Le Tour Stage 3: Winners and Losers!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 6, 2009 1:53 PM EDT
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I won't likely do one of these every day, and will in fact gladly share the duty with other willing participants, but I am more than a little keyed up after today's events, so here goes.
Winners
1. Lance Armstrong
This is being dissected thoroughly in today's post-stage thread, so I will simply say that he is back in the conversation. Likely to win? No, still a longshot. But til now Astana's team organization seemingly consisted of "Alberto Contador is our leader until we can't ignore Lance anymore," a strategy that could have worked after Contador's impressive stage 1 time trial, had he then made up more time in the early mountains. The team might have made it to Paris in cohesion, united behind a dominant young champion. But now... seeing Lance and Popovych pulling in the break can only mean that Astana are racing as two teams. This isn't bad or evil or even stupid, IMHO: it's simply the reality of having a former winner on staff, and the occasional need for a team to hedge its bets early on. It might even make Lance into the ultimate decoy, capable of throwing Saxo Bank into panic next time he attacks, while Contador sits back and relaxes. As for Contador, like every young champion who ever had to ride with an older former-Tour-winning teammate, he needs to smile and keep his nerve.
2. Team Columbia
I've been calling them the Everyday Boys for their ability to win about five races a week. But after today's fit of pique at the lack of racing by other teams, and Columbia's response consisting of stomping their entire squad off the front of the race, for good, I have a better name for them: the Patrons of the Plains.
3. Kim Kirchen, Maxime Monfort, Michael Rogers, Linus Gerdemann
Some B-list GC hopes just got dragged off the scrap heap, at least for now. Monfort and Rogers now give Columbia a GC rider who's nearly level with Contador again, while Kirchen (a minute further back) has mitigated a bit of Saturday's damages. Gerdemann, meanwhile, seemed to know better than to lose sight of his former teammates when they get that gleam in their eye and start massing at the front. Smart riding!
4. The HTC Telephonics Corporation
Less than a week into their sponsorship of a cycling team, and this is what they get for their reward?
Are you kidding me? Invest in cycling, folks. [Hey -- Cofidis need a sponsor still!]
Losers!
1. Johan Bruyneel's peace of mind
Having Lance up in the break strengthens JB's hand in the race, no doubt. But his job just got about 250% harder...
2. Every sprinter except Cavendish and Hushovd
[I had to add a few words, but throughout the Tour you can follow the Green Jersey daily battle by reading JSallee00's Pursuit of Green updates, in Fanposts.]
Missing a sprint when the green jersey is up the road (winning, no less) is FATAL to your points comp hopes. Cavendish is both lucky and good, being the fastest man on the best team. But of the rest only Thor Hushovd showed the focus a green jersey contender needs to bring, every day (save for the mountains and time trials). If Hushovd keeps this up, he will almost certainly bring home the green were something to happen to Cav. Farrar, Feillu, Ciolek, Boonen, etc. are all in a 40-70 point hole. That's devastating. Tourbecco says: "Happy stage hunting, Tommeke!"
****
That's about it. Hopefully some of the other teams will get the message that they can't sit back waiting for Columbia to escort them around France. I think we're all grateful not only for a little Lance intrigue, but for a little show of aggression as well. There are a lot of flat stages in this race, but we're nowhere close to seeing things get dull. Not by a longshot.
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Two questions...
1. Who the hell gave Moreau a place on a team… blackmail must have been involved…
2. Is Marc Sergeant still *Lotto DS?
Respect the Shit List; it respects you.
Big winners: fans.
Columbia turned what should have been your everyday catch-the-break-and-bunch-sprint stage into a real drama. Same winner either way, but this was so cool to watch. Thanks, guys!
Among his many talents, Mark Cavendish can make it rain in Southern California--Chris Jones, ESPN Magazine
I was jumping out of my skin watching it
(and at work no less!) Thank you, Columbia!!
by cg. on Jul 6, 2009 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions
So, what exactly is JB's approach for stage 7?
