Stage 15 TdF

I think the overall abandon rate has been high(carnage in week 1 plus upcoming Olympics.....never mind the tackattacks)but yeah.....Gkam can certainly pick 'em

64 for me

Pyrenees and some proper racing next!

Gkam,

Next time you choose a Purist team, could you let me know who you pick?

Your abandon rate seems well above average....

Wiggins - 10
Griepel - 4 + finish line
Sagan - 14 + finish line
Van Hummel - 0
Jeandesboz - 0
Vichot - 0
Simon - 0
Pinot - 0
Izagirre - 0

-20 penalty points.

Best case scenario is probably a Fedrigo win and a score of around 30 points

Reminds me of the tour a few years ago when Armstrong used to just let breaks go and could control the peloton. It's only really in the HTC years that we've gotten so used to teams chasing down breaks in order to have a sprint finish.

I wonder if this is what we'll get more of when they scrap race radios?

10 bloody minutes what the f@#k this is rubbish racing!!!!

The first 50-60km of this stage were really fast with loads of attacking. The sprinters teams are just too tired to chase down the break.

Yeah, very annoying, wish I hadn't bothered to bring in Griepel/Sagan now although I suspect Sagan at least will sprint for minor placings.

Very odd with a rest day tomorrow, I assume that Lotto were looking at Liquigas and Greenedge to chase it down and vice versa and by the time they got organised it was too late. Will be interesting to see the highlights.

I'm really surprised at this - they get a day off tomorrow! Lazy bastards. Slightly more annoyed about dropping Dumoulin now...

Break at 8'20" with only 40km to go! What are Lotto playing at? Are they just not bothering to even try and bring it back today?

I know the scoring system changes year-by-year, but still...
Sagan now has 340 points, so if and when he finishes top 10 today, he will have the most points since Sean Kelly's 434 in 1985! If he can beat that by Paris he'll have the highest points total in over 50 years!

Quote:

Giovanni Bernaudeau & Kenny van Hummel quit
There are two more retirements in stage 15: they are Giovanni Bernaudeau (EUC) and Kenny van Hummel (VCD). There are now 157 left in the race.

Merde.

21 at the intermediate sprint and I'm hoping DuMoulin can get a win here as less people will have him than Sagan or Greipel......although the sportsman in me would like to see a Cav win after Sky's show of honour yesterday.

Fantasy points for the intermediate were:

1. Sorensen (STB) 15pts
2. Voeckler (EUC) 14pts
3. Devenyns (OPQ) 13pts
4. Dumoulin (COF) 12pts
5. Fedrigo (FDJ) 11pts
6. Vande Velde (GRS) 10pts
7. Sagan (LIQ) 9pts
8. Koren (LIQ) 8pts
9. Bak (LTB) 7pts
10. De Greef (LTB) 6pts
11. Eisel (SKY) 5pts
12. Froome (SKY) 4pts
13. Knees (SKY) 3pts
14. Boasson Hagen (SKY) 2pts
15. Cavendish (SKY) 1pt

Looks like Griepel, Goss and Cavendish have given up on the sprints and the Green jersey.

and Brett Lancaster has abandoned.

Lancaster, Van Hummel
abandoned

Wow they went through the int sprint as if it never existed!

Quote:

First six over intermediate sprint line
The 20 points for first place at Maugbouguet (101.5km) were won by Nicki Sorensen. With six over the line, the first places went to:

1. Sorensen (STB) 20pts
2. Voeckler (EUC) 17pts
3. Devenyns (OPQ) 15pts
4. Dumoulin (COF) 13pts
5. Fedrigo (FDJ) 11pts
6. Vande Velde (GRS) 10pts

Just after these points were taken, the peloton arrived at the '5km until the sprint' sign.

Greipel's birthday today

Bah, I had Dumoulin in the break on Sat and decided he wouldn't go again, never mind. He was only 6th in the intermediate when I had him, so watch him take the 15 points today...

Thought I might get lucky with Stortoni trying to get across the gap just now, but he just missed it. Lampre have done virtually nothing the whole tour, so surely someone (Scarponi again?) will go for it on Weds...

I had quite a good plan in week one and got to top 50 overall after stage 6, but I've messed things up in week 2 and am left with a team that I look at thinking "how the hell have I ended up with that?" still - hopefully three in the top 5 at the finish today and then I think I'll have 5 transfers for Weds if I want them...

Greipel
Goss
Sagan
Valls for Weds
Jeandesbosz
Stortoni
Pinot
De Weert
Boeckmans

Dumoulin! Not the guy I thought I'd get in the break, but happy nonetheless.

Quote:

That's it fellas: 1'30" - you're away!
So the selection has been made. The peloton has eased off the accelerator and the escape group has formed. It's composed of five at the front and one in a counter-attack. The lead group is: Voeckler (EUC), Vande Velde (GRS), Fedrigo (EUC), Devenyns (OPQ) and Dumoulin (COF).

The counter-attacker is Nicki Sorensen (STB).

I'm sure Fedrigo is riding for FDJ

Yeah, I guess as Lotto Belisol is now using the old OP-Lotto license he's in the same team and OP-Quickstep are racing on the old Quickstep license.

Will Sagan realy care?

He's so far ahead now that unless he doesn't contest any of the remaining sprint finishes he's unlikely to be caught. He's 97 points up on Griepel, that's pretty much three uncontested sprint finishes which Griepel would have to win just to catch him.