2008 Tour de France : Stage 8 Figeac - Toulouse 172.5 km Saturday, July 12

limerickman

Stage 8

__________________
.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets" - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

TheDarkLord

A "flat" stage; well compared to the previous two stages at least.

Stage profile:



Do you think this is going to be a boring stage?

Bro Deal

That is a great looking stage.

Chavanel will be out early to pick up a few mountain points. He dogged today's stage.

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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

Grater

It won't be a sprinters stage tonight. I would expect a break will get away - after yesterday's effort and the hard work done, I can't see the teams chasing anything down. And with the inability of the peloton to chase on relatively flat stages (they nearly screwed up stage 5) I think that Flecha wins today's stage. Last time the tour was here, he won in 2004.

Grater

Okay, if a break stays away - Flecha wins.

In a sprint finish top 3

Cavendish
Hushovd
Zabel

Trev_S

Similar to Grater, I favour a break to survive and Flecha to be in it and take the win.
If it does come back together for a sprint I'm going with Freire again, he'll get a win sooner or later

Scotttri

Perfect stage for a breakaway. Might see Chavenel and or Voeckler in a break early battling it our for KOM points, although think someone like Della Fuente, or Ricco will end up winning the polka dot jersey.

If it's a sprint, I think McEwen, Cav, or Hushovd.

Andrija

I also think the breakaway will succeed.
But my pick is Voigt.

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Anticyclone

There is a crosswind today but it is fairly light so i dont think it will cause any splits. I dont know if anyone will fancy going all out today anyway with the mountains coming up tomorrow.

Could be a good day for a breakaway. Will Colombia want to bring it all back together for Cavendish or do they think he wont make it over the last few rises? They may not be too worried about the yellow jersey if the person who wins will lose loads of time tomorrow (and they should do unless it is a late break). Maybe Millar will try a break today gambling that they wont want to chase him too much? Last chance for him to get to the top of the standings IMO as he will really struggle tomorrow - might not lose too much time but i cant see him finishing with the front group.

TheDarkLord

Looks like this is another demanding stage - no breaks are being allowed to succeed. There is a solo effort by Lefevre who has a 90 sec lead over the peloton.

Meanwhile, De La Fuente has grabbed an additional 6 KOM points to tighten the grip on the polka dots jersey for now.

TheDarkLord

Holy smokes! The avg. speed for the first hour of today's stage is over 45 km/hr in spite of there being [short] cat 4 and cat 3 climbs.

limerickman

Mierable weather conditions : riders slid of the roundabout in Gaillac.

__________________
.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets" - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

TheDarkLord

It is gonna be a sprinters' finish. Wonder how the rain will affect things. Greater likelihood of mishaps.

TheDarkLord

Another stage for Cavendish! Followed by Ciolek and Casper. Whatever happened to the other sprinters???