Kind of puts to rest the idea that Discovery might let someone take the jersey...with that kind of speed...NO ONE is going to get a 16 minute break...

Yeah but in Vietnam ...oh shit wrong thread. -:)

they never go that fast on teh bike...they are even greedy on speed ;-)

If memory serves me right ... the bank they robbed in "Kelly's Heroes" was in Nancy.

Thoughts on why the TdF is clearly getting steadily faster and shows no sign of slowing down that trend, while the Giro and Vuelta continue racing in a more traditional Grand Tour mode, having "piano" days? I'm not sure we can chalk it up to just the size of the cycling word's sporting stage that they respectively occupy...

Question...if Lance can stay in Yellow for the rest of the tour he will pass The Badger to move into second all time for the most days in the leaders jersey behind Merx. Anyone else have a sneaky hunch that this might be the reason for Discovery's tactics?

Yes I know it is risky and they could get tired chasing. But if there is a team that can do it, it is this team.

Personally I hope he does it. I am not a BH fan.

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Actually in Vietnam one of the most amazing sites you'll see is travelling along the road how they load up them ducks on bicycles or small motorcycles. There must be about 100 ducks bound by their feet hanging off a two wheeler as big as a car almost trujjin along. On the motorcycles you can see the suspension has completely bottomed out. These things moving along look like a grotesque Big Bird from Sesame Street or sumpthin. Imagine if they crashed how many ducks would be crushed by the sheer weight and the rider would suffocate to death trapped under all them ducks.

Where did you get the info? Hopefully not www.espn.com as they have reported today's stage as being 199 MILES in the lead article on the Tour. Nice.

Todays speed has almost nothing to do with DC's team tactics as the larger part of the race only Davitamon Lotto (for McEwen) and Quickstep Innergetic (for Boonen) are working in the peloton.

In general, the first hour of the Tour de France is amazingly fast because most teams want to have someone in a breakaway such that they're all marking each other rather than a team controlling the speed.

 "Thoughts on why the TdF is clearly getting steadily faster and shows no sign of slowing down that trend, while the Giro and Vuelta continue racing in a more traditional Grand Tour mode, having "piano" days? I'm not sure we can chalk it up to just the size of the cycling word's sporting stage that they respectively occupy..."

The last few days, they've had a tailwind for most of the day (point-to-point courses). Today it's ~22 km/h

Another question : From letour.com, one of the race reports said: "There have been numerous flat tyres today (something that’s common on wet days)."

Maybe I am showing how much I back out when the weather is bad, but is that true? If so, why?

hey, I'll second that and show my ignorance too...why more flats when it's wet out?

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"At every endurance event, there comes a time when you'll say, 'What the fuck am I doing here?' And then you'll say, 'This is what I do.'"
--John Spas

on www.lequipe.fr

more junk on the road from the rain

A few reasons have been postulated. One is that rubber cuts more easily when wet, the other more likely answer, is that crap on the road sticks to your tires when wet and has more opportunity to work its way in, rather than fall off.



Styrrell

Rocks,trash, etc. from the sides of the road wash onto the main road. Its even worse in places that get little rain since it moves around old motor oil and other car fluids that have been stagnant on the drier days.

Riding in the AZ rain sucks

I have to say (and this is certainly no genius comment) that the Tour champion was basically decided from the results of the prologue. Lance may give up the yellow jersey but he certainly won't allow it to go to anyone that is a threat. The only thing that could change this is a crash that takes out Lance.

I don't feel so bad now about not having cable tv.

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Adrian in Vancouver

or something going wrong in the mountains. or Lance getting beaten...yes, it can happen...it's unlikely considering recent outcomes but the tour is never finished until your cross the finish line...

I have my doubts that any of the rivels will take time out of him in the mountains.

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Adrian in Vancouver

me too...but that's not like saying, he's won it already

This Tour was over 20-some minutes after it started.

Only a disastrous crash can change anything now. Lance will win 4 more stages, too. He hasn't slowed down a single watt.

you want to count in sports history the number of times someone was so sure to win, only to have someone else winning?

funny thing is that all the ST experts are soooo sure Lance is going to win when LA himself will likely not consider he's won until the final day on the champs elysees.

I doubt any pro would publicly state that they feel they will be in the winners chair, but I bet you LA is pretty confident he will be. It is quite evident that the other contenders have too many cracks in their armour - it certainly is not their strategic decision not to be with LA at this point.

Also, when you look at the Discovery team they are such a strong unit. Good luck to any other team trying to slice and dice them up.

I wish there was a different picture for the TDF right now, I hate seeing a "sure bet" - it makes it bad for the sport IMO.

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Adrian in Vancouver