Equinox

Can someone explain the logic to me. It is possible for the second place rider to win if he wanted to fight it out. This is such an unbelievable event for an athlete. I don't understand why you would concede when you are within striking distance. The athlete has sacrificed everything to train for this event, and then he just gives it up? Is this a European mindset thing?

Snicklefritz

I thought that the last stage ended up a "formality" only because the sprinters usually take the stage and it's not worth the risk to the 2nd place GC guy to get in any scraps that would cause an accident and put them off the podium. I don't think any of the GQ contenders can usually sprint well enough to have a hope at doing well in the last stage. At least that was my impresison of the whole thing.

not2fast

I agree, the last stage should be all out war, and therefor should be an individual time trial!!

55/Rad

The final stage is a flat, sprinters stage and it's pretty much conceded that any threatening breakaway would surely be reeled in. Though some have tried...most recently in '87 when Pedro Delgado, down by 40 seconds to Stephen Roche, broke away on the final day. He was reeled in.

55/Rad

oneradtec

The final stage is going to end in a bunch sprint. It is why the sprinters suffer through the mountains...so they can make it to Paris and win on the Shaunzelez. In other words...the teams with the best sprinters will be controlling the race at the front. There is no way they are going to let a groups get away. It perhaps has happened before....but most unlikely. The reason these teams can control it is because the stage is so flat. Also...the team with the yellow jersey is not going to let anyone get away...especially if he is a threat to their leader. What is more...the final kilometers are like a criterium...or circuit race. fast, flat, and tightly controlled.

I think Robbie McEwen or Francisco Ventoso(Saunier Duval) will win tomorrow.

MRGolfo

I am new to watching the tour as well but it doesn't make sense to me. They should just let the top dozen in the GC or so go at it and see who survives if they are so worried about any type of accident. I am sure there's some type of tradition here. Could you imagine if in the Super Bowl they just have a scrimmage where any points scored don't count during the last quarter of the whole football season.

pelotonracer

Haha- nice spelling.

Pereiro & Landis are friends, & it's just against the unwritten rules. Besides, who's going to break with him? He's the only one with anything to gain, & as said before, the sprinters' teams will reel them in well before the Champs-Elysees.

dauphin

The U.S. mindset (concerning sports) prevents us from comprehending some traditions. Not saying it's wrong, just different.

Richard Cranium

The original Tour de France did not have teams nor stage specialists. The way I've heard a story told, is that in the early days, the accepted fact was that who ever was leading the race was so strong that they could still beat whoever was trailing on the last day -- if they had to.....

The organizers, wanting more publicity, wanted to riders to "stage" an entrance back in to Paris so that largest groups of spectators would have an opportunity to view the spectacle of the returning cyclists.
So in some early cases, riders agreed not to challenge the leader when entering Paris.

In modern cases, most of the time, with the nature of drafting and strength in numbers, it is virtually impossible for any team or single rider to ride away from the peloton without some kind of foulplay or accident. So, teams agree to have non-contending riders sprint for a win for their own sake - geez you know, everyone is a little tired.

fmw

All of this is true. However, it is possible that we could see a breakaway. It has happened before. It isn't likely, though.

dutret

didn;t vino attack multiple times last year to jump up a few places?

patentcad

It has been in the past. In 1989 Greg Lemond won the Tour by EIGHT SECONDS when he went from 52 seconds down on Laurent Fignon to 8 seconds ahead by winning by a margin of one minute. Still the fastest average speed ever recorded for a Tour individual TT (it was like 33mph or so).

But typically it's a sprinter's stage. I was concerned that Floyd would finish today with a slim margin of 20 seconds or less - in which case the time bonuses for the finishing and interim sprints might be enough to put the 2nd place man on top. But it wouldn't happen. Too many teams to chase down any attempted breakaways, too many sprinters faster than the top G.C. contenders to clip them in the sprints, etc. In other words even if Floyd had a 10 second margin the liklihood that he could be upset in a stage like tomorrow's is VERY slim indeed. With a 59 second gap they'll treat it like a rolling party and let the sprinters have their day on the Champs Elyesse.

Not a CHANCE the Phonak boys let a GC man get anything approaching a gap tomorrow. Not on your life. And they all know this. So nobody will generally bother to try. Bad form, classless, pointless, universally recognized in the pro peloton. Well, OK, maybe not by A. Vinokourov. But the Khrazy Khazak isn't there this year : ). I miss that whacko.

Thulsadoom

It's the last day of a long, long race. It's mostly flat, and certainly flat as it comes into Paris. If someone wants to try and break away, they are certainly allowed, and I'm quite certain that everyone is aware of that. But almost any team can chase down someone if they really want to on a flat stage. So if Oscar or Andreas tried to break away and win the race, they would just embarass themselves. Phonak, and probably everyone else, would just run them down and make them look silly. So there's really no point. So everyone just cruises the last day and tries to enjoy themselves.

Jet-man

Obviously a lot of folks here haven't been around cycling too long. Pereiro is 59 seconds behind Landis. Do you really think he could gain a minute on a flat 90 mile stage? Uh, these guys ride on teams and Phonak could easily chase down any break that got off the front if Pereiro was in it. All the top guys want to ensure their position - and thus it's virtually impossible for someone to get away. (The exception is if someone was only a few seconds behind someone else, they could go for the intermediate sprints or the final for a few bonus seconds aka Vino last year)

Brilliant analogy - if the stupidbowl was 90 hours long and the 'players' rode 2000+ miles, you may have a point there champ. It isn't.

ZachS

it would be nice if the last stage was an ITT - but with slightly different rules:

stagger starts based on place in the GC - i.e. leader starts first, with everyone else starting as many seconds behind as they are in the standings.

and allow drafting.

trackstands, anybody?

jjmolyet

Champs-Elysées ...no wonder the French hate us. I love the Tour Day France!

johnny99

He won by a couple of seconds plus a time bonus, which was enough to move him from 6th to 5th. Even this little amount was controversial. The tour organizers announced that due to rainy conditions, they did not want a dangerous sprint finish and would not count time gains during the last lap. The 5th place rider believed his position was secure and did not try to chase Vino. Apparently, Vino launched his attack early enough to bypass that rule and the now 6th place rider was not happy

dutret

leipheimer if I remember correctly. The time bonus he got was long before they got on the cobblestone and official timing was stopped. He still kept going out though but everyone got the same time since official timing was over.

patentcad

More like the Tour organizers told every team manager one thing (i.e. the GC wouldn't change on the Champs that day regardless of time bonuses) and then changed their tune after Vino won the stage and vaulted from 6th to 5th place over Levi. I can GUARANTEE you that if 5th place had been a Frenchman instead of an American that would have NEVER occurred. The organizers of the Tour DO suck.

BoSoxYacht

Raise your hand if you care what they think of us. I don't see many raised hands.

tinrobot

+1

oneradtec

Have you been watching for 3 weeks??? They already did that.

patentcad

>>Obviously a lot of folks here haven't been around cycling too long<<

You think?

For me the first clue is the 'how do I avoid toppling over in those clipless pedal things' threads. I actually saw a thread where the guy wanted to know how to shift the STI levers. Seriously.

mayukawa

I would think the guys who have been around a long time would know more about DT shifters than STI levers?

Warblade

It's an unwritten rule that you don't attack the leader of the Tour on the last day.