^^It's very popular in Europe, especially West Europe.
Don't know about the US these days. Maybe publicity has waned since LA retired and it was proven he had doped?
Are you located in the US?
^^It's very popular in Europe, especially West Europe.
Don't know about the US these days. Maybe publicity has waned since LA retired and it was proven he had doped?
Are you located in the US?
Retired.
Greg Lemond is popular in the US. Does he still race?
LeMond raced in the eighties and early nineties. He stopped racing in the mid nineties.
Early on in his career LeMond became world champion (first American to ever do so). Later on he won the TDF 3 times. (He's still the only American who has OFFICIALLY won the TDF, as LA & Floyd Landis lost their victories because of doping.)
There was a large gap in between LeMond's TDF victories because of a freak accident he was involved in. I think his brother-in-law accidentally shot him on a hunting trip. He was very close to dying.
LeMond won the most exciting TDF ever in 1989. His big rival and two time TDF winner Laurent Fignon (a French rider nicknamed 'the Professor' because of his glasses) entered the final stage, a time trial, with a 50 second lead.
Laurent Fignon, easily recognizable with his long blonde hair and glasses.
Fignon was an established time trialist, had already won his two TDFs, so everybody thought he would surely win his third TDF at that moment. However, LeMond had extensively tested his riding position (= aerodynamic position on the bike) in winter AND he had opted for the latest technology in aerodynamica, including a full rear wheel, clip-on bars on his steering wheel and an aerodynamic helmet. Back then aerodynamica wasn't a big thing yet in cycling. LeMond introduced a lot of new technology into the peloton.
LeMond rode the time trial of his life and won the TDF with the smallest margin ever : 8 seconds. Upon realizing his loss Fignon collapsed on the tarmac and started weeping.
Laurent Fignon died from cancer in 2010.
LeMond was my favorite rider in my childhood.
Last edited by Rev Jones; 07-11-2014 at 12:37 PM.
Retired.
TDF, stage 7 : Epernay-Nancy
-----------------------------------
It was a bad day for the Americans in this long stage (234 km). Both Tejay van Garderen and Andrew Talansky (both aim for a spot in the top 10 in the GQ) fell. Talansky is 8th in GQ, van Garderen is a few slots lower now and is overall 18th.
Tejay Van Garderen
Andrew Talansky
Today's stage was won in a sprint.
1 Matteo Trentin ITA
(Picture of his TDF stage win in Lyon last year.)
2 Peter Sagan SLW
3 Tony Gallopin FRA
4 Tom Dumoulin NET
5 Simon Gerrans AUS
I have been writing a lot about Peter Sagan. I feel I have to mention him again. He has finished in the top 5 in all stages so far, without actually winning. This marks the third time he ends up in the 2nd slot. By now his lead in the green jersey classification is huge (a lead of over 100 points). He is also still in possession of the white jersey (classification for youngsters).
Peter Sagan performing his trademark 'wheelie' after a stage win in a famous race in Belgium earlier this year.
So what happened today?
Six riders attacked today: Edet, Elmiger, Pichot, Delaplace, Huzarski and Busche. Edet attacked in the first stage as well. They didn't gather a big lead as [bPeter Sagan[/b] knew his chances of winning today's stage were very high. The final climb a few kilometers before the finish line was just his cup of tea. His plan would be to escape there on his own and last until the finish line. So Sagan had his team mates work hard to get back the breakaway group.
Tejay van Garderen fell in the peloton due to careless behavior of one of his team mates riding in front of him. Fortunately, he was able to continue, but he had to ride one of his team mates' bike. (That makes a huge difference.) Three of his team mates waited for him and tried to bring him back to the peloton but it was too late. At the end of the stage van Garderen had lost just over a minute to all of the important riders in the GQ.
On the first of today's two hills, at about 17km to the finish line there were only 2 leaders left: Swiss champion Martin Elmiger and Polish rider Bartosz Huzarski. The peloton caught up with them at the beginning of the climb. Since this climb was rather steep (although short) a lot of riders, including some sprinters, couldn't keep up with the pace of the peloton.
Martin Elmiger.
Near the end of the climb Belgian rider Greg Van Avermaet (who placed 2nd in the 2nd stage) jumped out of the peloton. He had already announced on Belgian TV he was going to try and win this stage. Sagan and Van Avermaet know each other very well because they compete against each other a lot in other races, so Sagan knew there was a clear danger here. He felt forced to go after Van Avermaet on his own.
Greg Van Avermaet
When Sagan caught up with Van Avermaet just before the hill top they had a small lead over the peloton and decided to team up. There were only about 5 km left to go. However, their lead didn't prove large enough and at about 2 km before the finish line the peloton caught up with them.
