Le Tour!

I know stb won't agree, but Farrar is actually pretty modest in his interviews. He's still got that "thing" that's bothersome, but I'm starting to like him a little.

He did a good job at the end considering they blew the lead-out there.
 
Norm said:
I know stb won't agree, but Farrar is actually pretty modest in his interviews. He's still got that "thing" that's bothersome, but I'm starting to like him a little.

He did a good job at the end considering they blew the lead-out there.
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I would sy he is modest, but in. Db kinda way. He is also most because he wins so little at the tour.
 
was reading about sprinting today ... saw this blurb about steroid use

nice to see other sports talking about it not just cycling

Obviously, it's impossible to talk about sprinting records and human potentiality without mentioning steroids. It's more than the rhino in the room; it's possibly the reason the WR in the 100 didn't move for 15 years and then started falling like an air conditioner shoved out an open window. But for the sake of this specific discussion, PEDs don't really matter. It isn't a moral (or even competitive) issue. The question is not what speed a man should run; the question is how fast a man could run, through any means necessary. Steroids tend to be a secondary issue for track fans, principally for two reasons:

1. Though nobody will ever talk about it on the record, PEDs have become an integral part of sprinting. It's pretty much like cycling: There's just an unspoken "everybody does it" concession. There are sanctioned rules, and athletes get penalized if they get caught breaking them. But nobody really worries about this, simply because …
2. People who love track want to see guys run fast. That's the whole game. There is nothing else. The sport is not built on personal rivalries or constructed purity or nationalism or the import of tradition; the sport is solely driven by the excitement of people doing what no one has done before. In this one specific instance, the ends truly do justify the means. And unlike other sports, there's no rhetoric or concern about steroids warping statistics, because the only stat that matters is who's fastest right now. Once a record has been broken, it instantly becomes meaningless. Not even track historians use comparative times as a way to establish greatness. Easy example: Which of these men was the greatest sprinter — Jesse Owens (who won the 1936 Olympics with a time of 10.3), Carl Lewis (whose career best in the 100 was 9.86), or Leroy Burrell (who ran a 9.85)? Track and field is about running fast today. It's a bottom-line endeavor.
This is not to say that steroids don't make debates about human speed complex, because they do. Around the same time Ben Johnson ran his (then unthinkable) 9.83, Florence Griffith-Joyner destroyed the women's 100-meter mark with a 10.49, and that record has not been seriously challenged in the 23 years since. Was something happening with PEDs in the late 1980s that has since been removed from the sport? Why do men keep getting faster, but women do not? These are questions that science cannot seem to answer (or even guess at).
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source is here > http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6760031/is-fastest-human-ever-already-alive

fun fact of the day
the 100-meter dash is 9.58 seconds translates to an average speed of just over 23 mph (with a top speed closer to 30 mph)
 
seanrunnette said:
THAT was a stage! (I desperately want to spoil but won't.)
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Interesting. I thought yesterday was a bore. The leaders pretty much sat in looking at each other all day, until finally at the very very very end Frank took a flier on the 2 at the top. That was a great run, have to admit. Was a bit bummed he didn't nail it.

Andy S looks like Ryan H to me. I mean not always but there's something about him.

Anyway, on yesterday, I was hoping for more fireworks early. You see these videos of Lance banging out massive wins. I mean, isn't this what the guys who want to win do? Andy has looked like his whole approach is to not let anyone get away the whole time. Evans is at least showing some fire, though I don't know if he's going to be able to hang if anyone makes a real attack (like Frank yesterday).

Contador is an interesting one. If everyone knows he's a bit off, wouldn't it make sense to attack the shit out of him and try to drop him even further down? I don't know who it was, but 1 rider said that 1 successful attack by him can easily wipe out that time deficit. I'd think you want to make it as big as possible, ASAFP.

Is Frank actually stronger than Andy right now? How do they work that out? Family dinner on Sunday afternoon could be strange in a few weeks if Frank ends up winning, no?

I was excited to see no breaks today, but while I wrote this one formed. At least it has a name in it.
 
Frank was the man last year too until he crashed out early in the race. Andy gets all the press and shit but I wasn't surprised to see the Lux champ go yesterday. I did like the 1-2 attacks by the two brothers.

As for Contidor, I 100% think they should beat him down today. He fell off yesterday in that group...
 