Are both Lance and Bert going to be allowed to duke it out, and the strongest then gets full team support? Winners : fans
My greatest fear is that Lance is in yellow after tomorrow, and Bert is going to be forced to support him on the first mountain stage.
Someone please tell me I’m wrong. I’m not a Lance hater, but I don’t want to see the world’s best climber on a leash. Losers: fans.
You're wrong
Though Lance may be JB’s best media weapon…Bert is his best racing weapon. If this goes the way most of Lances tours went back in the day, they will let a non-threatening rider take the lead in the Pyrenees.
"Never swing a small stick. " Andy Hampsten
You will be wrong
Lance up 19 secs on Bert before any mountains does not equal Bert actually doing work for Lance. especially seeing he gained 22 seconds on him on stage 1. Lance being the more attentive and experienced rider does not mean he’s the best rider on the team and I hope JB realizes that. Not to take away from Lance’s ride today, he did a good job getting in the front group.
Vamos Alberto!!!
agree w/ 'u will be wrong'
I am a fan of Lance but Phil H. is right…19 seconds isn’t a great deal of time in TdF, especially in the mtns. I hope Lance wins but 19 seconds isn’t going to do it :-)
19 seconds
is not the real issue here. Those handful of seconds are meaningless in the mountains, agreed. The hypothetical question I tried to pose was this: What if (I realize that is a huge what if), Lance were in yellow after tomorrow? Would JB feel compelled to reign in Contador to protect Armstrong’s jersey? I think some of you are really underestimating Johan’s loyalty to Lance (not to mention their potential business ties with the formation of their own team next year). Of course, whether Bert would follow his marching orders is another question altogether.
All I’m saying is that I don’t want anything holding Alberto back in the mountains. This guy could possibly be one of the all time great GT riders, and it would suck to have team politics responsible for limiting his potential in one of the few mountaintop finishes this year. I think we all want to witness a slugfest on Friday. I hope Spartacus keeps the jersey, so we can see it happen.
by The Team Chef on Jul 6, 2009 10:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Ah Lance in yellow, yes share your fear's as well
thus I keep mentioning that I hope Johan doesn’t get suckered by his own ambitions to get Lance a top the podium in Paris and approaches the Tour neutral. So far so good IMO, having Bert with no 21(seems silly but important) and having him go last in the TT, plus picking Paulinho over Horner makes me feel good about what JB is doing.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
yeah they seem like small gestures but possibly quite important
by plinytheelder on Jul 6, 2009 10:08 PM EDT up reply actions
Armstrong in yellow
for more than a day or two would be a disaster for Astana’s team.
Might be great for publicity, but Bruyneel would want to get rid of that jersey pretty quick.
Yeah and I think he know's that
he said after the stage today one of the reason’s they helped the front group was to get Cance a bigger lead because he wants him in yellow as long as possible…interesting.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Although helping Columbia put Lance closer to yellow than Bert, so who knows
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Just my guess
There is no scenario where Bert starts running bottles up to Lance. There is one where Lance works openly for Contador, but the fallback is likely making them both GC threats. And there’s JB’s dream, where Lance agrees to do whatever is in the team’s greater interest, and Bruyneel gets to send him up the road as history’s scariest decoy.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 6, 2009 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions
+1
Bert has nothing to fear except fear itself. He is still and will remain a thoroughly protected rider. I haven’t ventured over to the race or post race thread, but I am so glad you put that other thread out yesterday Chris. I’m hoping that quelled some of the shake that certainly would have erupted. Off to watch the stage for now.
Thanks
I think the biggest difference is that Armstrong’s role in the race is worth talking about, not just history etc.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 6, 2009 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, I think this is right, and Chris's point that AC just needs to keep his nerve...
…is extremely well taken.
If JB manages this reasonably well, and LA continues to look like a credible threat, it makes Astana more dangerous.
And one reason why Astana might actually be able to pull this off is that they are that strong that each protected rider could have a couple of more or less super-domestiques covering his tushy. Of course, if people don’t entirely fall for the bluff or the team doesn’t stay cohesive strategically, the whole thing could collapse around them. But even then, they’d still be scary. Yikes.
