TDF Stage 5 : Chambord - Montargis : Spoiler

Voeckler may well be in a break to get the KOM points of the cat 4 hill they go over so he can reclaim the polka dots.

Oke this will be it: dekker and voeckler are going to attack and try to get that KOM jersey. And lets not forget everyone is tired after yesterdag. Thus if there is 1 day were a break-away group will succeed it's after the TTT.

Darkhorse for the win after Boonen: Dekker!

Eldrack said:

Voeckler may well be in a break to get the KOM points of the cat 4 hill they go over so he can reclaim the polka dots.

[font=Verdana]Armstrong has decided not wear yellow today out of respect for DaveZ....... methinks he wanted an extra day off from not defending the jersey.... trust Armstrong to take advantage of this.... low act if you ask me.... some people made reference to when Merckx didn’t wear yellow after Ocencia fell….. that was in the mountains when the jersey race was well and truly on….. I think this is truly bad form by Armstrong to take advantage of the fall…. Shows the man he is……[/font]

I'm not a LA fan by any means, and I was really wishing that Dave Z' s CSC squad would be able to keep him in they maillot jaune. They were on course for doing just that but Dave's crash ended all that. I think it's pretty classy that he tried to respect Dave's ride thus far - I didn't expect him to say anything but something like "That's bike racing!" and wear the jersey.

Lemond did the same thing after Rolf Sörensen crashed in the 91 tour and finished the stage with a broken collar bone still in the jersey, but he didn't start the next day.

Edit:

A note though - The commisaires forced the peloton to stop at the end of the neutral start and Armstrong put the jersey on for the official stage.

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]Armstrong has decided not wear yellow today out of respect for DaveZ....... methinks he wanted an extra day off from not defending the jersey.... trust Armstrong to take advantage of this.... low act if you ask me.... some people made reference to when Merckx didn’t wear yellow after Ocencia fell….. that was in the mountains when the jersey race was well and truly on….. I think this is truly bad form by Armstrong to take advantage of the fall…. Shows the man he is……[/font]

Talk about truly warped thinking. Just admit you have zero objectivity about Armstrong and are going to view everything he does as wrong.

[font=Verdana]You overacting idiot.... check out my posts re: State 1 when I praise Armstrong for performing when it counts..... shows your objectivity........ winslow ! [/font]

infantrycak said:

Talk about truly warped thinking. Just admit you have zero objectivity about Armstrong and are going to view everything he does as wrong.

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]Armstrong has decided not wear yellow today out of respect for DaveZ....... methinks he wanted an extra day off from not defending the jersey.... trust Armstrong to take advantage of this.... low act if you ask me.... some people made reference to when Merckx didn’t wear yellow after Ocencia fell….. that was in the mountains when the jersey race was well and truly on….. I think this is truly bad form by Armstrong to take advantage of the fall…. Shows the man he is……[/font]

Hmmm; don't know about that. Sometimes motivations can overlap. I might suggest there's some possibility that Armstrong's intent to show respect for Zabriskie might coincide with his reluctance to have to defend the yellow so early in the Tour.

In the meantime, some of the reports are suggesting that Armstrong asked the race director in advance to have the peleton stop at the end of the neutral zone so he could put on the yellow jersey. If that is true, he accomplished a gesture of respect to Zabriskie and now wears the yellow anyway. If that is indeed the case, you might need to revise your opinion of "the man he is" . . . 😉

So, McEwen soothes the embarrassment of two days ago and edges out Boonen for a stage win. Nicely done, although I confess that as much fun as it is to watch a sprint finish, it'd be nice to see one of the long breakaways succeed and give an adventurer a stage win. It appears TdF tactics have been honed to a fine art -- let a breakaway get about 5 minutes, then real them back in to 1 minute, then wait comfortably until about 15K, then stick the knife into them. I feel bad for the likes of Bodrogi, who has ventured out to the virtual yellow twice in the Tour, only to be sucked back into the maelstrom.

limerickman said:

McEwan could be a contender...

Sure enough...

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]You overacting idiot....

Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.

Quoted post said:

check out my posts re: State 1 when I praise Armstrong for performing when it counts..... shows your objectivity........ winslow ! [/font]

Praising the obvious is hardly proof of objectivety. On the other hand, going off on Armstrong's character without a shred of proof demonstrates a bias pretty clearly.

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]Armstrong has decided not wear yellow today out of respect for DaveZ....... methinks he wanted an extra day off from not defending the jersey.... trust Armstrong to take advantage of this.... low act if you ask me.... some people made reference to when Merckx didn’t wear yellow after Ocencia fell….. that was in the mountains when the jersey race was well and truly on….. I think this is truly bad form by Armstrong to take advantage of the fall…. Shows the man he is……[/font]

From Velonews (edited for relavance...)

