Le Tour de France

[Akmuq]

How come Cavandish seems to win quite a lot of stages each year but is never near the top spot?

 

[Bram Turismo]

How come Cavandish seems to win quite a lot of stages each year but is never near the top spot?

That was due to the transition stages wherein sprinters, yet good climbing, riders like Hushovd could make up a lot of points in the transition sprints.

 

[p-coletray]

How come Cavandish seems to win quite a lot of stages each year but is never near the top spot?

If you mean the top overall finishing times it's because he rides with the pack, has a trained leadout teammate, then sprints the finish, usually just seconds before the pack. It's a very particular skill requiring timing and strategy. He doesn't climb competitively however. The top riders in "Le Tour" are the world's best climbers that have good skills in TT's, downhills, avoid crashes, and get a little team help along the way.

Cadel Evans, however, did alot of his own history making in all aspects. Bravo!

 

[hellnback]

Of course we will just ignore that Cavendish along with about 77 other should've been booted from the Tour for exceeding the 120% time limit on the Galibier stage finish. Organisers kept them all in though and docked Cavendish 20pts...

 

[Spacegoat]

I think tomorrow will be a holiday in Australia.

I wish.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Of course we will just ignore that Cavendish along with about 77 other should've been booted from the Tour for exceeding the 120% time limit on the Galibier stage finish. Organisers kept them all in though and docked Cavendish 20pts...

They kept them because the pack was so big. I agree that rules are rules, but you can't really boot a pack of 80 riders out of the Tour.

 

[Stotty]

I don't get how some people are knocking Cav.

The TDF isn't just about how well people can climb... if it was, the Tour would be just a week long and made up of a few stages in the Pyrenees and Alps. The mountain stages are the most intersting for sure, but the sprinters add interst to the other stages.

Plenty of people aren't capable of getting within 20% of Andy, Alberto, Cadel, Samuel etc on days like the Galibier or Alpe D'Huez, not just Cav.

 

[p-coletray]

I don't get how some people are knocking Cav.

Who cares, he's in the books with all his wins.

 

[p-coletray]

Of course we will just ignore that Cavendish along with about 77 other should've been booted from the Tour for exceeding the 120% time limit on the Galibier stage finish.

Should've been booted? Oh, if you could only imagine the torture endured by these professionals. It's easy to critisize from a recliner. To boot them would be the most unsportsmanlike official ruling of all time. This year was extremely competitive and dangerous, everyone who finished is a madman with a gift.

I would compare that to disqualifying any basketball player who can't dunk from the freethrow line like Michael Jordan. There is only so many people who have the world's best skills, the rest push as hard as they are physically capable of.

 

[Stotty]

And of course you could also give every rider the exact time they finish on every stage rather than just giving all the same time as long as they finish in the peleton... no one would get DQ'd, but plenty of climbers would need to work a bit harder on the flat stages

 

[p-coletray]

I wish I could post a picture of a peleton crossing the finish for you, then you could try to decipher everyones time. Haha. Not that it would matter who crosses when on the flat stages, those guys are so far behind the hill climbers total time there is no comparison.

It's still awesome to watch the sprinters.

 

[fabmaru]

Some of the Highlights of the tour in photos:

I'm Portuguese so...

And that's it. If I forgot something, remember me.

 

[boiltheocean]

The Boston Globe Big Picture has a really good selection of tour images.

 

[Bram Turismo]

And of course you could also give every rider the exact time they finish on every stage rather than just giving all the same time as long as they finish in the peleton... no one would get DQ'd, but plenty of climbers would need to work a bit harder on the flat stages

What is the purpose of that, though? Climbers arrive within the peloton on flat stages, all within 5-15 seconds. Sprinters arrive in 20-25 minutes in climb stages.

 

[fabmaru]

Why didn't I knew that before.

Well I liked this picture

I saw that but I didn't notice that Contador punched him.

And I didn't notice this as well:

That was nice from Garmin but the expression in the face of Garmin's team manager...
Well now I will wait for Tour de Pologne and after that the Vuelta (with the Tour of Portugal in the middle)

 

[p-coletray]

Awesome, now have a reason to like Contador.

 

[fabmaru]

There should be a Cycling discussion thread. A place where we could discuss all cycling races, tours, team changes and all that stuff. What do you think?

 

[hellnback]

Bram Turismo

They kept them because the pack was so big. I agree that rules are rules, but you can't really boot a pack of 80 riders out of the Tour.

Sorry, the sarcasm was lost in text, plus I wanted those who didn't follow as closely to realise there is a small *. Yes I don't expect that many people get booted from the tour, it would've taken away the spectacle over the next couple of stages, but had it been only a few they would've. It's the first time I can remember, and I've been following the Tour since LeMond days, that such a big AutoBus failed to make the time limit. This was probably because by damn it was a 3 Hors Catagorie climb stage all over 2300m!. The torture

p-coletray

Should've been booted? Oh, if you could only imagine the torture endured by these professionals. It's easy to critisize from a recliner. To boot them would be the most unsportsmanlike official ruling of all time. This year was extremely competitive and dangerous, everyone who finished is a madman with a gift.

Trust me I have no illusions to how hard a Tour like this is. I routinely defend 3 week Grand Tour riders as having the hardest sport in the world barr none. To do what they do day after day, at the speeds, or up the climbs, is nothing short of phenomenal, clean or juiced. It's now I wish I could find a ESPN article of a couple of years ago that a journalist tried to eat a days intake of the cyclist, he couldn't do it and started at 5am and gave up sometime after midnight! I was 18 when I used to do competitve Mountain Bike races over anywhere from 30-60km, I became acquainted with pain going up hill, but it was worth every damn ache, for the blat downhill!

 

[fabmaru]

So no one thinks a Cycling discussion thread for everything and not only from the Tour de France is a good idea?

 

[p-coletray]

So no one thinks a Cycling discussion thread for everything and not only from the Tour de France is a good idea?

Maybe, but isn't each topic unique? Like cars, theres a bunch of subtopics. But hey, go for it.

 

[fabmaru]

Yes, but there are a lot of tours. The there major tours could have there own threads like this one but for discuss small tours and changes in teams and all that I think that a thread for that will be good.