I really hope you're right.
I’m not suggesting that Bert will run bottles for Lance, but that he might be instructed to hold back unless Big Tex falters (provided he’s in yellow). I find it hard to believe that Alberto is actually going to be allowed to attack his own mate who’s got the race lead. Again, I hope I’ve got this wrong.
This is one fan who is hoping that someone other than Astana wins the TTT tomorrow…
by The Team Chef on Jul 6, 2009 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions
Tow scenarios with Lance
1) Tonight Lance will try to become recognized at the #1 rider. What he did today was a classic early-Tour Lance throwdown. He liked getting out front early and intimidating the other GC guys and there has to be a part of him that’s thinking the same way today.
2) The Lance and the team play it cool, knowing that the race is too early. Evidence for this is how little Contador, Kloden, and Leipheimer helped in trying to pull back the break. Remember earlier this year, Paris-Nice stage 3, the windy and rainy stage where Rabo pushed the race, eschelons formed, etc. catching Bert out? He tried really hard that day to limit his losses- and then took the earliest opportunity to try to get back in yellow. He didn’t do that today so in this scenario the team is not riven by factions.
Which is more likely? #2 I say. The advantage that Lance got today was not much. The team is built for winning in the mountains: they know today wasn’t decisive for Lance or Columbia.
Who is "he"?
Kinda vague there, Phil. if you mean Lance, then in scenario #1 hell no, he won’t be towing, at least until Contador overtakes him and maybe never if the team fully falls apart. In scenario #2 he probably won’t tow until Contador is launched because you would want to keep Lance as a credible threat.
Disclaimer: I am not at all sure that other riders perceive Lance as a credible threat. In part I’m not sure because we didn’t see the front of the chasing group enough to see who was pulling the most and even then they could have been pulling (at first) in hopes of reeling in Cavendish and (later) just to keep the gap reasonable- and 40 seconds was fine with them. It would be great to hear Cadel’s reactions from today or Kreuziger’sbut I haven’t seen them.
Going back to Astana I won;t believe much of anything coming from either Lance or Johan as they are good at spreading disinformation. But oif Contador freaks out from today then we’ll know my scenario #1 is more in play.
Chasing group
at one point I saw a flurry of *lotto at the front
"Never swing a small stick. " Andy Hampsten
He should have Molly in the back pocket so he can get such things going easier
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 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions
I would agree except
for the work Popovych and Zubeldia did to maintain the gap. If Armstrong was just along for the ride and happened to gain 40 seconds then I’d vote for “playing it cool” and #2, but having two strong guys working for him while he sat back is the behavior of a guy who honestly thinks he can win the Tour. And personally I think Bruyneel’s post-race rationalizations about how that helped the entire team rather than just Lance are just silly, but I guess wacky stuff like that is how Bruyneel maintains his puppetmaster rep.
History's scariest decoy -- yes! With the side benefit from Lance's perspective
that in the role of “decoy” he can put 10 minutes into everybody. :)
Sure coach.. send me up the road “for the team”…
HA!
Love it! So many angles to this…
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 6, 2009 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions
heh
or that he get’s to play Greg Lemond to Contador’s Hinault?
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
No, your memory is correct
it’s just less funny to put it correctly!
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
The Tour video of 1985
Old guy Hinault f***ing over Greg Lemond, Lance’s pick for “feelgood-movie of the year”
Right, armstrong pretending he's back to do a hinault-86
then turns around and tries to pull a hinault-85…
Careful though...
…the prospect of anyone letting him get that far up the road is vanishingly small.
And I don’t think he’s strong enough to truly enforce his will to that extent. Today was extremely astute tactical riding, which is how LA at this point is going to win / be a factor. He is no longer the unquestionably strongest guy on the road over three weeks. He is clearly in the conversation, and tactics could make the difference for him (though I really doubt it in the end), but he’s not the guy who, all things being equal, is going to win (as Cav is in sprints, for example).
Great effort by Columbia
The irony is that they might pay dearly tomorrow for their anger-driven effort.
