Tour de France 2016, July 16, Stage 14: Montélimar/Villars-les-Dombes *SPOILERS*

Melodeon

Date: Saturday 16th July
Type: Hilly
Distance: 208.5Km
Start/Finish: Montélimar / Villars-les-Dombes Parc des Oiseaux


Stage Map:



Stage Profile:



Finale:



The General Classification after Stage 13:

Sam still holds the Lanterne Rouge.


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

After leaving Montélimar the riders head north, straight up the Rhône Valley to Lyon. The route dances around the edge of Lyon, before spearing off in a north-easterly direction to the finish.

More than likely there will be a headwind all the way today, because south is the prevailing wind direction in this part of the Rhône Valley. If the Mistral blows it will be a terrible slog. That makes it almost worth betting on this stage having a bunch finish.

It will be so hard to stay clear in a headwind. Headwinds also boost the effect of being in the peloton, where for highly conditioned Tour de France riders there will be moments when they can cruise a bit to save their legs.

Chris Froome (Sky) will be one of those happy if the day turns out to be steady-paced. He placed second in the previous day’s time trial behind Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) to extend his overall lead. Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) moves up to second, and Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) slips to third overall.

The sprinters will be hoping for a more straightforward stage too, having enduring the mountains and a long time trial.

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

HIGHLIGHTS:
TG4 - 8.50pm
Eurosport 2 - 6.15pm
Eurosport 1 - 9.00pm
ITV4 - 7.00pm

LE TOUR BY LEMONDE:
Eurosport 1 - 12.00pm

lennymc

looks like a nice sportive...

brianomc

Doesn't sound like i'm missing much today. Has anything of note happened?

StevieGriff

brianomc wrote: »

Doesn't sound like i'm missing much today. Has anything of note happened?

Nope. Other than it seeming like David Millar has been reading the press book inside out, his castle knowledge is on point today.

velo.2010

Just did a double take on the graphic on George Bennett that popped up on screen. He is 1.80m or 5'11 and weighs an incredibly light 58kg. That's a mere 9st 2lbs. That can't be healthy in the long run, regardless of the diet and healthcare he receives.

By comparison, Purito weighs the same and is 5'7 and he's considered a lightweight climber.

Inquitus

Looks like a day for leadout trains with a 3km straight section into the finish. I am going to go for, the loss of Renshaw is a huge loss for Cav, hard to see how he can get the better of both the Lotto and Etixx trains:

#1 Kittel
#2 Cav
#3 Greipel

Honorable mention to Dan MacLay, who's form has been great to date with no leadout train to work off, and hopefully Sammy Bennett if he's recovered from his injuries.

Inquitus

Wow, Cav just seems to be much faster than Kittel at the moment.

JK.BMC

Great to see Sam Bennett up there today! I'm pretty sure that Archbold got him up to Kristoffs wheel with 800m to go; he just didn't have the final punch but he definitely was there if my eyesight is correct. Maybe 12th at the line? Understandable if he is still a bit cautious at the moment.

wanderer 22

'What a day' said twice in 30 seconds...apart from the sprint it was boring as f*&k!

StevieGriff

Inquitus wrote: »

Wow, Cav just seems to be much faster than Kittel at the moment.

Think it's more like a perfect blend of experience and form. His timing has been faultless this tour, not winning by the margins he used to but he's definitely adapted himself.

F.Grimes

Inquitus wrote: »

Wow, Cav just seems to be much faster than Kittel at the moment.

uCI regulation

Sprints
2.3.036 Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching
into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others

Inquitus

StevieGriff wrote: »

Think it's more like a perfect blend of experience and form. His timing has been faultless this tour, not winning by the margins he used to but he's definitely adapted himself.

His timing is as good as it gets, but last year he just couldn't get past Kittel in those situations, Kittel was going away from everyone with ease and winning by bike lengths.

Inquitus

F.Grimes wrote: »

uCI regulation

Sprints
2.3.036 Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching
into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others

Kittel moved to Cav's wheel initially, Cav went past him with a lot of space, and then moved right a small amount coming into the finish, would be amazed if this is reversed, nothing wrong imo.

Beasty

F.Grimes wrote: »

uCI regulation

Sprints
2.3.036 Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching
into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others

If you are suggesting Cav deviated to the right, he did so when past, and as Kittel was deviating to the left.

F.Grimes

Inquitus wrote: »

Kittel moved to Cav's wheel initially, Cav went past him with a lot of space, and then moved right a small amount coming into the finish, would be amazed if this is reversed, nothing wrong imo.

Kittel, definitely didn't move to Cavs wheel! He kept his line, and cav blatantly encroached on kittels line! And there was certainly not a lot of space there

F.Grimes

Beasty wrote: »

If you are suggesting Cav deviated to the right, he did so when past, and as Kittel was deviating to the left.

Lads were we watching the same race! It's clear, cav was encroaching on kittel well before he passed, pushing kittel off his line! He then moved to the right, effectively blocking kittel!

