Bike Ping
Well, if no one falls and get's taken out the individual jerseys are decided and all that remains is the final sprint in Paris. Will Cavendish keep his streak of four in a row alive?
Peter Sagan hopes not.
Posted on 06/26/2013 3:56:07 PM PDT by Baynative
For as long as I can remember it has been a tradition that the Tour de France begins with a prologue held on the first Saturday of July.
Something changed this year, but the race goes on with a new and exciting route beginning with a specially staged prologue on the French island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea.
(Excerpt) Read more at letour.com ...
Well, if no one falls and get's taken out the individual jerseys are decided and all that remains is the final sprint in Paris. Will Cavendish keep his streak of four in a row alive?
Peter Sagan hopes not.
Sagan or Cav - Cav or Sagan.
I’m willing to bet it’s one of the two.
There are two ways to measure “something happening”, and fast-pitch softball has the worst of both.
One is the percent of time that there is actual play occurring. baseball/softball is one of the worst sports for this; the percent of time that anything is happening compared to the time of the game is very low. Other sports like that are football and tennis — I used to watch late-night Orioles replays, and you could watch everything directly baseball-y in a 3 hour game in under an hour.
Baseball/SP is even worse because the number one thing that happens (the thing that takes the most time of the active minutes) is the pitch, and pitching is repetitive, and often nothing happens. If a guy is having a great pitching game, it is fascinating, don’t get me wrong, but most of the time it is like watching two men play catch. Ball thrown the plate, nobody swings, catcher throws ball back, pitcher walks around for 30 seconds, repeat.
Soccer virtually never stops, except for penalties (which are boring until play resumes). Yes, nobody is SCORING, but there is always a chance for a score within 30 seconds or so, and the play itself can be fascinating, if you like that kind of thing — how people work the ball downfield, etc.
Other sports like that are basketball and hockey; I like hockey, I like college basketball but not pros because the “plays” are mostly “throw the ball around for a while, and then someone pretends to dribble while the run to the basket and dunk the ball”.
Tennis has dead spots, but there can be long rallies, so it isn’t so bad.
Now, if you are a fanatic as I used to be for baseball, that dead time isn’t dead — you watch how other players position themselves, etc. And in pro baseball, good players to hit 30% of the time, so then you get runners who could steal, and you can think about what play is going to happen next.
fast-pitch suffers because almost nobody ever hits the ball, the distance between bases is so short that the runners pretty much show up after they start (60 vs 90 feet), it is still hard to steal, and again they hit so rarely that even with people on base chances are nothing will happen.
With sports where action is continuous but it is rare for something important to happen, your enjoyment seems to be based on how familiar you are with the sport. The TDF is like that most of the time, hours of guys on bikes riding in a big pack. If you follow it, you can be excited for small moves. Car racing most people are watching for accidents; or they watch F-1 or road rallies where people at least change positions more often.
I played soccer as a recreational sport, and coached it, and my kids played, so I am familiar with it, and enjoy things like a really well-placed centering pass.
Does the final stage always start later in the day? Or is that something new this year?
Around the Arc de Triomphe
Versailles to Paris (133.5km) - Saturday, July 21 12:15 P.M. EDT – 3:35 P.M. EDT
It’s time to finish this 100th edition of the Tour de France and the race organizers have done everything they can to make sure it happens with style. The stage starts at the Palace of Versailles and finishes on the Champs-Élysées around 21:45 local time.
It will be a spectacular view with the riders passing through Paris at nighttime and this year the peloton goes all the way around the Arc de Triomphe instead of turning just before as in previous editions.
Mark Cavendish will be eager to take his fifth consecutive win on the Champs-Élysées and Omega Pharma-Quick Step has a complete team to help him write history in this 100th edition of the Tour. Marcel Kittel, André Greipel and Peter Sagan will do whatever they can to challenge the Manxman, but it won’t be easy.
The riders may not like this late finish, but for the TV viewers, it will be a perfect way to finish a great Tour de France.
Riding on the cobblestones at night, yikes!
I’m way behind...watching Stage 18 this morning. What a beautiful and festive stage! I’m watching the scenery closely because I think they’re nuts for putting this descent in the race. I can’t imagine them doing it again anytime soon.
This tour was innovative from the start. They dropped the short prologue time trial, the entire tour was conducted in France and they climbed L'Alpe d'Huez twice in the same stage. I think it has all been for the better. I liked it from start to finish.
With baseball there is indeed a slowness, but I am one of those guys who thinks the best games I've ever seen were pitchers duels. Two guys taking no hitters to the 9th inning would be my dream game. I guess that's what interests me about fast pitch. The pitchers impress me - especially at the high school level. They don't "throw like girls".
Speaking of sports people find boring, I just sat glued to the final round of the British Open and the performance by Phil Mickelson was one for the ages. I know folks who think golf is boring, so there you go. Of course, I know people who think the same of cycling. That's got a lot to do with not understanding the game which is where I am with hockey. I've watched the movie "Miracle on Ice" a dozen times, it's one of my favorites. But, I still have no idea how they play the game.
I was a baseball fanatic until the strike in 1981, which happened just as I had graduated college. I actually signed up to start work in August after graduating, so I could spend the entire month of july camped out at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, and even travel to other stadiums for away games.
But I graduated the day after the strike started, and they resumed real play a couple days after I had to start work.
The game I remember the most was the day Tom Seaver struck out 19 batters, including the last 10 in a row. I was with my dad and still have the tickets and our box score, my dad mounted it for us.
Oddly, I don’t watch golf as a rule, but I was at my dad’s house visiting and watched several holes of the British Open. I don’t think Golf is boring because every time they swing, something different can happen. I just don’t have much interest in it as a sport (I do play for fun occasionally, and own my own clubs since I’m a leftie).
Greipel was very impressive this year.
A terrible Tour for Cavendish IMO.
Chris Froome is a great champion. Nairo Quintana took two jerseys home from his first tour and his future is bright. America has a new young gun in Andrew Talansky and the Tour directors have broken the mold by adding innovative improvements.
Thanks for the fun, ya'll.
And a big thanks to you for running the ping list.
I’m ready to get the tires pumped up for Tour de France 2014. Can’t wait.
Good race.
Think Evans was the guy who shoved a rider so didn`t deserve the final stage.
Drugador, well, that wheel-sucker...uff, `nuff said.
Valverde might be a domestique for Quintana next year.
thanks again for a great thread.
enjoyed it all along the way
Thanks for the pings. I think I liked the traditional sharper turn at the end of the Champs Eyysees as opposed to the circle around the Arc they did this year. I wish Sagan had taken another stage this year-it didn’t seem like he was getting the good leadouts from Cannondale.
Sagan looked as though he knew he was out classed in the final sprint today. He played spectator rather than mix it up. I like him and think he’ll be back.
Great Tour. The closing ceremony was very cool. Quintana definitely made his mark, and Sagan looks to rule the sprints for a while. I’m already psyched for next year!
Great finish to an amazing Tour. Froome is a class act and deserves the win.
I thought the route this year was outstanding. It made for some unbelievable days.
Thank you, Bay for hosting the thread all month! It’s been wonderful to have this forum to retreat to at the end of the day!
Quintana from poverty riding next to Andy Schleck a privileged lad from Luxembourg. One of the things I enjoy about sport is the absence of affirmative action.
In cycling, more than any other sport, it seems that the pros come for far more contrasting cultures and backgrounds.
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