2015 Tour de France (with race day spoilers)

[Orange Julia]

Big crash today, already three riders abandoned. Lots of chatter from Mark Cavendish from yesterday--He really does need to learn to keep his mouth shut until his heart rate goes down, but it sure looked like he laid up in the last few seconds when Fabian C came screaming up the outside. I'm at the office so I only have the live text tweets not the actual video feed
 

 

A crash during stage three of the Tour de France saw race leader Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) come down hard before the day’s first categorised climb of Côte de Bohissau.
Cancellara looked dazed after the heavy fall that involved around 20 riders and appeared to have happened as William Bonnet (FDJ) touched wheels with another rider.
Cancellara could be seen talking to race staff and medics, and appeared to have trouble focussing his vision. However, he remounted and rode back in touch with the peloton.
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme took the unusual step of halting the race completely, a decision which some riders appeared to disagree with.
Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), Laurens Ten Dam (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) were among the worst affected, all withdrawing from the race with their injuries.

Read more at http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/tour-de-france/fabian-cancellara-crash-leads-to-race-neutralisation-during-tour-de-france-stage-three-180797#QigSSGzo0ocBexxg.99
 
 

 
Did anyone see the crash?

 

[21st Century Sox]

Yes, wicked crash. Wheel touch, about 15 -20 went down hard, including Cancellara. They neutralized race to let the guys who could get back up catch back on. (Including Fabian) A lot of carnage. FC's yellow bike just flipping down the road. Luckily most of them washed onto the grass...
 
Simon Gearhans biggest name to retire due to the crash.
 
Riders on the front pissed that that they stopped the race. I get it some big names went down, but a little odd to stop it here.

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

I'm watching now. Crazy crash. Peleton was moving in the mid 30's on a straight highway. One bike tangled a front tire with another's back and went down. Tons of guys went down hard. 
 
Here's a tweet with a vine
 
https://twitter.com/ByTheMinSport/status/618067074452226048

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

There was also another crash 500 meters later, but no one had it on film, so it was actually two crashes very close together. 

 

[21st Century Sox]

Decision to neutralize - too many riders down, combined with doctor cars and ambulances way back if another crash required immediate medical attention.

 

[StupendousMan]

If you're interested in following the Tour, but can't watch the live action on television, let me recommend a text-based source for the latest information:
 
http://liveupdateguy.com/
 
The two main commentators provide roughly minute-by-minute updates, with often informative additions from a number of posters.  I give it two thumbs up.

 

[pockmeister]

Crazy day in the Tour, and no way that Froome expected to end up in yellow at this point.  Unlikely that Sky will try and defend it too hard at this stage - although it has the useful benefit of putting their service car first in the queue tomorrow with the cobbled stage likely to take its toll on riders and bikes.  As a Brit, it was good to see Froome riding with his head up and Sky not getting caught out over the first couple of days - Quintana and Nibali have both made their lives more difficult by getting caught on the wrong side of breaks.
 
I was watching the crash live - there's a better video here:  [deleted]
 
On closer viewing, it looks like the crash was caused by a rider to the right side of the road in a dark kit - it might be a Giant-Alpecin rider.  At about 11 secs on the video above, he seems to clip the FDJ rider in white and blue, who is the first to go down, with everyone else hitting him - it's most likely William Bonnet from FDJ, who abandoned immediately.  The rider in the dark kit doesn't go down - he stays upright  and rejoins without further incident as the carnage unfolds behind him.
 
Edit - YouTube clip deleted by owner, so just tidying up

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

If you keep an eye on the rider who goes down first in relation to fixed objects, he slides and rolls from one light pole to the next, ending up under a pile of bikes right past the second pole. Unreal. 

 

[Rovin Romine]

My interest in the Tour has greatly diminished in the past few years, but there's nothing like a major crash to pique the interest. 
 
