I thought this at the time too. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t slow down to wait (bit much to expect with an entire peleton not far from the finish), but that US Postal and Phonak took it upon themselves to drive the pace along in a deliberate attempt to ensure that Mayo could not get back to them. If they had not been doing that (and really there was no reason why they should in the normal context of the stage), he would’ve had a better chance of rejoining.
I can’t help thinking that if Armstrong fell off tomorrow and some rival teams immediately went to the front of the bunch and drove the pace, there would be something of an outcry.
Except that they have to finish within 25% of the team’s time, or be disqualified, right? (Or was it 25% of the fastest time?)
As for today’s results:
I’m not a particularly big Lance fan, but even I was touched by how close the team seemed to be. The smiles and hugs among the teammates after they crossed the line seemed sincere, and were nice to see. (I know, what a girly reaction. )
While we’re on “girly reactions”, I’ll admit a small distate for Sheryl Crow since I still feel loyal to Kristin and the kids.
If the race leader (yellow Jersey) falls the pack will not race away assuming he can get back up. See the video of Lance’s fall last year.
In a pervious year, jan Ulrich fell just before a big climb. Lance waited for him to come back on the course, then droped him like a bad habit. Lance IIRC was in Yellow at that point, but since Ulrich was close he waited.
As far as I can tell this is not a rule, but rather courtsey, and custom.
Where is Boo Boo Foo when we need him to 'splain this stuff?
Was is the correct word. I have heard that Lance has a very “My way or the highway attitude” Aparently it was the highway for Kristin.
For watchers of OLN: what did you think of the series, “The Lance Armstrong Chronicles”? I think we saw a bit of the “my way or the highway” attitude displayed there.
I’m not sure if I saw “The Lance Armstrong Chronicles”. I’ve been tuning in and out so I’m not sure what I’m catching.
Definitely, team-wise, he seems like that’s the case. Like Heras and Hamilton maybe didn’t want to do it all for the glory of Lance, so they’re gone.
Yesterday was interesting. I guess that Lance isn’t going to hold onto the jersey.
I guess he should be able to make it up in the mountains though.
As I watch this year, it seems amazing that he would win 5 in a row just from the number of people you see go down, or just die on a certain day. 5 years is about 110 days of riding, without a mishap serious enough to take him out of contention? That’s remarkable right there.
Strategy question. I know enough about the Tour to be dangerous but some of the strategies elude me.
In Stage 5, the peleton was content to let the breakaway group pedal along and win by a bundle of minutes. Today, the peleton reeled the breakaway group back in.
Why? Why was one group allowed to win by so much and the other one was slapped back to earth? Is it based on who the break away people were and the likelihood of them using it as a springboard?
I’m no expert, either, Mullinator, but I believe the riders in the breakaway pack were all strong sprinters who may be able to forge ahead on the flats, but who are sure to be buried as soon as the first mountain stages start. The strongest riders in the peloton were simply not worried by letting these guys get ahead for now.
With the wind and the rain on Thursday (especially the wind) no team was willing to waste energy at the top of the pelaton to reel the breakaway back in. Postal/Mobile/Phonak had no interest in bringing back the breakaway because none of the riders were overall Tour threats. The teams more interested in setting up their spinters for daily stage wins didn’t want to waste their energy for future stages to get this particular stage.
Today’s stage had nicer weather so the effort to bring back the breakaway wasn’t nearly so great.
That pretty much sums it up. The riders in the breakaway group were no threat to win the Tour outright, so the teams with the tour favourites (Postal, Phonak, T-mobile) let them get a big lead. The teams with the big sprinters, who are ususally racing for their sprinter to win a stage (and not the complete Tour) decided it wasn’t worth exhausting themselves and maybe risking a serious fall in that kind of weather.
Does anyone know what the time lapse is for disqualification? I have heard that it is a percentage of the leader’s time, but I can’t find out what the percentage is.
I’ve googled, and found links to summaries of the rules, but none of them are specific. It is a new rule this year.
(I’ve been taping it on OLN (U.S.), and watching at night–this is my first year to be interested. I love the drama of the strategizing.)
I’m pretty ignorant on this stuff. How does it look at this point for Lance to repeat? Who is the main competition and how does it figure to play out from here? Merci beau coups.
While I believe that is how they handle it, each bike is fitted with a transponder* that lets the race organizers know when each bike crosses the finish and start lines. Barring a bike change, they know how long it takes each rider to do each stage.
*Look for the little, yellow box on the rear fork. I was wondering what they were for the first 3-4 stages, but at some point Phil Ligget(sp?) pointed them out.
