, Thomas Voeckler. His team could choose to make the day hard and reduce the group for him, but may choose to try and protect there sprinter instead.
Sean Kelly: I think this one has Peter Sagan labelled on it once again, He'll get over the climb with the Puncheurs, and packs one of the fastest sprints here in France.
Magnus Backstedt: This could go either way, personally I back the sprinters to hang on, so I'm going to go for Sagan as well, he's been looking very strong so far here in France.
Before we went Live...
Lierse have been involved in most of the early breakaway attempts, and this morning was no exception. Mitch Thompson was away as soon as the race began this morning, trying to create a Break.
Over the first of the Three climbs before TV coverage started, Mitch Thompson held off Danilo Wyss(Motorex) and Christophe Riblon(Barrys) for the Points. The trio held 1'15 at this point.
Mitch Thompson is by nature a Classics specialist, and he certainly seemed happier in the rain than his breakaway companions, who didn't really offer the Aussie a challenge at the second KotM Checkpoint
And the Mitch Thompson show continued at the first of the 2 intermediate sprints. Wyss didn't even contest, and Riblon couldn't match the sprint speed of Lierse's rider.
Finally at the last of the morning Checkpoints Riblon did overhaul the Australian to take some points for himself and Barrys Tea. The break held 6'18 after 70km of riding. 145km remain in the day, Live Coverage picks up at the base of the Cote Du Fangas(2)
The Live Coverage...
Hello and Welcome all to Live Coverage of Stage 4 here in the Race to the Sun, Paris-Nice. Todays stage is 215km in length travelling from Limoges - Maurs. You join us 55km from the Finish line, and 5km from the base of the 8.7km 4.6% Cote Du Fangas. If the teams make it hard it seems unlikely the sprinters will stay with the pack
Haiaer have there whole team on the front here as we begin the climb, Boassen-Hagen clearly backs himself to get over these challenges in condition!
Difficult was clearly not the order of the day, and the peloton haven't really reduced the breaks 2'54 lead on the climb. Thompson takes yet another intermediate point, so he confirms himself as the new Polka-Dot jersey. 43km to go, 2'54 the gap.
35km to go... Thompson and Riblon have dropped Danilo Wyss from the breakaway, and continued on in an attempt to stay clear. The hold 2'15, If they can stay in front to the final descent, they could win the stage.
The sprinters teams have clearly acknowledged the threat. ING IOQ and PGR all come to the fore now, and the gap has begun to reduce more rapidly, bad news for the front duo!
21km remain on this grey rainy day in France. The break have just been caught so now the sprinters will get another chance to contest. However they'll have to consider that final 6km, all downwill averaging 7%, In these conditions, they'll need to be careful to avoid a crash
14km Crash in the pack! SGL-Magix leader Guardini has been held up, and several riders are on the ground. The worst affected looks to be Lierses Simone Ponzi, who looks pretty badly injured.
SGL are desparate to try and get back, sending every man they can spare back to help out, however with 10km to go, it seems unlikely they'll get back in time to contest the sprint today.
8km... The sprinters are starting to form trains, though the finish is making it difficult to create a leadout, meanwhile several punchers including Voeckler, Chavanel and Gilbert are hovering in behind, possibly considering an attack on the treacherous descent?
The news has filtered throught that Ponzi has been airlifted to hospital after his Fall with a suspected Broken Neck. We obviously wish him a rapid recovery. All the best to him and his Lierse team.
6km... Sagans In-n-Out have managed to organise things at the front, Hushovd, Goss, B-H and Veenhof are all in the trains wheels, no other side seem keen to build there own leadout
3km... The IoQ train has 2 tails now, One led by Veenhof, the other by Matthew Goss. All the sprinters except SGL's are here, so expect an explosive downhill sprint
1800m... Sagans final leadout launches the sprint, whilst part of his train has blocked the line for Goss and those following him including B-H and Hushovd, giving Veenhof the Slovakians wheel...
1000m... Sagan and Veenhof are in pole positions here, Goss and the Maillot Jaune both have masses to do now, Geslin dropping away from the IoQ leadout blocked there path, pushing them back to around P.20!
