Stage 9: Bordeaux - Dax, 170 km

[steve]

Stage 9 - Tuesday, July 11: Bordeaux - Dax, 170 km

Stage 9 is considered the flattest day of the 2006 Tour. The sprinters teams will be looking to keep things under control in the battle for the green jersey as the Pyrenees Mountains loom in the coming days.

This is the last chance for the sprinters for a few days

Live coverage:
http://live.cyclingnews.com/
http://www.letour.fr

 

[whiteboytrash]

Very smart to have a flat stage after the first rest day before the mountains..... many riders complained last year having the first mountain stage the day after a rest day.... they said it breaks their rhythm.... the riders union headed by Jens lodged a compliant to ASo to have this changed…..

Stage 9 - Tuesday, July 11: Bordeaux - Dax, 170 km

Stage 9 is considered the flattest day of the 2006 Tour. The sprinters teams will be looking to keep things under control in the battle for the green jersey as the Pyrenees Mountains loom in the coming days.

This is the last chance for the sprinters for a few days

Live coverage:
http://live.cyclingnews.com/
http://www.letour.fr

 

[mikkemus]

Dont think it would matter much - isnt the rest day also known as refill day?

 

[whiteboytrash]

Dont think it would matter much - isnt the rest day also known as refill day?

Thats what I mean..... those who got their refill on the rest day perfromed well and those who did not flatted.... there was a report on raceclean.org (which I know is a shammy site) that on last years rest day certain riders were seen going for a 50km ride to take a left hand turn into a non-Tour hotel and come out 2 hours later rubbing their arms..... strange but true..... none the less riders did complain that its better to go into the first mountain stage from a flat stage than a rest day.....

 

[Capt.Injury]

Stage 9 - Tuesday, July 11: Bordeaux - Dax, 170 km

Stage 9 is considered the flattest day of the 2006 Tour. The sprinters teams will be looking to keep things under control in the battle for the green jersey as the Pyrenees Mountains loom in the coming days.

This is the last chance for the sprinters for a few days

Live coverage:
http://live.cyclingnews.com/
[url="http://www.letour.fr"]http://www.letour.fr[/url]

ITs going to be interesting if the Sprinters control the break, or if the break can make it because teams like Davitimon, who have a GC contender on it, will want to conserve for this week mountain stages.

 

[longbottom]

Oscar Freire won the stage. McEwen finished second and Zabel third.


In spite of the short and comparatively easy stage, a few riders lost some time. Voeckler, Boogerd, Voigt, Rubiera, Gomez-Marchante, Menchov, Kessler, Mayo, Wegmann, Casar and Fothen (among others) lost 13 seconds, and Leipheimer lost another 2 minutes!

 

[Deli]

Oscar Freire won the stage. McEwen finished second and Zabel third.


In spite of the short and comparatively easy stage, a few riders lost some time. Voeckler, Boogerd, Voigt, Rubiera, Gomez-Marchante, Menchov, Kessler, Mayo, Wegmann, Casar and Fothen (among others) lost 13 seconds, and Leipheimer lost another 2 minutes!

Leipheimer must have major problems. I'll be surprised if he makes it past the Pyrenees.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Leipheimer must have major problems. I'll be surprised if he makes it past the Pyrenees.

Why didn't he tranfuse yesterday ?

 

[bored_again]

Leipheimer must have been caught in a crash as he finished with a group 1' 45" down but he's been given a time just 26" behind the leader (provisionally at least)

 

[Deli]

Why didn't he tranfuse yesterday ?

I think the line was too long. It is hard to service 160+ riders in a single day.

 

[Orla_24]

I think the line was too long. It is hard to service 160+ riders in a single day.

And Boonen did not have the legs AGAIN!

He was placed perfectly, but he was just... paddling slow, in comparison to RM and Oscar, at least.

Loved the back patting from RM to OF when Robbie realized he was beat Ah well, win some lose some.

 

[whiteboytrash]

I think the line was too long. It is hard to service 160+ riders in a single day.

Very good !

 

[sonicman]

Oscar Freire won the stage. McEwen finished second and Zabel third.


In spite of the short and comparatively easy stage, a few riders lost some time. Voeckler, Boogerd, Voigt, Rubiera, Gomez-Marchante, Menchov, Kessler, Mayo, Wegmann, Casar and Fothen (among others) lost 13 seconds, and Leipheimer lost another 2 minutes!

13 seconds are not such a big problem, the problem is losing 30 seconds after losing 5 minutes a few days in the past...

Levi is in trouble.

 

[Biscayne]

Leipheimer must have been caught in a crash as he finished with a group 1' 45" down but he's been given a time just 26" behind the leader (provisionally at least)

How does Leipheimer wind up finishing 1'45" down in 159th place, but get assigned a time of only 0'26"? Ditto for Gorka Verdugo who is listed as finishing immediately behind Leipheimer in 160th spot -- but is assigned a time of only 0'13"??

 

[Erik_Rasmussen]

Oscar Freire !!!


Tomorrow I think another victory for Rabobank, Micheal Rasmussen

 

[bored_again]

How does Leipheimer wind up finishing 1'45" down in 159th place, but get assigned a time of only 0'26"? Ditto for Gorka Verdugo who is listed as finishing immediately behind Leipheimer in 160th spot -- but is assigned a time of only 0'13"??

Leipheimer must have been held up in a crash within the last two kilometres and so he was given the time of the group he was riding in prior to the crash. If memory serves me correctly it happened to him on stage 2 as well. There's really no excuse for losing contact with the group on a dead flat stage. Even 26" for a (wannabe) GC contender is too much. Its stupid to lose time on easy stages like this.

 

[sonicman]

Oscar Freire !!!


Tomorrow I think another victory for Rabobank, Micheal Rasmussen

He´ll attack Thursday whem we´ll have real serious mountains, tomorrow expect one of those guys like Jens Voigt to try to get a stage win...

 

[Dead Star]

***********, that Quick Step train fell on its ****. Unlucky for Bennati, who went the other side of Boonen and ended up being blocked, whereas Freire chose the right side and ended up winning.

 

[Deli]

Leipheimer must have been held up in a crash within the last two kilometres and so he was given the time of the group he was riding in prior to the crash. If memory serves me correctly it happened to him on stage 2 as well. There's really no excuse for losing contact with the group on a dead flat stage. Even 26" for a (wannabe) GC contender is too much. Its stupid to lose time on easy stages like this.

I read that he had a mechanical. Not much he can do about that, but you're right, 26" is a lot of time to lose when you're 6+ minutes down already. Esspecially on a flat stage like today.

 

[JAPANic]

I still can't get over how McEwen managed to get to the line 2nd from where he was... he was boxed in against the barrier, there was a wall of (fast) riders in front of him... most people would've just given up at that stage and been a bit angry that they couldn't get through...but not RM..

The wild veer to the left looked dangerous but with the speed that he did it there would have been nobody going fast enough to have impeded....

He looked like he was on his BMX bike doing a houdini trick in an elephant stampede....his light body must be what makes his explosive acceleration so possible.... (I have to lose more weight...)

He certainly has determination....