Sep Vanmarcke rides the cobbles Kelly-Style in the 2014 stage to Port du Hinault. Photo: Cycling Tips
Cobblestones make the race, I’m not ruining any fantasies telling you that. Wet cobblestones, well, those make a legend. Nibbles rose in my esteem considerably when he rode the wet cobbles as well as he rides any mountain descent or climb; that is a boy with some nerves and some mad bike handling skills.
Wet cobbles are scarier to ride that dry ones, but they aren’t really that much more difficult to ride; you’re still playing the lottery that your wheels keep pointing where your bike is trying to go. But wet stones are definitely more draining; the mud and silt you ride through make it like riding through molasses. Awesome molasses, but molasses nonetheless.
The cobbles are back this year, and hopefully so will the rain. Let us pray for rain, because last year’s stage made the race.
The Tour de France needs no introduction but the VSP prizes deserve a gentle reminder. This is a Grand Tour, people, lots of points at stake. And those points are going towards amazing prizes including a Jaegher frame and a Café Roubaix wheelset. There is plenty of time for you to Delgado this thing, too, if you wait around until the last minute. So my advice is that you avoid doing that.
Give yourself enough time to enter your picks so if something has gone amuck, you have time to hit “reload” or come back V minutes later to try again before the event closes. Remember, your procrastination in this matter will not result in our emergency to enter your picks for you. All that said, if you do encounter a problem, please be so kind as to take a screenshot and upload it because the descriptor “it didn’t work” or “hm, not working” doesn’t help us debug the problem. Also, Internet Explorer is not supported and apparently only shows one Pick Entry box, so use Chrome, Firefox, or Safari instead.
The scoring for the Grand Tours is a tad more involved than the one-day races and one-week Tours, so look the guidelines over before making your prognostications.
So get your picks in before the countdown clock goes to zero, hit the go button, and good luck.
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Boom! It all comes down to this. Win the stage by 2.29 and the Tour is Quintana's, but remember he wears the white jersey, his time is yet to come.
@Teocalli
Yeah, Froome was being talked about as a rare talent and a possible GT contender even from his mountainbike days - he didn't get picked by Barloworld for nothing.
Just because the shit media haven't seized on someone so we haven't heard of them doesn't actually mean they've come from nowhere.
Basically, they have to perform on the big stage for most journalists to take them seriously and start talking about them, but the fact is they had to have been good enough to get there in the first place.
So the crosswinds in the first week ultimately decided the race. Brilliance from Pinot & Quintana today yet not brilliant enough for the latter.
4/5 in the VSP but none in the correct order.
Well that was great! How many times did Quintana try and lift the pace? That may not have been flashy by Froome but it was gritty, and it's very cool to see the Maillot Jaune take the Maillot Pois as well - that's the first time that's happened since The Prophet did it in 1970.
Well....at least I nailed my pick of Nibali finishing 4th...
Winner Anacona was pretty amazing, especially when he looked back and Nairo was like, yeah, cmon go as hard as you can.... after being in the break for most of the day.
I'm mad at Movistar for screwing up so early and wondering how (I mean, I know how I guess) Quintana couldn't have chipped away a few seconds here and there before today's epic ride. But that ride was epic.
So how do the French (etc) press cover that overall Quintana was the fastest climber and Pinot took the king stage? Doubtless Pinot was merely superbe avec panache. I personally like to believe that the fact that none of them can string together a series of killer stages as a good sign that things have improved. Call me naive if you like but for me it's better than the COTHO days. I'd place a bet on Quintana for next year though.
Brilliant! Had the pleasure of yelling at life sized projected images live, the first climb was a cracker too, here's the last climb, fantastic!
Remember Nairo is only 24, his best is yet to come. Chapeau to Froome, as always this is a team event and for the most part the teams were great, great Tour.
@RobSandy
@RobSandy The curse of the rest day swaps eh? Happy for @The Engine, leading going into the ice rink that a wet Champs Elysees appears to be for the ladies in La Course. Fingers crossed for a incident free finale...
Twice now Movistar have been undone in the Dutch crosswinds - Valverde was behind by the time lost after he punctured in the wind a couple of years back. I thought Quintana would ride with no luck and would crash out early. I also thought Scarponi and Fuglsang would be stronger. Glad I was wrong.
I think Quintana is no sure thing - this course suited him, he may have to wait a year or two for another opportunity like this year's, and a lot can happen in that time.