Tour de France Stage 3: Post-Stage Thread
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 6, 2009 12:17 PM EDT
in News
Email
Print
The dramatic phase of this Tour de France got an early start when today's seemingly innocuous stage was split apart by crosswinds and some aggressive riding by team Columbia - HTC, who placed all nine of their guys in the 27-man split and hammered it all the way home. Ultimately the effect of this stage may be minimal, as the gap at the end was maybe 41 seconds, hardly enough to worry guys like Alberto Contador in a three-week race. But the stage may be memorable for one reason: the elevation of one Lance Armstrong from tenth (and fourth on his own team) to third, and on the verge of a yellow jersey after tomorrow's team time trial. Lance has gone from looking at support riding to making a far stronger case for riding for himself. This could get truly explosive... Results:
- Mark Cavendish, Columbia
- Thor Hushovd, Cervelo, s.t.
- Cyril Lemoine, Skil-Shimano, s.t.
- Samuel Dumoulin, Cofidis, s.t.
- Jerome Pineau, Quick Step, s.t.
And the big story, the General Classification:
- Fabian Cancellara, Saxo Bank
- Tony Martin, Columbia, at 0.33
- Lance Armstrong, Astana, at 0.40
- Alberto Contador, Astana, at 0.59
- Bradley Wiggins, Garmin, at 1.00
Hincapie in the post-stage: "nobody wanted to race." So they put the hammer down:
204 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
and I'm off to bed now.
one thing about this stage: make the things in Astana real clear.
methinks Bert will attack in stage 7.
Podium Girls !!
"The Map is not the Territory" ~ A. Korzybski
by le.tour.fan on Jul 6, 2009 12:19 PM EDT reply actions
Armstrong, Popoyvich, and Zubeldia
but basically yeah. I wonder if saying last year was a joke hasn’t caused last years leaders to start calling him “Elephantino”. Motivation caused by running one’s mouth works both ways.
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
Don't know about that
He had to yell at them to keep pulling through.
That wouldn’t have happened in the old days.
in terms of GC
all the favourites are still together.
it’s just now we are all waiting to see astanii attacking each other….
Call me nobody
Bet against Lance at your peril. He’s a wily bastard. He put 40 secs into Contador the only way he could do it without an overt palace revolution. He’s going to be in yellow tomorrow, and Astana will defend that.
That is highly likely
OTOH, does it help any of Astana’s leaders to defend this early? Who is going to chase breaks? If Lance does get yellow I can easily see someone getting a Kivilev, Pereiro, Landis kind of break. Lance’s champions were built on riders like George and Eki killing themselves on the flats. Ain’t no one on Astana going to do that this year.
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
Good point.
It took an entire stable united to keep Lance in position in years past. Astana politics, and the lack of horse power are going to make this harder than in the past. Saxo is an even match for what Astana bring to the table. I don’t see a united counter threat in the Astana line up for 2 Schlecks, a Voight, and Cance. Oh it’s also only day 3…. No one is waltzing away with this one.
by Christopher See on Jul 6, 2009 11:56 PM EDT up reply actions
you really think Saxo is going to roll over in the TTT?
I think not. I didn’t see them any where in the final as Columbia drilled it with 9 up. Resting I’m betting. Their guy Cance is still on top, didn’t look bad in the finish. I have a hard time seeing them dropping 40 seconds over 34 km.
by Christopher See on Jul 6, 2009 11:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Sounds Familiar
I seem to remember that he wasn’t taken seriously before. I think that’s exactly the way he wants it.
repeat
Another no one here.
Do I think he will win, no. But it would be stupid not to take him seriously.
yeah, I don’t know how you can say no one takes him seriously. The fact that they don’t take him as seriously as Contador doesn’t mean he’s not in the conversation.
by plinytheelder on Jul 6, 2009 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Great stage indeed
Yet another victory for Cavenish and polemica for everyone.
