2012 Tour de France

... and nice roads they were.

 

Actually, the roads kinda sucked today. Kelly & Harmon were going on about the size of the rocks they use in the mix in that area of country. They said it made for a harsh ride and, they were pointing out how much the guys hands were bouncing on the bars when they moved in for a closeup. Kelly noted that there was a crown in the middle of the road for drainage and that seemed to be the sweet spot for today's stage. (I know, I know, I'll shut up....less trivia more racing.)

Who wins tomm? Looks like some vertical and chance of big winds when they get near the water. Echelon riding. (And Ligget will roll out his Hinault and the Russian National team story for the umpteenth time. Funny story though.) Badger still up there emceeing, or whatever it is he does during the podium ceremony. Good to see him. Looks like he could still drop half the guys in that peloton.

 

Hey, it's still a fun watch. All you hardcores are fun to listen to, but for us average American tour watchers, the tour is fascinating, exciting and full of twists and turns. It blows my whole month. I hang on every stage. It's probably the best thing for American cycling ever to be able to see the level these cats are at. It's gotta inspire some young riders. I love watching the tour!

 

You should read Cavendish's book "Boy Racer". It will make you like him, or at least not hate him, and it gives a lot of insight to the training, tactics, and politics of racing.

 

Ran across this today. Love the team cars.
http://life.time.com/culture/tour-de-france-1953-rare-photos/#1

 

There's an even better story in cycling about an even more impressive young phenom who has won even more big races on more big stages - his name is Aaron Gwin. You also don't have to cross your fingers and hope he hasn't been doping.

Go Gwinny Go!

Sorry - had to throw some dirt in the mix. Now back to your musings about the politics of road racing!

 

^^ Phtt! He hardly even pedals his gravity-powered circus bike (but he does go damn fast!). The tour is classic cycling: Suffering + strategy. Kind of like chess at 30 mph.

Allez! Allez! :beer:

 

Greipel nailed that one. HTC-Columbia train has moved to Lotto...look out. He's a half-wheel short of two stage wins.

 

I am pulling for Evans a former dirt racer

 

Griepel against Goss, Sagan, or any of the other sprinters on a flat Stage, yes, he is better..... Except..... The only reason he won today was because Cav went down. Had Cav stayed upright Griepel would have been half a wheel back....

 

Tru dat. Cav is still king.

 

Probably right. Greipel has to take Cav down a few times in the same race for me to believe he's upped his game. This could get interesting on the bunch sprint days. I count four of Cav's ex-teammates on Lotto now. He knows these guys well and should be able to jump aboard their train in the last 200 meters except, if Henderson or Hansen are looking for that and, try to slow down/block him. Renshaw did that for Cav once that I remember and was penalized. Could get amped up out there, now that Cav has to solo his way to the front without much help from Sky.

Tyler Farrar can't factor in yet. Got no luck so far. Like to see TF get in there and make some noise. He's due for a good one soon.

 

Ok, ok, I take it back. Eating my words. Head to head today Griepel took it.

 

That bump up at 200 meters looked to suck it out of Cav. Greipel has the legs for that stuff.

That crash was nasty looking. Farrar touches wheel and then richochets off. He got pummeled sitting there. Sagan hit the deck hard - almost saved it but hit that bike.

EuroSports give it to Greipel over Cancellera: biggest thighs in this years TdF:



Greipel gets my vote for most unlikely looking roadie in the peleton. Looks ready for track sprints - he'll be sucking gas this weekend when it tilts up in the hils.

 

I really respect how Cavendish won without his HTC leadout train. He's had some bad luck but the one stage I saw him win was impressive and he's been impressive in the intermediate sprints. He has seemed like a bit of a drama queen, which was annoying especially when he had so many teammates all working for him and their domination of everyone else. But he seems more human and deserving now that he has to fend for himself like Zabel and Mcewen always had to do.

 

Greipel's got the form for sure, but I can't help wonder how Cav's crash yesterday affected him. His helmet looked pretty thrashed, and he had that
"where am I" look on his face. Team says he's ok, but I can't imagine Cav was feeling 100% today.

 

I took that look to be a "I'm really pissed-off, but I'm going to keep my eyes straight ahead, don't look at the camera, keep it bottled-up, don't say anything you'll regret later." I can't get past his arrogant little entitlement act. I'd have felt a lot more sorry for him yesterday if I hadn't seen him cause more than a few crashes in the past. Karma's a @#$^%, Cav!

 

Although Sky had the train going today, they ran out of "engines" at about 1k to go and Cav had to try and regroup and pick his own wheel after that. Greipel had the train work for him today. Goss went early and looked to have it, but Greipel was not to be denied. How about seeing Renshaw come flying up from about 6th or 7th at 100m to take 3rd? Great sprint.

Farrar has to be hurting big-time. Poor guy's luck is not there this year.

 

[video=youtube;PbVpWOYjk7Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbVpWOYjk7Y[/video]

 

Look at some of those elevation gains, hell most of them (i.e. Stage 16 is 120 miles in distance and over 17,000 feet of climbing)! Some of those individual stages look incredible as a standalone ride, much less as part of a 3 week bike race with a high average speed each day... No wonder so many riders look for something medicinal to cope with the Tour... I remember the commentators stating that a time or two, but looking at the mileage and elevation per day and considering it's a race for 3 weeks... puts things into perspective...