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2010 Tour de France

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Fascinating first two stages. At this rate they will be rivaling NASCAR for carnage.

Only in cycling will you see the lead riders slow down to let those who have crashed catch up. Then those same riders go back to their rooms and shoot up on roids to gain a competitive advantage.
 
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Oh8ch;1726572; said:
Fascinating first two stages. At this rate they will be rivaling NASCAR for carnage.

Only in cycling will you see the lead riders slow down to let those who have crashed catch up. Then those same riders go back to their rooms and shoot up on roids to gain a competitive advantage.
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If Armstrong and Contador had been in the lead part of the peloton after the crash, and one of them had a teammate wearing yellow; rather than them being in a middle pack behind the group with Cancellara's yellow, I wonder if they would have waited for Andy Schleck.

Cancellara in the yellow jersey, being a Saxo teammate of Schleck, slowed the pace in order to allow his teammate to stay in GC contention. It was a complete team play, since slowing the pace cost him the yellow jersey. Chavenel should now be able to hold the maillot jaune for about a week, until they hit the Alps.

The non-sprint (for 2nd place) protest at the finish was interesting. It couls end up having an impact on the race for the green jersey.

And of course, there's a chance for more carnage on the cobblestones tomorrow.
 
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Tomorrow will be epic as the race will be on some of the cobble stone roads of Paris -Roubaix. And if it should rain?
WANZE, Belgium — After two crashed-marred Tour de France stages, what's possibly in store Tuesday in stage 3, the day that was expected to commence the carnage in the peloton?

The much-anticated and much-dreaded 213-kilometer stage will take the already diminished, banged up and bandaged field to Arenberg-Porte Du Hainaut on a course that features seven sections of difficult cobblestones totaling 13.2 kilometers.

The first three sections of cobblestones will occur in Belgium starting after 128 kilometers. The final four cobbled sections, will be the route used in Paris-Roubaix, cycling's notoriously difficult one-day race. But in this instance, the sections will be ridden in the reverse direction.
http://www.examiner.com/x-1155-Cycl...view-Carnage-will-continue-on-the-cobbletones

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEjbyRlTR3A&feature=fvw"]YouTube - Saxo Bank Paris-Roubaix Recon 2010 [outtakes][/ame]
 
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I'm not sure slow motion bike racing will clear the "epic" hurdle.

After the last two days I don't think anyone is in any mood to be taking risks on bad road surfaces. This could be a major bust - except for the three man breakaway on Diamondbacks.
 
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I have never seen so much skin be lost in one race. I thought Andy Schleck was done. Hope is is ok.

Tomorrow will indeed be epic. If it rains, god help them. It will be like riding on snot mixed with wd40. Love the cobbles. Paris-Roubaix is my second favorite race. No shit, handle-bars and wheels can snap on that shit.
Cann't wait!!!
I know this is VS marketing line, but this is shaping up to be one hell of a race.
 
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Fols, what is it with the "honor system" of the leaders slowing down when others crash behind them? My thought process is, "tough shit". Crashes are part of the race. Everyone had to ride in the exact same conditions in which Schleck bit it today...the dude was going dead straight when he lost it. I can see if a crash was caused by something outside the riders' control (like the fucking mutt yesterday), but if a cyclist fucks up on his own, too bad. What say you?
 
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The teams of the tour favs will not attack the yellow and canchulara was in yellow. Schleck was canculara's team mate and he was not going to try and get a gap On the Schlecks even though he was going to loose the yellow to the solo brakaway. The overall classifications in Paris trumps carrying the jersery for a couple of days before the mountains. Saxo has a yellow, and a stage win so they are best served to get the schlecks back into the group.

Having said that, I am guessing that canculara's given the green light today to go for the win. He is a beast in this kind of stage and will be favored today. He is very much like Jonathan Museuwe used to be on the classics, almost unbeatable.
 
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I'll list the GC standings so they can be tracked for later stages. Times are minutes and seconds behind the overall leader. I've only listed the riders close to the lead and those that I consider to be serious contenders to win the overall race.

