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2014 Tour de France - Daily Updates for the two other people who give a damn


alphseeker
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Today, with 600 meters left, Kwiatkowski was leading the pack...so close to a stage win. Still in 4th place. Go Michal! :cosmo:

Yeah, I hope his team can support him in the climbs. He's a good climber but for him to stay close he'll need two or three engines to pull him up to the last kilometer or two.
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Greipel take the boring sprint stage today, which indicates Kittel is still reeling from his crashes yesterday. Can't wait until this tour starts going vertical.

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/bauhaus92/stage6_zps238e4132.jpg

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Do they have transponders on the bikes? How do they score it when a lot of riders cross the finish line just thousands of seconds apart?

when it's a sprint finish like today and they all finish in a pack they are all given the same exact time. Only in time trials do they count fraction and most mountain stages riders finish alone.
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Wow at first Sagan was declared the winner then after this photo it was reversed. Can't get any closer than this.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/bauhaus92/FIN_HDR_IMG_zps0ceae958.jpg

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Today, with 600 meters left, Kwiatkowski was leading the pack...so close to a stage win. Still in 4th place. Go Michal! :cosmo:

Yeah, I hope his team can support him in the climbs. He's a good climber but for him to stay close he'll need two or three engines to pull him up to the last kilometer or two.

This time, he was in front with 400 meters to go. :banghead:
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At least Sagan pretty much wrapped up the points Jersey today - Thank God the tour goes a little vertical tomorrow. Two Cat. 2's and a 3 climb just enough to kill the sprinters. It will be a GC day

 

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/bauhaus92/stage7_zpsad422e9c.jpg

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Frenchman Kadri takes off 50 km into race and holds on for a great solo ride and stage victory. Takes over KOM jersey. Conta-whore tried to shake off Nibali but to no avail.

Sadly Kwiatkowski fell way off the back. He lost 01:20 to Contador and Nibali

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/bauhaus92/stage8_zps5caf8d69.png

Edited by alphseeker
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Frenchman Kadri takes off 50 km into race and holds on for a great solo ride and stage victory. Takes over KOM jersey. Conta-whore tried to shake off Nibali but to no avail.

Sadly Kwiatkowski fell way off the back. He lost 01:20 to Contador and Nibali

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/bauhaus92/stage8_zps5caf8d69.png

Kwiatkowski did not pass the hill test today. :( However, he's still 4th, 2.26 behind the leader. :madra:
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Frenchman Kadri takes off 50 km into race and holds on for a great solo ride and stage victory. Takes over KOM jersey. Conta-whore tried to shake off Nibali but to no avail.

Sadly Kwiatkowski fell way off the back. He lost 01:20 to Contador and Nibali

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/bauhaus92/stage8_zps5caf8d69.png

Kwiatkowski did not pass the hill test today. :( However, he's still 4th, 2.26 behind the leader. :madra:

I was surprised Saxo has such a strong team in the mountains, their lead out train up the final climb broke a lot of good climbers. Only Nibali was able to keep up. It worries me that no Astana riders were there helping Nibali. If that continues i fear "La idiot Pinto" (Contador) will win the tour.
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In other biking news, the famous Sierra Death Ride was today.

 

hmcenter.png

 

It's just out of town, and I got to see the riders as I made my way up Carson Pass. I passed the first set at about 1:30, went for a hike and, three hours later, saw the late arrivers to the final pass. The latter group were in rough shape. Here's the route, which includes tackling five summits.

 

Located in the stunning California Alps, the Death Ride® course covers the traditional five mountain passes. This super challenging course includes climbing both sides of Monitor Pass, both sides of Ebbetts Pass, and the final climb up the east side of Carson Pass.

 

elemaplg.jpg

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In other biking news, the famous Sierra Death Ride was today.

 

hmcenter.png

 

It's just out of town, and I got to see the riders as I made my way up Carson Pass. I passed the first set at about 1:30, went for a hike and, three hours later, saw the late arrivers to the final pass. The latter group were in rough shape. Here's the route, which includes tackling five summits.

 

Located in the stunning California Alps, the Death Ride® course covers the traditional five mountain passes. This super challenging course includes climbing both sides of Monitor Pass, both sides of Ebbetts Pass, and the final climb up the east side of Carson Pass.

 

elemaplg.jpg

:scared: Me and my son do the Mammoth High Sierra Century every year and that's hitting above 8000' but this one is insane. We have contemplated this one before but with the time limits we would just hate to be kicked off the course.

This one is interesting and we may give it a try.

http://www.tourofcalifornia.org/2006/09/everest-challenge.html

Edited by alphseeker
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In other biking news, the famous Sierra Death Ride was today.

 

hmcenter.png

 

It's just out of town, and I got to see the riders as I made my way up Carson Pass. I passed the first set at about 1:30, went for a hike and, three hours later, saw the late arrivers to the final pass. The latter group were in rough shape. Here's the route, which includes tackling five summits.

 

Located in the stunning California Alps, the Death Ride® course covers the traditional five mountain passes. This super challenging course includes climbing both sides of Monitor Pass, both sides of Ebbetts Pass, and the final climb up the east side of Carson Pass.

