Author Topic: Tour de France 09 (may contain spoilers) (Read 74203 times)

David Martin · « **Reply #25 on:** 06 July, 2009, 09:17:25 pm »

Well, David's off the wall prediction is for Bradley in Yellow tomorrow night. A brit in yellow and a brit in green - when was the last time (if ever) that that happened.

Columbia were awesome today.

..d

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #26 on:** 06 July, 2009, 09:27:51 pm »

Quote from: David Martin on 06 July, 2009, 09:17:25 pm

A brit in yellow and a brit in green - when was the last time (if ever) that that happened.

Never

Ivo · « **Reply #27 on:** 06 July, 2009, 09:28:23 pm »

Quote from: adamski on 06 July, 2009, 08:15:48 pm

That was amazing to watch. I cannot remember seeing a whole team ride off the front of a peloton like that before. Wow. Another Cav victory, too .

Rabo at the Paris-Nice (if I remember correctly), early spring this year. Al the more surprising that Rabo completely missed the boat today.

Moloko · « **Reply #28 on:** 06 July, 2009, 09:33:45 pm »

A brilliant days racing action and a place called La Grande Motte.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #29 on:** 06 July, 2009, 09:35:20 pm »

Armstrong could still do it in the mountains. Horrible style in the prologue though - you see better technique (although not quite as much power) in an evening "10".

The TTT is a real breaker for some teams. Remember Boardman ripping GAN apart? US Postal/Discovery were always the best at it; goodness knows what will happen in Astana with all those potential leaders.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #30 on:** 06 July, 2009, 09:57:57 pm »

The biggest spoiler of the lot for me is that ITV4 insist on playing their drivel in some bloody Microsoft crap which won't run on my computer.

nuttycyclist · « **Reply #31 on:** 06 July, 2009, 10:01:37 pm »

I haven't watched them yet, but I think I've used get_iplayer to rip the stuff to .asf files that seem to play ok on this ubuntu box.

Fancy a copy on USB key?

citoyen · « **Reply #32 on:** 06 July, 2009, 10:41:07 pm »

Quote from: David Martin on 06 July, 2009, 09:17:25 pm

Well, David's off the wall prediction is for Bradley in Yellow tomorrow night.

Interesting!

I wouldn't be surprised if Tony Martin was in yellow tomorrow - if Columbia have got anything left in the tank after today. But Garmin didn't seem to be doing too much work today so they may well be strong contenders - Brad for yellow is certainly possible.

Would be a shame if Lance was in yellow after tomorrow - so far, he has very much made the impression of being yesterday's man, only there to kick up a stink. He should retire graciously. I think he'll get found out in the mountains - Contador will whup his fat Texan ass on the big climbs.

d.

nuttycyclist · « **Reply #33 on:** 07 July, 2009, 12:59:01 am »

Quote from: Kathy on 06 July, 2009, 09:03:08 pm

Saw you-know-who storm to victory today (we're standing by the 200m mark,* for those watching at home). ....

I've just re-watched the rip I've saved. Couldn't see you.

pcolbeck · « **Reply #34 on:** 07 July, 2009, 08:47:16 am »

Of course the break away was planned. Even the Official Tour Guide says that a break away is likely in the last 60Km due to side wind. The Camargue is flat and windy and the roads twist so it was always on. Cav said that they had planned to break earlier but that the wind was not from the direction they expected so had to wait for the right moment. What was amazing was that more of the GC contenders weren't riding up at the front waiting for it and ready to go with it. Lance is a wily old contender with loads of experience and was ready.

mattc · « **Reply #35 on:** 07 July, 2009, 08:47:58 am »

Quote from: adamski on 06 July, 2009, 08:15:48 pm

That was amazing to watch. I cannot remember seeing a whole team ride off the front of a peloton like that before. Wow. Another Cav victory, too .

Quote from: ChrisO on 06 July, 2009, 06:18:52 pm
I only caught the last 15km live (and in Arabic) but reading the text commentary I wonder if Columbia thought that they would take advantage of the fact that no other teams were helping them. Amazing display of power if they meant it to happen that way.

In an interview shown on ITV4, Cav suggests that the move was planned. He explained how Columbia saw the bend coming up, got the team to the front and accelerated. Considering all 9 of the Columbia boys were in the lead group to start with, I believe it must have been planned.

I'm gobsmacked - that was a brilliant stage.

Forming a break in crosswinds is, of course, a well known 'tactic'. Simple physics creates splits in a bunch in a cross-wind. Of course the trick is to be in the front echelon when it happens. When everyone else also wants to be at the front.

Then if you have a group of, say 12 willing riders, the bunch doesn't have any measurable advantage to chase them down.

And I've never seen this situation expoloited so well in a big televised event. Hats off to THC

(and this is the first time in many years I have been routing for Armstrong. I though Contador might ride away from him this year - well done old man.)

