Damn Garmin, up to their old shenangigans

[GoGarmin]

What were they thinking today?!?

There was no tactical reason for Zabriskie to be driving at the front like a maniac. I mean, after the climb, all of the favorites were together and there's Dave Z driving at the front like he chasing the guy that looted his home earlier this year.

JV has no freaking class. Clearly he saw Andy Schleck was in the group, and Tony Martin was not, and he wanted to strip the white jersey permanently off the shoulders of the poor German from Columbia-HTC. Everyone in the peloton loves Tony, who is always cracking jokes and keeping the mood light, and you could see by their slow pace on the climb that Astana was trying to keep Tony near the white jersey.

I think another call to Doug is in order, and I can't wait to see Columbia retaliate. They're going to remember the ridiculously petty tactics of Garmin for a long, long time.

 

[jaylew]

Are you serious? T Martin was so far back he had no hope of joining back on, or ever being within a sniff of the white for the rest of the Tour. He finished almost 17 minutes back! They could have coasted down and it still would have been over for him.

maybe you just left out the

 

[Pharazon]

i don't think that had anything at all to do with Columbia..

Martin was a ton down, as was everyone on Columbia but Kirchen, who was in the lead grooup...

seemed to me like they knew they had their 2 main GC people in the group, and tried to gap the next group as much as possible by using a non GC guy at the front...

wasn't much of an issue at all in my book

 

[slcbiker]

I don't think it had anything to do with Martin/Columbia. Everything to do with gapping Cadel Evans, and it worked well on that front.
I'm not clear at what point Sastre got back on, but they may have been trying to distance him as well.
Both of those would have been very good tactical plays. I'm sure Garmin would just as soon that quest for positions 2 and 3 on the podium come down to Astana, Garmin and Saxo.

 

[BeachBum]

I agree with the others, Garmin was putting time into their nearby rivals. If you look at the overall, VdV went from 12th to 10th, and in the team competition Garmin went from 6th to 3rd. Which may not be a big deal, but with no stage wins, they need SOMETHING to show their sponsors (...and obviously, Wiggo is their main hope).

 

[GoGarmin]

Sheesh. Sarcasm, people. Look at my user name.

 

[Clemson Cycling]

They put some serious time into Cadel and limited the Astarloza gains

 

[Jayarbie]

I realize the OP was not serious, but regardless, I think the Garmin strategy was more about Astarloza than anything else. VdV now has a top 10 spot, but Astarloza is only 0:40 behind him. If they don't chase, he could have lost his spot to Mikel.

One thing that jumps out about this to me is that, if they are really worrying about VdV's GC spot, that says a lot about how they feel about Wiggins ability to hang with the front group on Ventoux.

 

[Deagol]

This thread appears to be a parody of this one:

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=2339

Sarcasm is detectable in written form, but it can be tricky. In this case, it was more obvious. Some forums have a designated color for text to denote sarcasm. The one I rememeber was pink.
For example:
I really miss Ricardo Ricco. He was a very polite and humble racer and was as clean as the driven snow…

Anyway, I thought it was funny, especially the refernce to DZ chasing the guy who robbed his house earlier this year.

 

[Anonymous]

What were they thinking today?!?

There was no tactical reason for Zabriskie to be driving at the front like a maniac. I mean, after the climb, all of the favorites were together and there's Dave Z driving at the front like he chasing the guy that looted his home earlier this year.

Alternatively you could stop and think for just a second...

It was a tricky technical descent and Garmin have sat nav (seriously), Dave Z was on the front because he was the best man to lead the group down the hill quickly and safely, rather than risking Brad or VdV

 

[Anonymous]

Are you serious? T Martin was so far back he had no hope of joining back on, or ever being within a sniff of the white for the rest of the Tour. He finished almost 17 minutes back! They could have coasted down and it still would have been over for him.

maybe you just left out the

Pretty thick with sarcasm the way I read it.

 

[Anonymous]

Sheesh. Sarcasm, people. Look at my user name.

See, I told you.

 

[Anonymous]

couldnt have been sarcasm...

sarcasm is funny

 

[Anonymous]

couldnt have been sarcasm...

sarcasm is funny

Now, you do have a point there my friend.

 

[Wergeland]

Alternatively you could stop and think for just a second...

It was a tricky technical descent and Garmin have sat nav (seriously), Dave Z was on the front because he was the best man to lead the group down the hill quickly and safely, rather than risking Brad or VdV

Sat nav? gps monitors on their bikes? really?

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Sat nav? gps monitors on their bikes? really?

Yip!
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=160&pID=10885

 

[jaylew]

Pretty thick with sarcasm the way I read it.

It certainly wasn't clear. After all, you've read some of the moronic stuff that gets posted here. Half the stuff I read I hope is sarcasm. And the thread starter doesn't have enough posts for me to know where he really stands, but I added my last line just in case. For some reason I just glossed over his user name!

 

[Anonymous]

Sat nav? gps monitors on their bikes? really?

yup.. garmin have had them since last year, not like in your car, but enough to show what bends are coming up, when u-turns and hairpins are etc..
Pretty sure thats why Dave Z was on the front, perfect leader

 

[Wergeland]

yup.. garmin have had them since last year, not like in your car, but enough to show what bends are coming up, when u-turns and hairpins are etc..
Pretty sure thats why Dave Z was on the front, perfect leader

Any other teams have the same functionality on their cycle computers?

 

[Black Dog]

I too was shocked that Garmin did something without the prior approval of Columbia! What nerve. It is completely classless to ride a bike race in favour of your team's goals without considering how they may negatively impact the goals of others teams first.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Any other teams have the same functionality on their cycle computers?

Yip -Garmin have offered team Columbia a Limited Edition one just for tomorrow - set up with the stage ending on Alpe D'Huez.

 

[davidg]

yup.. garmin have had them since last year, not like in your car, but enough to show what bends are coming up, when u-turns and hairpins are etc..
Pretty sure thats why Dave Z was on the front, perfect leader

At the speed they were travelling down the mountain, I would have been looking ahead at the road conditions, lie of the land, tree line and all the other things that help you safely down a descent, rather than looking down at a GPS and hoping it is accurate and not lagging. Doubt they would use this for any more than a casual look at the fact that there was a long stretch of hairpins coming up.

 

[Jayarbie]

Sat nav? gps monitors on their bikes? really?

Is this surprising? It's Team GARMIN after all...

 

[runninboy]

yup.. garmin have had them since last year, not like in your car, but enough to show what bends are coming up, when u-turns and hairpins are etc..
Pretty sure thats why Dave Z was on the front, perfect leader

perfect leader on a descent Dave Z? did u forget the

Didn't he have quite a rep for falling off?

Of course maybe use him like a canary in the coal mine, when he goes off the road everyone else knows to brake. In comparison to miller, VDV & wiggins i would deem him expendable