Will anything happen stage 18

tiogar said:

It is best described as a transition stage between the drama of the Alps and the TT.

Will anyone want to try it on? Will the main players drift along in a groupe maillot jaune watching each other, waiting for the TT adn letting the rest play among themselves? Will Friere, mcewen etc actually rejoin the road race? Could we have a typical stage in this most untypical grande boucle?

views?

Surely Pereiro & Sastre have to try for some time bonuses before the ITT.

patch70 said:

Surely Pereiro & Sastre have to try for some time bonuses before the ITT.

Ditto. It only makes sense unless they've just written the tour off...or they think they can handle Floyd in the ITT (which I would doubt).

Small, or maybe even large, break of riders who dogged stage 17 and want to make one last bid for glory. Most of the horsepower of T-Mobile, CdE, and CSC will be exhausted after today.

Hincapie might try something. Don't laugh.

I forgot to mention Kloden... I would think he would try to close the gap some also, if he can get away in a break.

True about Hincapie, if he can get in a break without GC threats, they might let him fly.

I saw very little of the beginning of the stage this evening. How much work did Phonak do? Enough to affect them badly tomorrow?

Mansmind said:

I forgot to mention Kloden... I would think he would try to close the gap some also, if he can get away in a break.

True about Hincapie, if he can get in a break without GC threats, they might let him fly.

Well Cuengo now owns the white jersery by 5 seconds which he will probably lose in the TT... therefore I think he will be flying off the front trying to score time.... a break may form and anything can happen.... I don't think this will be a quite stage although I think Landis will keep things in conrol and take yellow on Saturday... its hard to see anyone gaining 3+ minutes from the GC contenders......

Mansmind said:

I saw very little of the beginning of the stage this evening. How much work did Phonak do? Enough to affect them badly tomorrow?

They ran a train for about 5 minutes to launch Landis off on his attack.... thats about it.... So they would be fresh but to be honest there is not a lot of them and they are not great riders.... being flat that should be able to do enough to keep him in sights of yellow....

patch70 said:

Surely Pereiro & Sastre have to try for some time bonuses before the ITT.

I think you are right. I expect pereiro to make a show today. He has been a constant surprise and if a break develops with aa hincapie or cunego or suchlike he could be very dangerous given his current mood of producing the unpredicted.

Anyway i'm looking forward to another great etape in the grande course (just teaching you panache free yanks a few words of la belle langue don't you know !!!!!)

Riis and Ludwig have already stated they are going to have a go this morning....

tiogar said:

I think you are right. I expect pereiro to make a show today. He has been a constant surprise and if a break develops with aa hincapie or cunego or suchlike he could be very dangerous given his current mood of producing the unpredicted.

Anyway i'm looking forward to another great etape in the grande course (just teaching you panache free yanks a few words of la belle langue don't you know !!!!!)

IMO, Klöden should attack today. Sure, it's probably very hard and the chances to succeed are very slim, but that's the only chance he still has to Podium in Paris. He's a better Time Trialer than Sastre or Pereiro, but a two minutes gap seems to big. Basically, he has nothing to lose anymore, so an attack would be at least worth a try.

longbottom said:

IMO, Klöden should attack today. Sure, it's probably very hard and the chances to succeed are very slim, but that's the only chance he still has to Podium in Paris. He's a better Time Trialer than Sastre or Pereiro, but a two minutes gap seems to big. Basically, he has nothing to lose anymore, so an attack would be at least worth a try.

Normally I would say no but this race has been different so who knows, and T-Mobile has Honchar that is very good pulling on the flats,plus Kessler etc.

in reply to the thread, no.

Dead Star said:

in reply to the thread, no.

You were right. It appears they played into landis hands but perhaps they believe the stupendous effort yesterday adn the fast pace today will blunt him in the TT.

that is the sense of it i get.