Tour de France 2016, July 5, Stage 4: Saumur / Limoges *SPOILERS*

Melodeon

Date: Tuesday 5th July
Type: Flattish
Distance: 237.5Km
Start/Finish: Saumur / Limoges


Stage Map:



Stage Profile:



Finale:



The General Classification after Stage 3:

Sam has move up 1 place, so no longer holds the Lanterne Rouge


Preview (© http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/):

It’s classed as flat, but has slightly more challenging terrain from about halfway in. The finish is uphill, but not steeply uphill. The stage will probably fall to a sprinter, and the sprinters of the second rank could get a look-in here.

It will take precision timing to win, because uphill sprints are notoriously difficult to get right.

The long distance of this stage shouldn’t be overlooked; 237.5 kilometres is 147 miles. It’s a long way on a bike. If the weather is hot (likely) or cold and wet (unlikely but always possible), it will feel much longer, and more importantly it will have the physiological effect of being longer.

Riding long distances, even when the terrain is undemanding, exacts a toll. The repeated use of the same muscles, those that provide the power for pedalling and those that maintain posture, eventually exhausts riders. The exact process by which this happens is not fully understood yet, but it’s a fact. Add in repeated accelerations, the slog of chasing a breakaway, or the bigger slog of being in one, and the fatigue builds up.

Long stages are mentally tough too. The requirement to concentrate for a long time is draining, but the race favourites and team leaders mustn’t let this affect them. They have to get through stages like this by expending the minimum amount of energy, both physical and mental.

Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) goes into the stage as the man to beat, having already taken stage one and three in bunch finishes. Stage two winner Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) retains the yellow jersey, with a lead of eight seconds over Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep).

Is the finish too tough for Cavendish to take win number three?

The weather forecast is for sunny spells and light winds.


LIVE TV:
TG4 - 1.10pm
Eurosport 1 - 1.00pm
ITV4 - 2.00pm

HIGHLIGHTS:
TG4 - 9.00pm
Eurosport 1 - 6.00pm, 8.00pm
ITV4 - 7.00pm

LE TOUR BY LEMONDE:
Eurosport 1 - 11.30pm

Inquitus

The bookies take on tomorrows stage:

• Peter Sagan 7/2
• Andre Greipel 4/1
• Mark Cavendish 7/1
• Bryan Coquard 8/1
• Marcel Kittel 10/1
• Alexander Kristoff 18/1
• Michael Matthews 18/1
• Edward Theuns 33/1
• Greg Van Avermat 40/1

letape

Will be at the stage start tomorrow morning in Saumur. Will try and get some pictures and post them on here tomorrow (lack of wifi permitting...).

retalivity

5% incline in the last 500m... few oitside shots perhaps?

Alaphillipe @25/1
Ebh @66/1

neris

retalivity wrote: »

5% incline in the last 500m... few oitside shots perhaps?

Alaphillipe @25/1
Ebh @66/1

EBH @ 66/1 looks good

retalivity

neris wrote: »

EBH @ 66/1 looks good

Bet365 pulled the market when i returned...waiting for the inplay to go back up now.
Its also kristoff's bday... might be worth a punt too

Inquitus

neris wrote: »

EBH @ 66/1 looks good

EBH is going to be leading out Cav, that's why he is 66/1.

RobertKK

I have to say that village (village martyr oradour sur glane) they showed where in WW2 the men were all lined up and shot, and the women and children put into the church and gassed was something else.
The village in ruins and left as a reminder. A haunting image.

neris

another photo finish, i think coquard got it

pajor

On screen results say Kittel got it. Couldn't even tell from the overhead shot like yesterday.

godtabh

that was close

AstraMonti

Wow what a finish!

cunavalos

Stage Results

pelevin

That was a fantastic finish. The bookies were calling it wrong in terms of it being too hard for the total sprinters in favour of Sagan. Kittel 10/1 for a sprint finish?! Unreal odds in ordinary circumstances for a finish that clearly wasn't too hard for the likes of him.

AstraMonti

Talking about splitting hairs.

cunavalos

Photo Finish-Kittel nearest the camera

neris

the english rider danny mcclay is having a good tour so far. 3 top tens in the sprint

dastardly00

I just happened to notice that Rafal Majka is way, way down on the GC (184th at 17'51").

He lost 2'48" on Stage 1. I don't think he fell when Contador did? All the rest of the Tinkoff domestiques didn't lose any time on Stage 1, so I'd be very surprised if Majka burnt himself out getting Contador back in to the peloton after his crash.

Lusk_Doyle

dastardly00 wrote: »

I just happened to notice that Rafal Majka is way, way down on the GC (184th at 17'51").

He lost 2'48" on Stage 1. I don't think he fell when Contador did? All the rest of the Tinkoff domestiques didn't lose any time on Stage 1, so I'd be very surprised if Majka burnt himself out getting Contador back in to the peloton after his crash.

Solo mountain attack coming up so and he will go for the polkas again as bertie likely to withdraw or not push for gc contention due to time loss and body damage.

Esroh

I am enjoying the finishes But my patriotic self is :-( sad thinking about how much more exciting it would be seeing Sam around in the last few km.

Lusk_Doyle

Is it just me or did it look as though Cocquard was mashing too big a gear? I reckon that he could have won that but for using the wrong gear?

letape

Was up at 5.30 this morning for a one hour drive and then just over an hour from Nantes to Saumur for the stage start. Well worth it though - even without any sun. Saumur is a really beautiful town and the Loire Valley itself is definitely somewhere I'll come back to. Great atmosphere too with the locals coming out to support the Tour. The publicity caravan and the anticipation was prob better than the event itself though! Nothing will compare to a previous experience of the 2004 Alpe D'Huez time trial with LA beating Ulrich et al.

pelevin

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Is it just me or did it look as though Cocquard was mashing too big a gear? I reckon that he could have won that but for using the wrong gear?

The rate he was making up the ground on Kittel looked like he should have won but he started going a bit all over the place at the death - I suppose as his body closed in on a heart-attack! Whether twas about the gear or not I've no idea.

edit: That could be doing a bit of a disservice to Kittel though . . . just remembering Cavendish talking a while back of thinking he had Kittel in a sprint only for Kittel to be able to go again, something Cav said he used to be able to do himself but now couldn't.

letape

letape

letape

letape

letape

dastardly00

Those bright green chin straps on the helmets of the Cannondale riders are seriously fugly.

Lusk_Doyle

dastardly00 wrote: »

Those bright green chin straps on the helmets of the Cannondale riders are seriously fugly.

They really do take away from an otherwise beautiful helmet don't they!

neris

dastardly00 wrote: »

Those bright green chin straps on the helmets of the Cannondale riders are seriously fugly.

And the socks belong on a golf course. Big happy head on what looks like adam hansen.