Time....Time
after...after
Stage4..Stage3..Cyclist..........Team
00:00...02:57...Cancellara, F....Saxo
00:23...03:20...Thomas, G........Sky
00:39...03:36...Evans, C.........BMC
01:09...04:06...Schleck, A.......Saxo
01:31...03:35...Vinokourov, A....Astana
01:40...03:24...Contador, A......Astana
01:49...03:53...Menchov, D.......Rabobank
01:49...03:53...Wiggins, B.......Sky
02:30...03:19...Armstrong, L.....RadioShack
02:53...03:25...Leipheimer, L....Radioshack
03:01...03:33...Kloden, A........Radioshack
03:19...03:51...Sastre, C........Cervelo

It was an impressive day for SaxoBank, with Jens Voight driving the train hard on the last long section of normal road in order to split the peloton when they hit the series of cobblestone areas. Then Cancellara took over to lead the Schlecks through the cobblestones at the front of the main group. Despite having Frank go down, they were able to break away and gain time on Armstrong and Contador.

The Saxo move, along with a few accidents and some flat tires, really broke up the peloton. An impressive day for Cancellara, who earned the yellow jersey back after being almost 3 minutes behind. Losing Frank will hurt Andy Schleck in the mountains, where they like to take turns attacking.

Lance lost some time, and despite having the protection of Kloden and Leipheimer in the mountains, he'll have a tough time making up a minute or two on the other top contenders.

Cadel Evans is now in a good position to contend for the yellow jersey when they get in the Alps starting this weekend.

Vinokourov may get ideas on being a contender again if he's able to stay with Contador in the mountains. If he can do that, we'll see if Contador once again has some dissension within Astana.
 
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Yup, great days for both Wiggens and Evans. They put themselves in great spots going into the mountains.

Contador got lucky, Lance did not. That is the nature of the cobbles. Unforgiving.

I have serious doubts about the Astana team and their ability to control Lance, wiggens, Evans and the Andy schleck. You cannot win a Stage race by yourself, I don't care how superior you are (and Contador clearly is the best right now). This is a team event, if they can control the race AC wins easy. If not, Saxo and The Shack are going to beat him into a pulp.
 
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Folanator;1726992; said:
Yup, great days for both Wiggens and Evans. They put themselves in great spots going into the mountains.

Contador got lucky, Lance did not. That is the nature of the cobbles. Unforgiving.

I have serious doubts about the Astana team and their ability to control Lance, wiggens, Evans and the Andy schleck. You cannot win a Stage race by yourself, I don't care how superior you are (and Contador clearly is the best right now). This is a team event, if they can control the race AC wins easy. If not, Saxo and The Shack are going to beat him into a pulp.
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While Contador won't get much team support in the big climbs, if he can mark Andy Schleck and then beat him either in the other time trials or at the very end of one climb, he may be able to win the race almost by himself. Alberto is lucky that Frank Schleck won't be around to play games with Andy in the mountains, because the two of them could have taken turns making breaks and gassing Alberto. Perhaps Wiggins can get involved in those games. I'm not convinced that the RadioShack trio can wear Contador out.
 
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BB73;1726999; said:
While Contador won't get much team support in the big climbs, if he can mark Andy Schleck and then beat him either in the other time trials or at the very end of one climb, he may be able to win the race almost by himself. Alberto is lucky that Frank Schleck won't be around to play games with Andy in the mountains, because the two of them could have taken turns making breaks and gassing Alberto. Perhaps Wiggins can get involved in those games. I'm not convinced that the RadioShack trio can wear Contador out.
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that's fine in theory, but not realistic. He cannot cover all the attacks. Lance will attack then Evans then Wiggens. Then repeat. If AC goes, they will work together to chase him down. It is not humanly possible to chase down all the attacks. He will burn out and loose time. When some GC contender goes up the road, they are ALL going to look at Contador and say go get 'em or u will not win. He has no choice.

It will be fun to watch.
 
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