Professional Cycling For the Fans - Stage 6 Bonneval - Angers

Le 9 juillet 196 km

.....

Did I miss anything exciting on todays stage?

a bunch of little crashes. not much else.

A crash just took out most of the riders in the final kilometer. According to cyclingnews.com, only 20 riders left with the rubber side down.

and a big one exactly at the 1km mark.. had that crash taken place a few meters before it could have made a big dfference in times..

Boonen takes the sprint!

Lots of crashes. Lance went down.

Can't remember a tour with this many crashes! Seems like all of the contenders have gone down, except Ullrich.

Man, Flecha was hauling ass! I was jumping up and down, yelling for him. Bold move, It was the only chance he had, he knew it, he took it, but Alas........

What a mess this tour is. I felt bad for Flecha after such hard work that was quite impressive. Bummed about Cippo too :(

You all can pretend you're Lance, but on the commute home today I'm gonna be Juan Flecha!
I'm curious about the cyclingnews report that says, "The crash was in the final kilometre, so nobody should be penalised on GC." How does that work? Did everyone who crawled in after the crash get the same time as the 20 who made it without crashing? Any resources for this stuff online?

If a crash occurs in the last 1 km, afaik, they all get the same time as the winner. Check www.letour.fr

2.6.026

In the case of a duly noted fall, puncture or mechanical incident beyond the red flare, the rider or riders
involved shall be credited with the time of the rider or riders in whose company they were riding
at the moment of the accident. His or their placing shall be determined by the order in which he or
they actually cross the finishing line.

2.6.027

If, as the result of a fall beyond the red flare, a rider cannot cross the finishing line, he shall be
placed last in the stage and credited with the time of the rider or riders in whose company he was
riding at the time of the accident.

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040709/i/r3718470980.jpg

Rene Haselbacher went down hard today during the final sprint. He got messed up pretty bad. Here's hoping he's ok.

It's like, so obvious he's thinking, "Thank God my arse isn't showing, like it was last year."

Poor ol' Haselbacher. Take it easy, Rene.

ATTA BOY TOM!

At least he's got his two front teeth. :D

Man, Flecha was hauling ass! I was jumping up and down, yelling for him. Bold move, It was the only chance he had, he knew it, he took it, but Alas........

I was also hoping beyond hope he could hold on. What an effort just to be swept up and then have one of the 200meter specialists win the stage after not working half as much as he did.

I'll be glad to get into the mountains where the pack fodder will flail and fail and cry the blues while the real strongmen race.

But too bad for Fletcha, really was wishing he won.

Fletchers push was heroic, if doomed. Somebody buy that man a beer.

You all can pretend you're Lance, but on the commute home today I'm gonna be Juan Flecha!

I think I'll be Jan Ullrich as he's apparently just about the only one who hasn't crashed.

Lance went down in the crash at 13 km, but I think he just was caught behind the crash at the 1 km banner.

If a crash occurs in the last 1 km, afaik, they all get the same time as the winner. Check www.letour.fr

Could this be a motivation for people to "fake" involvement in a fall, to help their time? Or motivation to cause a fall? I read the rule but still don't fully understand it.

As to all the injuries, isn't there SOME sort of protective gear these guys could wear (other than a helmet) that wouldn't create too much drag? Even some thin absorbent elbow guards would help!

Good for Boonen, he's got a bright future.

And my green jersey pick O'Grady is in the maillot vert, excellent. Hopefully he can keep it this time!

Could this be a motivation for people to "fake" involvement in a fall, to help their time? Or motivation to cause a fall? I read the rule but still don't fully understand it.

As to all the injuries, isn't there SOME sort of protective gear these guys could wear (other than a helmet) that wouldn't create too much drag? Even some thin absorbent elbow guards would help!


It would do no good to "fake" involvement in a fall as you have to be with the group anyway to get that time.

