TDF 2006: Climbers Question

petulance said:

Not really a spoiler but no harm treating this as one ...
OK. So what happened to all the climbers this year? The GC contenders
and Rasmussen aside, there hasn't been a single stage where the
climbers have dominated.

What happened to people like Simoni, Cunego and Rujano? We all know
what happened to Mayo. Are there any "pure" climbers left?

A pity about Mayo really, I would have liked to have seen The Chicken
and Mayo battle it out in the mountains ...

:P

Where is the glory for the sub-60kg guy???

It's tricky climbing with half their blood "donated" to secret medical facilities around Spain.. 😉

How many riders this year are sub-60kg? Surely most would be 70ish, which seems normal to me..?

hippy

petulance said:

Not really a spoiler but no harm treating this as one ...

OK. So what happened to all the climbers this year? The GC contenders
and Rasmussen aside, there hasn't been a single stage where the
climbers have dominated.

What happened to people like Simoni, Cunego and Rujano? We all know
what happened to Mayo. Are there any "pure" climbers left?

A pity about Mayo really, I would have liked to have seen The Chicken
and Mayo battle it out in the mountains ...

:P

Where is the glory for the sub-60kg guy???

The Tour is not like the Giro or the Vuelta. The tour has long, hard,
fast flat stages for a week before the mountains (or more!) and long
time trials. This tends to hurt the pure climbers more than all
rounders, as the little, light guys just can't put out the pure wattage
needed to cope with the flat days. It's not as easy as a lot of people
make it out to be, sitting in a bunch all day, when the bunch is doing
50km/h+ trying to set up sprinters for wins when there's some
opportunists up the road. They (the climbers) arrive at the cols,
already rooted. It takes a bigger rider with more overall strength to
survive that first week.

Paul Sherwin explains it well, when he basically says that the first
week of the tour grinds the legs off the climbers, and only the
genuinely strong riders survive. This was best illustrated in '04,
when Mayo flew up Mont Vonteau in the Dauphine (short race, no
grindstone) but blew to pieces in the first week of the tour.

The glory for the climbers is elsewhere, not at the Tour (except
Pantani of course, but what was he on?)

hippy said:

Quoted message said:

Where is the glory for the sub-60kg guy???

It's tricky climbing with half their blood "donated" to secret medical
facilities around Spain.. 😉

How many riders this year are sub-60kg? Surely most would be 70ish,
which seems normal to me..?

hippy

The weights are all here.
http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/RIDERS/us/partants.html

Seems like mid 60's is par for the course and over 70 is the exception
rather than the rule. You have to get them one at a time.

Anyone keen enought to create a histogram?

petulance said:

Not really a spoiler but no harm treating this as one ...

OK. So what happened to all the climbers this year? The GC contenders
and Rasmussen aside, there hasn't been a single stage where the
climbers have dominated.

What happened to people like Simoni, Cunego and Rujano? We all know
what happened to Mayo. Are there any "pure" climbers left?

A pity about Mayo really, I would have liked to have seen The Chicken
and Mayo battle it out in the mountains ...

:P

Where is the glory for the sub-60kg guy???

Rujano has been sick, I was expecting him to do something, Cunego has been going pretty well I thought. Chicken is simply amazing! But like Bleve said the Tour is different to the Giro or the Veulta. And this year, and particular the last 2 stages, the peloton just seems completely shagged. The skinny guys just can't cut it. I've had the same situation in races before, if you do heaps of work to stay with guys on the flat, thinking wait for the hills, wait for the hills, but when you get there you're stuffed, even if you are a stronger climber.

Did you see Schleck flex as he crossed the line at L'Alpe D'Huez? That's not a good look when you're that skinny! And Rasmussen looks like he's done time in a concentration camp!

Adam

adam85 said:

Did you see Schleck flex as he crossed the line at L'Alpe D'Huez?
That's not a good look when you're that skinny!

