Agree with Bobke..

Also with 100 meters to go, you can see the time boards. It did
however look like LA might have held back a little before passing Jan,
perhaps to make sure he passed him at a slightly higher rate... mind
games?!

Jaybee said:

I was thinking the same as Bobke, when he commented that Lance might have just eased
up enough to avoid the maillot jaune on the opening day. The radio contact they
have certainly could have told him exactly how he stood with 100 meters to go, and
he would have pulled out some extra if he wanted to.
Now Discovery just rides on the backs of CSC until the TTT. Seems to me it was a
strategy, not a loss for Discovery today.

He was three seconds up on Z at 15K (16:46 vs Z's 16:49).

I think if LA looked back and saw a pack of cuddly bunnies chasing him he
could have pulled out 2.1 seconds in the last 200 yds.

jj

Also with 100 meters to go, you can see the time boards. It did
however look like LA might have held back a little before passing Jan,
perhaps to make sure he passed him at a slightly higher rate... mind
games?!

Jaybee said:

Now Discovery just rides on the backs of CSC until the TTT. Seems to
me it was a strategy, not a loss for Discovery today.

Note that they'll (DSC) be leaving _before_ CSC to the TTT, which is
not necessarily a good thing (for CSC). The last to leave has usually
won the TTT too.

Do they have the same timecut system in the TTT this year?

MJ;

--
..signature necesse est

wah wah wah! i'm going to throw my helmet. I only got second. wah!

Seems like team strategy was testing aero helmets crash worthiness. Big
baby.

wah wah wah! i'm going to throw my helmet. I only got second. wah!

Seems like team strategy was testing aero helmets crash worthiness. Big
baby.

"Jaybee" <[email hidden]> a écrit dans le message de news:
[email hidden]...
|I was thinking the same as Bobke, when he commented that Lance might have
just eased
| up enough to avoid the maillot jaune on the opening day. The radio
contact they
| have certainly could have told him exactly how he stood with 100 meters to
go, and
| he would have pulled out some extra if he wanted to.
| Now Discovery just rides on the backs of CSC until the TTT. Seems to me
it was a
| strategy, not a loss for Discovery today.

I don't think so. DSC is 4 seconds behind the CSC. That means that unless
there are some bonus seconds won on the second or third stage, CSC has the
advantage of starting last. Those two seconds could make the difference.
Starting the TTT last 'or at least after their main rivals) is something DSC
definitely values and aims for. Besides, the sprinter teams will keep the
breaks from going all the way the first few days, especially Quickstep,
given Rogers poor start and Lefevre's displeasure with him.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Hincapie or Chechu going for bonus sprints in
the next stages. Ditto for Voigt (especially) and Julich. Might be a bit
harder for Zabriskie or Lance to slip away unnoticed.

Plus, with Voigt or Julich in a break CSC wouldn't have to do any work at
all, even if the sprinter teams dithered about assuming their
responsibilities.

Jaybee said:

I was thinking the same as Bobke, when he commented that Lance might
have just eased up enough to avoid the maillot jaune on the opening
day.

Because LANCE didn't win he must have therefore eased up?

Goddamn, this is gonna be a long month.

Kyle Legate said:

Because LANCE didn't win he must have therefore eased up?

Quoted message said:

Goddamn, this is gonna be a long month.

I had to leave before the final result to go ride to a
race I was working at. I was in a pre-race meeting and
someone got there late that had stayed home to watch
the result. When he got there he announced that LANCE
had finished second. He didn't mention who won.

Bob Schwartz
[email hidden]

DepartFictif said:

Also with 100 meters to go, you can see the time boards. It did
however look like LA might have held back a little before passing Jan,
perhaps to make sure he passed him at a slightly higher rate... mind
games?!

Yes.

Random drug test? Yes.

Kyle Legate said:

Jaybee said:

I was thinking the same as Bobke, when he commented that Lance might
have just eased up enough to avoid the maillot jaune on the opening
day.

Because LANCE didn't win he must have therefore eased up?

Goddamn, this is gonna be a long month.

C'mon Kyle Lance isn't stupid. With the radio in his ear it would've
been stupid to win the prologue. I think Lance could've won it, but
there's nothing good in it for him, or the team, so I'm betting that
they made the decision to finish second. Now CSC is having to keep
things together instead of Discovery.
Bill C

Bill C said:

Kyle Legate said:

Jaybee said:

I was thinking the same as Bobke, when he commented that Lance might
have just eased up enough to avoid the maillot jaune on the opening
day.

Because LANCE didn't win he must have therefore eased up?

Goddamn, this is gonna be a long month.

C'mon Kyle Lance isn't stupid. With the radio in his ear it would've
been stupid to win the prologue. I think Lance could've won it, but
there's nothing good in it for him, or the team, so I'm betting that
they made the decision to finish second. Now CSC is having to keep
things together instead of Discovery.
Bill C

If you look at LA's face as he turns the corner with about 5-6 seconds to
go he looks up, looks around and then without much expression, he goes over
the line. At no time does he even attempt to start a sprint. Even though
he's already going, ah, briskly, he'd be able to sprint if he thought he'd
fail - didn't even try.

So reports of throwing down his helmet notwithstanding, I just didn't see
it. Maybe he wasn't paying attention? ;-)

jj

Jet said:

On 3 Jul 2005 19:11:27 -0700, "Bill C" <[email hidden]> wrote:

If you look at LA's face as he turns the corner with about 5-6 seconds to
go he looks up, looks around and then without much expression, he goes over
the line. At no time does he even attempt to start a sprint. Even though
he's already going, ah, briskly, he'd be able to sprint if he thought he'd
fail - didn't even try.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't make up 2 seconds in that amount of space.

He has the kind of competitive arrogance that it must really have irked
him that he fell 2 seconds shy of winning the first stage of his last
tour. He didn't give it away.