Marge

does anyone know how they determine what order they ride the time trial? I can not wait to see
Alberto Contador. p.s. for me this has been the wildest and most enjoyable Tour De France ever.

reef58

They go in order of GC position. Ras will go last.

Richard

Marge

hey thanks a bunch, I thought that was true, but is it by team or individual? so is all of Rabobank
last?

reef58

Nope by individual.

Richard

Randomus

I've ran across a number of people who also said that this is the most enjoyable tour they have seen in a while.

I guess the Lance years kind of made it boring for some people.

BTW, reef is right again.

reef58

I am sure by the end of the tour I will have been wrong many times. I really didn't think they would let chicken take so much time on stage 8.

Richard

GV27

eh - he lost something like 14 minutes in the two long TTs last year. Hopefully he won't have a total disaster like the final TT last year but I still don't think the likes of Evans, Kloden and Leipheimer are too worried about taking back 4 minutes from him. It'd be different if they'd let him have 8 or 10 minutes - but they didn't.

reef58

He wasn't riding for GC last year, and wasn't wearing yellow. He has the skills to limit his losses to a reasonable amount. We will see if he can implement those skills on Saturday.

Richard

reef58

No one was worried about Oscar last year either.

Richard

GGDub

I keep waiting for a big break like that to screw everything this year as well. The top guys seem more disorganized than ever.

NotAsFat

Which is the only thing that will keep him from being passed by 2-3 riders.

GV27

He certainly was riding for GC in the last TT! He was riding for the podium! It was an utter disaster - he had a fall, an equip. issue and then I think he freaked and ended up doing like 4 bike changes! It was a total choke. I wouldn't wish that on anyone!

Don't get me wrong - I like the Chicken a lot, but he'll have to do something really special (for him personally) to avoid a sound butt-whuppin'!

reef58

I have already commented on that in another post.

Bottom line 05 was bad
He had Jan breathing down his neck
He was a newcomer
He had a lot of pressure on him and cracked
It was probably a good learning experience

Richard

superslomo

How were his time trials for the Tour last year? Same kind of disaster?

Marge

It wasn't that Lance was boring, far from it, he was so dominant! It's just that this year has been so crazy it's really been fun!

SunSwingsLow

I must say this has been exactly what the tour needed. Lots of enjoyment for me this year.

Keith99

Not last year. He was 21'4" down on GC going into the last ITT. That means he only needed to put 20'34" on Landis to pass the guy in third at the time.

Year before he had no realistic chance either. He was only 2'12" up on Ullrich.

I don't thnk he has the time he needs to stay in Yellow. I do think he has enough time that he could well regain Yellow, perhaps on hte very next day. But he will be hard pressed to gain enough time to be able stay on top after the final ITT. (Perhaps a podium, I expect people to crack, if he does not, mountians and TTs he could podium).

Keith99

Not last year. He was 21'4" down on GC going into the last ITT. That means he only needed to put 20'34" on Landis to pass the guy in third at the time.

Year before he had no realistic chance either. He was only 2'12" up on Ullrich.

I don't thnk he has the time he needs to stay in Yellow. I do think he has enough time that he could well regain Yellow, perhaps on hte very next day. But he will be hard pressed to gain enough time to be able stay on top after the final ITT. (Perhaps a podium, I expect people to crack, if he does not, mountians and TTs he could podium).

JungleCat

Did you see 2003? That was pretty wild, start to finish.

But I'm jealous of those who saw Lemond win in 1989 on the final day, by 8 seconds, after recovering from being shot! Can't imagine it could be any wilder than that!