*Spoliers* Tour de France talk *Spoilers*

cjcp

Apparently, Leipheimer is out after yesterday's crash.

Deadeye Duck

cjcp wrote:

Apparently, Leipheimer is out after yesterday's crash.

Broken wrist according to his twitter. That's got do be crushing (no pun intended), to know you've just cycled your heart out for two weeks, just to leave due to injury.

il_principe

cjcp wrote:

Apparently, Leipheimer is out after yesterday's crash.

Yeah, poor sod. LA will miss him, that's for sure.

risi

cjcp wrote:

The Alps arrive tomorrow. And I'm working from home. In front of the TV. No coincidence. None whatsoever.

They're not Alps, they're Ballons - not quite in the same league, but apparently the Col de Platzerwasel is pretty testing.

And given Leipheimer's departure, it means Wiggins is 4th! (for now).

cjcp

risi wrote:

cjcp wrote:

The Alps arrive tomorrow. And I'm working from home. In front of the TV. No coincidence. None whatsoever.

They're not Alps, they're Ballons - not quite in the same league, but apparently the Col de Platzerwasel is pretty testing.

And given Leipheimer's departure, it means Wiggins is 4th! (for now).

<grumbles on about pedants, it all being the same thing to The Great Unwashed like me.> :P

sampras38

risi wrote:

cjcp wrote:

The Alps arrive tomorrow. And I'm working from home. In front of the TV. No coincidence. None whatsoever.

They're not Alps, they're Ballons - not quite in the same league, but apparently the Col de Platzerwasel is pretty testing.

And given Leipheimer's departure, it means Wiggins is 4th! (for now).

LA was saying yesterday that he thought the Platzerwasel climb would start to seperate the men from the boys. Should be interesting..

risi

cjcp wrote:

risi wrote:

cjcp wrote:

The Alps arrive tomorrow. And I'm working from home. In front of the TV. No coincidence. None whatsoever.

They're not Alps, they're Ballons - not quite in the same league, but apparently the Col de Platzerwasel is pretty testing.

And given Leipheimer's departure, it means Wiggins is 4th! (for now).

<grumbles on about pedants, it all being the same thing to The Great Unwashed like me.> :P

Me, pedant? Have you been talking to my missus?
I'm going there on holiday next month so I have an interest in that area, that's all.

jonginge

Attica wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Thor vs Superman

Yeah yeah yeah.

But what about Jaws vs Godzilla? Now that's a proper contest.

But but either Godzilla drowns or Jaws... wait, what's the opposite of drowning? You know, for a fish?

Either way, you need two that work in the same medium.

Jaws versus a Kraken or something...

Doesn't a fish suffocate out of water?

That's the thing about the duel though: who succeeds in making sure that it is fought on their terms...

But suffocate implies a lack of air, whereas for poor wee fishy it's an excess... mind you, I suppose if you swap 'air' for 'oxygen' that is what kills them. Fair point.

Fish need oxygenated water flowing through their gills to breathe (gills work in the most amazingly cool way - FACT - REALLY!). No water = no oxygen = death by suffocation.

Being a fish sucks.

Yeah, it does. Losers. I'm so glad I don't have gills.

Oh, and I'm fixing your spelling as I go - no charge.

Nah, you're fixing my typos.

I like that though. Makes me feel like a middle management executive.

This quote box is quite long. Hehehehehe.

Yeah, and bearing in mind it's a conversation about fish in the TdF thread, it must be really annoying... :twisted:

Really really annoying yes

Nah, not annoying at all.
I had gills once but I recovered.

biondino

Rich158 wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

Anquetil

as much as admitted doping. There's a quote attributed to him: something like "you can't ride the Tour on water alone", the subtect of which is generally recognised to be that you need something more than sugar in said water.

But that's all from a different era, when very few understood the dangers of doping, much less heaped opprobium on it. I'm not a pro-doper, or an apologist, but I do think it's futile to condemn people who lived and raced by very different standards to those we have today.

Doping's part of the history of the sport. Wasn't the TdF mix traditionally a coctail of heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and steroids? It's been arround since the 20's, has been here ever since and certainly isn't going away now.

In honour of the great sport of cycling, I shall take this cocktail before meeting all y'all in Richmond Park tomorrow. Just think of the look on jonginge's face as I shoot past him so fast up Dark Hill that his bike is sucked into a vortex and deposited half a mile away!

attica

JonGinge wrote:

Attica wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Thor vs Superman

Yeah yeah yeah.

