Tour De France yeah whatever Big deal

[night crawler]

Are these guys really atheletes or just skinny wimps ? I mean anybody can ride a ten speed. geeez.

(thought that might get your attention)

Okay look everyear I hear about the Tour, and i even watch some of it, THe whole Lance Armstrong thing was interesting. But I dont really have a clue as to how it all works.

I would like to watch it this year from the beginning and understand a bit more so I can get into it. FIrst of all. When does it officially start? WHat is the deal with the whole TEAM thing, and how do these stages work.

Its very confusing to the noobs. If we understood the game a bit better maybe we could enjoy it. So Hows Lance looking this year? jk.

But seriously what to watch for?

[wfrogge]

I suggest


http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/5168JSE6VVL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

[Tmax1]

Watch mid-pack.

Teams have their leaders and the rest of the team works for them to win.

Vinokourov
Leipheimer
Kloden
Valdeverde
Evans
Sastre
Rogers
Menchov

The Tour starts Saturday in London with the Prologue- a time trial.

There are many websites that will give you more detail on the mechanics of the race, but www.versus.com/tdf will give you a start and a schedule of televised coverage.

Lance is looking pretty much like a fat cat with a full and productive life aside from cycling. I'm sure he'll watch The Tour from some interesting vantage points.

[USAZorro]

btw - they're up to 20 speeds now. :)

[night crawler]

Soooo they have a time trial to start off, what does that mean? And the stages what are they and how exactly do they work. People go off one at a time?, then how do they end up together with their Team?

See its very confusing to us noobs. :)

I do know that the yellow jersey means your winning or you won or you're in first almost according to something.

[caloso]

Twenty speeds????? Campagnolo ripped me off!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18/CalOso/August06031.jpg

[tcs]

Are these guys really atheletes or just skinny wimps ? I mean anybody can ride a ten speed. geeez.
Yeah, back during the bike boom (kids, ask your parents), we got a lot of grief about "riding a bike isn't a sport".

Well, just a couple years ago I saw a magazine on the local newstand, "Playboy's Girls of Sports" and the cover shot was of young woman cycle racer.

So, the definitive American male perspective is: cycling is without a doubt a sport and cyclists are atheletes.

LOL!
TCS

[KevinF]

Soooo they have a time trial to start off, what does that mean? And the stages what are they and how exactly do they work. People go off one at a time?, then how do they end up together with their Team?

With the exception of the prologue and two individual time trials, all the riders start off together every day (ok, there is one team time trial). In a time trial, each rider is started individually. Drafting is stricly forbidden in a time trial -- each rider just goes as hard as possible, and it's a wonderful opportunity to put huge time gaps into another rider. If the other rider is having a bad day, and you're having a good one -- you'll gain several minutes on them, and they are essentially eliminated (barring a remarkable comeback).

In most stages, when everybody is started together -- drafting is allowed. Usually each time has one rider who is considered a "GC contender" (general classification; they're racing for the yellow jersey). The GC contender spends a LOT of time riding in the draft of his team-mates. The first week and the last couple days of the tour is generally flat-ish; it's impossible to win the tour in the first week, but you can very easily lose it through crashes, mechanical issues, etc. The teams job is to keep the GC contenders out of trouble for the first week.

The yellow jersey is awarded to the rider who has the lowest elapsed time overall. That is, add up the time you've taken to ride each day -- whoever has the lowest total gets the yellow jersey. It is entirely possible (and it has occurred) to be wearing the yellow jersey without ever "winning" a stage.

Flat stages generally end in sprints; in a sprint finish, everybody ends with basically the same time, give or take a few seconds. They're exciting to watch, but they do very little to affect the overall race leader board. There are sprint specialists who have no ambition of winning the overall, and they're just going for stage wins. In a grossly oversimplified view, they get the green jersey.

There are mountain climber specialists as well. Each climb of signifigance is rated from Cat-4 (easy) to Hors Categorie (beyond category -- the hardest). The first couple riders over the top of each climb get points; the rider with the most points gets the polka dot jersey signifying the best climber.

As for the yellow jersey -- if you're looking for "fireworks", watch the time trials and the two or three stages that end on top of a mountain. Lance's famous "The Look" came on a mountain-top finish day. Miguel Indurain basically won his five tours in the time trials. Overall winners are determined on a very few select days.

Greatly simplified, but that should be enough to get you started.

[wireless]

Nice article in wikipedia explains everything

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France

[djgonzo007]

See its very confusing to us noobs. :)

versus.com, click on tour de france and there's a series of videos that explain how the tour works.

[USAZorro]

With the exception of the prologue and two individual time trials, all the riders start off together every day (ok, there is one team time trial). In a time trial, each rider is started individually. ...

No team time trial this year either. Apparently they're out of fashion in the TdF now.

[Hezz]

btw - they're up to 20 speeds now. :)

Ya, whats even more confusing nowdays is that a 20 speed is called a ten speed because they are only talking about the rear sprockets (cassette).

[roadgator]

just tune in and listen to paul and phil (ignore bob roll and al trautwig, god i hope hes gone) they rattle off good anecdotes during stages to let you know what to watch for and what it means.