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
agree on Garmin
Heaps the pressure on for tomorrow. & we saw how much they liked the pressure at the Giro, I fear…
way to represent
for the new sponsor
"The road is our agony, but also our daily bread; and at night, when it is deserted and the moon glistens on the asphalt, the ridiculous dreams of racers like us pass up and down it."
--Dino Buzzati
funny
To hear Phil and Paul saying “I have no idea what that’s about”. Seriously guys, try to keep up.
"I get paid to hurt other people. How good is that? How good is that?
I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, that's good." Jens!
Excellent point.
But who is he calling? My first inclinationis to shout “Ghostbusters!” because the Maillot vert is the same color as Slimer…
Mon coeur appartient à les forçats de la route.
Biggest loser today is the Green Jersey competition
Or make that non-competition after this stage. It is basically down to two serious sprinters, Cav and Thor. Farrar lost points by not having a high finish.
Only if you believe Cav has the staying power to race for three weeks
Cippo and McEwen have been similarly dominant only to have a steady rider like Zabel or Hushovd take the green using tortoise/hare tactics.
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
in the beginning of the season Cavendish stated he wanted to finish the Tour this year...
….I believe Zabel has been working with him on this goal in mind
I think Zabel is trying to train someone who will be greater than himself.
He probably knew someone would be greater than him someday. Why not make that person the one you trained.
by profgubler on Jul 6, 2009 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Zabel
no better man to develop a work ethic with than EZ. Want t a primer on finishing (multiple) three week races? Ask Erik.
by Christopher See on Jul 6, 2009 11:58 PM EDT up reply actions
VDS implications
I think Cav now will pick up 10 points every stage as the Gren jersey wearer. Add in the 120 points at the end of the Tour, he’ll get oh 320 bonus points beyond what he’ll pick up by winning stages. 700 points total?
Awesome!
Re: Green. Cav is in it to win it. Look for him to win in Paris.
"…I saw bloody Cavendish coming, really fast…"
HH
That would be cool.
Among his many talents, Mark Cavendish can make it rain in Southern California--Chris Jones, ESPN Magazine
Picking him for my VDS was a good idea
A) gives me a chance to win
B) makes me less annoyed by him winning everything
Vamos Alberto!!!
I put him in my team in all 10 tour games I'm playing
I’m still pretty annoyed…
"Where there’s a will, there’s a way.": Alberto Contador, shortly after waking up from brain surgery.
jaja: astana favorites for TTT
Bah....Cavendish?!
Is there where we say:
“That’s why they call him the Zipper?” (Robin Williams reference)
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
We've had Ben Stiller
Robin Williams had to turn up at some point.
Well sleeping out and catching the stage replay was a great strategy
seeing I woke up and they still had 25km to race! Fun stage, no one in that break worries me as a GC threat, I’m only worried JB is suckered into making Lance leader now because he’s ahead of AC on GC. Rogers? BAH no chance in hell.
Vamos Alberto!!!
agree...
… though Lance in yellow tomorrow? Kind of irresistable, isn’t it? (I mean, I think I can resist quite easily it but…)
I can resist myself, saw 7 years of him in yellow...
but can’t see Astana beating Saxo by 40 seconds.
Vamos Alberto!!!
It is a long TTT.
There could be large time gaps. Are they doing the thing where if you are more than thirty seconds behind the leader you only lose thirty send thing?
Yes Real times
but Saxo has a lot of power, plus T-Mart is still between Lance and Spartacus.
Vamos Alberto!!!
It's actually a quite short TTT
If you compare it to the other TDF TTT’s in the 00s. They have been at least 25k longer, and the biggest gap is 1.07 in 2004. But that one stands out from the others, the second largest gap is 31 secs and the smallest 2 secs.
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl.
by TheFigurehead on Jul 6, 2009 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions
that was my thought 34K is nothing.
I said it above, no real hope that Saxo drops 40 seconds in that distance without a serious lapse. Granted it has happened… I just don’t see it.
by Christopher See on Jul 7, 2009 12:02 AM EDT up reply actions
my completely uninformed take
what you saw in the finale from Astana was driven by Armstrong, not by Bruyneel.
