TdF 2017 stage 7: Troyes > Nuits-Saint-Georges 213.5 km

Inquitus

Prudhomme's thoughts:

The globally flat course seems perfectly suited for a revenge between the sprinters, frustrated by the outcome of the previous day. However the final loop of 40 kilometres will see the peloton battle it out in the sidewind and some teams will certainly make the best of it. The Burgundy vineyard homelands are indeed registered on the World Heritage of Humanity sites.

These thoughts are underlined by the profile...:



Weather forecast at tomorrow's finish, Nuit-Saint-Georges:



Sadly there will be no sidewinds significant enough to cause echelons, but we may well end up with a wet sprint in Nuit-Saint-Georges. Again a weak break to be kept on a tight leash all day and a bunch sprint at the end, so 5 hours of coverage for 5 minutes of racing! Fortunately we refocus on the GC tomorrow and Sunday and by the first rest day on Monday we should have a clearer picture.



General classification top 10 after stage 6:

1. Christopher FROOME
2. Geraint THOMAS + 12''
3. Fabio ARU + 14''
4. Daniel MARTIN + 25''
5. Richie PORTE + 39''
6. Simon YATES + 43''
7. Romain BARDET + 47''
8. Alberto CONTADOR + 52''
9. Nairo QUINTANA + 54''
10. Rafal MAJKA + 1'01''

Green points jersey classification top 5:

1. Arnaud DEMARE 170
2. Marcel KITTEL 143
3. Michael MATTHEWS 96
4. André GREIPEL 93
5. Alexander KRISTOFF 74

Polka-dot King of the Mountains jersey top 3:

1. Fabio ARU 10
2. Dan MARTIN 8
3. Christopher FROOME 6

Stage Odds
Marcel Kittel 8/11
Arnaud Demare 3
Andre Greipel 11/2
Alexander Kristoff 16
Dylan Groenewegen 18
Nacer Bouhanni 18
Michael Matthews 40
Daniel McLay 50
Sonny Colbrelli 50
Edvald Boasson Hagen 50
John Degenkolb 100
Mark Renshaw 150

Gratuitous bottle of the local plonk, very nice it is too!

spock.

On this day four years ago...

Inquitus

Dutch newspaper column on yesterdays stage:

dastardly00

Inquitus wrote: »

Dutch newspaper column on yesterdays stage:

It'll be a copy & paste job for tomorrow's column as well!

neris

These 200km+ stages and coverage from the start are a real bore. 120-160km stages be much better. Chaotic fast racing masks for better tv. All day coverage of Paris roubaux is 1 thing but the tdf is a snoozefest half the time

MPFGLB

There i a good chance of cross winds today so there may be action

Leroy42

Are ITV4 doing all day coverage like Eurosport?

You would seriously have to question the viability of something like that. I love cycling, love watching it and I actually like all the mundane talk and gibberish, the spectacle, the sights etc.

But for most people I can't see it.

I agree that these 200k+ plus stages seem relatively pointless. It would be better to have two shorter stages in one day (if they want to keep the overall distance). I get the whole wearing down process involved, and even though it looks serene from the couch the main guys are working hard all the time (either physically or mentally).

Maybe adding more sprints to the stage, and bigger prises for the sprints

They are but their commentary team are doing a much better job of filling the time with guests and tweets etc than Eurosport are.

They have Geoff Thomas on now speaking from his ride on the 3 tours challenge, who are riding a day ahead of the Tour itself.

irishrover99

The Etixx and Sky rider at the front have been chatting for about 15km to each other.
That's more than me and the Wife talk in a week. :pac:

Macy0161

Leroy42 wrote: »

Are ITV4 doing all day coverage like Eurosport?

You would seriously have to question the viability of something like that. I love cycling, love watching it and I actually like all the mundane talk and gibberish, the spectacle, the sights etc.

But for most people I can't see it.

I'd love to get the chance to watch a complete stage! Just about push it for Roubaix.

I would say Ned has been one of those that called for it in the past, with the justification the first hour when a break is trying to go can be the best racing. They always seemed to start the highlights with "the first hour covered 55km as the break tried to form". As soon as it has complete coverage no one can be bothered getting in a break!

