Stage 5
6 July 2011
L'Equipe is back and the beach was great. Good place to read the paper, on the beach, in the shade, looking out at the Med. Forgot my pen though, and could not circle good stuff so I could tell you.
Seems to be a day for crashes. Very much a part of any cycle race, and very much a part of the first week in the TDF. I still don't like them at all. I don't like riders being eliminated by a crash, especially if no fault of their own. Anyone find an interview with that yellow dressed woman who took out riders? So who is out of the Tour? Kern out with tendonitis. Brajkovic out. Would have liked to see what he could do. Boonen probably out. Gesink we will see tomorrow. We have to accept this sort of thing, which I do, but not gracefully. The guy who designs the route (with help, of course) was interviewed. He gave an answer that makes some sense. Around nearly every town there are endless roundabouts, speed bumps and street furniture. They are designed to slow down the fast moving motor vehicles that dominate our urban environment. These traffic projects are dangerous for racing cyclists. They do slow cars, but they are dangerous for fast bikes in large packs. The route often gets designed so it goes on small roads, without the street furniture, avoiding that kind of anti fast car danger. But of course it is still dangerous, as the roads are smaller and during the first week for sure, riders are keen, they have not lost a lot of time, there are many who have high hopes. What can you do, except maybe make all the riders slow down whenever … whenever what? The problem is cars, not bikes. But the solutions for cars are not always good for racing bikes.
The main interest in these first stages has “the sprint”, including the intermediate sprint and the hill sprints. If the escape has only three or four riders, then there will still be points available at the intermediate sprint and the break will not be caught. My prediction that there would be two attempts to catch the break, both before the intermediate sprint and before the final one turn out to be dubious, if not downright wrong. The sprinters' teams seem to have come to an agreement to catch the escape only once.
http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2411
Take a look at that finish. So it is slowly becoming clear who is going for the green jersey, but we should still wait a bit. There are six guys who are quite obviously in the running for the green jersey (check results now). Cav picked up the points he needed today and is back where he belongs. Gilbert is still trying, figuring he could have won this stage. No idea on earth how Cav beat him, as it was slightly uphill and Cav is supposed to be only good on the flat. I would say it is one of his most impressive victories in his entire career. Beating all the others on THAT stage. Never would have guessed it. Rojas not only has big ideas, but he seems to have the legs to back it up. I suppose we all have to admit he is not a second rate sprinter, but a first class one. Hushovd is still thereabouts, although his placing today does not really match the Mur the other day when he finished with about ten climbers. THAT was a genuinely remarkable ride. Geraint Thomas still has no idea if he is a sprinter or a climber or a rouleur (or all of them). We shall see what happens in the mountains. In any case, he is a very fine cyclist whose name will be even more well known after these first few days. Maybe the French will call him Welsh one day instead of English (Millar is also called English). Geraint needs to win a stage to jump up a level in fame. The fact that Cadel is still there, and he has mountains yet to come, means he is in fine fettle, very fine indeed. With the points he gets in the mountains, he might, oddly enough and quite surprisingly, do very well in the points competition by the time we get to Paris. Farrar was tired today, apparently, just not feeling that good. So he and his team gave the sprint a miss, although Garmin was very happy for Thor. At present those I mentioned are the obvious contenders. But it must be said that a really good day for Greipel (currently lead out man for Gilbert), Bozic (same team as Feillu but not working for him), Feillu (he got boxed in on the left hand side of the road, silly mistake), will bring them into contention. Today Cav won a stage, points on the other sprint and suddenly he is in the top five. I still do not think that those last three are class sprinters. I am thinking now that most of the other sprinters are out of the competition completely, maybe they will get lucky and win a stage. BUT the climbers have yet to move into action and they could upset the best laid plans of the sprinters. Maybe. Quite good this green jersey competition, so far.
I noticed that Lampre, the team of Pettachi (pink and blue), were riding in front at the end of the stage. I guess they were doing it for Allessandro, who has shown us nothing at all this year. Although perhaps I missed the point and they were riding for Cunego who finished 24th. I do not understand how a guy who won green last year cannot even place in the sprints this year. Today Pettachi was 114th. HTC was riding, Saxo and BMC as well. Garmin and Sky also, for their respective riders, to keep them up in the GC. Nice to have George Hincapie being your companion, as Cadel does. Still very pleased Big George is going to be the guy who rode the most Tours in human history. I like George, even if it turns out he took drugs.
