Road Bike Racing - Stage 9- Spoiler!

I don't have much to say about it right now except 'wow'.

Discuss stage 9.

I am so upset about Beloki. He was doing so good.

:eek:

I listened to as much of it as I could on OLN. Incredible! I can't believe Beloki fell so freakin' close to the finish! I really hope it's not as bad as they say- I didn't see it, so I can't comment on how bad the fall was.

:( I really think if that fall hadn't happened, the end results of the stage might have been different...

I'm verclempt....

As much as I am rooting for Lance to win...I really think Beloki is a class act and good competition for Lance!

Here's to a speedy recovery, Joseba! :beer:

:( I hope Beloki is okay, too...but the OLN guys keep saying he's out of the Tour. It was great how Lance didn't panic, on the bright side.

Though I'm rooting for Lance, I feel just horrible for Beloki.

I also feel bad for Beloki. You know, you follow these guys for years and watch them struggle with themselves in these events and one can't help but feel some empathy for their loss. That's the bad news.

The good news is that Hamilton stayed with the leaders through the steep section he feared the most.

Armstrong definitely has his hands full this year.

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
:eek:

I listened to as much of it as I could on OLN. Incredible! I can't believe Beloki fell so freakin' close to the finish! I really hope it's not as bad as they say- I didn't see it, so I can't comment on how bad the fall was.

:( I really think if that fall hadn't happened, the end results of the stage might have been different...



Ohh he fell hard. It wasn't nice to see. He seemed to be in such great form this year too...

then Lance does a mountain bike ride across a field after going off the road to avoid Beloki. That was nuts.

Yeah, if that crash didn't happen, the stage result would probably be quite different.

That was interesting seeing Lance lead the pack up that final climb.

For some reason, I snuck home to watch the end of this stage. I'm not an ONCE or Beloki fan, but I feel sooooooo bad for both. Beloki was very strong this year, and was attacking like a real contender.

I'm suer that Lance feels the same way.

What an amazing stage though - good thing Lance does some off-road stuff on the off season!!!!

Wow!

Poor Beloki... could have happened to anyone.

Lance handled it extremely well though, and I hope he doesn't get any time penalties for his littel short cut, considering he lost time...

Hope B. gets well pretty soon...

I heard the commentators screaming about how Lance was doing the mountain bike thing, and I had to laugh- on that road bike, anyone else might not have been able to pull it off.

I hoped he wouldn't be penalized because he did that, and he wasn't, thank goodness. It sounds like he had no other alternative.

Man, I'm just hoping that they replay that one on CBS Sunday so I can tape that and keep it with my other tapes so far!

How did Lance look leading the pack up the final climb? Was he as tired as they're saying he looks on the mountains lately?

Thanks for the visual!

Something about the interview they just did with Lance makes me wonder how he really is doing. He kind of seems to be saying he isn't 100%....but maybe that's just how I see it.

Originally posted by Koffee Brown

How did Lance look leading the pack up the final climb? Was he as tired as they're saying he looks on the mountains lately?


He looked much better than yesturday.
Beloki attacked near the end of the final climb, and immediately (only) Armstrong and Mayo were able to stay with him.
Lance ran out of teamates by the time the final climb came along. He did some pulling up front. His form appeared to be quite better today.

Has anyone heard any news on Beloki's injuries? I was listening on OLN so I couldnt see the wreck.

nice pic of Lance's maneuver:


http://www.velonews.com/images/details/4520.5461.f.jpg

Whether you felt Beloki stood a chance of winning or not, he was certainly looking good for the podium again - I hope he's okay. ONCE aren't having a wonderful tour, they're missing Igor Galdeano, then there was Angel Viscioso's ( promising rider) unfortunate crash and now Beloki. Pity for Jorg Jakshe as well, he'd put in a good ride.

I got the impression from the LA interview that he felt better but was still feeling the effects of a not so good day spent with the rear wheel rubbing for hours yesterday...perhaps a little peeved at his mechanic. Nothing specific just an impression

Beloki was making good on his promises to attack....again and again...what a shame, he earned my respect for sure

Hamilton is the studliest of all...imagine without a broken collarbone...and he may yet still surprise us

OMG.

