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Post by meput on Jun 28, 2014 5:21:15 GMT -7
As Bobke would say, The Tour day Fraannce.
The Grande Boucle begins July 5
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Post by JimRatliff on Jun 28, 2014 9:13:45 GMT -7
I love Bobke! Had competed in Le Tour, but doesn't take himself too seriously. I think they should add Lance as a color commentator, since he doesn't have much chance of winning this year. ? Amazingly, the article I just looked at says the first three legs are in Great Britain? That is utterly amazing! Who are the favorites? Contador? Vandergarden? One of the Schleck brothers? Wiggins or Froome? Too bad they have a leg on the cobblestones - one bit of tradition they should eliminate. Starting in Britain - next thing you know it will become Le Tour de Europa.
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Post by meput on Jun 28, 2014 12:53:09 GMT -7
I don't think Bob Roll is in good favor with NBC. I enjoyed him as the color commentator when it was OLN/Versus. Yes, Lance would add color to the commentary. Not sure exactly what color he would add. I doubt cycling would want to give Lance a legitimate soap box to stand on at this point in time.
The tour often starts in neighboring countries. '12 in Belgium, '10 in the Netherlands, '07 in London, etc. It will often have stages visit other countries during the race. This year's stage (5) with the cobblestones starts in Belgium. For the sake of the riders, I hope it does not rain on that stage. Wet cobbles can lead to disastrous crashes. There are enough crashes in the early days of the tour when the stages are mostly flat.
Who are the favorites? Maybe Todd knows. Can Froome and Wiggins work together, then have the Sky team choose one to win? Can the Schleck brothers and Cantador perform without drugs? Is Evans too old to win? Can one of the young Columbian climbers up their time trial game to put it all together? Can the Manx missile regain his form? Can Kittle make it over the mountains to win the green jersey on the Champs? Will Sagan grow up and concentrate on the GC? This is why rest of us follow and watch. Todd, any hints?
But even the favorites are subject to the good luck or bad luck of the peloton. Crashes, wind split peloton, mechanicals, colds and GI bugs, and weirdness. Stuff like a fan waving a musette bag causing Lance to crash. Or good luck weirdness like when Lance veered off the road to avoid Belocki crashing and riding across the downhill field to join the peloton at the bottom.
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Post by JimRatliff on Jun 28, 2014 13:08:34 GMT -7
Both of the Lance memories are classic. And Jon Ulrich holding the field to wait for Lance to recover from the handlebar event. I read something recently where he said they should give Lance his wins. His quote, "that's the way it was back then". Lance's ban may include the broadcast arena, I don't know. My honest feeling about Lance, I guess, is that even at doping he was the champion. And he was great for the sport, and the organizers knew that (and maybe were complicit).
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Post by meput on Jun 28, 2014 14:56:57 GMT -7
Jim, you and I are in the same camp regarding LA. Drugs LA used were part of the playing field in that era. The domestiques may have been able to do their job without drugs /doping, but to compete, you drugged. The history of the tour is intertwined with the history of drugs in sport. Alcohol, narcotics, amphetamines, epinephrine, steroids, human growth hormone, testosterone, erythropoietin doping, transfusion doping, etc. Even with the current biological passport, what are the athletes doing right now to give them "an edge"?
Back to Lance. I do think he was the most dominant Tour winner of all time. His focus was the GC. In his prime, I think he could have dominated like Eddy Merckx, owning the yellow, green, and polka-dot jersey all at the same time. If he had toned down the rhetoric and arrogance, he might have pulled it off. Anquetil admitted his drugging with amphetamines. Only God knows what Merckx, Hinault, Indurain and even Greg Lemond may have done for "an edge". Unfortunately Armstrong told the lie so much, he came to believe the lie. Add to that his arrogance that allowed him to become a bully in the peloton and to those about him who dared to question or oppose him. It became the quest to bring him down. He had crossed too many people to accomplish what he wanted, and all of them wanted to bring him down. Add to that the perverse nature of people who enjoy watching the mighty and powerful being brought down and "put in their place". I think history will ultimately accord him as being the "best there ever was" given the playing field and "rules" that he played on.
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Post by JimRatliff on Jul 1, 2014 16:14:16 GMT -7
OK, in support of the Tour riding on cobblestones, I rode downtown today and would up doing 5 blocks on old, uneven bricks. Wow. This was on my FULL-suspension bike and my forearms were still feeling it at the end. I cannot imagine how grueling riding on cobblestones must be, plus the constant attention to steering. I wasn't steering much, just letting the tires confirm to the road (less tire pressure would have been better, but I hadn't planned on any off-roading).
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Post by meput on Jul 2, 2014 18:28:47 GMT -7
OK, in support of the Tour riding on cobblestones, I rode downtown today and would up doing 5 blocks on old, uneven bricks. Wow. This was on my FULL-suspension bike and my forearms were still feeling it at the end. Try it next time on your road bike . And you rode on old, uneven bricks, not medieval cobble paving stones to lessen mud for cart paths. I agree, why would anyone, in their right mind, choose to ride cobbles. There are those who say bike racers are not "in their right mind". There are those who say to bike riders, like me, that we are not in our "right mind". Cobbles have a long history in bike races. Several of the great one day races in Europe have sections of cobblestone. The classic that stands out with cobbles is Paris Roubaix. The fans love these cobble sections, the organizers love them, many racers say that they have learned to love them (remember racers not "in their right mind" ). I think many fans are searching out human blood lust for the crashes that always seem to accompany the cobblestone sections. The cobbles require a riding skill that can allow a rider, who may not be a sprinter or climber, to shine. As a fan of the tour, I look at the cobbles as additional flavoring for the total dish. It should have no bearing on the final outcome of the tour. If a major contender for one of the jerseys crashes out of the tour on the cobbles, then that is fate/luck. A contender can go out just as easily in a rain crash, a bad corner crash, a crossed wheel crash in the peloton, etc.
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Post by meput on Jul 4, 2014 17:17:36 GMT -7
The Grande Depart is tomorrow. And it's a real stage at 126 miles, no pseudo time trial prologue. How nervous/jumpy will the peloton be? Which sprinter will take the stage and win the maillot jeune? Then will the sprinter and his team then try to defend the yellow jersey on stage 2, etc.? All these things to worry about.
I love it!
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Post by meput on Jul 5, 2014 9:14:18 GMT -7
Well its on. England really turned out to cheer the peloton on. The royals with a ribbon cutting - lots of pomp & circumstance.
My old guy Jens Voight in a breakaway right at the beginning, holding the lead for ~85 miles, earning the polka dot jersey.
Kittel wins it with Cavendish and Gerrans crashing out in sight of the finish line. The way Cavendish was holding his right arm, looks like he may have broken his collarbone.
The royals again at the yellow jersey presentation.
Bobke on a leash at the main studio, not with Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen at the stage studio.
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Post by JimRatliff on Jul 5, 2014 12:45:09 GMT -7
And Bobke seemed very subdued. You called it for Voight. A sprinters section, so he took what was available (and earned it). Long solo break away. I turned it on late. And I know there is always a lot of jostling in the sprint, but it looked to me like Cavendish tried to bull his way through and knock the other rider out of his way. He may have gotten his due.
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