One thing’s for sure, Rasmussen’s infamous 2005 second ITT in the Tour de France that year was the most entertaining ITT I’ve ever watched. You just don’t see professional cyclists running off the road into ditches one, two, three, for times or more. It’s just not meant to happen. The only thing matching Rasmussen’s lack of bike handling, seemingly, is his lack of intellectual capacity.
One thing that has always kinda given me the creeps in watching the Tour is all the motorcycles and cars that are constantly pacing, and in some cases whipping in and out among the cyclists on the tour. It worries me because I’ve seen a lot of cyclists crash on the tour, and I wonder if they might not occasionally get, well, run over by all the motorized vehicles that are in many cases right next to them or right behind them. Has this ever happened, does anyone know?
I totally agree, although I can’t recall that many motor/cyclist collisions. i think I’ve seen more instances of a motor losing control and slamming into the public (Paris-Roubaix a couple of years ago).
A couple of days ago however we saw how a motorcycle took out Sorensen (recognizable as the champion of Norway) and even dragged his bicycle along with him. So we had Sorensen walking around without a bike, while waiting for his team car to show up.
The guy driving the motor was fired and kicked out of the tour before the stage was finished btw, and rightfully so.
This is a good summary of the current situation (after toady we can add that Gesink lost a minute and might not be as good as some people hoped/expected). I’m not sure what I said in my previous post that was unsuitable for this thread. You said you didn’t expect much from Wiggins and I said I disagreed, to bad we won’t get to see who was right. You used some pretty strong imagery about Rasmussen and I wanted to put Rasmussen’s position into context. I personally have no idea what to make of this guy, but back in 2007 I was kind of surprised they pulled him out of the tour…especially since it would later turn out there was no real proof of any wrongdoing (except the whereabouts).
My mistake, didn’t read carefully enough and thought he was talking about David Millar.
I had to check, but you seem to be right. But given how they found needles and empty ampules etc. in his possesion and how Millar (on multiple occasions) has confessed to taking EPO…and even becoming a posterboy for the ‘keep the sport clean’ brigade (which I totally support by the way) as someone who has seen the light and changed his ways, i think there are somewhat more dots that point to a conclusion than the guy who keeps denying and still has no positive sample that has been made public.
I missed Sorensen being run over by a motorcycle. I’m not surprised it happened, though.
He wasn’t exactly run over, his handle bars got caught in the motorbike’s fairing and Sorensen immediately tumbled and rolled to the ground - thankfully almost all on the grassy edge. As “instant embarkations” go, it was a remarkable roll and tumble if truth be known, though he would have ben entitled to scream blue bloody murder.
My personal recollection of riding with police motorcyclists in large groups in races, especially in Europe, is that a lot of the police do it regularly and they very much enjoy it - indeed they become very VERY protective of their charges if it’s a two week race or longer. They’re part of the travelling caravan. They have their motel rooms like the rest of us etc, they visit you in your tem meetings to chat about the day’s racing etc. You often end up in chats with them before, during, and after stages - same deal with photographers on bikes too.
What’s really important about the police motorcyclists is that they can arrest other motorists who don’t the right thing, so it’s a nice feeling when they become very protective of their riders - they’re singularly the most welcome motorcyclists of all within the peleton. If they ned to move from the back of the race to the front, it’s clearly understood that there’s a reason, and you make way for them - their bikes have unique horns, and they have a code for beeping which lets you know it’s a police motorcyclist for coming through. It’s also etiquete that if you’re coming up to a traffic moment of some sort, if you’re a rider and you need to keep your line, you hang out your hand in such a way to say “just wait a moment until we’re past this traffic moment coming up”. When this happens, the police motorcyclist literally becomes, temporarily, part of the peleton.
If you’re a relative newbie to pro cycling, look for the gentle “just letting you know I’m here” touch that riders are always doing to each other - the etiquette is either a real gentle touch on the shoulder or on the hip bone. If you look closely, you’ll see it happen hundreds of times in a given Stage, and if you look REALLY closely you’ll see riders doing it to the motorcyclists too. Not every one speaks the same language of course, and it’s the universal etiquette for “needing just a little bit of room here, OK?”
As for the cars? Without exception, they’re being driven by former racing cyclists themselves - and there’s just one simple rule - KEEP A STRAIGHT LINE. So long as the cars adhere to that one simple rule, the riders themselves are always more manouverable.
I have to say, in all fairness, it’s very rare for a photographer motorcyclist to do what they did, regarding Sorensen.
One more subtle thing to look for is the etiquette of “closeness” on high speed descents. On a high speed descent, everyone (and I mean everyone) who is in front of the race leaders - (race referees, photographers, preceding caravan, police) - they’re all at least 400m clear of the leaders. And the reason? They’re nudging up to 100kph at times. When you’re going that fast, with nothing but race jerseys and nicks for protection, you can come up on the traffic unbelievably fast in slower corners. On the most demanding of descents, even the motorcyclists struggle to hold pace at times.
I’m glad you are here because I was watching something the other night and wanted to ask someone who might know.