From what I've heard, Beloki rolled a tire, which means
that a team mechanic is going to be in deep sh*t, this
should not happen. Really Rotten luck.
The intial reports are that he broke an elbow, so yeah
his Tour is over (and he didn't finish stage, left in Ambulance).
While I also am not an Once fan, Beloki always seemed
respectful, he might talk about attacks, and surprizes, but
he never talked "trash". Just my .02 on that.
I always thought he was a class rider. I hate to see
him out of the Tour, but Lance has enough competition
this year to worry about
I have also heard rumor about Lance and GastroEnteritus (sp?)
but have absolutely no verification on that. I did hear something
about a stomach ailment he picked up from the kids before
the race started. I don't think he is 100%.
Once again, Kudos to Tyler 5th place. watch for him on the
podium.....
Marty

I'm not sure if you can blame the tire problem on a mechanic. Lots of breaking, hot roads and glue will melt. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more.

Possibly a puncture : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/tour_de_france_2003/3065399.stm

one thing i read was Tyler Hamilton giving Lance a pat on the back after Lance's little "cyclocross" adventure. a gesture welcoming him back into the little pack. Now that's class!

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
How did Lance look leading the pack up the final climb? Was he as tired as they're saying he looks on the mountains lately?

No, he looked much better than yesterday. However, even yesterday he didn't look bad, he just couldn't attack.

Lance seems to be able to keep his poker face regardless of his suffering.

I agree you can't always blame the mechanic, the comment
was a bit premature on my part.
I was listening to the stage, My wife was watching and
reported that Beloki was sliding around on the rim
(and I thought rolled tire).

I too thought Tylers gesture was great, not only
an iron man but a gentleman too!

Marty

Here is Lance after riding down the dirt/grass switchback area. There was a ditch @ the end that forced him to dismount in order to traverse. We'll be seeing replays of this incident on OLN for years to come!

Originally posted by Laggard
I'm not sure if you can blame the tire problem on a mechanic. Lots of breaking, hot roads and glue will melt. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more.

It looked like he locked up the rear tire on that chipped/tar surface which caused a puncture, and then the tire rolled. I guess we'll have to wait on comments from Beloki before we'll know for sure.

There are reports now that he has a broken femur. :(

Originally posted by bac
It looked like he locked up the rear tire on that chipped/tar surface which caused a puncture, and then the tire rolled. I guess we'll have to wait on comments from Beloki before we'll know for sure.

There are reports now that he has a broken femur. :(

IMO it looked to me like, Beloki did a low side skid (rear wheel moves faster than front) so he maybe locked the front and caused the skid to start. His reaction was to stop the back wheel from coming around, so he probably hit the rear brake causing excess heat to roll the tire and creating a high side skid, once the tire was off the bike was totally out of control and he was whipped to the ground, (because it was a high side).... he maybe could have avioded the whip like crash if he had kept the skid as a low side..... then again who knows :rolleyes:

162 SIMONI Gilberto at 32' 43"

Simoni is just rockin :o

Ugh... Beloki was doing damn good. I'm not a particular fan of ONCE either but I fully respect them as a great team. They always make a strong showing. I have to wonder if Beloki will be healed up for the Vuelta.

Regarding Lance's little offroad trip, I'm reminded of that old Nike commercial where he's riding along at the front of a pack and suddenly decides to lose them by heading off into the woods. The rest of the riders follow him only to fall down on roots and mudpits and at the end of the commercial, Lance just hops out of the woods and back onto the road... alone. Also, did anyone else notice that Subaru commercial with Lance right after the crash that emphasises maneuverability and handling? Kinda appropos... I'll bet Subaru was glad with how the placement turned out. That was just some amazing bike handling by Lance. And after the field traversal, the cyclocross-style dismount/bike-carry/remount to get over the ditch was pretty damn impressive considering he was wearing road-shoes.

Over the winter, many of the Posties participated in an offroad race here in Austin. Should the road get rough, Floyd Landis can pull of some style.

It's a major shame about Joseba. It looked to be a hard fall, both physically and emotionally.

Do folks think Lance is off form, or playing possum? It's hard to tell, but I could defintiely see him allowing the top riders to weaken themselves by repeated attacks.

Cycling news was saying that Beloki has broken his femur. That could easily be a career ending injury but the things these guys bounce back from is just as incredible as their riding. I hope he is alright.

It's a great loss to the race , he's a true competitor.

