carpediemracing 

Well keep in mind Rasmussen kicked butt on climbs (realistically partially because he was doping). He could bank on that, just like he could do so on the road. I imagine his cornering skills were not that great, meaning cornering line understanding. From a technical point of view he "knows" how to corner, he just follows poor lines.

Levi was actually US Pro crit champ but then got disqualified for doping from that race. I think he soloed or was in a break, so generally speaking he could "practice" the same corner over and over again. However, presented with a new corner, he inevitably turns in early and ends up way outside at the turn out point. Or in the woods or crowds or whatever. The stage where he attacked was I think the Tourmalet. He had 5 or 6 minutes after the climb, I think 2 or 3 minutes after the descent.

I think of this video where there's a guy just rolling around on a skateboard:

If you're just rolling around on the bike it's no big deal to do a bike throw or ten or corner following a good line while waiting for the group to assemble for the group ride. For me both bike throws and cornering are "fun", meaning I like practicing both. It's fun. I am conscious of cornering even when grocery shopping and pushing a cart, and definitely when driving. Those two basic skills also something that is invaluable when needed. Cornering is all the time, bike throws are a bit more limited application.

Grumpy McTrumpy

Getting lots of use out of yawn pic.

This is a perfect day for a contador attack. Except for contador's condition. Boo

echappist

we must have watched different races

TMonk

Cummings! Love watching him motor to solo wins.

PepeM

Agreed. I really enjoy races like today's.

He has become one of my favorite riders in the past couple of years. Great rider and I especially love when he ruins the sprinters' day.

Grumpy McTrumpy

Rasmussen was MTB world champion. He knows how to corner (off road) .

The thing is, cornering on an MTB requires different lines than cornering on the road. Rasmussen would have mastered it eventually, just like Sagan did, but he got banned. Even Froome found a way to learn how to corner, and he was pretty bad at first.

Also, I don't think we can compare *their* descending and sprinting to *ours*. At some point the speed difference becomes a major factor. I'm a pretty good descender by the standards of masters racing (judging by how I have performed in races). The few times I have seen international pro numbers on descents however, indicate that these guys are routinely getting close to 100% of available traction. That's just too risky for me and clearly too risky for most of the guys I race against).

44 mph sprints, elbow to elbow, after long ass stages, that end up being judged by millimeters? They might not have the ideal form at the end because ...um... 44 mph sprint. I'd lay odds that these guys are pretty good at the basics when they *only* have to deal with the typical pressures that we amateurs do.

Case in point from last night:

As we got to the final sprint I basically got boxed in twice and didn't have much of a chance. The winner (former pro) heard me tell the tale and said

"how can you get boxed in with only 10 guys?"
(there were 17, but maybe closer to ten were actually *there* at the end)

The answer which was pretty much unstated was that what was considered normal for him was beyond the level of safety that I was used to. Project that up a few orders of magnitude and you have the TdF.

Does that mean I don't think Coquard is a sketchy sprinter? I still think that about him, because it's based on more than just this one sprint. I'll bet he's pretty darn stable at amateur pressure levels, but he still doesn't have Cav's fluidity.

Grumpy McTrumpy

https://gifs.com/gif/v2645r

carpediemracing 

I would argue that Rasmussen didn't learn beyond a certain point and wasn't learning. In 2006 he was already quite the road rider, pulling along the field for massive amounts of time. Thing was on that infamous stage 17 in the chasing field behind Landis, in a particularly switchback part of a descent, you can see him leaving a gap in a long line of descending riders. He brakes early, turns in early, goes wide at exit, and it just gets worse and worse. He's literally the worst descender of the riders on the screen because he doesn't corner well. He had a lot of riders to follow but he didn't for whatever reason. Basically I think he was scared, which means he wasn't able to think about what he's supposed to do when cornering, and basically cornering practice is learning to get over the instinctive "turn in early if I'm going fast" thing.

Levi also, he never really focused on cornering. And, for what it's worth, it doesn't seem like he worked on out of saddle stuff as it looks super awkward and stifled when he's trying to attack.

Even someone like Taylor Phinney - his bronze medal tie for U23 worlds, the guy that tied with him was well behind Phinney. However Phinney didn't throw his bike well, the other guy did, and so they shared the bronze. If you look at the picture Phinney is doing the classic error of not moving his hips off the saddle. He simply straightens his arms. In contrast the other rider is well behind his saddle. Phinney should have gotten bronze on his own by almost a quarter wheel instead of being tied with someone else.


From CyclingNews

mattm

I bet pros really enjoy getting racing advice from amateurs!

mattm

Impressive ride by Froome today!

He said the attack over the top of that climb wasn't planned, even more impressive. His pedaling on the top-tube looked practiced, can't blame him, it worked!

Everyone says Sky makes Le Tour boring, but hard to say that now.

TMonk

^
As much as I despise Froome/Sky, I gotta agree.

abhirama

Froome must have taken lessons from puppy @Doge! Seriously though, superb ride from Froome. I don't root for him to win usually but I did yesterday. It's a shame people behind didn't try to chase.

topflightpro

They're saying today that Froome had a larger big ring on yesterday, implying he planned the attack.

Also, I thought him hitting the fan was awesome. The thing I'm most impressed with is how hard he hit the guy given his skimpy little arms.

echappist

this

TMonk

that was cool. do we know what the fan was doing to deserve getting smacked???

TMonk

also, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

PatrickGSR94

He was running alongside Froome with a flag flying, very close to Froome's bars according to Froome, and he was concerned that the flag could have gotten caught up in his wheel.

carpediemracing 

I may not have an engine but at least I practice stuff that has nothing to do with physical fitness

globecanvas

I want to practice hitting spectators.

echappist

Yesterday, the guy was running alongside Froome and had a cape (in the form of the Colombian flag) on his back. the flag got a bit too close for comfort, and the fan was (deservedly) smacked

today, Bennett was trying to chase down an attack, and the fan didn't get out of the way.

and then you had this doofus who interfered

TheKillerPenguin

Green Man is saving your life right now bro. Just go with the flow.

Doge

Having now seen this, Froome is over the bars more than Sagan and Puppy when they do this with a lot more weight on the front wheel. I expect that is because Froome won't fit on the TT. But it does make the pedaling a bit easier - it looks like.

Grumpy McTrumpy

I really don't like Froome (for reasons I am not fully able to understand). However after today I have to tip my hat to him.

TheKillerPenguin

He looks like the skinny version of Buzz McCallister.

furiousferret

I always considered him more of a machine and not much of a cyclist, winning with a great w/kg and being efficient. The past few days he's pulled off some outstanding riding.

Hats off to Bodnar too, its always great when a lesser known cyclist makes a big impact.