Stage 4 - the Team Time Trial
Comments
-
Bugly wrote:Coriander wrote:Aaaaahhh, it all becomes startingly clear suddenly. Thank you.
So Evans will b*ggered by tomorrow evening? Or am I being too harsh on Silence-Lotto?
But under the old system - why did they bother holding a TTT? It seems pretty pointless if they're going to effectively ignore the times recoreded, was it intended as more of a spectacle than a genuine race?
And, am I right in thinking that tomrorow the time awarded to each team member will be the time of the 5th man to cross the line? Or is it that they have to have 5 men still racing as team when they cross the line for their result to be valid?
Evans is buggered already but will be dead in the water after stage 4. In the old system the TTT was a longer event and the time differences from the top team to the weakest was immense, the old system favoured the roullers and penalised the climbers teams (maybe a good thing IMO) so the tour tried to control how much time a great team (like discovery) could put on the race. Remember that a minute is long time to gain in GC for a contender - it was a spectacle but also very much a race.
Yep the the front wheel of the fifth rider crossing the line stops the clocks.
Yep, I'm predicting that Evans will lose any chance of winning the TdF following the stage 4 TTT.
Did you see in stage 3 how the peloton was ever so slowly bridging the gap to the lead group (down to less than 20 seconds)? Then those doing the chasing started to run out of legs. So Silence put a couple of riders on the front. In about a km or two, the lead ballooned out to 30 seconds. Silence just doesn't have the firepower.
Evans really needed to get in the front group and get 40 secs on Bertie, Schlecks et al.
I think Astana will finish 1st / 2nd in TTT, but not enough to get LA in yellow.
After stage 4, I think the GC leaderboard (ignoring those who aren't true GC contenders - Fabian, Wiggins etc), will see the top 4 positions occupied by Astana riders.
That's scary.0 -
jackhammer111 wrote:shall we use this now as a place to talk about and watch the race itself?
Better to have a thread with *spoiler* in the title for people who only watch it after the event.Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
Evans fascintates me, but I'm afraid it's very much a morbid fascination. If he is serious about winning the TdF, why does he stick with Silence? Or is it a case of nobody else will hae him?0
-
Coriander wrote:Evans fascintates me, but I'm afraid it's very much a morbid fascination. If he is serious about winning the TdF, why does he stick with Silence? Or is it a case of nobody else will hae him?
Evans is a very unique character; he is not your typical (if there is any such thing) rider. I thought the article in July's Procycling gave a good insight.
His tastes in music, his favourite writers and all are not what you expect from a pro cyclist.
As to why he stays @ Silence? I know he is high maintenance; Silence admits that. Maybe he feels that if he goes elsewhere he wont get the same attention.
Cadel has his faults, and in this industry riders faults do get magnified. I reckon the peloton would be a more boring place without him.0
