2008 Tour De France Stage 15 - Sunday, July 20: Embrun - Prato Nevoso, 183km

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He does a little I guess, but we now know he fell away on Hautacam from two guys who were juiced

Crankyfeet

A little on a tangent... but I think there is something wrong with the Green Jersey points system if Freire can say that he is worried Cav might have overtaken him if he won the last two sprint stages.

When a guy who wins one stage is only worried by another guy who wins SIX stages... I think they are giving too many points for lower places on stages IMO.

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TheDarkLord

By six, I suppose that you mean four.

Gap up to 9:50.

Crankyfeet

No...if Cav had won the last two sprint stages of the TdF (that haven't been raced yet)... then he would have won 6 stages. Freire was saying that if Cav won another two stages from here (this was before Cav announced he was pulling out) then he was concerned Cav could pass him.

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Bro Deal

The point system is that way to make sure that riders who want to compete for the green jersey have to worry about the intermediate sprints. It is supposed to add action to each stage.

It reminds me of the current F1 point system. There was a season where Schumacher had won nine or ten races, Raikkonen had won one, but it was still possible Raikkonen could win the championship at the last race of the season. That was seriously fucked up.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

TheDarkLord

The weather has improved and he road looks mostly dry. If this maintains, the descent will be fast, although pockets of wet road can be a great danger.

Bro Deal

Good thing those people on the roof did not fall off.

__________________
"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Bro Deal

Great. There goes one of Evans teammates.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Crankyfeet

I thought one of them was JB.

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Crankyfeet

I wouldn't like to bonk like that with the amount of distance left in the stage... he might be soloing it in from here and struggling to make the time allowance.

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Scotttri

Silence Lotto is a weak team.

Crankyfeet

So are the Italian police/CONI going to be waiting for anyone at the border?...

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TheDarkLord

Inevitable in a HC climb IMO. There are others who are also slowly popping off the back of the peloton, and I'm sure that they can get together and ride as a group.

Edit: The front group of four have crested Agnel. They still have a nice 13 min lead.

Bro Deal

Oooh. Windy. I hate descending canyons in gusty wind.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates