Lanterne Rouge

135

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  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,812
    I heard that he'd been dropped when the pace was high early on but then it settled down s I think he must have got back on
  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    For those who speak Dutch:

    http://tour2009.nos.nl/nieuws/artikel/i ... is-op-tijd


    This is as much as what the Tour is about as the fight for yellow.

    He even apologises for being a bit emotional!
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    I feel sorry for him tomorrow. The first climb rises about 2000 metres in 40km/25miles and if he gets dropped then it'll be a really long day with another fairly hideous climb to come. Hopefully the long descent to the finish will put off the people at the top of the order from attacking too much and so give him a little extra bit of time to get to the finish. Wednesday looks horrible for him as well though. Could easily get dropped on one of the early climbs and be a long way to the finish again. These two days also look like being very hot.


    If he can get through those two days then hopefully he can take it as easy as possible in the TT. The stage after that should be ok until the second cat climb towards the end which he can ride at his own pace hopefully. Ventoux should be pretty evil though and some of the bumps early on could see him fall off the back as i think someone will want to set a fast pace to wear the other contenders down. Surely the organisers wouldnt enforce the cut-off if he finished outside on the last day bar Paris?

    As an aside, i have looked back at the last two tours and the last-placed rider came in about 4 hours down. At the moment Kenny is three hours down. If he gets three lots of forty minutes then thats 5 hours. Does anyone know what the record deficit is in recent tours?
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    I think tomorrow's stage will be a lot easier for Kenny, because there will be a lot of riders dropped very early with such a beast of a climb from the start; Yesterday he was the only one to get dropped early on a modest climb and had to ride much of the stage on his own. Tomorrow there will be a big bus formed and some comfort of riding in the gruppetto. Wednesday's sequence of climbs will be tough though.

    Whatever happens he'll come out of this a lot stronger
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    You could be right there. I suppose yesterday a lot of riders knew that if they got dropped on the early climbs then it could be a long ride to the finish. If they could get over the early climbs then they could draft the bunch to the bottom of the last climb and then take it really easy going up knowing that the time cutoff was a long way away. Hopefully he can find a group tomorrow
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    afx - thanks for the link, very good insight.
    Dutch rider Kenny van Hummel of Skil-Shimano was dropped 10 km from the start. That means he rode almost 200 km on his own at an average speed of 35.60 km/h (Contador rode 40.96 km/h) . He felt really bad when he got dropped (obviously) and wanted to give up but his DS told him: “Fight dammit!” and after a while he refound some legs -- translation by Ted van de Weteringe
    Contador is the Greatest
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Cumulonimbus wrote:
    If he can get through those two days then hopefully he can take it as easy as possible in the TT. The stage after that should be ok until the second cat climb towards the end which he can ride at his own pace hopefully. Ventoux should be pretty evil though and some of the bumps early on could see him fall off the back as i think someone will want to set a fast pace to wear the other contenders down. Surely the organisers wouldnt enforce the cut-off if he finished outside on the last day bar Paris?

    That's what happened to Robbie Hunter in 2006. He had a huge saddle sore and rode the entire length of the penultimate day TT out of the saddle. He missed the time limit by a minute or so, but they didn't waive it and he wasn't allowed to ride to Paris.

    But on the other hand, they let Simon Spilak back in the race a few days ago because of the bad weather... so who knows.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    tdf09st15-kvh.jpg
    Contador is the Greatest
  • pat1cp
    pat1cp Posts: 766
    Getting chased by the Voiture Balai all day cant be fun !!! :(:(

    I'm warming to Kenny !!!!
    http://tinyurl.com/332edp
    http://tinyurl.com/2nu7r3
  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    pat1cp wrote:
    Getting chased by the Voiture Balai all day cant be fun !!! :(:(

    I'm warming to Kenny !!!!

    Even though he punched Cavendish? :wink:
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    That was Piet, not Kenny. Cav doesn't care though, all foreigners look the same to him :wink: :P
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Why did Piet punch him?!
    Contador is the Greatest
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Why did Piet punch him?!

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/skil-sh ... -cavendish

    There was nothing in it, really.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Ok got it, thanks. It was in the run-in to a sprint finish.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    afx237vi wrote:
    That was Piet, not Kenny. Cav doesn't care though, all foreigners look the same to him :wink: :P

    Apparantly so. Seems I should double check anything Cavendish says eh?
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    Just listening to Dutch radio and TV clips from yesterday, and Kenny really did ride 200 km alone to Verbier. Blimey
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    afx237vi wrote:
    Cumulonimbus wrote:
    If he can get through those two days then hopefully he can take it as easy as possible in the TT. The stage after that should be ok until the second cat climb towards the end which he can ride at his own pace hopefully. Ventoux should be pretty evil though and some of the bumps early on could see him fall off the back as i think someone will want to set a fast pace to wear the other contenders down. Surely the organisers wouldnt enforce the cut-off if he finished outside on the last day bar Paris?

    That's what happened to Robbie Hunter in 2006. He had a huge saddle sore and rode the entire length of the penultimate day TT out of the saddle. He missed the time limit by a minute or so, but they didn't waive it and he wasn't allowed to ride to Paris.

    But on the other hand, they let Simon Spilak back in the race a few days ago because of the bad weather... so who knows.

    I think Spilak got let back in because there were crowds on some of the descents which slowed him down?
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    # 159. Steven De Jongh Quick Step, at 2:37:27
    # 160. Yauheni Hutarovich Francaise Des Jeux at 2:50:14
    # 161. Kenny Robert Van Hummel Skil-Shimano at 3:35:54
    Contador is the Greatest
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    At the official Tour ticker they gave a cute statistic today; they calculated that on the GC Van Hummel 'rides' 123 km behind Contador, based on average Tour speed.
  • geeteewmb
    geeteewmb Posts: 2,221
    You guys seen this vid of KVH?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTPKaeFbcA8
  • markwalker
    markwalker Posts: 953
    that must be hard !!
  • Stuey01
    Stuey01 Posts: 1,273
    sounds like a lonely lonely road in the battle for the lantern rouge.
    Not climber, not sprinter, not rouleur
  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    Apparantly (according to him) van Hummel got dropped after 20km or so, so spent virtually all the race on his own. He got close to a group but never reached them.


    Poor guy!

    Made it though!

    http://tour2009.nos.nl/video/bekijken/i ... -in-paniek
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • Tusher
    Tusher Posts: 2,762
    I have now switched allegiance to Kenny- I could barely understand what was being said (although many thanks for the link) but he came over as a thoroughly decent man with a nice smile.


    To ride with the Broom Wagon just behind you, mile after lonely mile, but to keep on turning the pedals- what a hero.

    Does anyone ever actually get into the Broom Wagon? Whenever I see a rider retire, they're being scooped up by an ambulance, or getting into the team car.
  • Stuey01
    Stuey01 Posts: 1,273
    This Van Hummel guy is a fucking hero. That is two mountain stages on the trot where he has dragged his carcus around all on his own.

    He's a sprinter right? has he actually got near any of the sprints? I don't remember seeing him on the flat stages.
    Not climber, not sprinter, not rouleur
  • Tusher
    Tusher Posts: 2,762
    http://www.nowpublic.com/sports/09-kenn ... -de-france

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_van_Hummel


    Not a bad palmares at all. The Blessed Wim devoted his entire career to the service of others and thus only had three wins in his career. The last in 1996.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Stuey01 wrote:
    This Van Hummel guy is a ******* hero. That is two mountain stages on the trot where he has dragged his carcus around all on his own.

    He's a sprinter right? has he actually got near any of the sprints? I don't remember seeing him on the flat stages.

    He came 7th on Stage 10 - the only time he's got close.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Tusher
    Tusher Posts: 2,762
    Stuey- yes, he was up with the rest of them in an earlier sprint stage. Came in the top ten, I think.

    I think.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    RichN95 wrote:
    Stuey01 wrote:
    This Van Hummel guy is a ******* hero. That is two mountain stages on the trot where he has dragged his carcus around all on his own.

    He's a sprinter right? has he actually got near any of the sprints? I don't remember seeing him on the flat stages.

    He came 7th on Stage 10 - the only time he's got close.

    He's having a good season, though. 5 wins.

    http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/ri ... &current=0

    Granted, they're not exactly classic races, but still not bad. 2nd in the Scheldeprijs, 2nd in the Dutch nationals...

    Tomorrow is the big day. If he makes it tomorrow, I think he'll make it to Paris.
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Yeah, hes got to hope that he can manage to be in some sort of group until at least the 2nd cat climb as otherwise it will be a long hard day.

    I dont know if that will be it though. The Ventoux day could be quite a fast one and getting dropped on one of the early climbs means a long way too. Plus, last year three riders (Flecha, Feillu and Wegmann) missed the time cut on one of the flatter stages towards the end. We'll see, best of luck to the lad :)

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