Tyler Hamilton and Lars Ulrich are considered Lance’s main competition. Iban Mayo got caught in a bad crash and is already about 6 minutes behind Lance. Lance had the yellow jersy for a couple stages there, but wasn’t willing to put in the effort to keep it on the early flat stages. It’s tomorrow, in the mountains, that he is expected to start to attack for a commanding lead, if he can get it. None of the sprinters who are ahead of Lance right now are considered able to keep their leads through the mountains.
Today (Tuesday), Inigo Landaluze and Filippo Simeoni made a breakaway, but about the time the gap hit ten minutes, the peleton (big group) hit the panic button, and three teams took it upon themselves to pull the group through the gap. Many breakaways are caught because the riders have to take much more time at the front, pulling. The peleton riders can draft off others a much greater percentage of the time. It really counts.
The two leaders also sadly killed their own chances right at the last by being selfish and indecisive. Both of them wanted to be in second place in the last few hundred meters, because the one drafting has an advantage from being fresher for the very last sprint. They sort of non-verbally argued about who would get to be behind, and of course when they both wanted to be behind, they slowed down, and the peleton caught them right at the last and neither of them won. They came in 10th and 17th. This actually isn’t as bad as it sounds, because the Tour has a habit of giving groups the same time instead of splitting hairs on fractions of a second, as 100 riders cross the line inside 3 seconds sometimes. This stage had everyone finishing in the same official time. There were bonus points awarded for the first few positions, though, so it was worth something to win.
All of which I guess avoided your question. Lance is only about half a minute ahead of Hamilton, and about one minute ahead of Ulrich.
So, it’s up for grabs. Will Lance be able to look at Ulrich and just ride away like a few years ago? Will he crash and lose a stage he would have won? Will he crash and have to withdraw? Will he crash and be angered and scared enough to put the hammer down and win the stage, like last year? Will he just make it through in good shape? Will he get dehydrated and bonk at a critical time?
The upshot is that Lance seems to be about where he wants to be, but the most important stages are coming soon.
Sorry guys! I’ve been looking for this thread all over the place in various forums but I never thought to check the Cafe Society forum for some dumb reason.
Anyways, whaddya wanna know? First up… Robbie McEwen is from my home town and one of my training partners is one of Robbie’s best friends going back 12 years or more. They share text messages every day via their mobile phones. What lovely gossip do ya wanna know?
I’ll give you a hint as to what the Peloton were sniggering about more than anything else in the first week. Did anyone see Cipollini’s face coming into the finish on that rainy Belgian stage? Geez he looked haggard… no illustrious send off for the great man in Le Tour. Perhaps somewhat fitting that due to his inability to ever finish the race in previous years that Le Tour should have the last say…
And the organisers are wanting to know the phone number of Alessandro Petacchi’s pharmacist. Apparently the July shipment of the wonderful cough mixture that Alessandro used in the G’iro went missing at the French border.
Wow, I didn’t know the drummer for Metallica now raced bikes for a living.
Sorry, I don’t mean to be snarky, but it’s Jan Ulrich.
I’ve never heard of that before. Why would they then use a photo finish camera to determine the winner like they did yesterday, where McEwen beat Hushovd and McGrady by mere inches? I also don’t think any of the racers would agree to having to carry the extra weight. This is why they have the “mules” in every team, who have to go back to the team car and pick up all supplies (like drinks and food) and bring them to the more prominent team members. Even Lance Armstrong started his career as a mule. Also, what happens when you change bikes (which happens a lot)?
If the peloton (or field) crosses the finish line as a big bunch (led by the sprinters) they are all awarded the same total time as the first place finisher, but there are time bonuses depending on where you placed. These time bonuses are not that big (a few seconds), but can make a difference, especially before the Tour hits the mountains and the sprinters all have almost the same total time. Also, if there is a crash within the last kilometer, all the racers in the peloton are still given the same time, even if they are delayed by the crash. This is what happened in the sixth stage.
Pretty good. He has the best time so far of the favourites, due to the great Team Time Trial by US Postal. However, we won’t really know until the Tour hits the mountains (starting today!) and we see if Ulrich or Tyler Hamilton can actually attack Lance there. One of the best mountain racers (Iban Mayo who was considered one of the favourites before the Tour started), is already behind Lance due to a crash in stage three (see earlier posts). Also, the mountain time trial up to Alpe D’Huez next Wednesday should make quite a difference. Imagine climbing over 1100 meters in 15.5 kilometers (that’s 3600 feet in a little more than nine and a half miles) in about half an hour! :eek: These guys are insane athletes!
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Why would they then use a photo finish camera to determine the winner like they did yesterday, where McEwen beat Hushovd and McGrady by mere inches? I also don’t think any of the racers would agree to having to carry the extra weight. This is why they have the “mules” in every team, who have to go back to the team car and pick up all supplies (like drinks and food) and bring them to the more prominent team members. Even Lance Armstrong started his career as a mule. Also, what happens when you change bikes (which happens a lot)?