TDF 2013 Stage 11 TT ***Spoilers***

RichN95.

TailWindHome wrote:

Silly stat alert.

Contador the only repeat winner since Indurain in 1995.

There's a massive flaw in that stat whichever way you look at it.

Yellow Peril

mike6 wrote:

Yellow Peril wrote:

Just catching up o ITV 4. Good early rides by Tuft and Martin and the fabulous Belkin Boys!. Plenty of effort by Froome coming in to the last sector but it looked quite technical and I think that's where he lost out to a TT maestro.

Slightly off topic but if anyone is racked off at what they think is one man or team ruining racing by domination they should think themselves lucky they weren't watching between 1965 and 1975.

There is a new discussion right there. Is racing ruined by one man or one team dominating? Surely a worthy winner is a worthy winner? Or does that only apply if your chosen guy or team is the one doing it?

Or are we going to damn Merckx cos he was such a great cyclist and always rode to win?

I agree Mike6 a worthy winner is a worthy winner. I want to see the best guys race in an uncompromising way and I want other riders to aspire to beat them and not settle for second best. Hopefully other teams/riders in this year's tour will take heart from Sunday's destruction of Sky and take the race to them. I don't say that from an anti Sky perspective as I admire what they have done not only in racing but in raising the profile of cycling in Britain. I say it from a pro cycling perspective.

skylla

frenchfighter wrote:

Martin was not in pain or suffering from his injuries. He said so himself. Holm also said as much.

Interesting hearing what Martin had to say after. Worth checking out.

Yeah Froome has been TT`ing and riding incredibly well since Vuelta 2011. That is the watershed so comparing this year against last year to prove he is a supremely good TTer is not very clever. I guess some people only watch the TdF though.

Bilharzia, to be more specific.

And yes, you're guessing right. Some people only just watch the tdf, others only really watch because of just one rider.

Enjoy the rest of the season FF

tailwindhome

“I wanted to do better” said Sagan. “I was thinking when I started that I felt good and I should try something. I was a little bit lost at the end, but I had to try. The result is not bad, is not good. I wanted to take some points. For fifteenth place, I lost three seconds; it’s not much for 33km. But this is a time trial and tomorrow is a road race. Tomorrow, we’ll ride on the front, and try not to lose too many points to the big sprinters”.

RichN95.

TailWindHome wrote:

“I wanted to do better” said Sagan. “I was thinking when I started that I felt good and I should try something.

Like this. Naughty Peter.



(He's catching Hernandez of Saxo. And yes the road is narrow)

blazing_saddles

RichN95 wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

“I wanted to do better” said Sagan. “I was thinking when I started that I felt good and I should try something.

Like this. Naughty Peter.



(He's catching Hernandez of Saxo. And yes the road is narrow)

Apparently the driver had his hand out of the window, asking for 2 quid a km to use the back seat properly.

RichN95.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Apparently the driver had his hand out of the window, asking for 2 quid a km to use the back seat properly.

The rumour is he rode up the back of the car and sat on the roof for 5km

ddraver

YOu get the feeling with Sagan that he can just wake up in the morning and go "pfffft, ja, today i think I ll be a TT specialist...." and then he just goes and does it!

RichN95.

ddraver wrote:

YOu get the feeling with Sagan that he can just wake up in the morning and go "pfffft, ja, today i think I ll be a TT specialist...." and then he just goes and does it!

He's a lightweight. Polish Mike has no choice. He'd like to have an easy day, but his legs won't let him.

Cleat Eastwood

frenchfighter wrote:

L`equipe article on TT riders in English:
http://www.lequipe.fr/explore/clock-hunters/

Sunny out; I`m off.

Just a small bump because that really is an interesting read and it might get lost in all the clutter or noise, nice little 'interactive' graphics too - TT, it turns out, is just another word for obsessive.

Squaggles

Boycott on TMS

Monty Zoncolan

I can't call to mind a TT byBertie that ranks with his dominant ride at Annecy in 2009. Apart from the obvious, has anyone exercised themselves as to why that might be?

RichN95.

Monty Zoncolan wrote:

I can't call to mind a TT byBertie that ranks with his dominant ride at Annecy in 2009. Apart from the obvious, has anyone exercised themselves as to why that might be?

Because most TTs don't have a Cat 3 climb and he doesn't usually get a barrage of vehicles giving him shelter. (You can go down the dope line if you like, but it wasn't the only TT he did back then)

alan_a

RichN95 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Apparently the driver had his hand out of the window, asking for 2 quid a km to use the back seat properly.

The rumour is he rode up the back of the car and sat on the roof for 5km

These two posts make the previous 33 pages of yawnfest worthwhile.

Chappeau gents.

RoadPainter

RichN95 wrote:

Monty Zoncolan wrote:

I can't call to mind a TT byBertie that ranks with his dominant ride at Annecy in 2009. Apart from the obvious, has anyone exercised themselves as to why that might be?

Because most TTs don't have a Cat 3 climb and he doesn't usually get a barrage of vehicles giving him shelter. (You can go down the dope line if you like, but it wasn't the only TT he did back then)

So are you expecting him to be dominant in Embrun, then?

Bo Duke

We've seen Cannondale, OPQS and Argos Shimano step up to the plate this race. Even Lotto are putting in a turn.
BMC, Saxo and Ex-Rabo are underperforming.
Sky are consistent with last year's performance despite having many different riders.

I don't understand the folks who say its boring, we've had some GREAT riding - Cannondale dominating the last stage before the Pyranees, Sky dominating the first day in the hills, the repeated attacks the following day that Froomie fought off by himself. Dan Martin's riding out of his socks. Even Andy Schleck briefly found himself somewhere near the front a couple of days back.

Relax lads, its good stuff, it's just not panning out how people expected vis-à-vis certain top teams.