But what about Jaws vs Godzilla? Now that's a proper contest.

But but either Godzilla drowns or Jaws... wait, what's the opposite of drowning? You know, for a fish?

Either way, you need two that work in the same medium.

Jaws versus a Kraken or something...

Doesn't a fish suffocate out of water?

That's the thing about the duel though: who succeeds in making sure that it is fought on their terms...

But suffocate implies a lack of air, whereas for poor wee fishy it's an excess... mind you, I suppose if you swap 'air' for 'oxygen' that is what kills them. Fair point.

Fish need oxygenated water flowing through their gills to breathe (gills work in the most amazingly cool way - FACT - REALLY!). No water = no oxygen = death by suffocation.

Being a fish sucks.

Yeah, it does. Losers. I'm so glad I don't have gills.

Oh, and I'm fixing your spelling as I go - no charge.

Nah, you're fixing my typos.

I like that though. Makes me feel like a middle management executive.

This quote box is quite long. Hehehehehe.

Yeah, and bearing in mind it's a conversation about fish in the TdF thread, it must be really annoying... :twisted:

Really really annoying yes

Nah, not annoying at all.
I had gills once but I recovered.

I can't tell you how annoying this is getting
JG, did you turn into a frog at all?

Deadeye Duck

That's an awfully impressive Pyramid guys. I hope there's lots of secret tunnels and boobie traps (chuckle)!

iain_j

Harsh luck for Leipheimer, but... woo! Wiggo is 4th

If he can hold on through the Alps and Ventoux, what's the chances he can use the final TT to step up one more place?

attica

I see Voigt is in the escape, I think there are two possible conclusions.

1. SaxoBank have given up on Sastre and are now going for stage wins (loved the way that chap took the stage win yesterday, riding with his heart.)
2. Sastre may well attack on the cat1 climb today and Voigt drop back to support.

Of course I could be way off the mark, but I just thought I'd throw this out there, thoughts folks?

EDIT: and now the lead is down to 35secs, I think the peleton won't let this one go, have I nailed the reson they're being closed down?

risi

Attica wrote:

I see Voigt is in the escape, I think there are two possible conclusions.

1. SaxoBank have given up on Sastre and are now going for stage wins (loved the way that chap took the stage win yesterday, riding with his heart.)
2. Sastre may well attack on the cat1 climb today and Voigt drop back to support.

Of course I could be way off the mark, but I just thought I'd throw this out there, thoughts folks?

I think SaxoBank gave up on Sastre when he left & went to Cervelo. Do you mean a Schleck?

attica

haha, oops

Yes I do, not doing well with names lately

iain_j

Argh we're onto today's action - time to avoid bikeradar. Commuting's not even a safe haven this year :shock:

gert_lush

anyone reading the TDF text updates on the BBC?

lots of crocodile speak after a local pond on route had to be drained a while back after reports of an escaped croc on the rampage. They recon Cav will need to get his sprinting legs on as the croc may and get a bit friendly with him as he's dressed as one!

attica

Nice tip Gerty, some amusing banter going on over there

Eau Rouge

iain_j wrote:

Harsh luck for Leipheimer, but... woo! Wiggo is 4th

If he can hold on through the Alps and Ventoux, what's the chances he can use the final TT to step up one more place?

I'm not sure anyone expects Nocentini to actually trouble the podium in Paris, so that would move Wiggins up to 3rd, It's possible he could take 40 seconds from Lance in the ITT, but I don't think it's much more than possible. If he did, that could put him second. I don't see him taking that much out of Contador. Bertie beat Wiggins in in the dead-flat prologe in Paris-Nice, he could well do the same here.
That all assumes nothing happens in the mountains, with those three or with anyone else, which is very unlikely to be the case though. It's all a bit too early yet.

cjcp

Eau Rouge wrote:

iain_j wrote:

Harsh luck for Leipheimer, but... woo! Wiggo is 4th

If he can hold on through the Alps and Ventoux, what's the chances he can use the final TT to step up one more place?

I'm not sure anyone expects Nocentini to actually trouble the podium in Paris, so that would move Wiggins up to 3rd, It's possible he could take 40 seconds from Lance in the ITT, but I don't think it's much more than possible. If he did, that could put him second. I don't see him taking that much out of Contador. Bertie beat Wiggins in in the dead-flat prologe in Paris-Nice, he could well do the same here.
That all assumes nothing happens in the mountains, with those three or with anyone else, which is very unlikely to be the case though. It's all a bit too early yet.