Once Bruyneel saw that the other teams were not panicked because there was not a big gc threat and were only riding to limit the damage, I’d guess he pulled the plug on Astana contributing.
Honestly, that’s the kind of high-watts expenditure for a low time-gain return effort you’d expect from a Vino, not from an Armstrong.
what I saw indicated he was working every bit as hard as the Columbia guys.
Anyone who wasn’t working in that group was going to get dropped hard by Columbia. There were a number who weren’t taking turns at the front, but they were working to stay on. Anyone who took turns on the front was definitely working as far as I could tell.
by Christopher See on Jul 7, 2009 12:05 AM EDT up reply actions
But this is the only strategy Armstrong can use this year
He doesn’t have the option of sitting back and biding his time and having 8 teamates working purely for him.
39 seconds is BIG time gain return IMO
So he was smart to put in that effort to get people to work together. If this was AC instead of LA people would be calling the tour over right now because AC put 39 seconds into his competition.
yeah I agree, that wasn’t a lot of effort to go from 10th to 3rd and get an edge in political manoeuvres. Plus I think there was definitely some panic in the peloton, regardless of what people might be saying now. That’s the beauty of a side wind.
by plinytheelder on Jul 6, 2009 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Stage results
1. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia – Htc
2. Thor Hushovd Cervelo Test Team, at 0:00:00
3. Cyril Lemoine Skil-Shimano at 00:00
4. Samuel Dumoulin Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne at s.t.
5. Jérôme Pineau Quick Step at s.t.
6. Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank at s.t.
7. Fabian Wegmann Team Milram at s.t.
8. Fumiyuki Beppu Skil-Shimano at s.t.
9. Maxime Bouet Agritubel at s.t.
10. Linus Gerdemann Team Milram at s.t.
11. Yaroslav Popovych Astana at s.t.
12. Thierry Hupond Skil-Shimano at s.t.
13. Ruben Perez Moreno Euskaltel – Euskadi at s.t.
14. Stéphane Auge Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne at s.t.
15. Tony Martin Team Columbia – Htc at s.t.
16. Mark Renshaw Team Columbia – Htc at s.t.
17. George Hincapie Team Columbia – Htc at s.t.
18. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia – Htc at s.t.
19. Lance Armstrong Astana at s.t.
20. Koen De Kort Skil-Shimano at s.t.
21. Maxime Monfort Team Columbia – Htc at s.t.
22. Christophe Kern Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne at s.t.
23. Simon Geschke Skil-Shimano at s.t.
24. Haimar Zubeldia Astana at s.t.
25. Michael Rogers Team Columbia – Htc at s.t.
26. Hayden Roulston Cervelo Test Team at 00:11
27. Jonathan Hivert Skil-Shimano at 00:11
28. Romain Feillu Agritubel at 00:40
Anybody got GC?