The other night they showed the whole of the BMC TTT from inside the team car. Their director was (a) driving at a rapid pace down a narrow lane of spectators and sharp corners (b) holding some sort of timesheet in the same hand as he was using to steer (c) watching a stopwatch (d) handling a radio mike. Meanwhile, there are three other guys in the car just watching. As I understand it, this is standard practice. But why the heck? It must be dangerous as all hell. We all have seen the studies about how driving distracted is as bad as driving drunk, yet “distraction” doesn’t even begin to describe what they are, and they doing a notably hairy form of driving.
Why do they do it all? Why don’t they sit in the passenger’s seat?
That sort of practice is actually the exception to the rule nowadays, notwithstanding that it WAS de rigeur in the past. Nowadays, with wireless streaming internet and digital free to air TV, it’s far more common for a given Direceur Sportif in a given car to ride the passenger seat so that they can study the vision as much as anything else.
I agree with you that it seems chaotically dangerous that the driver of a car should also be working hand held radios plus timesheets etc. A TTT is different however, in so far as the stage is shorter, and the Team Cars (there are two per stage) are following without jockeying with Referee’s cars etc etc. Which is not to say that I’m condoning it - certainly our traffic laws down here would land you in police trouble very quickly I daresay.
Nonetheless, from what I can tell, on the road stages, this practice seems to have died an evolutionary death, and the Directeur Sportifs tend to ride shotgun, with two mechanics (or a guest) running the back seats. I suspect there’s more than a little bit of “control freak” mixed in there too!
To be fair, accidents between Team Cars and spectators are so rare that I can’t even recall one, to be honest.
Well at least one has occurred, though I’m not sure if he meant a motorcycle or a car:
Maybe the Paris-Roubaix thing got some rules changed.
Holy shit! Talk about a timely discussion regarding cars/motorcycles during a race! I didn’t catch the names yet (Fletcher is one of them), but a car clipped a rider while moving to the middle of the road to avoid a tree, and another cyclist behind the initial guy who was hit flipped over the side of the road and into a fence. Holy smokes!
Horrible crash. The riders are back up, but the driver of that car should be looking for a new job.
Wow, the most ridiculous thing just happened. 5 leaders on a quiet street and some dickhead in a car (from the french press) just flat out ran into Flecha also taking Hoogerland with him. Both guys are (somehow!?) back on their bikes but the remaining three guys (well only the two French pricks really) went all out* and it doesn’t look like there is any chance of the to victims getting back. I just hop hoogerland makes it to the finish, he worked all day to get the polkadot jersey back and it would be really sad if he doesn’t get it because of this idiot.
*I can understand it though, since Voeckler is going for yellow and doesn’t have the luxury of being able to wait. Just as i started thinking it the Belgian commentators also mentioned (in jest) how ‘funny’ it was that both French riders escaped unscathed…I’m definitlt rooting for Sanchez now 
Jeez what a crappy driver.
Horrible.
But wtf, does Hoogerland not have a teammate who can drop back with him for moral support to get him over the line? He’s got the polka dots if he can finish the stage.
I was thinking the exact same thing…if he doesn’t make it on time, it’s definately a big tactical mistake.
Also, we earlier lost Zabriskie, Willems, Van der Broeck (5th overall last year) and Vino in a fall earlier. They (respectively) broke their wrist, collarbone, shoulder and thighbone (although some media outlets report it is his pelvis). Damn this is a hard sport.
[quote=“Gorsnak, post:55, topic:587664”]
Horrible.
Fletcher and Hoogerland both get the red numbers for Tuesday (Fighting spirit award).
First time it has been awarded to more than one person.
I don’t have cable - is there a recommended website?
This may be sacrilegious to true fans, but I’m looking for something simnilar to the CBS coverage (which seems to have gone away)- give me the highlights of each stage - what the course was like, who won, who led, notable attacks, etc.
In an unrealted question - what is the average / max grade on the some of the notable stages? I just did a ride with ~12% and ~16% grades (obviously for a LOT shorter distance!!) and wondering how that compares.
Thnaks
Brian
I did find some stuff at msnbc - not exactly what I’m looking for, but close
Brian
The Alpe - 8%, maximum 12%, 14k
The Ventoux - average 7%, maximum 11%, 22k
Galiber average 7%, maximum 10%, 35k [pain smiley, actually 2 climbs though with a wee descent in between]
Tourmalet average 7%, maximum 10%, 17k
So not massive numbers, but most people over-estimate gradient. A 10% climb is bloody hard work, a 20% is an eye-popper that cannot be sustained by all but the very strongest.
Really though it’s the pace that elevates these climbs to the stuff of legend. A club cyclist can mince up L’Alpe D’huez in an hour and a half, and it won’t be life or death or anything like that. Compare that to a 150k TdF stage with 2 hors categorie climbs concluding with the Alpe, and they rocket up it in 40 mins or whatever, staggering really.
For the amateur climber there is a popular sportif called La Marmotte to give you a taste - anyone can enter it. 174k over Glandon / Telegraphe / Galiber / L’Alpe. You need to be in decent nick though - that’s a monster ride for us amateurs. Particularly if you’re from a flattish place like the UK like me - we just don’t have anything like that geography here. The highest tarmac road in the UK is something like 650 m.