Inquitus

F.Grimes wrote: »

Kittel, definitely didn't move to Cavs wheel! He kept his line, and cav blatantly encroached on kittels line! And there was certainly not a lot of space there

https://twitter.com/inrng/status/754343706250121216

F.Grimes

Inquitus wrote: »

https://twitter.com/inrng/status/754343706250121216

Oh I know Cav got the win, but certainly wasn't a clean win, nearly taken out a competitor in the process! I wouldn't be throwing my hands up as I crossed the line

Inquitus

F.Grimes wrote: »

Oh I know Cav got the win, but certainly wasn't a clean win, nearly taken out a competitor in the process! I wouldn't be throwing my hands up as I crossed the line

It was a clean win, not sure what you were watching, Kittel moved left towards Cav before Cav made a slight move to the right when he was already ahead of him, nothing wrong at all in this finish imho, and well deserved, he was clearly the fastest man.

Beasty

Kittel was beaten. He knew he was beaten. He moved from about 1 metre from the barriers to 2-3 meters from the barriers. He has absolutely nothing to complain about.

StevieGriff

Inquitus wrote: »

His timing is as good as it gets, but last year he just couldn't get past Kittel in those situations, Kittel was going away from everyone with ease and winning by bike lengths.

Absolutely. Imagine how foolish Etixx feel after years of not wanting Cav to ride track, the track training and racing has him in flying form.

Kittel was going backwards when Cav "encroached", he also started moving left as Cav was going right as if to play up the encroachment.

F.Grimes

Inquitus wrote: »

It was a clean win, not sure what you were watching, Kittel moved left towards Cav before Cav made a slight move to the right when he was already ahead of him, nothing wrong at all in this finish imho, and well deserved, he was clearly the fastest man.

https://twitter.com/letour/status/754341801159434240

Kittel, did move left after rounding the turn, but look at cav move right even before he passed kittel. And I wouldn't deny that cav would probably have won anyway, but it's not good sportsmanship, to block a competitors line

Inquitus

F.Grimes wrote: »

https://twitter.com/letour/status/754341801159434240

Kittel, did move left after rounding the turn, but look at cav move right even before he passed kittel. And I wouldn't deny that cav would probably have won anyway, but it's not good sportsmanship, to block a competitors line

Cav has done his fair share of unfair sprinting in the past, I won't deny that, but in this case I think it was six of one and half a dozen of the other, and clearly nothing wrong.

F.Grimes

Inquitus wrote: »

Cav has done his fair share of unfair sprinting in the past, I won't deny that, but in this case I think it was six of one and half a dozen of the other, and clearly nothing wrong.

Yeah I mine, obviously the judges agree with you! Personally never really liked Cav so I'm probably just jumping at the chance to take something away from him! 😀

Boscoirl

JK.BMC wrote: »

Great to see Sam Bennett up there today! I'm pretty sure that Archbold got him up to Kristoffs wheel with 800m to go; he just didn't have the final punch but he definitely was there if my eyesight is correct. Maybe 12th at the line? Understandable if he is still a bit cautious at the moment.

Good shout for 12th

griffin100

JK.BMC wrote: »

Great to see Sam Bennett up there today! I'm pretty sure that Archbold got him up to Kristoffs wheel with 800m to go; he just didn't have the final punch but he definitely was there if my eyesight is correct. Maybe 12th at the line? Understandable if he is still a bit cautious at the moment.

Good article on Sam in today's Irish Tines. He did more damage than thought in that first day crash.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/sam-bennett-back-in-tour-de-france-school-of-hard-knocks-1.2723845

funnights74

I wouldn't mind seeing cavs power output for that sprint today.He left every decent sprinter in the world for dead. Well over 1000 watts for sure.

JK.BMC

funnights74 wrote: »

I wouldn't mind seeing cavs power output for that sprint today.He left every decent sprinter in the world for dead. Well over 1000 watts for sure.

Headwind all the way- he is also the most aero of the top guys; Coquard sprints like a drunken octopus for example, while Bouhanni doesn't like straight lines at all

JK.BMC

F.Grimes wrote: »

Yeah I mine, obviously the judges agree with you! Personally never really liked Cav so I'm probably just jumping at the chance to take something away from him! 😀

Perhaps we wouldn't advise Cav's approach to A4 bunch sprints but let's be honest Kittel knew he was beaten and threw the hand in disgust. The winner was clearly going forward and overtaking a tiring opponent- nothing to see here really. Best man won.

Brian?

funnights74 wrote: »

I wouldn't mind seeing cavs power output for that sprint today.He left every decent sprinter in the world for dead. Well over 1000 watts for sure.

At a guess, somewhere around 1700 watts as he came by Kittel.

StevieGriff

JK.BMC wrote: »

Headwind all the way- he is also the most aero of the top guys; Coquard sprints like a drunken octopus for example, while Bouhanni doesn't like straight lines at all

Caleb Ewan could have something to say about that.:P
(Ewan has said he's massively influenced by Cav though)

Brian? wrote: »

At a guess, somewhere around 1700 watts as he came by Kittel.

He's said in the past his peak power is 1580w (one second power)
I'd imagine when he was on the wheel he was holding 900-1000w and then surges to come around and holds 1400ish for the 7 seconds or so.