posted Jul 12, 2009

Peter who are you referring to being off the back of the peloton? Hushovd or Cav? Offical Tour De France timing has Cav in the Peloton, so if he isn't in the peloton they need to update their info.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

I've got TV coverage and they are pretty sure Cav isn't in there. They are speculating that Columbia are there for either Martin or Kirchen.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

What's more of a miracle. Cav in this peloton or England batting out the rest of the day. I gotta go with England.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

How's Wiggins got on today?

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posted Jul 12, 2009

Wiggins is safely in the peloton.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

The official page http://gaps.letour.fr/us.html is a bit of a joke, it shows the groups in front of the pelaton and then just the pelaton as a massive group itself, no gruppetto shown. Safe to say that it isn't true.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

According to the Tour De France website there are 168 riders in the Peloton. Can anyone confirm this as accurate?

Peter do you have news on where Cavendish is on the stage?

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posted Jul 12, 2009

Cheers Good to know.

I'd say Cav batting out the day was more likely than either of the two options

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posted Jul 12, 2009

He's not there, the Columbia riders are all together and he's not with them.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

At 13:58 CET (beginning of the Aspin) my live text coverage says "Boonen lets go of the peloton, Cavendish has already fallen back a while ago". Later on they stated that Boonen was driving the bus with Cavendish in it. That bus - or grupetto - is usually about half an hour behind the peloton.
I definitely spotted Freire's rainbows though.
Looks like they won't catch up to the two leaders anyway.

They're talking to the Sporza guy on the motor now, and Cavendish isn't even mentioned.

>How's Wiggins got on today?<

All the big men made it over the mountains easily, quite the easy day for the GC boys (evidenced by the fact that Freire and Van Avermaet made it over with everyone else). Wiggo should keep his top spot.

>According to the Tour De France website there are 168 riders in the Peloton. Can anyone confirm this as accurate?<

It's not, there's roughly 80 men in the peloton.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

ITV sport have confirmed that Cav isn't in the main group.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

Mick Rogers has sprained a disk in his back, according to his twitter... poor bloke

I've only just got in, so sorry for dumb question - can the 2 leaders stay away?

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posted Jul 12, 2009

Kirchen will go for the breakaway.

Sprint finish will be between Oscar Freire and Jose Joaquin Rojas.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

>I've only just got in, so sorry for dumb question - can the 2 leaders stay away?<

They can, but it's "a coin on its side" to use a Dutch expression. It can fall either way. 4,8k and 43 seconds, the leaders will have to fight til the end. Liquigas and Bbox are doing their very best to disrupt the peloton train though, Willems was shown having a bit of a fight with the CdP boys.

Belgian live text:
16:27 The bus with Boonen, Cavendish and company is 15 minutes behind the peloton.

We have no interest whatsoever in pretending Cav is somewhere he isn't.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

Thanks gs, that's v helpful.

No insane Chavanel doomed attempt for us today then?


Poor old Andy - needs to get 3km in with that puncture!

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posted Jul 12, 2009

Caisse d'Epargne really aren’t that good at this sprint train game are they?

Andy punctured outside 3km, he will loose more time!!

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posted Jul 12, 2009

Andy Schleck punctures right before the 3k mark! Disaster!
Pfiew, already back to the peloton. Nice, hate to see another contender fall back due to bad luck.

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posted Jul 12, 2009

Are BBox in on a wildcard? If so, they've more than proved they deserve it!

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posted Jul 12, 2009

Another French victory!

Freire easily takes the sprint. Anyone see Cavendish?

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