Tour de France Stage 5 Ypres-Arenberg *Spoiler*
Comments
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Garmin, Lotto, Astana looking to be in the break. BMC too.0
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not once the cobbles have started I would thinkTailWindHome wrote:So.. the everyone waits for the GC guys if they crash or have a mechanical rule..is that in force today or not?0 -
Big Tone on the attack. Thus begins his love affair with the cobble.0
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Carlton 'clanger' Kirby making simile's between those who died during the war and today's race. Just no.Life is unfair, kill yourself or get over it.0
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Above The Cows wrote:ddraver wrote:
You only get an answer from Rapha if you let them have a look at your bank account and your facial hair first.
Well I'm 50% there...f**kers did nt give me a job though so the bank account would nt pass. I may have angry tweeted them before now so it's possible I'm blocked...
Think I ve been to that cemeteryWe're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
- @ddraver0 -
Might as well neutralise the stage, if that was the case.TailWindHome wrote:So.. the everyone waits for the GC guys if they crash or have a mechanical rule..is that in force today or not?0 -
Is that wee Sammy Dumoulin in the break?
I was not surprised to learn that he failed to finish the last wet P-R.Correlation is not causation.0 -
Thank youdsoutar wrote:jimmythecuckoo wrote:will these secteurs coming out mean a shorter stage or are they going the long way round them?
Reduced to 152.5km from 155.5
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A bit heretical, I know, but I'm not sure having something like cobbles in a GT is right. I know bike handling is as much a skill as climbing etc, but having something which makes one stage such a lottery undermines things a bit.It's only a bit of sport, Mun. Relax and enjoy the racing.0
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Evening All,
Here's an excerpt from an article wot I wrote about Paris Roubaix:
"First run in 1896, the Paris-Roubaix cycle race is a relic of a long-dead time, an age of mustard gas, polio, and dentistry without anaesthetic. It’s a clown whose rictus mask slips to expose a vacant skull. It’s an adults only performance of sadomasochistic acts, a twisted show of freaks. It’s an ill-advised teen camping trip to an out-of-season forest cabin. It’s the pale figure at an unlocked window in the middle of the night. It’s the pubic hair in your soup du jour.
Of course, what makes this ride like the devil is the roads on which it is ridden. Altogether, over 50km of the race is run on cobblestones. This pavé is terrible, a broken, twisted mass of smooth polished stone. Once, when newly laid, it must have been a level surface through the rutted, lumpen fields. Now, however, years of frost, rain and baking sun have splayed the stones, widening the joints into jarring, frantic clefts. Its a lunatic fairground ride, a medieval torture apparatus on which the riders are pulled taught, their ligaments cracking like whips as they lurch and grate. Their hands on the bars are knots in rope, chests heave, and mouths gape, sucking in the dank, pine forest air. This is a race for the heavy men, the roulers. Climbers cannot ride this race; the tiny riders quiver like butterflies in the killing jar."
Bring it on..!
SteveHead Hands Heart Lungs Legs0 -
All white kit will be honking today !ddraver wrote:Todays Breton Seche rider looks significantly p1ssed off to have won the daily straw poll to be in the break0 -
Salsiccia1 wrote:A bit heretical, I know, but I'm not sure having something like cobbles in a GT is right. I know bike handling is as much a skill as climbing etc, but having something which makes one stage such a lottery undermines things a bit.
It does strike me as something of a publicity stunt to be honest a bit like the Giro's crazy ascents and descents and the Vuelta's silly climbs. Of course it is made much worse by the weather.
This could come back to bite ASO on the bottom.Correlation is not causation.0 -
Ah, Belgian weather! It makes Manchester look like the Cote d'Azure... Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs0
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Evening, Cows!Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs0
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pottssteve wrote:Evening All,
Here's an excerpt from an article wot I wrote about Paris Roubaix:
"First run in 1896, the Paris-Roubaix cycle race is a relic of a long-dead time, an age of mustard gas, polio, and dentistry without anaesthetic. It’s a clown whose rictus mask slips to expose a vacant skull. It’s an adults only performance of sadomasochistic acts, a twisted show of freaks. It’s an ill-advised teen camping trip to an out-of-season forest cabin. It’s the pale figure at an unlocked window in the middle of the night. It’s the pubic hair in your soup du jour.