If you look at the 1.12 mark in the video you get a zoom in of the first falling rider in blue/white going down.  It's hard to talk about "fault" at this point, but the B/W rider is overlapping wheels with the darker kit rider in front of him.  Usually the rule is that you're responsible for your own front wheel, i.e., it looks like B/W's fault.  I didn't see anything weird with the darker rider.  If you watch the top of his front tire in relation to the road's center line, it looks like he's keeping in the lane he's been following.   I don't think we see the seconds leading up to the touch though.  
 
Edit - actually if you look at the 12 second mark, it looks like the dark rider cuts toward the centerline just before the crash.  Around the 8 second mark they're parallel.

 

[pockmeister]

 
Edit - actually if you look at the 12 second mark, it looks like the dark rider cuts toward the centerline just before the crash.  Around the 8 second mark they're parallel.

 
Yeah, that was my take as well.  I'm just not sure that the blue / white rider (Bonnet) was given anywhere to go when the dark rider cut in toward the center.  I wonder if they'll be able to figure out who the rider in the dark kit was.  Looking at it again, it can only be someone from Giant-Alpecin or Bora-Argon.
 
Cancellara is now out as well - he's confirmed via Twitter that he won't start tomorrow after breaking bones in his back for the second time this season.  Ouch

 

[Orange Julia]

I'm watching now on my dvr and I feel like they neutralized the race for two reasons : the first being that back when there was a patron, he would have slowed everyone down. I am not sure there is that kind of leadership in the pelaton now. Also, all the medical people were at one of the two major crashes. If there had been another crash which could be likely given how anxious they all are after such a crash, there would have been no staff to deal with injuries.

 

[therondc]

I don't see how Sky doesn't defend the jersey now. The exception would be if a break goes up the road without a GC contender, without a sprinter Sky will have no reason to do all of the work reeling them back in. But you've got plenty of other teams that will take care of that. 
 
Cobbles tomorrow will be awesome. I know folks (and some of the riders) feel that giving the first week a classics flavor isn't right (Rodriguez ranted about that even after winning today), but it makes for good TV.
 
The TTT will be really interesting - there's a chance that Tejay VanGarderen could end up in yellow after that, assuming he holds position through tomorrow since there's no real selective stages after that until the TTT.
 
It sucks to see Cancellara go down with another spine injury. He's young enough to come back, but you have to wonder with two spine injuries in one season. I almost hope he retires, for his sake.
 
I feel for Tony Martin. He missed yellow in stage 1 fair and square, but then missed it yesterday thanks to Cav's shitty finish (you can't blame Renshaw entirely for uncorking that far out), then misses it today by a second, partially thanks for Rodriguez sitting up to celebrate his finish, allowing Froome to get on his wheel and take his time on the line. Not saying he did anything wrong there, since he's not a teammate, but I would have liked to have seen Martin take it.

 

[therondc]

This whole switching bikes halfway through the stage thing is sort of bullshit. 

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

What are they doing, switching for the cobbles? 

 

[therondc]

Yeah. Sort of lame. The peloton basically self neutralized so they could switch. 

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

I don't get it. Switch to a heavy bike so you can go hard on the cobbles. With all the sections where there really is no hard racing, you'd think the cobbles would be a spot where they'd all agree to go through the motions and battle it out once they get back to pavement.

 

[Schnerres]

I feel for Tony Martin. He missed yellow in stage 1 fair and square, but then missed it yesterday thanks to Cav's shitty finish (you can't blame Renshaw entirely for uncorking that far out), then misses it today by a second, partially thanks for Rodriguez sitting up to celebrate his finish, allowing Froome to get on his wheel and take his time on the line. Not saying he did anything wrong there, since he's not a teammate, but I would have liked to have seen Martin take it.

He earned it now...so far, it´s a really successful Tour for german riders.

 

[therondc]

He earned it now...so far, it´s a really successful Tour for german riders.

That was frigging awesome. Having to chase back on with like 15k to go, and still having the gas to attack at 3k and hold it... that was an incredible effort. Pockmeister was right - although it looked like Froome had an interest in winning the stage today, he showed zero interest in chasing down Martin.

 

[Schnerres]

In an interview in german tv Froome said that they aren´t unhappy about giving away the yellow shirt, because it relieves the team of pressure and duties to keep it. Makes sense..now it´s gone, they had it, they can look for their basic goals..

