Stage 16 TDF : Mourenx - Pau : Spoiler

limerickman

After the rest day in the pyrennees, the tired cyclists now have a 180km stage to re-introduce themselves to the TDF.

A tough stage awaits with the Col de Marie Blanque, followed by the massive Col d'Aubisque and Col du Soulor :
A hard stage.

How will the riders react after the rest day ?
Will LA try to win this stage ?
Rasmussen ?
And what of Mobile, CSC ?
Landis might fancy his chances or maybe Leipheimer.

To get the ball rolling : I am going to go for Carlos Sastre for overall victtory on the stage.
Failing him Mancebo.

patch70

I think one of the EE guys needs to do something but I'm not convinced any of them have it in them this year. Maybe Zubeldia?

This could be Ullrich's chance to get time on Rasmussen before the ITT without being much of a danger to DSC.

tinks

Definitely.

Here and on stage 18 you'd expect T-Mobile to make some moves. Again, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain and they've been attacking in less predictable places this year so we might see something big from them although 18 does seem the better stage for it.

tcklyde

Sastre and Zubeldia seem like good guesses to me. I'll throw out Fedrigo, Contador, and Mazzoleni as some others...

Should be a pretty neat stage. It's always so hard to tell with the long downhill finishes!

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Harry

mr tibbs

i dunno, doesn't seem like a good course to put time on an ex-mtb champ, but tmo may try. when you've got that little grenade vino to blow up the peleton, who knows what might happen. either way, i think jan wants to go into the final tt two minuted or less dow on rass, which jan beat him by in the opening tt.


though there will be some differences between the last tt and the first: the longer course and (hopefully) not crashing before the stage benefit ullrich, but i think ras will push himself a bit harder this time around since he's riding for a podium.


back to the stage. dsc and csc only chase threats (ie: jan or rass), vino attacks (...), jan gains seconds on rass if he's lucky, the stage is won by a non-threatening break, and any american in the break gets an inordinate amount of attention from oln's ameri-centric broadcast.


sorry about the convoluted post.

mitosis

Haven't seen much of Merckx this year. Maybe its his turn.

jhuskey

I'll have to say I believe Vino will try and instigate something again. It's just his style.
A hard stage but I believe most breakaways could be chased down over this course.
It could be a good stage to keep the DC train rolling all the way and give Lance a stage victory.

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Sobriety is over rated!

limerickman

CET 15.20hrs : Vino and Ullrich look like they want to try to do something.

Cadel Evans is trying to get the win today for the terrible toll arising from the accident in Germany to the Australian Ladies Cycling team.

Great stage so far :

limerickman

Oscar Pereiro and Mazzolini are doing are agreat stage today also : second and third over the Aubisque

rejobako

LOL; damn those self-centered Americans for featuring Americans in their cycling coverage. How dare they do so when OLN is the only source for televised cycling to the entire world, and the riders from the other nations deserve equal time. This is really annoyi . . . . what? You mean OLN is an American network broadcasting to an audience primarily in North America? You mean other countries have television coverage aimed at their own demographics too?

Sorry; I just realized how much of an idiot I sound like. Never mind.

limerickman

Evans still out up the road : Pereiro is trying to bridge the gap : the main bunch as come back together.
Ullrich and LA appeared to be talking to each other on the descent of the Aubisque.
Vino's in there : Kloden too : Hincapie etc.

whiteboytrash

Evans has moved from 11th to 4th on the road for the GC.... T-Mobile will have to chase to protect Ullrich's 4th place...... good riding by Evans fuelled by the death of Amy Gillett whilst training in Germany and the critical injuries of five of her teammates..... the aussies are wearing black armbands today in memory......

cheapie

Does anyone have a link to a story on the Australian Ladies Cycling team tragedy?

rejobako

It would be nice to see Evans win it on that basis, although I also have to compliment Pereiro for putting in another great effort after his disappointment on Sunday.