Ernst Noch <
[email protected]> wrote in message news:<
[email protected]>...
> Tom Kunich wrote:
>
> > Excuse me, but if you don't understand the rules why are
> > you commenting on them?
>
> WTF? Where did I comment anything on USPS' or someone
> elses doing in this stage? Reread the post I was answering
> to, we were going on about if sportsmanship in general can
> be expected nowadays.
I just find it silly that you would expect it to be
sportsmanlike for the Tour hopefuls to allow someone to go
up the road while they're waiting for a guy who really never
had much chance to rise above 5th or so.
> I pointed to the most obvious situation where Jan clearly
> did show it - he would've even allowed Vino to gain time
> instead of not waiting for Beloki.
Do you suppose that Lance didn't hear Beloki's bones
snapping? I'm absolutely certain that Lance told Jan that
there was no waiting for Joseba.
> I couldn't see the stage (one of the reasons I didn't
> comment on it, btw.), but you really think that LA started
> to fear Jens Voigt as a GC contender, did I understand
> that right?
If you give someone a big enough lead even small time
domestiques can become a genuine threat. And Jens Voight is
hardly small time. Look, what if someone in the Giro was
foolish enough to have discounted Brad McGee and allowed him
to get a 5 minute lead? Was there anyone that would have
suggested before this last Giro that he was GC material?
My point is that GC leaders don't take advantage of other GC
leaders when possible but they don't give away the race for
some diaphanous view of what "sportsmanship" is either.
Remember what they're there for.
> > Let's not play games and pretend that somehow Mayo stood
> > much of a chance in the first place was stretching it.
> > But surely that'll show as the race progresses.
>
> Well, at least he his surely one of the better GC guys in
> the peloton. If you deny him to be (have been) a serious
> contender for the win, who's left?
There are only three men that have a practical hope for the
Tour. Lance, Jan and Tyler. Everyone else is fighting for a
placing below these three. And they all know it as well.
And the funny thing about all of this is that Mayo's drop
from the GC contension will probably make his job of doing
well in the mountain TT a great deal easier. Lance is still
going to try to win but he isn't worried that Mayo will
offer a threat to his Tour.
> You know what, I bet you that LA and JU have more
> respect from a Mayo who is is on even time with them
> than from a Jens Voigt who is 5, probably even 15, in
> front of them. And I like and admire Jens Voigt a lot,
> and don't like Mayo.
Respect? I don't think that any rider at LA or JU level
disrespect any rider. They know that all it takes is a flat
tire at the wrong time and they're just another finisher
instead of the star attraction.
As for Mayo, no doubt he's a great climber. There is also no
doubt that Jens Voigt is a rider who could inflict a lot of
damage given the right circumstances and certainly isn't
someone to take for granted.