All stages to me are a bore except the last 30 miles. Thats the only part I really want to catch. It was exciting when the favored riders dueled it out with the 1, 2. Edge of my seat just waiting to see who will get away. Between the bros, I don't think they settle it over dinner. Obviously, where ever andy is so is frank. In the end, If frank is in better position to take it he will. Kinda like two yrs ago when the team worked for lance till AC pounced on him. Loyalty is cool but this is the creme de la creme in cycling. Who doesnt want it? The best rider should get the title. Also, im sure one brother would be happy for the other no matter what but andy deserves it if ac is out of the picture. But knowing these riders are pure competitors andy wont be taking any handouts.

And mad mad mad props to TommyD. I can't even imgine what it takes to ride with the world's best. Something ill never know and dont want to find out.
 
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Norm, you are going to be greatly disappointed in these stages if you were expecting one of the favorites to just ride away with it. Yesterday was just some cat and mouse shit, testing the waters. The leaders mark each other and attack to see what the other have. Typically you only see one QC contender from each team once the "final selection" on the climb has been made. This is where Leopard has an advantage, because no one truely knows if Andy or Frank is who Leopard wants on the podium, similar to the year Sastre one the TDF on Alpe d Huez. So Leopard send Andy, then Frank, then Andy and so on until it breaks whoever they are attacking. This year is alittle different because they are attacking Cadel and Basso too, not just contador. In the end though, they aren't concerned with letting Frank go, because they know he will loose time in the time trial, so unless he makes a huge, huge attack, he aint gonna be on top.

Basso, and Cadel pulled away from Contador at the end, which is very non-typical of Contador. There is a possibility that he is playing a lame duck, but who knows. We still have two more mountain stages today and tomorrow and then 3 days in the Alps next week, 3 of those mountain days being mountain top finishes, so there is a ton of time to gain time.

Anyways, today's stage will likely be a breakaway for the win and the GC contenders just marking each other. The only major climb of the day is 42KM from the finish, which is too far to make an attack stick, so shouldn't be any shake-up today. Now tomorrow is a different story with a mountain top finish. We are also still talking mins here, which can easily be lost in the mountains. Also remember, once you get the yellow jersey, your team has to protect it, so it makes sense not to try and get it before you need to.
 
This is the first year I've watched, so I obviously don't know how it usually plays out. But you see the highlight reels with Lance, or AC/AS from last year, finishing at the top rocking shit out. Like I texted to a few people, I came here to see Montana and every day all you get is a bunch of punters. To me, it's less interesting if they're battling at the top for 3rd, or 8th place.

Clearly there's a sort of unspoken (or is it spoken) rule about just letting a break go. Obviously if the pack wanted there to be no break, there wouldn't be one. The sponsor issue is that big I guess.

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?

I want blood!

Pimp the TommyD effort, I agree with that.
 
Is the F is TommyD?

Anyways, in one respect, the yellow jersey sometimes provides super powers to those to wear it but you also become a target. A certain amount of respect comes along with the yellow jersey too, like you don't attack the yellow jersey when they have a mechanical (ahem, contador). So when you have it, other teams want it or may not like that you have it and will not help your team control / chase breaks and stuff like that. Ben can explain it better.

Anyways, no blood today unless you like breakaway rides. Tomorrow, blood, but probably isn't going to live up to the incredibly high expectations you have set from watching a total of 4 hours of clips from 20 years of tour de frances.
 
Norm said:
I thought yesterday was a bore.
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In Lance-terms. (Those kinds of fireworks make me uneasy now. Esp. after Floyd.) I was blown away by Gilbert's late attack, Thomas and Roy's break (especially Thomas, losing them and then riding back and through), Voight's destruction of the Saxos, Voeckler and Riblon riding far beyond anything they expected, and finally the Schlecks not doing their Alphonse and Gaston thing and initiating, rather than waiting for Contador. Oh, and Samuel Sanchez reminding everyone that he's a threat. Oh, oh, and how freaking good Basso looked, after a horrible Giro.

I totally get the desire for a blow-out, but there are a lot more mountains to come, and not all of them are uphill finishes. Tomorrow, yeah, and that should be fun. I think you're right that the Leopards should take advantage of Contador's present condition and not give him a chance to recover before the Alps. He can explode back into contention, but 2+ down is huge. Remember he only won by 38 secs last year.

With 2 1/2 minutes separating everyone after Voeckler (who can't be considered a GC threat), it's looking like a fun race. I love Merckx, but something like the 17 minutes he won by in 1969, THAT is boring.
 
stb222 said:
Is the F is TommyD?
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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.
 
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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