We were in for another sprint... It was slightly disrupted by two accidents. At the back of the first group a team mate of yellow jersey Nibali fell, taking down Belgian GQ favorite Jurgen Van Den Broeck with him. This was his 3rd accident in 3 days! Fortunately, he was able to continue after a while. It is important to note that (except for the stages that end in a climb) any time loss due to accidents happening in the final three km of a stage are not taken into account. This is the reason why van Garderen lost time in the GQ, but Van Den Broeck did not.
Jurgen Van Den Broeck
The second accident happened about thirty seconds later, in the middle of the sprint. American rider Andrew Talansky, who isn't a sprinter but a GQ rider instead, tried to opt out of the sprint by cycling left of the sprinters. But as he was looking in the wrong direction while making his move he was hit by Simon Gerrans,one of the sprinters, on the other side. Talansky fell, sat there for a while but fortunately he was able to continue later on. Because of the 3km rule Talansky didn't lose any time in the GQ.
Simon Gerrans, who wore the yellow jersey for a short while last year.
The sprint itself was very exciting, with Gerrans seemingly coming back from a lost position, Samuel Dumoulin placing himself very well towards the very end, but on the finish line Matteo Trentin andPeter Sagan clearly crossed over before the other sprinters.
But who had won? Trentin though Sagan had won, seeing as he patted Sagan on the back right after the sprint. However, when the finish photo was shown on TV (and to the jury) you could tell Trentin had won by the smallest of margins. Trentin was informed of his victory by the TDF radio and was suprised and happy. Footage of Sagan hearing of this news were obviously not as upbeat.
The GQ has not changed much. Vincenzo Nibali still leads. Only famous Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara and American GQ rider van Garderen fell back in the GQ today.
Tomorrow's race includes the first 'real' mountains, in this case two second category climbs. Polka-dot jersey rider Cyril Lemoine will most probably lose his jersey to a more accomplished climber tomorrow.
Cyril Lemoine sporting the jersey for best climber so far.
Last edited by Rev Jones; 07-12-2014 at 02:42 AM.
Retired.
You can find tweets & pics of the 7th stage by following the link below
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/matchcent...nce_2014_rit_7
Find videos of today's stage - including the exciting sprint- on the official TDF site (with text in English) here
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/us/
Last edited by Rev Jones; 07-11-2014 at 12:29 PM.
Retired.
no pantani no tour
RIP LEGEND
^^Pantani was one of the best to ever do it, no doubt about it.
RIP 'il Pirato'.
Last edited by Rev Jones; 07-12-2014 at 02:41 AM.
Retired.
Toul welcomed yesterday's TDF with a yellow fountain (no watersports jokes please)
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone...7_gele_fontein
Retired.
Chris Froome broke his left wrist and right hand in the last stage he participated in. A hospital visit revealed this yesterday.
He should be able to start training again in a few weeks.
Chris Froome leaving this year's TDF.
Retired.
reppedOriginally Posted by 5th state
^^Pantani was one of the best to ever do it, no doubt about it.
RIP 'il Pirato'.
TDF, stage 8 : Tomblaine - La Mauselaine
--------------------------------------------------
This stage in les Vosges (mountain range in northeast France) contained three mountains towards the end, starting at the final 27km mark. This stage was won solo.
1 FRA Blel Kadri
2 SPA Alberto Contador +2'17"
3 ITA Vincenzo Nibali +2'20"
4 AUS Richie Porte +2'24"
5 FRA Thibaut Pinot +2'28"
As you can tell by looking at the top 5 the mountain finish brought out the big guns. Only French rider Kadri, who also attacked in the second stage (back in the UK), managed to stay in front of the GQ favorites.
It took a lot of effort today for the breakaway group to actually escape. French rider Sylvain Chavanel and Dutch rider Niki Terpstra (winner of this year's Paris-Roubaix, a spring classic race over cobble stones ) were the first to actually get away. Later on Blel Kadri, a French rider of Morrocan heritage, his compatriot Adrien Petit and young British rider Simon Yates joined them.
Simon Yates, who is enormously talented and sure to win lots of races in the future.
Since the 'closest' rider in the GQ, Sylvain Chavanel, was about 18 minutes behind yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali, the latter's team was not interested in taking back the breakaway group. Thus their lead rose to a staggering 11 minutes.
Sylvain Chavanel, 35, winner of a lot of spring classic races, some TDF stages, and temporary bearer of the yellow jersey in 2010. Nicknamed 'la machine'.
However, because of the 3 mountains (2nd and 3rd category) the team mates of some GQ favorites increased the pace anyway, hoping some other GQ riders in the peloton wouldn't be able to keep up and thus lose some time in the GQ.
The breakaway's lead dwindled down to about 5 minutes, so Sylvain Chavanel decided to leave his fellow escapees behind. After a while Blel Kadri in turn left the other ones behind, in search of Chavanel. Kadri, who clearly is the better climber, caught up with Chavanel in a matter of minutes and soon left him behind.
