Tour de France 2005

[jobob]

And now for the Funniest Moment of the 2005 Tour day France on OLN, brought to you by Paceline Chamois Butt'r:

During the post-race afterglow (er, recap) with Al, Bob, Paul and Phil:

Al Trautwig: "As we've counted down all the tour wins, what's your favorite?"

Phil Liggett: " Um, 1989. "

[ ...dead silence... ]

Al Trautwig, incredulous: " Of Lance's tours ????? "

Phil: "Oh. Right ..."

[Dogmama]

There are times when the K of D manifests itself in strange and mysterious ways indeed.

What is K of D?

[Veronica]

I don't care that they decided to reinstate the time bonuses - I care that they decided to do it AFTER the race was over. After everyone had crossed the finish line. After everyone thought the GC was locked in and it didn't matter anymore except to make it home safe. I hope Levi and Gerolsteiner protest this and I hope the directors reverse their unfair and way-out-of-line decision.

I'm hoping they decided to reinstate the bonuses before the end of the race AND that they told everyone - except the commentators obviously. Well I would have liked to see Levi get in the top five, Vino rode one heck of a race today and deserved the bonus. And he did it with no help from his team. I hate to see such a tremendous victory clouded by miscommunication.

V.

[jobob]

It certainly wouldn't be the first time that OLN didn't get it right.

In retrospect it could very well be that everyone knew the time bonuses would apply at the finish, and Vino chose to go for it and perhaps Levi didn't have it left in him to counter, or, didn't expect Vino to get the win.

In which case, then, good for Vino.

Hi V., welcome home. Bring some cool weather with you, perchance?

[cindysue]

Veronica,

Do tell! How was your trip?

and, Welcome back!

[Veronica]

Veronica,

Do tell! How was your trip?

It was FABULOUS! Gorgeous scenery, great weather, tremendous food. The North Umpqua trail is tough and not for anyone afraid of heights. I discovered I prefer "Death" to the left rather than the right, especially when I'm climbing.

Thom's been processing pictures and I've been doing laundry and repacking much of the day since we're off again on Tues. for a week with family in Maine. Hopefully we'll have the pictures ready and up on the web site tonight.


I am covered with bruises, scrapes and insect bites. I tried on the dress I'm wearing to my reunion and Thom asked me if they make leg make up. Yeah, probably, but I'm kinda proud of how beat up my legs look, 'cause I got back on my bike after each and every crash. (Only two REAL ones Jo - and no broken bones!)


V.

[slinkedog]

Welcome back, V, well, at least for a day! I've missed hearing from you!

Sounds like your trip was quite the adventure! Can't wait to see those pictures. Have fun at your reunion... we did mine in June and it turned out to be really fun. I hope you guys have a great time.

[Bustertb]

getting bumped down to 6th? Too bad it had to rain. It would have been much more exciting. Bye Lance. Thanks for the memories. Courage is Contagious.

[wabisabi]

Could anyone decode the Armstrong speech for me? I do not at all understand his reference to 'those who don't think cycling is a sport...I feel sorry for them,' etc.? What is he talking about? I asked my guy cycling friends, and they said, variously, 'he is from Texas where all they talk about is football,' 'places like ESPN won't cover cycling,' were some answers. On my ride today I thought, maybe cycling is kind of too 'feminine' for gonzo sports guys; by this I mean that some of the best riders are kind of small and slight, they are riding bikes, much more fragile than SUVs--(OK, maybe this was a bonk induced thought!)

What do you all think?

[spazzdog]

We had this same discussion going on on another forum, with me being all ranty & ravey... and then it hit me.

This is the rule as explained by race radio:

"Jean-Francois Pescheux, the Tour’s sporting director, has just announced that the time for the general classification of the final stage will be taken on the first pass of the finish line."

The operative statement is "time for the GC of the final stage". If you look at the stage results all riders were given the same finishing time. They only cancelled the 2nd intermediate sprint time bonus, not the finish time bonus, which they then calculated into the overall GC placement.

Levi's team should have been off the front to make sure Vino didn't win it... they should've helped anybody BUT Vino to win that stage. Somebody fell asleep in the team director car.

spazz

[spazzdog]

One last thought on the 2005 Tour...

Did y'all notice that the riders wore helmets throughout all stages this year?

Last year the rule was the riders could ditch them on an uphill finish, but this year (gladly), everyone had a helmet every day, all day.

I'm wondering if there was pressure from cycling advocacies... anybody notice on any other pro rides where the boys generally ditch their helmets?

Until next year...

spazz

[MaryG]

Could anyone decode the Armstrong speech for me? I do not at all understand his reference to 'those who don't think cycling is a sport...I feel sorry for them,' etc.? What is he talking about?

During CBS's coverage this afternoon there was a prerecorded interview with Lance Armstrong. He was asked what he would miss least/miss most. Armstrong said with a laugh something like I am not going to lie to you that I am not going to miss the European press and the fact that you wake up in the morning and have to read in the papers more BS being printed about you.

I took his speech as being directed at the press and all the none believers. That they are the ones that don't believe in dreams.

[On_yer_left!]

The other point I think he's trying to make is that there was so much speculation and trash talk that drugs fueled his performance, not sheer athletic ability. That was why he said people didn't seem to believe in miracles -- the detractors who didn't believe he could come back from cancer and do the things he did WITHOUT enhancement.

I love that at the end of each stage, the guy couldn't even take a leak without being hustled to the drug test van first. Can you think of any other sport where they're as obsessive?

[greenchick]

anybody notice on any other pro rides where the boys generally ditch their helmets?

Unless I'm remembering wrong, the TdF has been sort of the last holdout -- most of the other national federations (except maybe the Italians?) have required helmets for a while now.

Of course, I picked up that tidbit in reading up on Casartelli's accident, and it still took them 10 years after the fact to change the rules. Sigh.

[Bustertb]

I agree spazzdog, Levi's team director was asleep at the wheel. They went after Vino the first time he went off the front. I can't remember if the ruling of doing away with the time sprints was before or after Vino's first attack. If it was after the first attack then my thinking would be that the team director thought that ALL the time bonuses were canceled. So maybe it was a matter of misunderstanding. Surely Levi's team knew that Vino wasn't gonna give up after one attack. Especially after he attacked all throughout the race for 3 weeks.

In my opinion I don't know if Levi could out sprint Vino. But he should have been up there to at least try. No one on Vino's team was helping him, so maybe if Levi's team had been up there like they did the first time Vino attacked then Levi could have beat him in a sprint. We'll never know. If anyone reads Levi's comments about this would you please post the article? Thanks!