08 July 2012

54 Seconds Off Pinot's Stage 8 Win!

Home-country favorite Thibaut Pinot won today's Stage 8 with an impressive sprint at the end to beat Cadel Evans by 26 seconds.  Below is the comparison with our prediction.
  • Stage 8:  3h 56' 10" (actual), 3h 57' 04" (prediction), 54" slow (0.38% error)
I am quite happy with today's result!  We had just the right amount of cyclist power for today's stage.  Pinot's average speed is given below.
  • Stage 8:  11.11 m/s (40.01 km/hr or 24.86 mph)
That is almost exactly the same average speed that Chris Froome had yesterday (Pinot was actually about 0.063% faster).

Tomorrow's Stage 9 is a 41.5-km (25.8-mile) individual time trial that begins in the commune of Arc-et-Senans and ends in the city of Besançon.  Cyclists will be on the edge of the Jura Mountains, meaning that the time trial won't be all flat.  Below is our prediction.
  • Stage 9:  0h 51' 06" (prediction)
We think the time trial will be won in under an hour.  Bradley Wiggins still has the yellow jersey with a 10-second lead over last year's winner, Cadel Evans.  Will there be a shakeup of the overall standings after tomorrow's time trial?

2 comments:

  1. Unbelievable prediction for stage 8 Eric! For the time trials, I'll predict a little slower time of 53'42" and I would love to see Fabian Cancellara win and reclaim the yellow for another day.

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    1. Bob,

      Once again, I think I'll stick with my prediction. I was quite happy to see that time for Wiggins when I got to Lowell! Wiggins is the man right now as the mountains loom.

      Eric

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