:eek:
Jesus - the Bozic one makes it sound like he’s lucky to be alive, given the bike went under the car.
Some lovely pics of this year’s Tour here - 100 of 'em.
Also the boston globe pic site has many of the same but the final installment isn’t up yet.
OK. The green jersey is rubbish too. You’ve convinced me.
All round cyclist? The Tour winner is always one of the strongest climbers. Being a good time trialist is also a big help. Being a good sprinter is meaningless. So, say, 80% is climbing ability? 20% TT ability? That’s your “all round cyclist”.
You don’t necessarily have to be the best (especially if you’re a great time trialist), but you need to be among the elite. Wiggens obviously is. But I bet the best is among the top 10 in the GC. Certainly not 26th.
Right. Is the difference between Voeckler and the real contenders just their time trialing abilities? Voeckler finished over an hour behind in the GC. That’s not all time trialing.
It’s a competition to reward the best climber. It fails at that. Fails pretty badly.
Voeckler finished 4th in the GC last year, just 3 minutes and 20 seconds behind Cadel Evans. He had a knee injury at the start of this year’s tour and performed badly in the first flat stages which nearly caused him to abandon. I’d say he is definitely among the elite.
No it’s not all in the TT, but see above about his knee injury and do you understand that if you go all out competing on the climbs the way he was that you can be left with nothing in the tank for a subsequent stage? If Wiggins had gone all out on the climbs he might have had some nothing stages as well. Don’t forget that ALL Wiggins had to do was keep up with the other GC contenders, he didn’t have to attack, he didn’t have to push the pace at all, he just had to sit there and wait for the attacks to come to him.
Actually I think you will find that much of Voeckler’s time loss will have been deliberate. If your plan is or becomes to win stages or win climbs by being in breakaways, you need to lose a heap of time so that the GC contenders know you aren’t a threat, so they will let you go.
I wasn’t following him at the time but I remember him being right at the back of the peleton during the first flat stages and the commentators mentioning that he was really struggling with a leg injury.
When healthy. If he’s healthy and among the elite, he’s going after the yellow, not the polka dot. That was his consolation this year. In years when he did finish high in the GC, he wasn’t in contention for the KofM.
And it’s not just about Voeckler. The King of the Mountain seems to be rarely, if ever, won by the actual “King”. If it is, it’s more of a fluke.
The real contenders, all of whom should be KotM contenders, don’t try to win the KotM. That alone makes it a questionable title. It’s like winning the NIT.
Of course. To prove you are the “best” climber, you have to convince other great climbers that you’re not a GC threat. What a great competition. :rolleyes: