TDF stage 15

[atomicboy]

[QUOTE=Artie Fufkin]My prediction, Lance wins the 15th stage, the motivation:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/cyc...back_indurain/

Thanks for posting this link. I read all the articles on the site. The one I liked the most was the fashback article on LeMond and the 89 Tour. A great read. Printed its about 14 pages but well worth it if you like LeMond and the closest finish in race history. Also in the link you can replace 1999 for 2000 to get more stuff on the stages etc etc. Thanks again.

[Crinkle]

i missed the live broadcast this morning, damn hangover and the repeat wasn't till 6pm tonight. Now that i watched it as though i was seeing it for the first time, i gotta chime in and say

whoot, whoot YEAH GEORGE. Loved seeing him just sitting back there letting everyone do the work, because his team has the yellow, it was his right to do. Then smoking Oscar by 6 seconds in the last 100 meters. Just wow. He totally deserves it.

I thought Popovych was going to be the heir to Lance?

[atomicboy]

I thought Popovych was going to be the heir to Lance?

He is. The next few years look promising and if things play out there will be some great battles with Popo, Valverde, and Cunego.

I just hope Disco does not sign Vino as is rumored for next year. The boy has never been a team player and I think would hurt the Disco team as look what it has done to T-Mob this year.

[Crinkle]

He is. The next few years look promising and if things play out there will be some great battles with Popo, Valverde, and Cunego.

I just hope Disco does not sign Vino as is rumored for next year. The boy has never been a team player and I think would hurt the Disco team as look what it has done to T-Mob this year.

agreed, it was reported on OLN that Vino said he would only consider going to Discovery, that it was the only team he wanted to ride for. T-mobile is just too stacked this year. None of the 3 are going to agree to ride for the other, which is a shame. I think they could have contended with Lance by teaming up on him, doing different combination attacks, forcing Lance and Disco to crack on chasing them down too often.

[snow_slider]

Vino has good cause to leave T-Mobile though. He gets a breakaway in Stage 14 and his own teammates lead the chase group back onto Vino's wheel. What the hell was that about?!?

So very psyched for Hincapie. Tough stage for him and a great win. I kept thinking Lance would catch up and George would be in great position to help Lance on, but I'm glad things played out the way they did.

[Artie Fufkin]

Vino has good cause to leave T-Mobile though. He gets a breakaway in Stage 14 and his own teammates lead the chase group back onto Vino's wheel. What the hell was that about?!?

I was a little perplexed about that after Stage 14, but after reading some articles and comments, it appears that was their "strategy", Vino attacked and for some reason they thought others would follow, but why would they as Vino was not a GC threat anymore. When no one attacked Ulrich and Kloden amped up the tempo and pased Vino, they did succeed in breaking up Disco.

In stage 15 Vino getting water bottles for Jan and chatting with him, and at one point it looked Jan said something to him and he shot up the road. They looked like teammates yesterday. His talents might be better served on another team.

[Plakespear]

Vino has good cause to leave T-Mobile though. He gets a breakaway in Stage 14 and his own teammates lead the chase group back onto Vino's wheel. What the hell was that about?!?

T-Mobile's director just does not know how to win in modern cycling. He has an old-school mentality, and relies too much on talent alone. He is a shitty coach and tactician. Notice Ullrichs best TDF since he won in 1997 was the year he rode for Bianchi, not T-Mobile/Telekom.

[atomicboy]

T-Mobile's director just does not know how to win in modern cycling. He has an old-school mentality, and relies too much on talent alone. He is a shitty coach and tactician. Notice Ullrichs best TDF since he won in 1997 was the year he rode for Bianchi, not T-Mobile/Telekom.

Agree....when are T-Mobile going to sack Walter Godefroot? They have the largest payroll in the sport but YTD have produced squat. T-Mobile needs to look in the mirror after this season and make some tough decisions. They need to start with the management.

speaking of which WTF?

T Mobile conceded the Yelow jersey battle is over, but are still determined to fight for a podium spot. Their website tonight reporting

Afterwards, T-Mobile team manager Walter Godefroot, who is happy about the team´s number one position in the team points competition, commented, "we must accept that in this Tour there are riders that are stronger than us. But, I´m not the type to be disappointed. We tried everything today and yesterday. And that was exactly our goal."

