Velonews has an article today on that stage and what key riders are saying and doing about it, but I think they miss a few key points.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/02/news/nerves-already-ratcheting-up-ahead-of-tours-cobble-sections_317730

Valverde talks of it being a matter of luck and being familiar with the cobbles.  Nibali will ride Flanders.  Contador's spring plans include a camp in cobble country. 

But what the Velonews article does not touch on is the matter of race smarts.  They talk of Contador's ride in 2010, "...who, in 2010, made it through the cobbles relatively intact..." and Valverde's bad luck last year.  "...only to see his chances collapse with a mechanical just as the peloton was fracturing in crosswinds in stage 13..."  The point of rider smarts is completely missed here.  Valverde chose <!--[if gte mso 10]> chose  to continue on with a sick rear wheel that in the late miles of a very hard chase he did almost entirely alone rubbed so badly he could not stay with the group finally he joined.  Those decisions were huge.  Valverde burned 8 minutes between waiting for his bike and being caught in a vicious crosswind as his rivals powered echelons up the road.  Contador, riding his heart out on that damaged wheel, kept his losses to little over a minute.  The only real difference between those two rides was race smarts.  If they had each made the other's decision, Contador would have been out of the 2010 Tour and Valverde would have hit the Alps in the mix.

Velonews does make an intersesting point though.  Froome is Sky's man and Wiggins is there to help.  But Froome is a lightly built guy who has raced cobbles once as a neo pro.  Wiggins has real time on the bumpy stuff and is good at it.  Suppose Froome has a bad Stage 9 and Wiggins is in the mix?  Sky could hit the mountains with Froome well down and Wiggins now their main man.  Interesting!

Ben
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