Tour de France stage 2 *spolier*

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Comments

  • Jez mon
    Jez mon Posts: 3,809
    I quite enjoy watching a good sprint, but today wasn't a great example. The other sprinters teams didn't seem to be able to make their minds up as to whether to put their own train together or to try and ride the back of the Columbia train, hopefully next time the other teams will be more successful in making sure their top sprinters are in a position to challenge.
    You live and learn. At any rate, you live
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Moray Gub wrote:
    The way you are going on youd think this was new phenomenon, top sprinters have been wining early stages like that in the TDF since the year dot .

    Absolutely. I grew up with JP Van Poppel / Bontempi doing the business. Ok, so I think sprints are tedious generally but Cavendish is just so much better it makes what I consider a dull affair even more dull.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Moray Gub wrote:
    This shows how different people view things different ways i absolutely hate the team trials totally distorts the race imo. Bad idea to bring it back hopefully it wont be back next year.
    It can distort the result but it's short this year and partly compensates for the lack of individual TT's in this year's race (only 55km in total, including Monaco). The idea from ASO is to get the yellow jersey changing shoulders several times during the race.
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    Kléber wrote:
    [The idea from ASO is to get the yellow jersey changing shoulders several times during the race.

    The problem with that is if a team is very dominant in an early TTT tthen its possible the jersey will get shifted throughout various members of the same team.
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,711
    Moray Gub wrote:

    This shows how different people view things different ways i absolutely hate the team trials totally distorts the race imo. Bad idea to bring it back hopefully it wont be back next year.

    This is getting silly.
    I suddenly find myself agreeing with you, again.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • NervexProf
    NervexProf Posts: 4,202
    afx237vi wrote:
    NervexProf wrote:
    See here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others ... ctory.html


    Seems like Kenny Van Hummel took his hand off his bars to take a swipe at Cavendish!

    Did anyone else spot this incident?

    No, but Cyclingnews says is was Piet Rooijakkers not Van Hummel.

    Thanks afx - update:

    qv from CN site


    4:20 into the video. The video switches camera just before Cavendish's reaction.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMx8Xcfe4pc

    Cavendish says Roijakkers pushed him.
    Roijakkers says he was pushed into Cavendish then Cavendish punched him (or something)
    Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom
  • thebongolian
    thebongolian Posts: 333
    Apparently Jurgen van den Walle cycled the last 130km with a broken collarbone and a punctured lung :shock:
    I want to climb like Kenny Van Hummel
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Belgian. Nutcases!
  • Mike Healey
    Mike Healey Posts: 1,023
    thebongolian wrote:
    Apparently Jurgen van den Walle cycled the last 130km with a broken collarbone and a punctured lung :shock:

    Not so - pulled out about 35k into stage
    Organising the Bradford Kids Saturday Bike Club at the Richard Dunn Sports Centre since 1998
    http://www.facebook.com/groups/eastbradfordcyclingclub/
    http://www.facebook.com/groups/eastbradfordcyclingclub/
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    No he didn't, he finished 162nd on the same time as Cavendish. They showed him several times on TV throughout the stage hanging at the back of the peloton.
  • Quite Frankly
    Quite Frankly Posts: 386
    I take it he won't be making it to the start line tomorrow.
  • thebongolian
    thebongolian Posts: 333
    At least three days in hospital apparently
    I want to climb like Kenny Van Hummel
  • Moomaloid
    Moomaloid Posts: 2,040
    I can't see why people are moaning already. We are only one stage in and the run was a complete nightmare so its not a true reflection. Bingo won in emphatic fashion which we should all be proud of...

    I'm with Grub on the TTT, find them incredibly boring...
  • ednwireland
    ednwireland Posts: 85
    what a bunch of whingers brilliant win cav (might be a bit gobby) barging all the way in the last 5k, the only reason boonen friere etc werent there is their teams couldnt get them up there, thats what bunch sprinting is all about, someones gonna have to go toe to toe on the leadout train to try and beat him, there's a pile of good sprinters there but they aint showing the b*lls to go up against him. boonen was about 15th in front of the crash when he neede to be in the top ten. hopefully its gonna get more manic now.

    (boonen to suprise everyone in the mountain stages when he sees a pile of snow at the top)
  • Agent57
    Agent57 Posts: 2,300
    I love the TTT, and am glad to see it back this year. I take the point that a strong TT team can skew the overall standings, but in reality that can be said of any team that's significantly stronger than the others. As long as the TTT is short, it's unlikely to have a significant impact unless the race is won by a handful of seconds (that LeMond/Fignon TT on the Champs Elysees was brilliant), I reckon.

    I love bunch sprint finishes too.

    And mountain-top finishes.
    MTB commuter / 531c commuter / CR1 Team 2009 / RockHopper Pro Disc / 10 mile PB: 25:52 (Jun 2014)
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,485
    afx237vi wrote:
    NervexProf wrote:
    See here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others ... ctory.html


    Seems like Kenny Van Hummel took his hand off his bars to take a swipe at Cavendish!

    Did anyone else spot this incident?

    No, but Cyclingnews says is was Piet Rooijakkers not Van Hummel.
    Rooijakkers said it was Lloyd Mondory who forced him into Cavendish. Is Mondory fast becoming the most hated man in the peleton following his comments last week followed by this?
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Agent57 wrote:
    I love the TTT, and am glad to see it back this year. I take the point that a strong TT team can skew the overall standings, but in reality that can be said of any team that's significantly stronger than the others. As long as the TTT is short, it's unlikely to have a significant impact unless the race is won by a handful of seconds (that LeMond/Fignon TT on the Champs Elysees was brilliant), I reckon.

    I love bunch sprint finishes too.

    And mountain-top finishes.

    Me too.

    And solo breakaways.

    And the cat and mouse (phrase copyright Paul 'n' Phil) that happens when a group has broken away.
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Is Tyler Farrer the new George Hincapie to the US media? He got an opportunistic win in the Giro and the US-obsessed media won't stop hyping him up as a contender - he was going backwards in the last 200m and if it had been a full-field sprint would have been lucky to have got top-10 IMO.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    Monty Dog wrote:
    Is Tyler Farrer the new George Hincapie to the US media? He got an opportunistic win in the Giro and the US-obsessed media won't stop hyping him up as a contender - he was going backwards in the last 200m and if it had been a full-field sprint would have been lucky to have got top-10 IMO.

    Montydog, that's "Big Tyler Farrer" by the way.
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    Not sure why there is so much negativity about stage 2. Sure, the end was a bit anti-climatic, but there was quite a bit of disruption to the sprint.

    In a way the stage reminded me of the '07 stage where Robbie Hunter got his TdF win.

    If Cavendish is the fastest sprinter in the field, so be it. And if he gets 4 or 5 wins, well good on him.

    In '03 Ale-jet got himself 4 wins in the opening week. When I think back on that tour, his performance is nothing more than a footnote to the battle LA had with Vino, Tyler, Jan etc.

    Hoping '09 will be the same.

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