La Course 2017: Stage 1 Briancon - Izoard ***Spoilers****

daniel_b

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

poppit wrote:

Pross wrote:

Hmm, I'd seen her name mentioned so assumed it was her. If it wasn't I don't know who it was but they seemed OK and knew their riders so definitely not Kirby level!

Sarah Connolly and Rochelle Gilmore on ITV4

Ah. Connolly. A mouth and ego the size of the Grand Canyon, that one

I don't have that strong an opinion of her, or know her previous work, but her commentary did little for me - always have time for Gilmour, very informed and good commentary style, wouldn't have said Connoly was as bad as Kirby, didn't hear any poor jokes, or horrendous puns. Would have been interested to hear what Joanne R-S was like on Eurosport, may check it out at some point assuming it is available on the player.

Hoping Lizzie can do the do in the TT - Saturday is it?

ddraver

Can't take Gilmore seriously since Moose-stash gate at the Olympics....

above_the_cows

ddraver wrote:

Can't take Gilmore seriously since Moose-stash gate at the Olympics....

:?:

daniel_b

Above The Cows wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Can't take Gilmore seriously since Moose-stash gate at the Olympics....

:?:

+1

imatfaal

Daniel B wrote:

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

poppit wrote:

Pross wrote:

Hmm, I'd seen her name mentioned so assumed it was her. If it wasn't I don't know who it was but they seemed OK and knew their riders so definitely not Kirby level!

Sarah Connolly and Rochelle Gilmore on ITV4

Ah. Connolly. A mouth and ego the size of the Grand Canyon, that one

I don't have that strong an opinion of her, or know her previous work, but her commentary did little for me - always have time for Gilmour, very informed and good commentary style, wouldn't have said Connoly was as bad as Kirby, didn't hear any poor jokes, or horrendous puns. Would have been interested to hear what Joanne R-S was like on Eurosport, may check it out at some point assuming it is available on the player.

Hoping Lizzie can do the do in the TT - Saturday is it?

It is not really a TT - it is a "pursuit". Riders are realeased with Annemiek VV going first and other riders following after their time gap from today.

1. VAN VLEUTEN A. ORS 02h 07' 18''
2. DEIGNAN E. DLT 00' 43''
3. LONGO BORGHINI E. WHT 01' 23''
4. GUARNIER M. DLT 01' 28''
5. GILLOW S. FDJ 01' 33''

Not sure anyone ALONE could pull back that time on AVV - but you are allowed to form a group. Also only frst 20 riders competing. Amanda Spratt is in 6th and a team mate of AVV so she will not work in a group but I think it would make sense for Guarnier to soft pedal till joined by Shara Gillow and then try to bridge to ELB and so on.

ddraver

Her... unique... pronunciation of moustache refering to the Spanish Team

daniel_b

imatfaal wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

poppit wrote:

Pross wrote:

Hmm, I'd seen her name mentioned so assumed it was her. If it wasn't I don't know who it was but they seemed OK and knew their riders so definitely not Kirby level!

Sarah Connolly and Rochelle Gilmore on ITV4

Ah. Connolly. A mouth and ego the size of the Grand Canyon, that one

I don't have that strong an opinion of her, or know her previous work, but her commentary did little for me - always have time for Gilmour, very informed and good commentary style, wouldn't have said Connoly was as bad as Kirby, didn't hear any poor jokes, or horrendous puns. Would have been interested to hear what Joanne R-S was like on Eurosport, may check it out at some point assuming it is available on the player.

Hoping Lizzie can do the do in the TT - Saturday is it?

It is not really a TT - it is a "pursuit". Riders are realeased with Annemiek VV going first and other riders following after their time gap from today.

1. VAN VLEUTEN A. ORS 02h 07' 18''
2. DEIGNAN E. DLT 00' 43''
3. LONGO BORGHINI E. WHT 01' 23''
4. GUARNIER M. DLT 01' 28''
5. GILLOW S. FDJ 01' 33''

Not sure anyone ALONE could pull back that time on AVV - but you are allowed to form a group. Also only frst 20 riders competing. Amanda Spratt is in 6th and a team mate of AVV so she will not work in a group but I think it would make sense for Guarnier to soft pedal till joined by Shara Gillow and then try to bridge to ELB and so on.