If Garmin just want a podium - which would be a great result given the strength of the Astana team and the number of contenders in other teams - they could tell Van Velde to support Wiggins to keep him as fresh as possible and then let Wiggins give it everything in the final ITT to see if he can (a) pass Armstrong, and (b) hold of Kloeden. Unless he's feeling good enough to attack to tae time out of them in the mountains.

cjcp

Haussler's descending! In the pouring rain! :shock:

cjcp

Commentary on Eurosport (Mike Smith) agreeing that Wiggins is a real possibility for a podium place in Paris.

attica

Yes and Armstrong's position is considerably weakened too

cjcp

Yep. Wiggins looks to be shadowing him. :twisted:

How cool would it be if Wiggins was ahead of him come the final ITT, catches Armstrong and motions "SCALP" as he passes him? :twisted:

Eau Rouge

That mist have been some ride from Hushovd! Tomorrow's stage could be a bunch sprint though, if the almost-certain break doesn't stay away. Will Hushvod be able to do anything in the sprint if it comes down to it?

No attacks from the GC guys. OK, the weather wasn't great, but it would be nice to think these stage races haven't decended into "only attack in the last 5k's on a mountain finish" tactics.

Jamey

Ok, so I'm a bit of a newbie to the TdF but it seems to me like Cav needs to at least try to place ahead of Hushovd on mountain/intermediate stages if he's serious about taking Green in Paris.

Unless they're both so far down that neither will finish in the points, but certainly if Hushovd is in the peloton and Cav is out the back then he's not doing enough, is he?

tailwindhome

Eau Rouge wrote:

That mist have been some ride from Hushovd! Tomorrow's stage could be a bunch sprint though, if the almost-certain break doesn't stay away. Will Hushvod be able to do anything in the sprint if it comes down to it?

Someone please explain

Hushovd weighs 81kg (v Cavendish at 70kg) but can climb in the main group?

Surely this doen't bode well for Cavs green jersey. I reckon Cav is stage win or nothing for the rest of the Tour. 2 more wins (out of a poss 3) puts him on 270pts.

Hushovd could win the Jersey if he sticks to Cav in the bunch sprints and picks up points elsewhere.

cjcp

Jamey wrote:

Ok, so I'm a bit of a newbie to the TdF but it seems to me like Cav needs to at least try to place ahead of Hushovd on mountain/intermediate stages if he's serious about taking Green in Paris.

Unless they're both so far down that neither will finish in the points, but certainly if Hushovd is in the peloton and Cav is out the back then he's not doing enough, is he?

He's doing enough, but, the way Hushovd is riding in the hills, only just. He needs to watch Hushovd on the intermediates.

ER - Hushovd looked a bit spent in the sprint for 6th, but, yes, it was a hell of a ride. However, I don't know how fast the pace was given the weather. Someone from Milram pipped him and they exchanged "some words", am guessing because Hushovd wondered why the guy was sprinting when he wasn't in with a shout for the Green Jersey

attica

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Hushovd weighs 81kg (v Cavendish at 70kg) but can climb in the main group?

I've a feeling (and I'm probably about to get shot down in flames here) that Cav's problem in the mountains is psychological, he can't do well so he won't try type of thing.

cjcp

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Eau Rouge wrote:

That mist have been some ride from Hushovd! Tomorrow's stage could be a bunch sprint though, if the almost-certain break doesn't stay away. Will Hushvod be able to do anything in the sprint if it comes down to it?

Someone please explain

Hushovd weighs 81kg (v Cavendish at 70kg) but can climb in the main group?

Surely this doen't bode well for Cavs green jersey. I reckon Cav is stage win or nothing for the rest of the Tour. 2 more wins (out of a poss 3) puts him on 270pts.

Hushovd could win the Jersey if he sticks to Cav in the bunch sprints and picks up points elsewhere.

They'll be watching Hushovd like a hawk before the intermediates. Given Cav's finishing speed, and the quality of his lead out train, the pressure is very much on Hushovd to race smart. He's got the jersey, sure, but he's not going to feel confident in the bunch sprint. Cav's beaten him from the front and come from behind, and also on a gradient.