Le Tour de France - Spoilers

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
62

I was out riding last night (and let me tell you it is much hotter here in Dallas than in France). Every downhill I hit I had mental images of that horrible event run through my head. Every slightly molten patch of tar I saw I heard Phil Ligget commenting on “melting bitumen” …

I’ll never get the images of Botero out of my head – it wasn’t just the physical pain that got him, but also the pain of being out of the race. That sort of thing gets me right in the gut. To quote capybara: Owie owie owie owie owie!

63

Is anyone else totally loving the footage of the beautiful French countryside? It’s like a mini-vacation to watch it roll by. I’d like to be in one of those villages (particularly one big enough to have a couple of good cafes) and watch the Tour roll by. But those summit crowds look way too crazy for me.

64

If the crash is in the last kilometer, everyone involved in or held back by the crash gets the same time as the main group. I assume there is a time limit involved here (not sure what it is though), as you do have to cross the line to finish the stage at some point - it won’t count otherwise. If the crash is before the 1 kilo banner, then they’re out of luck! That’s why Lance took that huge chance when Beloki went down, so he didn’t get dropped by that group of riders he was with and lose time.

This is maybe the fifth one I’ve watched, but so far it’s the most exciting. Definitely looking forward to the TT and final mountain stages. I want someone to give Lance a serious run for his money for a change! I’m curious as to how Iban Mayo will look for the remaining stages, since he did an amazing climb of the Alpe D’Huez.

65

It’s hotter than 115F in Dallas? Yikes.

BTW, I think you mean Beloki, not Botero.

66

Err … Yes (oops) that’s exactly who I meant – must’ve been a memory parity error :slight_smile:

And remember, that 115F was “road temperature”. IIRC, the maximum “air temperature” seen so far has been around 98F , and for the most part that max has been in the lower 90’s. Dallas, on the other hand, can count on high temps in the 98 to 100+ range through the end of August (it’s not a heat wave for us – that’s normal). I have no idea what the “road temperature” is when I’m out (these darn bike computers need a thermometer!), but sun beating down on black tar here is going to have the same effect it does in France (i.e., TDH!).

Of course, if I typed Botero meaning Beloki, my memory could be playing me false … :wink:

67

Huh. So the time trial was today. How quickly things change.

So this was the day Lance was supposed to crush his enemies and take the definitive lead, right? Turns out it was Jan Ulrich’s day-- what a change in his place in the standings. It’s nice to see Tyler move up further into 4th. Do you guys think Lance is going to pull it off, or what?

So now the race is really on.
[Personal musings]
I think I like it better this way-- it’s more interesting. I guess maybe for the last couple of years Lance’s total dominance has made me feel like the tour too closely paralled the global poly-econ scene, like the Olympics. “Oh, the American’s punishing the competition? Ho hum.” (Of course I’m also a fan of countries like Senegal making it into the world cup and such). Last summer I was in Belgium during the tour and there seemed to be a bit of a Lance-As-Metaphor negative atmosphere. The tour actually got me dragged into more unpleasant conversations than Bush last July. No fault of Lance’s, of course, though. I hope he does pull it off but I like the competitive character and up-in-the-air feeling of how the race is going this year.
[/personal musings]

68

It’s much better this way, I agree. Usually everyone’s fallen into complacency at this point, with the 5+ minute time gaps after the first set of mountain stages and the TT. It will make the Pyrenees much more interesting. Good thing for Lance they did so well in the TTT!

It’s great to have two challengers that have been able to match him in the mountains (and one that’s beat him twice so far up a climb), and are this close to Lance’s time at this point in the race. If Beloki were still in it, he’d have three challegers. Makes for a much better race for everyone except USPS!

I’d count Tyler too, as he’s still pretty close, but I can’t see him competing for the overall win with his injury. Maybe a podium finish though. To think there could be two americans on the podium this year…

69

“If Beloki were still in it, he’d have three challegers.” Don’t discount Vinokourov – I think he’s better than people are giving him credit for. I’ll bet you he’ll be right there with Lance and Jan throughout the mountain stages.

A quote from a VeloNews article: “Maybe it was too hot for me. I suffered,” said Armstrong …

Hmmm … Looks like Lance needs to do more training rides in Texas! Well, ok, that’s not practical since his summer schedule is taken. How about more training rides in the Sahara or something? :wink:

70

“If Beloki were still in it, he’d have three challegers.” Don’t discount Vinokourov – I think he’s better than people are giving him credit for. I’ll bet you he’ll be right there with Lance and Jan throughout the mountain stages.

A quote from a VeloNews article: “Maybe it was too hot for me. I suffered,” said Armstrong …

Hmmm … Looks like Lance needs to do more training rides in Texas! Well, ok, that’s not practical since his summer schedule is taken. How about more training rides in the Sahara or something? :wink:

71

Here’s a link to an x-ray of Tyler Hamilton’s collarbone. :eek:

72

Sorry for being vague, I just didn’t want to give the results away too early :wink: Actually, Ullrich and Vinokourov were the two challengers I was talking about, while Beloki would have been the third. I was, however, dicounting Mayo because of the time he lost today, but if he makes up some time tomorrow he may be back in it as well. At any rate, it’s sure to be a good race!

73

D’oh! My roommate has been using my computer. That last post was supposed to be from me! Oh well. :smack:

74

Mwu ha Ha Ha HA HAHHAAAAAAAA!!!

Yessssssssssssssss!

Now, I know… I know… nobody likes a show-off or somebody who gloats… but man… ask me how glad I am that Jan Ulrich pulled out the ITT he did last night. Fuck yeah!