Quoted post said:

However, the American clashed with Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc after he turned up at the start line without the yellow jersey.
[font=Verdana]Armstrong wanted to pay tribute to fellow American David Zabriskie (CSC), who lost the jersey in a dramatic crash during the team time trial. Armstrong said that after watching the stage on TV Tuesday night he realized "that David was really unlucky."[/font]

[font=Verdana]But Leblanc insisted he follow tradition, and Armstrong said he had received the message loud and clear.[/font]

[font=Verdana]"There was no negotiating. He said, 'If you don't start with that jersey, you don't start tomorrow,'" said Armstrong.[/font]

Wear yellow or not start. What could he have done? What would you have done?

When Dave fell Discovery was already finished. What could he have done differently?

Not flaming here, I just want to know what you think he could have done differently give all the circumstances. But I won't disagree that some of this was most likely not wanting to defend, yet.

L

Even if he doesn't actually wear the yellow, he is still first and has to defend his position and also respect the traditions of the Tour to some extent ("to some extent" because even in past years LA has chosen not to defend the yellow even when actually wearing it). So I don't see any advantage, none, zero, nada, zilch, to LA here.

Please explain how the race would have transpired differently had LA been wearing blue today. Putting aside whether you have any anti-LA animosity (and I'm not a pro-LA person), on a simple logical basis, you make no sense.

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]Armstrong has decided not wear yellow today out of respect for DaveZ....... methinks he wanted an extra day off from not defending the jersey.... trust Armstrong to take advantage of this.... low act if you ask me.... some people made reference to when Merckx didn’t wear yellow after Ocencia fell….. that was in the mountains when the jersey race was well and truly on….. I think this is truly bad form by Armstrong to take advantage of the fall…. Shows the man he is……[/font]

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]...methinks he wanted an extra day off from not defending the jersey.... trust Armstrong to take advantage of this.... low act if you ask me…[/font]

Apparently, he feels better in earning the jersey than taking it by default due to someone else's mishap. I see no reason whatsoever to interpret this as a 'low act'. On the contrary, it shows respect for both the fallen rider AND the meaning of the jersey. Regardless, Leblanc disagreed, and HE has the final say (after all, the spectators WANT to see SOMEONE in the maillot jaune).

To gain a little perspective on whiteboytrash's anti-Lance mentality, check out this earlier thread:

cyclingforums.comshowthread.phpOpen ↗

Nuff said.

wilmar13 said:

Sure enough...

I really like McEwens showmanship.

rejobako said:

So, McEwen soothes the embarrassment of two days ago and edges out Boonen for a stage win. Nicely done, although I confess that as much fun as it is to watch a sprint finish, it'd be nice to see one of the long breakaways succeed and give an adventurer a stage win. It appears TdF tactics have been honed to a fine art -- let a breakaway get about 5 minutes, then real them back in to 1 minute, then wait comfortably until about 15K, then stick the knife into them. I feel bad for the likes of Bodrogi, who has ventured out to the virtual yellow twice in the Tour, only to be sucked back into the maelstrom.

TdF tactics have become a fine art: with the aid of race radios and computers. It's all stacked against breakaways when the DS can just tell the peloton exactly what speed they need to ride to catch the break.

And now we've got Phil and Paul getting heart rate data and broadcasting it. Every five minutes I'm hearing about Magnus' beats per minute. So rival managers can see how close riders are to their limit. It gets worse and worse.

Get the tech out and make the riders handle the tactics, not the managers!

I was glad to see Brodogi get out there and make a play for the yellow, surrounded by the Italian teams!

Good win for McEwan. I don't doubt that Monday's result put a little extra fire in his belly! By just half a wheel, it looked like to me, but half a wheel is good enough.

Good for LA not to start with the jersey. Respect for the jersey. But I'll leave it at that. Nothing more boring than fights about Armstrong.

Looks like four cat 4 climbs tomorrow and a handful of sprints. Better stage for a nice breakaway, let's hope. I'll be pulling for Dekker or Voeckler to get out there and have some more fun.

Jep would be great and lets ad another name: hincapie! Then the disco's don't need to control the peloton.......and it's a nice payback for all those years riding for LA!

tcklyde said:

Looks like four cat 4 climbs tomorrow and a handful of sprints. Better stage for a nice breakaway, let's hope. I'll be pulling for Dekker or Voeckler to get out there and have some more fun.