LA IS marking everything of consequence. The thing that blew my mind today was Beloki chasing Vino. Why? When Vino launched, Beloki should have looked at LA and said in well practiced english, "Hey, it's your Yellow Jersey!". By chasing, he was acknowledging that he was concerned about Vino taking his 2nd place. That's not playing winner's poker.

Know they are saying that Beloki also has a broken elbow and finger to go along with his femur. Ouch!!!

Originally posted by khuon
Regarding Lance's little offroad trip, I'm reminded of that old Nike commercial where he's riding along at the front of a pack and suddenly decides to lose them by heading off into the woods. The rest of the riders follow him only to fall down on roots and mudpits and at the end of the commercial, Lance just hops out of the woods and back onto the road... alone.



How long b4 the footage is made into a commercial?


And after the field traversal, the cyclocross-style dismount/bike-carry/remount to get over the ditch was pretty damn impressive considering he was wearing road-shoes.


Yup, it was smooooooth.....nice bit of cleat-work.

I just read that he broke his right femur, elbow and wrist. It sure was a nasty fall.

Armstrong clearly does not have his best form, either through illness, recent injury or a slight decline in fitness for some other reason. His defensive tactics demonstrate a lack of confidence that he can still intimidate the field with a customary show of strength. In turn, this is emboldening his rivals, who continue to test his team and himself. The steeper, rough climbs of the Pyrenees will suit Mayo but probably not Vinoukourov; the Telekom guy is a better time triallist than the Basque.

Armstrong at less than 100% can still win the Tour- handily. He has a good team and way more experience than his rivals. He's using that at the moment; perhaps he will recover the form he would like in the TT's? If Mayo climbs as he can, Lance will need a bigger cushion than this.

LA has been known to bluff a bit in the past. Could this be the case now as well?
I can imagine that he "feigns" a bit of weakness now, his chief rivals, seeing this weakness, attack early and often, thinking they can break him early on. Meanwhile, he answers the attacks. Keeping tabs on everyone while maintaining the appearance of beatability. They keep attacking, ripping thier own legs out from under themselves. Lance pours it on in the TT's adding much valuable time, and is still ready to attack in the Pyrenees, since he did not scorch himself in the Alps.
If this is true, it was working to an extent. I think Beloki bought it, he thought he could take enough out of LA in the Alps, to beat him overall. But he's gone now. The big threat is back to Ullrich. He may not have bought into the "wounded duck" act. He's been pretty content to hang back, keeping the
Maillot Jaune in sight. He WILL be a problem in the next couple of weeks. It's gonna be interesting. Honestly, I get the feeling that LA's biggest threat right now is Tyler. He's always been considered an "outside" threat, but he looks unstopable.

I think there may indeed be some bluffing going on.

I also do not think Beloki was worried about 2nd place. He was worried about first place.

That was an awful fall. The worst part was his keening wail as he lay on the ground waiting for help. I hate stuff like that.

A

Originally posted by ChipRGW
The big threat is back to Ullrich. He may not have bought into the "wounded duck" act. He's been pretty content to hang back, keeping the
Maillot Jaune in sight.

Also, the final TT is custom built for the German - flat and straight. This Tour is going to be very interesting. :)

I don´t think Jan is able to reach the yellow one this time. He doesn´t have the form he used to have and is a little ill.
So, I don´t expect too much this year. Next year will show if he´s really back to business.

I've been thinking the same thing Chip, with the Alps happening a week into the tour, and with 2 weeks left I'd say it's very possible that LA is just doing what it takes to keep the yellow and not much else. This isn't like last year where they came out of the Alps with a few stages left, when you could give it everything going up the mountain and then rely on your team in the flat stages, then come back for the TT.

Ullrich? He's a super longshot, he may be a good time trialist, but he's got over 2 minutes to make up, that's a HUGE deficit considering that LA isn't exactly a horrible TT competitor.

Andrew

We're barely into the real meat of the tour, and I too
believe that Lance is doing what he can to cover the attacks,
but not blow himself up. This is the earliest that any tour has
hit the mountains.
I don't think he's bluffing just conserving his strength.
Beloki's femur required surgery and he is being medivac'd to
Spain.

Marty

My take on the beloki incident on seeing it was that his back wheel slid on wet tar (it was very hot), he seemed to hammer the front and the back wheel unweighted and came round, thenhit the ground, which is when I think his tyre rolled off. When the tyre gripped, it effectively highsided him off the bike and he landed flat on his side.

