Cavendish came out of nowhere and destroyed them. Roche, pretty much stopped sprinting after that and lost a couple of places.
Tremendous effort from a tremendous sports man.
Caught with about 150 metres left. Cavendish won.
Roche was only one putting serious effort into that break. Fact he still had gas at the end is testament to his power and conditioning.
He has an excellent V05 max rating.
I really hope that doesn’t take too much out of Roche for tomorrows TT, incredibly brave effort
Awesome power from Cavendish at the end there, he’ll be hard to beat in Paris on Sunday and in the Olympic road race the following Saturday.
Is Roche hampered by the fact he’s with a shit team so rarely has anyone to do work with him and help him like the other top riders do?
Fair play to Roche, if Sanchez had worked better with him, they would have had it between them, with Sanchez winning. Cavendish won’t be getting anywhere near a medal in the Olympics, course is too hard. He will be having nightmares about Box Hill.
Just saw it there now. That was some finish by Cavendish. It was going to be tight between Roche and Luis Leon too.
Yeah he is a bit. At same time though if he moved to a better team there is a fair chance he might not be best rider there so would not get any protection anyway and instead would have to be a super domestique or something.
His contract is up soon anyway. Very much like if he moved to Garmin.
I’d like Roche to move to Quickstep or Europcar myself. Do you not think there is too much competition in Garmin Larry, for him.
I think when the dust settles on this tour Roche will need to have a long think about what he wants to achieve in cycling. He is going to finish in a very respectable overall position in the tour and with a bit of luck even sneaking into the top 10.
But he has barely made a ripple in this years tour. I hate to say it but his tactics of waiting for others to fall off the pace keeps him pretty anonymous. Apart from us, as Irish, who would be looking out for him he has really gone unnoticed to his 11th place. Even there on Eurosport they refered to Cavendish catching Luis Leon and “one other rider”.
He has great attributes but probably doesn’t have that overall package to really threaten the big boys. He is a very very strong rider but his passive style is not reaping him any real rewards. I think he should consider changing his tack and looking to more like a Voeckler or Luis Leon Sanchez. These guys are nowhere overall but they are constantly allowed to get into breaks and pick up stage victories.
I would love to see him get his top 10, put it in his pocket and come back to future Tour’s hunting for stages.
Would agree with that. Too many stars at Garmin. Europcar might suit. Think a change would do him good at this stage. If only to get away from the manky brown shorts.
[quote=“Scrunchie, post: 628249”]I think when the dust settles on this tour Roche will need to have a long think about what he wants to achieve in cycling. He is going to finish in a very respectable overall position in the tour and with a bit of luck even sneaking into the top 10.
But he has barely made a ripple in this years tour. I hate to say it but his tactics of waiting for others to fall off the pace keeps him pretty anonymous. Apart from us, as Irish, who would be looking out for him he has really gone unnoticed to his 11th place. Even there on Eurosport they refered to Cavendish catching Luis Leon and “one other rider”.
He has great attributes but probably doesn’t have that overall package to really threaten the big boys. He is a very very strong rider but his passive style is not reaping him any real rewards. I think he should consider changing his tack and looking to more like a Voeckler or Luis Leon Sanchez. These guys are nowhere overall but they are constantly allowed to get into breaks and pick up stage victories.
I would love to see him get his top 10, put it in his pocket and come back to future Tour’s hunting for stages.[/quote]
All good points. He is always missing a few per cent when the decisive break is made. Maybe that is because he is clean, i don’t know. He has hardly got a suntan this year because he is following wheels the whole time. Top ten would be great for him but it means nothing overall. Still only 28 he might improve a bit but if he can’t TT strongly he will never be a real contender.
Any news on today’s time trial?
Pinot and Roche will be overtaken by Kloden by the looks of it. Doesn’t look like there will be much change in the top ten other than that. Wiggins and Froome well ahead after first split.
Sad to see Cadel Evans struggling so badly, overtaken by his teammate Van Garderen
Not really Anto no. Many of their star riders now are past their pomp. Vandevelde, Zabriske and Millar are all guys who have done very well but have seen better days. If Roche were to move there I think Vaughters would be able to bring him on particularly in time trials where they have been very good at producing guys like the above and Wiggins and TJVG. Also he’d have the opportunity to be on same team as his cousin and to be honest I’d like to see him take on super domestique role for Hesjedal. He could have best of both worlds where he could ride for himself in one Grand Tour and then take on helping role in other perhaps.
Is there any chance of team sky leapfrogging radioshack into the lead of the team event?
Wiggins, froome and Porte have all had stormers today
Voigt going for it a long way out, it would be some end to his Tour to win this stage.