Professional Cycling For the Fans - Riders MIA in the Tour

One of the surprises of the Tour for me has been that a number of riders have performed quite a bit off their best so far.

Tom Boonen had two of the worst weeks of his professional cycling life before dropping out.

Denis Menchov has been off form since day one, and was beaten up the climb today by Duque, one of the French teams' sprinters.

David Arroyo, a fixture in breakaways in a couple previous Tours, seems to have vanished.

Who else, at rest day #2 has been MIA?

How about the entire Quickstep team?

Danny Pate?

How about the entire Quickstep team?

Danny Pate?

We know what the deal with Danny is. They showed a segment from a Garmin pre-race meeting. The director told him, "Your role is to do what you do best. Chase down the early breaks until you blow up." Danny seemed fine with it.

I didn't see that segment. I remember him in a nice breakaway last year. Seemed like he poised for something, small fish/big pond syndrome this year.

boonen has has a stressful few months, and didn't even know if he'd be riding until right before. not the best of preparations. the fact that he has some kind of virus reveals that there's also a physiological reason as well.

menchov had an amazing giro, and is possibly riding the tour to fulfill prior commitments, rather than racing. in short - he has no motivation/morale. he's basically said as much to dutch tv. alternatively, some people speculate that he's doing his best to lay low with the austrian blood doping investigation that's underway.

no clue about arroyo. some riders hit a patch of form for a few years, then go back to glorious anonymity.

What happened to that climber from Colombia who rode for Barloworld a couple of years ago and competed for KoM? Was he the same guy who slid halfway down the mountain last year?

barloworld didn't get an invite, so no soler.

Robbie Mcewen is off watching the ashes, slacker.

What happened to that climber from Colombia who rode for Barloworld a couple of years ago and competed for KoM? Was he the same guy who slid halfway down the mountain last year?

I think they were two different riders, Soler competed for KOM and the guy that slid down the mountain was a young South African kid whose name I can't recall.

Literally?

Mayo, Basso, Ricco, Ullrich.

I think they were two different riders, Soler competed for KOM and the guy that slid down the mountain was a young South African kid whose name I can't recall.

Was it John Lee Augustyn who slid down the mountain?

Robbie Mcewen is off watching the ashes, slacker.

McEwen crashed at the Tour of Belgium and tore up his knee. Needed surgery. Out of the year. Don't know if he'll try to come back next year. He'll be 38 and coming back from major surgery. Doesn't look like there are many sprint wins in his future. :(

freire, o'grady.

ed rader

sastre

Robbie Mcewen is off watching the ashes, slacker.

That ain't working out too well.............

Was it John Lee Augustyn who slid down the mountain?

Yep, that was him. That was an amazing moment, the look on his face was priceless.:twitchy:

freire, o'grady.

ed rader

Friere, yes. In fact the who Rabobank team = fail.

O'Grady is on super domestique duties.

Evans. He still gets a mention on the live coverage for being somewhere close to the front, or for seeming to try something, but he's barely an also-ran at the moment. Its hard to think of a stage where he did anything other than hang on.

Evans. He still gets a mention on the live coverage for being somewhere close to the front, or for seeming to try something, but he's barely an also-ran at the moment. Its hard to think of a stage where he did anything other than hang on.

He's tried to attack a few times. But he's like Levi Leipheimer. They can TT and climb well. But they just don't have that umph when attacking up big climbs. They can ride a strong tempo up with the GC contenders, but they can't hang when the true climbers ramp it up. This is why they had high finishes, but never been on top.

Daniele Bennati, sprinter on Liquigas. Saw him in the break with George that day, but last I saw he had NO sprint points at all. What's up there, he's one of my favorite sprinters.

Has Juan Antonia Flecha been out on any breakaways? Don't recall seeing the archer out there.

Has Juan Antonia Flecha been out on any breakaways? Don't recall seeing the archer out there.

He was on the stage 15 break - in bandages. Looks like he had a crash earlier in the Tour.

Remember the chicken? He is out of it 2nd tdf in a row. Wonder if he will get signed next year.