Here’s my point… you can win the Tour de France two ways… you can win it by having everyone else fall away and your the last man in front… or… (and much more admirably) you can win the thing with panache - you can win it by being a motherfucker who takes the race by the ring of the neck and serves it up as breakfast to everyone else.

Now, quite frankly, Lance Armstrong has NOT ridden this race with panache yet. Certainly, his team put him in a cracking position with the Team Time Trial - which “effectively” put him in the Yellow Jersey as early as Stage Five. The net result is that he’s ridden defensively - tactically - and NOT with panache.

Consider Eddie Mercx for a moment in 1974. The guy won 9 stages believe it or not, AND won the race overall. But get this, he was SO HUNGRY to serve it up to everyone else that he also won the sprinters green jersey as well. Now imagine Lance Armstrong trying to do that? Imagine Lance going for every sprint prime along the way - mixing it up with Robbie McEwan and Baden Cooke and Eric Zabel for green jersey points - and THEN going on the attack in the Alps to pull out even more time in the Yellow Jersey competition…

Moreover, Eddie Merckx did it in his winning 5th Tour! Not just on his first winning tour de France, but on his 5th winning Tour. Ask yourself, would Lance Armstrong take such a risk as Eddie Merckx?

But the race is harder than ever to win, I hear you say?

Well, I patently don’t accept that the race is harder than ever before. That’s crap. The race is only 3 weeks long. It USED to be known as 28 DAYS in JULY for a reason you know - because it used to be 4 weeks long.

The only thing that’s different now is that there’s more money in it than ever before, and as such, it pays to focus on the Tour de France at the sake of other grand tours more than it used to.

But don’t for a moment try and convince me that Lance Armstrong has ridden this tour with panache thus far… he’s simply done what he’s needed to do and not a zip more… and for mine, there’s something lacking in that. Thus far, there’s been a certain lack of aggro on the part of Armstrong. It’s one thing to win it tactically - but you can also win it with aplomb too.

But thankfully, as I was hoping two weeks ago, Jan Ulrich has ridden a Time Trial which has catapulted himself into a really, REALLY attacking position.

Moreover, apparently his fever last week elevated his body temperature to 41 degrees C - which is a really incredibly hard fever to ride up l’Alpe D’Huez with - and yet he lost only 1’20". I noticed in the other alpine stages which followed, Jan Ulrich had zero trouble keeping with Lance Armstrong whatsoever.

Traditionally, the Pyrennees are slightly easier than the Alps. And there’s another Individual Time Trial yet to come. This last week looms as a real beauty.

75

I don’t understand Beloki trying to break Armstrong on Alp D’Huez when he had a team (Vinokourov) mate riding away.

If Beloki had left Armstrong to do the chasing, I’m sure both Vinokourov and Mayo would have finished in very strong challenging positions as they would certainly have gained more time, Belokis efforts cut their lead.

In addition Jan Ullrich would not have lost as much time either, and given stage 12 time trial result, Armstrong would have been under pressure from 3 teams, he still is under pressure but not as intense.

I think that Belokis attack on Alp D’Huez might well have helped Armstrong to overall victory, which is fair enough, but I prefer it to be much closer for longer in the race.

76

Josebo Beloki rides for the ONCE Team, and Vinokourov rides for Jan Ulrich’s (former team) the German Telekom Team.

They weren’t team-mates at all.

Indeed, if memory serves me correctly, Beloki attacked early on D’Huez, Armstrong reeled him back in and THAT was when Iban Mayo attacked, and Armstrong chose not to chase. Sensing that Armstrong was not mega strong, Vinokourov attacked with 6 k’s to the summit and finished some 30 seconds ahead.

Regardless of what happened, Jan Ulrich would have lost much the same time. He lost 1’48" in 2001 and this year he had a 41C fever up the climb.

Nah… everything is as it should be. The lead that Armstrong has over Ulrich at the moment effectively came from the Team Time Trial. They’re absolutely even stevens otherwise.

77

Ulrich takes yellow jersey!

78

Ah, that explains things so much better!

79

D’oh! I blew it. Mr. Pug points out to me that Lance is still ahead of Ulrich, but by only 15 seconds now. Ulrich pulled out ahead of Armstrong in the last kilometer or two, and the last few seconds of the stage was a frantic race. First four stage winners: Sastre, Ullrich, Zubeldia, Armstrong.

I also understand that Armstrong for some reason didn’t hydrate enough during the time trial, and lost a lot of weight. He has even had to have IV’s to re-hydrate.

80

Ummm… as for hydrating during the Individual Time Trial?

I’m extremely skeptical about that. Even as an amatuer, the rule of thumb is that you drink enough water in the 3 hours prior to a race, ANY RACE, so that you’re urinating pure clear water with just one hour to go. With an hour to go, you stop doping up on water, and let the body get rid of excess water via urination and you’re then perfectly hydrated for the effort ahead.

Such a sequence is pretty firmly set in stone. Also, the ITT on Stage 11 was 47klm long. In all honesty, even in wracking heat, that truly isn’t long enough to cause major dehydration problems. If it was 2 hours, sure, let alone a 6 hour stage - but not one hour. In my experience, even if you were under hydrated PRIOR to the stage (which is totally unlikely given the professionalism of Lance Armstrong’s medical staff), then you would expect to lost maybe 1.5 - 2kgs of body weight I’d wager.

Certainly, if dehydration was/is an issue, then that’s just an amateur kinda thing to let happen. No excuses for it.

Nonetheless, Monsieur Ulrich is now down to 15 seconds away from Yellow. And what’s more, he served it up to Lance Armstrong on exactly the same climb, in exactly the same way, that Armstrong served it up to Ulrich 2 years ago.

Ya gotta love that.

A delicious turning of the worm.

81

Just gotta say: Best.Tour.Ever!