Professional Cycling - Prologue Liege ITT

Liege ITT
July 3rd 6.1 km

.....

Pettachi should be able to finish this stage.

Hehe, I would hope so.

Don, thanks for the images, great idea!

Pettachi should be able to finish this stage.

I don't know; It's got a little hump in it. ;)

Sorry Marty, I didn't see the live ticker in the corner there till after I started. It has the course profiles in it. :o

Pettachi should be able to finish this stage.




Nah, he'll climb off at Place Saint-Lambert.... ;)

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say McGee for this one.
(like its a huge stretch huh).

Marty

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say McGee for this one.
(like its a huge stretch huh).

Marty

Yup, I like McGee also, and also Millar ... doooooooooh, not without his EPO!

Anywho, in terms of the GC contenders, this should give an indication of who is TTing well. If Mayo is close - look out Lance, Jan, Tyler, Heras, etc! :)

I think Tyler will suprise a lot of people in this stage (I hope)

Place Saint-Lambert might be the point that Cipo takes the numbers off.

If I would bet on a stage winner for any of the stages in this race, I would say McGee for this stage.

looks like rain, eh? $20 bucks tyler crashes and breaks his...er...uhm... chin, making it incredibly painful to fasten his helmet. nevertheless, he continues to ride, adding another chapter to his growing legacy for tolerating pain. ;)

looks like rain, eh? $20 bucks tyler crashes and breaks his...er...uhm... chin, making it incredibly painful to fasten his helmet. nevertheless, he continues to ride, adding another chapter to his growing legacy for tolerating pain. ;)

LOL. I predict he cashes, his foot falls off and they glue a new one on.

How will he eat his Gu with his jaw wired shut?


Pettachi should be able to finish this stage.


:roflmao::roflmao: A good laugh is a great way to start the tour. Now if I could only find a place to watch it.

Liege ITT
July 3rd 6.1 km

LIEGE - km 6.1 128 riders
Last rider : 181 MC EWEN (AUS, LOT) - 55. at 22"
1- 027 PEREIRO SIO (ESP, PHO) 00:07:01.390
2- 064 JULICH (USA, CSC) 00:07:02.840 at 01"
3- 005 HINCAPIE (USA, USP) 00:07:02.890 at 01"
4- 025 GUTIERREZ (ESP, PHO) 00:07:04.990 at 03"
5- 119 VICIOSO (ESP, LST) 00:07:05.030 at 03"

ouch!

how about Cancellara- he killed it!

will that time hold ya think?

we're a hour and 10 minutes in and already two people have crashed, imagine the next three weeks!

that's a great time, especially for a first-timer. i would be surprised if it held up, seeing as all the big guns have yet to go. still, impressive work, taking 11 seconds out of a leader.

can some one explaine to me why mario cipollini had to cut the legs off of his skin suit before the judges would let him race

Brad McGee must be very disappointed. I'm certain much of his TDF success was hinging on getting the Yellow today.

Wowoowwwoowowwwowowow, so exciting, Lance 6:52 secs. So exciting to watch.

oh SNAP!!!!

what a kickoff!

can some one explaine to me why mario cipollini had to cut the legs off of his skin suit before the judges would let him race

It didn't conform to the rules.

okay - so ppl who follow racing (my first time watching).

what is the significance of these results - for ulrich, hamilton and armstrong in particular...

great ride by the kid. great ride by lance. of course, this result means little, but i'd still love to see what's running through jan/tyler's heads.

edit: it really doesn't mean a whole lot for the contenders. it's a very early indication of fitness, but the biggest edge for lance is probably mental. anytime you put time into your adversaries, it means something. besides, lemond won a tour by, what, 8 seconds? so every second counts.

yeah way to go lance:)

It shows that Lance is here to win #6 and IS in great form.
To bad for McGee :(

I think Lance got everything he could possibly want out of the prolog. He picked up close to 20secs on his main rivals and he didn't take the Yellow Jersey so USPS will not have to defend it, although it looks like he was trying to take it to prove something. I think that if he had taken it, USPS probably wouldn't have made to gargantuan an effort to defend it anyway. But overall, Lance definitely helped himself today. It looks like Tyler and Jan rode very conservatively because of the conditions.

okay-
exciting stuff and it's only just beginning.

time to go out for a little 30miler in the hottest part of the day just to be on the bike for a while after all that action.