I felt for sire he'd done his hip or pelvis, but know now his femur had broken as well as a couple of other injuries.

His teammates were really shocked, listening to him scream.

IMHO, Lance is looking vulnerable, but I think the opposition is a bit weak. Beloki stood a chance, but Ullrich hasn't been making a huge impression.

can still all change in the next set of mountain stages.

And every time I see David Millar interviewed, he comes over as more of an *rse.

Originally posted by Piratello
I don´t think Jan is able to reach the yellow one this time. He doesn´t have the form he used to have and is a little ill.
So, I don´t expect too much this year. Next year will show if he´s really back to business.

He said he didn't get to get fully prepared for the tour. I think next year he might really be on top

How fast do ya suppose Lance was going when he went off-road? D@mn.

Some general thoughts:

Pity about Beloki. A year of hard work down the tubes (or should I say tubulars;)). He and ONCE were doing a great job.

Lance might be sandbagging a little. Riding defensively for sure, but say you act a little tired and struggly... and tempt your rivals to attack and attack. He tipped his had a little yesterday on the last climb. And I think the OLN commentators are trying to garner suspense by telling us Lance is off form.

Jan has a long way to go, time-wise, but I think we still have yet to see his best. He's still pushing those big gears, and it's hurting him on quick accelerations. But I really believe he's better than what he's been showing so far in this tour. He tipped his had a little and largely drove the Bianchi TTT. I think he's being patient, waiting for attrition to thin the crowds. The ITT will be interesting. We'll really see what the leaner, meaner Jan can do when they get to the Pyrenees.

What is up with all the wrecks this year? :confused:

Originally posted by ChipRGW
Honestly, I get the feeling that LA's biggest threat right now is Tyler. He's always been considered an "outside" threat, but he looks unstopable.

Ironically, I'm thinking that the broken shoulder is possibly contributing to his success right now - he's probably riding harder, with more effort, regardless of the physical toll, than he would have if healthy.

have to disagree on some views on lance's tactics.

I think he's really riding himself in. He never really looked likehe was suffering although Alpe D' Heuz was probably a bad day by his standards.

the way I see it is that Jan Ullrich and Armstrong are the ones who will be contesting the yellow jersey by thursday next week. Both seem to be using similar tactics - the lets wait and see handbook- and it seems to be working. Mos of their opposition is falling away. It's only Vinokourov and Mayo left. I don't see Tyler as a viable contender although he can TT well. I think his injuries will do him in sooner or later, before the end of the the week.

Mayo is young and inexperienced although he doeshave a good team around him I doubt they are tacful enough to make the best of the situation.

This weekend will be telling but Ithink it'llbe Lance in numero Uno in paris, followed by Ullrich and Vinokourov. HAmilton 4th and Mayo 5th.

I thought Jan wasn't going to push those big gears in the mountains anymore! I hope he doesn't get himself injured again. He's really doing well, though, just staying right on lance's wheel and moving up in the GC.

When Beloki crashed at first I thought it was just road rash, but then you heard him screaming and it was just horrible. As for lance, I don't think he's playing the 'gimp act'. Maybe he's taking longer to find his form. But if he was feeling weak,would he admit it in interviews? And why pretend to be in bad shape when in the yellow jersey? if he were really suffering, he'd never show it. The TT on friday will be great. I hope to see Jan pull that off.

Originally posted by roadbuzz

Pity about Beloki. A year of hard work down the tubes (or should I say tubulars;)). He and ONCE were doing a great job.


Actually, he appears to have been running clinchers, here is a pic where I think you can see a rim strip instead of glue:

http://www.velonews.com/images/details/4520.5461.f.jpg


It is a real shame about Beloki, but I hope he'll be back next year. In one article I read they said he broke his Femur close to the hip, depending on how close that could be complicated.

I guess everyone think nice thoughts for him and wish a speedy recovery.

take care,

Jester

jester, is that a real pic? What's the cop doing right beside beloki?

The pic is real and is an amazing snap shot for sure, in it Beloki is still in motion (but just barely) from his fall, Lance just made a quick flick to the left just as he's going off road. The cop looked like he was just a spectator (there were a few others in the general area as well).

Andrew