and in 1999 at the Passage du Gois.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I can't see them doing this again in future TdFs.


Well the Tour doenst use it often. The last time they used the cobbles was around 04 or 05, so its not like they do it every year. I think how they use the pave is important. In todays stage with the pave so near the finish, if you flat/crash, you were in serious trouble.

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

Apparently, Phil Liggett's memory is failing too. A couple of days ago, he said 'just missing Jacques Anquetil. We have the exclusive club of the 5 times TdF winners here with Hinault and Merckx'...


Its been going for some time now, but you would think that he could at least remember the two guys who he called every one of their wins..Maybe it is that short term memory thing, and he can only remember past the last 20 years or so..

Have to say I called it in the stage prediction thread. Cancellera gets back his rightfull yellow, just on loan for a day to the French. Really bad luck though, 3 bike changes, but in the end you have to admit that he only got it through an extreme circumstance. No way he hangs on any normal day yesterday..

Sorry friend, this thread is about the whole of Stage 3, not the particular portions of stage 3 you wish to talk about. Besides, why are you hating on Vino??

You're not alone. It's sad though. Somewhat.

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CAMPAGNOLO GRAN FONDO NEW YORK

I'm not hating Vino at all. He played perfect teammate today.

And that's an interesting debate, but if your team leader flats and his #1 rival is up the road a minute, I would think it might be a good idea to either give him your bike or perhaps let him pace off your wheel rather than dropping him from 1k and pulling Wiggins and Menchov to the finish? But that's just me.

Which is why I suggested you read the rest of the thread, and the discussion pertaining to the flat and what vino should or shouldn't have done, and what he knew or didn't know.

I have to say, the Versus coverage is completely intolerable this year. This morning I watched the Eurosport feed online with Sean Kelly and it was SO much better.

well if luck minimization is the be all end all of a grand tour they could just do an indoor powermeter test, 4 hours long, every day for 21 days straight

max average power wins

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

"Apparently, Phil Liggett's memory is failing too...."

That and he spent a bit of time gushing over how Thomas could end up in yellow today... while he was in a breakaway with less than 5 k to go with a very motivated Cancellera who had over a 20 second GC advantage. WTF?!?

I did enjoy how Sherwin politely corrected him.

I don't think AC or Astana are all that worried about Wiggins and Menchov.

You know cycling, I value your opinion-don't you think "Vino will be a terrible teammate" has just been conjured up out of nowhere? What do people base this on? I know he attacked a few times in 2005, but this seems to be another case of American perception not fitting the reality.

Let's be honest, with no RadioShack riders near the front, and assuming Contador flatted and Vino didn't know, then Vino was the ULTIMATE teammate today, rivaled only by Cancellara, no? Or maybe I'm missing something.

Can we put this to bed? From Vaughters' twitter:

"Vino's push was smart. Alberto flatted (2kms togo), so will be given the time of Vino's group. Therefor, the faster Vino went, the better."

I'm not sure that's right. I think that only applies to crashes. But I only do tris, so I could be wrong :-). Maybe AC should have fallen down :-).

I'm not saying Vino isn't going to do something stupid during the tour. It may very well happen. I don't know. History suggests he will. But no matter how much some people want it, today was not the day.

As I said in another thread, it only applies to crashes.

http://www.letour.fr/...E/fr/reglements.html

"Comme c’est le cas depuis 2005, en cas de chute dans les trois derniers kilomètres, les coureurs impliqués sont crédités du temps du groupe auquel ils appartenaient. Cette règle ne s’applique pas dans les étapes disputées en contre-la-montre et sur les arrivées au sommet d’une ascension."

as others said a couple pages back, I think Vaughters is wrong - the TdF official site has AC down 1:13 down on Hushovd at the end of the stage, with Vino down only 0:53.

http://www.letour.fr/...lassement/index.html

Although on JV's twitter he says that Contador will get the 20 seconds back once they do the official results... i still think he's wrong.

Well the fact that Vino is an attacking wildcard, plus the fact that Astana was basically created by the Kazak. national federation FOR Vino, probaly has alot to do with it (you can bet there is pressure to produce results, whether coming from Vino only or the federation itself).

I think some may have jumped to conclusion (myself included) in terms of did Vino "attack" AC or not. I think what probaly happened was that Vino was pulling the group back (with AC in tow), and that AC just had an untimely flat. Vino probaly had no idea because he was probaly going full bore all out, trying to bring back the break and limit the time loses (that contained Andy Schleck). It isnt as bad with it being at the ~1km mark, but if this would have happened basically anywhere further back, Vino would have needed to try his best to help AC. It also didnt help that it sounds like AC was in the back of the group (not sure how big/small the chase group was).

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

On cobbles, if you ride in the gutter, like lance was, you are going to flat. There is gravel, glass, all kinds of stuff, thats why the good cobbles guys are on the crown all day, it beats you up a little more, but if you are pretty smooth and have the power, its just as fast if not faster, and you are less likely to flat.

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http://www.wandertechnologies.com

Yes, I guess we'll see.

Either way I think the piling-on of Vino is a bit premature. Sure, he may well do something stupid or selfish in this tour... but he hasn't yet.

I'm no Vino fan but I just don't think it's a big deal. And either way, it hasn't hurt AC's chances. He's still the favourite and he would still have to worry about Evans no matter if he'd finished with Vino's group or not.

Yep, after all is said and done, Vino has 9 secs on AC.

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

Very happy if you're not a fan of Lance....

Right,

To anyone who would "blame" Vino, - how would he know? The crowd is screaming, - he's not going to hear anyone yelling, much less Contador. The Team car is pulled off, - they're not going to see the flat, and it's doubtful that Vino could hear directions form the team car in his radio anyway. He can't look back to see if Contador is in the group as he's finishing, and trying to finish hard to get a bigger separation for Contador.

The lack of bike racing knowledge, plus general lack of reason on Slowtwitch can be outstanding.

Don't see anywhere where I said it should come down to something like average power output (I'm guessing winners would never be near the top here anyways duh?).

Basically it seems dumb to massively increase the luck factor and decrease the ability to respond to bad luck in a 21 day race. Some luck is always a part of the sport but no need to introduce "luck" days IMO.

Someone mentioned maybe they should use the paves in a way where teams have some chance to respond (some kilometers left to the end)...even that seems more logical than the way the route went today.