TDF Stage 4 Tours - Blois TTT : Spoiler

[limerickman]

TTT : very interesting viewing.

Poor David Zabriskie : crashing before the last kilometre of the course, as well.
If the crash had occured within the final kilometre, he would have got the CSC
final time which was 1.97secs slower than Discovery and would have still been in yellow.
Very disappointing for DZ.

Great ride by Liberty and Mobile : 34secs isn't a bad result for Mobile and Liberty
did very very well.

CSC were very very impressive.

 

[Ullefan]

TTT : very interesting viewing.

Poor David Zabriskie : crashing before the last kilometre of the course, as well.
If the crash had occured within the final kilometre, he would have got the CSC
final time which was 1.97secs slower than Discovery and would have still been in yellow.
Very disappointing for DZ.

Great ride by Liberty and Mobile : 34secs isn't a bad result for Mobile and Liberty
did very very well.

CSC were very very impressive.

Yeah there had to be a mishap of some sort, so drama.....
I really wanted DC to be beaten.
Great for T-mobile to finish 3rd and only loose 34 seconds to the best team...
I'm sure that's given them hope for the tour, i'm really happy for them, they've come across a lot of critcism.

 

[wolfix]

TTT : very interesting viewing.

Poor David Zabriskie : crashing before the last kilometre of the course, as well.
If the crash had occured within the final kilometre, he would have got the CSC
final time which was 1.97secs slower than Discovery and would have still been in yellow.
Very disappointing for DZ.

Great ride by Liberty and Mobile : 34secs isn't a bad result for Mobile and Liberty
did very very well.

CSC were very very impressive.

THE TOUR de FRANCE HAS FINALLY STARTED !!!!!!!

 

[limerickman]

Mobile went very well, I thought.

The wafflers here were suggesting CSC, Phonak and Discovery as the top three,
with our resident "objective analyst" even suggesting that Gerolsteiner would beat Mobile !
Gotta laugh.

 

[wolfix]

THE TOUR de FRANCE HAS FINALLY STARTED !!!!!!!

We know who the sprinter is ...........

We know who the time trialers are ........

The only question left .......
Who are the climbers ????

 

[Ullefan]

Mobile went very well, I thought.

The wafflers here were suggesting CSC, Phonak and Discovery as the top three,
with our resident "objective analyst" even suggesting that Gerolsteiner would beat Mobile !
Gotta laugh.

Yeah Ithink the difference this year is the lack of puncutures, vino, dry weather, and the scouting of the course they did last wednesday.

 

[whiteboytrash]

...I agree does this also mean there time of 34" will be 'corrected' to 30" with the hard set times losses ?

Mobile went very well, I thought.

The wafflers here were suggesting CSC, Phonak and Discovery as the top three,
with our resident "objective analyst" even suggesting that Gerolsteiner would beat Mobile !
Gotta laugh.

 

[limerickman]

On the road : Mobile were 1min 19secs down on time to USPS in the 2004 TDF TTT.

So 34 seconds this year is a big improvement on last years performance in TTT.

The 1min 34sec deficit is the "on the road deficit", provisional between LA and JU, on GC.
Vino is 1min 26secs down on LA, on the same basis.

 

[peterlip]

...I agree does this also mean there time of 34" will be 'corrected' to 30" with the hard set times losses ?

Yes, 30" is correct.

 

[whiteboytrash]

That’s impressive considering...

The Discovery Channel team has set the fastest average speed for a team time trial in the Tour de France. The nine riders finished the 67.5km course in one hour, 10 minutes and 39 seconds. The average speed is 57.31km/h - eclipsing the previous best (that of Gewiss-Ballan from 1995 - 54.930km/h).

On the road : Mobile were 1min 19secs down on time to USPS in the 2004 TDF TTT.

So 34 seconds this year is a big improvement on last years performance in TTT.

The 1min 34sec deficit is the "on the road deficit", provisional between LA and LA, on GC.
Vino is 1min 26secs down on LA, on the same basis.

 

[limerickman]

That’s impressive considering...

