Deutschland Tour

[JRMDC]

I hate ESPN so much. I don't care about Rock Paper, Scissor tournaments and spending 10 minutes talking about it, or the other completely useless things they talk about.


For the race, it seems Levi isn't up to par? I apologize if I'm wrong, I've been out of the loop the past few days... What's his status? I know he is 49 sec back.. Is he waiting for the mountains? I am not too familiary with this Tour.

He rode slowly in the prologue, due to some combination of rain and form, and there have been no other opportunities for GC riders to move up. Today is the first day for that.

 

[JRMDC]

Due to bad weather the hors-categorie (what is the German for this term?) Kühtai-Passhohe has been removed from today's race.

 

[jonjungel]

Just 500 m from the top, and Voigt is close to the front! I had not expected this! Go Jens!

Edit: ... and he's in yellow. WOW!

 

[JRMDC]

Just 500 m from the top, and Voigt is close to the front! I had not expected this! Go Jens!

Edit: ... and he's in yellow. WOW!

What happened to Vino?

Bad day for TMobile, Gerdemann and Sinkiewicz can't hold on.

Did Gusev crack in the last 500m? Still, a strong performance for the youngster.

 

[jonjungel]

What happened to Vino?

Lost 4:39 to Leipheimer. Came in right behind two teammates, so it looks like he was dragged up. Eventhough he's said that he's not in top shape, I had expected him to do somewhat better. Maybe lose between one and two minutes...

He's probably targeting the Vuelta and the worlds.

 

[JRMDC]

Lost 4:39 to Leipheimer. Came in right behind two teammates, so it looks like he was dragged up. Eventhough he's said that he's not in top shape, I had expected him to do somewhat better. Maybe lose between one and two minutes...

He's probably targeting the Vuelta and the worlds.

Yes, tour website still does not have a full listing of results, but velonews just put one up:
http://velonews.com/race/int/articles/10655.r.html

In other news, Astana just got the green light for the Vuelta.

 

[Eldrack]

I'm impressed by Gusev's riding, bet DC are kicking themselves for giving him no support. Suprised by Jen's performance, he's pretty heavy to be climbing with those guys, but good on him for doing it.

 

[JRMDC]

I'm impressed by Gusev's riding, bet DC are kicking themselves for giving him no support. Suprised by Jen's performance, he's pretty heavy to be climbing with those guys, but good on him for doing it.

Well, he might not get enough support tomorrow, but my sense of the live ticker was that Devolder was with him for quite a while today. Devolder finished only 52 seconds back, alone in 11th for the stage. He was in a group of nine riders including all of the leaders 6 minutes from the finish (ticker doesn't say how many km), according to the live ticker.

Voigt is having a strong race. Lim's pick, Piepoli, rode well but didn't quite overcome a big deficit from the prologue.

Tomorrow is the last climbing stage, tuesday a TT, wednesday a flat finale. If Gusev rides as strongly tomorrow as today, he has a good chance since he TTs well.

 

[JRMDC]

I forgot to note that a major climb was dropped from today's stage, which probably favored Gusev and DC. Unless the same happens tomorrow, it may be much more difficult for them tomorrow.

Well, he might not get enough support tomorrow, but my sense of the live ticker was that Devolder was with him for quite a while today. Devolder finished only 52 seconds back, alone in 11th for the stage. He was in a group of nine riders including all of the leaders 6 minutes from the finish (ticker doesn't say how many km), according to the live ticker.

Voigt is having a strong race. Lim's pick, Piepoli, rode well but didn't quite overcome a big deficit from the prologue.

Tomorrow is the last climbing stage, tuesday a TT, wednesday a flat finale. If Gusev rides as strongly tomorrow as today, he has a good chance since he TTs well.

 

[Eldrack]

I forgot to note that a major climb was dropped from today's stage, which probably favored Gusev and DC. Unless the same happens tomorrow, it may be much more difficult for them tomorrow.

Favours Voigt too, at the expense of the really good climbers who I think would have dropped Gusev/Voigt on the last climb had the HC been in there. Hopefully tomorrows climb will be in there, makes the race more open I think.

 

[JRMDC]

Favours Voigt too, at the expense of the really good climbers who I think would have dropped Gusev/Voigt on the last climb had the HC been in there. Hopefully tomorrows climb will be in there, makes the race more open I think.

Voigt climbed pretty darn well in stage 19 of the Giro; he may not be dropped tomorrow if he senses an overall win! Gusev is not in that category of climbing, to my knowledge.

Edit: from Velonews:

Voigt was delighted and admitted the shortened stage helped him.

"I benefited from the shortened course," confessed Voigt. "The big mountain was removed from the run and that helped me."

 

[JRMDC]

I'm impressed by Gusev's riding, bet DC are kicking themselves for giving him no support.

Beltran and Danielson are riding in Tour d'Ain starting today; don't know where the other DC climbers are. Beltran was given the team lead "11" number, and finished in the top 12, so he's the GC leader. Look's like that's a Vuelta warm-up ride for DC.

Today's win in that tour by Dessel. John Gadret also in that top 12 group at 0:22; hadn't seen his name since his fine climbing at the Giro; maybe recovering from injury. Dessel won by 12 seconds, some others may have attacked off the front of that group also; I can't tell (if bonus seconds are 8-4-2-1, then riders 2-12 finished together).