The reason is basically to not penalize riders during the run up to the sprint where things can get dodgy. Just like the same time rule is to encourage those who do not care about the sprint to hang back and make things safer.

Notice that Dekker dropped off the back near the finish, but finished with the peloton because of the crash. But he still got his actual time, unlike all of the other riders ahead and behind him. Which is right. (in regards to faking a fall)

I haven't seen the race yet, but was the weather really bad for today's stage?

There were some brief squalls, but it seemed to rain only on the peloton (at least while I was watching - I've missed the finish all THREE times it's been broadcast so far :( )

There's ain't gonna be many riders left if there's crashes on every stage...

I'm jealous of you guys that somehow get to watch the race during the day!

Procycling (http://www.procycling.com/news.aspx?ID=221) reports that when Tyler went down today he cracked his helmet and got road rash on his back.

I'm jealous of you guys that somehow get to watch the race during the day!

If you consider 5:30 or 6am "during the day", then we're lucky on the West Coast to see it before the business day even gets cranking (costs me maybe half an hour of the "normal" business day to see it through to the end).

and a big one exactly at the 1km mark.. had that crash taken place a few meters before it could have made a big dfference in times..

yup.. big O crash... it was unbelievable. they all looked like dominos...

I'm taking nothing away from Boonen's well-deserved stage win, but, the ride of the day was Flecha.

Flecha's mad defiance when the rest of the break sat up was amazing. He is an opportunist in the best sense of the word. The guy rides with a lot of heart. I was kind of sorry that I didn't get to see him shooting imaginary arrows at the finish line.

The crashes ought to be fewer when we hit the mountains.

Did anybody notice that Petacchi and Cipollini both abandoned the Tour today?

I'm not surprised about Petacchi. He just hasn't been himself. He probably blew his wad in the Giro.

I figured Cipo would have realized that this might be his last Tour and at least made it to the first mountain stage. Disappointing.

There were some brief squalls, but it seemed to rain only on the peloton (at least while I was watching - I've missed the finish all THREE times it's been broadcast so far :( )

With so many crashes this year, it's a good thing they're requiring helmets. I'll bet they'll develop a fast slick for rain -- to combat the rain problems.

Can someone explain to me what happened to Simoni? Why was he penalized 2 minutes? Thanks for any information.

Jim

He crashed on the last corner of the TTT, some of the riders and the DS were yelling at the team to stop. Becuase he didn't finish with the 5th Saeco rider, he gets his actual time, and not the adjusted (:20,:30,:40 etc...) time of the team.

Had they heard the crash etc, they could have waited, and as long as he was within 1 second of the 5th man, he would have not been penalized. So much for radios eh?

Did anybody notice that Petacchi and Cipollini both abandoned the Tour today?

Nope, nobody noticed. And nobody cared.

Excuse my ignorance, (I don't have OLN so I just follow the website and the news on TV if lucky to get a one second image)...but what's Lance's position at this time ?
Does he still have a shot at winning 6th???
It seems to me that in 7 stages he's only won one /???

Would anybody illustrate??
Thanks
Corsaire

Excuse my ignorance, (I don't have OLN so I just follow the website and the news on TV if lucky to get a one second image)...but what's Lance's position at this time ?
Does he still have a shot at winning 6th???
It seems to me that in 7 stages he's only won one /???

Would anybody illustrate??

He's in 6th place in the GC standings and 9'35" behind the current race leader. He had the yellow after the TTT because the USPS total time boosted him up there but gave up the yellow jersey to Thomas Voeckler the next day. Voeckler was a part of a breakaway that the peloton let succeed and finish 9 minutes ahead of everyone else. Voeckler is not a threat to the overall win so it's likely the peloton will reel back the time difference over the next few stages... and especially once they hit the mountain stages. It's not imperative that a rider win every stage or retain the yellow all throughout the race... especially in the beginning. It's actually beneficial for those riders who intend to win the overall race to not have to shoulder the burden of defending the yellow jersey in the early stages.