The Discovery Channel team has set the fastest average speed for a team time trial in the Tour de France. The nine riders finished the 67.5km course in one hour, 10 minutes and 39 seconds. The average speed is 57.31km/h - eclipsing the previous best (that of Gewiss-Ballan from 1995 - 54.930km/h).

Gewiss-Ballan !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr.Ferrari's team as well.

I bet he's celebrating tonight too.

 

[sopas]

Yeahh great TTT.
I was really surprised by Liberty's good performance. I hope Heras and Boloki have recovered their best shape and are ready for the mountains.

 

[wilmar13]

Poor David Zabriskie : crashing before the last kilometre of the course, as well.
If the crash had occured within the final kilometre, he would have got the CSC
final time which was 1.97secs slower than Discovery and would have still been in yellow.
Very disappointing for DZ.

What happened that caused him to go down?

 

[limerickman]

What happened that caused him to go down?

Hard to determine.

The camera followed the CSC team coming out of a corner.
The camera was behind the team.

DZ was third or fourth from the front and his front wheel jerked to the right and he came off the bike.
The view was obscured because there were three riders behind him and blocked the camera view as to what the exact cause was.
The commentators reckon his foot left the pedal.
Then it was suggested that he might have touched the rear wheel of the rider ahead of him.

 

[limerickman]

Looking at the TTT footage on Eurosport, did anyone notice how much LA was sweating ?
He appeared to be sweating profusely during the TTT :

I know that they were travelling at 60kph and naturally riders will sweat but compared to the other riders in his team and his fellow competitors, LA seemed to be sweating profusely.
The corresponding shots of Julich, Voigt, Ullrich showed guys who weren't sweating as profusely (and these guys were travelling as quickly as LA).

 

[Ullefan]

Looking at the TTT footage on Eurosport, did anyone notice how much LA was sweating ?
He appeared to be sweating profusely during the TTT :

I know that they were travelling at 60kph and naturally riders will sweat but compared to the other riders in his team and his fellow competitors, LA seemed to be sweating profusely.
The corresponding shots of Julich, Voigt, Ullrich showed guys who weren't sweating as profusely (and these guys were travelling as quickly as LA).

I wouldn't read too much into it. Perhaps someone who is sweating is just putting in a greater effort? I know I'm a heavy sweater, so is my father....but that's just the body's natural cooling system, one could see it as an advantage to sweat alot.

 

[whiteboytrash]

...or that you're fat ? ;-)

I wouldn't read too much into it. Perhaps someone who is sweating is just putting in a greater effort? I know I'm a heavy sweater, so is my father....but that's just the body's natural cooling system, one could see it as an advantage to sweat alot.

 

[jhuskey]

...or that you're fat ? ;-)

Or that you drank a 12 pack the night before.

 

[musette]

Interesting CSC was shedding not only Zabriskie in the final portions before 1 km, but also Carlos Sastre (formerly a would-be GC contender for past years) and Luke Roberts. Riis was accurate in saying nobody would be waited for (except persumably Basso) if they fell behind after the first 40 km.

15 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 0.06
16 Luke Roberts (Aus) Team CSC 0.10

Also shedding light on the folly of TM's picks for the TdF team, guess who were shedded except some of the people Kummer/Olaf had picked for their purported TT prowess?

88 Stephan Schreck (Ger) T-Mobile Team 2.01
88 Daniele Nardello (Ita) T-Mobile Team
179 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) T-Mobile Team 7.17

Especially Schreck and Steinhauser.

Nicely, Popo starts in white tomorrow (although nobody, Popo included, will care at DC). It was nice to see B Noval in the front row on the podium, beside Hincapie, now beaming since he was able to keep up.

 

[homeycheese]

TTT : very interesting viewing.

Poor David Zabriskie : crashing before the last kilometre of the course, as well.
If the crash had occured within the final kilometre, he would have got the CSC
final time which was 1.97secs slower than Discovery and would have still been in yellow.
Very disappointing for DZ.

Great ride by Liberty and Mobile : 34secs isn't a bad result for Mobile and Liberty
did very very well.

CSC were very very impressive.

hey lim, i've been searching the rules but I don't think the kilo/group time rule applies to TTT. i missed the audio feed, did any of the commentators suggest otherwise?