Read between the lines....We have great riders but our tactics suck and I have no idea what I am doing.

I had high hopes for this Tour to be close and that is not the case except for spots 3-5.

[atomicboy]

I forgot to post these quotes from Chris Horner after Saturday's stage....at least he tells it like it is.

Now a few words on T-Mobile's strategy yesterday. Was that a strategy? I mean, what are they doing? Okay, I could see the tactic of driving it into the climb; evidently, it worked and Armstrong was without team-mates, so you could see that tactic work. But when Vinokourov's attacking, why are you pulling your own team-mate back?

And it's not just T-Mobile; look at the rest of the guys... 101 Tactics: you never, never, never pull the race leader around; the fact of the matter is that they pulled the best climber in the world on the mountains and let him destroy them at the finish.

[Stu Gotz]

AtomicBoy beat me to it by a scant few seconds.

[truth]

All that matters is that Big George got a TdF stage win. That's so fucking cool.

[freshies]

all i can say is "wow". been in chicago last few days, so Tivo'ed all the crucial mtn stages, thur - sunday, and watched them all last night. man, i went to extreme lengths over the w/e to craete the TdF media black-out. anyway, i was going bonkers in my living room last night. awesome couple days of racing.

so stoked for big george - after missing the win at Paris-Roubaix by a chin, to win the hardest stage of the 2005 TdF is just amazing...so cool.

race is over (was Fri/Sat really, when LA easily covered all the attacks from T-Mob boys and Baso) and LA set to go out w/7. Lets hope Disco make big george their guy next yr, otherwise, he will sign w/someone else nxt yr as their GC guy....

[bagtagley]

Basso in 2006. Called it.

[Artie Fufkin]

race is over (was Fri/Sat really, when LA easily covered all the attacks from T-Mob boys and Baso) and LA set to go out w/7. Lets hope Disco make big george their guy next yr, otherwise, he will sign w/someone else nxt yr as their GC guy....

I think Lance's 7th is secure, hopefully will see some action this week in the fight for 2nd and 3rd. Here is a good Jan interview from Velonews:

http://velonews.com/tour2005/news/articles/8543.0.html

From the article:
"My aim now has to be the podium. I can't expect to do any better, but even then it won't be easy overtaking Michael Rasmussen. He's been the revelation of the Tour so far."

Rasmussen, who is wearing the race's polka dot jersey for the race's best climber, has more or less secured the jersey ahead of Tuesday's 16th stage, which is the last of three days in the Pyrenees.

Ullrich may decide it will be his last chance to attack - but whom he attacks, and when he does it will be interesting to see.

If he does, Armstrong could decide to let the German go - although he won't get far if Armstrong, and especially Basso or Rasmussen, smell danger. "

Hopefully we will get some fireworks from Jan over the next couple days.

[bklyn]

Basso in 2006. Called it.

If he can keep away from injury and get a stronger team to support him, then yes.

[bagtagley]

In an interview yesterday, Rasmussen acknowledged his poor TT ability and said he'd need to create a "buffer" in the mountains in order to secure a spot on the podium. I wouldn't be surprised to see him attack on Tuesday, given that will be his last chance to gain any time. I'd say Basso's got 2nd locked, but it will be interesting to see if Rasmussen can hang on to 3rd.

[cj001f]

and get a stronger team to support him, then yes.

Since he's with CSC through '09 we'll see what they do.

[Viva]

T-Mobile's director just does not know how to win in modern cycling. He has an old-school mentality, and relies too much on talent alone. He is a shitty coach and tactician. Notice Ullrichs best TDF since he won in 1997 was the year he rode for Bianchi, not T-Mobile/Telekom.

Olaf Ludwig was a good sprinter back in the day. Didn't know he went into managing a tier one team.

Jan Ullrich won the Tour racing for Deuch-Telecom, T-Mobile's predecessor (That was the year that Bjarne Riis was shooting for his second win, but he crapped-out, winning the TdF bicycle distance-hurl- what jersey do you get for that? -in the process, and Jan took over). Jan did race recently for Bianchi for a season or two.


BTW, I've yet to see a single highlight or any coverage of this year's race. Still, KICK some a$$ Chris and Axel!

