In the studio on EuroSport during the Tour.... Matt White dropped in as well... dressed like a punk....
bobke said:
Deutschland Tour
- Thread starter JRMDC
- Start date
Zabel second AGAIN! This time to Graeme Brown, who also won stage 4. Zabel's placings: 3rd (stage 1), 4th (stage 2, 1st in the field sprint shortly after the break of 3), 2nd (stage 3), 3rd (stage 4), 2nd (stage 8). So he wins the points jersey, and also wore yellow for one day.
Voigt wins, Leipheimer 2nd, Kashechkin 3rd, Gusev 4th and the white jersey, Sebastial Lang the climbers jersey (in a tiebreaker with Kashechkin).
Voigt wins, Leipheimer 2nd, Kashechkin 3rd, Gusev 4th and the white jersey, Sebastial Lang the climbers jersey (in a tiebreaker with Kashechkin).
Quote from team-csc.com:bobke said:
"It's a good race for me. There are many of the Tour de France riders, who didn't do this one, and I am able to manage those seven or eight-kilometer climbs with lots of will power and motivation. It's much worse in the races, where we have to climb 30 kilometers or so," said Voigt.
Another second place for Zabel today. Can't this this guy catch a break? Has he won anything this year? I seem to vaguely remember one or two victories, but with all those second places it seems hard to imagine he's done anything else this year. Anybody got any numbers? How many seconds and thirds? Do you know of a website that keeps track of this? (Too lazy to find out myself)
Finishes of 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, is not a sign of "over." Stop comparing Zabel 2006 to Zabel 2001. He is still an excellent sprinter, no longer in the elite. But he demolished Napolitano (2nd, 168th, 9th, 10th, 3rd). Even Brown was 72nd, 151st, 43rd, 1st, 1st. I'm sure Zabel would prefer to have had a win or two, but he is still a competitive rider, one who in this case easily picked up a points jersey in an important second-tier stage race.portia said:
He has no need to "let go" until he stops putting up siginificant results. The notion that a rider should retire the moment he steps off the pinnacle is absurd.
And all the press mentions of the "eternal second" means lots of press for Milram.
It certainly is odd, though, that he just never has the oomph or the luck to turn one of these many, many seconds into a first.
I personally admire the consistency in results just as much as the occasional flash of victory. And that is why they give points jerseys.
If it's over with lots of second and third places i propose that we make a new rule: only one rider is allowed to start at every race...portia said:
Can't people understand that Zabel is having fun? Zabels role after Fuentes is very important in Germany. He gave lots of greats interviews and brought (together with Voigt) the spectators back to the race.
I am glad he is still riding. And by the way, it's not even 1 year ago that he won his last classic (Paris-Tours).
bobke said:
They're all doping, get over it. Love the sport despite its faults or don't watch it. Being bitter and bothered is a natural reaction to having your eyes opened to professional athletes taking PEDs. It sucks but it is just part of the game.
Voigt deserved the win, period. He has been such a great domestique and classics rider for so long, why can't you be happy that he finally won his native country's tour??
I wish we would just get mentally past the whole doping thing and realize that even if they dope these guys are the most incredible athletes in the world. I for one am stoked for Jens and hope he enjoys a good party after suffering through all that apple juice
Voigt fans of the world it is time to party!!!
Michael
For instance: second in Liège-Bastogbne-Liège 2005 (Vinokourov won). Long solo at Fleche Wallonne 2005, caught a few kilometer for the finish. This year he wasn't allowed to peak at the classics, he had to focus on helping Basso at the Giro and the TdF...JRMDC said:
Fair enough, thanks for the reminder. His greatest successes have come in stage races, however. So I don't think of him as a classics rider.cyclingheroes said:
Extreme example: I don't think of LA as a classics rider, either, although in his post cancer era he had successes loosely similar to those of Voigt (two 2nds in Amstel).
Maybe I shouldn't think of Hincapie as a classics rider, either! His greatest successes have also come in stage races for the most part (1 TdF stage, 2 Dauphine stages, maybe 1 Dauphine 2nd place?, TdF TTT, 4 Days of Depanne). But we know where his heart is, the results may or may not follow...JRMDC said:
