The Lanterne Rouge Thread

Paul 8v

What's with the peanut ATC? I've not been able to follow the meta-tour goings on so closely over the last few days. As you say, Cheng is solid as a rock and has a commanding anti-lead :-)

above_the_cows

The peanut is for Thibaut Peanut. I feel the Toblerone puts unfair pressure on the now melted Toblerone Boy and so it's a peanut for Pinot who I'm putting all my support behind in his quest to knock Señor Hairplugs off the 2nd step of the podium. If Toblerone Boy can't have it then Mr Peanut must.

specialgueststar

Bonnet 'lost' 2 minutes yesterday - opting for the Majka group rather than loosening his straps and drifting back to the chuckle brothers

dish_dash

162. MARINO Jean Marc CANNONDALE 80h 59' 44'' + 04h 18' 16''
163. KITTEL Marcel TEAM GIANT-SHIMANO 81h 02' 49'' + 04h 21' 21''
164. VIVIANI Elia CANNONDALE 81h 05' 34'' + 04h 24' 06''
165. CIMOLAI Davide LAMPRE - MERIDA 81h 14' 38'' + 04h 33' 10''
166. JI Cheng TEAM GIANT-SHIMANO 81h 40' 00'' + 04h 58' 32''

Kittel finished today's stage dead last, dropping down a position, but that had little impact on the overall with Cheng cemented to the bottom. Let's just hope he survives through to Paris...

RonB

I'm sure it will not be a record time wise, but Cheng has already surpassed the two previous winners with this effort. Over 5hrs a distinct possibility.

Edit (thanks ATC) - just checked GC after today's stage & yes this might be on the cards :roll:

above_the_cows

RonB wrote:

I'm sure it will not be a record time wise, but Cheng has already surpassed the two previous winners with this effort. Over 5hrs a distinct possibility.

I'd say over 5 hours is a nailed on cert Mr Burgundy.

Paul 8v

Above The Cows wrote:

The peanut is for Thibaut Peanut. I feel the Toblerone puts unfair pressure on the now melted Toblerone Boy and so it's a peanut for Pinot who I'm putting all my support behind in his quest to knock Señor Hairplugs off the 2nd step of the podium. If Toblerone Boy can't have it then Mr Peanut must.

Ah, I would like peanut to do well. Valverde is the pantomime villain of the peloton, he's such a wheel sucker I don't think he would actually know what was going on if he was suddenly in the wind "It felt crazy, like someone had put a fan in front of my face, I have never experienced anything like this ever before" - A Valverde (Probably)

ben@31

It would be interesting to see what the record Lanterne Rouge time is?

Maybe when the TDF first started the competitors would finish days apart?

Paul 8v

Definitely, in the old days they would finish hours apart

pottssteve

With 2 stages to go Cheng Ji has 38 minutes over his nearest rival, Davide Cimolai.

Cheng Ji has the heart of a lion and the strength of an ox. He has worked himself into the ground for his team. His name will go down as one of the finest Lantern Rouge riders of his generation.

The man, the machine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDiqRFwnEVE

Cheng, we salute you.


Steephill.tv/Sirotti


GO CHENG

Tusher

Cheng= hero. My inspiration.







Anyone want to high five me on their way into the velodrome then? I was only standing there in the blistering heat of Glasgow for 10 hours the other day. At least, that's what it felt like.

nevman

At some point tomorrow Cheng will lead out the peleton,then duty done take his rightful place in the pantheon of greats.
Also predicting (hoping) Van Summeran will swop bikes with Sammy Dumoulin,FDJ will break with tradition and ATTACK,and Sagan will pull a wheelie and fall backwards thus proving once and for all that ex-mountain bikers dont neccessarily have great handling skills.

No_Ta_Doctor

RichN95 wrote:

My tip is Svein Tuft to retain his title. Just beaten into second at the Giro - he's clearly the best Lantern Rouge rider since the glory days of Vansevenant.

Wildcard choice - Cheng Ji.

Credit where it's due. Top pick.

Tusher

CHENG!!!!!



Sir, we salute you. A worthy successor to the great Lanternes.

Lanterne_Rogue

Confession time - I'm not a big fan of the whole 'Cheng' thing - it seems a bit forced to me. He already had a hell of a nickname, so there wasn't much need to recycle the old Chuck Norris / Jens Voigt routines.

And today's 'effort' sort of sealed the deal for me. It just smacked of showboating, given the lead he had. I dislike Sagan too, for vaguely similar reasons (albeit at the other end of the field). So sorry, but I really can't get as excited by this LR as I have with some of the others. I'm probably in a minority of one, but thought someone ought to provide a contrary view.

knedlicky

underlayunderlay wrote:

Confession time - I'm not a big fan of the whole 'Cheng' thing - it seems a bit forced to me.
And today's 'effort' sort of sealed the deal for me. It just smacked of showboating, given the lead he had.
So sorry, but I really can't get as excited by this LR as I have with some of the others. I'm probably in a minority of one, but thought someone ought to provide a contrary view.

I don’t believe Cheng was ‘showboating’, but I wouldn’t mind seeing an idea which was tried many years ago being re-introduced.

In 1979, a Dutch company decided to give a prize to the lanterne rouge and accordingly then highly publicised whoever was ‘in the lead’ after each stage. Other media followed suite in giving publicity to this ‘competition’.

In 1980 the same prize was offered but the Tour organisers weren’t happy with this, especially since it was clear in '79 that some of the riders were purposely riding slowly to try and become lanterne rouge. So in '80, in order to try and stop the attention the lanterne rouge was getting and thwart the riders' behaviour, the Tour organisers decided that whoever was last in the GC after each of the stages 14-20 would be eliminated.

However, their idea backfired because it then became interesting to see if the one who started the stage as virtual lanterne rouge (because he’d been next-to-last at the end of the previous stage, and the last man had been eliminated overnight) could manage to improve his GC position by one place during the stage, so avoid elimination and start the following stage once more as virtual lanterne rouge.

Austrian rider Schönbacher managed to do exactly that over those 7 stages, somehow managing to always be next-to-last in the GC at the end of each of those stages. In the remaining two stages he then rode as lanterne rouge into Paris, without fear of elimination, and picked up the prize.

I’d be happy to see the elimination rule re-applied.

frenchfighter

underlayunderlay wrote:

Confession time - I'm not a big fan of the whole 'Cheng' thing - it seems a bit forced to me. He already had a hell of a nickname, so there wasn't much need to recycle the old Chuck Norris / Jens Voigt routines.

And today's 'effort' sort of sealed the deal for me. It just smacked of showboating, given the lead he had. I dislike Sagan too, for vaguely similar reasons (albeit at the other end of the field). So sorry, but I really can't get as excited by this LR as I have with some of the others. I'm probably in a minority of one, but thought someone ought to provide a contrary view.

You do know he landed badly on his leg yesterday when Peraud slid in front of him? He was the only one injured and there were no other crashes, making his lateness yesterday perfectly reasonable.

http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/nbc ... 8b&yr=2014