TDF 2013 - Stage 1 *SPOILERS*

ddraver

AtC - yeah its usually watch.it live or watch t next day through expat shield (oh, I didn't just say that). Good luck! Is nt your dutch good enough for the avondetappe anyway?

blazing_saddles

Above The Cows wrote:

^I have that on now. Trying not to get jealous of their Mediterranean quayside location. Love how they just drink wine.

It's been my Tour "comfy blanket" for years.
Just love their nightly settings, I'm joining in with the red wine.
Best of all, their signing off music. Hasn't changed for as long as
I've been watching.

Yellow Peril

Well it's been a long and exciting day. ~Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Time for YP to draw stumps until tomorrow...

jerry3571

Yellow Peril wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

What part did race radio play in the crash?

There seemed to be a lot of mixed messages......

Cav mentioned that they got the call of the finish at 3km with 5km to go, i.e they were at 2km to go. I suspect that this may have influenced some positioning as I don't know why Greipel would be leaning on like that if he still had 5km to race. It appears that it may have caused a premature positioning issue.

+1 Greipel was too far back when news came in about the change of the finishing line. He was too far back and took chances to get through some dodgy gaps then clipping Chavanel.

Ps- Today's Google homepage all TDF style. Nice

RichN95.

MY favourite tweet about busgate

Daniel Lloyd ‏@daniellloyd1 5h
At least the arguement of 'my bus is bigger than yours' amongst the big teams is now settled.

Paul 8v

Above The Cows wrote:

Ha ha ha yes! I was just noticing that looking through all the photos of the stage.

EDIT - Isn't Hesjedal sponsored by Oakley? He definitely was not wearing a special 100th Tour edition pair today.



What do I win?

Have Ryder and Rodriguez lost a bet this year regarding sunglasses?

mfin

Shame Contador wasn't injured and out

RichN95.

mfin wrote:

Shame Contador wasn't injured and out

There's need for that. These are just humans cycling for our entertainment. If you wish harm on one of them then you are a special kind of bellend.

mfin

RichN95 wrote:

mfin wrote:

Shame Contador wasn't injured and out

There's need for that. These are just humans cycling for our entertainment. If you wish harm on one of them then you are a special kind of bellend.

I don't wish him harm as such, maybe I put it badly. But i'd rather he wasn't cycling with his doping history that's all, if he makes the race more exciting fair enough, if he wins, it will just be a waste of a TDF, AC is a 'special kind of bellend'. (I'd say the same about any doper in contention)

But, and I'm serious, if he had a career stopping injury, not wishing him ill, it would be one less unapologetic idiot to taint the sport.

If he loses I'll smile, if he wins I'll just think 'oh well, nevermind, he shouldn't have been racing'.

Anonymous

Did they all get the same time after the farce. I got drunk and missed the outcome.

Bo Duke

Disaster! Watched in disbelief.... Lets hope ll the lads recover quickly.

secretsqirrel

Agree with iainf. Should have had a Prologue TT. Break up the timings, settle the first day nerves, give the crowd a good day out.

Today they will start battle scared, with nobody having gained anything on GC. :roll:

jerry3571

mfin wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

mfin wrote:

Shame Contador wasn't injured and out

There's need for that. These are just humans cycling for our entertainment. If you wish harm on one of them then you are a special kind of bellend.

I don't wish him harm as such, maybe I put it badly. But i'd rather he wasn't cycling with his doping history that's all, if he makes the race more exciting fair enough, if he wins, it will just be a waste of a TDF, AC is a 'special kind of bellend'. (I'd say the same about any doper in contention)

But, and I'm serious, if he had a career stopping injury, not wishing him ill, it would be one less unapologetic idiot to taint the sport.

If he loses I'll smile, if he wins I'll just think 'oh well, nevermind, he shouldn't have been racing'.

I just think AC, simply, got caught unlike the others who were a bit smarter or a bit luckier. Don't like to see a rider duffed up as most riders have had experience of this kind of thing. I saw someone break a Collarbone a few weeks back and it's just nasty.

above_the_cows

ddraver wrote:

AtC - yeah its usually watch.it live or watch t next day through expat shield (oh, I didn't just say that). Good luck! Is nt your dutch good enough for the avondetappe anyway?

I got the ITV highlights last night. I just wanted to see the bus crash and I like some of the dry humor, I skip the chuckle brother's bits. Avondetappe is also a treat, had that on afterwards.

Right off round de Ringvaart.

overlord2

Why do we hardly see Imlach through the rest of the year yet we seem to have to put up with biggoted idiots like Gary Lineker fronting programs.

tailwindhome

Official Mark Cavendish

I'd love an explanation from @UCI_cycling as to why time was neutralised on yesterday's stage, but not points. Were only GC riders affected?

pb21

TailWindHome wrote:

Official Mark Cavendish

I'd love an explanation from @UCI_cycling as to why time was neutralised on yesterday's stage, but not points. Were only GC riders affected?

Good point.