I think this is perfect for Lance, only 2 seconds to yellow jersey, don't have to defend it, this can take lots of pressure off from him.

humm maybe ulrich is faking that he isn't fit enough.

okay - so ppl who follow racing (my first time watching).

what is the significance of these results - for ulrich, hamilton and armstrong in particular...

That ride was Lance's way of saying, "I'm ready".

Jan and Tyler are probably thinkin' "oh shoot, it's gonna be a loong 3 weeks".

It also makes it a bit easier for team postal. All Lance has to do is keep even with tyler and Jan as he has a lead over them. (small as it is)

It means that Lance has already won the TDF.

It means that Lance has already won the TDF.
......... :D

It means that Lance has already won the TDF.

Oh good, I can relax then. I'm at work right now and I can't get OLN to come in. :eek: I had to come check and see what was goin on. I couldn't wait before I got home to watch it on tape.

So will Fassa try to get Petacchi into yellow before someone else takes it away? Not a bad spot to be in IMHO.

-murray

Hushovd is probably the biggest threat to the Yellow Jersey as he is Credit Agricoles #1 sprinter and the most likely of the top ten GC to pick up time bonuses that could put him in yellow. Brad McGee's job now will switch to lead-out man for Cooke, but he could pick up bonuses at the intermediate sprints, where you will also see Hushovd at the front.

Of course a break could get away and who knows who could get the jersey.

Fassa has a strong interest in hanging onto it though as long as they can, but Credit Agricole and Fdjeux probably want it even more for the early stages.

So will Fassa try to get Petacchi into yellow before someone else takes it away? Not a bad spot to be in IMHO.

-murray

I dunno....there area couple of cat 4 hills....... :p

I had to catch the afternoon rerun. (I was out riding my own bike this morning). What a great prologue! Lance has announced his presence. Everyone else has been put on notice. The posties don't need to defend yet. And...

Cancellara got a great result. It's fun to watch a first timer pull on the yellow jersey.

Man! I love the Tour.

Didn't catch it.. all 6.1km relatively flat?

humm maybe ulrich is faking that he isn't fit enough.

Or, perhaps he's not planning on being at 100% for another week or two? Remember, it's only stage 1... a lot can happen and there are all kinds of strategies being played out right now. Time will tell who had the best strategy, form and timing figured out for being at peak performance.

I had to catch the afternoon rerun. (I was out riding my own bike this morning). What a great prologue! Lance has announced his presence. Everyone else has been put on notice. The posties don't need to defend yet. And...

Cancellara got a great result. It's fun to watch a first timer pull on the yellow jersey.

Man! I love the Tour.
Hey me too I'm down at the beach and took my fixie out for a nice ride. Sounds to me like Lance did the gentalmens thing to do...

The cycling, like soccer, is not a real sport in the states, yet we own them in Europe. Only 8 U.S riders join the race compare to 30 from France and 30 from Spain, yet 6 of them in the top 20 on the first race today already.

Obviously I'm a Lance's fan, but I'm so proud of our guys, like soccer, we shocked the world when we beat Portugal at World cup 2002, and now, let's hope Lance win the sixth, and probably the seventh :D.

Did you see the size of McEwens helmet? HAHAHAHA! He looked like darkhelmet from spaceballs.

Did you see the size of McEwens helmet? HAHAHAHA! He looked like darkhelmet from spaceballs.


:roflmao:

I had the same image!! What else was in there?

:roflmao:

I had the same image!! What else was in there?

About 3 quarts worth of goslow

Great opening. Tactically perfect for USPS within easy striking distance to yellow,
no defence needed and LA puts time into his rivals.
No, ain't quite over yet but it is gonna be good.

Marty

Or, perhaps he's not planning on being at 100% for another week or two?

Perhaps Lance isn't either. :eek:

Matt White crashes and breaks his collarbone while warming up for the prologue.

That's about the worst luck I've ever seen at the TDF.

Perhaps Lance isn't either.

Exactly. The point being, it's way too early to start reading tea leaves.

What about this man's performance?