2008 Tour de France : Stage 10 10 Pau - Hautacam 156.0 km Monday, July 14th

fscyclist

Maybe if they give those guys a 90 minute head start.

Crankyfeet

Ricco's the mountain goat in this peloton, right? I realise that there were a few climbers who were keeping things in reserve on yesterday's stage... but after the Giro and TdF Stage 9... it's reasonable to assume that Ricco has the best power to weight ratio of the field.

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Grater

Valverde to win tonight from Kirchen and either Ricco or Piepoli.

Bro Deal

Maybe he has the best balls to weight ratio.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Crankyfeet

No... Lance disproved that wive's tale...

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heinkel12

Simon Gerrans does a blog for The Age in Melbourne and reckons the word is that Valverde is struggling. His words not mine.

adamastor

Don't be mistaken, a lot of the French riders simply let the peloton go yesterday, because they are waiting for THEIR day, Bastille day. Also, a guy like Jérôme Pineau has learnt his lesson. For the peloton to let you go at the start of the stage, you need to be way back in the GC, which was not the case with some of the guys. AG2R is the only French team, that is still going for GC (with Efimkin, probably). others (Voeckler, Moncoutié, Chavanel, Casar) will give everything today, right from the start. They're not as bad as you are thinking. A lot of them are still dubious about how clean the peloton is. Don't know if they're right or not, but heard French DiGregorio yesterday after the stage; a reporter was asking him, what made of Ricco such a great climber. Big smile, then..."why are you asking me? I don't know what he's taking!"

Bro Deal

ROTFL!

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

adamastor

Read Andy Schleck's comments in Luxembourg paper (www.wort.lu) about y'day's stage: "I felt very well, and had no problems following the best. When Ricco started, I hesitated if I should follow, but decided to stay with top riders. The speed was not too tough, as top riders were watching each others..."
In comparison, here's Kirchen's comment:"I had a bad day. There were 2 very hard climbs, etc etc..."

I think, Andy or Frank will go for it straight in Tourmalet, most probably Frank, because of his experience in managing longer solo rides. Brother Andy will be ready to take over, and most probably will follow (or try to) Ricco like a shadow. Finally Sastre will only focus on Valverde, Evans, Kirchen. If he can, he'll attack in the end of Hautacam.

2 unknown to me that looked impressive yesterday: Kreuziger and Nibali.

Eldron

Ahhhh the first REAL stage of the TdF - I'm positively salivating...

As to who wins? Tough call - nobody (apart from Ricco) has given us any indication of their climbing legs.

As always a patriotic shout out goes to Augustyn/Froome to get into a break with a bunch of Frenchies - it is Bastille Day after all.

Runitout

Froome was very impressive yesterday. Chapeau bas.

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Means nothing; others it leaves
Nothing to be said.

Drongo

I agree.

In addition to your list, I think Cunego will do okay on this stage, which no doubt puts the moz on him.

The French climbers will go in an early break and get chewed up as the stage progresses; one of them might hang on. The real interest will be the GC battle behind and I think there will be fireworks/carnage/one helluva shakeup.

Not a good time to be getting over a crash.

Powerful Pete

Interesting to see Cunego crossing the finish line smiling/laughing yesterday. I suspect it is the first time in this Tour. I am curious to see what he does today. I suspect he will wait out and see if things fall apart for some of the other big GC contenders.

I would also expect a hard attack early on the Hautacam by Piepoli, with Riccò waiting to see what happens.

Of course the French will try something, although I expect them to go early and try to spend the maximum amount of time out in front getting TV exposure for their sponsors...

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Trev_S

I favour one of these guys,
Ricco, Piepoli or Samuel Sanchez