The Annual Lanterne Rouge Thread
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Feillu vomited several times last night, and when he ate during today’s stage he started to retch again, so he eased off 20 km before the finish and just rolled in as last man home.Tusher wrote:Stage 2- Brice Feillu came in 9' 55" today. Well, as sprinters struggle in the high mountains, then perhaps this is a climber struggling on a pan flat stage. But I suspect that there is another reason, possibly mechanical reason for his win today.
Maybe he had the same meal yesterday evening as Kittel?
Feillu has now managed the unique achievement of finishing both first and last in a TdF stage – he was winner of a mountain finish stage in 2009.
I’ve no idea who else may have managed this feat but I suspect in recent years both Jacky Durand and Jimmy Casper (both also Laterne Rouge myths) may have managed this. I think Durand won a prologue once and Casper a sprint stage once, and I'd guess they both also at least once came in last.0 -
Tusher wrote:Menchov's Stabilisers- What a brilliant name!!
I would put money on the Kitten winning a stage this year though- he is supremely talented.
Why, thank you.
I agree he should be good for at least a stage, but then I said that about today.0 -
Cavendish (in 2008) and McEwen (in 2007) have each managed to do both in the same week.knedlicky wrote:Feillu has now managed the unique achievement of finishing both first and last in a TdF stage – he was winner of a mountain finish stage in 2009.
I’ve no idea who else may have managed this featTwitter: @RichN950 -
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RichN95 wrote:
Cavendish (in 2008) and McEwen (in 2007) have each managed to do both in the same week.knedlicky wrote:Feillu has now managed the unique achievement of finishing both first and last in a TdF stage – he was winner of a mountain finish stage in 2009.
I’ve no idea who else may have managed this feat
Yeah, but has a yellow jersey wearer ever finished dead last in a stage?0 -
Mmmm, dunno. Although I suspect that if this has happened, it's been a Boardman type prologue specialist who wore it on Day 1, and Day 2 was a mountain stage, or he was ill. Entirely possible.
I haven't seen any of the action for today, but from the list, Brice is still holding on bravely, with no support whatsoever from his team. Argos-Shimano, on the other hand, have allocated no less than THREE domestiques to aid The Kitten in his bid.0 -
Feillu rode much of the day together with Kittel and Kittel's team-mates : comrades-in-arms. Which is why Feillu's 'lead' remains constant, hasn't increased.Tusher wrote:I haven't seen any of the action for today, but from the list, Brice is still holding on bravely, with no support whatsoever from his team. Argos-Shimano, on the other hand, have allocated no less than THREE domestiques to aid The Kitten in his bid.
Apparently Feillu had a temperature of 40 deg C yesterday, but team chief Heulot says they think the worst is over. Although, given how flat the next couple of days are, Feillu could still hold the lantern until Friday or Saturday.0 -
A temperature of 40?
Gulp.
These guys are true heroes.0 -
........and in quarantine- from the most excellent Inner Ring blog-
"Don’t: ignore the riders at the back of the race. Several are ill and riding to stay in the race. Saur-Sojasun’s Brice Feillu has been “quarantined” by his team in a bid to avoid spreading the virus with a separate hotel room and he is driven to the race in a team car whilst the others take the team bus. The Tour is one of the few sports events where the last guy on the day is a hero and where you can “lose” at the start but recover and, just maybe, win later."0 -
Tusher wrote:
Liked the part where the DS shock hands with the other riders - pure class0 -
The big crash today took place within the last 3km, so we have Mark Renshaw (previously known as Cav's Rickshaw) in second place, but on the same time as The Gorilla Greipel. Sebastian Langeveld came in with a time of 7' 1" to win today's Lanterne with the poorly Brice presumably being pushed along by Cedric Pineau and Jeremy Roy, his fellow Frenchmen although they're on a different team.
Brice still firmly in last place in GC however, over 2 ' 20 " ahead of his nearest rival, The Kitten.
And very disappointing news for his fans- Kenny has no intentions of repeating his glory days of 2009.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-hum ... er-to-20090 -
TheHelpfulDevil wrote:Tusher wrote:
Liked the part where the DS shock hands with the other riders - pure class
Yeah that is nice, and then when they crossed the line, the music almost turns into ET, when they all ride into the air.0 -
skylla wrote:Tusher wrote:
Yes, some beautiful (hmm, perhaps emotional) moments indeed. Who is the Euskatel rider 3:00 min in?
