Tour de France 2016

He is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

There's a good interview/profile of him in the current edition of Rouleur.

Sky will just sign him when his contract is up.

http://www.alpsandes.com/posts/clinginquisition.com/2013/04/who-is-nairo-quintana.html

Loved that picture of him and his six stages of pain

Good stuff. Working on it...

A lot can happen on the rest day.

For me, the tour is over. I side-loaded Pokemon Go. </ life>

So the climbers are going to want to make sure they're up front on that climb or risk Froome pulling basically the same tactic and getting a few minutes lead there alone.

Even if Froome could get a couple of minutes advantage on the descent, there is absolutely no way he could maintain it further than the intermediate sprint on a solo break. Plenty of teams are going to be pulling for either the intermediate sprint or the finish. I'm boldly predicting a fight between the French puncheurs to the finish. Messy, passionate and exciting, like all good French things.

Messy, passionate and exciting, like all good porn.

Tactically astute as it was Froome humping his stem won't be in any Tour Greatest compilations let alone Brazzers any time soon. It definitely won't win him minutes on any descents for the remainder of this tour.

Sooooo how you coming on that Bahraini cycling team you're working on? Got yourself a team manager? A clothing sponsor? Been getting advice from Fernando Alonso? Been returning Nibali's calls?

Just catching up on Fridays stage, Steve Cummings, what a ride!

http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2016/us/stage-10.html

Last few KMs:

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(normality resumes)

Who's going to call it?

It should be a day for the sprinters, and it may well be for Cav.

I don't think break has a chance unless it is gifted to them. There's just too much flat and after a rest day they'll be feeling strong, so the pack has the potential to be rolling at a descent speed.

DK,

Sagan

If Cav does get another stage, i will be over the moon.
I think i heard it on the Cycling Podcast, but i did find it interesting that its quite common for riders who takes the first sprint in the Tour, often go on to take 3 or 4 stages, possibly because of the confidence that is gained from taking the first scalp (Greipel took 4 last year, Kittel took 4 in 2014)

Cav

Perhaps a day for a strong breakaway?
160m climbing in 2.5k and future descent favours the punchier riders perhaps.

I'm hoping for Edvald.

Serious question: How many years has Cav got left in him?

I'd love to see him topple the record for stages, but it won't be easy and won't come in 12 months.

That 1.8km @ 6.6% screws it right up for Cav IMO, Sagan, or possibly a breakaway by non-GC contenders.

I think Cav has a good few years left at the top level, but in what races seems unclear. Imagine though, if he did take a medal in Rio......

That 1.8km @ 6.6% screws it right up for Cav IMO

What with the speed of the peloton at that point, the sprinters will get pulled up that fairly easily IMO.

Without Renshaw today Cavs got a lot more work to do.
He isn't committed to the green jersey either.

Coquard