[atomicboy]

Basso in 2006. Called it.

stepping out on a limb aren't we

Basso will be the overall favorite by just about everyone especially now with a few million more euro's to spend in the off season with the new contract. The strong get stonger.

[atomicboy]

If he can keep away from injury and get a stronger team to support him, then yes.

They actually have a pretty decent team for their budget. Zabriskie is a stud and received great mental experiences this year and will be back next year. Jen's just came down with an illness after a great effort in grabbing the Yellow. Julich is 16th or so and has had a decent Tour but has been missing from the support. I think Carlos Sastre has had a weaker Tour than normal but remember CSC has been two men down the last week of racing and someone has to carry the burden.


Interesting thoughts that if things hold as is an American will have worn the Yellow Jersey every stage except one...Jen Voigt of CSC. Discovery and CSC will be the only teams to have worn the Yellow. The US riders overall are having a great Tour.

[InspectorGadget]

Hooray for George!

What a great race! I seriously couldn't be any happier than seeing George off the front and winning a big-time stage in the tour.

[TeleAl]

Just to add to the T-Mobile discussion, I'm disgusted with them
Thanks for the notes above all, some interesting viewpoints.

One thing is for sure, even a dumbass (like me) knows
you don't reel in your own rider.
My only thought to consider was maybe Vino wasn't playing along the team line.
I'm not sure what went down with them, but they surely lost the race.

Lost, as in they defeated themselves.

Glad to see George win one!
He (and team Disco) certainly deserves some name fame.

[Artie Fufkin]

Hooray for George!

What a great race! I seriously couldn't be any happier than seeing George off the front and winning a big-time stage in the tour.

Not to keep bumping this stage, but it was probably one of the best for the US in the tour, and probably one of the better ones in general. I came across these comments from Lance about George, just showing how important Hincapie has been to Lance's career:

From the Paceline.com -

Emotions of George's win:

"Clearly huge for him. A guy who is so helpful to me in all the Tours and has been a great friend of mine for 16-17 years, the highlight of his career, and really, to me, shows what kind of a rider he is. I said the other day a guy who can nearly win Paris-Roubaix, second this year, arguably always up there, always one of the best in that race and come to the Tour and go to the top of the Galibier with the best climbers in the world and win a stage like he did two days ago against the best climbers in the world. Nobody does that in cycling any more. That's impressive."

How has George inspired him over the years?

"He's a steady influence in my life and in my racing career. He's the guy whose always been around, he's the guy that when I have really, really bad days, he's always there as a calming source in the bus or in the day. I remember very well 2003 when many days it didn't look like I wasn't going to win the Tour…George was always there just with a little lift, a little encouraging word, a little gesture, some bit of optimism that was important for me."

What has his loyalty meant to him over the years?

"Loyalty is a tricky word in cycling - this is the ultimate free agent sport. Guys come and go…he's always believed in the team, believed in the program we have and in cycling, that type of loyalty is hard to come by. I'm a big believer in finding a team, building a team, staying with that team…you find a place, you're happy, you stay. And he's the same way. We're similar in that way."

[atomicboy]

This is from Landis on Eurosport...seems polar opposite to what was reported above by Artie

In Tuesday's look Inside the Tour, Floyd Landis laments Lance's lack of friends, Dane Michael Rasmussen climbs more than mountains, and George Hincapie gets a vote from none other than Lance Armstrong for one day winning the whole Tour de France shebang.

"In general, it's very difficult to be friends with your boss," Phonak rider Floyd Landis said in French sports daily L'Equipe, reminiscing on his time spent in Lance Armstrong's "company," a word the 29-year-old American uses with an intentional corporate connotation.

"Armstrong oversaw the team like the CEO of a company. He saw the Tour de France as a business and he was our boss," said Landis, who raced for Armstrong with U.S. Postal between 2002 and 2004.

"In most teams, friendships exist. But in that team [U.S. Postal, now Discovery Channel], with someone who literally puts himself in the role of the boss, you can't go all the way to friendship."

"I'm not convinced that Armstrong has ever had that kind of relationship with a teammate, not even with George Hincapie, who he's known since he was 17 years old," Landis continued.

"Friendship can't exist when you're giving orders and directing the other members of the team. Mind you, it's not necessarily a negative thing. It's thanks to that mentality that Lance has been able to win so many Tours de France."