 |
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by alva
If he wouldn't have fallen, CSC would have would anyway. |
if you mean "would have won", I agree its quite likely since he is a fast rider and his team would have had a couple of seconds of "oh crap what do we do?" before pushing onward.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by alva
He was left behind, so his indivial time counts.
If he would have fallen withing the last Km. he time would have been the same as the group he was with.
|
Right. From the rules:
"Riders who arrive on their own after the 5th rider in their team will be credited for the general ranking with the actual time they took to complete the stage."
According to reports, he was pretty bloodied with a torn jersey. I'm not sure if the crashing rules apply to a time trial since the intent is to protect riders who get caught in a mass crach at the finish.
quote:
Originally posted by alva
He was very unlucky. |
yes and no . . . Avoiding a crash is skill-- while sometime luck can play a big part with things like spectator interference, blowout or a touch from another cyclist, I don't think this was the case here. Riding a paceline, it is the responsibility of each cyclist not to touch the wheel in front of him. If thats what happened, its unfortunate but ultimately a case where an error by a cyclist themself has taken them well back into the pack.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by pchang
Does the jersey (numbering) order have any significance? Is the team leader always the first jersey number? Does having the last jersey number mean "you're on the team, but will be the first to get kicked off as soon as we can find someone better?" What does it mean that Zabriskie has the lst jersey number for the CSC team? |
Well the "team leader" seems to have the lowest jersey number on a team. Other than that I'm not sure. If you look at say team CSC, Jens Voigt has the second highest number and I don't think anyone would put him near the bottom of the team. Rubeira occupies the #8 spot on the Discovery team
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
Oh and Armstrong and Discovery will have to decide how much they want to keep the yellow jersey over the next few days. The next 3 stages are very flat so it will be a matter of whether they will bother to chase down breakaways. Quickstep (Booonen) and Cofidis (O'grady) may be their allies in this as they try to set up sprint finishes. Although the gaps are now such that there are any number of riders that Discovery won't be fussed if they see them go off the front.
Saturday could be interesting since its mainly flat but has a nice second cat. climb at the finish where contenders could try to move up the GC but its probably not big enough to drop many folks. Sunday has 6 categorized climbs ( but 4 of them are only cat. 3) and will probably drop off some of the field but the reality is that its a long downhill so that the pack may be able to regroup.
Monday is a rest day and Tuesday next, the race (for the GC) begins in earnest-- a long flat stage that ends with two cat. 1 climbs should weed out some of the also rans. Then 2 HC climbs the next day should split the field even further. I think these are the stages where the true contenders need to show themselves since frankly it can be real tough to get away on the flat stages when the entire peloton wants to hunt you down
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Zopperoni
|
|
Not only Cofidis and Quickstep, also Lotto (McEwen) and CA (Hushovd/Kirsipuu) will be there to go for the sprint win.
Discovery will have an easy path up to stage ten, the huge stage to Courchevel, and stage eleven, the prestige stage to Briancon.
I expect guys like Heras, Botero, Gonzalez de Galdeano, Ullrich, Menchov, and Basso to give their best then. The next few days are for guys like Vasseur, Dekker, and Rous.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Paul
The team leader has the 1st number. The rest of the team goes in alphabetical order. |
Don't know how I didn't see that. When I actually looked at the team lists in number order it was obvious
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by alva
As far as their number is concerned, only the "1" on every jersey has some meaning.
They will usually depict how they did last year.
1 = Armstrong
11 = Basso?
21 = Ulrich
And so on. However, there are many exceptions. |
Actually according to http://www.letour.fr/2005/TDF/LIVE/us/400/coureurs.html its Ullrich with #11 and Basso with 21. Last years finish was Armstron, Kloden , Basso, Ullrich so T-mobile gets the 11 number based on their rider Kloden.
So its the best finish by your best team member, I guess. I assume if a person switches teams, their team still maintains the result.
