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

Ashley.S.Olsen

he looks good very. on the wrong team. he got a speaking to on Sunday for his attack.

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http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=sCF8ZOYVXF8

Anticyclone

Froome was surprised at how well he went yesterday when interviewed on ITV4.

Like many of the above i think that all the top French riders will want to be in the break. Its surely their chance to put themselves at the top, at least in the French consciousness? I imagine that Voeckler and Chavanel will be in the break hoping to get enough points to get back into the polka-dot jersey. Moncoutie is on the same team as Chavanel (Cofidis) - i think he will want to be in it as well, so one of them should get into the break. Guys higher up on GC like Dessel and Casar may well try to get into the break too.

I dont think the break will make it though. With a rest day coming up some of the top contenders are going to want to put the power down to try and crack the others. I think the general dithering yesterday was a reaction to this - an attack close to the top could have been swept up on the way down. I think that Kirchen will become isolated on the Tourmalet and he wont finish with the leaders. Team Colombia have put a lot of effort in so far and should be about to pay the penalty. It should be Evans who takes over but if he is struggling with an injury then it could be Menchov. Schumacher looked suspect yesterday; although Vande Velde rode strongly yesterday i cant see him keeping with a hot pace today and will probably finish 3 or 4 minutes back. Then it comes down to a shoot out between Menchov and Valverde. Assuming that the stage win is down to the main contenders then i think that Ricco may be able to slip away again today towards the end - i think his winning margin yesterday was a bit deceptive as no-one wanted to chase. Not sure what to think of Kreuziger and Nibali - they looked good yesterday but the pace wasnt that hot so going off the front wasnt perhaps that much of an achievement. After his win in the Tour of Switzerland, Kreuziger could be the slightly dark horse today. The CSCs could have something up their sleeve - i expect a good ride from Andy Schleck today.

ad9898

I predicted earlier in the tour for Evans to lose a minute + today, I'll stick with this.

TheDarkLord

Cadel says that he is stiff and sore. He also mentioned that he is just glad to be able to start today.

Scotttri

I think Ricco will be the one to beat again today. I dont think Evans will lose to much time to Valverde, Menchoc etc. If any time at all

heinkel12

That prediction looks a lot better today than it did when you made it.

TheDarkLord

A couple of crashes so far. Latest involved Mark Cavendish and Danny Pate. Cavendish was having his elbow tended to.

TheDarkLord

24 riders (!) in a break. Their names (from the official site):
Popovych (SIL)
Cancellara (CSC)
Gutierrez (GCE)
Burghardt (THR)
Augustyn and Cheula (BAR)
Pozzato (LIQ)
Le Mevel (C.A)
Tosatto (QST)
Dupont (ALM)
Fothen, Lang and Wegmann (GST)
Feillu and Vogondy (AGR)
Freire (RAB)
Fedrigo (BTL)
Chavanel, Di Gregorio and Roy (FDJ)
Bertogliati and De La Fuente (SDV)
Duque (COF)

Scotttri

I dont think that break will get far, Popovych is only 4 minutes behind and he can match it in the mountains.

Bro Deal

I don't know. Evans would be expected to be in "limit time loss" mode on a climb like Hautacam. A pre-Puerto Valverde would maybe take a minute out of him.

Right now Evans losing just a minute to Valverde does not look that bad, especially considering Evans crash. He would still have a few seconds in the bank over Valverde.

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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

Scotttri

I dont see Valverde being able to do it, then again no one has shown there cards yet, except Ricco, who on form could probably make two minutes on the last climb. He'll be watched closer today though

heinkel12

I made the comment with a dose of sarcasm. I think he had a chance to limit his losses before his crash but I definitely think he will be fighting to stay in touch today.

Bro Deal

I am not convinced that Valverde is the same rider he was before Puerto.

__________________
"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

Bro Deal

So who dies in the mountains today?

Vande Velde has to melt down sometime. Why not today? Kirchen is a good candidate considering what he looked like yesterday.

__________________
"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