 

[Orange Julia]

That was frigging awesome. Having to chase back on with like 15k to go, and still having the gas to attack at 3k and hold it... that was an incredible effort. Pockmeister was right - although it looked like Froome had an interest in winning the stage today, he showed zero interest in chasing down Martin.

On someone else's bike. That was awesome!

 

[Spacemans Bong]

In an interview in german tv Froome said that they aren´t unhappy about giving away the yellow shirt, because it relieves the team of pressure and duties to keep it. Makes sense..now it´s gone, they had it, they can look for their basic goals..

 
Martin's clearly not winning the Tour, so it makes a certain amount of sense for them. Plus everybody loves the guy.

 

[pockmeister]

It's pretty much a dream scenario for Sky / Froome at this point - he's no longer burdened with defending yellow, survived the cobbles, has got a few seconds on Contador, and a couple of minutes on Quintana and Nibali.  Team Sky look in great form with Stannard, Thomas and Roche bossing the peloton.
 
Martin was awesome in the final kms yesterday and should be able to hold yellow for the rest of this week, and perhaps through the team time trial on Sunday too, with Etixx Quick-Step doing a lot of the work to manage breakaways.  They don't have a realistic GC contender, so will be able to focus on setting up sprints for Cav and keeping Martin in yellow until the Pyrenees start next week.  Froome and Team Sky will hope keep out of trouble and hold station whilst the sprinters and breakaway merchants fight things out - they did a lot of work in the first couple of days, so will want a little down time.
 
Geraint Thomas was incredible yesterday - he's going to win a Paris-Roubaix sometime soon and be a force in other classics.  Froome rode very well too, and was very attentive at the front of the field.  He showed himself to be a much better bike handler than many had indicated he might be

 

[Spacemans Bong]

He could use to keep his elbows tucked in though. Somebody took exception to that and nearly put him into the crowd.

 

[therondc]

He could use to keep his elbows tucked in though. Somebody took exception to that and nearly put him into the crowd.

That was awesome. I hate how Froome rides (head down, elbows out). Not to get too NASCAR like, but I was rooting for a wreck there.
 
It will be interesting to see if Tony Martin does hold on this weekend, with a punchy Cat 3 finish Saturday and some GC guys looking for any second they can get, I imagine the pace up that climb will be pretty furious, then the TTT Sunday could actually put Tejay in yellow going into the rest day.

 

[pockmeister]

That was awesome. I hate how Froome rides (head down, elbows out). Not to get too NASCAR like, but I was rooting for a wreck there.
 

 
Please no.  Enough of them already this year.  Nacer Bouhanni has already crashed out today.  
 
Foul weather again today - some potential for wind to break the race open again, but it seems most of the big teams are switched on to that now.

 

[therondc]

I know it's early in the tour with this being only the 4th road stage, but I feel like Jens needs to come out of retirement and animate the breakaways. It's really rare that you end up with no breakaway with so far still to go to the finish as you did today. Hopefully someone gives it a dig soon, thought I doubt it, given the weather.  Where's Tommy Voeckler? He's always good for a suicide mission.

 

[pockmeister]

I know it's early in the tour with this being only the 4th road stage, but I feel like Jens needs to come out of retirement and animate the breakaways. It's really rare that you end up with no breakaway with so far still to go to the finish as you did today. Hopefully someone gives it a dig soon, thought I doubt it, given the weather.  Where's Tommy Voeckler? He's always good for a suicide mission.

 
Today has been pretty much the first real breakaway opportunity, and it just never got going. The crosswinds, Mur and cobbles made for three slightly odd stages, without full breakaways.  Feels like a lot of the peloton left their legs on the cobbles yesterday and are having an informal rest day.  Jensie would be up for a futile escape today

 

[therondc]

Hell yeah he would. I just expected some of those wildcard teams to get their jerseys some TV time today, but yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if folks are just a little beat. This has been a rough first week of racing.

