Posted on 07/04/2009 8:09:14 AM PDT by Mom MD
Did not watch much this morning but Armstrong sounded pissed in his Twitter posts. I think he was pissed that Garmin has nobody of value in the GC and AG2R said they weren’t going to challenge Hincapie for the jersey.
CharlesWayneCT, this is my view of this years tour tactics, perhaps it may give you a way to look at your questions from another angle.
TdF teams are built with certain strengths. Columbia, for example, has a classic lead-out train that will win flat stages and give their sponsors some good TV time. They, George Hincapie included, are not known as exceptional time trialers or climbers. I don't believe any of their riders are contenders in the general classification.
Since Colombia had Hincapie in the breakaway group today, it served them no purpose to reel in the breakaway to set up a sprint. Any team that wanted to could have, but with an eye on the Alps tomorrow no one wanted to expend the energy.
This years tour is unusual in that there aren't many mountain finishes, and that Ventoux is the last racing day and has a mountain finish.
Astana has strong time trialers and climbers. I've read where AC and LA could be expected take leads of 1 - 2 minutes over any other GC contending rider in the time trials.
That means any other contender has to make up that time in a flat stage in the teeth of Columbia's train, or an another mountain stage where the finish is off the summit. The finishes off the summit mean gains on the climbs can be lost on the finishes. Making up time whenever you want really isn't an option, so you have to bide your time until you can play to your own strength.
Astana is in the catbird seat because of the tour plan and the strength of their team makeup. All they need to pay attention to are other contenders.
I do agree with baynative that tomorrow may be the day a contender decides to move. It's a mountain finish, so a climber who could possibly get a minute or so on AC and LA before it gets equalized in the TT and hope to hold it to a showdown on Ventoux has to go for it.
Cheers to Colorado.
The best state in the union :-)
Hi longjack, would you like to be added to the ping list?
The plot thickens...
Please.
Thank you.
Hey Euro! How’ve you been? Are you still a big Hushovd fan? Good day for him yesterday! Today’s finish (and the penalty) is much in his favor as well.
I like Thor- he just quietly does a great job.
I don’t think it’s that AG2R didn’t want to defend the yellow- I just don’t think they have the strength to do so any longer. Plus everyone is completely freaked about tomorrow.
How about this for a theory: if Jens Voigt had had a decent rear tire change, he would have been in the breakaway group. Voigt is a very strong and seasoned rider. He would have helped them stay organized and kept the pace high. I personally think Hincapie would be in yellow had Voigt stayed with the group.
He appears to have a mancrush on Thor ("not that there's anything wrong with that", of course). ;>)
Yeah, I know that and the elevation gain is significant but they talk about it during the coverage as if the riders won't be able to breathe up there. haha!
We are in complete agreement over the competitive nature of the TdF. What cycling has, though, that other sports do not is a gentlemen's agreement- a sort of honor code. For example, when Lance and Ullrich were racing down the mountain a few years ago, Ullrich misjudged a turn and went straight off into a ravine. Lance waited for him to get back up to the road and they started racing again. What Garmin did today didn't make any sense from a team standpoint. They weren't going to catch the breakaway and give Farrar a chance at the bunch finish or win. They don't have anyone that would be threatened by Hincapie on the GC long term. So on the face of it, it looks like they drove the peloton out of spite. That is the reason that some riders are upset.
Their mountains have better cheese and French bread.
You also need to compensate for the latitude.
TDF .. 6:30am CDT, VERSUS
OPEN, .. 7:00am CDT, ABC
The Yellow is not a gift - you earn it.
If George wanted it he should have pulled harder and finished closer to the stage winner.
The peloton does not gift a rider the Yellow. The peloton is made up of individuals and teams - all with their own agenda.
So, why does Armstrong wear a different outfit than his teammates? Does the tour allow a “captain” for each team to where something not matching, or is it a special case for Armstrong because of his charity, or do the riders really get to wear whatever they want?
Someone asked me this question and I didn’t know the answer.
Depends on who your costume designer is. I think LA uses Edith Head.
I think as long as you are identifiable with your team to some extent. All of the national champions from the different countries wear their national champion jerseys. But then on top of that they have their sponsors logo and such. And Livestrong seems to be a backer in fact if not officially for Astana.
How slow should the peloton gone to gift GH the yellow?
What was the time difference between the stage winner, GH and the peloton?
You want it you have to dig deep and go for it. The look on GH’s face didn’t look like a man digging deep. It didn’t look like “I want the yellow, I want the yellow, I want the yellow.”
I saw the interview after the race - it was not “If I dug a little deeper...” It was more of a “It was mine, all mine, whaaaaa...”
So if it had appeared that he was turning himself inside out, giving it all he had and the peloton aced him out of yellow I would have agreed with him. The yellow should have been his. But I just didn’t see it today.
So we will have to disagree on this issue.
Garmin may just be in a peeing contest with Columbia, carried over from the sprint rivalry. Maybe podium envy.
Garmin will pay for that tomorrow. I don't think they're good climbers.
I've seen a lot of posts on European boards that are of the opinion that George worked for Lance in the Pyrenees. A carry over from the old days. It'll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.
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