Here's the top twenty
1. CANCELLARA Fabian 33 TEAM SAXO BANK 9h 50’ 58"
2. MARTIN Tony 76 TEAM COLUMBIA – HTC 9h 51’ 31" + 00’ 33"
3. ARMSTRONG Lance 22 ASTANA 9h 51’ 38" + 00’ 40"
4. CONTADOR Alberto 21 ASTANA 9h 51’ 57" + 00’ 59"
5. WIGGINS Bradley 58 GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM 9h 51’ 58" + 01’ 00"
6. KLÖDEN Andréas 23 ASTANA 9h 52’ 01" + 01’ 03"
7. GERDEMANN Linus 181 TEAM MILRAM 9h 52’ 01" + 01’ 03"
8. EVANS Cadel 11 SILENCE – LOTTO 9h 52’ 02" + 01’ 04"
9. MONFORT Maxime 77 TEAM COLUMBIA – HTC 9h 52’ 08" + 01’ 10"
10. LEIPHEIMER Levi 24 ASTANA 9h 52’ 09" + 01’ 11"
11. ROGERS Michael 79 TEAM COLUMBIA – HTC 9h 52’ 11" + 01’ 13"
12. KREUZIGER Roman 93 LIQUIGAS 9h 52’ 11" + 01’ 13"
13. HINCAPIE George 74 TEAM COLUMBIA – HTC 9h 52’ 15" + 01’ 17"
14. NIBALI Vincenzo 95 LIQUIGAS 9h 52’ 16" + 01’ 18"
15. LARSSON Gustav 34 TEAM SAXO BANK 9h 52’ 20" + 01’ 22"
16. ASTARLOZA Mikel 61 EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI 9h 52’ 23" + 01’ 25"
17. ZABRISKIE David 59 GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM 9h 52’ 26" + 01’ 28"
18. MILLAR David 56 GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM 9h 52’ 27" + 01’ 29"
19. PINEAU Jérôme 156 QUICK STEP 9h 52’ 29" + 01’ 31"
20. ZUBELDIA Haimar 29 ASTANA 9h 52’ 29" + 01’ 31"
Find the rest over here
Contador can expect to take a back seat....
Anyone that buys into Armstrong’s BS that he is gonna take a back seat to anyone is fooling themselves…. the guy is the biggest ego in the known world.
Day one he sat back, day 2 he sat back…. day 3 he overtakes Alberto and moves from 10th to 3rd place in the overall standings.
Clearly Astana is the team to beat this year with Levi and Alberto being the 2 primary riders in this group, and would still be the team to beat without Lance…. if Armstrong will let them be, and only if he will back off.
But George Hincapie was right when he said that Lance will never take a back seat to any other rider…. and who himself was stifled for many years by Armstrong.
To me Lance Armstrong is the Bret Favre of cycling…. you retired, hang up your shoes, take the jersey off, and move on with life.
If he wins this will be the last year I ever watch this race…. and after 23 years in the cycling industry I have not missed a single year.
by Tha Billdozer on Jul 6, 2009 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions
He may not but his ability to raise money will win.
Perhaps said money will save Astana from the Vino takeover…
Mon coeur appartient à les forçats de la route.
"If he wins this will be the last year I ever watch this race"
If Boonen wins another P-R I’m never watching it again. Is it just me or does that sound like a dumb thing for me to do, to let a rider turn me away from my beloved sport and one of my favorite races?
If Levi wins one more ToC I am done with.....shit I can't do it(oh c'mon Phil just do it)...
if I see one more idiot carrying a baby at the ToC I will scream at my TV screen for a good 20 seconds!!!!!
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
LA interview France 2...
well you guys fight it out…….I’ve got to train
Bah....Cavendish?!
With a lie like that
maybe he DOES have a future in politics.
And Contador . . . go talk to Marty Jemison or Chann McRae.
and also:
Kevin Livingston, Cedric Vasseur, Floyd Landis, etc. etc. etc.
I’ve got to respect the man’s results, but it’s no secret that his teammates have to put HIS goals ahead of their own or they get tossed under the bus.
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
Veikkanen continues his campaign
to always wear a cooler jersey than the FdJ standard. Since this year he doesn’t have the Finnish champs jersey, I suppose Polka Dots will have to do.
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
Big winner...
Japan! Two top tens in two road stages.
Wild cards who are no longer
ie…who used today to set up for future break participation/domestique duties
main peleton came in at 41"
1’20"
Moreau (that guy really doesn’t like the wind)
Moncoutie
Arroyo
CAS
4’25"
Maaskant
Pate
Wegalius
"Never swing a small stick. " Andy Hampsten
aye, and he'll be called on tomorrow
No need to burn matches today. I’m sure folks in today’s break will be wishing they had taken this route when tomorrow rolls around.
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
Moncoutie
should have let himself lose 10 minutes
So he can win a stage later on and not be chased
sometimes life is a false flat
big loser
Kazakhstan.
