**official** Tour de France 2004 Thread

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: new2AMD
I have to say, saturdays stage kept my interest. I got up @7am with my daughter (3.5months old) and intended to watch the full british open coverage on tnt and abc but ended up watching OLN a lot more. Especially the commercial free 1/2 hour. It was pretty cool to watch the way the blue train methodically destroyed the field. Tiger was on a birdie binge and I couldnt stop watching a bicycle race.

Mountain stages are definitely the most fun to watch as it's basically a battle of the strongest guys in the race. There's no hiding or faking it in the really big mountain passes.

 

[3chordcharlie]

I know testing on cyclists is heavy, but it's pretty heavy on track athletes as well from what I know - at a minimum, you can't win a major track event without being tested afterwards, right?

The last few decades (Ben Johnson, etc) have certainly hammered a great deal of cynicism into all of us when it comes to elite athletes.

I'll certainly agree that it's unlikely ONLY Lance would have access to a particular doping scheme... so chances are the field is pretty level anyway.

 

[wjones]

Originally posted by: new2AMD
I have to say, saturdays stage kept my interest. I got up @7am with my daughter (3.5months old) and intended to watch the full british open coverage on tnt and abc but ended up watching OLN a lot more. Especially the commercial free 1/2 hour. It was pretty cool to watch the way the blue train methodically destroyed the field. Tiger was on a birdie binge and I couldnt stop watching a bicycle race.

I watched the replay on Saturday night. It was one of the best race to watch.

BTW, did you 3.5 months old daughter see the naked butt running next to Armstrong? The spectators were crazy!

 

[Chello02]

i just really wish that i got OLN... we used to get it about a year ago, then all the channeled changed and ever sence we dont get it. I used to watch it almost as much as i watch TBS, which is alot

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: wjones

Originally posted by: new2AMD
I have to say, saturdays stage kept my interest. I got up @7am with my daughter (3.5months old) and intended to watch the full british open coverage on tnt and abc but ended up watching OLN a lot more. Especially the commercial free 1/2 hour. It was pretty cool to watch the way the blue train methodically destroyed the field. Tiger was on a birdie binge and I couldnt stop watching a bicycle race.

I watched the replay on Saturday night. It was one of the best race to watch.

BTW, did you 3.5 months old daughter see the naked butt running next to Armstrong? The spectators were crazy!

That was hilarious.

 

[new2AMD]

Originally posted by: wjones

Originally posted by: new2AMD
I have to say, saturdays stage kept my interest. I got up @7am with my daughter (3.5months old) and intended to watch the full british open coverage on tnt and abc but ended up watching OLN a lot more. Especially the commercial free 1/2 hour. It was pretty cool to watch the way the blue train methodically destroyed the field. Tiger was on a birdie binge and I couldnt stop watching a bicycle race.

I watched the replay on Saturday night. It was one of the best race to watch.

BTW, did you 3.5 months old daughter see the naked butt running next to Armstrong? The spectators were crazy!

She went back to sleep. Those fans were crazy. I was getting worried they would cost someone the race.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: new2AMD

Originally posted by: wjones

Originally posted by: new2AMD
I have to say, saturdays stage kept my interest. I got up @7am with my daughter (3.5months old) and intended to watch the full british open coverage on tnt and abc but ended up watching OLN a lot more. Especially the commercial free 1/2 hour. It was pretty cool to watch the way the blue train methodically destroyed the field. Tiger was on a birdie binge and I couldnt stop watching a bicycle race.

I watched the replay on Saturday night. It was one of the best race to watch.

BTW, did you 3.5 months old daughter see the naked butt running next to Armstrong? The spectators were crazy!

She went back to sleep. Those fans were crazy. I was getting worried they would cost someone the race.

Incindents like that are amazingly rare. No one wants to be "that guy" that knocked Lance off his bike or whatever. The incident last year was a little kid holding a musette bag....total fluke.

 

[freegeeks]

Incindents like that are amazingly rare. No one wants to be "that guy" that knocked Lance off his bike or whatever. The incident last year was a little kid holding a musette bag....total fluke.

... and the fact that if you knock Lance of his bike an angry mob will probably kill you + a French gendarm is going to run over your mutilated body with his motorbike

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: freegeeks

Incindents like that are amazingly rare. No one wants to be "that guy" that knocked Lance off his bike or whatever. The incident last year was a little kid holding a musette bag....total fluke.

... and the fact that if you knock Lance of his bike an angry mob will probably kill you + a French gendarm is going to run over your mutilated body with his motorbike

No kidding. Some of the moto guys were getting pretty aggressive pushing people back on the side of the road yesterday.

 

[klah]

Hamilton has his post mortem up at Velo including a pic of the injuries he sustained in the fall

http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/diaries/articles/6609.0.html

 

[WhoYoDaddy]

I don't get why everyone after 11th place were given the same time int he 14th stage?

Also, what is the deal with the other color jerseys...I mean isn't voekler age 25 right now so shouldn't he also be holding the polka dot jersey as well?

And with the green jersey...how does one rake up those "climbing" and "sprinting" points. Is it only taken from a certain spot to another spot and whoever completes that section in the fastest time gets point bonuses?
Since Mcewan (spelling/??) is like in 130th place yet he has the green jersey?..

 

[klah]

"I don't get why everyone after 11th place were given the same time int he 14th stage?"

Riders that finish in large groups are all given the same time.

-------------------------------------------------

"Also, what is the deal with the other color jerseys...I mean isn't voekler age 25 right now so shouldn't he also be holding the polka dot jersey as well?"