Rather liked Thomas Voeckler making an escape about 30k from the end, with Jeremy Roy. Just rode up the verge of a narrow road and surprised them all. They didn't make it in the end. But the escape did allow a bit of cocorico (the sound a French rooster makes, NOT, for example, cock-a-doodle-doo or chicchirichi, Italian ) from the French commentators.
A little kid who was champion of France as a “benjamin” said (interviewed on the after Tour show) that Contador lost the sprint to Evans because his hands were in wrong position. The kid said you have to have your hands on the drops when you sprint, not on the brake hoods. The kid was right.
Take a look at the video of the intermediate sprint, to see why both Boonen and Rojas were relegated, no points. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2408 This led to the others getting more points. You can see Boonen and Rojas moving over and cutting off Cav. When you start a sprint, all other things being equal, you are meant to stay in a roughly straight line, You are not really meant to 'close the door' on a sprinter coming up to you and trying to pass. You are meant to sprint cleanly and clearly. The two mentioned did a fair bit of moving off a straight line, left then right. But I don't know why there is suddenly all this official interference in the sprint. They might have warned the sprinters, as they all seem a bit annoyed and puzzled.
Although there will be a break tomorrow, I expect it will be caught. The finish is uphill slightly, from 50 metres at 3k to 140 metres at one k. Then it is flat till the end. Thor, who is nearly a climber? Gilbert who goes up wee hills very fast? Cav again? Hard to bet against him when he is on form and warmed up. But Farrar should be rested, the stage the following day is utterly flat at the end, so …. The truth is I don't have a clue. I will go for Gilbert, so as not to go for Cav.
Bye.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Stage 4
Stage 4
5 July 2011
Still no l'Equipe today, strike in Paris. So I had more time to ride the bike, 68k up the valley and climbing a bit to St. Vincent and then back. Nice valley.
Right by the side of the road, didn't even get off the bike to take the above.
This is more or less the start of the ride, I rode in the direction of the photo and back.
The judges, or commissars, took away the points of Thor and Cav for the intermediate sprint. You can see the replay of the intermediate Sprint from yesterday. In my mind, although I missed the live version, there is utterly no reason to really mess with them, neither of them even complained. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2353 Just a bit of argy bargy, Thor moved over on Cav, Cav moved him back. Very normal. Someone is getting overexcited about this and they should calm down. If Thor and Cav were to get thrown out of the race for a bit of this and that, it would be outrageous. No idea what is going on with the commissars. No way they should be punished.
Other thing to mention is that sometimes it is hard to give this little job the attention it deserves. Not getting l'Equipe for the second day in a row annoys me. But having a good ride instead of reading the paper is great. Tomorrow we are going to the beach. Life does go on, even when the Tour is on. I am sure I will get more involved in the mountain stages, although the green jersey DOES interest me this year.
Murky racing day today, but no rain toward the end. They looked pretty much like wet puppies when I tuned in. Good to see Kadri in the break. He is one French guy I am watching. However the break will be caught, and Gilbert will win. [wrong about Gilbert] No strong feelings about any other guy in the break of the day. In the end, very nearly the end, they did get caught, no surprise. So really the race is all going to happen in the last 5k. But we knew that too.
Those hills at the end, from a distance, are the kind of hills that break your heart on a hot day while cycle-touring. Seemed a problem for Farrar and Cav too, both dropped before the end. Evans leading out Gilbert. First real test to see who has good legs and power to spare, even if it does not matter in the end. This end is really good. All poised and waiting. Contador attacks. Gaps appear. Andy can't follow. Evans. Gilbert so clever. Alberto. Evans. Very tired bunnies. That top ten after this little climb is the first one that gives us a hint of what might happen. No Wiggins. No Schlecks. And Evans the best. No big gaps of importance, just some indications, something to contemplate. Three Brits (called English on the French commentary) in the top ten. Thor keeps the jersey. Contador has more to say, not dead yet. Gilbert is not invincible. Evans in the polka dot jersey, misses the yellow by a second. Thor keeps it. Thomas was in the picture as well, that guy is going to do something quite good soon. They were all in the front, only the fourth stage. Just like a mountain finish. Except Andy, who has shown us nothing whatever so far. Frank did well.
