Tour De France July 3 -25

[mickey]

70km left tonite with 2 monster climbs to come...

Just about to start the Hors category climb and then after that the finish is at the top of a category 1 climb...

[mickey]

the Hors Climb tonite
Starting from Mijanes, the Col de Pailhères is 10.6 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 871 m. (an average percentage of 8.2%) with a maximum gradient of 10.2%

[am Bays]

How's some of the data they just quoted, blokes holding 500 W with a HR of 181. Try and get on an ergo and see how long you can hold 400 W???

Average speed for the first 3 hrs 43 km/h.

Scary stuff.

[mickey]

That climb just smashed the peleton, cant believe they went out so fast on such a hard day...

only 3 more days of hell after this 1...

[mickey]

Stage 15 tonight..

4 Categorised climbs tonight, a small category 4 climb, 2 x category 2 climbs then a Hors Category climb after 150km of riding.

CLIMB 2.
Starting from Audressein (Ariège), the climb is 18.14 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 557 m. (an average percentage of 3.1%). The climb proper starts at St. Lary, 5.9 km from the summit (at 6.8%), with the steepest sections being at 10.6% near the summit.

The HC climb is 18.87 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 1185 m. at an average percentage of 6.3 %, with the steepest sections at over 11%.

After the HC climb its 21km down hill to the finish......

[pels]

Another crazy stage at the tour, Voeckler won the stage from a breakaway

What do people think about what happened with Schleck losing his chain attacking Contador and then Contador attacking Schleck knowing he had a mechanical issue.
My opinion is he should of waited and not take advantage of a mechanical issue, you want to beat your opponent fair and square, if he waited that would of been a classy move and gain more respect.
Not having a teammate close by hurt him and well as he could of jumped on his bike as someone mentioned before Frank Schleck getting injuried is proving to be very costly.
This now makes the next 2 stages very interesting Schleck has to attack as he needs to be at least 1-2 mins ahead of Contador before the TT.

General classification after stage 15
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 72:50:42
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:08
3 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:02:00
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0:02:13
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:03:39
6 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0:05:01
7 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack 0:05:25
8 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:05:45
9 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 0:07:12
10 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions 0:07:51

[Squawk]

Typical Contador. No respect for any other riders, just in it for himself. It's fair in some ways to say he didn't know about Schleck's mechanical, but he could address this by finishing 39 seconds behind Schleck tonight. Will it happen? Never.

[NFC]

First stage I sat down and watche last night, good viewing.

Poor Andy, that's gotta be tough.

[mickey]

Stage 16 (199.5 km)

Bagnères-de-Luchon >> Pau

Tonights stage is virtually hell on a bike, they start with a Category 1 climb, the Col de Peyresourde is 15.27 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 939 m. (an average of 6.1%). The steepest sections are 9.8%.

they then decend that mountain then tackle the Col d'Aspin, a climb that has been used in 66 tours.

After this slight climb they are in for absolute hell....

The Col du Tourmalet

The climb is 17.2 km, gaining 1,268m, an average 7.4 with a maximum of 10. Each kilometre is marked by the distance to the summit and the average gradient of the next kilometre.

After they reach the sumit of this climb they then have a 30km dewcent to the feeding station, before embarking on the next big climb of the day, they climb then slight decent then climb again to the sumit of the Col d'Aubisque.

The east side is climbed after the Col de Soulor (1474 m). Starting from Argelès Gazost, the Soulor is 19.48 km. It rises 1,019m, an average 5.2 per cent. It gets tough after Arrens with 10 per cent and more.

If anyone is still alive after these climbs then its mostly downhill for the last 60km to the finish

[mickey]

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[devilsadvocate]

Last night was such a crap way for schleck to drop time.
Contador won no fans with that display, but at the end of the day, it wasn't in the first 10km so it's race on.

[pels]

Pierrick Fedrigo won stage 16 in a breakway
Peleton had a rest day for the last 90kms
Stage would of been a lot more exciting if the mountains were closer to the end

Schleck has to attack like crazy on Thursdays stage to the Col du Tourmalet if he wants to win the tour.Has to take 1-2 mins from Contador.

No change to the top 10 from yesterday stage

[devilsadvocate]

Awesome stuff on the Col du Tourmalet!!

When will Schleck charge? Can't leave it too late.

[brod]

Only 11.5km to go and no move yet

[brod]

here he goes

[brod]

oh for a Contador chain slip

[devilsadvocate]

That would have been interesting brod!

Fitting result. Schleck led Contador all the way up. I'm glad he didn't try and snipe a win at the top.

Contador will go on and win from here. Schlek wont catch him in the time trial on Saturday.

Some of the spectators at the top were ridiculous.

[dedja]

The parade (and final) stage into Paris tonight.

Contador and Schleck were so far ahead of the rest of the field this year it's not funny.

Congrats to Contador and also to Schleck for a very gutsy 2nd place.

Can't wait to for the duel between these 2 next year.

[pels]

Cavendish won his 5th stage, he is far too quick for everyone else

Schleck will get his chance to win next year as the rumour is Contador is doing the Giro/Vuelta next year

Top 10 GC
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 91:58:48
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:39
3 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0:02:01
4 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:03:40
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:06:54
6 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0:09:31
7 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions 0:10:15
8 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:11:37
9 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo 0:11:54
10 Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack 0:12:02

Petacchi won the Points classification
Anthony Charteau Mountains classification
Andy Schleck won the Young riders classification

[am Bays]

*Bump*

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/alberto-contador-tests-positive-to-banned-drug/story-e6frecj3-1225932253793

Food contamination - ohh my aching sides....