**official** Tour de France 2004 Thread

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: DonVito
Huh - I will look forward to watching the coverage. I am just catching the tail end of today's "Cyclysm" and they are interviewing Sheryl Crow. :roll:

Gah...fscking human-interest crap.

Oh well, at least we get a LOT less of that with OLN than we did with the networks.

Adrian Karsten....*aaaachchchch....Pt00ey!!*

I would probably just have Phil and Paul, but that would deny OLN the chance to have virtually nothing but TdF coverage this month. I saw one snippet with Kristen Gum the other day where she really appeared to be drunk, and flirting with Hans Rey - weird wild stuff!

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I imagine USPS will win the TTT tomorrow, but since the rules this year limit the TTT loss to 2.5 minutes, it probably won't make TOO big a difference. I'll be curious how T-Mobile does.

 

[kautilya]

the time limit loss restricted to 2.5 minutes takes a bit out of ttt. usps will win . what the odds on lance amstrong

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: kautilya
the time limit loss restricted to 2.5 minutes takes a bit out of ttt. usps will win . what the odds on lance amstrong

I think they'll win as well, but we'll have to see how the weather behaves. They'd rather lose a few seconds than have someone crash out of the Tour altogether.

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: Fausto
Am I a prophet or what? Mayo got fuxored today via a crash on the cobbles; as soon as word got out that he was dropped from the main group, the teams of the remaining contenders put the hammer down and took four minutes out of him. :Q

Good example of how inter-team alliances can occur from time to time. All the teams whose "main guy" was still in the front group realized they'd have one less person to worry about in the mountains if they left Mayo in the dust.

I thought that sort of thing (pushing the pace after a crash) was considered against the 'informal' rules of the peleton, but I guess not. It's not as if Mayo was in yellow or anything, but still, I was surprised Postal, Phonak, and T-Mobile floored it after that crash. I guess it's no different from what happened to Alex Zulle in 1999 on the Passage de Gois.

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: DonVito
I imagine USPS will win the TTT tomorrow, but since the rules this year limit the TTT loss to 2.5 minutes, it probably won't make TOO big a difference. I'll be curious how T-Mobile does.

I heard about that rule when the 2004 route was announced, but what's this they're saying on TV - the gaps between the top teams will also be limited? That stinks!! :disgust: How much more could they change the Tour to handicap Armstrong?!?!

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Mursilis

Originally posted by: Fausto
Am I a prophet or what? Mayo got fuxored today via a crash on the cobbles; as soon as word got out that he was dropped from the main group, the teams of the remaining contenders put the hammer down and took four minutes out of him. :Q

Good example of how inter-team alliances can occur from time to time. All the teams whose "main guy" was still in the front group realized they'd have one less person to worry about in the mountains if they left Mayo in the dust.

I thought that sort of thing (pushing the pace after a crash) was considered against the 'informal' rules of the peleton, but I guess not. It's not as if Mayo was in yellow or anything, but still, I was surprised Postal, Phonak, and T-Mobile floored it after that crash. I guess it's no different from what happened to Alex Zulle in 1999 on the Passage de Gois.

Pretty much. Lance getting taken out by a spectator is a little different than Mayo eating it on the cobbles. Everyone knew they had to get their man up front for those sections to keep him out of trouble and Euskatel didn't get the job done.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Mursilis

Originally posted by: DonVito
I imagine USPS will win the TTT tomorrow, but since the rules this year limit the TTT loss to 2.5 minutes, it probably won't make TOO big a difference. I'll be curious how T-Mobile does.

I heard about that rule when the 2004 route was announced, but what's this they're saying on TV - the gaps between the top teams will also be limited? That stinks!! :disgust: How much more could they change the Tour to handicap Armstrong?!?!

Agreed. It's a total bullshit rule change. It allows relatively weak flatland teams to almost have a day off.

 

[pyonir]

Fausto: don't read if you are waiting to be surprised tonight on TV









Lance finished the time trial today in first place overall. Leads by 37 seconds over Tyler Hamilton.

 

[RossMAN]

Who is Mayo?

I only know who Lance and Jan Ulrich are.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Who is Mayo?

I only know who Lance and Jan Ulrich are.

Iban Mayo. Rides for Euskatel-Euskadi (Basque-Spanish team). Explosive climber and very good time trialist.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: pyonir
Fausto: don't read if you are waiting to be surprised tonight on TV









Lance finished the time trial today in first place overall. Leads by 37 seconds over Tyler Hamilton.