Of course, what makes this ride like the devil is the roads on which it is ridden. Altogether, over 50km of the race is run on cobblestones. This pavé is terrible, a broken, twisted mass of smooth polished stone. Once, when newly laid, it must have been a level surface through the rutted, lumpen fields. Now, however, years of frost, rain and baking sun have splayed the stones, widening the joints into jarring, frantic clefts. Its a lunatic fairground ride, a medieval torture apparatus on which the riders are pulled taught, their ligaments cracking like whips as they lurch and grate. Their hands on the bars are knots in rope, chests heave, and mouths gape, sucking in the dank, pine forest air. This is a race for the heavy men, the roulers. Climbers cannot ride this race; the tiny riders quiver like butterflies in the killing jar."
Bring it on..!
Steve
Far too many stupid adjectives in that lot.0 -
Salsiccia1 wrote:A bit heretical, I know, but I'm not sure having something like cobbles in a GT is right. I know bike handling is as much a skill as climbing etc, but having something which makes one stage such a lottery undermines things a bit.
I agree, the winner should be decided by the top 10 favourites doing a 60 minute ramp test on an indoor stationary trainer. It's too much of a lottery letting them ride outside amongst 190 other cyclists for 3 weeks!
Seriously though I do get what you're saying, but imo you make your own luck, and the cobbles are part of France and have always been in the TdF.Mañana0 -
Where's your article about PR?styxd wrote:pottssteve wrote:Evening All,
Here's an excerpt from an article wot I wrote about Paris Roubaix:
"First run in 1896, the Paris-Roubaix cycle race is a relic of a long-dead time, an age of mustard gas, polio, and dentistry without anaesthetic. It’s a clown whose rictus mask slips to expose a vacant skull. It’s an adults only performance of sadomasochistic acts, a twisted show of freaks. It’s an ill-advised teen camping trip to an out-of-season forest cabin. It’s the pale figure at an unlocked window in the middle of the night. It’s the pubic hair in your soup du jour.
Of course, what makes this ride like the devil is the roads on which it is ridden. Altogether, over 50km of the race is run on cobblestones. This pavé is terrible, a broken, twisted mass of smooth polished stone. Once, when newly laid, it must have been a level surface through the rutted, lumpen fields. Now, however, years of frost, rain and baking sun have splayed the stones, widening the joints into jarring, frantic clefts. Its a lunatic fairground ride, a medieval torture apparatus on which the riders are pulled taught, their ligaments cracking like whips as they lurch and grate. Their hands on the bars are knots in rope, chests heave, and mouths gape, sucking in the dank, pine forest air. This is a race for the heavy men, the roulers. Climbers cannot ride this race; the tiny riders quiver like butterflies in the killing jar."
Bring it on..!
Steve
Far too many stupid adjectives in that lot.0 -
styxd wrote:pottssteve wrote:Evening All,
Here's an excerpt from an article wot I wrote about Paris Roubaix:
"First run in 1896, the Paris-Roubaix cycle race is a relic of a long-dead time, an age of mustard gas, polio, and dentistry without anaesthetic. It’s a clown whose rictus mask slips to expose a vacant skull. It’s an adults only performance of sadomasochistic acts, a twisted show of freaks. It’s an ill-advised teen camping trip to an out-of-season forest cabin. It’s the pale figure at an unlocked window in the middle of the night. It’s the pubic hair in your soup du jour.
Of course, what makes this ride like the devil is the roads on which it is ridden. Altogether, over 50km of the race is run on cobblestones. This pavé is terrible, a broken, twisted mass of smooth polished stone. Once, when newly laid, it must have been a level surface through the rutted, lumpen fields. Now, however, years of frost, rain and baking sun have splayed the stones, widening the joints into jarring, frantic clefts. Its a lunatic fairground ride, a medieval torture apparatus on which the riders are pulled taught, their ligaments cracking like whips as they lurch and grate. Their hands on the bars are knots in rope, chests heave, and mouths gape, sucking in the dank, pine forest air. This is a race for the heavy men, the roulers. Climbers cannot ride this race; the tiny riders quiver like butterflies in the killing jar."
Bring it on..!
Steve
Far too many stupid adjectives in that lot.
Thanks for the feedback! Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs0 -
styxd wrote:pottssteve wrote:Evening All,
Here's an excerpt from an article wot I wrote about Paris Roubaix:
"First run in 1896, the Paris-Roubaix cycle race is a relic of a long-dead time, an age of mustard gas, polio, and dentistry without anaesthetic. It’s a clown whose rictus mask slips to expose a vacant skull. It’s an adults only performance of sadomasochistic acts, a twisted show of freaks. It’s an ill-advised teen camping trip to an out-of-season forest cabin. It’s the pale figure at an unlocked window in the middle of the night. It’s the pubic hair in your soup du jour.