Kadri was the only one who was not caught by the peloton by the end of the stage, finishing about 2 minutes before them. This was a triple victory for Kadri. Not only did he win the stage, he also grabbed Cyril Lemoine's polka dot jersey (best climber) since Kadri crossed all three mountains first. To top that off, the TDF jury also decided to award him the daily prize of rider with the most impressive attack ('prix de combativité').
Needless to say Kadri was overjoyed.
Meanwhile, interesting things were happening in the peloton. Spanish GQ favorite Alberto Contador, who had to make up for lost time (from the cobble stone stage) had his team mates increase the pace at the forefront of the peloton immensely on the first mountain slope. Soon enough the peloton became much smaller. On the second mountain slope, which was much steeper, current top 10 riders who don't handle climbing very well were left behind. People like green jersey and 3rd in GQ Peter Sagan, 4th in GQ Michal Kwiatkowski and 6th in GQ Tony Gallopin were left behind.
French rider Tony Gallopin, team mate of GQ favorite Jurgen Van Den Broeck.
Others were stranded because of punctures (such as current 2nd in GQ Jakob Fuglsang, team mate of yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali) or because of accidents (American GQ favorite Andrew Talansky unfortunately fell again, for the second day in a row).
Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang, who placed 7th in last year's TDF.
Then on the final climb (1 1/2 km to the finish line) Alberto Contador himself picked up the pace, causing real GQ riders like Jurgen Van Den Broeck and Bauke Mollema to get left behind. In the last 500 meters of today's race only Richie Porte (Team Sky's replacement for Chris Froome), Alejandro Valverde and American rider Tejay van Garderen along with French riders Pinot, Péraud and Bardet managed not to let Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali get away too far.
Alberto Contador, clearly the strongest GQ rider today.
In the last 50 meters Nibali finally had to let Contador go, allowing the Spanish rider to steal back 3 seconds. Of course this is only a small amount of time, but there is the psychological damage for Nibali who has now realized Contador is slightly better than him uphill. Also, this was just a test for Contador. You could tell Contador was timing his jump very close to the finish line, as he couldn't tell just how good Nibali was. (He was afraid of a counterattack by Nibali.) But now Contador also knows he is the better climber in the TDF. Surely, he will attack (much) sooner in the next two stages. These are also mountain stages in les Vosges, with lots of slopes (6 and 7 in the next stages).
The next two days will definitely change the GQ even more. Contador has already jumped from the 16th to the 6th slot, and by the day of rest (Tuesday) he will be even closer to Nibali.
Should current yellow jersey Nibali be worried? Probably. Even though he still has a big lead over Contador (2 1/2 minutes), Contador is the more explosive climber and seems to have a team which is better fit for the mountain stages. While Contador's team mates Nicolas Roche and Michael Rogers rode a fantastic stage, Nibali's team was nowhere to be found on today's final mountain slope.
Nicolas Roche, nephew of famous '80s rider Stephen Roche (winner of the TDF, Giro d'Italia and world champion - all in 1987!)
Michael Rogers, who won two very difficult mountain stages in this year's Giro d'Italia.
Here's the updated GQ.
1 Vincenzo Nibali
2 Jakob Fuglsang +1'44" (instead of only 2" yesterday ; team mate of Nibali)
3 Richie Porte SKY +1'58"
4 Michal Kwiatkowski +2'26" (lost touch of the peloton but managed to hold on to his spot)
5 Alejandro Valverde +2'27"
6 Alberto Contador +2'34"
7 Romain Bardet +2'39" (first French rider)
8 Rui Costa +2'52"
9 Bauke Mollema+3'02"
10 Jurgen Van den Broeck +3'02"
As you can see the time differences are getting bigger.
American riders Tejay van Garderen (13th) and Andrew Talansky (16th) are in the top 20. van Garderen has gained some time on some of his rivals, while Talansky has lost some because of his accident. Talansky was not seriously hurt and will continue riding.
Last edited by Rev Jones; 07-12-2014 at 12:55 PM.
Retired.
You can find tweets & videos of today's stage here
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/matchcent...nce_2014_rit_8
and more videos and pictures here
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/us/
Retired.
So 5th state, you seem to be "in the know" with cycling. Is it going to be 11 more stages of celebration for Nibali or do you see any major challenge from anyone? It seemed like Nibali and Contador were on another level and now that Contador is out and Nibali has a 2-min advantage on anyone close to him, he seems like a near-sure winner.
- Rodriguez seems like his only focus is the polka-dot jersey, as he blew up in the last 500m's of today's stage.
- Tejay doesn't seem to have the form he did last year.
- Frank Schleck is past his prime and can't do shit now that he's off the drugs.
- Porte I don't think is ready to step up to the plate and is probably happy with aiming for a podium spot and not 1st.
The tour might be a bust now. I guess watching the Alps will still be exciting.
Well, I road 265km's on Thursday solo with no issues. Then today I crashed for the first time on a road bike 50km's in, washing out on some train tracks in the pouring rain. Road rash all down the side of me. I now know a little bit how it feels in the tour.
5th state died lol
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