Tour de France question
Probably a very silly question but this is the first TdF that I've followed and it's fascinating! Question though...do the riders have earpieces so their team managers can communicate with them? The teams seem to know when to drop back to support a fallen star rider, and I can't decide if it's instinctive or if someone's telling them!!! Sorry if this is a stupid question...
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They certainly do, and it's a subject the divides fans.
In the old days, you used to rely on the guy on a motorbike with a blackboard for time checks, but now it's in your ear. It's changed racing a lot.
Greg Lemond started it in 1990 (I think)Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
Thank you!! All I needed to know!0
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i have a question too!
if a rider gets the yellow or any of the jerseys during the race, but then lose it again, i.e david millar and the maillot pois, do they get to keep the jersey at home as a memento of that period in the race/ acheivement, despite not wearing it on the podium?0 -
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Regarding the radio question, the managers in the team cars have TVs for live coverage, plus a radio tuned to Radio Tour, a temporary station set up just for the race which gives non-stop commentary in French. I think they have commentators on motorbikes on the course. So the manager knows about all the attacks, even if they're not on the TV.
The riders also have little microphones somewhere. Sometimes you can see them holding them to their mouths.
They still have the blackboard bloke - you see him on his yellow motorbike. I suppose they have to keep him because the radios aren't that reliable - the batteries seem to pack up quite often.
A few years ago the blackboard bloke was a devilishly handsome black guy who got lots of cheers from female spectators. He was very conspicuous - I think he was the first black person ever seen on the Tour coverage. I think last year was probably the first time they had a black podium girl.<hr>
<h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>0 -
Moose11 wrote:Yep they get to keep their jersey forever.
They actually get three for each day. One for on the podium with the iron-pressed sponsors logos, one for the actual race and one framed presentation jersey. Armstrong must have a whole wing of his mansion stuffed with them.
Re the race radios. If you watch a rerun of today's stage, Vino spends virtually all of the final climb nattering into his radio. When he gets dropped in the final km, you see him talking again into his radio and Kloden drops back almost immediately to help him.0 -
afx237vi wrote:Moose11 wrote:Yep they get to keep their jersey forever.
They actually get three for each day. One for on the podium with the iron-pressed sponsors logos, one for the actual race and one framed presentation jersey. Armstrong must have a whole wing of his mansion stuffed with them.
Re the race radios. If you watch a rerun of today's stage, Vino spends virtually all of the final climb nattering into his radio. When he gets dropped in the final km, you see him talking again into his radio and Kloden drops back almost immediately to help him.
No wonder he is struggling, this is the TdF, on a mountain stage...talk??? He's clearly not working anywhere near hard enough
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This is the first Tour I have watched on TV, partly as my employer are Communication Sponsors, and also as I read a good fiction book (girlie one) about a female member of the press corps, and it intrieged me.
The end of todays stage (Tignes) is somewhere I hope to go within a few years as a sowboarder, so having seen lots of pictures of it in it's winter coat it was amazing to think of cycling there!0 -
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HJ1976 wrote:I read a good fiction book (girlie one) about a female member of the press corps, and it intrieged me.
"Cat" by Freya North I suspect..............tried to read it but there was far too much shagging going on for my liking :shock:0 -
iainf72 wrote:They certainly do, and it's a subject the divides fans.
In the old days, you used to rely on the guy on a motorbike with a blackboard for time checks, but now it's in your ear. It's changed racing a lot.
Greg Lemond started it in 1990 (I think)
The teams cars also have little TV's inside so they can follow the broadcast coverage.0 -
HJ1976 wrote:What kind of success rate do British riders have in the Tour de France?
Not much. Our two best riders have been Tom Simpson, who was 6th overall in 1962, and Robert Millar, who was 4th in 1984. Millar also won the polka dot jersey in 84 and is the only British rider to win one of the four jerseys.
We also had Chris Boardman and Sean Yates in the 90s, and they wore the yellow a few times, won a few stages, but never did much overall.0 -
Only when you compare it to my normal reading matter.............but then I'm a boring bastard.HJ1976 wrote:And yes it was 'Cat'- and was there that much nookie?
Pretty poor in general..............not much of a cycling nation when it comes to it.What kind of success rate do British riders have in the Tour de France?
Five British riders started this Tour - highest ranked overall now is David Millar in about 80th place - no chance of any of them winning overall I'm afraid.
The best place by a British rider was Robert Millar who was 4th overall in 1984 and also won the King of the Mountains competition that year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Millar
Before him, Tom Simpson finished 6th overall in 1962.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Simpson0 -
No Brits look likely to win the Tour or come close to it for some years [Geraint in 10yrs time?]. David Millar is the most likely to win a stage - look out for him in breakaways in later flatter stages. Charlie Wegelius can climb well but is likely to be on continuous domestique duty.I\'m sure I had one of those here somewhere0
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Have to say that I'm pretty new to pro-cycling as a spectator sport but a couple of years ago I met Barry Hoban - he's an old friend of my parents-in-law from when both they and Barry were living in Belgium in the 70s. I think he should be up there with Simpson and Millar...
<i>Barry Hoban (born 5 February 1940 in Wakefield, West Yorkshire) was an English professional cyclist during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He holds the records for the most stage wins in the Tour de France by a British rider, winning eight between 1967 to 1975, and for the most Tours completed by a British rider – having finished 11 of the 12 he started between 1965 and 1978. He is also the only Briton to have won two consecutive stages of the Tour.</i>
Don't you agree?
J0 -
by the way - he still cycles a lot and looks alarmingly fit...0
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I don't think Barry Hoban really gets the recognition he deserves, but can't really understand why.0
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I believe there was, and still is, a lot of emnity within the British cycling community towards Hoban because he won the stage the day after Simpson's death. The agreement was that someone else (Vin Denson maybe?) would get the stage but that Hoban took it.skut wrote:I don't think Barry Hoban really gets the recognition he deserves, but can't really understand why.
Hopefully someone who was actually around then or knows more could shed light on this?
FWIW, I think Hoban's record in the Tour is very impressive. If he was riding today he'd be feted as a star.0 -
Hoban was Tom's best friend and married his widow. I wonder if the marriage was frowned on by people at the time?<hr>
<h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>0 -
Also, I thought that I'd read before that they didn't stop for 'comfort breaks' in cycle races. But in the commentary for this TdF I've heard of it at least twice. Don't they lose loads of time if they stop ? Can't they bottle it so to speak ?0
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The cyclists usually agree amongst themselves early on in the stage when to stop and go. This is done beside the road and before the racing has started in earnest - cameras and press sensitively don't really film it. :oops:
The other alternative if the peloton doesn't want to stop is that a cyclist will get their team mates to give them a push whilst they relieve themselves.
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beegee wrote:Also, I thought that I'd read before that they didn't stop for 'comfort breaks' in cycle races. But in the commentary for this TdF I've heard of it at least twice. Don't they lose loads of time if they stop ? Can't they bottle it so to speak ?
Six hours on the bike and they drink a good few litres of liquid throughout the stage. And no, they don't lose any time because they all slow down to allow riders to get off together.0 -
Melpro wrote:cameras and press sensitively don't really film it. :oops:
Check out the 2nd picture in this sequence from Graham Watson
http://grahamwatson.com/gw/imagedocs.nsf/updateframesetcall?openform&07flan0
