Le Tour!

Norm said:
Yellow jersey - why do you have to protect it? I understand that Thor and Voekler's teams want to, because they're holding on for dear life to live another day with it. But if any of the big guns get it, they know they can get it again at any point. And after the mountain stages it's just a matter of holding serve, no?
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Yer right that the big guns shouldn't mess with the yellow this early. It drains the life from their guys, who are forced to protect it. Cadel got into trouble with the Omega boys a couple years ago for getting yellow too early. They didn't have a deep enough bench to protect him, and Popovich, who'd been hired to be Cadel's road lieutenant, rode like a douche. But for all the teams that have a shot at the Maillot Jeune, there's a lot of pressure from the sponsors. They want the lense time, and not just the hopeless Skil-Shimano rider in the breakaway kind. I read somewhere that 60% of the press a team gets over the entire year comes from the Tour. That's worth a lot of money. And given how hard it seems to be to hold onto a contract in pro cycling lately, a rider that defends his leader well when they're in Yellow (like Riblon yesterday) has a much better time during the re-negotiations.
 
Norm said:
What does that mean?

I think some of this is a "sign of the times" thing. The directors have so much information now, they can calculate everything to the minute. So they want to manage the riders to the point that they want to conserve as much as possible. You only need to "lose" this stage by less than 23 minutes. So who cares, let the 6 guys go.

You look at all-time stage wins. Lance has 22, tied for 4th on the all-time list. You have some other classic names on the list. Current GC guys like the Schlecks, Evans, Contador, etc don't show up on any of these lists because stage wins mean nothing. 26 year old Cavendish is going to very possibly sit on top of that list someday, and will never come close to winning a tour.

I don't have incredibly high expectations. I'm just looking for *something* to happen.
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Means I have seen the screen name TommyD and have no idea who he is. Is he riding the TDF or something?

Until 3? years ago, there were time bonuses for winning a stage, so there was an incentive to win stages, which is no longer the case for the GC guys.
 
Nice signature, just noticed that.

Here's me advertising story. Maybe 2 days ago Flopper (my coworker who claims to be a road biker and following the Tour) and I are looking at one of the client user accounts for something or other. Maybe a test account or something, an external customer.

*I pull up he screen, and see the company is RABO BANK*
Me: RABO BANK!
Flopper: *blank stare*
Me: Rabo Bank, you know?
Flopper: huh (*still no comprehension*)
Me: You know, the Tour de France thing, right?
Flopper: *grunt* (nothing, nothing at all)
Me: k...
 
stb222 said:
Means I have seen the screen name TommyD and have no idea who he is. Is he riding the TDF or something?

Until 3? years ago, there were time bonuses for winning a stage, so there was an incentive to win stages, which is no longer the case for the GC guys.
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I see. This whole Intermediate Sprint business is new right?

From the podcast recap yesterday:

Guy #1: Well, at least the intermediate sprint has made the green jersey more exciting.
Guy #2: How do you figure? It's still only between 2 guys.

TommyD = Tom Danielson, the top American in the Tour, on Garmin-Cervelo. He does not actually post on the board. He only posts in the VTC thread. If you don't read that thread, it won't make sense. For that matter, the video I made won't make sense either. It's a sock puppet. I think he creeped in to the top 10 yesterday overall? I'm too lazy to look now. He's like 1:00 down on AC.
 
Norm said:
TommyD = Tom Danielson, the top American in the Tour, on Garmin-Cervelo. He does not actually post on the board. He only posts in the VTC thread. If you don't read that thread, it won't make sense. For that matter, the video I made won't make sense either. It's a sock puppet. I think he creeped in to the top 10 yesterday overall? I'm too lazy to look now. He's like 1:00 down on AC.
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I don't read that thread because everytime I have tried, I don't have a clue what the hell is going on and I can't stand the stupid abbreviations. I didn't get your video either, but watched the whole thing with a blank look on my face, didn't even smile when you said "dick", which is very odd as i typically chucklel like a school girl when some says dick. I may read it if the entire VTC didn't live outside my 30 min driving radius for rides.
 
mr.chainsaw said:
Acronyms
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same thing, yo.

LOL, an abbreviation for laughing out loud,[1][2] or laugh out loud,[3] is a common element of Internet slang. It was used historically on Usenet but is now widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication, and even face-to-face communication. It is one of many initialisms for expressing bodily reactions, in particular laughter, as text, including initialisms for more emphatic expressions of laughter such as LMAO[4] ("laughing my ass off"), ROTFL[5][6][7][8] ("roll(ing) on the floor laughing") or ROFL[9] ("roll(ing) on [the] floor laughing"), and BWL ("bursting with laughter", above which there is "no greater compliment" according to technology columnist Larry Magid).[10] Other unrelated expansions include the now mostly historical "lots of luck" or "lots of love" used in letter-writing.[11]

The list of acronyms "grows by the month"[5] and they are collected along with emoticons and smileys into folk dictionaries that are circulated informally amongst users of Usenet, IRC, and other forms of (textual) computer-mediated communication.[12] These initialisms are controversial, and several authors recommend against their use, either in general or in specific contexts such as business communications.
 
I saw plenty of fireworks yesterday. Saxo Bank put their train up front to blow the peloton apart and thin the nerd. I was pleasantly surprised to see Basso with the confidence to drive the pace further. You don't tell your domestique to ride hard unless you have the legs to take advantage of it. Basso was once the next in line to win until Operation Puerto forced him to take a year off. Wiki that one and prepare for a long read.

I have no way to watch the stage today. I'm currently at a Chicago airport. On hilly stages that are NOT a hilltop finish, GC contending teams often send a good climber up the road during one of the earlier climbs. He is there for two reasons. Go for a stage win of you gain huge time. If that is not going to happen, his GC teammate will attack to catch him. Then they work together towards the finish.

Astana did this earlier in the week before Vino crashed out. Frank's move yesterday had similar characteristics. If Andy saw his rivals really struggling, he could have bridged up to his bro. Andy would have towed him to the line and given the stage to his bro while gaining time on his rivals.

Always consider that everything you see at any moment is very calculated. It IS chess on wheels. Every action has a purpose and is followed by "if/then" statements. Watching what is happening is entertaining. Try to figure out WHY it is happening takes it to a whole new level.
 
Im so glad alberta isnt running away with it like he spoiled the giro. I dont think he can pull back all the lost time, unless evans, schlek or basso crack.

soundz said:
I wished there were some more attacks yesterday .. I thought there were more back and forth's last year .. I guess it's still early.

I do like the fact that there were so many contenders to the finish line. That made it exciting that it was up in the air who would come out on top.

I think if someone was riding away with it, it wouldn't be as exciting. But I guess it depends on who it is that is riding away with it. I mean when Lance was riding away with it, it was fun cause you're rooting for him, but let's say if Cantator was winning every mountain stage by 2 minutes, I don't think it would be much fun.
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