Murayev finished 13 minutes down in dead last. So Astana will be starting the ttt with 8 guys effectively.
umm 13 down?
cyclingnews has him as last, time split is 3:45. VN has him at 15+ down on GC. CQ has him 13:49 down on the stage if I’m reading it right… OK I give up I’m confused.
by Christopher See on Jul 7, 2009 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions
Impossible Is Nothing.
Wiggins on twitter (Hope the relevant sportswear company are paying him for that…)
I wonder how much energy Columbia exerted...
Perhaps it was enough for Liquigas to win the Team Time Trial of the Century.
Mon coeur appartient à les forçats de la route.
I don't know
It wasn’t like they were going to sit in the back and rest up for the finish of the stage today. The usual Cav-leadout would have cost energy as well.
A couple of other big winners today were
Leenoos and Monfort. If they do well in the mountains, both may have a shot at a top 10 finish.
a proud renshaw just twitted that
“It goes down in my books as the most crushing team performance iv seen”
then he missed USPostal
in the 03 Vuelta or CSC in a couple of Paris-nices.
That 03 Vuelta stage was a major smack-down.
Didn't postal do this to Mayo in 2003ish?
Just spinning the pedals in the hills of Western Maryland
Yep, one of the Roubaix cobbles sections included that year
Eki and George went to the front and hammered it. Crying Euskies by the roadside everywhere. Mayo lost minutes, and whatever hopes he had of a decent result that year. Wasn’t crosswinds though.
I seem to remember that Mayo crashed earlier on that stage
Or at least rode into the ditch. Did he make it back to the peloton before the real action started?
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl.
by TheFigurehead on Jul 7, 2009 4:44 AM EDT up reply actions
He had some technical issues like you say
might have been an ill timed puncture just before the USPS hammered or something. Surely one of the nutjobs ambitious people who watch Tour DVDs on their trainers can remind us?
2004
Mayo crashed a couple of km before the pavé and US Postal cranked the pace up almost immediately. Mayo lost about 4 minutes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2004/jul/07/tourdefrance2004.tourdefrance
(not a nutjob)
Mark
Mick Rogers
Tweeted that it was the best team performance he’s ever been a part of. I had to stiffle comments about T-Mobile or QS/Mapei team performance in Grand Tours.
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
An entire team was able to ride away from the peleton
I will say that is awfully impressive. It is not everyday that you see an entire team be able to ride the peleton off their wheels like Columbia did today.
more I think about it, the less impressed I am
Columbia didn’t open up a huge gap or break the race—they took advantage of an opportunity—and once the rest of the bunch realized that no gc threats save Armstrong were there, they yawned.
You can tell that Garmin tried a little bit to reel it in because Pate and Maaskant got shelled.
But most impressive effort ever? Come on. In 1999, stage 2, the infamous Passage a Gois incident, USPostal—along with others—opened up a SIX MINUTE gap and eliminated most of the other gc contenders.
Similar deal in 04 was it over the cobbles: Ekimov reduced Mayo to tears over the cobbles.
Re-viewing the bunch at the end: for most of it the chase-bunch wasn’t lined out: because they were content to let Columbia (and Armstrong) beat themselves up.
You can tell that Garmin tried a little bit to reel it in
Yep, & Cav couldn’t help having one last little dig: “they wanted to save themselves for the team time trial tomorrow & not work, but they’ve ended up having to work anyway”.
Skil-Shimano
Also a great ride. Put 5 men in the first group. Were the first team in the team classification today 3-8-12. Hivert came in 11 secs down.
"Where there’s a will, there’s a way.": Alberto Contador, shortly after waking up from brain surgery.
Wait.
Hayden Pantierre gives a shit about DC voting rights AND digs cycling?
Uh, Megabeth, I’m gonna be late for dinner.
Not Hayden
Ben Stiller’s wife, Christine. You can make dinner after all, assuming you’re still welcome ;)
"Is Fabian sending lance a message?"
