Tour de France Prologue *Spoilers*

takethehighroad

frenchfighter wrote:

Squaggles wrote:

Some great pictures there frenchfighter , shouldn't the yellow be above the red on Gilbert's bike though ?

Think its fine as if you looked at the bike from the other side it would be the 'right' way round.

Ah, but shouldn't one always look at a flag as if it were on a pole i.e. with the mast on the left?

I know some crazy shiz about flags

TMR

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Ah, but shouldn't one always look at a flag as if it were on a pole i.e. with the mast on the left?

Wouldn't that depend on wind direction?

tremayne

frenchfighter wrote:

Awesome. Just awesome. He's going to batter them over the next three weeks, mark my words.

bompington

RowCycle wrote:

emadden wrote:

So he is "wigg" now.... sigh

Think his skinsuit says Wiggo, with the 'o' being one of the RAF spots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mod_(subculture)#Fashion

dave_1

frenchfighter wrote:

Good on Fabu. HUGE shame he hasnt got a stunning Swiss Nat TT kit. In 2004 he won this exact same prologue riding for Fassa.

Poor from Martin. (EDIT: didnt know he had a puncture)
.jpg[/img]

the 2004 prologue was 6.1km with a winning time of 6 minutes 50 seconds by Fabian Cancellera. His average was 100metres per 6.72 seconds then. Yesterday Fabian averaged 100 metres in 6.76 seconds. Hincapie was 6.91 seconds per 100 metres in 2004 and 7.07 seconds per 100 metres in 2012. Wiggo yesterday in 6.87 seconds per 100 metres for 6.4km. Wiggo would have placed 4th in 2004 on 6 minutes 59 seconds. And when we look at who was second in 2004 prologue and the methods used to ride that fast, it's tempting to say there is a trend there...

frenchfighter

That's interesting Dave. You could jump to obvious conclusions. I guess you could also say the wind conditions were more favourable last time and maybe the course was ever so slightly longer this time.

I thought Hincapie pulled out a great time. Mad rapper you should. Heck the shot of him on steephill.tv - its possibly the best one I have seen of him.

dave_1

frenchfighter wrote:

That's interesting Dave. You could jump to obvious conclusions. I guess you could also say the wind conditions were more favourable last time and maybe the course was ever so slightly longer this time.

I thought Hincapie pulled out a great time. Mad rapper you should. Heck the shot of him on steephill.tv - its possibly the best one I have seen of him.

Everyone was slower per 100 metres and an identical course which was 300 metres longer. maybe the wind was up, can anyone confirm what the weather was like on the course yesterday?

Tom BB

Interesting Dave....I wonder how much faster bike manufacturers claim their 2012 bikes are over the 2004 models?!....the real world answer is not a lot seemingly.

timoid.

Dave_1 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Good on Fabu. HUGE shame he hasnt got a stunning Swiss Nat TT kit. In 2004 he won this exact same prologue riding for Fassa.

Poor from Martin. (EDIT: didnt know he had a puncture)
.jpg[/img]

the 2004 prologue was 6.1km with a winning time of 6 minutes 50 seconds by Fabian Cancellera. His average was 100metres per 6.72 seconds then. Yesterday Fabian averaged 100 metres in 6.76 seconds. Hincapie was 6.91 seconds per 100 metres in 2004 and 7.07 seconds per 100 metres in 2012. Wiggo yesterday in 6.87 seconds per 100 metres for 6.4km. Wiggo would have placed 4th in 2004 on 6 minutes 59 seconds. And when we look at who was second in 2004 prologue and the methods used to ride that fast, it's tempting to say there is a trend there...

You my have a point, but Hincapie was 31 then, he's 39 now and as Frenchie has pointed out it's a longer course. Fab's very slight discrepancy can be explained by that.

GentlemanBear

Dave_1 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Good on Fabu. HUGE shame he hasnt got a stunning Swiss Nat TT kit. In 2004 he won this exact same prologue riding for Fassa.

Poor from Martin. (EDIT: didnt know he had a puncture)
.jpg[/img]

the 2004 prologue was 6.1km with a winning time of 6 minutes 50 seconds by Fabian Cancellera. His average was 100metres per 6.72 seconds then. Yesterday Fabian averaged 100 metres in 6.76 seconds. Hincapie was 6.91 seconds per 100 metres in 2004 and 7.07 seconds per 100 metres in 2012. Wiggo yesterday in 6.87 seconds per 100 metres for 6.4km. Wiggo would have placed 4th in 2004 on 6 minutes 59 seconds. And when we look at who was second in 2004 prologue and the methods used to ride that fast, it's tempting to say there is a trend there...

So Cancellera's 2012 performance is pretty much identical to his 2004 performance, and that's with eight extra years on board. Hincapie, a rider in the Autumn of his career was noticeably slower. Wiggins2012, arguably at the peak of his form, could have placed in the top five over the same distance if he'd been racing against the 2004 field.

I'm sure the pro-peloton of the early 2000s was extremely well *prepared*, but it seems that you're suggesting that Wiggins' average time to cover 100m is fishy when compared to LA's of 2004?

petemadoc

FFS it's a 6km TT

A few seconds here and there over 6km 8 years later have no meaning whatsoever IMO

dave_1

GentlemanBear wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Good on Fabu. HUGE shame he hasnt got a stunning Swiss Nat TT kit. In 2004 he won this exact same prologue riding for Fassa.

Poor from Martin. (EDIT: didnt know he had a puncture)
.jpg[/img]

the 2004 prologue was 6.1km with a winning time of 6 minutes 50 seconds by Fabian Cancellera. His average was 100metres per 6.72 seconds then. Yesterday Fabian averaged 100 metres in 6.76 seconds. Hincapie was 6.91 seconds per 100 metres in 2004 and 7.07 seconds per 100 metres in 2012. Wiggo yesterday in 6.87 seconds per 100 metres for 6.4km. Wiggo would have placed 4th in 2004 on 6 minutes 59 seconds. And when we look at who was second in 2004 prologue and the methods used to ride that fast, it's tempting to say there is a trend there...

So Cancellera's 2012 performance is pretty much identical to his 2004 performance, and that's with eight extra years on board. Hincapie, a rider in the Autumn of his career was noticeably slower. Wiggins2012, arguably at the peak of his form, could have placed in the top five over the same distance if he'd been racing against the 2004 field.

I'm sure the pro-peloton of the early 2000s was extremely well *prepared*, but it seems that you're suggesting that Wiggins' average time to cover 100m is fishy when compared to LA's of 2004?

I don't think Wiggins time is fishy at all. He wouldn't be able to win a Tour De France in that era 8 years ago. He has improved but the racing speeds seem slower....it's harmless fun to look at the times when the course is the same

TMR

PeteMadoc wrote:

FFS it's a 6km TT

A few seconds here and there over 6km 8 years later have no meaning whatsoever IMO

I concur Number 1.

Tea. Earl Gray. Hot

hammerite

iainf72 wrote:

Did everyone see Oleg Tinkov's tweet? Looks like he's trying to buy Chinny for Tink-Oxo Bank next year

I noticed that. I also noticed that the tweet came from Cherwell. Lucky he owns a credit card business as I bet his Mrs is up Bicester Village every day.