Mountain Jersey

Jesse Thompson said:

So what I want to know is, why the hell are all the climbers who have no
hope at GC letting Virenque walk away with the Mountains Jersey.

There's any long list of riders who could ride better than the old man:
Rasmussen, Simoni, Mancebo, Cesar. Is the polka-dot really not worth
more than a 8th place on GC? Especially after they all fall apart on the
final time trial...

Moreau has put up a pathetic run at the points, with embarrassing
sprints. Rasmussen let Chavanel take all the 1st place points on their
break, when he could have grabbed a big pile right there. What's the
deal? All you have to do is watch Virenque on the first day in the
mountains and follow him when he goes. Like any of the real climbers
couldn't have done that?

So strange. They're just letting him have it...

Good question. Maybe Virenque bought off Moreau, because Moreau stopped
attacking him. Seems there's plenty of good climbers, but many of them
are domestiques in the service of their GC hope and go up the road to
place themselves strategically.

The KoM does have a cash prize, which some riders in the past have
pursued because it helped them buy their dream home (a farm!) quicker.

It is do to the fact that some teams other than Postal have at least a
little discipline. Each member has a specific job to do. Chasing after
random points is not one of them. When have you seen a Postie in a flyer
this year? The team is the reason Lance is doing well.

Once his position is solidly established that might change with a few going
for a stage win. You will not win TDF if part of your team is riding for
personal glory.

Ken

"Jesse Thompson" <jesseth@removethis_gwi.net> wrote in message
news:1gh72nx.1j1oq8e1ceebjuN%jesseth@removethis_gwi.net...

Quoted message said:

So what I want to know is, why the hell are all the climbers who have no
hope at GC letting Virenque walk away with the Mountains Jersey.

There's any long list of riders who could ride better than the old man:
Rasmussen, Simoni, Mancebo, Cesar. Is the polka-dot really not worth
more than a 8th place on GC? Especially after they all fall apart on the
final time trial...

Moreau has put up a pathetic run at the points, with embarrassing
sprints. Rasmussen let Chavanel take all the 1st place points on their
break, when he could have grabbed a big pile right there. What's the
deal? All you have to do is watch Virenque on the first day in the
mountains and follow him when he goes. Like any of the real climbers
couldn't have done that?

So strange. They're just letting him have it...

Jesse Thompson jesseth@removethis_gwi.net said:

There's any long list of riders who could ride better than the old man:
Rasmussen, Simoni, Mancebo, Cesar. Is the polka-dot really not worth
more than a 8th place on GC? Especially after they all fall apart on the
final time trial...

Quoted message said:

Moreau has put up a pathetic run at the points, with embarrassing
sprints. Rasmussen let Chavanel take all the 1st place points on their
break, when he could have grabbed a big pile right there. What's the
deal?

Rasmussen doesn't care about following the things:

the polka dot jersy
7-10th GC.
2.th on a stage.

What he does care about is:

A stage win, preferably an hounerable one (not one where he sits on
Armstrongs & Basso's wheel until the last 100m)
A podium spot (the only way he can get that, is to win a stage or two
with +5 minutes, as he will loose 5-10 minutes on the final timetrail)

BTW to get the mountain points in front of Chavanel, wolud be bad
politics as Chavanell otherwise might not want to do work in the
brakeaway - Both of them knew that if Chavanell had been with Rasmussen
on the final climb Rasmussen would burry him - Chavanell had no chance
of a stage win on mountain stage in a brakeaway with Rasmussen.

--
Morten Reippuert Knudsen :-) <http://blog.reippuert.dk>

PowerMac G5: 1.6GHz, 1.25GB RAM, 80GB Disk, 8x DVD+/-RW, Bluetooth mus
+ tastatur, FX5200 Ultra, iSight, eyeTV200 & Lacie Photon18Vision (TFT).

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"Jesse Thompson" <jesseth@removethis_gwi.net> wrote in message
news:1gh72nx.1j1oq8e1ceebjuN%jesseth@removethis_gwi.net...
So what I want to know is, why the hell are all the climbers who have no
hope at GC letting Virenque walk away with the Mountains Jersey.

There's any long list of riders who could ride better than the old man:
Rasmussen, Simoni, Mancebo, Cesar. Is the polka-dot really not worth
more than a 8th place on GC? Especially after they all fall apart on the
final time trial...