Pointing out the source of his power perhaps. In case he’d missed it.
"I fart in your general direction..."
by Christopher See on Jul 7, 2009 12:27 AM EDT up reply actions
Or maybe along the lines of Luke 4:8...
“Get thee behind me…”
And in the "take your victories where you can"
Cadel seems to have retained custody of bodyguard Serge
I wonder if Serge would have kept Lance from being late to sign in?
I was wondering about Serge
Lance’s present bodyguard seems kind of weedy. (Forget where I saw pic, sorry).
i think cadel used him last year, too...
guess he had dibs.
by cg. on Jul 6, 2009 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions
According to Le Mevel, it was Contador losing the wheel which caused the split
Are crosswinds Contador’s achilles heel?
Andy Schleck just tweeted
It not a Drama! t he main favorits exept Lance were with me!it a long way to Paris!
Is it childish of me to giggle at the fact he actually used the phrase “its not a drama”
hmmmm...
i wonder if lance got any sort of word from his old teammate hincapie or his buddy cav concerning team columbia’s strategy
would have to rewatch the moment of the break to see where guys were positioned
Want to see where LA was versus where Contador was at the point in time. And I think when you see Columbia take their whole team off the front you do your damndest to hitch a ride because they are far and away the strongest team on the flat stages.
I haven't seen footage
but someone said that some Skil/Shim guys made it across.
which means it was possible.
And typical Italian/Spaniard rarely rides crosswinds like a Northern European.
So that’s pretty funny that it might have been AC who let the wheel go.
Skil's presence is important
They worked really hard (and so did Armstrong—I watched him pulling through a lot solo before he told Yaro and Z to rotate in).
Now, not to take TOO much away from them, but . . .
If Rabobank and Saxo had REALLY been worried they would have chased like banshees—and I don’t think that Skil-shimano’s got ‘em out powered. Shoot, Garmin didn’t commit Millar, Wiggins, or Zabriskie to chasing—they put Maaskant and Pate up there.
What that says: as soon as the gc teams saw only Armstrong in the break they just decided to let him run and conceded the stage. Again, this is a play that Armstrong would have laughed off as weak in years past.
Garmin looks like a loser, but they didn’t really commit their major horse-power to the chase, so who knows.
sidewind
chase as much as you want, in those conditions 150 guys aren’t any faster than 15 guys – especially when those 15 include Columbia and Cancellara. Like someone else put it in another thread, it’s not gonna happen. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think “let” or “concede” have too much to do with today’s stage.
Agreed on Astana working hard though.
by plinytheelder on Jul 6, 2009 7:28 PM EDT up reply actions
nah . . .
I’ve done it—rarely, but I have.
Watts are watts. It’s not 150 guys vs. 15—it’s how many of the 7 to 8 who are really riding behind are committed to chasing. Were there 10 to 20 guys rotating through—and everyone committed in the back, the gap would come down
Think about it: if riding in a cross-wind was so danged hard, the lead group should be able to open a gap.
Armstrong deserves credit for winning this battle—because had he not put Yaro-P and Zu in the rotation the break would have been shut down.
oops . . .
that should be " if riding in a cross wind was so hard, the lead group should NOT be able to open a gap."
I see what you mean, but it’s easy to open a gap, it doesn’t take the whole peloton slowing up, it takes 3 or 4 guys letting the guys in front of them get away, and then not immediately working together to keep the gap as small as possible – a tall order given that they’re suddenly at the front.
by plinytheelder on Jul 7, 2009 12:39 AM EDT up reply actions
Lance is a total douchebag....
Some are calling Armstrong’s move a deliberate revolt against Alberto Contador. Armstrong took Yaroslaw Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia with him and some are saying they should have helped pull Contador to the front.
Who’s the team leader? "I won the Tour seven times and I merit respect."
Right, and what was he saying before the tour even started ?? that he was there to support Alberto and would do everything he could to make sure that Alberto was the front man on the team.