RideOnTime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IysrERmA ... rBkn-P7rlw

Confused now. They didn't finish on the line. :shock:

Lightning

RideOnTime wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IysrERmAOFc&feature=c4-overview&list=UUV9vvIQ8gxceqrBkn-P7rlw

Confused now. They didn't finish on the line. :shock:

What do you mean? They did finish on the line (the line being the original 0km line, that is).

greasedscotsman

SecretSqirrel wrote:

Agree with iainf. Should have had a Prologue TT. Break up the timings, settle the first day nerves, give the crowd a good day out.

Today they will start battle scared, with nobody having gained anything on GC. :roll:

Don't really see it makes too much of a difference. There was crashes in the first stage last year (in which Chris Froome lost one and a half minutes). All that it changes is who is going to sit on the front of the bunch for the first part of the stage. There are always crashes in the first few stages of a GT. Too many riders who all want to ride at the front will always cause problems. Get into the 2nd week most of them will either be too tired or have lost too much time.

thomthom

greasedscotsman wrote:

SecretSqirrel wrote:

Agree with iainf. Should have had a Prologue TT. Break up the timings, settle the first day nerves, give the crowd a good day out.

Today they will start battle scared, with nobody having gained anything on GC. :roll:

Don't really see it makes too much of a difference. There was crashes in the first stage last year (in which Chris Froome lost one and a half minutes). All that it changes is who is going to sit on the front of the bunch for the first part of the stage. There are always crashes in the first few stages of a GT. Too many riders who all want to ride at the front will always cause problems. Get into the 2nd week most of them will either be too tired or have lost too much time.

Imagine if the finish was uphill. There would have been even more chaos. There were only very few who were 'supposed' to win yesterday and it still ended in crashes.

No, prologues are good and should be implemented.

greasedscotsman

ThomThom wrote:

Imagine if the finish was uphill. There would have been even more chaos. There were only very few who were 'supposed' to win yesterday and it still ended in crashes.

No, prologues are good and should be implemented.

No, time trials are dull. I would rather watch a road stage.

But prologues won't stop crashes happening in the first few stages though. That is really what I'm getting at.

secretsqirrel

greasedscotsman wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

Imagine if the finish was uphill. There would have been even more chaos. There were only very few who were 'supposed' to win yesterday and it still ended in crashes.

No, prologues are good and should be implemented.

No, time trials are dull. I would rather watch a road stage.

But prologues won't stop crashes happening in the first few stages though. That is really what I'm getting at.

True, prologues do not stop crashes in the first few stages. There is always a Stage 1 whether there is a prologue or not. It's just that after all the ''drama' of yesterday, the GC competition hasn't started yet, while a lot of riders have paid a painful price.

Also, it. leaves nothing for the small band of prologue specialists. i just think it's a good way to kick off such a big occasion, a bit of a fanfare.

No_Ta_Doctor

The added bonus of a yellow jersey on the first stage just adds too much lunacy to the mix. It's not just another stage for the sprinters, everyone with a sprinter on the team is looking to get their man in the mix and none will back down if they're outmanoeuvred.

I'm not a fan of prologues, they're boring as hell, but if a sprint stage is the alternative....

For safety they should probably kick it off with a high mountain finish ;-)

thomthom

Of course they can't prevent them from crashing on stage 1. Everyone is fresh and nervous. However, prologues do the race a major favor to take the edge off it. It's quite logical. The extra amount of riders who suddenly see a big change to get a huge result will always create an extra buzz.

To quote a certain pro rider named Geraint Thomas..

There is no prologue to decide the race order at the start of the Tour this year - and I think it is going to be carnage!
All 198 riders are going to be on that start line on day one knowing they have got a chance of taking the yellow jersey, which is a once in a lifetime chance for most of them, so it is going to be one heck of an opening stage.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/23027760

Also, was that first stage really that much better than a prologue?

greasedscotsman

Was yesterday's stage carnage? Looked like a pretty typical first week stage to me.

And it's very difficult to compare yesterday's stage to a prologue that didn't happen. But I've already said, I don't like time trials very much. They have a place in a GT, but I would rather watch a road stage.

jerry3571

Chris Boardman giving his opinion on TDF prologues from 1995- Not a happy man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83XHdXZZmgM

ddraver

So, I'm a day late but...

That intermediate sprint was a doozy wasnt it!

Love that poor Bus Driver's reaction, bless him!

Whole thing was a debacle, even Bill and Ben could work that out...

Man I feel for Tony Martin, Thomas and Contado hit the deck klike motherfo's. Surprised Twitter is not awash with rumours that Thomas was sent on a Kamikaze mission to deck bertie on stage 1!~

Kittle is a massive unit of a man isnt he!

Boardman'd going full on with the aero Marketing this year isnt he! Have to say the ITV team now do a stunningly good highlights package, this things with Ned and Chris are first class! Such a shame that they have to put up with the jokes in the commentary box. Love the little digs at Larry too!

frenchfighter

Outrageous that Greipel caused that crash. He really should no better. Inexperienced on the Tour.

frenchfighter