le Official 2007 Tour de France thread

...jim

...jim

skanky media ho
Just on you dynasty point, I think one of the reasons it's still wide open is not so much about ability but intimidation. Armstrong almost just had to show up to win, such was the power of his position in the peleton, his all-or-nothing attitude and the loyalty of his team. Who's not to say that one or all of this year's GC guys have to ability to do the same, but simply don't have the psychological edge an Armstrong or a Indurain had.

Rasmussen is about the only one who has a smattering of this (outside the sprint arena) - but because he's perceived as a crap time trialer he's not considered a GC contender. If he pulls the mind-game card in the south and doesn't cock up the ITTs (surely there's only one 2005 chicken ITT in any man's career) I reckon he's not to be ignored.
 
k3n!f

k3n!f

leaking out the other end
Agreed. I thought Rasmussen looked very on top of things last night. Rabobank also looked very solid during the chase along the flat at the beginning of the stage.

I dunno about Cadel. He seems to lack a bit of punch to me. I don't know what happened with the gap forming on the downhill but I think Cadel might have been the cause.

End of armchair opinion....

Go the mountain bikers!
 
ozelise

ozelise

Likes Dirt
Interesting way to buckle a wheel. I suspect it wasn't the impact with the dog, but the rider braking with the front wheel @ 90 degrees to the direction of travel.







 
bazza

bazza

look at me
bloody giants. i want a digital recorder already. sick of missing out due to my need for sleep.
 
...jim

...jim

skanky media ho
Absolutely - he wasn't travelling very fast at the point of impact, but was under heavy braking. The dog caused a deflection of the wheel and it was the momentum of the rider working across, rather than along, the plane of the wheel that pushed the rim into a pretzel. I guess you get that when you use uberlight stuff that's only built to go around one way.
 
D

dain2772

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I reckon he should have been watching the other TDF riders who have shown their bunny hopping abilities..... I know the dog is a bit taller than a kerb, but still. Would have still made the highlights reel too.
 
...jim

...jim

skanky media ho
dain2772 said:
Would have still made the highlights reel too.
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Hmmm, you may be on to something here. Perhaps what's happened to T-mobile over the last few days is a direct response to ol' Linus picking up the yellow jersey. Clearly the team enjoyed the publicity and blanket coverage they got. Maybe some new team orders were hatched that night....?

Since, it's got to be said that the squad's been *outstanding* in their ability to pick up column inches, if nothing else!!
 
J

jasco

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Bodin said:
I've learned to turn my Out of Office on during the entire month of July... even if I'm in the office. ;)
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Here's a trick for you if you have an office. Close the door, pour a box of paper clips on the floor near the entrance to the door. Now lie down with your head almost against the door and go to sleep! If anyone opens it and trys to come in you'll get hit by the door and wake up, then if anyone asks why you look dazed, reply angirly that it's because you just got hit in the head with the door while trying to pickup the paper clips! :D

-Garth
 
sendog

sendog

Likes Dirt
jasco said:
Here's a trick for you if you have an office. Close the door, pour a box of paper clips on the floor near the entrance to the door. Now lie down with your head almost against the door and go to sleep! If anyone opens it and trys to come in you'll get hit by the door and wake up, then if anyone asks why you look dazed, reply angirly that it's because you just got hit in the head with the door while trying to pickup the paper clips! :D

-Garth
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interesting.......could be handy
 
J

justinb

Likes Bikes
newish to watching all of this TDF. I have one simple question.

Why can the riders hold onto the car when talking to someone? I've seen it a few times now... isn't that cheating?
 
ScottD

ScottD

Likes Bikes and Dirt
yeh it is cheating but its not really going to be beneficial if the cars going 40km/h cause there riding that fast anyway.
Unless your Levi Leiphimer, that mechanic was rocketing him back up to the break at 70km/h. He was holding on for dear life. As soon as he saw the camera bike he stuck his head back in the car and pretended he was getting something. He made up the 1min 30 in about 1-2k
 
O

oldbean

NSWMTB
ScottD said:
Unless your Levi Leiphimer, that mechanic was rocketing him back up to the break at 70km/h. He was holding on for dear life. As soon as he saw the camera bike he stuck his head back in the car and pretended he was getting something. He made up the 1min 30 in about 1-2k
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And he got penalised for it by the commisares. When the commentators were watching it though, they offered the opinion that it wasn't too bad though, as it was a bike mechanical (his rear derailleur had carked it) that caused the delay and the team car was a long way back. They had the opinion that if a rider had just dropped back due to tiredness or something, then getting a similar tow would be a lot more serious offence.
 
jaseh

jaseh

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Man this tour is tiring, I fell asleep at 8pm last night and didn't wake until 8am this morning. Lucky it was a flat stage last night and didn't really miss much.
 
...jim

...jim

skanky media ho
justinb said:
newish to watching all of this TDF. I have one simple question.

Why can the riders hold onto the car when talking to someone? I've seen it a few times now... isn't that cheating?
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The only car they're allowed to hold on to is the Dr's white convertible, and even then they're not allowed to make gains on their position in the motorcade - only hold position while the Dr is treating them.

They will (should) get fined for holding onto their team cars. Though if you watch the slightly awkward way the bottles are always handed through the window you'll note that *every* rider takes a little boost from the process - some more than others.

Levi's 'seatpost' was a rather blatant mvoe.
 
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