Of course, what makes this ride like the devil is the roads on which it is ridden. Altogether, over 50km of the race is run on cobblestones. This pavé is terrible, a broken, twisted mass of smooth polished stone. Once, when newly laid, it must have been a level surface through the rutted, lumpen fields. Now, however, years of frost, rain and baking sun have splayed the stones, widening the joints into jarring, frantic clefts. Its a lunatic fairground ride, a medieval torture apparatus on which the riders are pulled taught, their ligaments cracking like whips as they lurch and grate. Their hands on the bars are knots in rope, chests heave, and mouths gape, sucking in the dank, pine forest air. This is a race for the heavy men, the roulers. Climbers cannot ride this race; the tiny riders quiver like butterflies in the killing jar."
Bring it on..!
Steve
Far too many stupid adjectives in that lot.
You got one into your post too.0 -
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0
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styxd wrote:pottssteve wrote:Evening All,
Here's an excerpt from an article wot I wrote about Paris Roubaix:
"First run in 1896, the Paris-Roubaix cycle race is a relic of a long-dead time, an age of mustard gas, polio, and dentistry without anaesthetic. It’s a clown whose rictus mask slips to expose a vacant skull. It’s an adults only performance of sadomasochistic acts, a twisted show of freaks. It’s an ill-advised teen camping trip to an out-of-season forest cabin. It’s the pale figure at an unlocked window in the middle of the night. It’s the pubic hair in your soup du jour.
Of course, what makes this ride like the devil is the roads on which it is ridden. Altogether, over 50km of the race is run on cobblestones. This pavé is terrible, a broken, twisted mass of smooth polished stone. Once, when newly laid, it must have been a level surface through the rutted, lumpen fields. Now, however, years of frost, rain and baking sun have splayed the stones, widening the joints into jarring, frantic clefts. Its a lunatic fairground ride, a medieval torture apparatus on which the riders are pulled taught, their ligaments cracking like whips as they lurch and grate. Their hands on the bars are knots in rope, chests heave, and mouths gape, sucking in the dank, pine forest air. This is a race for the heavy men, the roulers. Climbers cannot ride this race; the tiny riders quiver like butterflies in the killing jar."
Bring it on..!
Steve
Far too many stupid adjectives in that lot.
Thanks for that, when can we expect the announcement of your place on this year's Booker jury?Correlation is not causation.0 -
pb21 wrote:Salsiccia1 wrote:A bit heretical, I know, but I'm not sure having something like cobbles in a GT is right. I know bike handling is as much a skill as climbing etc, but having something which makes one stage such a lottery undermines things a bit.
I agree, the winner should be decided by the top 10 favourites doing a 60 minute ramp test on an indoor stationary trainer. It's too much of a lottery letting them ride outside amongst 190 other cyclists for 3 weeks!
Seriously though I do get what you're saying, but imo you make your own luck, and the cobbles are part of France and have always been in the TdF.
But that's just it, on wet muddy cobbles you can't make your own luck. Look, the Strade Bianchi stage of the 2010 Giro was probably one of the best GT stages I've ever seen, but even that didn't have such an element of random luck.
I don't think the ASO should be inviting opportunities for contenders to crash out. There's enough chance for things to wrong on normal stages without multiplying those chances unnecessarily.It's only a bit of sport, Mun. Relax and enjoy the racing.0 -
Correlation is not causation.0
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Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol), Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Rein Taaramae (Cofidis), Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge), Mat Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge), Janier Acevedo (Garmin-Sharp), Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r-La Mondiale
1.10
Brice Feillu and Visconti chasing inbetweenContador is the Greatest0 -
adr82 wrote:
Where's your article about PR?styxd wrote:pottssteve wrote:Evening All,
Here's an excerpt from an article wot I wrote about Paris Roubaix:
"First run in 1896, the Paris-Roubaix cycle race is a relic of a long-dead time, an age of mustard gas, polio, and dentistry without anaesthetic. It’s a clown whose rictus mask slips to expose a vacant skull. It’s an adults only performance of sadomasochistic acts, a twisted show of freaks. It’s an ill-advised teen camping trip to an out-of-season forest cabin. It’s the pale figure at an unlocked window in the middle of the night. It’s the pubic hair in your soup du jour.