600m... Veenhof is boxed in as Sagan launches from Gallopins wheel. Simon is flying from no where for Allianz and Samuel Love is coming on the far right for Tap-Michelin. Oss and Demare are best placed of the rest currently..
80m... Its Simon vs Sagan for the stage today, with Love vs Veenhof for the final podium place.
Victory for Julien Simon! He just holds off Sagan to take a stage victory for his Allianz-BMW team. Veenhof manages to take 3rd by a whisker and Romain Feillu rounds up the top5.
Simon! Wow that was awesome! I love these sorts of stages, as they always make for an exciting finish...
But just bring on the hills! Chavanel is itching to go go go
Bored to hell, so here are the post Tirreno rankings in brief
ING
18663.5
Lierse
13550
SGL
13202
Tulip
12323
Allianz
12036
Globant
11825.5
Motorex
11510.5
Fastweb
11332.5
In-n-Out
9842.5
Caterham
9317.5
Pure Black
8928
ITV
8837.5
CC Café
7192.5
Haier
5980
Lunar
5829.5
Barrys
910
Consistency has put ING to the top along with Lierse. Both have no jumped ahead of SGL who are off the top for the first time all season! Froome's Tierrno win has pushed Tulip into 4th, but Allianz multiple stage and GC successes put them just behind in 5th. Globant also have jumped massively as a result of Tirreno. Motorex and Fastweb are also part of the fight but lost ground. In-n-Out's sudden solution of send Sagan everywhere has moved them off the bottom and up to 9th. Caterham are just behind them in 10th. Pure Black have been going backwards since the TDU and are just outside the danger-zone in 11th. ITV's breakaway moves are good to watch but currently they are in the danger zone. CC Cafe are next, a bit of a gap behind. Haier have jumped off the bottom as well, but are a chuck behind CC Cafe. The biggest losers have been Lunar, who now sit in 14th. And Barrys are rooted to the bottom.
Barrys are 17753.5 behind leaders ING, and 8108 off safety.
2nd to 8th are split by only 2217.5 points.
Make of that what you will, but we know that there is still along way to go, with a few teams yet to really get going with their seasons.
Edited by TheManxMissile on 06-05-2013 21:32
@SSJ
Did you have to quote the whole post?
And not very hard at all. Chavanel is going great in PN (lots of points) and Cavs hasn't turned a pedal yet. However if we com out of the Spring Classics in the bottom 5, then we could be buggered.
TheManxMissile wrote:
@SSJ
Did you have to quote the whole post?
And not very hard at all. Chavanel is going great in PN (lots of points) and Cavs hasn't turned a pedal yet. However if we com out of the Spring Classics in the bottom 5, then we could be buggered.
fixed that and will see (and for you hope) that Chavanel and Cav can bring the points needed
The first of the definite big GC days today, with the only summit finish of the race. Stage 5 is 166km ride before finish on the climb to Mende. 4km at 7.2% The last piece of news is to provide an update on the races only withdrawal so far; Simone Ponzi is said to be in a stable condition in Hospital, however it has been confirmed that his neck is broken so it'll be a while before he can return to Cycling.
Commentators Picks:
David Harmon: I can only see one winner from todays startlist, Joaquin Rodriguez will be a class above today, expect to see his arms raised as he crosses the line.
Sean Kelly: For me it's Thomas Voeckler who'll claim this stage, he's on home turf which will surely give him a needed kick, and he's shown strong form early in the race.
Magnus Backstedt: Philippe Gilbert prefers climbs which are slightly shorter than today, but never the less he'll be there or thereabouts in the finale.
The morning catch-up
3 men found there way into the break this morning, they were Caterhams Javi Moreno, Angel Madrazo of Motorex and Bakelants of Lierse Pizza Ullo
The stage was uphill right from the off, and after just 11km came the summit of the days first climb, the Cote Du Quotitidene(2). Javi Moreno was first over in the break, which had grown by 2 thanks to S.Love(Tap) and Kjell Carlstromm(ITV)
It was all change before they got to the second KotM. 3 men managed to get a more effective gap including Carlstomm from the original break. His companions were Brice Feillu(Barrys) and Anthony Charteu(Motorex)
It was Charteu who took that climb ahead of Feillu. Meanwhile there was some small action behind, with Rigo Urán trying to push up the pace in the peloton, diving away for 4th place on the climb, ahead of Davide Rebellin.
