Stage 9 madness
The bell tolls for Beloki
Joseba Beloki was having his best TdF ever. He gained my respect by attacking several times. That crash was brutal and it's tragic that he's out of the race now. But it's not just this race. With a broken femur, wrist, and elbow, he can't do the Vuelta, and this may rock his future in the long term.
The threat of Vinokourov
After years of being Jan Ullrich's general, Vinokourov has been given the green light to go for himself, and he's making the most of it. For who straight days he attacked Armstrong in the mountains and survived. The race is on, and Armstrong no longer has margin for error against him.
On another note, Vinokourov dedicated his win to Andre Kivilev, his friend who died in a crash earlier this year.
Strategy--going Postal
USPS looks very controlled and deliberate here, so maybe they are waiting to go for the kill in the Pyrenees, suspecting that Mayo and Vino will be worn out by then. Maybe, maybe not. I hardly believe the USPS gameplan was to lose time in the Alps. Armstrong usually takes command when they hit the mountains, but he hasn't managed to go on the offensive yet.
But Lance Armstrong must go on the offensive in the Pyrenees, regardless of the result of Friday's indivdual time trial. He felt bad in the Alps and only lost a little time to two riders. If he continues to feel bad, they have a great chance to beat him. But if Lance feels good one day...
Oh, by the way, there are 11 climbs of category 1 or HC remaining . Two of them are at finish lines (Stages 13 & 15). Four of them are in one stage (Stage 14). Yeah, I can see Armstrong going on the offensive.
Oh, by the way, in 2001, Lance Armstrong beat Vinokourov in the first time trial by 3:48 and in second time trial by 2:47.
Mail call & rules
I've gotten lots of mail asking about Lance Armstrong's ride through the hayfield. When Beloki crashed in Stage 9, Lance swerved off the road. He was going so fast that he couldn't get back onto the road, so he continued across the field and rejoined the race on the other end of the hairpin curve. It really was an amazing move, but the bottom line is that Armstrong cut the corner, which was about 100 meters of pavement.
The TdF rule book naturally says that riders aren't allowed to cut the course and may incur penalty if they do. However, it's quite vague as to making a penalty mandatory or even describing any penalty. The dictators of the TdF can do whatever they want about this one. They haven't announced any penalty yet, and if they are to do so, I presume it would be all said & done before the next stage begins.
Given the circumstances, it's obvious that Armstrong wasn't cheating, and he didn't gain any advantage--unless he had been compelled to return to the spot where he went off the road. But, I'm a stickler for the rules. I'd vote to levy a 30 second penalty just to set precedent so that in the future no one tries to gain an advantage in a similar fashion. Had Armstrong gone by the book and returned to the road at the spot where he left it, he would have been off the chase group by about 20-30 seconds. Also, a penalty of 30 seconds isn't the type of thing that would decide hid fate in the Tour. So, I think that would be a fair penalty. However, I don't think it would be wrong NOT to penalize him given the circumstances. Sometimes it's good to leave leeway in the rulebook. After all, they don't do a thing about guys hanging on to the team car when they fetch water bottles.
The bell tolls for Beloki
Joseba Beloki was having his best TdF ever. He gained my respect by attacking several times. That crash was brutal and it's tragic that he's out of the race now. But it's not just this race. With a broken femur, wrist, and elbow, he can't do the Vuelta, and this may rock his future in the long term.
The threat of Vinokourov
After years of being Jan Ullrich's general, Vinokourov has been given the green light to go for himself, and he's making the most of it. For who straight days he attacked Armstrong in the mountains and survived. The race is on, and Armstrong no longer has margin for error against him.
On another note, Vinokourov dedicated his win to Andre Kivilev, his friend who died in a crash earlier this year.
Strategy--going Postal
USPS looks very controlled and deliberate here, so maybe they are waiting to go for the kill in the Pyrenees, suspecting that Mayo and Vino will be worn out by then. Maybe, maybe not. I hardly believe the USPS gameplan was to lose time in the Alps. Armstrong usually takes command when they hit the mountains, but he hasn't managed to go on the offensive yet.
But Lance Armstrong must go on the offensive in the Pyrenees, regardless of the result of Friday's indivdual time trial. He felt bad in the Alps and only lost a little time to two riders. If he continues to feel bad, they have a great chance to beat him. But if Lance feels good one day...
Oh, by the way, there are 11 climbs of category 1 or HC remaining . Two of them are at finish lines (Stages 13 & 15). Four of them are in one stage (Stage 14). Yeah, I can see Armstrong going on the offensive.
Oh, by the way, in 2001, Lance Armstrong beat Vinokourov in the first time trial by 3:48 and in second time trial by 2:47.
Mail call & rules
I've gotten lots of mail asking about Lance Armstrong's ride through the hayfield. When Beloki crashed in Stage 9, Lance swerved off the road. He was going so fast that he couldn't get back onto the road, so he continued across the field and rejoined the race on the other end of the hairpin curve. It really was an amazing move, but the bottom line is that Armstrong cut the corner, which was about 100 meters of pavement.
The TdF rule book naturally says that riders aren't allowed to cut the course and may incur penalty if they do. However, it's quite vague as to making a penalty mandatory or even describing any penalty. The dictators of the TdF can do whatever they want about this one. They haven't announced any penalty yet, and if they are to do so, I presume it would be all said & done before the next stage begins.
Given the circumstances, it's obvious that Armstrong wasn't cheating, and he didn't gain any advantage--unless he had been compelled to return to the spot where he went off the road. But, I'm a stickler for the rules. I'd vote to levy a 30 second penalty just to set precedent so that in the future no one tries to gain an advantage in a similar fashion. Had Armstrong gone by the book and returned to the road at the spot where he left it, he would have been off the chase group by about 20-30 seconds. Also, a penalty of 30 seconds isn't the type of thing that would decide hid fate in the Tour. So, I think that would be a fair penalty. However, I don't think it would be wrong NOT to penalize him given the circumstances. Sometimes it's good to leave leeway in the rulebook. After all, they don't do a thing about guys hanging on to the team car when they fetch water bottles.
posted by uberschuck at 11:17 PM
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