*Spoliers* Tour de France talk *Spoilers*

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  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,392
    From the Tour De France Live ticker
    16-00 Kern Caught-As usual with the Kern escape attempts, it lasted about 38 seconds before being rendered void

    Poor fellas doing his best :lol::lol::lol:
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • Eau Rouge
    Eau Rouge Posts: 1,118
    Vie Alessandro, Vie!
  • Stone Glider
    Stone Glider Posts: 1,227
    David Millar said some interesting stuff about doping. Essentially he felt that it was corrosive to the athlete's talent, as if you can win with drugs why train? If you can win with drugs how good could you have become without them? If you can win with drugs how can you stop? If you have used drugs when will you be caught?

    Is today's stage the one where the "domestiques" get a chance to shine? No one seems to be expecting much today.
    The older I get the faster I was
  • risi
    risi Posts: 231
    Cavendish!
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  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Wondering where you were! :D

    Ooo cha cha. 8)
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • attica
    attica Posts: 2,362
    Nice to see Cav is going to make Thor work for it, Thor is a worthy winner this year, but Cav will mean business next year. What is the record for stage wins in a single TdF? Just Hope CAv makes the cut off time tomorrow
    "Impressive break"

    "Thanks...

    ...I can taste blood"
  • risi
    risi Posts: 231
    Attica wrote:
    What is the record for stage wins in a single TdF?

    http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/races/ ... france.txt

    8 apparently.
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  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Wiggo lost 4 seconds on LA due to a split on the peleton apparently. FFS!
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • attica
    attica Posts: 2,362
    Armstrong the only one on the right side of a 4 second gap, Brad not having much luck on that front, he was 2 places back from Lance
    "Impressive break"

    "Thanks...

    ...I can taste blood"
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Attica wrote:
    Armstrong the only one on the right side of a 4 second gap, Brad not having much luck on that front, he was 2 places back from Lance

    You make your own luck in those situations though. Darn!
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,392
    Attica wrote:
    Nice to see Cav is going to make Thor work for it

    I wonder how much energy he will expend on intermediate sprints tomorrow?

    I've said, from about 40 pages back that I thought Cav wouldn't win Green. I thought he was too good a sprinter to be a Green Jersey rider, Green would only be a target in futures years when the legs lose the turn of speed.

    I didn't think he would win 6 stages* though


    Chapeau

    *If he's in Paris its as near a sure thing as one could get
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • Eau Rouge
    Eau Rouge Posts: 1,118
    WheezyMcChubby wrote:
    Attica wrote:
    Nice to see Cav is going to make Thor work for it

    I wonder how much energy he will expend on intermediate sprints tomorrow?

    I've said, from about 40 pages back that I thought Cav wouldn't win Green. I thought he was too good a sprinter to be a Green Jersey rider, Green would only be a target in futures years when the legs lose the turn of speed.

    I didn't think he would win 6 stages* though


    Chapeau

    *If he's in Paris its as near a sure thing as one could get

    You had the right outcome, you don't have the right reasons.
    Which intermediate sprints did Cavendish lose points on, which ones was he there for that he did not contest? I don't think there was a single one all Tour. I think he actually won all the intermediate sprints he was there for.
    He lost because of a bad day in Barcelona, the DQ, and most importantly, because the guy he kept beating put in two wonderfull rides in two mountain stages to pick up some points becuase he knew he couldn't actually beat Cav.
    I don't know about you, but I don't expect sprinters to go on sole breaks on mountain stages, I don't expect them to finish with the GC contendors on mountain-top finishes. If that is what it takes to beat Cavendish, he was very capable of winning the green jersey this year.
    His legs will lose speed when he gets older, but that isn't going to help him win the green jersey, not unless he does a Wiggins and learns to climb while still hanging on in the sprints, but thats a bit of an ask, not a guarantee. It's certainly not the case that he's "too good a sprinter". He's not a good enough climber, except actually, he is, it just that Hushovd managed to do amazing things to beat him. (and moan to the judges)
    Thor Hushovd is well deserving of his Green Jersey, it has no stains on it. He didn't win it becuase Cavendish is too good a sprinter.
  • shoulder_of_orion
    shoulder_of_orion Posts: 529
    Eau Rouge wrote:
    I don't know about you, but I don't expect sprinters to go on sole breaks on mountain stages...

    Why do they put sprints in the middle of alpine stages then?

    I think Eric Zabel used to do that every now and then (maybe it wasn't Zabel, but I definitely remember another green jersey doing it)
    Eau Rouge wrote:
    Thor Hushovd is well deserving of his Green Jersey, it has no stains on it. He didn't win it becuase Cavendish is too good a sprinter.

    I dunno. He has played a clever game no doubt. But that DQ was a bit off, I couldn't really see anything wrong with what Cav did that day. People who know more about it than me were saying that at worst it warranted a warning. There's always been a bit of argy-bargy in the sprints.

    If Cav hadn't been DQ'd - he would probably be in green right now or if not now then certainly by teatime on sunday....
  • Eau Rouge
    Eau Rouge Posts: 1,118
    Shoulder of Lamb wrote:
    Why do they put sprints in the middle of alpine stages then?

    For the same reason they give them out on the end of mountain-top stages, it's a points classification, not a sprinters one. Before they tweaked it to give less points on the mountain stages, if the sprinters shared out the flat stages, you'd sometimes find the yellow jersey holder was also the green jersey leader.

