OMIGOD! They Didn't Kill Kenny!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 19, 2009 4:02 PM EDT
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Those non-bastards! Kenny van Hummel flirted with elimination today but seems to have made it home with some five minutes to spare, 45 minutes behind the winner and some 27 minutes after the autobus. He now owns a commanding 39-minute lead for the Lanterne Rouge over second-last-placed Belarus champion Yahueni (the Hooter) Hutarovich. Contador and Lance get all the ink today, but nobody made a more audacious play for a classification than KVH -- adrift all alone from the Col des Mosses to the finish, no help for miles, and staring hors delai elimination in the face. But he survived, as he always does.
Much respect. You know, Lance Armstrong's first professional race was the 1992 Clasica San Sebastian, where he finished dead last. Just sayin'.
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Sign you're a true cycling fan...
with 6 stages left in the Tour, including Ventoux,you still get a bit excited when reading the words “Classica San Sebastian”…it’s only 13 days from now, what can I say?!
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Oh and to Van Hummel...
I can’t see how he makes the cut on stage 17, he’ll get dropped on the first climb and then somehow have to get over 4 more tough climbs the rest of the way.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
The question is whether the Lantern Rouge gives ...
… the rider wings, like the Yellow Jersey.
Well, smaller wings than the Yellow Jersey, without quite as much lift, but still … he did reasonably well on the last climb yesterday, so he’s not only fighting to stay in the race, but is also pacing himself over the mountain stages.
When will Van Hummel get some team support!!
Vélo de Ghislain Lambert: Film clip:
The sponsor decides to forget about the teal leader and make the entire team support the Lanterne Rouge so that he stays ahead of broom wagon:
(fun Izoard footage too)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oH5CJpX3vI
sometimes life is a false flat
If he somehow survives Stage 17
we could be looking at one of the great Lanterne Rouge performances of all time.
Already over 3 hours down, with 40-minutes-plus to lose on 16, 17, and 20. And don’t underestimate his ability to get completely shelled on Stage 19.
He could go down 5 hrs, 30 min+ on one of the weaker Tour courses in memory. Chapeau!
If you google "didn't kill kenny" this post is the first thing that appears...
that’s because Kenny always gets killed! How dare you butcher the script of our own animated TV series!
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
I think his name adds to the legend
Would we have cheered as loudly for, say, Joaquin Txurrucoechea? Well, I think I know one person who would …
For once...
…I completely approve of something Lance tweets.
Sign of the end times?
There is still JB to disagree with
the only thing he’s pulled out of his ass tweeted today is that he knew that AC would do just what he did.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Well...
…JB would probably have to have been blind, deaf, and dumb not to have seen something like this coming. So really….
As loyal as he is to LA, and as much as he wanted him to win...
I think he really had some belief LA could win and really hoped he could hang in there, or attack first. Anyway, yesterday’s tweets about Garmin were just distasteful and absurd.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Hurrah for Kenny!
And hello all…more notes from the field ;-) I’m in a town called Chalon sur Saone, which is a bit south of Dijon, and once again I have wireless! Just been for a short ride and had some nice dinner. Two bad things today: the road from Reims to Dijon is the most boring stretch on earth, bar none…and then I burnt my finger on a plate of gnocchi. Oops. But other than that…it’s very exciting :-)) Driving to the Petit St Bernard tomorrow…yay!!!
Adrenalina Italiana!
"most boring stretch on Earth"
Qatar would like to disagree with you on that one.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
At least there are camels in Qatar.
All we saw was a dead rabbit (which my friend told me, very mealy, was a marmot…)
Adrenalina Italiana!
The camels are only a prop set up by ASO for the Tour of Qatar
don’t be fooled, they actually only reside in the north pole with Bruce.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Summer residence ...
… for when the Arctic icecap completely melts in the winter. Santa plans ahead long term, he does.
I have ridden there!
Stayed at one of the two 5 star hotels in Deming. At least I think 5 stars were drawn in the dust outside of them! Thing is, going south you can see the border patrol blimps and they are pretty. And Pancho Villa State Park down by the border is a great place to bike camp. Beautiful desert gardens and nice park people who live there. Yes you do see border crossers, but really, it is pretty. You can ride Hwy 9 east to El Paso and watch all the oversize loads drive you off the road.
Qatar is pretty boring, topography-wise
When I'm on the mic, I'm like global warming, you can't ignore me.
by tehGrindCrusher on Jul 20, 2009 8:55 AM EDT up reply actions
the american great plains... i'm just sayinng
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
by umwolverine on Jul 20, 2009 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions
the bar du lac at the top of the petit st bernard
does great hot choocolate…
by thebongolian on Jul 19, 2009 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Looks familiar
Reminds me of some of my not-so-epic Ironman bike finishes, just ahead of the broom wagon…
In the vid I linked, he says he got dropped at 10 km from the start
Freakin’ 10 km! That means he rode almost 200 km on his own with an average speed of 35.60 km/h (Contador rode 40.96 km/h) . He felt really bad when he got dropped (obviously) and wanted to give up but his DS told him: “Fight dammit!” and after a while he refound some legs.
That Vid is remarkable...
…he’s just utterly spent, emotionally as well. Tremendously courageous ride, truly.
Well it's tough to really see the Swiss scenery when 160 guys are riding with you
so you might as well drop back. But really, 10km? That’s a gutsy ride but doesn’t bode well for stage 16 or 17.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Others have suggested...
…that the pace today was sort of brutal. I dunno about that early in the race though.
Makes you think that exhaustion is starting to set in...
…Kenny’s probably going to be extremely happy about the rest day. A little extended recovery time might do our boy wonders.
I finished dead last in my last race which was called the Alphutte Classic
…named after the sponsoring Swiss Restaraunt here in Adelaide.
I was thinking of giving up cycling for boules or something but i am inspired once again to keep going…thanks kenny.
errrr....am i supposed to sign this??
I think he misunderstood from the beginning
Sastre got bib number 1 and he got bib number 199. He just did what he thought was expected from him
He was the very first to start in Monaco, will he be the last to finish in Paris?
Symmetry is pleasing.
But he should be finishing with the Peleton if ....
… he makes the Champs-Élysées … should he make an effort to drop off the back in the last lap?
Nice
Eg. http://images2-telegraaf.nl/multimedia/archive/00643/hummel_jpg_643214a.jpg (photo ANP/Koen van Weel, see also http://www.anp-photo.com/search.pp?mailingid=14115&flush=1 )
Skil-Shimano Website has a statement from Kenny
He’s wants to finish, even if it means riding more stages alone.
Van Hummel: ‘I want to finish in Paris’
Kenny van Hummel did it again. The sprinter had to let go of the bunch in the first climb and was on his own for 200 kilometres. At the Col des Mosses, forty kilometers before the finish, he was 26 minutes and 43 seconds behind, with the climb to Verbier still to come. But 45 minutes and 43 seconds behind Alberto Contador, he crossed the line in time.
"The race was hard directly from the start", said Van Hummel in Verbier. "I tried to follow the bunch, but that killed me. Because I was on my own so quick, I thought that I never would make it in time. But after a while I felt better and found out that I was not loosing much time anymore. I took risks in the descents and I survived the last climb."
With still three mountain stages to go, the suffering is not over yet. "Those stages are less long, that’s an advantage. It is not my plan to quit. It is great to be here. If I have to, I will ride three more days on my own, I want to finish in Paris."
If he actually does that, of course...
…we truly will be near one of the epic Lanterne Rouge rides of all time, in terms of the capacity for putting up, alone, with grinding suffering.
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