Tour de France 2006

emartin10 · 07-01-2006, 11:04 AM

Figured we'd better start a thread with a positive note for the TdF. Did Georgie and DZ look good today or what?!? I've been reading and hearing how strong Hincapie is going to be at this Tour, and man he looked great! Floyd also had a really nice TT today. Off to a fantastic start for the Americans.

On a side note, I want one of CSC's TT bikes. Those things are just beautiful.

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emartin10 · 07-01-2006, 04:04 PM

Floyd flatted this morning right before he started. The fact that he only lost 8 seconds is amazing to me! He would have been top 5 without that miscue, but he'll come back, Thor isn't going to roll with yellow for the rest of the time...

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ODB · 07-01-2006, 10:41 PM

Okay, I admit it. I was standing in the living room screaming for George. The Tour rocks!

emartin10 · 07-01-2006, 10:49 PM

Me too Joe! My girlfriend thinks I'm a bit weird. Not me though!!

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ODB · 07-01-2006, 10:51 PM

I recorded it so Lisa and I could watch it together....sick puppies!

Mark57 · 07-02-2006, 10:24 AM

It's coming......the gap is down... now it's gone.

Watching the peloton reel in a break with a few miles to go, watching the sprinter's teams set up and the pace become insane. The bunch sprint finish is the most breathtaking spectacle in sports.

Mark57 · 07-02-2006, 11:03 AM

Sure hope that cut on Thor Hushovd's arm is just superficial, in this pic of the finish you can see the blood on his arm.

kuri · 07-02-2006, 12:38 PM

Did anyone else catch sight of LA lurking on the left side of the road?

ODB · 07-02-2006, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuri

Did anyone else catch sight of LA lurking on the left side of the road?

Now that's just WRONG!!! George Rocks!

emartin10 · 07-02-2006, 06:10 PM

What a brilliant move by George today - no one expected that! Great stuff. That's just smart racing. I'm not sure Disco wanted to have to defend the yellow jersey for the next 3 weeks, but either way, it's great to see George in yellow.

And Thor's cut was nasty! I can't beleive a little plastic clapper did that, but if they're riding 45+ mph, I guess anything could happen.

And I'm pissed, I had Jimmy Casper on my little fantasy cycling thing, but dropped him for Cancellera. Hope that works out for me!

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Mark57 · 07-02-2006, 08:40 PM

The next week is going to be awesome, I love sprint finishes. Today was notice that this tour is going to be wild, I think.

One of my all-time favorite finishes was Stage 7 last year, there was a two man break that almost made it. They were within a few hundred meters of the line when the peloton turned the corner onto the finish straight, several hundred meters behind. But it was like seeing a massive swarm of angry bees coming down that straight away, and they caught the break a bare 50 meters from the line and swallowed them up. I'll never forget that view back down the course from the finish, when the peloton turned that corner and started charging for the line. The two guys in the break looked like they had made it, then all of a sudden it was "Oh.....My........God, here they come!"

It ended up being another one of those "holy shit, where the fug did McEwen come from?" finishes. Like Paul said today, it's like the guy just suddenly whips off his Star Wars cloak of invisibility at the finish and comes out of nowhere.

One of my other favorites was a couple years ago in the Vuelta, there was an early stage with a straight-in slightly downhill finish over the last 5k. Soap & Water came to the front and started just hammering hard, they were running at over 40mph the whole way in and you could see the other teams start to just disintegrate.

500m out Lombardi took over with Cipo on his wheel, and just out of nowhere there was Robbie on Cipo's wheel. Cipollini took the sprint but only barely. The best is when there's a climb or two along the way and the sprinters are several minutes off the back, then two hours later they're back in front and charging for the line. Amazing.

emartin10 · 07-02-2006, 09:00 PM

I think he called it a Harry Potter cloak - that was one of the better lines I've heard (aside from Bobke's "the km's are passing like kidney stones).

Robbie is awesome - he really does just appear out of nowhere. Animal...

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Mark57 · 07-02-2006, 09:55 PM

You're right, it was the Harry Potter cloak! Sorry, I didn't remember. Either way yeah, the guy is just suddenly there at the finish, like magic.

kuri · 07-03-2006, 11:57 AM

That cloak was working it's magic today!

Mark57 · 07-03-2006, 06:12 PM

Stupid cable company! The NWS has issued a flash flood warning here, so periodically the TV switches to channel 2 for a replay of the warning. It lasts about 15-20 seconds but you can't control the TV when it does it.

So we're about 70m from the finish, Klossen is about to be caught, I can see Hushovd and Boonen starting to go, I already knew Robbie won so I was looking for him.........and *FLIP*. "The national weather service has issued a flash flood warning until...". Bastards!

