Tour De France

[daino149]

How many of you have been following the tour this year? Here in the states, OLN has been covering the tour very well and I have been watching a lot of it.

I think it's great that they are showing the race live and in it's entirety. It's much better then only seeing 20 seconds worth of highlights.

If you have been following, what are your predictions?

Personally, I think it's going to be Lance by a good margin, followed by Jan, and Tyler in third.

On a side note, I think it's great that there are so many American cyclists in contention.

Daniel

[tennisgh22]

could you explain to me how the tour de france works? i dont really understand all the details...

Do all the riders start at the same time everyday? If so, how do you keep track of how far ahead the leaders are from everyone else?

Furthermore, what exactly are the time trials?

sorry for the beginner questions, i just seem to lack some basic knowledge. i dont get cable or the newspaper so i can't really stay updated on how lance is doing.

-grant

[dubmuni2004]

time trials are timed runs with teams or singles, and the person with the best time wins. when just riding in a stage (not a time trial) they start in their positions and basically they start at the same time. the tour is just a one way race with different events like timetrials with or without teams and just riding, and who ever wins the stage that day gets the yellow jersy (which is holy, and its like a gold medal) and that person wears it in the next stage. and then there is a pink jersy but i dont know what that means. hope this helps

[UniBrier]

I love this time of year. I watch the end of le Tour in the morning, usually makes me late for work, then catch up on the missed parts during the evening re-broadcast.

If I'm stuck at work my browser is at http://www.letour.fr/2004/us/index.html .

The next week should be interesting as the favorites start their big moves in the mountains.

[daino149]

Originally posted by dubmuni2004
...and who ever wins the stage that day gets the yellow jersy (which is holy, and its like a gold medal) and that person wears it in the next stage. and then there is a pink jersy but i dont know what that means. hope this helps

The yellow jersey isn't worn by the stage winner... it's worn by the over all time leader.

In individual time trials, each rider rides solo. They start a couple minutes apart. In team time trials (ttt), each team starts a couple minutes apart. In the ttt, the first five riders in the team get the time of the fifth rider.
The rest of the team get their own time.

Along the route there are several intermediate sprints. The winners of these sprints and first few riders to finish get points (as well as some time deductions I believe). The rider with the most points gets the green jersey.

The last big jersey is the polka dot. This is worn by the best climber. There is a point value assigned to each of the climbs on the route. The rider with the most mountain points gets the polka dot jersey.

There are several other lesser jerseys but I'm not sure what they are.

The fist week is over, and now the riders start the hills. This is where the race will really start heating up.


I think everything I wrote was correct, but if I'm wrong, please correct me.
Daniel

[tennisgh22]

i just wanna make sure i got this right...

between stage days there are sometimes time trials, which can be either solo or team time trials.

the incentive to do well in a time trial is that you can get some time deducted from your total time.

So this is where it sorta boggles me... lets say that lance is 3 minutes behind going into the last stage. If he starts the stage at the same time as the leader, he has to win that stage by more than 3 minutes to win the overall race? So there's never really a race for the finish, cause they're all competing against their own times from the previous days? It just seems sorta odd that the first person the cross the line on the final stage isn't necessarily the winner...

i hope that was clear

-grant

[daino149]

You are correct about the time trial thing accept for one part. Time isn't deducted during a time trial. The time trial time is added to the rider's over all time.

As for the finish line question, there are essentially two separate races going on during the tour. True, the riders are all riding the same race with the same rules, but their objectives will differ according to the team. Only a few teams have a serious chance of winning the overall race. These teams include US Postal (Lance), T-Mobile (Jan), Phonak (Tyler), etc.

The rest of the teams are racing for the other jerseys. The teams out for the Green jersey will be the ones sprinting for the finish. One thing to remember is that when a group of riders, also known as the pletolon, crosses the finish line, all the riders in the group get the same time. That's why the guys going for the overall win will not sprint for the line. All they care about is the time.

I found this site that explains some of the rules of the race:
http://bicycling.about.com/library/weekly/aa063002a.htm

Hope that clears some stuff up,
Daniel

[underdog]

Originally posted by daino149

One thing to remember is that when a group of riders, also known as the pletolon, crosses the finish line, all the riders in the group get the same time.

I know it was probably just spastic fingers. Happens to me all the time but it's 'peloton.'

Anyway, I wish I could watch the race. I don't get OLN where I live and it drives me nuts. I have to settle for the 20 minutes of highlights on the weekend.

Cycle racing can be more than a bit confusing to the uninitiated. I've had the hardest time trying to expain to someone that the overall winner of the tour can do so without winning a single stage. The person who has the overall lowest elapsed time at the end of the 21 or so days, wins.

I agree with your prediction daino149. Lance then Jan then Tyler.

Go Lance!

[bugman]

I have been out of town for this thread. I made my Sister-in-Law upgrade her Dish Network service so I could watch OLN while out of town. I statarted watching the coverage about 4 or 5 years ago, and have been addicted ever since. I occasionally go and watch a night time criterium near me in Athens, GA, and really enjoy the speed these guys travel.

I can't watch it w/o my heart rate going up. I think OLN's coverage is great. I have to say that when those idiots get out there and run in front of or beside the riders, I get really irrittated. If they fall, they could destroy their fovorite racers chance of finishing/winning the tour.

I don't think Tyler is going to win anything this year, let alone finish. Sadly, he decided to drop out.

I really enjoy the strategy of the teams. I also enjoy the respectful nature with which they approach the sport and one another. When Lance fell last year and Ulrich waited for him to get back up and catch up, I thought that was really cool. I think it was a few years earlier that Lance did the same for Ulrich.