One thing you see in the full stages you don't really see in the later coverage is wee breaks

CramCycle

irishrover99 wrote: »

The Etixx and Sky rider at the front have been chatting for about 15km to each other.
That's more than me and the Wife talk in a week. :pac:

Only a cyclist would refer to a passage of time in the units of distance and fully grasp how long it was.

NamelessPhil

This is why Audax isn't televised. Yawn!

This is also why the TdF is my least favourite grand tour. The Giro this year has spoiled me, attacking racing, GC uncertainty, short snappy stages it had everything.

Leroy42

Just curious, what sort of effort would be required in a stage like this. Obviously for 'normal' people 200k+ would be a feat in itself, but for the average domestic (not accounting for a breakaway) would a stage like this be hard or easy enough?

Weepsie

Leroy42 wrote: »

Just curious, what sort of effort would be required in a stage like this. Obviously for 'normal' people 200k+ would be a feat in itself, but for the average domestic (not accounting for a breakaway) would a stage like this be hard or easy enough?

Froome said yesterday was one of the easiest days he's ever had in a race.

I know he's not an average domestique

irishrover99

Leroy42 wrote: »

Just curious, what sort of effort would be required in a stage like this. Obviously for 'normal' people 200k+ would be a feat in itself, but for the average domestic (not accounting for a breakaway) would a stage like this be hard or easy enough?

GCN just upload a vid with Simon Richardson who was an ex Pro at some level, doing the first day with Mark Beaumont on his 80 day world record attempt around the world.
384 km i think in one day and Simon was shot while Mark looked fresh as a daisy but that was with only 2 riders.

I've seen guys doing the W200 at averages of 28kph and saying it wasn't hard and i know i'd be faster than them but they are in huge club groups like Orwell. I'm sure getting pulled along at the back of a peloton wouldn't be too hard until of course they upped the speed towards the end.

07Lapierre

Leroy42 wrote: »

Just curious, what sort of effort would be required in a stage like this. Obviously for 'normal' people 200k+ would be a feat in itself, but for the average domestic (not accounting for a breakaway) would a stage like this be hard or easy enough?

I suspect the only riders working today are those in the breakaway. The rest are just cruising.

mcgratheoin

Leroy42 wrote: »

Just curious, what sort of effort would be required in a stage like this. Obviously for 'normal' people 200k+ would be a feat in itself, but for the average domestic (not accounting for a breakaway) would a stage like this be hard or easy enough?

Here's Laurens ten Dam's Strava upload from yesterdays stage.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1070586400

greenspurs

dastardly00

NamelessPhil wrote: »

This is why Audax isn't televised. Yawn!

This is also why the TdF is my least favourite grand tour. The Giro this year has spoiled me, attacking racing, GC uncertainty, short snappy stages it had everything.

There are long, boring stages in the Vuelta and Giro as well...

Inquitus

All it does is make me wish I were in France for 5 hours instead of at work

Heard them mention Claudia Cretti on Eurosport there, she had a terrible fall at the Giro Rosa yesterday

Itziger

Not long to go now folks. 15k, so they can stop playing the 'will we catch those fellas out front' game they've been playing for quite a bit at this stage.

Edit: 48 seconds! If they're not careful they'll actually have to work.

Itziger

Deleted User wrote: »

Heard them mention Claudia Cretti on Eurosport there, she had a terrible fall at the Giro Rosa yesterday

Hmmm, sounds bad. Good luck to her.

This is mad with them dodging the central reservations

Wow good luck splitting them on that photo :eek:

Demare was well out of it today.

Eamonnator

close one

Itziger

That was close. The other day someone said it was 5 hours of cycling for 5 minutes of action. Today that was more like 5 seconds of sction. Bring back Sagan I say.

mossym

how did they pick a winner there. there was nothing in that photo

Kittel takes it. Must have had to get a microscope out to split them.

mossym

Deleted User wrote: »

xxxxx was well out of it today.

can't remember if we have to spoiler or not

he (demare)never got into position really, couldn't find a gap and even if he had he'd been working too hard to make use of it i think