Lance must enjoy the satisfaction that comes with experience and great instinct. JB did what he knows best (flawless tactics), he is the real winner. The difference between Lance and Alberto is irrelevant this early in the race. The mountains, however, will determine Astana’s real leader.
Columbia
yeah, CW is that this might take a little of the starch out of their TTT, but I think it was a good gamble. A dominant display that will hopefully serve as a reminder to other teams over the next three weeks. And who knows, maybe they will still do well tomorrow. Or maybe they were never going to win it regardless.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 6, 2009 3:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Which will be Contador
The first TT was a legitimate test, and AC put a significant beat down on Lance, 22 seconds is not something to sneeze at.
In the old days Lance would NEVER have been outpowered by such a wide margin. My guess is that this might have been planned by Astana for the purpose of giving Armstrong some of the limelight before the real racing starts, at which point we’ll see him chasing down breakaways on behalf of AC.
Today's action planned by Astana?, hardly.
And Lance and Levi took a gamble by going out so early in the 1st day, a gamble that didn’t pay off, but still they put in good results. Also that opening TT really suited Contador, and he certainly didn’t lack for motivation. And when the real racing starts I take it you don’t think Lance will be there. I can’t wait to open my kitchen, I’ll be serving crow like it’s going out of style. How would you like yours served? ;)
Lance would never ever lose a TT by that margin if he was a serious contender
I don’t care if the TT “suited” Contador, whatever that means. I think I can count the number of times Lance lost any race of consequence in the Tour to a serious rival (Ullrich in 2003, Botero in 2002) so no way he can seriously challenge AC. Will he be in the mix on some of the mountain stages like he was at the Giro? Of course. Will be be able to put the hammer down like the good ’ol days? No way. The only way Lance wins this Tour is if pulls a Chiappucci and takes significant time on one of the flatter stages, something which Saxo Bank would never permit anyway solely based on the respect they have for him.
So, because he came in 10th place in the TT he's not a serious contender.
I don’t care that you don’t care that the TT suited Contador or that you don’t understand what that means. I’m not saying that Contador wouldn’t have torn up just about any TT course. I never bring up the good ‘ol days, I don’t know what you’re trying to do, convince me that Lance isn’t going to beat Contador? I don’t need help in that department. Try wardrobe, I haven’t been shopping for clothes in years.
Wardrobe help?
http://ep.yimg.com/ip/I/stylinonline_2060_319787852
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Biggest Loser: Garmin
And it pains me to write that, as they are my favorite team. But:
1. CVV loses precious seconds in a race where the margin for a podium for him is so razor thin. Carlos can afford to lose 39 seconds. I’m not sure CVV can.
2. Wiggo loses whatever opportunity he may have had to be in Yellow after tomorrow’s time trial
3. Although the green jersey was a bit of a stretch, there was still a small path to victory for Farrar if he could have made it to the finish on a few stages Cav could not. Can’t recall the exact race earlier this season where this happened and Garmin went immediately to the front with Rabo and drilled it, not letting Columbia make it back to the pack after Cav was dropped.
4. Every time the cameras panned back to the peloton, it seemed Garmin had 3-4 guys at front trying to bring it back. I think this hurts them for tomorrow.
+1
And it pains me too, a lot. But yeah, this was a bad day for them. Very, very bad.
And if they don’t do extremely well in the TTT tomorrow, they are nothing but a team of stage hunters.
They were never anything else this year.
In fact for CVV he may want to lose some time so he can get away on a stage or two. Farrar has never finished a Tour. He had almost zero chance at Green.
Agree - VERY bad day for garmin
Disagree – were only stage hunters (at least until after the pyrenees)
Wiggins needed 20 seconds on saxo, and 1 sec on astana for yellow. He lost 7 kilo in the pursuit of this goal and learnt to climb properly. All the PR shots with a garmin in yellow are now dust. Wiggins missing yesterday when Farrar needed him for this very reason.
Upside – Farrar now got a lead out train of substance.