ChrisO · « **Reply #36 on:** 07 July, 2009, 09:01:37 am »

Interesting reading some of the comments.

Contador said he was at the back and trying to get back to the front when it happened, implying that he was left in the lurch.

However another rider, one of the domestiques, was saying he was on Contador's wheel when it split and Contador was the one who missed the gap. He said if there were 29 riders in the breakaway then Contador must have been 30th.

And Fabian Wegmann said he was waiting for it and had made sure that he and Linus Gerdeman were up the front.

So it seems a case of experience, and maybe a sly nod, getting the victory.

And Cadel Evans just moaned about how unfair it was. God it pains me to say it but if Australia ever puts together a whingeing team, he'll be in it.

Aidan · « **Reply #37 on:** 07 July, 2009, 09:07:16 am »

I thought it was a great stage. Well donre to Mark Cavendish and the Columbia HTC team for a well earned win, and the spilt certainly made things interesting.
I'd suspect Lance was given the nod by big George but he's been around long enough to have expected it.

I did notice Cadel Evans trying to whip up some enthusiasm in the chasing bunch and failing miserably.

Interstingly, you could see Popvych was working really hard for Lance with plenty of enthusiasm, some real loyalty there. The press might have a love hate relationship with him but he has some very loyal friends

I would love to see Lance do really well, but think hes a couple of percent off on the big hills and that'll be enough to put him back. I still reckon he's good for top 5 though

Si · « **Reply #38 on:** 07 July, 2009, 09:09:48 am »

Lance playing the Badger to Contador's Lemond: will Lance suggest that he was just making the kid prove himself if he finds that he can't drop Contador in the mountains?

mattc · « **Reply #39 on:** 07 July, 2009, 09:16:10 am »

Quote from: Bodger on 07 July, 2009, 09:09:48 am

Lance playing the Badger to Contador's Lemond: will Lance suggest that he was just making the kid prove himself if he finds that he can't drop Contador in the mountains?

pcolbeck · « **Reply #40 on:** 07 July, 2009, 09:19:35 am »

This is shaping up to be a great tour and we have only had three stages so far ! A welll thought out route this year me thinks.

Moloko · « **Reply #41 on:** 07 July, 2009, 03:33:56 pm »

Road Rash Tuesday. It's a jungle out there.

Little Jim · « **Reply #42 on:** 07 July, 2009, 04:31:27 pm »

How do they determine the order of the teams in the TTT? Is it the overall team position rather than the team with the yellow jersey go last? The last time the TTT was on was 2005 when Lance was rididng so it was a bit academic then whether it was the yellow jersey or the fastest team ewhich went last.

DuncanM · « **Reply #43 on:** 07 July, 2009, 04:33:21 pm »

That seems to have been the order. If 2 riders have the same time, who gets yellow?

citoyen · « **Reply #44 on:** 07 July, 2009, 04:37:46 pm »

Quote from: DuncanM on 07 July, 2009, 04:33:21 pm

That seems to have been the order. If 2 riders have the same time, who gets yellow?

Cancellara, apparently.

d.

DuncanM · « **Reply #45 on:** 07 July, 2009, 04:38:23 pm »

~~The yellow holder keeps it. Makes sense...~~ Based on countback from the prologue? wierd. I guess they don't have accurate timings for the other stages...

MSeries · « **Reply #46 on:** 07 July, 2009, 04:48:00 pm »

Last time I saw the answer to "If 2 riders have the same time, who gets yellow?" they said they use the timings from the Prologue which are recorded to 1/100th of a second and that the riders in question that day were separated by less than 1 second, but separated non the less despite the published time showing the same. 2009 didn't have a Prologue but a time trial but I expect the same scheme is used. So do Armstrong and Cancellara really have exactly the same times ?

MSeries · « **Reply #47 on:** 07 July, 2009, 04:49:14 pm »

Quote from: DuncanM on 07 July, 2009, 04:38:23 pm

~~The yellow holder keeps it. Makes sense...~~ Based on countback from the prologue? wierd. I guess they don't have accurate timings for the other stages...

Other stages are approximations since bunches are given the same time when clearly some riders cross the line before others.

DuncanM · « **Reply #48 on:** 07 July, 2009, 04:53:28 pm »

I know it comes down to appriximations. Hell, yesterdays stage could have given either of them another second...
So in theory, ythey could get to paris and then take the times from the prologue? I guess they might have the other individual TTs to 1/100th of a second too.

mr magnolia · « **Reply #49 on:** 07 July, 2009, 04:58:40 pm »

Blimey.

watch the body language in Astana - see who gets presented with the trophy, see who does the welcoming back to the team... Who`s the daddy then? (and who was smart enough to grab those seconds yesterday?

Good for Cancellara though.