Le Tour de France (was:Tas ARC 2005)

[tortfeaser]

SS 10: Armstrong > *, except maybe Illes Balears.

Last cat 1, 2nd to Valverde (Illes B) in a sprint at the top, dropped Basso, Ullrich, Kloden, Vinokourov on the way up - all the big challengers. Rasmussen (Rabobank) and Mancebo (Illes B) stayed close to the end, only to fall away in the sprint.

Cadel Evans 8th @ 2.14, Rodgers 22nd @ 4.27, McGee 61st @ 14.04.

GC = Armstrong, Rasmussen @ 0.38, Basso @ 2.40. The two Illes Balears guys are 5th and 7th at 3.16 and 4.00.

[Trevor]

How good is Lance and the Discovery Channel Team They totally distroyed the major challengers last night. Also at the top, out of the 4 riders left it seamed (from facial expressions) that Lance had the most left in the tank.

Interesting that when Schumacher was winning multiple championships, I got bored and stopped watching, too predictable. Armstrong keeps winning, but I don't stop watching, because it is awesome to see the power/determination of the man. The only thing that will stop him will be retirement, mind you though with no Lance next year, it will make for an interesting event.

How cool is it to see an Aussie in the leading bunch on one of the climbs. I could see Evans just hanging back in the pack at the start of the climb, and then slowly moving forward. I was sooooooo hoping he would be able to stick with them, but unfortunately not. You could see the pain he was going through though trying to keep with them, not bad for only his first year in the Tour.

Oh yeah go the MTB riders, both Evans and Rasmussen come from dirt backgrounds

[TK]

Originally Posted by tortfeaser

Cadel Evans 8th @ 2.14, Rodgers 22nd @ 4.27, McGee 61st @ 14.04.

GC = Armstrong, Rasmussen @ 0.38, Basso @ 2.40. The two Illes Balears guys are 5th and 7th at 3.16 and 4.00.

It's interesting to note how well the 2 former Mountain Bike World Champions - Evans and Rasmussen - are going.
Hopefully Cadel can hang on for a top-10 placing in Paris

[MAC]

I just can't stay interested in F1, when the winner is basically decided by who is leading by the exit to the first turn. How interesting can it be when a faster car can only get by when the car in front heads to the pits?

I still stay up and watch the races (can't help myself unfortunately) but generally I turn the TV off after 30 minutes or so.

I was at Eastern Creek for the V8 Supercars recently. After marvelling at the noise and speed of the V8s, I went back to the media room and did some work. Looked up at the TV if other people made noises, but then went back to what I was doing. They make for an impressive display; but no matter how they dress it up, the racing is, for the most part, boring.

And yet, the Aussie Racing Cars provided pretty good racing on the same program. Low tech stuff, but they provided a contest and drama.

The best racing at the first AMRS meeting (F3 and some other categories) at Wakefield Park this year was between Cooper and Emery in the last Commodore Cup race of the day.

Emery was slowly catching Cooper throughout the race, until maybe 2 laps out he got onto his tail. Then it was just desperate stuff. Neither wanted to come second, and drove accordingly. It was actually gripping stuff, and something you see all to rarely.

I guess what I like about the cycling (my wife and I both stayed up last night to watch the end of the stage), is that while the bikes are all much of a muchness, the cyclists all have different strengths and weaknesses.

There is no such thing as parity (we should leave doping out of the equation here), with different body types and strengths, aerobic capacity, mental capacity to ride through pain barriers or whatever.

It probably wouldn't be half the show if every rider had the same homologated engine and drive train.

If they did, then the whole peleton would have responded to Armstrong on the climb last night, rather than what actually happened.

No wonder I so rarely contribute stuff to this forum. I use up too many words, yet say so little.

Mac
Capital MotorSport News
www.capitalmotorsportnews.com.au
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[Jme]

another thing I love how they identify the riders.... the Yellow, Green, White and Polka Dot Jerseys (as well as the white/red number for most aggresive rider on the previous day) make it really easy to workout what's going on in the race.

When you throw in the National Champion Jerseys and the team colours (many of which have the national colours of the rider as a band around the arm) it all adds up to enhance the sport for us sitting at home.

I definately think there is something in all that for rallying... identifying/relating/recognising various categories/competitions visually.

