The Dauphine!

[equus123]

For those who follow, who do you want to win? Who do you like? Who's surprising you? What are your thoughts so far?

As much as I want my Discovery boys to take home the yellow jersey, I'm becoming ever scared of Vino. He's always been an incredible fighter who's tough and strong and is not afraid to take risks. Since his team wasn't able to race in last year's Tour because of not meeting the min. req. # of riders, he's back BIG TIME with avengence in this year's Dauphine and seeing yellow at the Tour. ...not to mention the strength of his new team this year! This guys are doing incredible thus far so when they all come together and work for him, I'm going to enjoy watching how it unfolds.

I was surprised with George's and Levi's finishes in today's 40k TT. I thought Levi would have done much better but you never know with that team - there always so damn smart they could be keeping reserves for the mountain stages to follow.

But my bets are starting to point towards Vino for the Dauphine. He's one tough cookie on those two wheels.

[margo49]

Yeah, but I missed the ITT (weekly romantic outing with the SO aka supermarket trip and buy ds#2 new sandals - what's a girl to do?).
I actually don't like the TT's as much as the "real" stages. Will be watching this arvo tho'. Was thinking of all you gals the day before with Dave Z, Levi, and Big George all in the top 10 of the Classement.
I am also a fan (small time) of Cadel Evans who I see on the eurosport site rode really well yesterday. Will pick it up on the review today, I hope

[PinkBike]

i get up at 6 and watch it live, then i usually watch it again when i get home from work at 10:30 p.m.
vino is always a threat, its way too early for me to predict the outcome.
i would love for boonen to get a win. finally this year.
i dont know what happened to alberto contador - earlier this year he looked absolutely awesome, but then he just kinda fizzled.
thor hushovd? he's got a shot. valverde? always. leipheimer? i think he's waiting to peak at the tour.
i've been enjoying watching, because with all the biggies gone (basso, ullrich, hamilton, etc) it's a whole new ballgame. i dont know a lot of these guys yet but seeing contador climb, steegmans lead out, millar and DZ time trial, and so many more it just seems fun to watch.

[equus123]

yeah, I def agree that it's a different kind of sport without the dominating figures and it does tend to be more fun because you really don't know who's going to win these things now!

re: Contador - what DID happen with him?? he was my new favorite guy in the early season with is ridiculous climbing and it's cool to cheer for someone my age. maybe he peaked too early? or perhaps he's in the process of peaking for the Tour or Vuelta? i hope he does because if Levi could have that little mountain goat pace him up the Alps or Pyranese - they're going to be the Armstrong-Heras duo that tore it up.

[margo49]

Oh, yeah; a beautiful historical intro (on Eurpsport) to today's stage (the Infamous Ventou) which finished with a glorious clip of None Other Than the One and Only Reecharrr Veee-renque crossing the finish line at the summit in the TdF...
And all that *before* we've even started!

admin: is there a possibility to put a "polka dot" option in the colours so I can write Richard Virenque in polka dots to reference his polka dot TdF King of the Mountains jersies over the years?

[equus123]

I like him. I don't know why (I really don't "know" him at all) but I like him

[Kano]

I"m confused.
(not necessarily a new thing)

New to this whole bike racing thing, ony ever heard of the TdF before this spring when people started talking about something called the Giro - thought that was helmets!

This "the dauphine" is a bike race?

NOT the future queen of France?

Kind of like the TdF?

And it's GUYS?
(when I realized what "we" were talking about here, I thought, hey, a womens race that seems to be famous!)

Shouldn't a guy race be "the dauphin" ???

Or does the guy who wins "the Dauphine" get the next queen of France as his prize ,
and if so, who IS she these days?
Do they still have one?
( or does HE get to be the queen of France? )

Karen in Boise

[mimitabby]

Thanks Kano.
You're not the only one clueless here.

[Kalidurga]

Kano, according to Dave Zabriskie, it's the "Dolfin-ay" Speaking of whom, Mr. Z is currently 3rd place in the GC, less than 30 seconds behind the lead: Velonews.com. Woo-hoooo! I guess without Floyd around to goof off with, Dave's gotten serious about his riding.

Oh, and I believe it's called the "Dauphine (feminine) because it's considered the "Queen" of the classic tours.

[margo49]

To all you "clueless" TE gals/women/personnes:

The human brain does not distinguish between thinking about riding a bike, actually riding a bike or watching (eg and for no particular reason (ahem, ahem ) Ree-charrr Vee-renque riding a bike on television.
So if you hooked my head up to one of those Imaging Magnetic Resonance Whatever Machines that go "ping" and "beep" ... you would see my brain light up the same (that is either yellow or pink depending if it is the Giro or the TdF!!) as if I myself was riding that very same stage/route...

Watching cycling on television is much cheaper than a psychologist and you sweat less than actually riding and don't have to "dress for the horse" I mean bike. You can just sit there with your water bottle and feel the high.

[equus123]

I"m confused.
(not necessarily a new thing)

New to this whole bike racing thing, ony ever heard of the TdF before this spring when people started talking about something called the Giro - thought that was helmets!

This "the dauphine" is a bike race?

NOT the future queen of France?

Kind of like the TdF?

And it's GUYS?
(when I realized what "we" were talking about here, I thought, hey, a womens race that seems to be famous!)

Shouldn't a guy race be "the dauphin" ???

Or does the guy who wins "the Dauphine" get the next queen of France as his prize ,
and if so, who IS she these days?
Do they still have one?
( or does HE get to be the queen of France? )

Karen in Boise

Kano, I can help a little with you're confusion.

In pro cycling the biggest races of the year are considered the "Grand Tours". There are 3 - 1 in Italy (Giro d'Italia), 1 in France (Tour de France), and 1 in Spain (Vuelta a Espana). It doesn't get any bigger or harder than these three stage races. A stage race refers to a series of races over the course of 2 days or 3 weeks (as in the Grand Tours). They have road race stages and individual time trial stages and team time trials - from pancake flat terrain to the steepest mountain climbs somebody on 2 wheels can ascend.

The Giro is in June, the Tour is in July, and the Vuelta is in September. The races that these pros do prior to the Giro are generally referred to as the "Spring Classics" which represent training races for these guys whos goals are to do well in the Grand Tour races.

The Tour de France is considered the crown jewel of bicycle racing, eclipsing the Giro and the Vuelta. Nothing is more important the "the Tour" for cycling fans and those racing in it. Over the last 60 years, the Dauphine Libere has been used as the last and final tuneup before the Tour starts in early July. All pros aiming to finish well in Paris race in the Dauphine because they 1) measure the current state of fitness they're in (also some of the Dauphine stages are the same climbs used in the Tour de France of other years), and 2) they get to see what their competition's fitness is as well. The Dauphine is only one week long so it's close enough to the Tour to measure fitness and short enough to recover completely in time for the start of the Tour.

The name comes from the Dauphine region of France that the races are held.

[maillotpois]

The "Dauphine Libere", which is the full name of the race, is also the name of a local newspaper which sponsors the race.

ETA (from cyclingnews):

The Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, named after the daily newspaper of the French Alps just after World War II, celebrates 60 years of existence this year. It's a family affair; created and run for a long time by Georges Cazeneuve, the event has been under the guidance of his nephew, Thierry, a respected cycling journalist, for the past 20 years.

As a result of this long tradition, all the great champions of modern history have used the Dauphiné as a rehearsal for the Tour de France: same venue in the Alps, same mix of prologue, sprint, breakaway, long time trial, uphill finish and high mountain stages, but all grouped into one week, from Sunday to Sunday.

Nowadays, probably even more than in the past, the Dauphiné remains a Tour contender's favoured preparation race, alongside the Tour de Suisse (Tour of Switzerland). It's highly prestigious, the standard of the race has been significantly reinforced by the concept of the ProTour, but so close to the Tour, less than one month before the start, every move is interpreted in relation to the Tour, with top favourites hiding their strength or potential Tour contenders spending too much energy to win.

[Kalidurga]

Oh my gosh, maillotpois, where did you find that quote?!?! I almost snorted iced tea all over my monitor when I read that.

Gotta love DZ

[PinkBike]

there go my favorites to win. vino-cracked. hushovd-cracked. valverde-who?
very impressed with DZ today, but i'll bet his jaws hurt from clenching them up the ventoux! what an amazing climb! and levi and contador were right there, levi didn't even look like he was working at all. i hope the Disco team are just gaging their fitness and holding back for the biggie - The Tour!

[margo49]

Ahhhh, but what a ride (again) from Moreau.
And did you see that Evans came in 4 th. Watch this man!