Mark Cavendish continues his remarkable Tour de France career with his 32nd stage win, putting him just two behind the great Eddy Merckx. I was rooting against our prediction because the pace was blistering today. It was so much fun watching today! I rooted for Greg Van Avermaet and Roger Kluge to hold on in the breakaway, but the peloton caught them with just 2.5 km (1.6 mi) left. And then I rooted for the sprinters to give viewers something exciting, and they didn't disappoint. Speeds nearly hit 60 kph (37 mph) in the final sprint to the finish line!
Below is how we did with our prediction.
- Stage 6: 3h 17' 36" (actual), 3h 36' 46" (prediction), 19' 10" slow (9.70% error)
After five great predictions, we finally have a bad one. We can't hit them all under 3%! Racing was so fast all stage long; I knew early on that our prediction was headed for trouble. Check out the average speed for the Manx Missile.
- Stage 6: 13.55 m/s (48.77 kph or 30.30 mph)
That average speed was just 2.23 kph (1.39 mph) less than yesterday's individual time trail! Ponder that last sentence for a moment. I continue to be amazed by what elite cyclists can do.
Tomorrow's Stage 7 is very long at 249.1 km (154.8 mi). I don't think I've seen a stage that long since 2000's Stage 14, which was 249.5 km (155.0 mi) long. Starting in Vierzon, cyclists will head due east to Le Creusot. Our prediction is given below.
- Stage 7: 5h 47' 52" (prediction)
A stage like tomorrow's is tough to predict strategies. Lots of little climbs in the latter half of the stage lead to the stage being classified as medium mountain. Two mountain stages follow tomorrows stage. Will the peloton move slowly or will there be a need to keep up with several attackers? If the climbs at the end slow cyclists down, we'll be too fast with our prediction. I definitely want to see the winner come in with a time under six hours!
No comments:
Post a Comment