 

elemaplg.jpg

:scared: Me and my son do the Mammoth High Sierra Century every year and that's hitting above 8000' but this one is insane. We have contemplated this one before but with the time limits we would just hate to be kicked off the course.

You must be a hell of a rider!

 

The people I saw on the way home, around 6 PM, were looking pretty rough. A lot of the stopped along the side. Many were still in Hope Valley with the fill Carson Pass climb left.

 

Around 1:30 some were already coming down from the Carson Pass summit. Insane. :notworthy:

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And in still MORE cycling news, my husband took the bronze (and qualified for Nationals) in the Georgia Games time trial, Masters division. :) He's using it as a prep for the state TT in 6 weeks, so not even close to his peak. He missed silver by 1 second. But the guy who won is a monster - he threw his chain near the finish, dismounted and fixed it, and still won by about 10 seconds.

 

Still, I am very proud of him! More importantly, he is happy with his performance. He still has weight to drop but looks to be in promising form for the state race.

 

He won this same race in 2009, then ended up taking 3 years away after a bad wreck.

Edited by Mara
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And in still MORE cycling news, my husband took the bronze (and qualified for Nationals) in the Georgia Games time trial, Masters division. :) He's using it as a prep for the state TT in 6 weeks, so not even close to his peak. He missed silver by 1 second. But the guy who won is a monster - he threw his chain near the finish, dismounted and fixed it, and still won by about 10 seconds.

 

Still, I am very proud of him! More importantly, he is happy with his performance. He still has weight to drop but looks to be in promising form for the state race.

 

He won this same race in 2009, then ended up taking 3 years away after a bad wreck.

:clap: :clap: :clap: Awesome. Just Awesome. I miss racing so much. I just don't have the time to train anymore.
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Big swing in the tour today. It looks like Nibali and Astana didn't want the pressure of starting the Alps with the Yellow Jersey. Tony Martin basically time trialed his way to a blow out stage win today. Incredible.

Valverde did a great ride and put himself up there with the top GC riders. More competition for Contawhore.

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/bauhaus92/stage9_zps6ca9b224.jpg

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And in still MORE cycling news, my husband took the bronze (and qualified for Nationals) in the Georgia Games time trial, Masters division. :) He's using it as a prep for the state TT in 6 weeks, so not even close to his peak. He missed silver by 1 second. But the guy who won is a monster - he threw his chain near the finish, dismounted and fixed it, and still won by about 10 seconds.

 

Still, I am very proud of him! More importantly, he is happy with his performance. He still has weight to drop but looks to be in promising form for the state race.

 

He won this same race in 2009, then ended up taking 3 years away after a bad wreck.

:haz:
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Nibali took the day. Tremendous attack on the final climb. Rodriguez looked like he was going to take it but he blew up in the final 2km. Kwiatkowski sdly completely blew up in the final 3km and lost the White Jersey. Just reported that Contador fractured his Tibia.

Don't wish that on anyone.

 

Standing after stage 10:

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/bauhaus92/Stage10_zpsed80aa3c.jpg

Edited by alphseeker
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Conta-whore crashed big time - He's out of the race. I'm sure Mara is cheering right now. :P

 

I wasn't exactly cheering, mind you! Not terribly saddened, no, but I am glad he wasn't severely injured. Froome sent him a classy tweet - "Sorry mate, good luck, see you soon!"

 

Two weeks left, I know, but I think this one's going to belong to Nibali. Of course this does seem to be a particularly unpredictable Tour.

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Conta-whore crashed big time - He's out of the race. I'm sure Mara is cheering right now. :P

 

I wasn't exactly cheering, mind you! Not terribly saddened, no, but I am glad he wasn't severely injured. Froome sent him a classy tweet - "Sorry mate, good luck, see you soon!"

 

Two weeks left, I know, but I think this one's going to belong to Nibali. Of course this does seem to be a particularly unpredictable Tour.

I'm very skeptical of Nibali's sudden climbing strength. Everytime I see someone do something they don't usually do I always wonder. In the last few TDF's Nibali had no legs to keep up with the major accelerations on the mountain top finishes and now all of a sudden he's the strongest? :huh: Edited by alphseeker
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Conta-whore crashed big time - He's out of the race. I'm sure Mara is cheering right now. :P

 

I wasn't exactly cheering, mind you! Not terribly saddened, no, but I am glad he wasn't severely injured. Froome sent him a classy tweet - "Sorry mate, good luck, see you soon!"

 

Two weeks left, I know, but I think this one's going to belong to Nibali. Of course this does seem to be a particularly unpredictable Tour.

I'm very skeptical of Nibali's sudden climbing strength. Everytime I see someone do something they don't usually do I always wonder. In the last few TDF's Nibali had no legs to keep up with the major accelerations on the mountain top finishes and now all of a sudden he's the strongest? :huh:

 

I didn't want to say it but there you go. It's at least a slightly suspect reversal of past form. Plus - hello, anyone - Astana? Vinokourov? Not exactly squeaky clean legacies there.

 

Of course this is what cycling has done to itself with doping. :( Never again can they have a superstar without that cloud of suspicion.

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