Of course, what makes this ride like the devil is the roads on which it is ridden. Altogether, over 50km of the race is run on cobblestones. This pavé is terrible, a broken, twisted mass of smooth polished stone. Once, when newly laid, it must have been a level surface through the rutted, lumpen fields. Now, however, years of frost, rain and baking sun have splayed the stones, widening the joints into jarring, frantic clefts. Its a lunatic fairground ride, a medieval torture apparatus on which the riders are pulled taught, their ligaments cracking like whips as they lurch and grate. Their hands on the bars are knots in rope, chests heave, and mouths gape, sucking in the dank, pine forest air. This is a race for the heavy men, the roulers. Climbers cannot ride this race; the tiny riders quiver like butterflies in the killing jar."
Bring it on..!
Steve
Far too many stupid adjectives in that lot.
It was published on a website called bicyclingnewsasia.com, which has now, sadly, become defunct as the guy running it found a proper job. If you want the whole thing message me and I can send it. However, I'm reliably informed that there are way too many stupid adjectives, so take care.. Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs0 -
NetApp riders paying penance for missing the break.
Garmin have sent their Colombian up ahead. Interesting.0 -
Above The Cows wrote:styxd wrote:pottssteve wrote:Evening All,
Here's an excerpt from an article wot I wrote about Paris Roubaix:
"First run in 1896, the Paris-Roubaix cycle race is a relic of a long-dead time, an age of mustard gas, polio, and dentistry without anaesthetic. It’s a clown whose rictus mask slips to expose a vacant skull. It’s an adults only performance of sadomasochistic acts, a twisted show of freaks. It’s an ill-advised teen camping trip to an out-of-season forest cabin. It’s the pale figure at an unlocked window in the middle of the night. It’s the pubic hair in your soup du jour.
Of course, what makes this ride like the devil is the roads on which it is ridden. Altogether, over 50km of the race is run on cobblestones. This pavé is terrible, a broken, twisted mass of smooth polished stone. Once, when newly laid, it must have been a level surface through the rutted, lumpen fields. Now, however, years of frost, rain and baking sun have splayed the stones, widening the joints into jarring, frantic clefts. Its a lunatic fairground ride, a medieval torture apparatus on which the riders are pulled taught, their ligaments cracking like whips as they lurch and grate. Their hands on the bars are knots in rope, chests heave, and mouths gape, sucking in the dank, pine forest air. This is a race for the heavy men, the roulers. Climbers cannot ride this race; the tiny riders quiver like butterflies in the killing jar."
Bring it on..!
Steve
Far too many stupid adjectives in that lot.
Thanks for that, when can we expect the announcement of your place on this year's Booker jury?
styxd has a point - after reading that I feel like I've chewed on a bit of pave'Do not compare your bike to others, for always there will be greater and lesser bikes'0 -
josame wrote:Above The Cows wrote:styxd wrote:pottssteve wrote:Evening All,
Here's an excerpt from an article wot I wrote about Paris Roubaix:
"First run in 1896, the Paris-Roubaix cycle race is a relic of a long-dead time, an age of mustard gas, polio, and dentistry without anaesthetic. It’s a clown whose rictus mask slips to expose a vacant skull. It’s an adults only performance of sadomasochistic acts, a twisted show of freaks. It’s an ill-advised teen camping trip to an out-of-season forest cabin. It’s the pale figure at an unlocked window in the middle of the night. It’s the pubic hair in your soup du jour.
Of course, what makes this ride like the devil is the roads on which it is ridden. Altogether, over 50km of the race is run on cobblestones. This pavé is terrible, a broken, twisted mass of smooth polished stone. Once, when newly laid, it must have been a level surface through the rutted, lumpen fields. Now, however, years of frost, rain and baking sun have splayed the stones, widening the joints into jarring, frantic clefts. Its a lunatic fairground ride, a medieval torture apparatus on which the riders are pulled taught, their ligaments cracking like whips as they lurch and grate. Their hands on the bars are knots in rope, chests heave, and mouths gape, sucking in the dank, pine forest air. This is a race for the heavy men, the roulers. Climbers cannot ride this race; the tiny riders quiver like butterflies in the killing jar."
Bring it on..!
Steve
Far too many stupid adjectives in that lot.
Thanks for that, when can we expect the announcement of your place on this year's Booker jury?
styxd has a point - after reading that I feel like I've chewed on a bit of pave
I think that was the idea.0