When it came back the next few groups were crossing the line and Phil and Paul were talking about McEwen. I saw several replays but I would have rather watched the finish. Maybe I can see it on the prime time coverage, the flood warning should be lifted by then. Bastards!

Mark57 · 07-04-2006, 10:13 AM

Man, what a bloodbath today.

emartin10 · 07-04-2006, 12:32 PM

Seriously! Poor Valverde. Tough way to end the race. Bummer, big time! I'm glad that the T-Mobile boys finished 1-2 tho! Probably a big boost!

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ODB · 07-04-2006, 01:01 PM

And George moves to third overall......

Kaiser · 07-04-2006, 06:02 PM

Valverde, Dekker, and Freddie Rodriguez all in one day!

I was happy to see Kessler pull it off today after yesterday's failed attempts. I don't like the sprinters - crazy bastards (mostly probably because I can't sprint myself!).

Mark57 · 07-05-2006, 10:16 AM

I just read in the newspaper that potholes were the cause of most of the crashes yesterday, and the same one took out Deker and Freddie. Why the hell wouldn't the Belgians patch potholes along a TdF route? If it had been Boonen who crashed out the local road maint people would likely have been killed.

kuri · 07-05-2006, 11:34 AM

and McEwen pulls out his Harry Potter cloak once again!

Nobody is on his sprinting level this year.

Mark57 · 07-05-2006, 11:43 AM

I thought I posted here that "the little bastard did it again" but maybe I forgot to hit the submit button. Can't wait to watch it later today, although I'm pretty sure I won't be able to pick him out of the field until he breaks clear in the last 5 meters, as usual.

Kaiser · 07-05-2006, 01:52 PM

Actually, you will. He really beat the crap out of everyone today. No one was within 2 bike lengths of him for the last 50 meters, which is vividly shown in the overhead shots. I begrudingly admit he is the best of the 'crazy bastards.'

Btw, go George! Go Eigo! Johan is doing some serious shit in his tactics, and George is always there in the front row of the final sprint. Impressive. I wanna see Georgie dominate in the mountains!

Mark57 · 07-05-2006, 02:16 PM

I was going to ask yesterday whether anyone thought the loss of his main lead-out man would affect his chances, and if he might just pack it in.

Never mind, though. I think he answered that one.

ODB · 07-05-2006, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaiser

Actually, you will. He really beat the crap out of everyone today. No one was within 2 bike lengths of him for the last 50 meters, which is vividly shown in the overhead shots. I begrudingly admit he is the best of the 'crazy bastards.'

Btw, go George! Go Eigo! Johan is doing some serious shit in his tactics, and George is always there in the front row of the final sprint. Impressive. I wanna see Georgie dominate in the mountains!

I'm with you K. We may have to start calling him King George!

emartin10 · 07-06-2006, 04:42 PM

I'm really questioning what happened to Robbie today - he started his sprint WAY too soon. They were talking about the head wind, but I don't know. Friere was freaking hauling ass. That over head shot was unreal as to how he hit that gap and was just GONE...Boonen gets beat again, he's due to win soon!

DZ dropped way back, but should jump up in the TT. I'm stoked for the mountains to start, Floyd, Levi, and Bobby should start moving on up. Ah, the Tour, what a great 3 weeks.

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Mark57 · 07-06-2006, 05:04 PM

I'm heading home to watch now, but I followed the live updates on Velonews this morning. Sure sounded like Robbie left early, I had Boonen picked for the win.

Can't wait for the mountains either, but I sure enjoy these early sprint stages. Seeing how the teams time the chase almost perfectly every day is just amazing to me.

Mark57 · 07-06-2006, 09:55 PM

Damn, that was well played by Freire. If he'd have gone just a few seconds earlier or later Boonen would have got it. He just caught Boonen off guard, but I think Boonen would have caught him in another 20 meters or so.

Mark57 · 07-07-2006, 10:15 AM

From the VeloNews live race coverage today:

5:07 PM 1km to go
5:08 PM McEwen is not in a good position
As Boonen's tem takes over at the front.
5:08 PM Zabel on Boonen's wheel
5:08 PM McEwen rushing up
5:09 PM Where the @#$% did he come from???
McEwen comes out of nowhere with a GREAT leadout from Stegman.

emartin10 · 07-07-2006, 02:37 PM

The leadout this morning by Stegman was the best I've ever seen. He seriously just plowed Robbie right through the middle, and Robbie just came off his back wheel like a man possessed. It was a phenominal win, Robbie killed everyone. And the best part was his celebration. He's remarkable right now.

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