 

[therondc]

Cavendish could learn something from watching Greipel and Sagan (yes, I realize he has won 25 stages and likely knows a little about winning). I can't believe he went early again today. He should have found the green jersey's wheel, and sat on it until 100 meters out. Sagan is incredible. I don't think the guy has ever had much of a leadout train, yet he finds his way through and gets results. His finishing speed today was incredible. If anything, he could have gone a little earlier and taken the whole thing. I just watched it again, and he came from so far back, and would have won if the line was 2 meters further back.

 

[Orange Julia]

I really need for The Jensie to talk more. How is it that we haven't heard "shut up legs" yet? I think Cav is done. He's getting smoked at the line. Can't keep blaming his team.

 

[MiracleOfO2704]

Zdenek Stybar may have won the day, but Tony Martin might have lost the war. He crashed along with Nibali in the final run up to the finish. He might keep the yellow jersey because the crash came so late, but it's probably academic as three of his teammates had to support his bike as he rode one-armed across the finish line.

 

[cjdmadcow]

Broken collarbone confirmed for Tony Martin, decision still to be made as to whether he'll continue. Aside from the obvious disappointment for Martin, who is widely considered one of the nice guys, this will affect Mark Cavendish as he loses an important member of his lead-out team for the sprint finishes.
 
I know Le Tour is a test of endurance but at this rate there'll be no-one left to cross the finish line in Paris in 17 days time.

 

[cjdmadcow]

Martin's withdrawal is confirmed and an update on his injury is pretty horrific:
 
 

"Team doctor Helge Riepenhof added: "The collarbone is in lots of pieces, so it was a major impact. One of the pieces came through the skin, which means it's an open fracture..."
 

 
 
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/33466631

 

[Orange Julia]

What a heartbreak.

 

[ernieshore]

I'm a total amateur, but it looked to me like Martin deliberately initiated the contact and caused the crash. And I can't understand why.

Any other thoughts?

 

[am_dial]

I'm a total amateur, but it looked to me like Martin deliberately initiated the contact and caused the crash. And I can't understand why.

Any other thoughts?

 
He touched the rear wheel of the Europcar rider in front of him -- then lost control and fell to his right. Looked to me like he might have been trying to take a more inside line just before bumping wheels.

 

[pockmeister]

 
He touched the rear wheel of the Europcar rider in front of him -- then lost control and fell to his right. Looked to me like he might have been trying to take a more inside line just before bumping wheels.

 
Yep, "racing incident" would be the right term.  Martin certainly didn't try to put the blame on anyone.  Very unfortunate - this year's yellow jersey seems to come attached with some kind of curse.  Noone wearing it today as you can't inherit it without "winning" it - so it'll be back with Froome unless there's some surprises today.
 
We'll find out today if Cav has anything left.  Pure sprinters stage, although without Martin in his leadout train, he's going to have to be totally dependent on Renshaw to deliver him.  Greipel for the win today for my money.

 

[therondc]

Cav did better as a free agent sprinter today, with Greipel being the one going too early, for a change.

 

[Schnerres]

Sadly, they will catch the final two a few km before they reach the finish line...Who will win today? I guess..Tony Gallopin.

 

[Schnerres]

The BMC Riders are killing the field now with 8 riders at the top of the field...everybody (including 2 BMC riders) at the end drops off with 6km to go.

 

[Schnerres]

1st French win, Sagan is insane (gets green back), everybody in front shows they are in decent shape - besides Nibali, who loses a few seconds.
It´s time that the mountains come...but first, the race against time (team) again!

 

[therondc]

I have no idea why NBC SN is showing this on tape delay. Did I miss something?

 

[therondc]

Ah, I see it was on the main NBC. Shame on me for just assuming they would never have a live cycling broadcast on network TV. Oh well.

 

[therondc]

btw, this is a great twitter follow, with tons of data: https://twitter.com/letourdata

 

[therondc]

I'm bummed that Tejay didn't get to wear yellow after today, as I don't feel good about anyone's chanced against Froome in the mountains so this was probably his best chance. That said, it's nice that he put some time into his other GC rivals. As they say, the real race starts Tuesday, but I'm optimistic that Tejay will end up on the podium (I reserve the right to take that back after Tuesday's HC finish).

