Stage 6
7 July 2011
A rather long stage today, the longest. Dreary weather, and although the road was frequently wet, not as dangerous as yesterday. Without apologising too much for being repetitive, those of you who are not checking out the incredible architecture and countryside of France are really missing something. I would like to spend more time in front of the box, taking that in, doing little errands, checking things on the computer. However, often, as today, I only caught the last fifty k and missed the intermediate sprint. Must mark the mountain stages on my diary and make sure I devote time to watching on the new TV. As I suspected, with big screen HD, everything is better. I liked the picture setting that made everything brighter, my wife liked it more realistic. Typical of us both. Can't wait for the mountains.
A few things that I'd like to mention before the results. If you look carefully, it was certainly clear today, there are long sections of road which are newly made. The tarmac is so new they sometimes don't have time to paint the lines on it. When the Tour comes to an area, you can almost see the route by finding new road surfaces. They don't mess about, the tour is money, and no one wants crashes due to bad roads in THEIR region. On the last wee climb and toward the end it was obvious today.
The spectators sometimes park their cars on the side of the road, then instead of watching between cars, they watch between their cars and the road. This means that when the riders were taking up the entire road, which they often do if not going really fast, and the spectators didn't know about bikes and races, which they often don't, neither the riders nor the spectators had anywhere to go to avoid each other. Its like the spectators forget, or wilfully don't think that the road is for the riders, there is a race on. A ROAD RACE. They came so close to collisions, so many times. Like the yellow dressed woman the other day, except she knocked over a rider and herself got knocked over. So thoughtless, so stupid. Mind you, the same thing happens to bikes ridden on ordinary streets and roads, but as the Tour passes they should all know there is a race on for a few minutes of their lives. Mind you, considering the millions of people on the road it is always something to explain how they get through with so few deaths and injuries. It is not just luck, there is something more profound.
As for the race, although you don't know it, I did, in the end, pick Edvald Boasson Hagen, EBH. I really thought about it and thought he would actually win. Although I picked him partly because no one else picked him, and I would get big points in our league. I am pleased because I have been a fan of his for a couple of years, he is a shy and modest fellow (in English anyway), clearly an immense talent, and he has been plagued by injuries for two years. This year, for example, he came down with an attack of shingles a week before the Tour. Brilliant lead-out from Geraint Thomas, himself a great talent and WELSH. Earlier Ben Swift buried himself for EBH. EBH was riding in front of Thor, Feillu, Gilbert, Goss (plus the others) and no one gained an centimetre. Notice how when the Rabobank guy took off, it was instantly Geraint on the wheel with EBH behind. In one of his interviews, EBH said when you follow Geraint you can just trust him, he is that good. Note how Geraint looks around, sees who is where, knowing EBH is on his wheel, and drifts off to his right, continuing to ride hard, but subtly blocking other sprinters, then slowing up seconds later. EBH also made a very good move when he chose the right time to leave Geraint's wheel, when he saw the right opening (you can see the space he went into), to begin his sprint. Just enough space and perfectly timed. Master class. Watch that sprint on the videos for sure. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2451
Other riders who struck me during the day, although I have noticed some of them before. Laurent Roux did a nice little futile attack near the end. He almost won the French jersey this year, and if he had, I bet he would ride even better. In any case, he is a young talent in one day races or stages. I was also immensely impressed with Adriano Malori, the Italian TT champion this year. Not many could have ridden in front of a serious peloton at the end of the stage for that long. IN ADDITION to riding in the escape. If he ever gets in another escape with one or two serious rouleurs, we can expect someone to react quickly or he will be gone. We also got a wee thrill with another futile attack by Thomas Voeckler. He does have that fighting spirit, but just is not quite good enough to pull it off. On the other hand, try and try again and you eventually make it. He will , and has. He really is a liable guy when interviewed. Kid next door. Confident, but modest, if that is possible.
Arthur Vichot (FDJ) right up there today. Arthur Vichot? Guess we better watch him. You don't get in the top ten on a finish like that by luck. Can he climb? Apparently. Romain Feillu also seems to be having a good Tour. Still don't like him much.
A very amusing and realistic interview with Chris Horner. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2457
Compare Hinault's predictions with the results. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2432
Someone who runs the Specialised company should take a look at the bikes they are sending to Contador/Saxo. He has been changing them a lot. Its not that he has (Shimano) electronic shifting, as he uses SRAM gear (same one that betrayed Schleck last year). I have heard of several riders mumbling about bikes which shift on their own, but not much in the press. Anyway, Contador seems to be upset quite often with his bikes. I really don't know why, they have mechanics, the bikes should be fine. Puzzle.
I was self-critical too soon, the new intermediate sprint system is giving us two good sprints a day, but not two catches. I just watched the video of Cav in the intermediate one, and HTC just did a classic lead out, perfect. Lovely to watch. I notice Rojas was there and Farrar and Gilbert, so they are still very serious about the green jersey. I love it, but bring on the mountains. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2447
Cadel was the first Australian to ever wear the mountains jersey, and when it got handed over to Johnny Hoogerland (whom we see attacking later, for sure), it was the first time a Dutch guy had it since Gert Jan Theunisse, who was a drugged climber from the eighties.
Might I recommend some quite good informal videos that Geraint Thomas is making. http://www.geraintthomas.com/videos/ Sky has three of the top six young riders at present. I wonder if they can keep them all for a few years. Overall doing well and quite visible in this Tour.
Last “feature” bit from a story in L'Equipe today. About the companies and budgets. Seems it is easy enough to identify the “big teams”. The dividing line seems to be 10,000,000 euros a year as a budget. The average budget is apparently 9.5 million euros. Over ten million are Saxo, Leopard, Garmin, Astana, Radioshack, Sky, BMC, Quick Step, HTC and Katusha. Katusha (named after a missile, by Putin) leads with 15 million, but I think this includes a junior team too. Saxo, Astana, on 12. Astana seems the odd one out, not really worth all that money. Following Shack at 11, we have Garmin, Quick Step and HTC on ten. The rest have smaller budgets. I am not saying money buys a good team, just pointing out that a team like Euskatel and Europcar on 6.5 and AG2R on 7.5 are simply never going to have the best riders. Money talks. By the way, I have no idea if these data are correct, but they are the only ones I have. Euskatel (94), Rabobank (96) FDJ (97) and Cofidis (97) have been in the peloton longest, although AG2R was a co-sponsor in 1997. Lampre has been with us for along time too. It does seem like the French teams have the most stability, since Europcar has been around for years with different names. Then again so has Movistar. In fact with all the chopping and changing, it is hard to tell when 'a team' stops being a team, since it can be the same team, same admin, same riders, but the sponsor's name changes. They advertise simply because it is cheap and effective. It is just business, although it helps to have a cycling fanatic at the top of a company. Quick Step, for example, said that when they began advertising in 1999, 0.55% of the population recognised their name. In 2011, they say 51%. Effective.
In case you missed Mont St Michel, this video might help. Turn down the sound though. Second most visited place in France, apparently, after the Tour Eiffel. I have been there. If you know you are a tourist, and realise that tourists/pilgrims have been coming for several hundred years, it is an amazing place.
http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2469
Feillu doing well, but wandering about all over the place looking for an opening.
As for the stage tomorrow, I will just bask in my accuracy for a day. Nearly everyone on my forum has picked Cav. Probably right. The stage finish is completely and utterly flat. Before that, there is nothing whatsoever resembling a hill. So I pick Ben Swift. Unless I change my mind after I send this off. Maybe Tyler Farrar would be a better pick for second or third.
Soon, the mountains.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Cav finally does it
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.
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.
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