Can we declare Boo Boo Foo the official SDMB analyst of the Tour?
This is great stuff we are getting, and I’d love to see it all through the end.
Also, is there a stage tomorrow (Saturday US?). I thought the next stage, the first mountain stage, was on Sunday. We have a wide range of time zones chiming in on this thread.
Speaking of Phil Liggett’s tongue…does he insist on calling Tyler Hamilton’s clavicle a “clavicule” because he is in France, or is that really the British English way to pronounce it?
Thanks for that link, scr4!
I don’t have OLN-TV, so I’ve got one computer monitoring the Danish video feed and listening on this computer to Phil Ligett on OLN audio.
WHAT what what?
Today,
Pettacchi dropped OUT?!!
Jan Kirsiipuu and four others as well.
Guess he IS a sprinter. Made his mark, though.
Not sure what to think about that.
The bums!!! I can’t believe this! Do you suppose they planned it that way all along? Surely not …
Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, people get dropped all the time, but, you know. Maybe the boy just wore himself out.
I am glad for Virenque, though. It’s about time, and he rocked.
Well I’m not really a race enthusiast, but I can offer two thoughts since no one else has answered you yet. Others surely know more than me, but…
There is a coast-to-coast race called RAAM (Race Across AMerica), but it is not a stage race like the TdF. It is basically continuous for about 3,000 miles for solo riders (sleep maybe 2 hours each day) or relay teams.
For a while in the 1990s, the Tour DuPont (East Coast, Virginia-ish I think?) was a pretty big stage race, the most major race in the US. Lance Armstrong won it twice. Alas, it exists no more: last race, 1996.
Le USA TV Schedule for Stage Eight:
(all times EST/UT-4)
Heh. At least the sportscasters won’t have to look befuddled as they say, “Lance Armstrong remains in second place despite finishing 53rd in today’s stage.”
Tomorrow, if all goes well, Lance finishes first, gets the yellow jersey, flowers and a couple chaste kisses from the pretty Le Monde girls.
If you don’t live in Europe or have OLN TV, watch the race live on the link scr4 provided. Audio from OLNTV.com.
Well they’ve just shown the race up the l’Alpe d’Huez here and it looked pretty epic. Thanks Coldfire and Boo Boo Foo for explaining how epic it really is.
It seemed as though all the other riders were keen to nobble Armstrong on the climb, with attack after attack as they slogged up the hill. Is this usual or is Armstrong getting some special attention as he goes for five in a row?
It’s totally usual Kiwiboy - totally usual and I’d expect nothing less. Indeed, if I recall correctly, (and help me out here Coldfire) but in 1984, Bernard Hinault somewhat foolishly attacked for all he was worth at the base of l’Alpe D’Huez and pulled out almost 30 seconds of lead. Now ya gotta remember here that between 1978 and 1982 Bernard Hinault had won 4 Tours, as well as World Championships and Giro d’Italias. He was in the lead in 1980 when he had to full out due to inflamed tendonitis - whereupon the race was won by some unknown called Joop Zoetemelk (heh heh heh). But he wasn’t in the best form in 1983 and 1984 - and to make matters worse (from a French hero standpoint) there was a guy called Laurent Fignon who most certainly was!
Hinault backed himself… and who can blame him? But about half way up he blew - and he blew big time. His speed dropped to about 50% of what he was doing at the base of the climb. Did he expect such a thing to happen? Of course not… which is why he was prepared to back himself and attack Fignon and the rest of the leaders for all he was worth.
But when Fignon and his fellow leaders caught Hinault, it was a moment of total, incomparable “N’yah N’yah!”.
No shit here… but when Fignon went past Hinault he deadset looked back at him and totally fucking laughed at him. Full on, no holds barred laughed. Why did Fignon do that? Well it was a mixture of the young taking on the old (after all, Fignon was the new kid on the block) and also, it was all about the head games - the desire to psychologically crush your opposition.
As climbers go, Laurent Fignon was reallly, really good - but like Miguel Indurain he was also a bit of a grinder - that is, he could maintain magnificent pace on a climb but he wasn’t real good at coping with perky little surges.