Sadly, we can't conclude very much, even thought the last five k were quite dramatic. Still one writes blogs to speculate a bit. Clearly Evans is in top form. Not worried about saving anything for later. For his trouble he got the stage win. Although Contador lost by a couple tyre widths, I think he wanted to show people he was still OK. He is. The Gilbert fans are going to have to figure out what happened, but he may still keep an interest in green. Don't know why Van Den Broek attacked Gilbert, they are on the same team. I think this deranged Gilbert. He said that he was trying as hard as he could and he just was not strong enough. Vino is serious and fit. The old guy was third!
The gaps are very small in the top ten. So in spite of all the action, nothing much has happened in the GC, except Sanchez, Hesjedal, Contador have lost a pocketful of seconds. In fact, anyone who draws any very serious conclusions from this stage result or the four stages so far is kidding themselves. Of course Wiggins (known as a diesel without acceleration) and Schleck (who only really does well on long climbs where he can settle in) lost a few seconds. Totally normal. Contador is known for acceleration and he wanted to say hello again. Evans is looking very good, but the Tour is long. And we (re)discovered that those who cannot be beaten (Gilbert) can be beaten. And that old guys can still do well (Vino). Looking back over the top men, it also seems to be pretty clear that Thor is one of the very best up a hill, even if he is also a sprinter. Quite surprisingly, as I have seen him accelerate well, Gesink seems to have missed the final selection. If I were a serious columnist, I would make something of this, but I am not, so I think it means little.
Green jersey, can we say anything. Still not totally obvious who is keen. Seems that Rojas is beginning to make a serious attempt to keep the jersey. Could be interesting as I have no idea if he is really good. Always thought of him as a second rank sprinter. Maybe not. Someone said that Gilbert, for example, will decide what his goals are after the sixth stage. Evans is going to pick up points in the mountains as well, but I think he is totally fixed on yellow. Hushovd is one good stage away from green, so he still could have his eye on the prize. Tyler Farrar has had a good start too. Those guys seem serious. If those below them do not win a few more points in the next three stages, then we will know they are not serious about the jersey. For example, if Cav does not pull his finger out and get his train together by the eighth stage or so, then the opportunities to win sprints or even intermediate sprints, start to disappear. Same goes for Greipel and Galimzyanov, neither showing much. McEwen clearly is not interested in anything but maybe sneaking a stage. Pettachi is so far behind he might just go for one stage. Allessandro has 4 points, the top five all have over 60. I predict, fairly safely, that Pettachi is not going to have any chance whatever to win the green jersey. None. Perhaps, perhaps, this year the winner might be a climber. As I say, much more speculation is a bit premature.
Having said all that, for one reason or another, riders like Gesink, Hesjedal, A Schleck, Thomas, EBH, Brajkovic, Roche all were unable or unwilling to keep up with acceleration of Contador and Evans. French guys like Chavanel, Moncoutié and Voeckler also didn't keep up. But we are talking small time gaps here. Very small mostly. Gesink and Schleck or even EBH and Brajkovic are still ready to do anything.
I am slowly getting into this Tour. But it IS slow, hard to devote enough time to it. Tonight's “something better to do” was a meeting of the Collectif Non-Violent in town. Last meeting of the summer, thought I should turn up. I am the only immigrant who goes. Not very many politically active immigrants in this town. The group is a very decent bunch of people who do get things organised quite well for group in this area.
Tomorrow I have no idea who is going to win. Velo magazine thinks it will be Cancellara. My forum that guesses, thinks it will be any one of a number of sprinters, Farrar, Brutt, Rojas, and Cav getting the most votes. I see that the last five k, after a slightly bumpy parcours without any BIG hills, slightly uphill from 4 to 3k then a little uphill the last k, more like a faux plat maybe. That is not obviously for Cav. So maybe HTC will ride for Goss. Or Hushovd can do it too. For that matter Gilbert is not going to give up. I could go for Goss. Like I did today and got nothing at all. Goss was not even involved in the sprint at all, he rolled in four minutes down, at the back of the peloton. In fact, although Tony Martin and Tejay Van Garderen were in the group that lost 8 seconds, the rest of the HTC team ambled up the hill without even trying, losing at least 2 minutes each. HTC not present today. Mind you, I am glad that Tejay is doing well, and Tony Martin is keeping in touch.