[USAZorro]

Ya, whats even more confusing nowdays is that a 20 speed is called a ten speed because they are only talking about the rear sprockets (cassette).

I realize that, but I interpreted the OPs use of 10-speed as the 70's usage of the term.

btw - on stage 17 of the Giro, there were a few riders using 30 speeds. :)

[night crawler]

Thank you this was very helpful, The wife and I just went on our mtn bike ride of about 30 miles , ass is sore , bt besides that it has me in more of a cycling state of mind now.

Im watching vs now and getting into it this is cool stuff , Im watching the 3 guy breakaway from the pelaton..lol,,, So whats with the big tall dude in the breakaway, getting mad at the little guy for sprinting off? got lost there? Wow they got "FEED bags"

I wish i knew some names that might give me a better idea of whos who.

and also as the pelaton is cruising along pedaling that fast, what gear are they in? the highest.? sorry im typing laying down on the couch

[night crawler]

Why dont we have a tour de America ?

[USAZorro]

Thank you this was very helpful, The wife and I just went on our mtn bike ride of about 30 miles , ass is sore , bt besides that it has me in more of a cycling state of mind now.

Im watching vs now and getting into it this is cool stuff , Im watching the 3 guy breakaway from the pelaton..lol,,, So whats with the big tall dude in the breakaway, getting mad at the little guy for sprinting off? got lost there? Wow they got "FEED bags"

I wish i knew some names that might give me a better idea of whos who.

and also as the pelaton is cruising along pedaling that fast, what gear are they in? the highest.? sorry im typing laying down on the couch
I'll start with why the big guy got mad. There were three men in the break, and there were three sprint prizes on the stage. How it works is, the first rider to pass the line for each of the sprints along the way not only gets a few seconds taken off his race time, but also gets a bonus award of 800 Euros. (about $1,000). The little guy had already passed the first sprint line first, and the tall rider was ticked at him for being greedy. There's kind of an unspoken rule that when you're on a break like that, and you're not in the hunt for the points leader's jersey (the green one), you don't try to win all the prizes.

Don't know all the names? I don't think very many people know all the names. I've been watching for a few years and I recognize perhaps half the names, and can tell you something about maybe 25% of the riders. It's probably enough to be familiar with the riders who are contesting the jerseys, and know what teams they're on. Sometimes, enjoyment is helped by not having the expectations of who is going to do well at any given time.

What gear are they in? That's an excellent question. I think worthy of writing in to ask the broadcast crew. I'm not certain, but not everyone will be in the same gear. They would be in some of the higher gears.

Hope you're learning and enjoying, and hope you didn't take great offense at Botto's suggestion. The word "Dummies" in the title can understandably make a person bristle when it's suggested, but those books are quite informational.

[donrhummy]

Are these guys really atheletes or just skinny wimps ? I mean anybody can ride a ten speed. geeez.

(thought that might get your attention)

Okay look everyear I hear about the Tour, and i even watch some of it, THe whole Lance Armstrong thing was interesting. But I dont really have a clue as to how it all works.

I would like to watch it this year from the beginning and understand a bit more so I can get into it. FIrst of all. When does it officially start? WHat is the deal with the whole TEAM thing, and how do these stages work.

Its very confusing to the noobs. If we understood the game a bit better maybe we could enjoy it. So Hows Lance looking this year? jk.

But seriously what to watch for?

Go to your local magazine store and buy Cyle Sport America's special on the tour de france. It'll give you MUCH more info/understanding than you could ever get here. It really is a good mag completely on the TDF.

[ElJamoquio]

Why dont we have a tour de America ?

Because we have several.

[Hezz]

Why dont we have a tour de America ?
We have several tours but no grand tours. Grand tours are 18-20 day stage races. There are only three in Europe that I am aware of. In Italy, Spain and France. Most "tours" such as the American Tour of California and Tour of Georgia are smaller one week affairs.

I think there are several one week type of stage races all over America and Europe. Plus lots of other kinds of races.

The thing about the grand tours is that they are significantly more difficult to finish because of thier length and several days of hard climbing. It is one thing to ride well for 5-8 days which is what most of the smaller tours are. The extented riding periods of the grand tours add a huge gamble into the mix because it is hard to finish without crashing or getting hurt or blowing up several days into the race from pushing too hard and not being able to recover enough for the next days race.

A few more details. On long flat races the guys are averaging about 25 MPH for 120-140 miles. So they are only one or two cogs down from the highest gears most of the time.

On Time trial races they are going about 34-35 MPH in solo TT for up to an hour of time. This is about the speeds the sprinters finish at near the end after a long 120 mile fast paced ride. Pretty amazing.

A recent study which measured racers power output in the peleton showed that they average using 33% less power to move at the same speed as a rider who is out in front breaking his own wind. This is why the peleton nearly always catches the break away riders. In fact, riders riding together can ride faster. Team time trials can move faster than single individuals.

[jaxgtr]

..."Playboy's Girls of Sports" and the cover shot was of young woman cycle racer.

TCS


OK, how many of you googled this???

[bikejack]

Its very confusing


That's why they have field sports.