Its stage 8 of the 2009 Tour
http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/LIVE/us/8 ... index.html (click on stage standings)
Koldo Fernandez (EUS) finished outside the time limit on that day so i guess it was him. Napolitano finished with van Hummel on that day but next day finished OOT. Looks like Kenny had a pretty lonely ride on stage 9 finishing 13 minutes behind the autobus. In the end Furlan and van Hummel both withdrew later on meaning none of that group made it to Paris.
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Thanks for that, Cumulonimbus. Kenny had a bad fall later on, and that's the reason he didn't make Paris. By the time he withdrew, he was set to make his fortune for life, but he couldn't even ride in any of the lucrative post-Tour criteriums (?criteria), although he was present at a few, but only to start them off.0
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Stage 5- sad news that The Kitten had to drop out today, but there's no doubt that we'll be seeing more of him in future GTs. He's a chunky big sprinter, so challenging for the Lanterne should come easily to him with more experience.
Our hero, Bricey, not only came in last, but was the ONLY rider who didn't receive the same time as The Gorilla et al. He arrived 4' 7" after everyone else. I suspect that he's physically suffering so much. I would barely be able to reach a telephone to phone in sick if I was that ill, never mind ride a bike for miles and miles. Brice, we applaud you.
The GC remains the same, with Brice and Seb in 1st and 2nd place, but we should keep an eye on a sneeky move by the Euski rider Pablo Urtasun Perez. Can't help thinking that Urtasun sounds like sun cream, factor 25.0 -
Yes, i think he made it to Verbier after being dropped early on, arriving almost half an hour behind the autobus (there were a few in between). He finished behind the autobus again on the stage to Bourg-St-Maurice meaning he was 45 minutes behind the second last guy. However, the next stage saw him dropped early on and then crash on a descent resulting in him having to retire.0
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Long term i think one of those Argos boys will muscle his way through the pack. There's quite a few of them down there after having to nurse Kittel along. Im guessing that at least one of them will be a really bad climber and could finish behind the autobus on a few occasions.0
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I'm told Kenny Van H's nickname in Dutch is 'Hummeltje' (literally Hummel-kins), which means something like a friendly goblin, or an affectionate name for a child (but disrespectful if used of an adult in the wrong way).
Hummeltje clearly disrespected the Lanterne today by coming 4th when he could easily have lost 20 minutes by rolling around in a ditch (not even a wet ditch either) clutching himself and moaning!0 -
Must have been a big day in this competition today, plenty of people fighting for the prestige!0
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Still Feillu in front, though.0
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Indeed it is. With a whopping 18 mins and 3 second advantage. And so early in the race as well. Poorly Brice has now spent 52 minutes in the saddle longer than Spartacus- here's hoping that his health will be improved, and he'll remain in the race.
Today's stage probably resembled a hospital outing- Paris-Roubaix hero, Johan van Summeren won today's Lanterne, with Bram Tankink third and Amets Esptxurruka (I can't even fathom out how to begin pronouncing that) second, although they were merely in an elite group of 41, yes, forty-one riders who came in 13' 24" after Sagan. Johan at least managed to roll in by himself, almost three minutes later.
Tomorrow, the real action will begin- the Lanterne's true territory, the mountains. Or the hills.0 -
Stage 7- Disaster for Brice! He came in 3' 3" after the Kenyan Mr Froome, in 43 rd position. Whilst this is clearly good news for his physical health, it's a LR catastrophe- he's lost so much time, and all on one stage. Today's Lanterne, Gorka Verduga managed 20' 20", keeping the pugilist Buddhist Tyler Farrar company. I wonder what they spoke about on the ride up. Maybe Gorky speaks good English.
In GC, Brice is still hanging on to his lead, but only by 37", with Johan Summerend in third and today's Lanterne Euskie rider Gorka Park in second. Euskatel obviously playing a team game here.0 -
Tusher wrote:Stage 7- Disaster for Brice! He came in 3' 3" after the Kenyan Mr Froome, in 43 rd position. Whilst this is clearly good news for his physical health, it's a LR catastrophe- he's lost so much time, and all on one stage. Today's Lanterne, Gorka Verduga managed 20' 20", keeping the pugilist Buddhist Tyler Farrar company. I wonder what they spoke about on the ride up. Maybe Gorky speaks good English.
