Stage 18: What a lame finish!

steve said:

Casar must have been astounded to win from the front after his moves were
covered. He was a sitting duck and no one bothered to shoot. They were all
trying to be so clever that they forgot to win. Lefevre looked to be in the
controlling position with 300M to go but never jumped. Axel was watching
the other two, and I guess Boogerd was damned if he was going to hand the
win to the two behind him after they made him chase the moves. So Casar
just rolled it up and crossed first while the rest jumped a little too late.
Pitiful.

Ive seen some lame losses (including Armstrong losing to a guy named
Ochikov...I know Im not spelling that right...from behind in a 2 man break
in his pre-cancer days...the other guy really took Lance to school) but this
one takes it. You cant win if you're that afraid to lose.

steve
--
"The accused will now make a bogus statement."
James Joyce

Seems I was watching a different stage than you did^^

On 27-Jul-2007, smacked up and reeling, Tuschinski <[email hidden]>
blindly formulated
the following incoherence:

Quoted message said:

Seems I was watching a different stage than you did^^

Interesting. So how did you see it?
--
"The accused will now make a bogus statement."
James Joyce

steve said:

On 27-Jul-2007, smacked up and reeling, Tuschinski <[email hidden]>
blindly formulated
the following incoherence:

Quoted message said:

Seems I was watching a different stage than you did^^

Interesting. So how did you see it?

Boogard just didn't have the speed. Merckx was fried. Lefevre had a
bout of dumbassy.

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

steve said:

On 27-Jul-2007, smacked up and reeling, Tuschinski <[email hidden]>
blindly formulated
the following incoherence:

Quoted message said:

Seems I was watching a different stage than you did^^

Interesting. So how did you see it?

Boogard just didn't have the speed. Merckx was fried. Lefevre had a
bout of dumbassy.

That little uphill at the end put a nasty little
bite into them.

S.

On 27-Jul-2007, smacked up and reeling, SLAVE of THE STATE <[email hidden]>
blindly formulated
the following incoherence:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Seems I was watching a different stage than you did^^

Interesting. So how did you see it?

Boogard just didn't have the speed. Merckx was fried. Lefevre had a
bout of dumbassy.

Well, of course you have to have something in your legs. But from the prior
few attacks it looked to me like everyone had pretty much shot what they
had.

If I recall correctly, Lefevre went first at about 5K and Boogey got him
back. Casar gave it a very good go around 2K and Boogerd had to claw him
back with Axel barely in his slipstream and doing nearly as much work.
Lefevre got the best recovery chance after his initial attack sitting on
Merckx during that chase.

Inside the K they were just watching each other.

They all missed the moment of opportunity with Casar floating two bike
lengths off the front...and why did Boogerd leave that gap, anyway, when he
did so much to get back on? Tired or not, someone should have gone just a
bit earlier. If everyone is shot, it's still a race.

Im going to try to catch it again later to see if I have the same
impression.

steve
--
"The accused will now make a bogus statement."
James Joyce

steve said:

...and why did Boogerd leave that gap, ...

My impression was that he just drifted back a spot (after closing) to
do the acceleration in the slipstream, and maybe even force Merckx to
at least start coming around (get him out into the wind as soon as
possible). Then Boogerd said "oh [censored]" as Casar pushed a bit and then
slammed it. Casar was the strongest *and* made a well timed
acceleration. Good for him.

People don't often win leading form the front, but it happens.

Op Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:14:39 -0700, schreef SLAVE of THE STATE:

Quoted message said:

steve said:

...and why did Boogerd leave that gap, ...

My impression was that he just drifted back a spot (after closing) to do
the acceleration in the slipstream,

This is what he told Dutch television, yes.

nmp said:

Op Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:14:39 -0700, schreef SLAVE of THE STATE:

Quoted message said:

On Jul 27, 12:47 pm, "steve" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

...and why did Boogerd leave that gap, ...

Quoted message said:

My impression was that he just drifted back a spot (after closing) to do
the acceleration in the slipstream,

This is what he told Dutch television, yes.

What I saw was a tactical masterful behavior of Casar who made a
brilliant move on his first attack, going at a side of the road where
the others couldnt reach him due to the road division in the middle
(lost for words here^^). By the time he got caught Boogie was burnt
up. Lefevre was a dead duck, considering he barely managed to hang on
to Boogies wheel. So when the sprint started Casar, as a sprinter,
just exploded from the first position.

It wasn't lame... he was the smartest and the strongest by a fair
distance.