July 10, Stage 9: Issoire - Saint-Flour 208km

ednwireland

A rollercoaster ride

The final stage before the first rest day fulfils Prudhomme's desire for unpredictability. That the last winner in Saint-Flour was Richard Virenque back in 2004 says a good deal about what the riders are up against today. There's very little riding on the flat, just frequently steep ups and downs. At almost 1600m, the Pas de Peyrol is the highest road pass in the Massif Central. Following it are the not-insignificant Perthus and Prat de Bouc passes before the road drops irregularly towards Saint-Flour. The finish is uphill too and could well result in a breakaway rider finishing alone.

Rovi

Thanks for posting up these stage profiles; I'm printing them off and keeping them nearby for handy reference while watching the stage in HD.

Pherekydes

I love that first cat 3. After they pass the prime they just continue climbing for what looks like 20k, though the gradient eases somewhat.

BQQ

Can see the GC contenders really having a go here with the rest day to recover tomorrow.

That said, a break could stay away as long as there are no threats in it.
Can see someone like Charteau having a go.

If the break is caught, A Shleck is a massive price with paddypower.
125/1 compared to 66/1 contador and 33/1 sammy sanchez

petethedrummer

More Kamikazee stuff from Vino.

Esroh

I see the Organisers have rubbish drop zones for the Peloton. Is this a new thing rather than having wrappers and bottles dropped all along the road.

BQQ

Contador not getting much help from his teammates.

ThisRegard

This looks fairly serious.

petethedrummer wrote: »

More Kamikazee stuff from Vino.

Not looking good for him.

John.Icy

Vino is gone!

Omega rider still down to, with a garmin guy too..unsure of who they are atm.

EDIT: Apparently Vino is back on the bike! wow. He could barely stand

kenmc

carnage. what an attritional tour!

Mint Sauce

ThisRegard wrote: »

This looks fairly serious.



Not looking good for him.

Came back into the room to see one of the outriders seemingly tell the camera men to stop filming. Many involved?

JacksonHeightsOwn

kenmc wrote: »

carnage. what an attritional tour!

Whoever stays on their bike in this tour could make top 10, mental tour, the riders should know better than trying to descend so quickly with them roads though

Looks like van den broeck is gone as well now

John.Icy

Jurgen Van Den Broeck could be out!:eek:

This is f**king insane.

EDIT: Vino now abandoned, along with Van den Broeck!

kenmc

John.Icy wrote: »

Vino is gone!
EDIT: Apparently Vino is back on the bike! wow. He could barely stand

letour.fr is saying he's abandoned but are awaiting confirmation confirmed

ThisRegard

Are these guys going to try neutralise the stage ?

ThisRegard

irish-stew wrote: »

Came back into the room to see one of the outriders seemingly tell the camera men to stop filming. Many involved?

A few went down, most got up but the two mentioned above took a long time on the ground/in the ditch.

Pherekydes

The big winner here will be Voeckler.

mgmt

ThisRegard wrote: »

A few went down, most got up but the two mentioned above took a long time on the ground/in the ditch.

Vino has abandoned, so has Jurgen Van der Brook

petethedrummer

ThisRegard wrote: »

Are these guys going to try neutralise the stage ?

Is Cancellara having another tantrum? Get back in the bus Fabian.

happytramp

As horrible as all this is, Vockler with the yellow Jersey would be brilliant.

BQQ

Pherekydes wrote: »

The big winner here will be Voeckler.

I agree.

could be stage win and yellow jersey, now

Hermy

Zabriske out too.

ThisRegard

petethedrummer wrote: »

Is Cancellara having another tantrum? Get back in the bus Fabian.

From flicking between Eurosport and ITV both suggest he was but nobody took any notice of him.

John.Icy

Peleton nearly split there...

Finally...the gap is starting to fall...

titan18

Looked like he tried,Hushovd told him to f*ck off,and then Gilbert and Hushovd went and slowed things

petethedrummer

titan18 wrote: »

Looked like he tried,Hushovd told him to f*ck off,and then Gilbert and Hushovd went and slowed things

Oh right, I presumed he'd be slowing things down again. I'm on his side this time then. The lads on TG4 didn't seem to know what it was about. But I may have missed what they said.

titan18

petethedrummer wrote: »

Oh right, I presumed he'd be slowing things down again. I'm on his side this time then. The lads on TG4 didn't seem to know what it was about. But I may have missed what they said.

Eurosport were suggesting that he might have come to the front to keep the pace going,since Leopard-Trek are now riding at the front, and that Hushovd came forward to slow it down. Difficult to tell really what happened, but I can't blame anyone who wants to slow it down after that crash to allow others get back in

JacksonHeightsOwn

Holy crap, Vino broke his pelvis in that fall, OUCH!

ednwireland

chrisbonnie wrote: »

Holy crap, Vino broke his pelvis in that fall, OUCH!

and elbow

vandebrouke broke his shoulder blade

Lumen

chrisbonnie wrote: »

Holy crap, Vino broke his pelvis in that fall, OUCH!

That's gotta sting.

petethedrummer

Come on lads, pull yizzer fingers out. This is awful dull.

petethedrummer

Lumen wrote: »

That's gotta sting.

Probably felled the tree.

ednwireland

zabriskie broken wrist

ColSheehan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwviTmZZSlk

The Contador incident - after watching it a few times it seems the Cofidis rider either shoulder barges him or pushes him into the spectator, and then looks back..

Edit: Eurosport saying Karpets was the one who "pushed him"

ThisRegard

chrisbonnie wrote: »

Holy crap, Vino broke his pelvis in that fall, OUCH!

Femur I heard mentioned too.

JacksonHeightsOwn

ColSheehan wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwviTmZZSlk

The Contador incident - after watching it a few times it seems the Cofidis rider either shoulder barges him or pushes him into the spectator, and then looks back..

Edit: Eurosport saying Karpets was the one who "pushed him"

Contador must have robbed his steak!!!

Good enough for him

Mint Sauce

One of the team cars just took out two riders!!

:eek:

Hermy

I mentioned before about the recklessness of the team cars etc.
Now I hope they'll do something about these loopers!

ednwireland

2 guys taken out by french tv car nasty

Idleater

Ouch! !!

lumo22

Christ, that looked bad. In the Fence.

C3PO

Can't believe that French TV car - that's crazy!

JacksonHeightsOwn

****ing hell

The camera car just clattered into flecha, what a ****ing ejit, that man deserves a kick in the stones and a P45

Lemag

Holy sh1te! If one aint safe from motorists during the TdF where is one safe

kmart6

Ah FFS....whatever about a motorbike catching a rider....but a car clearing 2 riders out of it...WTF!!!!!!!!

ThisRegard

Jesus christ, that driver has to be done for dangerous driving, I've never seen the likes. Feic the tree he was about to hit, he was safe in a car at least.

bcmf

Hoogerland went straight into a fence. Jesus H Christ

Columbia

This is crazy, has this year's route gone over an ancient burial ground or something?

I was really cheering for Hoogeland today, no idea if he's back up, but it looked very bad

edit: just shown him back up looking very banged up, but he just has to coast in the final 30km to take the polkadots tonight, so there is consolation in it.

Lumen

Graphic demonstration of what happens in a driver's midbrain when they have to choose between hitting a tree and a cyclist.

Should be made to go back and drive into the tree.

Mint Sauce

bcmf wrote: »

Hoogerland went straight into a fence. Jesus H Christ

He nearly cleared it. Any word on him?

BQQ

That moron should be prosecuted