See, I live in Austin…. and Lance is looked at here as being the biggest douchebag in cycling today, and should have remained retired.
This has nothing to do with bringing about awareness of cancer….. that was achieved from 1999-2006…. that has been achieved through his ride here in Austin that many cyclists nation wide come and ride in.
This has everything to do with his over inflated EGO.
He is polluting cycling just as he has the local water source near his home.
Team Astana be damned for allowing this BS to transpire…. Lance, take your money, your bike, and your BS off the circuit and let REAL cyclists compete.
Uh-oh you mentioned D-Word so this picture is getting posted:
Credit: Adbusters
Mon coeur appartient à les forçats de la route.
Paging sminer
Clean up in aisle seven
"I get paid to hurt other people. How good is that? How good is that?
I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, that's good." Jens!
Hopefully the bag of wind up there will move on through.
If not, I’m going to bring out some Mr. Clean that will surely put me in the doghouse w/Chris.
I already am,
the responsibility with ELMO in the corner over there is huge. I’ve already bit my tongue off for that little furball.
Besides, most of that comment was so over the top, psychotic comes to mind.
fyi
while Armstrong has many friends in Austin, he has angered at least a few people in the cycling community there. Most notable example: Armstrong made no attempt to support the “safe-passing” bill which Gov. Perry recently vetoed.
Shoot, one tweet could have been enough . . .
fyi, it's not the kind of information I'm interested in.
Also it’s simply not fair. Some riders reach celebrity status and so we learn and hear alot more about those riders than others. I don’t use that information against celebrities which is why I don’t read or watch tabloidish celebrity gossip magazines and shows. The rich and famous of all walks of life are always being brought down by somebody or some group for not doing enough. When Lance or any other rider gets busted for doping then you guys can have at them, but until then, leave well enough alone. I think Chris mentioned something about this in his blog about Lance.
Let’s blame Lance, the “safe-passing” bill got vetoed by Gov. Perry, let’s blame Lance. Let’s blame Tom Danielson for Colorado’s problems. C’mon guys you can dig something up on him.
Don't be silly, we can blame Lance for Colorado's problems seeing he lives a lot in Aspen now
/snark
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
There were a lot of tornado's in Colorado when Lance was here...
hmmmmmmm
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
I'm sure he thinks highly of you also...what's your claim to fame??
errrr....am i supposed to sign this??
wow - i certainly don't share your sentiment or your choice of words
there are lance fans here (and other than aren’t so much) but we still try to play nice…
http://www.podiumcafe.com/2009/7/5/938209/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk
Some people read cycling like an Arthur Millar play!!!
If you watch carefully when the split forms it’s actually a couple of Astana riders that are unable to hold the wheel of the four Skil boys that worked together to bridge what was a five metre gap to turn it into a fifty metre gap very quickly…all kudos to them. Then what else was Lance and everyone else in the front group to do…one would have thought a group of 150 or so riders that included amore than one complete teams could have got organised and chased harder…but they couldn’t. If it hadn’t been for Spartacus’s kerb hopping skills he wouldn’t have made the break either and Saxo would have been forced to TTT at the front. Once it was obvious that Columbia were going to drive it home hard it would have been Un-cyclist not to take a turn whether your designated Leader was with you or not. It’s cycling not f@#$%ng politics!!!
Me thinks I’ll just watch it with the sound off from now on…no more forums…no more twitter…just the awesome spectacle of it all..i will not suffer idiots!!
PS…how good was wee Sammy? Maybe he should have dropped back to help Moncoutie!!!
errrr....am i supposed to sign this??
by Flatbagger on Jul 6, 2009 8:04 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
agreed...
except for
it would have been Un-cyclist not to take a turn whether your designated Leader was with you or not
The counter examples are too numerous to mention, suffice it to say that in every race ever there have been guys in breaks not working, indeed actively trying to disrupt the break, because the break wasn’t in the interests of the team.
by plinytheelder on Jul 6, 2009 9:46 PM EDT up reply actions
actually scratch the “agreed,” who are the idiots in the forum to whom you refer?
by plinytheelder on Jul 6, 2009 9:47 PM EDT up reply actions
For sure
it’s an essential part of team riding – deciding whether to work in the break or sit on. Cancellara sat on, because Andy Schleck was behind him in the main field. Perfect team riding.