Interesting, that Tour has six-person teams, not eight.

 

[JRMDC]

Look's like that's a Vuelta warm-up ride for DC.

Correction, it's a split squad. Of the DC riders on the Vuelta list, Beltran, Danielson, Van Goolen are at D'Ain, Gusev, Devolder, Joachim, Barry at Deutschland. Gives more chances for people to shine, I guess.

 

[bobke]

Voigt climbed pretty darn well in stage 19 of the Giro; he may not be dropped tomorrow if he senses an overall win! Gusev is not in that category of climbing, to my knowledge.

Edit: from Velonews:

Voigt was delighted and admitted the shortened stage helped him.

"I benefited from the shortened course," confessed Voigt. "The big mountain was removed from the run and that helped me."

Yes, Voigt is a very very tall and big boned guy whose climbing I first noticed in the Tour de Georgia when he stayed almost with Lance Armstrong in 2004 on Brasstown Bald up an extended 20% gradient one of the hardest climbs in America. Lance, 5 ft 10 ft and 158 pounds and the worlds best climber, more or less, at the time.

I also note than CSC has won like 7 stages or races in the past week.
Schleck won Amstel and then Alpe d'Huez this year like his mentor Riis who won Amstel and the TdF the same year when his hematocrit was 60%.
Paris-Roubaix,Amstel, the Giro, Alpe d'Huez, and about a million other races....

Yes, CSC, considering that Basso was out of the Tour, won a stage with Voigt, and another won with Schleck and Sastre will now be third on the GC, and all this without their team leader, out for doping. Not a bad performance. Can you imagine what Basso would have done had he been allowed to compete???@!?!?!

In one and the same day last week the team won three races, a real hat trick. and Cancellara won the overall in Denmark right?

Any questions?

 

[JRMDC]

I'm not a moderator, but I would appreciate it if such extended specualtions were not put in the Deutschland thread. Plenty of other threads, or start a new one for "CSC - Riis dopes his riders?" or something like that.

And no, I don't have my head in the sand. And yes I do read the other threads. And yes, my view of the sport is affected by recent events. Perhaps not greatly affected, but that is because the latest problem is one of a long chain, not because I minimize the problem.

Nonetheless, I'd like to see one thread without extended discussion of PED issues, given that there is plenty in all the other threads. And no, I don't know where to draw the line, but it seems to me that at some point this post went from a comment on Deutschland to a comment on the sport as a whole.

One can easily attach a post to any race thread from now on saying "the winner was doping." One could always do that, a number of posters did, and now more people believe that proposition is true.

Yes, Voigt is a very very tall and big boned guy whose climbing I first noticed in the Tour de Georgia when he stayed almost with Lance Armstrong in 2004 on Brasstown Bald up an extended 20% gradient one of the hardest climbs in America. Lance, 5 ft 10 ft and 158 pounds and the worlds best climber, more or less, at the time.

I also note than CSC has won like 7 stages or races in the past week.
Schleck won Amstel and then Alpe d'Huez this year like his mentor Riis who won Amstel and the TdF the same year when his hematocrit was 60%.
Paris-Roubaix,Amstel, the Giro, Alpe d'Huez, and about a million other races....

Yes, CSC, considering that Basso was out of the Tour, won a stage with Voigt, and another won with Schleck and Sastre will now be third on the GC, and all this without their team leader, out for doping. Not a bad performance. Can you imagine what Basso would have done had he been allowed to compete???@!?!?!

In one and the same day last week the team won three races, a real hat trick. and Cancellara won the overall in Denmark right?

Any questions?

 

[bobke]

Wow, that was really cool watching Jens Voigt catch and come around Levi Leipheimer on a Cat 1 climb on a 12% gradient. He is such a strong rider and CSC is such a strong team. Just really amazing!!

Jens dropped Piepoli, Mazzoleni, Kascheskin, and all of them climbers.
Wow, really cool.

Now like last year when George won a mountain stage in the TdF, we should start a thread can Jens Voigt win the Tdf. After his climbing today I would say so.

 

[JRMDC]

Voigt is super strong in this tour. Vino worked hard to set up Kashechkin who stays close in the end. Petrov will move up the standings also. Gusev holds it together for a very good placing for the youngster.

How is Voigt's time trialing?

 

[JRMDC]

Voigt leads Leipheimer by 28 seconds for the overall. Third spot on the podium will make for quite the contest at the TT, with five riders between 0:56 and 1:18 behind: Petrov, Gusev, Kashechkin, Cuesta (more CSC strength!), Bruseghin. Anyone know anything about their relative TT abilities? I guess we'll learn soon enough!

Were he to finish on top, this would be Voigt's best result ever. He finished this Tour in 2nd in 2004 and has won some shorter stage races.

 

[jonjungel]

Does anyone know if any recordings of this tour have been published on the net? I would really like to see some pictures instead of text updates...

 

[portia]

Does anyone know if any recordings of this tour have been published on the net? I would really like to see some pictures instead of text updates...

www.radsport-aktiv.tv

You´ll find summaries of the hilights of each stage.