Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
|
|
|
Jul 22, 2017 - 10:35am PT
|
drF... We'll give you an aero helmet and a fat tire bike with electric motor and turn you loose on the course.. : )
|
|
BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
|
|
|
Jul 22, 2017 - 10:47am PT
|
A little bit more about the technicalities of grand tour tt's:
In 2009, as a journalist, I was given the opportunity to ride the final TT at the Giro d'Italia just before the riders. The course was in downtown Rome and was designed to pass most or all of Rome's famous sites. There were numerous cobblestone sections, some off-camber. Not only were the cobblestones very polished by all the traffic, they were also slippery from oil dropped by vehicles.
I finished before it started to rain. I was talking to Jens Voigt just before he started and when it began to rain he turned to me and said something along the lines of 'anywhere but here.' If you remember, Denny Menchov, who ultimately won, crashed on the cobbles just before the finish.
At the 2009 Tour, I also got to ride the final TT. I was supposed to be filmed for a Lance Armstrong documentary, but the film crew got lost getting to the start and by the time they arrived the first rider was set to leave in just 15 minutes.
That close to the start, the officials wouldn't let the car out on course, but they let me go out telling me that if a rider caught me I had to pull over and wait for the TT to finish. At that time I had about a 10 minute head start and I was on my road bike, but I somehow manage to go fast enough on the 40.5km(25mi) course to get in before the first rider. Whew!
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Jul 22, 2017 - 11:01am PT
|
Geez, I don't even like to walk on the bloody cobbles, especially in my heels!
|
|
10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
|
|
|
Jul 22, 2017 - 11:29am PT
|
Sure, the guy who is a professional cycling journalist, who's attended more of these in person than most of us have even watched, who knows the players personally for decades is "clueless". Massive eyeroll. Thanks for reminding everyone that you're a d#@&%ebag though, "drF".
exactly what I was thinking.
|
|
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
|
|
|
Jul 22, 2017 - 05:12pm PT
|
I can't wait to see Reilly's heels...
|
|
SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
|
|
|
Jul 22, 2017 - 05:53pm PT
|
Skin suit. Luscious.
Susan
|
|
BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
|
|
|
Jul 22, 2017 - 07:59pm PT
|
dr F,
I have had a chance to talk to a few other journalists and we agree that while the feeling before the TT was that it was going to be a highly technical course, it turned out not to be so, other than maybe the descent off of Notre Dame de la Garde. I think the main reason here is that, traditionally, inter-city courses are technical because of all the factors mentioned previously, oil on the road, tight turns, cobbles, etc.
I think where we erred here, we rarely get to preview a TT course before we write about it, is that Marseille is a big city, in fact it is France's 2nd largest city with 850,000+ people. Because of that they have built a lot of wide roads to deal with the traffic and the organizers, for the most part, decided to use these roads.
Regardless, it was a great TT and to watch Romain Bardet go to the limit and come up with one second in hand was incredible! It was nice for some positive drama for the French! Hey, it is their race.
|
|
drF
Trad climber
usa
|
|
|
Jul 23, 2017 - 02:21am PT
|
Never mind the mostly flat course profile and fine tarmac. My opinion was based on four different rider interviews(pre-race). They all said it was average technical.
Sometimes the "press" doesn't get it right.
You are correct, it was a great race.
I'm stoked for Bardet. He fought the good fight. By one second...W0W
To the rest of the whiner tacotards....
SMD from the backside
|
|
Srbphoto
climber
Kennewick wa
|
|
|
Jul 23, 2017 - 06:30am PT
|
I was shocked to hear Phil mention the "L" word when talking about how many Yellow Jerseys Froome will have.
|
|
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
|
|
|
Jul 23, 2017 - 07:46am PT
|
Bruce.. couldn't load the 81 tour American team that never was but found some interesting articles on George Mount and Phillipa York...thanks for your posts..
|
|
BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
|
|
|
Jul 23, 2017 - 11:05am PT
|
George Mount was one of the riders who started the American revolution in Europe along with Mike Neel, Jonathan Boyer and Greg LeMond. He lives in the Bay Area and still rides his bike. He's still a unique individual, always fun to be around.
Back in 1979 when Andy Hampsten and I were racing Superweek, Andy, then an 17-year old Junior racer entered the PAC Criterium with George. His only request was that he was going to get close to George at some point and could I get a photo of him racing alongside the famous George Mount. Little did we know at that time that Andy's accomplishments would far outweigh George's.
