Just reviewed the replay from yesterday. Cadel’s racecraft and experience and Wiggins lack thereof very nearly paid off for the former and cost the latter, I think. Cadel did every thing right to get to the very front and stay away from the crashes and Wiggins didn’t. He (Wiggins) very nearly got caught up in a crash directly and was damn lucky that it was within 3km so that despite getting held up he still was awarded the same time. I really feel the differenced in their strategy left Cadel deserving of a reward, but that’s the way luck plays out, I guess.
This incident with Wiggins actually made me want him to lose very badly (a few ill timed flat tires will have me squealing with joy). I don’t know if you saw the view from a top, but on the last climb (after Marcato fell) it is very clear that Wiggins could easily have avoided the fallen guys on the road. He only got there a few seconds later and by putting his feet to the ground (and waiting a couple of seconds while a team mate bumped into him) he got the last 3km ruling (which shouldn’t apply anyway because it was a hilltop finish). He knew he would be losing time, so this ‘trick’ saved him from that. The pundits here said it was a smart move and showed he is sharp (apparently it isn’t cheating:confused:). I hope he fails miserably.
I had the same impression but I thought it would be uncharitable to say it. Glad you did.
Thanks for your great response to my questions, polar bear, your answers have helped me to understand the Tour a bit better.
They’ve also reinforced my opinion that while only a few elite riders have the legs to win the GC, it’s what’s between the ears of that select group that determines the winner.
cues cheesy “Eye of the Tiger” song from the '80s
I am sorely tempted to ride along with these guys on my stationary bike, tho I almost certainly won’t do it for the entire 4-5 hours. The scenery (in hi-def natch!) is blowing me away as well.
This exactly shares my view, except that I have to wait until I get home in the evening to enjoy Phil and Paul’s soothing voices on DVR. I love those long arial views of the countryside with the pelaton streaking down the ribbon of road.
Over the years I’ve gotten more interested until now I even have favorites I root for (Cadel for the last 4 years), have a feel for the strategy and am starting to appreciate other aspects of the sport. This year NBC sports has televised a lot more cycling (Tour of California, Tour de Suisse, etc) and I may be overindulging.
Wow, tough day today–a bunch of crashes taking people out of contention and the race as well.
I was reading Robert Miller’s comments this morning and he said that actually the crashes have been no more numerous this year than in other recent editions despite how it seems. I am not about to go back and count but it sure as heck feels like the number of crashes has been hellish.
Garmin Sharp has been absolutely destroyed by the crashes. Ryder’s out of contention - yeah, he probably burned to much energy in the Giro, but would’ve loved to see him pull off the double. And even at 13 minutes back he’s the highest team member in the GC. Sheesh.
Every 10 minutes of watching i think, “'Wow, France is pretty”
First week is always crash heavy. Nervous energy and teams trying to position their sprinter equals crash city.
Their fixation with converting everything into miles gets on my nerves a bit.
So you get the same commentary as we do in the UK? I guess they must share it among broadcasters.
Anyway count me as another one who’s not a huge cycling fan but finds the Tour de France strangely hypnotic. The scenery and the general sense of occasion is a big part of it, I think.
The road turns upward and suddenly Cadel hasn’t got a teammate in sight. He just never has a team worthy of his ability.
You’d have to think Wiggins is going to win it. Today showed that Cadel has no team for the mountains and couldn’t gap Wiggins even on the type of climb that Cadel usually excels at. Unless Wiggins has a hidden flaw and won’t be able to cope with longer climbs the Tour is his to lose.
I don’t know a whole lot about cycling, so I’m curious. How exactly does a team help in the mountains. The overall speed on steep climbs doesn’t seem like there would be much of a draft. and for what draft there is why does it matter if you are following your guy or his?
If Cadel’s luck holds it won’t matter for exactly the reason you say. However in the big mountain stages that combine multiple climbs with flat stretches between and or at the end it can matter.
Certainly how it appeared today, but today was a single Cat 1 climb at low elevation. Multiple HC climbs in the Alps are a whole nuther thing. I’ll wait a few stages yet for a coronation.
Drafting is not really it - they’re not fast enough for that to matter much. As a point of reference, the fastest (that we know of) that anyone’s gone up Alpe d’Huez, which is an HC climb of almost 15 kilometers, is 37’35" (Marco Pantani, in 1997) - so that’s about 24 kilometers per hour, which I think may be about the speed at which drafting is going to make an appreciable difference. Of course, most people are going
to go much slower (it took me 3 and a half hours, about half of which was spent panting on the side of the road, wishing for quick and merciful death :smack:).
So drafting’s no use. I think the help is going to come in the form of getting water from the squad manager’s car, and in the form of psychological support. If there’s someone whose wheel you can stick to, who’s making the pace, etc., that can be a great help. In addition, a team mate can attack and attack, trying to provoke and tire out opponents by making them go after him. I’ve seen the Schleck brothers use this strategy, with the older Schleck playing the helper role, trying to get away and exhausting opponents.
Using the Schlecks as the example, one thing I’ve always wondered about is why it’s supposed to tire out Contador, Evans, whoever else, but Andy is supposed to be ok after the attack. 
Frank takes off, AC and Evans chase, and either Andy has to stay with AC and Evans, or risk losing a chunk of time. Why won’t Andy hurt just as much? Is the psychological benefit really going to help more than the pain of the chase?