At the final checkpoint before we get back to live footage, Anthony Charteu took the 3rd of the days Cat2 climbs, bringing his tally up to 12points. Enough for joint second in that competition.
The Live Coverage
Hello and welcome to a cold, grey Stage 5 here in France. The 166km stage takes us from Maurs to Mende, and gives us the only summit finish of this race. Shortly before we came on air Rebellin and Henao attacked, and are now sat 1'28 off the front of the peloton. 3'47 ahead are the breakaway, though it seems to be coming back together already, thanks to the work of the German teams, Allianz-BMW and SGL-Magix
Not as known for his speed as his Brother, Brice Feillu can none the less take the final intermediate sprint of the day. their gap is 2'12 to the chasing duo, and 4'27 to the German led peloton.
45km out and the chasing pair make the catch. Both are outside favourites with the bookies today, and at the moment they seem to be putting that extra freedom to good use to get away.
30km, 3'16. The peloton are in full chase mode now, and almost every team has at least one rider involved. The break will be hard pressed to hold on, despite having 2 extra members.
18km, 1'56. There's a strong pace at both ends, and the peloton will need to be careful here. Henao and Rebellin especially are strong climbers, but they can't give the break too much of an advantage into the climb, or they may regret it!
15km... No sooner has the break got to the first of the climbs than Sergio Henao goes on the attack for his CCC side. Carlstromm is first into the wheel, but no really seems able to follows his move.
12km 1'57... Henao, Feillu and Carlstromm are pushing on once again, and the gap is going in the right direction for them at the moment. they hold 17" over Rebellin and Charteu who seem unable to follow the attacks up front.
11km... Valverde is off! He's got a team mate out in front who will surely be his target, and he's got fed up of the waiting game. The Spaniard is the first of the favourites to attack, no response yet and he's got 8 bike lengths.
10.4km... A 6man chase group is beginning to form, led by Valverde(ITV), and Gilbert(LPU) along with them are Kloden(SGM), De Gendt(LPU), Sagan(IoQ) and Boassen-Hagen(HAI)
9km... All change once more. Now Rebellin is the one attacking in the break, which has 3men remaining, Charteu, Henao and Rebellin. Behind the groups are back together, and they've reduced the lead to under a minute.
7km... Voeckler is off! He gets his nose downhill and immediately darts away. Gilbert is the first to react, and the favourites are organising a chase.
5km... Henao has started the final climb first and is trying to pull away from his rivals and the peloton. Only Rebellin is left with him, and they have 37" advantage.
3.6/3.3km... Po-Ding Kim is leading the peloton ever closer, the gap now is just 300m to Rebellin and Henao. The main peloton is down to just 62 riders, but all
3.1km Dan Martin is off! Alejandro Valverde and Andreas Kloden are the first to react, as they continue to close the gap
2km... They've made the catch and the leaders of the 2 german teams are going together. Kloden and Rodriguez are off on the attack, tracked by Schleck and Gilbert.
1600m... Rodriguez attacks yet again as Kloden sits down, Rebellin and Henao both jump up to follow, whilst Schleck continues to tap out a pace for the peloton just behind.
Rodriguez holds a 13" gap as the riders get to the Flamme Rouge. He's followed by an 8 man group - Kloden, Rebellin, Chavanel, Gilbert, Henao, Schleck, De Gendt and Sagan, with a group of 2 a further 28" behind, Martin and Valverde.
700m... Rodriguez has Kloden coming back to him, ahead of the rest of G2 whove been joined by Martin and Valverde. Purito is favourite for the stage, but how much time can he take?
Its a 1-2 for the German teams. Rodriguez dominates to take the stage, Kloden is clearly feeling good here and manages to follow him in for 2nd. Behind Sagan is leading the sprint for 3rd, 29" back from Purito.
But it's Chavanel who takes 3rd! He flies up the last 500m to beat Sagan and Gilbert into 4th and 5th. LPU get 2 in the top10 thanks to De Gendt who rides in for 6th spot.
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