You mean the White Jersey (young rider). The yellow jersey is much more prestigious so of course that is what he wears, and what the sponsors want him seen wearing. The second place rider eligible for that jersey is Casar and he gets to wear the white jersey. When Voeckler loses the yellow tomorrow or wednesday, he will wear the white jersey as long as he stays ahead of Casar in overall time.

-------------------------------------------------

"And with the green jersey...how does one rake up those "climbing" and "sprinting" points."

There are specific spots chosen throughout the course. There are usually a few intermediate sprint points throughout each course worth a small amount of points for the first 3 riders to cross. Most of the green jersey points are awarded for the top 10-20 finishers of each stage.

For the polka-dot jersey, there is a little finish line at the peak of every climb where the climbing points are awarded based on the difficulty of the climb.

 

[WhoYoDaddy]

i've noticed that but I was wonering why. It's like how lance and basso both came in 1 an 2 (wheel to wheel) but they're both given the same time. Why not just use their actual time since it would be more accurate, especially if the finish is going to be decided by a couple of seconds (overall).

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: WhoYoDaddy
i've noticed that but I was wonering why. It's like how lance and basso both came in 1 an 2 (wheel to wheel) but they're both given the same time. Why not just use their actual time since it would be more accurate, especially if the finish is going to be decided by a couple of seconds (overall).

I would assume it's a safety thing - not so big a deal with two bikes, but when 20-100 or more riders are finishing in close formation, you would just have crashes all the time if they all tried to get to the front of the pack.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: WhoYoDaddy
i've noticed that but I was wonering why. It's like how lance and basso both came in 1 an 2 (wheel to wheel) but they're both given the same time. Why not just use their actual time since it would be more accurate, especially if the finish is going to be decided by a couple of seconds (overall).

The don't do actual times because sometimes a big group will roll through the finish and it may be 4-5 seconds from the first guy to the last. There's no sense in punishing the last guy since he stayed with that group.

Also, Lance and Basso weren't awarded the same time since there are time bonuses for the first few places. Lance got a 20 sec bonus and Basso 12 so LA actually took an extra 8 seconds out of him by winning that sprint.

 

[Fausto]

Man, now Mayo is out. All the pre-race favorites are going kerblooey.

With his physical condition far from perfect and his morale completely at rock bottom, the Basque hope Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) opted not to start in Stage 15 of the Tour de France. After losing 37 minutes in Stage 13, Mayo had felt bad on the rest day and he and his team decided it wasn't worth continuing.

"We knew he wouldn't finish the stage today, so we decided it was better for him not to start," Euskaltel team manager Miguel Madariaga told Reuters.

Before the Tour, Mayo had been proclaimed as the man who would push Lance Armstrong in the mountains, especially after putting two minutes into the American in the Mont Ventoux TT during the Dauphine Libéré. But a crash during stage 3 of the Tour left Mayo four minutes behind Armstrong, and he was never able to take back any more time. During stage 13 he climbed off on the Col d'Agnes, but was persuaded to continue by his team manager until the finish at Plateau de Beille, where despite his massive deficit, he was cheered to the top by thousands of fanatical Basques.

 

[kaizersose]

lance just took the 15th stage

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: kaizersose
lance just took the 15th stage

Wow. Thanks for fvcking up my TV viewing later. Appreciate that.

:thumbsdown:

 

[Ymmy]

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: kaizersose
lance just took the 15th stage

Wow. Thanks for fvcking up my TV viewing later. Appreciate that.

:thumbsdown:

why check this thread then?

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Ymmy

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: kaizersose
lance just took the 15th stage

Wow. Thanks for fvcking up my TV viewing later. Appreciate that.

:thumbsdown:

why check this thread then?

I've been trying to answer questions about the Tour whenever possible so people can get more out of the coverage. I assumed no one would be dense enough to post fscking spoilers of any given stage.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: Ymmy

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: kaizersose
lance just took the 15th stage

Wow. Thanks for fvcking up my TV viewing later. Appreciate that.

:thumbsdown:

why check this thread then?

I've been trying to answer questions about the Tour whenever possible so people can get more out of the coverage. I assumed no one would be dense enough to post fscking spoilers of any given stage.

He's back in the Yellow again too :thumbsup:

Only mentioning since his Win was already given away.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: Ymmy

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: kaizersose
lance just took the 15th stage

Wow. Thanks for fvcking up my TV viewing later. Appreciate that.

:thumbsdown:

why check this thread then?

I've been trying to answer questions about the Tour whenever possible so people can get more out of the coverage. I assumed no one would be dense enough to post fscking spoilers of any given stage.

He's back in the Yellow again too :thumbsup:

Only mentioning since his Win was already given away.

Yeah, I pretty much knew he'd be back in yellow today. Voekler has ridden his ass off to keep the jersey, but no way could he stay within 22 seconds of Lance today.

 

[RagingBITCH]

I hope Lance used liberal amounts of lube today.

 

[kaizersose]

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: kaizersose
lance just took the 15th stage

Wow. Thanks for fvcking up my TV viewing later. Appreciate that.

:thumbsdown:

sorry man, as a sports update thread, i assumed that people were checking it for news. dont ya kinda assume spoilers?

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: kaizersose

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: kaizersose
lance just took the 15th stage

Wow. Thanks for fvcking up my TV viewing later. Appreciate that.

:thumbsdown:

sorry man, as a sports update thread, i assumed that people were checking it for news. dont ya kinda assume spoilers?

I'd hoped people would link the stage results or something so I wouldn't just see "LANCE WINS"!!


Oh well, today was really a foregone conclusion anyway. Tomorrow will be very interesting since Lance could conceivably lose time to a few people.