errr so is the praying mantis position illegal according to UCI?

According to a poster on the Floyd Landis website:

http://www.floydlandis.com/blog/2006/07/08/159/#comments

Any details on the UCI’s ruling on Floyd handlebar position?

It wouldn’t have violated the “innovation” rules (1.3.005), but may have been deemed unsafe for lack of manoeuvrability (1.3.009), or extended the tops of the bars beyond 75cm from the bottom bracket (1.3.023).

http://www.uci.ch/imgArchive/Rules/1gene-E.pdf

In addition, with Julich out, is Dave Z the best hope for CSC? Jens Voight is a decent climber, but if Dave Z had the team covering him, could he be put into the top 5?Sastre is only 2:27 back, and he can climb, so he's bound to be their guy.

The whole Leipheimer thing isn't much of a surprise. After he won the Dauphine he was saying things like he was glad he won because he wasn't going to have to train so hard before the TDF. From the way he was talking you would have thought that the winner of the Dauphine got a 10 minute bonus at the TDF or something. Good riddance to Leipheimer; he deserves it.

Where is Boone Lennon with a coca cola can when you need him... Obscure reference to TDF win..

What OLN reports about the Praying Mantis dispute:


It must have been a blow to him psychologically, but that blow was compounded when he had to change his bike as well when the adjustment didn't work and his handlebars came loose.


http://www.olntv.com/tdf/newsflashes/newsflashes.php?ss=newsflashes&e=0700

Where is Boone Lennon with a coca cola can when you need him... Obscure reference to TDF win..

He knew Lemond's handlebars were loose before he started the stage. Between Landis putting so much pressure on his bars, and having to move them at such short notice, Murphy's Law was bound to come into play - perhaps a shim would have helped. Gotta give credit to Landis for keeping a cool head, or maybe he was able to channel his anger.

Dave Z will lose tons of time in the mountains.

. . .so will Gonchar, but I'm still not convinced Landis can climb well enough to sustain the attacks that are bound to come from Disco and T-mobs. Salvodelli is looking more and more like Disco's GC man.

. . .so will Gonchar, but I'm still not convinced Landis can climb well enough to sustain the attacks that are bound to come from Disco and T-mobs. Salvodelli is looking more and more like Disco's GC man.

If he can get his allergies under control. :D

If he can get his allergies under control. :D


I just won a discovery water bottle at the Trek tourmania game and I'm taking it as an omen.

accorind to their site fruitless they are giving away about 50k omens :-) (side note, the wife won a powerbar today)

Today's time trial was crazy. I'm in shock about Levi. Imagine if Landis hadn't had the flat before the prologe and didn't have the problem today, he wouldn't be comfortably in the top 3 and people might be saying "the only way Landis can loose is if he beats himself mentally"

So does Michael Rogers, I would think.

Menchov finished 2.5 hours down last year, probably due to supporting Rasmussen...granted he won the Vuelta (unofficially so far). Rogers was 1.5 hrs down supporting der Kaiser. Meanwhile George was 23:00 down supporting LA.

Menchov finished 2.5 hours down last year, probably due to supporting Rasmussen...granted he won the Vuelta (unofficially so far). Rogers was 1.5 hrs down supporting der Kaiser. Meanwhile George was 23:00 down supporting LA.

not sure why Rogers would have been supporting Jan, when he was actually riding for QUICKSTEP this time last year...:D.....but your thought process is right, Rogers hasn't had any opportunity to finish high GC because he has always been left to drag others over the mountains. At last 2 of Virenque's 7 polka dot jerseys owe a great debt of gratitude to Rogers. Whether Rogers can climb to the extent needed to maintain a high GC remains to be seen....Recent history suggests not

I was really impressed with Tom Boonen today. No I am not suggesting he is a GC contender, but I really think he put in a good effort. We will see if it hurts his sprinting.

Richard

I was really impressed with Tom Boonen today. No I am not suggesting he is a GC contender, but I really think he put in a good effort. We will see if it hurts his sprinting.

Richard

Don't forget, boonen isn't 'just' your average sprinter. His performance in several of the 1 day classics would suggest that he has the power & endurance to be a half decent ITTer. Don't be surprised if he 'morphs' into more than he has shown as he gets older...remember some bloke called jalabert

Is Tom Boonen the new "Beast of a Man"?

Don't forget, boonen isn't 'just' your average sprinter. His performance in several of the 1 day classics would suggest that he has the power & endurance to be a half decent ITTer. Don't be surprised if he 'morphs' into more than he has shown as he gets older...remember some bloke called jalabert

Jalabert is a kind of cheese, right? ;)

Whether Rogers can climb to the extent needed to maintain a high GC remains to be seen....Recent history suggests not

2nd in the Tour De Swisse not withstanding?

Jalabert is a kind of cheese, right? ;)



2nd in the Tour De Swisse not withstanding?


In 2005.....2006, 64th & an hour down doesn't inspire me to much. Don't get me wrong, I'd luv ta see Mick go well...I just think there's others that will do better on the major climbs of the pyrenees & the Alps. Hopefully he's still a chance to make a difference in the last ITT on the penultimate stage

After re-watching Stage 7, I've determined the reason Jullich crashed was his Camelbak.

Anybody have pics of Floyd's bike with the trashed bars?

Boonen's advantage is his height. He gets better leverage over a gear than shorter people. He can use that just like Indutrain did. If he gets his bodyfat level down it wouldn't shock me to see him win a short moderately hilly stage race in the distant future. Not the Dauphine but maybe Paris Nice or something with a shorter climb?

After re-watching Stage 7, I've determined the reason Jullich crashed was his Camelbak.

Julich is quoted as saying that he slid because there was gravel on the traffic cirlce, tracked there by spectators, that his bike slid on. Sounds like a lame excuse to me, since 170 other riders were able to get around that turn OK. Looking at the replays, it looks like Bobby's on the drops instead of in the aero bars, suggesting that he was hitting the brakes, suggesting that he had overcooked the turn and was trying hard to back off before he hit the spectator fence when the rear wheel slid out. The front wheel could also have gone, which would have accounted for his hitting the ground hard, but a spoked wheel has more "give" than a disk (plus under braking the front tire would have had more weight on it), so I'm inclined to believe it was the super-rigid Zipp disk that forced the rear tire to slip. Any braking (front or rear) will cause the rear wheel to unweight; this, in combination with the side force on the tire will exceed the tire's traction envelope and down he goes. Too bad, but Julich's done it before...

-L.

Looked to me like he was braking hard on the front and his back wheel drifted...

But the judges will accept the Camelbak answer as well.

Not looking like a good day for Discovery or Americans so far. Sastre looking pretty good, as well as Menchov and Kloden. And Gonchar, of course.

Everyones discounting Gonchar for the GC. Given his history of strong performances in the Giro, why isn't he being taken seriously?

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2006/news/story?id=2515505

Julich goes into how he fell in his ESPN diary thing. In this he claims full responsibility for it, that he came into the corner too fast, his bike started to slide, and he didn't hit the brakes because he thought he could ride it out. (There's more to it than what I just wrote)

no one was taking those corners while holding onto the center aero bars.