    Shoulder of Lamb wrote:
    If Cav hadn't been DQ'd - he would probably be in green right now or if not now then certainly by teatime on sunday....

    I don't like the DQ either, but he's 25 points back, and that only cost him about 13. Hushovd "cleaned" the jersey of any stain on that solo break of his.
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,392
    Eau Rouge wrote:
    You had the right outcome, you don't have the right reasons.

    You know the more I think about it, it may not be over.

    Eau Rouge wrote:
    He lost because of a bad day in Barcelona, the DQ, and most importantly, because the guy he kept beating put in two wonderfull rides in two mountain stages to pick up some points becuase he knew he couldn't actually beat Cav.


    You mean he lost the most consistent rider prize to a more consistent rider?

    Eau Rouge wrote:
    I don't know about you, but I don't expect sprinters to go on sole breaks on mountain stages, I don't expect them to finish with the GC contendors on mountain-top finishes.

    Nor do I, that was my point

    Eau Rouge wrote:
    His legs will lose speed when he gets older, but that isn't going to help him win the green jersey

    No it's not, but to ensure continued sucess he will need to adapt or buy a bike shop. For now he can get to the line first
    Eau Rouge wrote:
    Thor Hushovd is well deserving of his Green Jersey, it has no stains on it.

    Agreed
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Cav's leg speed is something else.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,392
    ITV4 highlights show have just shown Cav apologising to and shaking hands with Thor, prior to their podium appearance today

    NIce 8)

    Game on?


    Also I'm claiming him for Northern Ireland
    An old Irish story tells how Lough Neagh was formed when Ireland's legendary giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (sometimes known as Finn McCool) scooped up a portion of the land and tossed it at a Scottish rival. He missed, and the chunk of earth landed in the Irish Sea, thus creating the [Isle of Man].
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,392
    Also another top ten for Nicholas Roche 8)
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • bigmat
    bigmat Posts: 5,134
    WheezyMcChubby wrote:
    Also another top ten for Nicholas Roche 8)

    He could end up as leading Frenchman at this rate! :wink:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/41991871@N ... otostream/
  • Eau Rouge
    Eau Rouge Posts: 1,118
    WheezyMcChubby wrote:
    You mean he lost the most consistent rider prize to a more consistent rider?

    I don't think he did. I think he lost it to another sprinter specialist who compensated for not being quite good enough to actually beat Cav at their own game with some a couple of audacious moves and a wet climb in Barcelona. Hushovd is as much a pure sprinter as Cav is, so I don't accept the argument that because Cav is only a sprinter, he couldn't have won the Green jersey.
    I'll put it this way, if Hushovd wasn't quite as much an out-and-out sprinter as he and Cav are, he would have been beaten by Farrar, Ciolek and the other sprinters into lower finishes a few times. Add in the DQ, and he'd be so far behind Cavendish that he wouldn't even have attempted the points-grab sole break, and probably wouldn't have stayed with the main group to Colmar either, and we wouldn't be having this discussion as Cavendish would be in green.

    I'm not saying you have to be a sprinter to win the Green jersey, you don't. Take Nicholas Roche, who isn't a sprinter. He's 5th, thanks to actually being a consistent rider in the way Hushovd and Cav aren't and getting in to breaks, yet hanging around the top 10 on bunch sprints too. If he bothers to sit at the front of the peleton just behind the leadout trains and sprinters on the flat stages (which is how he comes in the top 10), gets in his usual breaks, but unlike this year, hoovers up the intermediates, and is there or there abouts at the end of the stage, he could be in with a shout, especially if it's not the same sprinter winning all the flat stages. That is your more consistent rider, not an out-and out sprinter going mad in a couple of mountain stages.
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    e.g. Oscar Friere
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • Kieran_Burns
    Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
    I have made a habit of avoiding this thread until I've seen the ITV 4 highlights each evening (waiting until 7:20 to start watching so I can skip the adverts with Sky+)

    Only this evening... turn on p.c. get to home page and what is strewn ALL over it?

    Cavendish wins FIFTH stage!!!


    ARGH!!!!! :evil:

    Bloody blasted flaming news page. NOW they decide to notice the TdF! :roll:
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  • greg66_tri_v2.0
    greg66_tri_v2.0 Posts: 7,172
    I don't for one second believe that I'm the only one to have noticed this

    Alberto_Contador_Stage_18_Laurent_Rebours_2(6).jpg

    alien_from_the_movie.png

    You lot are in denial.
    Swim. Bike. Run. Yeah. That's what I used to do.

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  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Aliens is my favourite film of all time.

    Tell you what, AC needs a bl00dy good meal.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,392
    MatHammond wrote:
    WheezyMcChubby wrote:
    Also another top ten for Nicholas Roche 8)

    He could end up as leading Frenchman at this rate! :wink:

    Oi :twisted:


    :lol:
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    How many times can Sherwin say "Armstrong" "Lance Armstrong", "Livestrong" in one minute? :roll:
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • Coriander
    Coriander Posts: 1,326
    cjcp wrote:
    How many times can Sherwin say "Armstrong" "Lance Armstrong", "Livestrong" in one minute? :roll:

    There doesn't appear to be a limit.

    More than a little tedious.
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    They're too much. I've turned over to Eurosport.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • Coriander
    Coriander Posts: 1,326
    I don't have that option. :cry:
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Any commentary on Radio 5? If so, turn the TV down and watch the TV.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."

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