Tour de France: Stage 14 Live Thread (Sunday, July 16, 2006)

VeloNews.com ^ | July 16, 2006 | VeloNews.com

[NittanyLion]

The final climb of the 14th stage is the Col de Sentinelle is rated category-two. A ruling introduced three years ago means that any climbing ranked category-two or higher is worth double points if it’s the last ascent.

I would imagine Rasmussen is really hoping Quick.Step can bring this race back together prior to that climb.

[Ready4Freddy]

You're right, Bay! That's yet another thing that Lance brought to the table - an accute knowledge & appreciation of all the traditions & unwritten 'rules' of the Tour. What Phonak / Landis appear to be doing is somewhat akin to a rider in an escape taking minimal turns at the front, then sprinting for the win...

Did you see Bobby Jullich's take on Phonak's relinquishing the maillot jaune? He thinks it may cost them in the mountains, when they need the help the most.

[Vision]

Wow that was a bad crash. Dirt in road. Maybe broken collerbone.

[NittanyLion]

Yes, Verbrugghe and Kessler may be in bad shape.

[Ready4Freddy]

Here ya go, it was on velonews, not OLN. This takes you to an article re: Phonak, the link to the vid of John Lelangue is at the bottom of the page - http://www.velonews.com/tour2006/news/articles/10424.0.html

[NittanyLion]

Now Kessler is up and riding, incredibly.

[Ready4Freddy]

Good point! I'm sure he's thinking that all those double points would be wasted on the riders in the escape, but that he could make far better use of them! LOL

[NittanyLion]

16:28 CEST
Laterne Rouge Sebastien Joly (Francaise des Jeux) has attacked...off the back of the bunch. So he's defending his 'lead' in that classification.

LOL...

[Ready4Freddy]

Interesting dynamic on that crash - I guess the remaining riders have to decide pretty quickly just how bad the crash is for the 2 downed riders. Tradition dictates that they wait for them, but only for so long before they can resume...

[Ready4Freddy]

Oh, that's cold, that's so cold... (not that there's anything wrong with that! :)

[luv2ski]

That's yet another thing that Lance brought to the table - an accute knowledge & appreciation of all the traditions & unwritten 'rules' of the Tour. What Phonak / Landis appear to be doing is somewhat akin to a rider in an escape taking minimal turns at the front, then sprinting for the win...

I think that is what was bugging me so much about it yesterday. It would not have taken much to keep it and it seemed so disrespectful of the jersey not to try. I think Bob Roll's comments about showing weakness are on the mark, too. Lance would never have done this for so many reasons!

[Ready4Freddy]

Yeah, luv2ski, and I was posting more to the effect that it wasn't necessarily fatal time-wise for Phonak. Was it Roll's comments that said that Lance never yielded the maillot jaune between the mountains? 'course, he usually had a decidely larger lead, and had already spanked at least a few of his main rivals by then...

Maybe that's Landis' problem, it wasn't like he was in command, he hadn't bitch-slapped anyone yet, and still yielded...

[luv2ski]

Here's Bobby Jullich's take: Phonak doesn't make many friends after Stage 13

Very interesting comments. Thanks!

[Vision]

The crashed produced a broken leg, trying to get the correct spelling of the rider.

[Ready4Freddy]

16:42 - 3’00" Lead...

The peloton is 22km from the finish of the stage. It is led by riders from the Liquigas team and is 3’00" behind Aerts, Commesso and Fedrigo.

And what a 22km it is! Cat 2 climb, then some really nasty descents!

16:41 - Verbrugghe & Canada In Ambulance...

Two victims of the crash at the 141km mark are in the ambulance and on the way to hospital. David Canada (SDV) has a broken right collarbone. Rik Verbrugghe (COF) will have x-rays for a suspected broken leg.

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

[luv2ski]

I honestly don't know just what Phonak is thinking in all this (it may turn out to be brilliant). All I can say is that it leaves an icky taste in my mouth. I just felt disgusted yesterday after the stage. Bleh!

[Ready4Freddy]

Those Dutch are big on the consonants, aren't they? Not as bad as the Welsh, who don't really need very many vowels at all! :)

[Ready4Freddy]

Well, no wonder, your little thing w/ Eurotwit was exposed for all the world to see! LOL Hey, whee's Euro been this weekend? Yodeling in the fjords?

I just felt disgusted yesterday...