Thanks for that, hadn't realised that was the setup (Just thought it was a one day affair as did LD it would seem!) - much like the final Team TT in the 'Hammer'e event recently then - similar concept, first over the line wins. Ah, so she suggested her and Guarnier might be able to team up to try and take VV was how I now read it then.

rick_chasey

I'm going to scratch the itch.

In Dutch names the "van" is lowercase.

So it's vV strictly speaking.

She's not Belgian ffs.

Lanterne_Rogue

ITV4 suggested that only 19 riders would be in Marseille. Was there a five minute cut-off, or have they decided that it'd be unfair to see which of Ratto and Noskoda crossed the line first and dropped both of them, or are they making it up as they go along? Bloody peed off - it took long enough for them to put the results up.

above_the_cows

Rick Chasey wrote:

I'm going to scratch the itch.

In Dutch names the "van" is lowercase.

So it's vV strictly speaking.

She's not Belgian ffs.

That was peeing me off all day. The graphics on the coverage had 'Van Vleuten'.

salsiccia1

Does it make a difference if it's at the start of a sentence?

above_the_cows

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Does it make a difference if it's at the start of a sentence?

If it starts a sentence yes, but only if the first name doesn't come first. And really her name should be spelt if you're doing last name first: Vleuten, Annemiek van. Her last name is Vleuten, the van is what's called a tussenvoegsel e.g. van, de, van de, van der etc.

rick_chasey

Yes.

But, importantly, Belgians do do the capitalised 'Van' in the sentence from time to time, so it's more than just a grammatical point.

above_the_cows

Rick Chasey wrote:

Yes.

But, importantly, Belgians do do the capitalised 'Van' in the sentence from time to time, so it's more than just a grammatical point.

Quite.

salsiccia1

Cheers.

As it's French TV, might they have been going by the norms of French Flanders?

Pross

underlayunderlay wrote:

ITV4 suggested that only 19 riders would be in Marseille. Was there a five minute cut-off, or have they decided that it'd be unfair to see which of Ratto and Noskoda crossed the line first and dropped both of them, or are they making it up as they go along? Bloody peed off - it took long enough for them to put the results up.

It was a 5 minute cut off.

wallace_and_gromit

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

About 50 minutes for the climb?

Some interesting Strava data...

Leading lady on Strava is Juliette Labous - 53:39 - who finished 7 minutes down on AvV, so AvV must be around 46:40.

The guys are much more Strava-friendly, and for the final climb we have:

Barguil - 38 minutes - absolutely caning it

Lutsenko - 45 minutes - doomed "fly and die" trying to win from the break

ten Dam - 49 minutes - in the "bus"

Edited having found better data for the ladies.

davidof

imatfaal wrote:

It is not really a TT - it is a "pursuit". Riders are realeased with Annemiek VV going first and other riders following after their time gap from today.

1. VAN VLEUTEN A. ORS 02h 07' 18''
2. DEIGNAN E. DLT 00' 43''
3. LONGO BORGHINI E. WHT 01' 23''
4. GUARNIER M. DLT 01' 28''
5. GILLOW S. FDJ 01' 33''

Not sure anyone ALONE could pull back that time on AVV - but you are allowed to form a group.

they use that kind of format in Biathlon (cross country skiing). A sprint then a pursuit. However you have the 4 shooting rounds which mix things up a lot. Longo Borghini can't pull back 1'23" on Val Vleuten on that course despite being a good TTer.

imatfaal

From Strava - cos I was curious. Col d'Izoard (versant sud)


barguil warren
KOM 38:02 20 Jul 2017

Juliette Labous
QOM 53:39 20 Jul 2017

Team Sunweb had a good climbing day yesterday with both King and Queen. Juliette Labous ranks 153 overall out of just under 15,000.

davidof

imatfaal wrote:

From Strava - cos I was curious. Col d'Izoard (versant sud)


barguil warren
KOM 38:02 20 Jul 2017

Juliette Labous
QOM 53:39 20 Jul 2017

Team Sunweb had a good climbing day yesterday with both King and Queen. Juliette Labous ranks 153 overall out of just under 15,000.