Why do I even bother with these predictions? What do I know anyway? Maybe Cancellara, no one else has picked him, so he might just do the job. Yes, I will stick with Cancellara, I get most points if he does well and no one else has picked him. I can imagine him doing it.
Supposed to be totally scenic tomorrow. And my 'better thing to do', you guessed it, go to the beach in the morning, hopefully after buying l'Equipe. But like I said, I am just warming up, they are just warming up. While they have been entertaining each day, nothing that profound has happened, except Contador, Hesjedal, Sanchez all have to attack. There are three Sky and three HTC in the top 16, and FOUR Radio Shacks in the top 16, they have not yet made any big mistakes. I bet Lance is having a good laugh at Contador, and pleased his old fellows are doing well. Like I said, I really should not be speculating it is so early in the game.
Roll on tomorrow. We might have the TV by tomorrow.
5 July 2011
Still no l'Equipe today, strike in Paris. So I had more time to ride the bike, 68k up the valley and climbing a bit to St. Vincent and then back. Nice valley.
Right by the side of the road, didn't even get off the bike to take the above.
This is more or less the start of the ride, I rode in the direction of the photo and back.
The judges, or commissars, took away the points of Thor and Cav for the intermediate sprint. You can see the replay of the intermediate Sprint from yesterday. In my mind, although I missed the live version, there is utterly no reason to really mess with them, neither of them even complained. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2353 Just a bit of argy bargy, Thor moved over on Cav, Cav moved him back. Very normal. Someone is getting overexcited about this and they should calm down. If Thor and Cav were to get thrown out of the race for a bit of this and that, it would be outrageous. No idea what is going on with the commissars. No way they should be punished.
Other thing to mention is that sometimes it is hard to give this little job the attention it deserves. Not getting l'Equipe for the second day in a row annoys me. But having a good ride instead of reading the paper is great. Tomorrow we are going to the beach. Life does go on, even when the Tour is on. I am sure I will get more involved in the mountain stages, although the green jersey DOES interest me this year.
Murky racing day today, but no rain toward the end. They looked pretty much like wet puppies when I tuned in. Good to see Kadri in the break. He is one French guy I am watching. However the break will be caught, and Gilbert will win. [wrong about Gilbert] No strong feelings about any other guy in the break of the day. In the end, very nearly the end, they did get caught, no surprise. So really the race is all going to happen in the last 5k. But we knew that too.
Those hills at the end, from a distance, are the kind of hills that break your heart on a hot day while cycle-touring. Seemed a problem for Farrar and Cav too, both dropped before the end. Evans leading out Gilbert. First real test to see who has good legs and power to spare, even if it does not matter in the end. This end is really good. All poised and waiting. Contador attacks. Gaps appear. Andy can't follow. Evans. Gilbert so clever. Alberto. Evans. Very tired bunnies. That top ten after this little climb is the first one that gives us a hint of what might happen. No Wiggins. No Schlecks. And Evans the best. No big gaps of importance, just some indications, something to contemplate. Three Brits (called English on the French commentary) in the top ten. Thor keeps the jersey. Contador has more to say, not dead yet. Gilbert is not invincible. Evans in the polka dot jersey, misses the yellow by a second. Thor keeps it. Thomas was in the picture as well, that guy is going to do something quite good soon. They were all in the front, only the fourth stage. Just like a mountain finish. Except Andy, who has shown us nothing whatever so far. Frank did well.
Sadly, we can't conclude very much, even thought the last five k were quite dramatic. Still one writes blogs to speculate a bit. Clearly Evans is in top form. Not worried about saving anything for later. For his trouble he got the stage win. Although Contador lost by a couple tyre widths, I think he wanted to show people he was still OK. He is. The Gilbert fans are going to have to figure out what happened, but he may still keep an interest in green. Don't know why Van Den Broek attacked Gilbert, they are on the same team. I think this deranged Gilbert. He said that he was trying as hard as he could and he just was not strong enough. Vino is serious and fit. The old guy was third!
