"Ullrich can get over last year's defeat"

benjo maso

"Tom Kunich" <cyclintom@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4DYic.9353$eZ5.1351@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> "benjo maso" <benjo.maso@chello.nl> wrote in message
> news:c6hj36$btm85$1@ID-75468.news.uni-berlin.de...
> >
> > "Tom Kunich" <cyclintom@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > news:x8Gic.11047$e4.10804@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> > >
> > > Benjo, how many times have you seen this in the past? Especially on
> places
> > > like the high mountains where the roads are so packed with spectators
> that
> > > you ride within scant inches of them whether you want to or not.
> >
> > Sure, sometimes it seems a miracle that accidents don't happen. At Alpe
> > d'Huez for instance. But this time there was room enough.
>
> That all depends on your point of view. Cutting the corners as closely as
> possible can save seconds on EVERY TURN. Admit it Benjo, it was bad luck
and
> not passing "too close" to the crowd.

Of of the striking aspects of Jacques Anquetil's riding was that he never
cut corners and always rode as much as possible in the middle of the road.
Of course, he knew quite well that he could save seconds cutting corners,
but he still avoided it because in his opinion it wasn't worth the risks:
you never knew how the spectators were behaving and all the junk close to
the sidewalk was too risky to his taste. Obviously it worked, because
Anquetil had less flats than any other rider of his time. According to the
French journals he was lucky, and poor Poulidor (who lost the penultimate TT
of the Tour of '64 because of a flat) unlucky.
I don't agree.

And let me give you another example, from the stage Cannes-Briançon of the
Tour of '48:


"Just outside Guillestre, Bobet's pedal shaft broke. His team magaer
Archambaud was driving just behind him and stopped at once. The mechanic
got the spare bicycle off the roof of the car and because it was much too
small he immediately began to adjust the seat and handlebars. Meanwhile
Archambaud himself put tires on the wheels, which in line with regulations
were 'bare'. When Bobet realized he was going to lose a lot of time he
broke out weeping and complained about his fate to the reporters who had
stopped. 'There's no justice,' he sobbed.

Bobet regarded the incident as a blow from blind fate, but it wasn't
that simple. In fact, with the mountain stage in mind, he had wanted to
make his bicycle as light as possible. One of the alterations he had made
was to replace the solid pedal shaft with a hollow one. It weighed a bit
less, of course, but it was also less strong. In order to save himself a
few ounces, Bobet had risked being hit more easily by a breakdown. In other
words, he had gambled and lost. "

Bad luck?



Benjo Maso

Nev Shea

"benjo maso" <benjo.maso@chello.nl> wrote in
news:c6hj36$btm85$1@ID-75468.news.uni-berlin.de:

>
> "Tom Kunich" <cyclintom@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:x8Gic.11047$e4.10804@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...

>> Mayo was right behind him. It was Armstrong's bad luck to get snagged
>> and not Mayo.
>
>
> I don't think so. The kid with the sack didn't make some unexpected
> movement. Armstrong just came too close to him. He took a risk and
> without the sack he probably would have got away with it.


I disagree. Sure, Armstrong could have ridden further away from the crowd
at that point to avoid a problem if someone did something idiotic, and
the replays of the incident that I saw showed the kid swinging the sack
down and hooking his handlebars. If I hadn't seen the kid looking in the
opposite direction, I would have thought it was intentional instead of an
accident. But that certainly qualifies as an "unexpected movement".

I didn't see Eddy Merckx get punched by the French spectator, but I
suppose you could say he took a risk by getting too close too. And then
we have Guerini on Alpe D'Huez -- he was in the middle of the road and
the idiot still got him.

So I'd argue that if an stupid fan takes a rider down, that's bad luck.

NS