Cavendish - "le Mozart du onze-dents" (the Mozart of the 11-tooth sprocket) – L’Equipe
agreed
Wiggins in yellow tomorrow was a realistic, achievable goal for both him & the team. Ok, so it may or may not have happened, but it was there. Hence the panic/half-hearted chasing when it split today. Other than, say, green jersey contenders, they had the most to lose. Think it also builds the pressure for tomorrow, & post-Giro I’m not too sure how they’ll deal with that…
Saxo must be the biggest losers
They lost their spot in the TTT to Columbia while wasting a lot of energy, plus they’ve revealed their fear to Armstrong which honestly should have been non-existent.
What happened to the cool tactical overview, is Riis scared by Johan? They had no reason to chase Columbia today after the attack.
well, it was bad enough for the schlecks to lose 40s
after what they had already lost in the TT, but if saxo didn’t do anything and found themselves an additional 2-3min down it would have been a lot worse
the Schlecks
only lost 40s to Lance. No other GC guys made the break, so they didn’t really lose anything today.
"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!
oops, you're absolutely right
it’s just my subconcious self having a tough time adjusting to the 800-pound gorilla in the living-room being now just an 8-pound, toothless chihuahua
I think even Vaughters acknowledged that CVV is out of the running for the podium
He was quoted as saying that he expected to CVV to have excellent form in the final week of the race but seem resigned to the possibility that he would lose time in the first mountain stages.
Those reports are automatically generated from a database Bob keeps. Not in the daily up/down list means he more or less stayed put (relative to the race leader) or he gained/lost the same as others but wasn’t high up enough alphabetically. Not in the favourite standings list at the end of the post means he didn’t get enough results in major & minor stage races this past year (obvish not including last year’s Tour). Bob can & will add favourites manually upon request.
I don’t understand the “the peloton let them go” comments – am I missing something? I ask for the following reasons: 1. it was pretty clear that Columbia, the best team by far, was pulling really hard and that the other teams (many of them anyways) didn’t want them to go. 2. I saw plenty of panic/annoyance in the peloton – some weird combination of knowing that a good move had been made, and not really being willing to do all the work to bring it back. 3. and most importantly: surely people have ridden in a crosswind? It’s the hardest condition for bringing an attacking group, especially if it’s rather large like today, back to the peloton – it can be virtually impossible to bridge in these conditions too, especially near the end of a race like today. To my mind today’s move was a really good move, and if the peloton didn’t bring them back it’s because they couldn’t – in a crosswind they’d have needed almost perfect organization, and that just wasn’t there.
I think comments aim at
that there was a limit to how much energy teams were prepared to commit. Sure they wanted it to come back but not at any price as the ones who got away were not the biggest threats in the GC.
I think it's a good point
the break stayed away for a few reasons …. but the main reason was that it was strong / brilliantly executed break … and the Peloton couldn’t (ok, or wouldn’t) easily catch them.
But i like Rogers take on the stage … seeing it as one of the greatest team accomplishments in his career.
The reason we don’t see stuff like today very often …. is because it is difficult to do. KUDOs to the badly dressed Columbians.
sometimes life is a false flat
difficult yes
but damn impressive. I’m not about to write them off tomorrow
"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!
I'll be rooting my ass off for them tomorrow.
Nothing would please me more than for Columbia to win the TTT after lighting up and entertaining todays stage, oh and getting another win.
Skil
Their riders are not as good at the other teams – but they rode really well. They seem the second best team. (Team meaning effort /intelligence- not talent.)
Garmin was terrible. Farrar would get much better lead outs from Skil.
good point, I like those Skil guys, in part because of their throwback jerseys that recall the old Skil ones. No offence to anyone who owns other current pro jerseys, but I think that’s the only one I’d wear.
by plinytheelder on Jul 6, 2009 7:01 PM EDT up reply actions
The odd thing is that Skil this year look at lot like Garmin last year...
…it’s as if Garmin really don’t know how to play this role that they’ve appointed for themselves this year.