The gaps are very small in the top ten. So in spite of all the action, nothing much has happened in the GC, except Sanchez, Hesjedal, Contador have lost a pocketful of seconds. In fact, anyone who draws any very serious conclusions from this stage result or the four stages so far is kidding themselves. Of course Wiggins (known as a diesel without acceleration) and Schleck (who only really does well on long climbs where he can settle in) lost a few seconds. Totally normal. Contador is known for acceleration and he wanted to say hello again. Evans is looking very good, but the Tour is long. And we (re)discovered that those who cannot be beaten (Gilbert) can be beaten. And that old guys can still do well (Vino). Looking back over the top men, it also seems to be pretty clear that Thor is one of the very best up a hill, even if he is also a sprinter. Quite surprisingly, as I have seen him accelerate well, Gesink seems to have missed the final selection. If I were a serious columnist, I would make something of this, but I am not, so I think it means little.
Green jersey, can we say anything. Still not totally obvious who is keen. Seems that Rojas is beginning to make a serious attempt to keep the jersey. Could be interesting as I have no idea if he is really good. Always thought of him as a second rank sprinter. Maybe not. Someone said that Gilbert, for example, will decide what his goals are after the sixth stage. Evans is going to pick up points in the mountains as well, but I think he is totally fixed on yellow. Hushovd is one good stage away from green, so he still could have his eye on the prize. Tyler Farrar has had a good start too. Those guys seem serious. If those below them do not win a few more points in the next three stages, then we will know they are not serious about the jersey. For example, if Cav does not pull his finger out and get his train together by the eighth stage or so, then the opportunities to win sprints or even intermediate sprints, start to disappear. Same goes for Greipel and Galimzyanov, neither showing much. McEwen clearly is not interested in anything but maybe sneaking a stage. Pettachi is so far behind he might just go for one stage. Allessandro has 4 points, the top five all have over 60. I predict, fairly safely, that Pettachi is not going to have any chance whatever to win the green jersey. None. Perhaps, perhaps, this year the winner might be a climber. As I say, much more speculation is a bit premature.
Having said all that, for one reason or another, riders like Gesink, Hesjedal, A Schleck, Thomas, EBH, Brajkovic, Roche all were unable or unwilling to keep up with acceleration of Contador and Evans. French guys like Chavanel, Moncoutié and Voeckler also didn't keep up. But we are talking small time gaps here. Very small mostly. Gesink and Schleck or even EBH and Brajkovic are still ready to do anything.
I am slowly getting into this Tour. But it IS slow, hard to devote enough time to it. Tonight's “something better to do” was a meeting of the Collectif Non-Violent in town. Last meeting of the summer, thought I should turn up. I am the only immigrant who goes. Not very many politically active immigrants in this town. The group is a very decent bunch of people who do get things organised quite well for group in this area.
Tomorrow I have no idea who is going to win. Velo magazine thinks it will be Cancellara. My forum that guesses, thinks it will be any one of a number of sprinters, Farrar, Brutt, Rojas, and Cav getting the most votes. I see that the last five k, after a slightly bumpy parcours without any BIG hills, slightly uphill from 4 to 3k then a little uphill the last k, more like a faux plat maybe. That is not obviously for Cav. So maybe HTC will ride for Goss. Or Hushovd can do it too. For that matter Gilbert is not going to give up. I could go for Goss. Like I did today and got nothing at all. Goss was not even involved in the sprint at all, he rolled in four minutes down, at the back of the peloton. In fact, although Tony Martin and Tejay Van Garderen were in the group that lost 8 seconds, the rest of the HTC team ambled up the hill without even trying, losing at least 2 minutes each. HTC not present today. Mind you, I am glad that Tejay is doing well, and Tony Martin is keeping in touch.
Why do I even bother with these predictions? What do I know anyway? Maybe Cancellara, no one else has picked him, so he might just do the job. Yes, I will stick with Cancellara, I get most points if he does well and no one else has picked him. I can imagine him doing it.
Supposed to be totally scenic tomorrow. And my 'better thing to do', you guessed it, go to the beach in the morning, hopefully after buying l'Equipe. But like I said, I am just warming up, they are just warming up. While they have been entertaining each day, nothing that profound has happened, except Contador, Hesjedal, Sanchez all have to attack. There are three Sky and three HTC in the top 16, and FOUR Radio Shacks in the top 16, they have not yet made any big mistakes. I bet Lance is having a good laugh at Contador, and pleased his old fellows are doing well. Like I said, I really should not be speculating it is so early in the game.
Roll on tomorrow. We might have the TV by tomorrow.
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