In GC, Brice is still hanging on to his lead, but only by 37", with Johan Summerend in third and today's Lanterne Euskie rider Gorka Park in second. Euskatel obviously playing a team game here.
Loving these reports. Keep it up.It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.0 -
Another one really enjoying these reports. Please keep them coming.
Gorky was struggling early today.Tusher wrote:Amets Esptxurruka (I can't even fathom out how to begin pronouncing that)
I can't pronounce it either, but I think the ESP in his 'name' is short for Espana
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There could be big action in this classification today......has Gorka abandoned though? He was dropped after about 10km0
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Cumulonimbus wrote:skylla wrote:Tusher wrote:
Yes, some beautiful (hmm, perhaps emotional) moments indeed. Who is the Euskatel rider 3:00 min in?
Its stage 8 of the 2009 Tour
http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/LIVE/us/8 ... index.html (click on stage standings)
Koldo Fernandez (EUS) finished outside the time limit on that day so i guess it was him. Napolitano finished with van Hummel on that day but next day finished OOT. Looks like Kenny had a pretty lonely ride on stage 9 finishing 13 minutes behind the autobus. In the end Furlan and van Hummel both withdrew later on meaning none of that group made it to Paris.
Thanks Cumulo! Our hero Kolbo took silver in this year's Spanish Road Comp.
Today was another hard day's work in the saddle, can't wait for an update, Tusher!0 -
Oh, thank you all- :oops: you'll give me delusions of grandeur! And especially today- I feel such a fraud because not only was I unable to see any cycling today, but I left my phone at home so no text up-dates- didn't help that I was at a family party near Dunblane and oddly enough another sport dominated. A true cycling fan would have stood up and demanded that everyone watch another TV channel, but somehow...........
guess that makes me a second-rate tifosi. (sp tifosa?)
In GC, Team Euski-Basque have dropped to 14th position with their man Pablo Perez Ultrasun- Bricey retains his lead of 2 ' 2" over the Buddhist Pugilist. Have a good feel about Jimmy Engelbert of Saur-Sojason though. He's in third place, but worth keeping an eye on.
Stage 8- Vladimir Gusev is today's Lanterne. That's the sum total of my knowledge about today's stage.
I hide my face in shame and shall leave quietly by the back door.0 -
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And popping in rather too late again, I'm afraid, to tell you all what you probably already know- after Stage 9, in GC, Saur-so-Jason could celebrate going into the rest day holding the Maillot Rouge with Jimmy Engelbert, whilst the poorly but incredibly brave Brice dropped to third place. Even worse, he's has been sent to Coventry by his team although they're calling it quarantine- http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-sh ... quarantine. The Fighting Buddhist is in second place. Less than three minutes separate these three, so it's all to play for when they remount their steeds tomorrow.
In the time trial yesterday, Jimmy came in 11 minutes 10 seconds behind Mr Wiggins, which takes a lot of guts. Time trials are particularly tricky for a Lanterne- usually, the first across the line is, well, first across the line. They then have to work out the potential cut-off time that they have to be home for, fearing disqualification. In a torrid high mountain day, for example, they'll have safety in numbers in the autobus. In a time trial however, the Lanterne goes first, and the yellow jersey goes last, which means that it's incredibly difficult for them to work out the likely time they have to be over the line in. I'm assuming though that some sort of dispensation was given to them, as this time is well beyond the usual cut-off time of 10-15%.
Brice came in in 88th place- 6' 9" adrift. I suspect that this may have been due to a pressing need to get to the safety of the Team Bus Latrine asap- these skin suits are not the most accommodating when it comes to a quick trip to the woods, and there are no natural breaks in a time trial.
Interesting to note everyone's favourite Belarussian sprinter, Yauheni Hutarovich, in second place. Hutarovich was a serious contender for the Lanterne in 2009. By all accounts a lovely guy, he came to France to try his luck as a pro and has worked his way up the hard way.
But my money's still on Brice.0