Moreau has put up a pathetic run at the points, with embarrassing
sprints. Rasmussen let Chavanel take all the 1st place points on their
break, when he could have grabbed a big pile right there. What's the
deal? All you have to do is watch Virenque on the first day in the
mountains and follow him when he goes. Like any of the real climbers
couldn't have done that?

So strange. They're just letting him have it...

IMKen said:

It is do to the fact that some teams other than Postal have at least a
little discipline. Each member has a specific job to do. Chasing after
random points is not one of them. When have you seen a Postie in a flyer
this year? The team is the reason Lance is doing well.

Once his position is solidly established that might change with a few going
for a stage win. You will not win TDF if part of your team is riding for
personal glory.

Ken

Dude, you've been smoking too much OLN.

None of the people I named has a GC threat on their team. Obviously
Guerini, Sastre, and the Euskaltels aren't going to wander off and
abandon their leader. I wasn't talking about that.

Morten Reippuert Knudsen said:

Jesse Thompson jesseth@removethis_gwi.net said:

There's any long list of riders who could ride better than the old man:
Rasmussen, Simoni, Mancebo, Cesar. Is the polka-dot really not worth
more than a 8th place on GC? Especially after they all fall apart on the
final time trial...

Quoted message said:

Moreau has put up a pathetic run at the points, with embarrassing
sprints. Rasmussen let Chavanel take all the 1st place points on their
break, when he could have grabbed a big pile right there. What's the
deal?

Rasmussen doesn't care about following the things:

the polka dot jersy

Yeah, but why not. He could win it. It's prestigous. You get a spot
on the big stage in Paris. People remember it. You get talked about
every day. It used to be a big thing...

Quoted message said:

What he does care about is:

A stage win, preferably an hounerable one (not one where he sits on
Armstrongs & Basso's wheel until the last 100m)

The mountains jersey would be easier for him to win.

Quoted message said:

A podium spot (the only way he can get that, is to win a stage or two
with +5 minutes, as he will loose 5-10 minutes on the final timetrail)

Yeah right.

Quoted message said:

BTW to get the mountain points in front of Chavanel, wolud be bad
politics as Chavanell otherwise might not want to do work in the
brakeaway - Both of them knew that if Chavanell had been with Rasmussen
on the final climb Rasmussen would burry him - Chavanell had no chance
of a stage win on mountain stage in a brakeaway with Rasmussen.

And neither did Rasmussen, with the way Postal is riding and the fact
that Lance hadn't won a stage yet.

Jesse Thompson jesseth@removethis_gwi.net said:

Quoted message said:

the polka dot jersy

Quoted message said:

Yeah, but why not.

It s not as prestigious as a winning a big mountainstage while
attacking far from the finnishline - it's a kind of bizzare competition.
U can win it without beeing the best climber, with out winning a real
mountain stage while beeing placed 50th. GC.

Quoted message said:

He could win it. It's prestigous. You get a spot
on the big stage in Paris. People remember it. You get talked about
every day. It used to be a big thing...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What he does care about is:

A stage win, preferably an hounerable one (not one where he sits on
Armstrongs & Basso's wheel until the last 100m)

Quoted message said:

The mountains jersey would be easier for him to win.

Sure - have you considered that it might be the reason it's not as
prestigious as winning a big mountain stage by attacking far away form
the finnishline? He wants to win like the big climbers have done it, like
Coppi, Bahamontes, Herera and Pantani? The kind of victory poeple
remember 10 or 20 years from now.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

BTW to get the mountain points in front of Chavanel, wolud be bad
politics as Chavanell otherwise might not want to do work in the
brakeaway - Both of them knew that if Chavanell had been with Rasmussen
on the final climb Rasmussen would burry him - Chavanell had no chance
of a stage win on mountain stage in a brakeaway with Rasmussen.

Quoted message said:

And neither did Rasmussen, with the way Postal is riding and the fact
that Lance hadn't won a stage yet.

Still it was the right thing to do in order to keep Chavanells
motivation. Today he let Virenque get the points in order to keep him
working as well. He made it clear to Virenque that his only interest
was the stage.

As one of the few Rasmussen is willing to loose in order to win. Brian
Holm (now director sportif at T-mobile) cals him "kind of crazy" and
still admires him.

--
Morten Reippuert Knudsen :-) <http://blog.reippuert.dk>

PowerMac G5: 1.6GHz, 1.25GB RAM, 80GB Disk, 8x DVD+/-RW, Bluetooth mus
+ tastatur, FX5200 Ultra, iSight, eyeTV200 & Lacie Photon18Vision (TFT).