[Kagan]

as well as the white/red number for most aggresive rider on the previous day

How does that one work JME??? How do they determine the most aggressive rider?? Is it the one that moves up the most spots???

[Jme]

Kagan... not sure how to answer, depends on whether your asking a question about the TDF... or informing me sarcastically that there are no "riders" in rallying.

I think the most aggressive rider is voted on by the media/organisers/those in the know etc (but not sure).

as for the other way it could (maybe) be interpreted-it's the concept.... not the specifics.

Monkey see Yellow..... Monkey say "Leader Overall".
Monkey see Polka Dot's..... Monkey say "Best Climber"
Monkey see Green.... Monkey say "Best Sprinter"

I think in rallying if we are ever going to get the classes working, then we need to start recognising them.... maybe there is something in this we can use.

[Trevor]

How do they determine the most aggressive rider??

From the Rules & Stakes

Article 25 - Rankings
a) GENERAL INDIVIDUAL TIME CLASSIFICATION
The general individual time ranking is established by adding together the times achieved by each rider in the 21 stages including bonuses and time penalties.
b)GENERAL INDIVIDUAL POINTS CLASSIFICATION
The general individual points classification will be determined by adding the points obtained in the prologue and the individual stage classification, in accordance with the following scales and taking into account time penalties:
c) BEST CLIMBER CLASSIFICATION
The best climber classification is determined by adding the points won in all mountain and hill climbs, [...]
d) YOUNG RIDERS CLASSIFICATION
The young riders classification is open only to riders born after January 1st 1980.
e) GENERAL TEAM CLASSIFICATION
The general team classification is determined by adding each team's best three individual times for every stage.
In the event of a tie in the general classification, the order of teams is determined based on the number of stage wins by team, then their number of second places, and so on until a number of places obtained by one of them enables them to be finally placed.
A team reduced to fewer than 3 riders is eliminated from the general team classification.
f) MOST AGGRESSIVE RIDER CLASSIFICATION
This prize is awarded to the rider who displays the most effort and sportsmanship.The recipient of the most aggressive rider is decided on during the road racing stages by a panel chaired by the race manager.
The general classification is determined by adding the points given by all members of the panel in each one of the road racing stages.
In the event of a tie in the final general classification, the order is determined based on riders' placings in the general individual time classification.
Competitors must finish the Tour de France in order to be placed in the most aggressive rider classification.

[jpdesousa]

tactics

how about all the mind games involved when heart rates are pumping at 160-180 bpm

in the last couple of kms of the climb Lance strides out to increase the pace for 100-200m - the contenders in the group are then forced to lift to to the challenge just to keep up, then when he is ready he drops to the back of the group to observe how strong they are at keeping the pace he has set.

process repeated and one by one they drop off

great great stuff

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by Jme

Monkey see Yellow..... Monkey say "Leader Overall".
Monkey see Polka Dot's..... Monkey say "Best Climber"
Monkey see Green.... Monkey say "Best Sprinter"

I think in rallying if we are ever going to get the classes working, then we need to start recognising them.... maybe there is something in this we can use.

Hmm, Cody Crocker in a Pink Polka dot suit... - I wonder if it would need to be homologated

[Kagan]

No JME I was talking about the TDF - So they were the jerseys cause they can't work out who is who???

Actually I like the idea, maybe we could have a sticker or something for the people leading each series at the end of each stage, then you would know who to chase... Logistics of it would be a bit tough in our level rallying though.

[TK]

Originally Posted by Kagan

... maybe we could have a sticker or something ...

Would that be something along the line of a white door plate, or an ACT Series sticker...

[smee]

Isn't the national champion entitled to run a yellow door plate.

[Kagan]

TK

No don't be silly, noone runs those, we need stickers people will actually put on so we can tell.

[Spac]

The problem with doing things to determine who is who, or what class someone is in, in rallying, is that we're not racing.
You can watch a dozen rally cars go past, and it doesn't really matter what class they're in, because you don't really know who's fastest*, or anything like that.


*OK, so the aware spectator can measure times - if car #12 arrives 1:54 after car #11, then obviously #12 is beating #11 at that point of that stage. It's interesting, but it doesn't really mean anything.
And if car #13 takes a further 2:07 to get there, are you going to remember/work out who is faster between #11 and #13?