Lance Did X
Are we sure Lance actually tried to do anything today? I mean, I stand by my analysis above, but my sense is that the break kind of fell in his lap, and once that happened he saw no reason to squander the opportunity. Smart riding is being in the right place at the right time, but I don’t think he set out to attack anyone today.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 6, 2009 4:54 PM EDT reply actions
With Le Mevel saying it was Contador who let the gap open up,
might we speculate it was a planned move … ? (I guess we might but it wouldn’t be fruitful.)
What, that it wasn't him or that it wasn't planned?
Seriously, even if it was him, I don’t really believe he was gapped intentionally. Like @steephill says, it happened before in P-N on the flats, apparently he just isn’t that good at this sort of thing.
Agreed
For all we know this was LA taking advantage of an opportunity to ride the coat tails of Columbia. Also think about the fact that the yellow jersey was in this group. Lance see’s the yellow jersey go and he goes with it. Don’t see any real deliberate tactics here.
I agree it was just an opportunistic move, but
I did have a moment where I wondered whether Lance might have had a word with his old bud, “George, now would be a good time for you guys to hammer.” Hincapie: “Right boss, er, Lance.”
heh
old habits die hard. But Hincapie was hammering anyway.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 6, 2009 7:22 PM EDT up reply actions
conditions
It was so windy today that cohesive echeloning was paramount. The pack, though usually at an advantage due to the sheer #s of riders to throw up front, was at a disadvantage today. Crosswinds limit the number of riders that can participate effectively in an echelon. The breakaway(lead group) was the perfect size, not too small, and full of experience – guys that can see what needed to be done, and organize themselves without looking around for somebody else to step up constantly like less experienced riders who ride “scared”.
The Cavendish factor was in my opinion, the source of the non-Columbia teams’ aprehension to ride at the front today. Columbia was so strong, and Cavendish so fast, that half-way through what was appearing to be a very transitional, frustrating, cross-windy stage, that with only a 4 man break up the road, it just looked so much of a textbook “let the columbia ride at the front – it’s their race to lose” sort of mentality.
As for Saxo appearing “afraid of Lance”, I don’t see it that way. Having no reason to chase down Columbia (as I read a couple of threads ago up above), I beg to differ as well. Fabian is a smart, well seasoned vet, and the type of rider who’ll protect his own interests if his team isn;t. He’s got the Jersey for crying out loud! He could give two #$@&s what lance was doing, he was merely assuring that he’d keep his jersey – smart riding.
As for Lance, this isn;t a new strategy in the least for him, in fact, this is how he burried countless “threats” to his other victories. The only differece is that he let Columbia do what Postal would have done for him in years past. I remember the likes of Mayo and Simoni (just to name two) absolutely broken by the time the first mountains arrived, thanks to the brutal punishment his team dished out to the lithe, sinewy climbers via the flat windy stages. Today it worked similarly, as Contador was caught out, seen pannicking a bit, and losing some significant time. Lance has always been a climber, but he’s a smart rider when it comes to windy flat stages. I can;t remember him ever getting gapped (except maybe by eric dekker’s breakaway of 13??mins) on a stage like this. Sure, echelons don;t offer the high drama of 22% ramp, but they still afford the opportunity for big time strategy, and in Paris, the race itself doesn;t care where time was lost or made up, it all counts the same.
But Saxo did chase
To the point where Paul felt the need to point out that it was very important for Saxo to get a teammate up with Tony in case his bike broke.
Whether or not they stopped due to ineffectiveness, indifference or other, I don’t know.
"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!
Lance is an astute rider
and wasn’t going to let that break go without jumping on, especially since he was in position. I’d blame him if he didn’t.
But he did quite a bit of hard work to guarantee it’s success, and if I’m Bert that’s what I’d take notice of. Plenty of guys in that break didn’t do a lick of work.
I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.
They talked about crosswind from the beginning
But I do think that they expected it to come earlier, and therefor were caught off-guard when it really came. A couple of interesting tweets from Vaughters:
However, wait and see if they hit a good crosswind in a few kms here. If so…. It’ll be war.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Not so much wind today, but its very exposed and strung out.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
No real wind today. So, I guess its going to be a full peloton sprint. We need to be ready for a few more sprinters in the mix today.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
And then it happened
Spoke too soon…. Now there’s wind… Here we go!about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl.