But Lance Armstrong has perfected the high cadence climbing technique. And believe me, it’s the hardest technique of all. Only once a decade does a spinner like Lance Armstrong come along. He has to puff like crazy, but it also means he can change his gears around when he needs to.
Interestingly, I went through the stats today and at first, it looked like the stage was a total disaster for Jan Ulrich. How much time do you think he lost? 8 minutes? 6 minutes?
Nope… only 1’22" - for a guy who’s in the middle of riding back into form, that was pretty impressive. I wouldn’t discount him quite yet.
OK, what the heck happened today? I was following along with text updates, when near the end of the stage, the following occured (starting from the bottom):
16 H 51 - Beloki Still Down
Beloki is still on the road. He’s holding his collarbone and is being tended to by Jaksche and Azevedo…
16 H 50 - Armstrong Goes Cross Country
It’s like a Nike ad… Lance has cut out a hairpin turn and raced across a field to rejoin the peloton after racing off the road to avoid the fallen Beloki.
16 H 49 - Beloki Down!
Beloki has fallen!
16 H 49 - Armstrong Chasing Stage Win…
Lance and Joseba are riding together in pursuit of Alexandre Vinokourov. With 5km to go, their chase was closing in on the stage leader. There was just 10" seperating the leader from the chasers.
What the heck? I’d say more but I don’t want to spoil anything. This just seemed so random. Was there some extenuating circumstance that lead to this?
Also, since it hasn’t been said for a while, Tyler Hamilton is still a stud.
Ditto! Gee, I hope I can find someone that taped today’s stage! I have gotta see this for myself!
Another resource: Check out this story on VeloNews, it has an AMAZING picture!!
Huh. Sounds like his tire burst because of the heat from the brakes?
Heh. Tyler Hamilton’s in 5th now overall.
So now. . . in the second stage or whenever he broke his collarbone, he finished that stage? Or was it so close to the finish that they gave him the peloton’s time? The same thing couldn’t happen for Beloki that far from the end, right?
We saw it live on OLN!
[spoiler]It was amazing. Poor Beloki took an awful tumble, while Lance was just behind him; we thought he skidded on the hot, melting tarmac. Lance had no choice but to veer off the road to avoid him. We leaped from the sofa screaming! We thought he was going to go over a precipice or something. Then the camera pulled back and you saw him banging and bumping over a field – he jumped off his bike, carried the bike over a ditch, and rejoined the group (and they barely missed hitting him) on the road. The road looped around the field in question, so he didn’t lose much time - in essence he took a shortcut.
But Beloki was lying on the ground screaming. The narrators didn’t know what he had broken, but thought maybe it was his pelvis. I haven’t had time to check Velonews, but I’m going to do that now. [/spoiler]
Just finished watching…don’t know what to say. Stunned.
I heard broken femur (frickin’ ouch – in my EMT class, I was told that’s possbily the most painful bone you can break). Hope it’s not the end of his cycling career. In a post-race interview, Lance basically said that it seemed the rider panicked and locked the brakes. Seems a surprising mistake for a professional rider. But then Lance corrected himself so as not to sound like he was blaming him. I’m disappointed that Lance did not bunny-hop the drop at the end. 
Oh yeah, and Tyler rocks. I’ll say it every day.
I missed the live telecast this AM. My wife called me at work and told me I just HAD to see the re-broadcast.
For those of you that missed it. OLN has footage. Click on video daily clips, look for stage 9 action.
Damn what a race, I can’t wait for tomorrow.
Ok, saw it on OLN. Stayed up to watch the end. Had trouble sleeping afterwards-- part excitement, part empathic horror.
Owie owie owie owie owie!
Owie!
Wednesday’s Results!
Stage 10b from Marseille to Narbonne is likely to be uneventful, except all the teams have to travel in a BMW mini.
Phil Ligett will be chatting on OLNTV.com tomorrow 2PM EST.
I hate Kirsten Gum.