TdF 2005 Schedule- No prologue

On Fri, 28 May 2004 16:07:24 +0200, trg <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Instead, there's a short ITT like in this year's Paris-
Nice. 19 km around the ile de Nourmoutier.

The first 3 stages can be seen at
letour.comparcours.htmlOpen ↗

Why do they have a prologue anyway?

--
Bob in CT Remove ".x" to reply

Bob in CT said:

trg said:

Instead, there's a short ITT like in this year's Paris-
Nice. 19 km around the ile de Nourmoutier.

The first 3 stages can be seen at
letour.comparcours.htmlOpen ↗

Why do they have a prologue anyway?

To give the maillot jaune to someone. Because the first few
stages until the TT are generally flat with mass finishes,
it you need a stage where the finishers all have different
times in order to set the top places for those first
stages. A short ITT as stage 1 will have the same effect as
a prologue.

Quoted message said:

Instead, there's a short ITT like in this year's Paris-
Nice. 19 km

around

Quoted message said:

the ile de Nourmoutier. The first 3 stages can be seen at
letour.comparcours.htmlOpen ↗

That could be a very windy course running so close and
parallel to the Atlantic coast. Could be a uneven
competition if the mistral sets in during the stage.

"trg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Instead, there's a short ITT like in this year's Paris-
Nice. 19 km

around

Quoted message said:

the ile de Nourmoutier.

The first 3 stages can be seen at
letour.comparcours.htmlOpen ↗

trg said:

To give the maillot jaune to someone. Because the first
few stages until the TT are generally flat with mass
finishes, it you need a stage where the finishers all have
different times in order to set the top places for those
first stages. A short ITT as stage 1 will have the same
effect as a prologue.

But bonus seconds from sprints would do just as well. Having
a prologue over a long tt or a mass stage showcases the
contenders (except pantani) without taxing their reserves
too early. 19km is pretty serious.

gym gravity said:

trg said:

To give the maillot jaune to someone. Because the first
few stages until the TT are generally flat with mass
finishes, it you need a stage where the finishers all
have different times in order to set the top places for
those first stages. A short ITT as stage 1 will have the
same effect as a prologue.

But bonus seconds from sprints would do just as well.

The first few stages are nervous enough (witness the much
criticized stage 1 finish last year). Can you imagine the
chaos if everyone had an equal chance to put the yellow
jersey on their shoulders if they get some bonus points in
sprints, or at the end?

Maybe, in fact that's why they decided to stretch the
prologue into a first stage 3 times longer- to spread
out the time differences and avoid the mad rush we saw
last year.

trg said:

Instead, there's a short ITT like in this year's Paris-
Nice. 19 km around the ile de Nourmoutier.

Quoted message said:

The first 3 stages can be seen at
letour.comparcours.htmlOpen ↗

They're taking a different road this time. I guess they've
learned their lesson. Or maybe they haven't, and are just
avoiding the other road because you can't run the entire
prologue in 4 fours. Now *that* would make things
interesting for the late starters.

Bob Schwartz [email hidden]

trg said:

The first few stages are nervous enough (witness the much
criticized stage 1 finish last year). Can you imagine the
chaos if everyone had an equal chance to put the yellow
jersey on their shoulders if they get some bonus points in
sprints, or at the end?

god, no.

Quoted message said:

Maybe, in fact that's why they decided to stretch the
prologue into a first stage 3 times longer- to spread
out the time differences and avoid the mad rush we saw
last year.

yeah, I think the contenders still won't wan't the jersey
for too long at that stage so I figure they will work just
hard enough to stay in the top 10. I think it tips the
balance in favor of a classics workhorse...someone that can
timetrial decently and has a sprint for getting bonus
seconds. Boonen in yellow?

"gym gravity" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

To give the maillot jaune to someone. Because the first
few stages until

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

TT are generally flat with mass finishes, it you need a
stage where the finishers all have different times in
order to set the top places for

those

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

first stages. A short ITT as stage 1 will have the same
effect as a prologue.

But bonus seconds from sprints would do just as well.
Having a prologue over a long tt or a mass stage showcases
the contenders (except pantani) without taxing their
reserves too early. 19km is pretty serious.

Serious? How?

The only GC person who wouldn't care for it would
probably be Heras.

As for 'defending the jersey' should a GC rider win the
first stage,IIRC LANCE has won the prologue before, so there
should be little difference.

gym gravity said:

I think it tips the balance in favor of a classics
workhorse...someone that can timetrial decently and has a
sprint for getting bonus seconds. Boonen in yellow?

Dekker.

"Ewoud Dronkert" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

gym gravity said:

I think it tips the balance in favor of a classics
workhorse...someone that can timetrial decently and has a
sprint for getting bonus seconds. Boonen in yellow?

Dekker.

Bit young isn't he?

Jeff Jones said:

Quoted message said:

Dekker.

Bit young isn't he?

I hesitated to add it, but yeah: ", E.". For now!

On Fri, 28 May 2004 20:48:26 +0200, Ewoud Dronkert <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

gym gravity said:

I think it tips the balance in favor of a classics
workhorse...someone that can timetrial decently and has a
sprint for getting bonus seconds. Boonen in yellow?

Dekker.

Rik Vebrugger ?

Bob in CT said:

Quoted message said:

Why do they have a prologue anyway?

As others in this thread have noted, part of it is a way
of giving out the first leader's jersey -- that way, when
you get the first true road stage, there's somebody
wearing the jersey (and not just the defending champ from
the previous year).

There's some other rationale as well:

1) Ability to do a little more highlighting of the
town/region where everything is starting.

2) Something of a ceremonial roll-out, where fans get to see
the riders in action, one at a time,

3) Most importantly, a UCI rule dating back to 1988 limits
the major tours to 21 stages in 3 weeks (as well as a
max number of KM). If the prologue is shorter than a
certain distance (5 KM, IIRC) then it doesn't count
against the limit.

Smith

Quoted message said:

That could be a very windy course running so close and
parallel to the Atlantic coast.

That s a possibility yes

Quoted message said:

Could be a uneven competition if the mistral sets in during
the stage.

But accusing the Mistral is showing no respect ;-). The
Mistral blows only in south of France along the Rhone
valley, through Provence, Marseille... but not around the
Noirmoutiers island, never !

Regards

Carl Sundquist said:

Quoted message said:

But bonus seconds from sprints would do just as well.
Having a prologue over a long tt or a mass stage showcases
the contenders (except pantani) without taxing their
reserves too early. 19km is pretty serious.

Serious? How?

Serious as in a contender can't soft pedal it.

Quoted message said:

The only GC person who wouldn't care for it would probably
be Heras.

As for 'defending the jersey' should a GC rider win the
first stage,IIRC LANCE has won the prologue before, so
there should be little difference.

Postal wasn't interested in turning a pedal to keep it any
time it was on the team. They were more interested letting
the sprinters fight for
it...something that I think would be less likely to happen
with the longer tt.