I think the key was
Once it was obvious that Columbia were going to drive it home hard
at that point, to not help out would just piss people off without accomplishing anything
"I get paid to hurt other people. How good is that? How good is that?
I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, that's good." Jens!
Why would anyone get pissed off? It happens every race.
by plinytheelder on Jul 6, 2009 9:51 PM EDT up reply actions
apologies for shrill tone, I think I need a ride ;)
by plinytheelder on Jul 6, 2009 10:02 PM EDT up reply actions
My example still holds
Despite Columbia’s decision to drill it, Cancellara continued to sit on. It is always a tactical decision whether to work in the break. How hard the other riders are racing has nothing to do with it. The decision depends entirely upon whether the survival of the break suits the team’s interests.
But I think Bruyneel's point...
Was that they didn’t work until it was clear the survival of the break was a fait accompli. If that’s really true, then it seems the decision was based on weighing the value of a) the few extra seconds LA took out of the other GC leaders versus b) the negative symbolism of having a third of the team seemingly working against Contador. Also on the a) side of the scale, I suppose, would be currying favor with Columbia, which could be handy later on given Columbia isn’t a big factor in the GC.
only problem is that
Astana really started pulling through when the gap was coming down, not when it had stabilized.
For the first couple of minutes all of the pulling was Columbia; then the two Milram guys started rotating through, THEN Skil-Shimano got in. Somewhere in there Armstrong and Popovich contributed a bit, but their big pulls came right at the moment when the gap was closing.
I didn’t study second-by-second, but the only guys I didn’t see pull through at all were Cavendish, Cancellara, and Hushovd.
Agreed. watch the last 20k
Lance, Yaro and Zubi work (reluctantly in the latter case..) Columbia drills it, Skil-Shimano does their part as do the two Cofidis riders. The rest? Mostly sat in and went along for the ride. Fully agree that if Cance had not made that break Saxo would have lit it up to hold the time gap down.
by Christopher See on Jul 7, 2009 12:40 AM EDT up reply actions
But sitting on made no difference...
….Columbia were going faster than the peleton without any help….those that went to the front were merely being polite.
errrr....am i supposed to sign this??
but as the protected guy he's not expected to do so...
You put nine guys on the front, eight of them are working for the ninth, in this case Cav.
by Christopher See on Jul 7, 2009 12:42 AM EDT up reply actions
Wow
Just ended my tour embargo. Didn’t expect things to play out like that. Very interesting….
Pinarello, accept no substitute...
What is God's holy name are you blathering about?
I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.
Rudeness about a rider is rude,
but riders are public figures, and anyway, rhetorical speech / figures of speech are not considered slander / libel.
In contrast, posters here are not public figures. Questioning their sanity (as opposed to their politeness) is kind of over the top. I don’t care how much you love or identify with a rider—an attack on a rider IS NOT an attack on you, and it doesn’t excuse a personal counter-attack. In addition, nobody needs a “claim to fame” to have an opinion on a fan site. This isn’t a closed community or club—chasing people out because they stumble in without knowing the “politeness rules” isn’t helpful, nor is it polite in its own right.
For pete’s sake, we’re surrounded by resources. Point someone at the “guidelines” thread & clue them in, don’t body slam them.
None of this is news. So if you see something that strikes you as aggressively ignorant, ignorantly aggressive, or just plain irritating, do the “10 deep breaths” thing before you post.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Featured Stories
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
![This is funny on so many levels. [Html should open bigger]](http://cdn3.sbnation.com/fan_shot_images/239959/flagged_small.jpg)
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
