Never said it was easy. They're very skilled cyclists with brass balls who could tear up 99.9% of all cyclists in the world.

But if we're talking about classy tactics in the peleton, i don't think the tactics sprinters employ to win are all that classy. They sit on a wheel and do as little work as possible the entire race until the last 200m. They are completely and utterly dependent on their teammates to not only bring them to the line as fresh as possible, but to give them the perfect lead-out.

I don't like em, and i love seeing them get shelled off the back :D

Like nobody else does that...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/42/11...08360baf31.jpg

when its flat.

and i love seeing em get shelled also...and poor cav "going backwards" on the climbs...

climbers are where its at.:D

Well, I just hope this race is going to keep going like it's started. Exciting!

Petacchi really showed his experience over Cavendish yesterday and his team did well for him today. Cavendish may be bloody quick, with a really good team, but he has a lot to learn still. That, however, makes him an even more exciting prospect.

Plus, he actually managed to get the Giro some (tiny) press coverage in the UK which is a big bonus.

Nice catch. Dooooooooooooooooh! :o

.... Brad

the funny thing is the tour sprinters would shell about 99% of us on climbs.

it's just their discipline...why the hate? it takes a hell of allot of bike handling skills to pull of what they do?

and how are they any different than the climbers that sit on the wheels of the dominestiques all day until the climb comes?

i hate climbers...hail the work horses of the peleton.

No panache? You are making the joke, yes?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/20.../Cipollini.jpg

On the bike Mouse ;)

compared to other pro's they may be slower on the climbs but compared to an average cyclist they are still ridiculously fast on the climbs. I love the whole "all they do is sit in". Most people couldn't just "sit in" during a pro race.

Panache: A grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair.

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/1295...30FDCFC4C15FBB

I know SushiJoe sure as hell couldn't!

You're taking an absolute comparison and applying it to a relative argument.

That is my point. They may seem slow compared to other professionals during a race but that misleads the viewer to their actual speed compared to 99% of other cyclists. To classify a sprinter as slow because he doesn't climb as well as Contador is not a fair comparison.

Incorrect. Boonen, Cav, and McEwen are pretty much solo artists. Cav and McEwen especially. For what it's worth, most climbers sit in and use their teammates till the climb gets grippy. When was the last time you saw a pure climber on the front of the group driving them on in valley and through the cross winds. I've seen plenty of riders sit on a wheel in the last 2 or so K of climb then sprint around the guy for the win...you know classy riders like Hincapie.

what he said...that i said about 7 posts ago.

and what I said on post #77

incorrect.

Dear god. For now on it will be required by all BF posters to footnote all posts with any and all reference to any possible or plausible connection to any and all previous BF posts and posters.

OK, I think I've read through the entire thread and have a question about today's stage.

I started watching on-line when Cav was in that small group that was about 23 sec behind the lead group and was wondering where the heck his Columbia High Road teammates were. If they had been there with him, they probably could have brought him back to the lead group.



As for the sprint finishes, before I started racing I always rooted for the breakaway and hated sprint finishes, but now as a racer, I have more appreciation for all the tactics involved and love to watch the stages that come down to a sprint finish.

In my own races, however, I try to never let it come down to a sprint finish. :D

correct

and Zajick at Gila, who said he just hung on to Levi and Lance the entire last stage but managed to have enough to win.

Columbia still has GC aspirations, the three guys they didn't drop back were all climbing specialists or their GC guy(s). They weren't going to add much and you don't want to risk giving up time (and effort) for your climbers when it's likely Cav is going to blow up even if he gets there, especially staring at a mountain stage the next day.

Cav screwed the pooch the last two days. Being that deep in the field with under 10k to go on that circuit wasn't good planning.

Cav isn't a GC contender, and with a break heading up the road LPR did exactly the right thing. They have a genuine GC guy in Di Luca, it would have been just silly to let Levi ride off, and it's in a sprinter's team's interest to thin the herd in any case. You don't wait for a guy who is just borrowing the jersey for a day or two.

I remember that..with Peirero. The cycling Gods smiled on Peirero the following year though and look who is still whining about a pipe dream called Paris Roubaix.

In the interest of a preemptive win over someone, of course.