[leo]

I checked the field, I've been riding with all dutch participants between 1990-1996. I've even competed against Ulrich the year before he became pro (the year he won the tour).

During 1996 health problems forced me to quit (a heartrate of 21 per minute). And without having a plan I slowy start to ride my unicycle more and more. The training-dicipline I had was very usefull.

Last year I met my former team-mates Erik Dekker (154), Aart Vierhouten (189) & Steven de Jongh again. And also Stefan van Dijk and stage winner Servais Knaven (106). That was a nice meet, it was fun to see we all became profesional cyclist. In my case with a wheel less.

[daino149]

Originally posted by leo
I checked the field, I've been riding with all dutch participants between 1990-1996. I've even competed against Ulrich the year before he became pro (the year he won the tour).

During 1996 health problems forced me to quit (a heartrate of 21 per minute). And without having a plan I slowy start to ride my unicycle more and more. The training-dicipline I had was very usefull.

Last year I met my former team-mates Erik Dekker (154), Aart Vierhouten (189) & Steven de Jongh again. And also Stefan van Dijk and stage winner Servais Knaven (106). That was a nice meet, it was fun to see we all became profesional cyclist. In my case with a wheel less.

Wow, I didn't know you were such a hard core (former?) biker. Mad props to you.

It's too bad about Tyler dropping out. It seems that Lance is dominating the mountains. Basso is the only one keeping pace. I had never heard of him prior to the past few stages. He might end up being Lance's main competitor this year.

I agree that OLN's coverage is great. Is this the first year they are covering it? I can't believe I've missed it the past years if they had it. Of course, it wouldn't have made much of a difference, I don't think I had OLN last year.

Daniel

[UniBrier]

Originally posted by daino149
Basso is the only one keeping pace. I had never heard of him prior to the past few stages.

I agree that OLN's coverage is great. Is this the first year they are covering it?

Basso took the white jersey in 2002.

On le Tour's official site OLN is linked since 2002. I think that is when I first started watching. I don't know if they were on it prior. Its addictive.

Besides the 2004 link above you can still see the results since 2000 at:

http://www.letour.fr/2003/us/index.html
http://www.letour.fr/2002/us/index.html
http://www.letour.fr/2001/us/index.html
http://www.letour.fr/2000/us/index.html

[leo]

Originally posted by daino149
Wow, I didn't know you were such a hard core (former?) biker. Mad props to you.

Yes, former. I sold all my bicycles (except for the frame of the bike I got from Erik Breukink. Currently he is the team manager of the Rabobank team. It was the bike he used to became 3th in 1992 after Greg LeMond and Claudio Chiapucci).

The niece of Henk Vogels use to be my neigtbour. And so the Australian team use to stay in my town when they were in Europe. And so I trained with him and Stuart O'grady (when he must have been 17 years old) as well. Not much later they did do well on the Olympics. And some later they did ride well in the Tour.

I miss cycling a lot. Time-trail, climbing, and riding on the track. I think because it's a team sport, while unicycling is more individual. However I've seen the negative parts of the commercial part of a sport. And today I know the benefits of unicycling.

I very seldom see races. Last month I unexpected worked on a lady tour (the girl who took the picture is the ex-girlfriend of Max van Heeswijk, who's current team-mate of Lance Armstrong). And years a ago a team-mate of Sissy was Danielle Overgaag (who also did do the Olympics). She is an ex-girlfriend of Lance Armstrong (untill he trade her in for Miss Hawaii).

[bugman]

Originally posted by underdog


I know it was probably just spastic fingers. Happens to me all the time but it's 'peloton.'

Anyway, I wish I could watch the race. I don't get OLN where I live and it drives me nuts. I have to settle for the 20 minutes of highlights on the weekend.

Cycle racing can be more than a bit confusing to the uninitiated. I've had the hardest time trying to expain to someone that the overall winner of the tour can do so without winning a single stage. The person who has the overall lowest elapsed time at the end of the 21 or so days, wins.

I agree with your prediction daino149. Lance then Jan then Tyler.

Go Lance!

Got a ticket for speeding in Flagstaff back in February on my way to the GC. If I would have been 200 feet further up the road I wouldn't have been speeding. The funny thing is I was on a straight, and the speed went up on a curve! "Drive safely Mr BugMan." Give me a break!

Anyway.... How about a local sports bar that gets Dish Network or Direct TV. I am sure you could nurse a beer for hours to watch the race. Flagstaff isn't that backwards... I used to live in Prescott.

[bugman]

Originally posted by leo


During 1996 health problems forced me to quit (a heartrate of 21 per minute). And without having a plan I slowy start to ride my unicycle more and more. The training-dicipline I had was very usefull.

First off, I posted a response to this earlier today and lost the post. I don't like it when that happens.

Second... 21 beats a minute!!! I have heard of endurance athletes with low heart rates, but nothing like that! What was the cause and is it back to normal?

Also, Tommy from Memphis (Tmornstar) used to be a road cyclist, maybe even Pro. He was definitely sponsored and raced in Europe. I know he doesn't watch TV so he probably doesn't keep up with the tour, but he is on fit unicyclist. He leaves everyone in the dust or at least doesn't break a sweat. He apparently got into unicycling at a Road Cycling Club event. Someone brought a unicycle and said whoever could ride it furthest could keep it. Being the competitor he is, he probably killed himself to win, but win he did. The rest is history. He's probably out riding as I type this.