Stage 2 "Spoiler"

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Comments

  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Leipheimer punctured during the final circuits, his wheel hit a pothole and he lost the tub off the wheel. Losing 13 seconds is a small price to pay when this happened.
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    And I've been hearing they've been altering the course to suit Levi. They should've fllled in that pothole :D
    Le Blaireau (1)
  • micron
    micron Posts: 1,843
    Good job his super domestique managed to stay out of trouble - brilliant the way he was right there for his team leader, pacing him back :wink:
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,711
    Levi's puncture was a ways back.
    I still wonder how the split happened on Basso. That's of most interest to me, but I expect it will get washed away in the Astana media frenzy.

    Gives me a glimmer of hope that the Italians can outfox those GC men, come the Central Italy and Versuvius stages.
    Time to prove that there's more to riding a bike competitively, than just power output.
    I can see Levi for one, suffering a "Contador, Paris-Nice" moment or two, around stages 14-16.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    There was a big split in the peloton about 5 or 6km out when the Caisse d'Epargne guy had a mechanical. Maybe that's where Basso got caught out. Although then you ask yourself why he was so far back in the first place, especially when he had already seen how narrow the road was on the previous two laps.

    Kanstantin Siutsou lost 49 seconds, which is a bit of a surprise. I would have thought he would have been Columbia's other protected rider.
  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    afx237vi wrote:
    There was a big split in the peloton about 5 or 6km out when the Caisse d'Epargne guy had a mechanical. Maybe that's where Basso got caught out. Although then you ask yourself why he was so far back in the first place, especially when he had already seen how narrow the road was on the previous two laps.

    Basso's not the best at riding the pack well.

    A bit like Thomas Dekker in that respect!

    Unlike Contador, who's a master at it (amongst the GC riders at least..)
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    There was a crash on the first of the three final circuits I think. 50 oddweren't affected, but the rest got snarled up.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • stagehopper
    stagehopper Posts: 1,593
    phreak wrote:
    So is Swift primarily a sprinter? I'd heard him talked of as the potential GC contender for the new GB team.

    Brailsford of British Cycling was saying a few months back that Swift never really had the numbers when younger but had great recovery powers and instinctively knew how to race. Think he's a bit big for a GC contender but could see him in the Ardennes classics/Tour of Lombardy and as a stage winner on bumpier profiles. His sprinting has really kicked on this year.
    @stagehopper
  • NervexProf
    NervexProf Posts: 4,202
    stagehopper wrote:
    phreak wrote:
    So is Swift primarily a sprinter? I'd heard him talked of as the potential GC contender for the new GB team.

    Brailsford of British Cycling was saying a few months back that Swift never really had the numbers when younger but had great recovery powers and instinctively knew how to race. Think he's a bit big for a GC contender but could see him in the Ardennes classics/Tour of Lombardy and as a stage winner on bumpier profiles. His sprinting has really kicked on this year.

    Good interview, immediate post race here:
    http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fulls ... est%20News

    I am very impressed with Ben Swift. Feet on the ground and not phased mixing it with the big names.
    Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    afx237vi wrote:
    There was a big split in the peloton about 5 or 6km out when the Caisse d'Epargne guy had a mechanical. Maybe that's where Basso got caught out. Although then you ask yourself why he was so far back in the first place, especially when he had already seen how narrow the road was on the previous two laps.

    Kanstantin Siutsou lost 49 seconds, which is a bit of a surprise. I would have thought he would have been Columbia's other protected rider.


    You know who wouldn't make a rudimentry error like that? Gilberto Simoni 8)

    (Stands by to be corrected)
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,711
    disgruntledgoat wrote:

    You know who wouldn't make a rudimentry error like that? Gilberto Simoni 8)

    (Stands by to be corrected)
    You'll get no argument from me. Only mistake in a decade of Giros was at Monte Pora, last year.
    Savi and Savio, one might say! :wink:

    They weren't flat out, when the crash happened.
    Two laps and 12kms to get back to the front.
    Should have done better.
    Another narrow, winding stage finish, today......
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Some interesting stats on Cav from L'Equipe. When he sprints, he often wins. You know that but here are the numbers: in 2007 he won 42% of his sprints (10 out of 24 sprints); in 2008 he won 50% (16/32) and in 2009 he's on 72.8% (8/11). Note that the Tour of Romandie was the first stage race in two years where he didn't win a stage.
  • chipperleenie
    chipperleenie Posts: 217
    sing_for_absolution wrote:
    What a fine stage finish for Ben Swift too. Has there ever been two British sprinters in the top ten of a Grand Tour?

    I think there was a stage in the 80's when Sean Yates and Deno Davie got 1st and 2nd!

    I could be wrong though
  • chipperleenie
    chipperleenie Posts: 217
    My memory does serve me right.

    Stage 12 of the 1988 Vuelta 1st Sean Yates, 2nd Deno Davie. Elliott also won a stage that year.

    See link below and scroll down to 1988.

    http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/tourdefrance/Brits_in_the_Tours_From_Robinson_to_Cavendish_article_262683.html

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