Hm
I read somewhere (VN?) that Zabel was monitoring the course finish and talking about the wind. When it shifted, Columbia had a plan in place and kicked it out.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 6, 2009 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions
Sort of
It may not have been a totally planned move, but it was as close you can get to one in the ever-changing environment at the Tour de France. Team Columbia-HTC’s course "spy" Erik Zabel had ridden the closing kilometers of the stage; and, like savvy journalists who drove the final 70km of the course instead of taking the recommended diversion, Zabel saw that the prevailing north wind changed to a south wind and gathered strength where the race hit the coast 30km from the finish.
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 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Laurens ten Dam said on Dutch TV after the finish
that he thought the route book wasn’t totally correct. They (Rabobank) didn’t expect the road turning right there but a little later. He just spoke to the Columbia guys and they said the same. But at that slightly earlier, unexpected point Columbia were already up there, felt the conditions were right and seized the moment.
(And something about Gesink having flatted 2 km before so Rabo were all at the back.)
oy
their rare run of good luck seems to have been confined to May.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 6, 2009 7:23 PM EDT up reply actions
The gas mileage is shit though
I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.
I've
been in this situation several times riding in a large fast group (certainly not this caliber, but with local racers) in the cross winds and have been on both sides of the break. once the split happens there’s just no way. I remember making the break, but not realizing that a split had been made because i was digging so hard and just concentrating – then i looked who was behind me and there was nobody. I imagine that’s how it was for the Astana looking around to see who was there.
Big ups to Skil-Shimano. And two japanese guys in the the top 10 two days in a row. Beppu!
agreed on “there’s just no way,” well put
by plinytheelder on Jul 6, 2009 7:24 PM EDT up reply actions
si
Very difficult, for sure.
I don’t think there was any “letting” involved here. Certainly, most of the team leaders comments were less than enthusiastic about the day’s events.
I have to say this, another big winner to me is the coverage today
even though Lance was only one of 27 guys in the split I saw very few camera shots of him, no heli zooming in on his back and no motor bike zooming in on the sweat on his face. So far, the coverage has been far better than that of the Giro, were the Italians embarrassed themselves with over-coverage of Lance. Obviously I expect some camera shot of him when nothing is happening but I don’t mind that one bit, I just don’t want 60% of the shots being Lance doing nothing as was the case in Italy.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
I'm assuming you're talking about the French video feed
and not the Vesus commentary?
"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!
Yes by coverage I meant video coverage
I did hear the name Lance 40 times or so today(in the last 20km) but I can live with that if they mention others as well, which I thought they did a good job of.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
I love it..
Everybody is trying!!The effort by most of those posting comments here (re: LA) too be fair, unbiased, and in general, appear “neutral” has practically become its own entertainment. Tiptoeing around the sensitive nature of the topic has broadened my perspective on how tactful one can be whilst minimizing the potential to offend the LvStg pennant wavers. Chris’ lectures have served the site well it would appear! We’ve come a long way, no!?
You forgot the /snark symbol no?!
my comments above are my true opinion and I’ll be the first to get pissed off and say so if Lance coverage gets to Giro standards again, OK?!..sorry I like the ?! combo.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
me gloating
Was on the road all day and just finished watching the stage. I haven’t had a chance to read much of the comments here yet but I’m sure it’s gonna be good. For about 25k my life was close to perfect.
Hello?
Hello? Oh, hi mom. Yeah, just riding…oh, hey thanks Thor, I thought you had me there…NOT!…. Sorry mom, Thor just rode by. You remember Thor? The one Phil always calls: “God of Thunder”? What? Oh, no, we just finished a ride. It was pretty sweet…got to hang out with the team…kind of a pre-time trial training ride. Fabian was there, too…met up with with some guys from Skil and Astana. Alberto? No, funny…he RSVP’d, but didn’t show up. Odd. Lance said we should just go without him…maybe he’d catch up.
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