Tour de France 2014

Without knowing what the failure was you may as well be blaming aliens.

Which ones?

.

"The cobbles are going to be carnage. I hope not, but we've got to be ready for it," Cancellara told Cyclingnews in an exclusive interview.

"I hope nobody crashes and loses a chance of winning the Tour de France because of what happens on the pavé. But it's racing. Roubaix is Roubaix. We all know what it’s like."

"I've already been asked if I'll ask for the stage to be neutralised if it rains but this is different. I know that it’s not a nice stage for Froome, Contador, Nibali and even our GC riders. But my reply is: so why not take out the climbs to make it easier for us? That never happens, so it's only right we race on the cobbles. It’s a risk for everyone, including me, but we've got to live with it and calculate the risks involved."

I effin' called it.

Will be interesting to see what happens. Sagan is spitting distance from yellow. And with enough time it would be tricky getting him out of it. Then there are people like Rolland and Frank who could cause problems if they got a few minutes up. So they can't neutralize amongst themselves...

Hmmmmm....

Fabian cancellara @f_cancellara · 19s

Hi @tomboonen1 and @ghincapie all the riders in @letour need some help for tomorrow.how does it ride on wet cobbles??

Juan Antonio Flecha ‏@ComounaFlecha · 2m
@f_cancellara @tomboonen1 @ghincapie @letour HTFU!!!!

Hippy must be so proud.

I may fuck my work off and go to a pub. Anyone interested in some afternoon beers?

Going to watch the nightmare unfold from the comparative safety of the Rapha cafe.

How comes they've dropped some pave sections...?

there's talk on Flemish media of TdF officials now inspecting the cobbled sectors, (unconfirmed) rumours that some might be taken out of the route.

don't they dare!!!

How comes they've dropped some pave sections...?

they discovered a beach?

5 and 7 out apparently!

Sections 5 & 7

Cos of this...?

Which ones?

Bad ones.

Tempting the wrath of those who will come out and say I'm in favour of putting the safety of the riders at risk... But... Ride of the fucking grass! It'd be hilarious! Ride slower! Fucking walk!

Damn.

Htfu

^^^^ That would be fucking awful. I want to see a rowdy, mixed up race but I do have some sympathy for them. I only went on the cobbles at topspeed 16mph - don't even want to consider what it feels like at 24 and in the wet.

Htfu

Or this.

Much more eloquent and brief, as usual.

Tempting the wrath of those who will come out and say I'm in favour of putting the safety of the riders at risk... But... Ride of the fucking grass! It'd be hilarious! Ride slower! Fucking walk!

Damn.

This

So... GC guys couldn't get an agreement on neutralizing. So instead they go to ASO and complain about safety? Am I too cynical?

It's less than 20k of pave, if I'm not mistaken. How much has been cut out? (The Tour web page has gone down - probably people trying to find out what's going on).

2.4km of pave cut out. Let's go Fabs!

Which means, I think, that there is still 13 kms of wet cobbles.

Hurrah

So it'll still be a thrilling afternoon of Flanders bukkake then...