He'd be leading by a lot more than that if it weren't for the fscking rule change regarding TTT this year. :frown:

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: pyonir
Fausto: don't read if you are waiting to be surprised tonight on TV









Lance finished the time trial today in first place overall. Leads by 37 seconds over Tyler Hamilton.

He'd be leading by a lot more than that if it weren't for the fscking rule change regarding TTT this year. :frown:

Agreed. 1:07 turns into 20 seconds...

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Okay, yet again they are closing the footage with a lengthy interview with Sheryl Crow - who asked for this? She seems like a nice woman, but who the hell cares what she thinks about cycling?

 

[GoSharks]

Originally posted by: DonVito
Okay, yet again they are closing the footage with a lengthy interview with Sheryl Crow - who asked for this? She seems like a nice woman, but who the hell cares what she thinks about cycling?

i believe i read somewhere in some ATOT thread that she was LA's gf or something like that...

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: GOSHARKS

i believe i read somewhere in some ATOT thread that she was LA's gf or something like that...

She is, and apparently they have been trying to have kids. I still don't care what the hell she thinks about team time trials.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: GOSHARKS

i believe i read somewhere in some ATOT thread that she was LA's gf or something like that...

She is, and apparently they have been trying to have kids. I still don't care what the hell she thinks about team time trials.

She might be good for the American audience of Tour De France, bring more free publicity for cycling. From what I've seen and observe cycling is at low time for sponsorships for American cyclists. I know some of the top mtn bikers are doing minimal jobs just to survive on the circuit.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: newbiepcuser

She might be good for the American audience of Tour De France, bring more free publicity for cycling. From what I've seen and observe cycling is at low time for sponsorships for American cyclists. I know some of the top mtn bikers are doing minimal jobs just to survive on the circuit.

Actually I think it's at, or close to, an all-time high for road cycling (though cycling is still not a popular sport in the US compared to any number of other sports). MTB racing, though, has been in a free fall in terms of its fan base and sponsorship for the last few years.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: GOSHARKS

i believe i read somewhere in some ATOT thread that she was LA's gf or something like that...

She is, and apparently they have been trying to have kids. I still don't care what the hell she thinks about team time trials.

The "Cutters" guys can't get hit by a bus soon enough for me either. Watching them is just painful.

 

[Fausto]

Holy sh*t, I didn't see/hear what had happened to Simoni.

Four teams later, Saeco got within one second and Gibo Simoni fell on the penultimate corner in Arras, but the orange crush of Euskaltel was still on top of the heap. Unfortunately, Gibo's glissade cost him much more than the 7 seconds he finished behind his teammates, as due to the new TTT rules he was awarded his actual finish time, rather than the one allocated according to the team's placing. In effect, Simoni lost 1'12 instead of 0'07 because of this.

What a steaming pile. :|

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Fausto
Holy sh*t, I didn't see/hear what had happened to Simoni.

Four teams later, Saeco got within one second and Gibo Simoni fell on the penultimate corner in Arras, but the orange crush of Euskaltel was still on top of the heap. Unfortunately, Gibo's glissade cost him much more than the 7 seconds he finished behind his teammates, as due to the new TTT rules he was awarded his actual finish time, rather than the one allocated according to the team's placing. In effect, Simoni lost 1'12 instead of 0'07 because of this.

What a steaming pile. :|

Yeah, the rules this year are really weird. LeBlanc et al clearly were trying to minimize Lance's odds for another victory, hence the late arrival into the high mountains and the strange TTT rules. I tend to think it doesn't make sense to even have a TTT if it is constrained by such elaborate rules to minimize the benefit of being the best team. I doubt they intended for weird outcomes like Simoni's, but frankly Saeco should have known the importance of getting their GC "contender" (if you can call him that after his lackluster performance in the Giro) across the line with the rest of the team.

 

[Entity]

US Postal is still looking very strong. Voeckler has taken the lead by quite a bit, but from what I've gathered he isn't much of a threat at all. Not sure yet how the rest of the pack is doing.

 

[maddogchen]

Armstrong lost the yellow jersey

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: maddogchen
Armstrong lost the yellow jersey

USPS willfully let this happen. Defending the yellow jersey over the first couple of weeks of the race would have pointlessly tired the team, when they are better off conserving their energy for the high mountains in the last week of the race.

 

[Ilmater]

Man I hope Armtrong wins. I know it's cheesy and such, but I'm SOOOOO pushing for him. It's not like I would otherwise give 1/2 a sh*t about cycling.