Van Avermaet in Yellow
and TJ on same time.
Terrible TT for Nibali and Quintana both losing time
Fugslang/Porte +51 seconds
Froome + 55 Seconds
A Yates + 1 min
Nibali + 1:06
Bardet 1:15
Quintana 2:08
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Mitchelton Scott did well with 5 1/2 riders - Damage has been arrested.
Gaviria wins stage 4. A good shoot out with Griepel and Sagan grabbing 2nd after Griepel faded.
You can see why bring Ewan to the TdF was not a good idea, Gaviria is going to kick ■■■■ given a free run at it.
Kittel and Cav look so cooked.
First lumpy classics stage with a 1km 5% uphill finish tonight. One for Sagan, Matthews, GVA, Cobrelli etc.
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Actually Gaviria was quoted as saying he had more competition from Ewan in the TOC - Actually the last 2 sprint finishes would have suited Ewan - Think today’s final is similar to the won Ewan beat Impey and Sagan in the 2018 TDU - Of course today’s stage has two cat 3 climbs earlier on - This will severely break up the peleton if ridden as a GC day or otherwise noticed that Colbrelli and Impey sat up while Matthews was held up by a crash - Ridden as a GC day Valverde or Gilbert, if not people, like Sagan, Matthews, Colbrelli and Impey.
Matthews out.
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It’s been a tough season for Matthews - Still hasn’t recovered from his shoulder and struggles to lift his arm over his head.
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Benoot was also a DNS.
And Kiserlovski has just crashed out near the start of stage 5.
So Domont, Matthews, Kiserlovski and Benoot all out in the last 20 kms.
This is a tough stage, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more attrition towards the end where it gets narrow and nasty.
It depend on whether it’s ridden as a GC stage or a sprint stage - GC teams or Etix put the hammer down on the 2nd last climb and that will leave 30 or 40 riders for the final.
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Sagan beats Colbrelli and Gilbert in a punchy finale to stage 5 - I suspect A.Yates is a bit off - Finish at Mur De Bretagne will give a better idea - He’s in form and he should top 5 in this stage - Reckon Impey is still affected from his stage 2 crash as he should have finished at the pointy end of today’s stage - Most interesting development is Chaves is to ride the Tour of Utah which suggests either he or S.Yates will miss the Vuelta and Ewan will ride the Vuelta.
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MS go 1-2 on stage 6 of Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile, their 3 stage win.
Spratt from the reduced bunch soloed to win from Annemiek van Vleuten.
2 GC days coming up.
Although with BMC’s future up in the air, it could be a short stay at WT level.
Mitchelton Scott’s women team is flying - AVV is a legend, Spratt rise this year has been a surprise, Roy is a consistent rider who usually snares one or two WT winds, D’Hoore was an inspired signing and gives the team a quality sprinter, Elvin is a consistent in the classics, Williams is continuing to develop, Manly when available can do excellent lead outs, new recruit Lucy kennedy is a GUN climber but continues to fall off her bike, while Allen and Crooks are the domestiques - Last year it was obvious that MS lacked in 2 key areas - A world class sprinter which has been ticked off by D’Hoore and an Australian climber which has been filled by the improvement of Spratt and the recruitment of Kennedy whose training numbers are in the AVV category.
I am interested in the signing of Alexander Evans - He’s a gifted climber but can struggle on the flats and is a useless TTer - He’s needs a more rounded skill set to make the WT.
Tonight my three favourites for stage 6 of the TDF are Dan Martin, Valverde and Roglic - I suspect Alaphallippe is a bit off like A.Yates.
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I’m expecting Alaphallippe to win the stage TBH. But there’s a host of classics and GC riders who’ll be in with a chance here, and of course Sagan if they don’t hammer it hard enough to drop or wear him out.
Cadel Evans won here in 2011, winning the bike throw from Contador.
Lance Armstrong also said Alaphallippe for tonight’s stage.
That’s the kiss of death then.
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Alaphalippe should have done better in stage 2 and stage 5 which raises doubts.
Annemiek Van Vleuten won stage 7 ITT by 2m and 28s - Spratt was 5th in the ITT - AVV is more than 2 minutes in the lead.
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Martin wins from Latour and Valverde. Alaphillipe and Yates 4th & 6th respectively.
Bardet and Dumoulin have punctures at the wrong moment and lose 31& 53 seconds respectively. Froome lost a handful of seconds too.
The GC situation (ignoring TJvG) is now very finely balanced.
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