Must be a triathlete. I recall at the race briefing for my first tri
they said there was only one thing to remember, when you see a
photographer, FLEX!

DaveB "providing fodder for all the anti-triathletes"

hippy said:

petulance said:

Where is the glory for the sub-60kg guy???

It's tricky climbing with half their blood "donated" to secret medical
facilities around Spain.. 😉

How many riders this year are sub-60kg? Surely most would be 70ish,
which seems normal to me..?

hippy

Phil (or Paul) mentioned that Rasmussen was 59 kilos and I recall
Pantani being less than 60 kilos.

Bleve said:

The Tour is not like the Giro or the Vuelta. The tour has long, hard,
fast flat stages for a week before the mountains (or more!) and long
time trials. This tends to hurt the pure climbers more than all
rounders, as the little, light guys just can't put out the pure wattage
needed to cope with the flat days. It's not as easy as a lot of people
make it out to be, sitting in a bunch all day, when the bunch is doing
50km/h+ trying to set up sprinters for wins when there's some
opportunists up the road. They (the climbers) arrive at the cols,
already rooted. It takes a bigger rider with more overall strength to
survive that first week.

Thanks for the explanation. It sounds consistent with my experience so
far. I struggle to keep up with the group on the flats but I do better
once we hit a climb.

Quoted message said:

Paul Sherwin explains it well, when he basically says that the first
week of the tour grinds the legs off the climbers, and only the
genuinely strong riders survive. This was best illustrated in '04,
when Mayo flew up Mont Vonteau in the Dauphine (short race, no
grindstone) but blew to pieces in the first week of the tour.

The glory for the climbers is elsewhere, not at the Tour (except
Pantani of course, but what was he on?)

He never tested positive for anything during his racing career ...

😉

adam85 said:

Rujano has been sick, I was expecting him to do something, Cunego has
been going pretty well I thought. Chicken is simply amazing! But like
Bleve said the Tour is different to the Giro or the Veulta. And this
year, and particular the last 2 stages, the peloton just seems
completely shagged. The skinny guys just can't cut it. I've had the
same situation in races before, if you do heaps of work to stay with
guys on the flat, thinking wait for the hills, wait for the hills, but
when you get there you're stuffed, even if you are a stronger climber.

Perhaps the race organisers can cut out the boring flat bits? Just put
a 10km flat bit to start off before hitting 5 climbs ...

🙂

Quoted message said:

Did you see Schleck flex as he crossed the line at L'Alpe D'Huez?
That's not a good look when you're that skinny! And Rasmussen looks
like he's done time in a concentration camp!

Adam

Rasmussen is a beanpole, but at least he actually looked "normal". I
still can't believe someone his height weighs less than me.

Schleck, on the other hand, was scary ... there was just something
wrong about him ...

quote='PiledHigher'hippy said:

How many riders this year are sub-60kg? Surely most would be 70ish,
which seems normal to me..?

The weights are all here.
http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/RIDERS/us/partants.html

Seems like mid 60's is par for the course and over 70 is the exception
rather than the rule. You have to get them one at a time.
[/QUOTE]

"Statistics From Pre-Tour Medical"
Lightest: 53kg, Heaviest: 95kg, Average: 69kg
letour.frdepeches.htmlOpen ↗

hippy

quote='PiledHigher'hippy said:

Quoted message said:

Where is the glory for the sub-60kg guy???

It's tricky climbing with half their blood "donated" to secret medical
facilities around Spain.. 😉

How many riders this year are sub-60kg? Surely most would be 70ish,
which seems normal to me..?

hippy

The weights are all here.
http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/RIDERS/us/partants.html

Seems like mid 60's is par for the course and over 70 is the exception
rather than the rule. You have to get them one at a time.

Anyone keen enought to create a histogram?[/QUOTE]
Unless you are a swede, Magnus Bäckstedt, 90 kgs, blsody hsll.