Borghini may post her ride on Strava. I've asked her to post it but who knows.

imatfaal

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

About 50 minutes for the climb?

Some interesting Strava data...

None of the leading women have Strava'd but hand-timing of La Course gives 50 minutes for the leading lady.

The guys are much more Strava-friendly, and for the final climb we have:

Barguil - 38 minutes - absolutely caning it

Lutsenko - 45 minutes - doomed "fly and die" trying to win from the break

ten Dam - 49 minutes - in the "bus"

Annemiek van Vleuten did put up her strava - but seems to have not have her on the full 14km climb rank

https://www.strava.com/activities/1093068530

imatfaal

davidof wrote:

...

Borghini may post her ride on Strava.

Not yet - but will check back. I do find it amusing that the pros only cycle about 150-200% of the distance I cycle - but climb 5 to 10 times the height; amazingly I have logged just two hours less than Elisa L-B so far this year.

davidof

imatfaal wrote:

Annemiek van Vleuten did put up her strava - but seems to have not have her on the full 14km climb rank

https://www.strava.com/activities/1093068530[/quote]

13th overall on the body of the climb. Obviously not comparing like with like as the pros have been racing 2 weeks but she and the other riders have just come off a hard fought Giro Rosa so are not exactly fresh either.

I ride on a lot of the training roads Longo-Borghini does. I notice she trains to the point where the road gets really steep then turns around and does another climb. I guess labouring up +10% grades has no relevance for the kind of racing she's doing.

DeVlaeminck

No tA Doctor wrote:

Well ridden etc., but sad that what ended up as an uphill TT was how women's cycling was represented at this years tour. They'd do far better to pick a medium mountain stage (or several!) where we'd see the type of racing they can really do well.

Absolutely this. I wouldn't object to a mtf as part of a week long stage race but as a one off (ok plus some gimmick TT) it always seemed an odd choice. I wonder if it was an experiment with a view to trying it for the men, short mountain stages have worked so why not an even shorter mountain stage?

Lanterne_Rogue

I wondered that. Thought it might make a good opening stage, although probably crashtastic.

imatfaal

underlayunderlay wrote:

I wondered that. Thought it might make a good opening stage, although probably crashtastic.

Mad sprint up Ventoux as the opening day of the Tour? Trouble is a committed climber could (potentially) eliminate a decent fraction of the field

blazing_saddles

DeVlaeminck wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

Well ridden etc., but sad that what ended up as an uphill TT was how women's cycling was represented at this years tour. They'd do far better to pick a medium mountain stage (or several!) where we'd see the type of racing they can really do well.

Absolutely this. I wouldn't object to a mtf as part of a week long stage race but as a one off (ok plus some gimmick TT) it always seemed an odd choice. I wonder if it was an experiment with a view to trying it for the men, short mountain stages have worked so why not an even shorter mountain stage?

A mistake not to be repeated.
I think the ASO will probably go down this route, next year.
Come October, I expect to see a rolling course out of the mountains, for stage 18 or 19.
Climbing the Izoard, has rendered Saturday's potentially interesting pursuit, redundant.

RichN95.

imatfaal wrote:

underlayunderlay wrote:

I wondered that. Thought it might make a good opening stage, although probably crashtastic.

Mad sprint up Ventoux as the opening day of the Tour? Trouble is a committed climber could (potentially) eliminate a decent fraction of the field

Just extend the time limit then.

bobmcstuff

The Cycling Podcast KM0 quoted someone (I forget who) saying while the Paris crit was a bit one dimensional it was the most exposure women's cycling gets all year - suggesting the Izoard type stage is great but why can't they have both...

salsiccia1

Why can't there be a proper race? Surely the vast majority of the organisational costs are already covered by the men's race. It doesn't have to be 3 weeks, but surely it's not beyond the wit of ASO to have a decent 7-8 day stage race running alongside the last week or so of the men's race.