Le Commentateur

RichN95 wrote:

Monty Zoncolan wrote:

I can't call to mind a TT byBertie that ranks with his dominant ride at Annecy in 2009. Apart from the obvious, has anyone exercised themselves as to why that might be?

Because most TTs don't have a Cat 3 climb and he doesn't usually get a barrage of vehicles giving him shelter. (You can go down the dope line if you like, but it wasn't the only TT he did back then)

He was also completely psyched up by Armstrong's shenanegans – taking the team bus to pick up family & friends from Lyon airport, leaving Contador stranded in the hotel. Without his brother driving him there in his car he would have missed his start time.

Le Commentateur

Just 24 months on and Cadel simply hasn't got the power any more.

Le Commentateur

Today's result puts Froome well over a virtual kilometre in front of Valverde and the others on a Ventoux-like gradient.

Richmond Racer

I was on the roadside by the 2km to go banner, all day yesterday.

Wonderful day. Such a brilliant atmosphere. Stunning setting. Fast men on bikes. Gorgeous weather. My mate's 3 year old boy wearing his titchy Sky jersey and riding his even titchier bike up and down the course and getting cheered as Wiggo/Froome. Whats not to love?

Anyone who thinks cycling's buggered needs to shift their backside from behind a keyboard and go and watch a race sometime (that's not aimed at anyone on BR btw).

goonz

Richmond Racer wrote:

(that's not aimed at anyone on BR btw).

Strange that as its been posted on BR :P

Are you there for anymore of the tour?

DeadCalm

Le Commentateur wrote:

Just 24 months on and Cadel simply hasn't got the power any more.

And yet he's still massively ahead of TJVG. Has anyone got an explanation for the wunderkind's abject display other than that he was over-hyped?

goonz

DeadCalm wrote:

Le Commentateur wrote:

Just 24 months on and Cadel simply hasn't got the power any more.

And yet he's still massively ahead of TJVG. Has anyone got an explanation for the wunderkind's abject display other than that he was over-hyped?

Not fully recovered from California? Out of form? Too many pies?

RichN95.

RoadPainter wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Monty Zoncolan wrote:

I can't call to mind a TT byBertie that ranks with his dominant ride at Annecy in 2009. Apart from the obvious, has anyone exercised themselves as to why that might be?

Because most TTs don't have a Cat 3 climb and he doesn't usually get a barrage of vehicles giving him shelter. (You can go down the dope line if you like, but it wasn't the only TT he did back then)

So are you expecting him to be dominant in Embrun, then?

Dominant? No. Better? Yes

disgruntledgoat

RichN95 wrote:

RoadPainter wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Monty Zoncolan wrote:

I can't call to mind a TT byBertie that ranks with his dominant ride at Annecy in 2009. Apart from the obvious, has anyone exercised themselves as to why that might be?

Because most TTs don't have a Cat 3 climb and he doesn't usually get a barrage of vehicles giving him shelter. (You can go down the dope line if you like, but it wasn't the only TT he did back then)

So are you expecting him to be dominant in Embrun, then?

Dominant? No. Better? Yes

This

I think I read something about TJVG saying he just wasn't hitting the numbers on the climbs that he was in training. Sounded like he was overtrained.

iainf72

goonz wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

(that's not aimed at anyone on BR btw).

Strange that as its been posted on BR :P

Are you there for anymore of the tour?

It was aimed at me,obviously :P

TheBigBean

Tony Martin on yesterday and speedy dope tests

"Yeah. I've done it! This victory means a lot to me. I do appreciate it more than if I had have won by a full minute. I would not have thought that it was going to be so close. The good time trial riders from my team had about one and a half minutes on me. Of course, I knew that Froome is strong, but that he as such a skinny climber is so dangerous to me on such a fast and windy curcuit was surprising to me.

The 36 minutes when he was on the road were really hard for me. I felt like hiding somewhere and would have prefered to be told his time afterwards. For a short moment, I was afraid that I was going to have bad luck again after the team time trial that we lost so closely. I was so happy when I learned that my lead was big enough.

My time trial went perfectly. I had a good rhythm and at an average speed of about 54 km / h you can imagine that I was often on a 58/11. The audience was also really impressive today. Even during the course inspection at 8 clock there was so much going on already. However, the attack on Cav with the urine bag was disgusting and really sad. I am sure the guys who did this were no cycling fans. It doesn't matter what happened yesterday and who's fault it was. The two of them have to talk this out. What we saw today has no place in the sport.

I had four hours to fill after my finish. Only at the beginning, I sat on the hot seat for a few TV pictures, then I had a few media appointments, was live on the radio during the race ran and then I said to my chaperon: come on, let's do the doping control immediately.

On the one hand, I was really confident today, on the other hand I was able to save time, because otherwise I would have had to do the control after the award ceremony. And, even if Froome had been faster and I hadn't had to do the control - I have nothing to hide. Then it would have been a voluntary sample. If it saves time, I am happy to give ten controls. The chaperon was certainly happy to not have to accompany me all the time.

By the way, I had the fastest doping test of my life this morning. At 7:00 am we wanted to take the bus to the track in order to be there before the caravane. 5 minutes before, the UCI was there: doping control! I thought great, how stressful will this day be. But I did my best and was done faster than ever."

Dorset_Boy

Interesting re the doping control - surely the top 3 on the stage are all tested, not just the winner? Plus some others at random.

disgruntledgoat

Dorset Boy wrote:

Interesting re the doping control - surely the top 3 on the stage are all tested, not just the winner? Plus some others at random.

I thought it was the winner, yellow jersey and 3 at random. But maybe that was the bad old days!

frenchfighter

Thanks for posting that one BigBean. Properly nice and honest bloke. His comments are very telling.