Basso's gift

Badger_South said:

Great rider, but no way Basso should have had same time on the
15th stage today with Lance. There was no contact, and seeing
the overhead you realize how far ahead Lance was at the finish.

Armstrong was about half a bike's length clear of Basso:

http://www.letour.fr/2004/finish/finish15.jpg

Even for an uphill finish, that's a fraction of a second. Finish times are
only recorded to the nearest second, hence both receive the same time.

James Thomson

James Thomson said:

Badger_South said:

Great rider, but no way Basso should have had same time on the
15th stage today with Lance. There was no contact, and seeing
the overhead you realize how far ahead Lance was at the finish.

Armstrong was about half a bike's length clear of Basso:

http://www.letour.fr/2004/finish/finish15.jpg

Even for an uphill finish, that's a fraction of a second. Finish times are
only recorded to the nearest second, hence both receive the same time.

James Thomson

Of course you are right. Thanks for the great aerial shot!

[I -believe- I heard the announcer on OLN saying something about a
second between them, but may have mis-heard. Obviously it's only a
fraction of a second, but hard to judge in some of the quick flashes
of certain shots that we see.]

Thx for the correction.

-B

Badger_South said:

James Thomson said:

Badger_South said:

Great rider, but no way Basso should have had same time on the
15th stage today with Lance. There was no contact, and seeing
the overhead you realize how far ahead Lance was at the finish.

Armstrong was about half a bike's length clear of Basso:

http://www.letour.fr/2004/finish/finish15.jpg

Even for an uphill finish, that's a fraction of a second. Finish
times are only recorded to the nearest second, hence both receive
the same time.

James Thomson

Of course you are right. Thanks for the great aerial shot!

[I -believe- I heard the announcer on OLN saying something about a
second between them, but may have mis-heard. Obviously it's only a
fraction of a second, but hard to judge in some of the quick flashes
of certain shots that we see.]

Thx for the correction.

Well, the announcer /did/ say that giving them the same time was a bit
"generous" (IIRC). Still, given the time bonuses for finishing 1-2-3, one
second isn't going to bother LA one wouldn't think.

Bill "just back from a hot little 15-mile loop (tried something new; will
stick to my 23-, 30, and 40-mile regulars)" S.

James Thomson said:

Badger_South said:

Great rider, but no way Basso should have had same time on the
15th stage today with Lance. There was no contact, and seeing
the overhead you realize how far ahead Lance was at the finish.

Armstrong was about half a bike's length clear of Basso:

http://www.letour.fr/2004/finish/finish15.jpg

Even for an uphill finish, that's a fraction of a second. Finish times are
only recorded to the nearest second, hence both receive the same time.

James Thomson

Except, the finish is when the front wheel crosses the plane of the
finish, so the separation is really a bike and a half or a bit more.
Possibly could be a second in reality, but would not want to bet on it
unless I had some good equipment ;-)

- rick

Rick Warner said:

Except, the finish is when the front wheel crosses the plane
of the finish, so the separation is really a bike and a half or
a bit more.

There are two separate issues here - the time at which the riders cross the
line, and the separation used to determine if a split has occurred.

Quoted message said:

Possibly could be a second in reality, but would not want
to bet on it unless I had some good equipment ;-)

For a 3 metre gap to equate to a second would require Armstrong and Basso
to be sprinting at less than 7 miles per hour. Do you really need equipment
to tell you whether that's realistic?

James Thomson