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| Source: www.letour.com |
First, the riders need to navigate 9 sections of cobblestones - a difficult task on road bikes, especially for the skinny types that contend in major tours. Then there's another wild card: the weather.
The latest model forecasts show a trough of low pressure draped across much of central Europe tomorrow. Belgium and northern France are in cool, showery weather during the day tomorrow. The GFS puts the heaviest precipitation a bit further to the northeast, but there's a decent chance that the cobbles will be wet during the race.
It could be breezy as well, although I don't think that will be as significant of a factor as the wet cobbles. Looks like it could be a very interesting stage.
Jim - Love the blog, as always. I just noticed from this entry that the European boundaries used for the weather.utah.edu European grids feature a still-unified Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. Because Germany is shown as reunified, that dates it to some time in the 1989-1991 period. I would say that it's a resolution thing, but the presence of Israel and Albania suggest otherwise. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I guess? Just thought it showed the age (and longevity) of some of the tools we continue to effectively rely upon.
ReplyDeleteYeah, those were the good old days. Lol!
DeleteIt was a great stage! Unfortunate crashes but a great stage to watch.
ReplyDeleteProps, dudes for calling the Stage 5 Chaos. Wonder if that cobble thing was such a good idea?
ReplyDeletePerhaps the cobbles should be left to the one day classics.
ReplyDeleteMAN!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could get weather forecasts that were so accurate!!!
I don't know if extreme cobbles should be allowed in the tour but more classics-like hilly stages and cross wind stages would make the whole race more interesting and would allow more viable strategies/rider types a chance at winning other than featherweight climbers who can time trial. But yeah, although stage 4 was exciting, it was a borderline blood sport.
ReplyDelete