 

[StupendousMan]

Unhappy news at the Tour today, during a rest day: Ivan Basso, who rides for the Saxo-Tinkoff team, announces that doctors discovered a small cancer on his left testicle. In a crash several days ago, his testicle was pressed hard against the seat of the bike. When the pain continued, day after day, the doctors made a close examination and found the cancer.
 
:-(
 
He's leaving the Tour and heading back to Italy for more medical care. I've been watching Basso since he came onto the scene in the early 2000s, winning the Young Rider jersey in the Tour in 2002. I remember watching him beat Armstrong to a mountain-top finish in Stage 12 of the 2004 Tour. He's had good years and bad years, but I always thought he gave it his best effort. Since he's 37 now, this might bring his pro career to an end.
 
Good luck, Ivan!

 

[Schnerres]

10km to go and Nibali drops back - he will lose the Tour today, that´s obvious.

 

[pockmeister]

10km to go and Nibali drops back - he will lose the Tour today, that´s obvious.

 
And Froome took a huge step towards winning it.  Incredible destruction of the field by Sky.  Movistar went too big, too early and just played into Sky's hands.  
 
Thomas and Porte would probably be the GC leaders for 75% of the other teams in the peloton (Porte will be at BMC next year by all accounts), and they were put in the perfect position to break the race apart.  All over for Nibali for sure, probably over for Contador too, and Tejay isn't going to be able to stay with the pure climbers over the next few days.  
 
The biggest risk to Froome and Sky (other than accidents and ill health) remains Quintana.  Now that he's lost ground, he can take more risks and behave less predictably, which might actually suit him better, especially with Valverde alongside him.  

 

[Mr Mulliner]

I wish I could accept Froom (and the rest of Sky) were just that much better today, but every time I've seen someone put up a performance that dominant... they were doping.

The sport has really screwed itself.

Thomas was talking about how he recovered and was actually stuck behind Van Garderen, and was just breezing along with Valverde. That climb cracked everyone except the Sky guys. I really hope they just all had good days, but like I said, I've seen it before, and we later found out those performances were not on the level.

 

[pockmeister]

I wish I could accept Froom (and the rest of Sky) were just that much better today, but every time I've seen someone put up a performance that dominant... they were doping.

The sport has really screwed itself.

Thomas was talking about how he recovered and was actually stuck behind Van Garderen, and was just breezing along with Valverde. That climb cracked everyone except the Sky guys. I really hope they just all had good days, but like I said, I've seen it before, and we later found out those performances were not on the level.

 
Agreed.  It constantly nags in the back of my mind too.  Sky have made a huge play of being a 100% clean team, and of not employing anyone with doping in their history.  
 
Froome has shown this kind of climbing ability before - his ascent of Ventoux in 2013 was very similar, and he won the Dauphine in the lead up to this Tour with a similar lone attack and breakaway on the final climb - distancing Tejay at a similar rate.  It's also clear from the comments of Brailsford and other Sky riders that this particular climb was always going to be a major target for them, regardless of Froome already being in yellow.  Sky do love a plan, and tend to stick pretty rigidly to them.
 
As a team, they have been purely focused on being in great form at the Tour and protecting Froome - Contador has the effects of the Giro in his legs to contend with.  Geraint Thomas has been one of the form riders in Europe throughout the spring and is an incredible talent, so he may be making a breakthrough.  Porte is a class act in the mountains, and they have other luxury domestiques (Stannard, Kennaugh) who do huge amounts of work protecting Froome during the flatter stages.  So it it plausible that this is simply a team and a particular rider in stunning form at the right moment, but I can't lose the doubts - I was shocked that Quintana lost a minute.
 
If there is any doping there, it would be shattering not just for Sky but for British cycling as a whole.  The British track cycling programme is closely linked to Team Sky, and Brailsford has overseen all the success that Britain has had at Olympics and Worlds.  There's a lot invested in British cycling and Team Sky being clean - but how do they prove it other than passing the drugs tests and sharing as much data as they can?