Fabulous performance by the Postie blue train! First round is down range! Absolutely a herculian effort by TH and CSC as well. I can only marvel at Tyler’s ability to fight through pain! I can’t wait to watch the show tonight!
two things come to mind.
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front wheels. the top 18 times in the stage had hed3 fronts, and some otherwise very good looking teams placed quite badly (FDJ comes to mind) that had what looked to me like rear discs and front road race wheels (or something not much more aero than that). why do these teams spend all this money on salaries, travel, etc., and then give up two minutes because of a mortal front wheel in a timed race?
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the bianchi team had spectacular bike positions, as a group. if i had to make a wild guess, it looked to me like the guy who positions the aussie (track) team pursuiters came over and set them ALL up in the SAME position.
Awesome team effort, TV coverage was great. This just blows me away, Postal has the top 8 slots in GC
General classification after stage 4
1 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) US Postal-Berry Floor
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor 0.02
3 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal-Berry Floor 0.05
4 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor
5 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor 0.23
6 Roberto Heras (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor 0.27
7 Pavel Padrnos (Cze) US Postal-Berry Floor
8 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor 0.28
9 Joseba Beloki (Spa) ONCE 0.33
10 Jorg Jaksche (Ger) ONCE 0.38
private consultant / Coach, dont know about Bianchi.
Little disappointed in FDJeux thought they might do better but glad to see Bianchi having a go and Uhlrich looks very very strong…especially after 2 years out.
Extremely powerful engines and strategy. First Columbian to wear the yellow jersey.
I have the benefit of having OLN on a television set at work, so I just pack up my laptop and move my office in front of the TV when I’m in the office. I watched it off and on for the entire morning, and it was quite a race. The Posties are on form, and absolutely dominated the TTT. Watching them cross the line with smiles on their faces, celebrating as they went was something else. Those guys nailed it today, and they sent quite a message to the peloton with that performance. Pena in yellow – quite a sight!
I also noticed Bianchi’s position (but obviously not the extent that Slowman did), and I thought they looked very good – low and aero. From what I saw, it appeared that Bianchi’s riders were the lowest in the race. What kind of bars were they using?
Also the wheels – it does make one wonder that though all the data points to a tri spoke/disc combo as being the fastest, some of the teams refuse (for whatever reason) to slap a tri spoke on the front.
RP
Hell yeah!!! Too bad I had to listen to it on the web and couldn’t watch it. I can’t wait to see the video.
Slowman’s observations about the Hed 3 use by the top riders is simply astounding. I wonder if teams will take note. (Note to self, buy Hed 3 front, go win tour)
I was hoping for a better showing by CSC, but I’m still amazed by Tyler’s tenacity. Not sure it’s fair to expect him to not only ride with his injury, but compete at the highest level. He’s showing tremendous heart. Unfortunately circumstances have made it so this won’t be his year. My respect for the man is soaring.
And what about Floyd Landis??? I was thinking that due to his injury he’d be a weak link for USPS. The fact that they rode that fast and all crossed the line together is unreal. That is one tough group of guys.
It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out in the mountains. It seems to me that it would make sense for Once and Bianchi to work closely together to reel the Posties in. Hopefully it will be one hell of a race. The boys in blue are marked now more than ever…
would you kindly refrain from posting tour results in the subject line of your post? i’m sure i’m not the only one who tivo’s the tour and watches it in the evening. not much excitement to it now. 
thanks for the XXXXXXXXXs… it’s too late for me, but i’m sure you’ve saved others. (i make it sound like its life or death, don’t i)
Reread my post. I haven’t seen the footage either. I don’t find my enthusiasm waining one bit. I’ll keep your request in mind though. Anyone who can refrain from checking velonews or cyclingnews before the primetime coverage is supremely disciplined. Good on you if you can do it!
But you do get an F for whining.
Please don’t put Tour results in your subject line. I stay away from cycling sites during lunch and now might have to stay away from slowtwitch. I Tivo the show and like to watch it without knowing the results.
See the post a few down with subject like ‘Team TT results’ that way anyone interested can look and I can be surprised while I sit on the couch and watch it.
Thanks
A
thanks, just saw the change in subject line. To late for me but not others.
No OLN at my house so… Did CSC use Hed 3’s? It appears to me they would be using 404’s on the front, but now I’m confused my Dan’s top 18 comment.
It might be a german thing since Lothar Leder was using a similar position in Roth last weekend, only a bit less agressive. Same aerobars though.
But I have to agree that they were the “lowest” team out there and I guess that makes up for the awkward position of the hands and forearms (which Ullrich has been using for a long time)
Paulo
Dan’s comment refers to the 9 Posties and 9 ONCE boys = 18.
“but now I’m confused my Dan’s top 18 comment”
my top 18 comment was a little tongue in cheek. all 9 guys on the team get the same time if they finish together. the top two teams were postal and once, and the posties didn’t lose any riders during the TTT. did once? perhaps they did. otherwise, that’s how the top 18 guys in the stage were using hed3s.
as a fan of hed, i’d expected that to be the case prior to the tour, but i’d actually hoped for the top 27 to have them. but rabobank lost their leader and a second rider in the crash, and started the day with 7 riders, so, not much chance of that happening.
otherwise, rabobank has generally taken the lead from once and postal in starting to think about time trialing more seriously, based on what i’ve picked up from them in the off season. obviously bianchi has as well. and i’m interested in learning more about what they’ve been doing.
Dan, I have not seen the oln telecast or seen pictures yet. I did see Ulrich and a few other Bianchi team members in the prologue. The position is low, but so are the hands, seemingly scooping air into the chest? Did you notice this?
Also, Leder used the same frame and position last week in Roth, again with the scooping hands. My guess is they are using the bars as leverage?
I guess the bike is made in Switzerald and rebadged by Leder, Bianchi, & Gerolsteiner.
“The position is low, but so are the hands, seemingly scooping air into the chest? Did you notice this?”
yes. it’s not just the fact that the positions look good that i noticed, but that the position was virtually identical on ALL the riders on the team.
i myself am riding hands-down right now, and i talk about this a fair bit on slowtwitch’s fit pages (as i recall).
I might be wrong, but I believe they were all in Walser bikes with Walser as well carbon handlebars. Check them out here:
www.walser-cycles.ch
Jan & Co’s position seems quite like Uwe Peschel & Michael Rich on the cover photo of Walser’s website. Take a look.
Regards,