Philippa York (AKA Robert Millar) has some great insights into the sport of professional bike racing. If you ever come across something she has written it is definitely worth a read.
|
|
mooch
Trad climber
Tribal Base Camp (Kernville Annex)
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 24, 2017 - 02:18pm PT
|
Looks like Bora is focused on Sagan prepping for the worlds in Norway for a shot at a "hat trick". No Vuelta but Eneco seems to be his next race. Speaking of Vuelta, Froomie is has a good shot at the Grand crown at Vuelta. Your thoughts Bruce?
|
|
Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2017 - 02:23pm PT
|
Anybody know what the rider turnout for the Tour of Utah is going to be? Any way to stream it? I really enjoyed watching the now defunct Pro Cycling Challenge in CO online. Hopefully the organizers in Utah do the same thing.
|
|
Oldfattradguy2
Trad climber
Here and there
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2017 - 04:14pm PT
|
You should be able to stream it,
|
|
BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2017 - 06:31pm PT
|
Tour of Utah...I covered it last year and it was a really fun race for a journalist. Good racing, but pretty low key on the media side of things such as access to riders, start/finish locations, etc. Also, the scenery is off the hook! Too bad they are staying in Northern Utah this year. The scenery isn't as spectacular as southern Utah, but there are definitely more spectators. I am not at liberty at this time to comment on the race rosters.
Stage 2 has some good climbs near the end(North Ogden Divide(3mi of 10%) and Snow Basin Resort) and stage 6 has the traditional slog up to Snowbird. The organizers, Larry H Miller, have a nice deal with Fox so you should be able to catch the race, live or tape delayed, on a whole host of Fox Sports stations. Todd Gogulski and Steve Brown will be the main guys on the desk.
The Vuelta... it will be interesting to see how Froome recovers from the Tour. We saw what the Giro did to Quintana. Froome has never won the Vuelta when he has won the Tour. His best finish was last year when he was 2nd overall. Of course, it also depends on who shows up and wants to challenge Froome. Just about every grand tour GC contender has ridden either the Giro or Tour or both so it might depend on who can come down from a peak and refocus for the last grand tour. I remember talking to Richie Porte a month after the 2013 Tour. Richie had packed on 6 kilos. Needless to say he wasn't climbing all that well.
It will be nice to have Sagan back racing. Look for him to do something a bit crazy to signify his return to the pro peloton. Nothing disrespectful but some sort of meaningful gesture.
|
|
ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2017 - 06:44pm PT
|
Richie had packed on 6 kilos
no 'Merican has any idea what a kilo is, or will bother to google the conversion to a real metric
but some 'Mericans will bitch about your use of kilo
|
|
BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
|
|
|
Jul 24, 2017 - 09:12pm PT
|
There is a new 4-day stage race that will run in Colorado, the Colorado Classic, which will run August 10-13. Phil and Paul told me they are signed on to do the commentary so it looks like NBCSN or the Olympic Channel will be showing it.
You can see the details here:
https://www.veloramacolorado.com/colorado-classic/
The second stage, in Breckenridge, looks to be difficult. It incorporates the final few KM of the USA Pro Challenge course with multiple climbs and descents of Boreas Pass Road. The third stage, climbs to the Peak-to-Peak Highway at 9000', but the long descent back to Denver may nullify and advantage gained on the ascent.
Cannondale, BMC and Trek-Segafredo are all signed on. If they send some good riders it could be an interesting race.
|
|
mooch
Trad climber
Tribal Base Camp (Kernville Annex)
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 25, 2017 - 09:24am PT
|
There is a new 4-day stage race that will run in Colorado, the Colorado Classic, which will run August 10-13. Phil and Paul told me they are signed on to do the commentary so it looks like NBCSN or the Olympic Channel will be showing it.
SIK!!!! Stoked to hear the news! Can't wait to check it out. Still hoping to drive up to Ogden and watch the TOU. One of my cycling mates from Temecula, Jon Hornbeck, rode for Holowesko|Citadel last year. Went to the Zion stage to cheer him and Carpenter on. Yep, pretty awesome when the stages were in So. Utah!
|
|
BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
|
|
|
Jul 25, 2017 - 09:39am PT
|
Jon Hornbeck is a great story. I used to announce the Etape du California where mere mortals get to ride a stage of the Amgen Tour of California. In 2011 it was the Claremont to Mount Baldy stage. The organizers had timing chips so they could award a KOM and QOM. Unfortunately, and for some reason I can never understand the timing always seems to be an issue. They can never get the timing correct.
At that time, Jon was very young and had just started racing. He was a strong climber and was the first person to finish the stage. But, the timing results had some other guy as the first rider in. I told Jon not to get upset and to just wait for a while as we sorted everything out. He was super chill and sure enough about 45 minutes later he was declared the winner.
I have followed his career ever since as he has worked his way up the ranks to become a pro. When Jon started racing the real Amgen Tour of California I suggested to Velo News that they do a piece on him, especially before the Mount Baldy stage with the human interest angle of him winning the Etape du California there years before.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!