Last edited by Flubber on 06-07-2005 at 00:54
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Zopperoni
Not only Cofidis and Quickstep, also Lotto (McEwen) and CA (Hushovd/Kirsipuu) will be there to go for the sprint win.
|
Agreed-- The fun on these stages isn't the GC competition, its the inevitable breakaways and the fight for the stage win
quote:
Originally posted by Zopperoni
Discovery will have an easy path up to stage ten, the huge stage to Courchevel, and stage eleven, the prestige stage to Briancon.
|
I pretty much agree . .. the next three stages are sprinter stages where I can't see anyone making a real denty in the GC unless some no-names are allowed to get into a big breakaway. Personally I can't wait for stage 11-- Madeline and Galibier should be fun
quote:
Originally posted by Zopperoni
I expect guys like Heras, Botero, Gonzalez de Galdeano, Ullrich, Menchov, and Basso to give their best then. The next few days are for guys like Vasseur, Dekker, and Rous. |
I would have thought you would say the next few days are for Boonen, McEwen, Hushvald and O'Grady. Also how has Kloden looked this year?? hmm--you don't mention a guy named Armstrong-- don't you expect to hear from him?
Last edited by Flubber on 06-07-2005 at 00:56
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Mercator
It's not his job to attack. He's already over a minute in front of the competition... At least, not until after he's beaten off all the others' attacks and decides he's got some energy left. |
Obviously if he follows previous plans he won't over-exert himself attacking or chasing folks he doesn't see as threats . . . But just as obviously, the last mountainous stage before a series of flat ones would be a typical Armstrong attack time . . . he doesn't want only a lead that a single puncture in the late TT could erase. I see Armstrong trying to put a hurt on the field somewhere in stage 10 or 11 and predict that some rivals will be all but eliminated from contention at the end of that time. On the flip side, the mountains is where the rest need to try to beat Armstrong since they can't count on picking up significant time in the time trial and Discovery is too good a team to think that anyone is going to take significant time in the flats
Armstrong and his rivals other option is to bide their time until stages 14 and 15 knowing there is a rest day before stage 16. Stage 15 with two climbs higher than 8% could tell the tale.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by pchang
As the race goes on, what would it take for T-Mobile to switch from Ullrich to Vinokourov. Vinokourov looks stronger right now. |
And what about Kloden? His performance last year is enough that he needs to be considered as well. The problem is that a strong rider needs to have his role. In these flats where the team and the peloton is together its not a big deal, but in the mountains it quickly becomes an issue. Do the other strong T-Mobil riders exhaust themselves on the first mountains so Ullrich can sit in and have greater reserves.
With Discovery, no one has any doubt as to the leader and even though Azevedo and Hicapie might be high in the GC right now, they know that their primary duty is to work to keep Armstrong rested and ready to respond when needed. It hurts their individual placing and they know that but it seems they do it anyway
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by pchang
So are you saying T-Mobile has hurt themselves by putting too many potential high GC riders on the team? |
Not at all if the team strategy is clear. It never hurts to have more strong riders. Look at Discovery . . . I don't think thye have anyone outside the top 25 in the GC and a couple of them could arguably be contenders if they led a team. But unless Lance is debilitated, he is the leader. With some other teams, it does not seem as clear always. Who knows, it may be prefectly clear to the T-Mobil riders . .. we may only know when they get to situations where Ullrich, Kloden, or Vinokourov only have each other to draft from. In past years it wasn't a big issue since US POSTAL drove the pace with Armstrong drafting in and his rivals sat on Armstrong's wheel uintil he jumped and some couldn't match
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Flubber
|
|
With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:19
|
|
STAGE 5
1. McEwen
2. Boonen
3. Husovd
No change in the GC
Pretty much went as expected with the long break that gets eaten up with time to spare. Those breakout riders are probably considered a success by their sponsors though since they get a lot of mentions while out there at the front.
The newxt couple of days look much the same-- The sprinters teams will fight to contain breakouts with the sometimes help fo the GC contenders if a break gets too far ahead
|
|
| |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:19.
Apolyton Time is 00:19. |
top of page
|
|
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|
05-07-2005 21:23
|