2013 Tour of California: Stage 2: Murrieta - Palm Springs (199 Km)

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Leonardus

Feb 23, 2012
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Racing a couple of hours with 42C and almost no shelter? Sounds like a day in hell to me. Not much needed with those conditions to get a carnage, don't think Westra will survive this.
 
Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

Feb 20, 2010
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Jancouver said:
Seems like Mancebo is OK with the heat so it would be great if he could take the win. My dark horse FTW is Leo Konig. :confused:
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Mancebo ought to be OK with the heat, I mean he did once win the Tour de Guadeloupe - Caribbean islands in August! He always went well at the Vuelta a Madrid back when it was in July, though that's a short stage race, and he has a 6th in the Volta a Portugal in his history, and hard racing in mid-August in Portugal is no joke.
Jancouver said:
It is the climb to the Tram station.

BTW you can expect huge gaps as most of the guys will be still fried from yesterday and today will be even hotter. Those 20K of climbing over two days will take its toll. Funny how some guys around here were laughing at TOC. It would be hard race even without the heat. And tomorrow will be another hot one with 10K of climbing. :eek:
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The TOC gets a lot of stick because of continually claiming to be something it isn't, and also because of the close ties to Lance and his generation so the weaker field with them all disappearing en masse is certainly felt. However, because of the ridiculous claims that the race and its champions have made, it does often get too faint praise when it does get things right. I thought the 2010 and 2012 courses were rubbish (2012 better than 2010, mind), but 2011's was very good (the unfortunate circumstances with the Lake Tahoe stage notwithstanding), and this year's certainly has plenty of potential. On the plus side, I have heard less of the ridiculous overhype for the race this year, so maybe they're settling into their niche now, which would be good as the race can be given the chance to organically develop.
BeachBum said:
I'm not laughing, I'm more than a little POed at the organizers. Palm Springs is fine in February, but who wants to see 2 death marches in a row? It's a race, not a spectacle. There was no need to go over Palomar on the 1st day. They could've started downtown, gone up the coast for 70km and then headed out to Escondido. Or simply done a prologue out to Pt Loma.

Why they had to cook everybody on Day 1 is beyond me--not to mention what may happen today. I'd rather see the racers control the racing, rather than the heat control the racers.
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On the other hand, the heat and the climb yesterday reduced the bunch to a comparatively small group and let us have an exciting finale, which is something that this kind of stage has done all too rarely in the AToC's history. So often we have it burn down to a group of 70 over some tough climbs, then that's it, leading to the seventeen thousandth Sagan win in a row as there's a 40km run-in from the final climb to the finish so no serious attacks come in. Yesterday the heat allayed with the tough climbing tore the group to shreds, meaning there was very little in the way of strong teams with a number of riders willing to take it to a sprint, giving us an exciting finish with GC contenders duking out the small gains. A much better finish than we often get, so I'm happy with that.
Jancouver said:
Seems like you know San Diego so therefore you should realize that this weather is NOT common in this area! It will be the usual 75-80s starting Wednesday again. Yeah, Cali is not lucky with the weather, (Lake Tahoe stage) but again, this is just a 3 day heat wave. Unfortunately, its just a bad luck.
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Yea, it's like the Vuelta last year, starting in a heatwave. That part of the country wouldn't normally be 45º, but the race just happened to start at the same time as a heatwave swept through the country. They're probably glad for the all-northern route - on the day of the TTT the temperature in parts of Andalucía was over 50º!

I guess this is unseasonably hot weather for this part of California, but it's still part of the risk of bike racing. After the weather we've had through much of Classics season, it's a bit of a sharp wake up for the riders who've had a few weeks off after Roubaix!
jens_attacks said:
it is inhumane and not healthy but that's pro cycling
volta portugal and vuelta a espana always have these situations so maybe we shouldn't worry so much
organizers did a good job until now gotta say
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Pretty much this.
Parrulo said:
If Paco still remembers his days of riding A Volta he should crush everyone with this weather, 42 ºC is a cool summer breeze during some days of the volta :p
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God yes, though they haven't been south of Lisboa for a few years now (2007-8 they started in Algarve). Back in the days of the longer Voltas you'd have some killer stages. Used to be 3 or 4 days in a row through Algarve and Alentejo where you'd be in 40º+ all day every day, with a very good chance of being battered by winds... that were even hotter.

I guess that can be part of the appeal for the AToC - the heat grinds the péloton down in a completely different way, but also may put some off doing it, if it's for more than a day or two. The Volta used to be seen as a good tester for GT riding capabilities because the heat and difficulty + length was a good indicator of recuperation. Perhaps AToC should seek to be not the GT warmup, but the GT proving grounds of choice.
 
Parrulo

Parrulo

Aug 5, 2010
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Libertine Seguros said:
God yes, though they haven't been south of Lisboa for a few years now (2007-8 they started in Algarve). Back in the days of the longer Voltas you'd have some killer stages. Used to be 3 or 4 days in a row through Algarve and Alentejo where you'd be in 40º+ all day every day, with a very good chance of being battered by winds... that were even hotter.

I guess that can be part of the appeal for the AToC - the heat grinds the péloton down in a completely different way, but also may put some off doing it, if it's for more than a day or two. The Volta used to be seen as a good tester for GT riding capabilities because the heat and difficulty + length was a good indicator of recuperation. Perhaps AToC should seek to be not the GT warmup, but the GT proving grounds of choice.
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I agree with this, that would be right way to go with the ToC imo. Even the date on the calendar helps as teams could test young guys here in may in order to get them ready to a possible GT debut in the Vuelta or the Tour.
 
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Leonardus

Feb 23, 2012
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SKSemtex said:
:) wait till you see the video quality - unbelievable
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The GT organizers can learn a thing or two from ToC. Great app, great quality and all the information you need.
 
SKSemtex

SKSemtex

Mar 24, 2013
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Leonardus said:
The GT organizers can learn a thing or two from ToC. Great app, great quality and all the information you need.
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Just immagine the Paris-Rubaix trucker like this with small change, on right side you have the comments from cyclingnews forums. I would have loved it. :D
 
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diorgen

Jul 16, 2010
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Stupid stage, as was yesterdays. WAY too hot to be riding, just absurd. Escondido paid $500,000 for that miserable stage yesterday and they can barely afford to fix their roads and schools. I don't think the Tour of California has much time left, not a lot of local interest this year.
 
jens_attacks

jens_attacks

Sep 8, 2009
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diorgen said:
Stupid stage, as was yesterdays. WAY too hot to be riding, just absurd. Escondido paid $500,000 for that miserable stage yesterday and they can barely afford to fix their roads and schools. I don't think the Tour of California has much time left, not a lot of local interest this year.
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the armstrong-levi fan was there
the sumo guys were there
the next days we'll see the naked guys, the popes and that stupid bottle

the interest is still there

:p:cool:


and again, the hot conditions are the same in august in europe.
yesterday's stage was great not miserable. it will always be remembered as the stage andy came back. history written in escondido.
 
SKSemtex

SKSemtex

Mar 24, 2013
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jens_attacks said:
the armstrong-levi fan was there
the sumo guys were there
the next days we'll see the naked guys, the popes and that stupid bottle

the interest is still there

:p:cool:


and again, the hot conditions are the same in august in europe.
yesterday's stage was great not miserable. it will always be remembered as the stage andy came back. history written in escondido.
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Gilber beeing dropped on flat part will also be remembered :)
 
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