Official Thread: Stage 16 TdF Martigny - Bourg-Saint-Maurice

[Wergeland]

I haven't gotten to this in all of my Lance bashing, but I hope Jens is OK. It sucks to have him go down. One of my favorite riders in the peloton. Schlecklet looked pretty bummed in his interview about it. Sounds like he may be OK other than the harsh road rash he will obviously have. That looked like a cheese grater road surface. Nasty crash that one.

Riis and Nikki Sørensen said he was uncounsciouss immediately after the crash but has now regained his counciousness at the hospital. Ugly crash. Hope he is ok.

Saxo lost an important man today. With both Arvesen and Voigt out they have lost the their road captains and the guys the spread the good mood in the team. Their midfielders (for those that know soccer)

 

[131313]

There's no cover story for the physics watts/kg (it's math). The issue is how much power he's lost with the weight loss. Evidently he's lost much more weight than power.

The issue remains moot HOW/WHY he didn't lose large chunks of power (which was very big to begin with; ask Aldag at Columbia, he has the SRM files), as well, I guess. The differential matters: no reason why it should be 1:1.

We'll see....

well, the question really is 'why would an endurance cyclist lose power when losing weight'? That really doesn't make much sense to me since muscular strength isn't a determinant of power output in efforts longer than a minute or so. He appears to have lost both body fat and some muscle mass--but outside of his pursuit starts, I'm not sure why that should have an effect on his power output.

If someone can explain 'why', I'm all ears.

BTW, what happened to Voigt?? Was I getting coffee or something when he went down or was the crash not on Versus? Hope it's not as bad as it sounds...

 

[frizzlefry]

A better look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V0VsKznyzA

 

[Parrot23]

Said something similar in another thread (and I know versus is american), but the lack of objective coverage is appaling. I also think the commentators get paid by the number of times they say "Lance Armstrong" and not per hour!

I think it's dollar and cents: their ratings are up 80%, prob. because of Lance comeback. They are catering to a non-cycling audience, and Phil and Paul are paid for ratings; it's their job. Hence the biased commentary focused on Lance etc.

It's like domestiques: it's their job. EuroSport has far bigger, more knowledgeable audience; hence less biased commentary. I could hardly see S. Kelly on Versus fulltime (U.S. audience wouldn't understand his accent first, and the subtleties of what's he saying would be beyond a non-cycling audience).

Phil certainly calls a sprint well. Non-cycling friends of mine think he's great, the voice etc.

 

[frizzlefry]

BTW, what happened to Voigt?? Was I getting coffee or something when he went down or was the crash not on Versus? Hope it's not as bad as it sounds...

No it was on VS. just real quick.

 

[eleven]

A better look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V0VsKznyzA

Ouch! It looks like perhaps his front tire punctured and turned hard right (or he hit a crack in the pavement that made it turn?).

The CN live coverage said something about his team having "a lot of trouble with punctures" or some such thing. I'm sure the team tire sponsors loved that!

At any rate, here's hoping Voigt is alright and can affect a speedy recovery.

 

[frizzlefry]

That could be a career ending crash. His sunglasses were bouncing down the pavement with him.

 

[lostintime]

A better look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V0VsKznyzA

Thanks for posting that(I think)

It looks like his steering tube may have broken, check out the way the front wheel moves after he hits pavement. The joys of carbon?

 

[Parrot23]

well, the question really is 'why would an endurance cyclist lose power when losing weight'? That really doesn't make much sense to me since muscular strength isn't a determinant of power output in efforts longer than a minute or so. He appears to have lost both body fat and some muscle mass--but outside of his pursuit starts, I'm not sure why that should have an effect on his power output.

Good question. All I know is that they tend to lose absolute power (watts, re. for the flat; his TT's should maybe suffer somewhat) with weight loss (but not relative power watts/kg, and the latter largely determines climbing performance).

IF the numerator stays put or drops not that much, and the denominator plummets, the rider WILL climb better (unless the rider defies the laws of physics). No sense arguing with the laws of physics. Now whether he can hold that on consecutive days and become a GC rider is a whole different ball of wax. This is where legit. suspicion comes into play (and the IF about power not dropping so much).

Paste your question into the Clinic section:

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=2314

Some very knowledgeable guys will answer there.

 

[frizzlefry]

Thanks for posting that(I think)

It looks like his steering tube may have broken, check out the way the front wheel moves after he hits pavement. The joys of carbon?

Your welcome, I think.

 

[Parrot23]

Thanks for posting that(I think)

It looks like his steering tube may have broken, check out the way the front wheel moves after he hits pavement. The joys of carbon?

Van Velde's crash at Giro has never really been explained/understood. Some rumour that his Felt's front fork broke.

 

[benpounder]

Lance unable to respond. Now will all of fanboy nation shut up. Someone email Bob Roll.

A bit premature there.

 

[mambo#5]

OK, that was an impressive ride by Lance.

quoted for posterity!!!

 

[Cobber]

You're right, they are all STEEPER than Verbier.

LOL... well said!

 

[titan_90]

Thanks for posting that(I think)

It looks like his steering tube may have broken, check out the way the front wheel moves after he hits pavement. The joys of carbon?

I think you are right, if you look carefully when he his skidding you can see his bars are aimed forward and his wheel is pointing to the sky. At least that is what I see.

 

[benpounder]

I bet you guys cant wait to listen to Bob Roll tomorrow. He will probably have his hand in his pants all day.

The anti-fanboys are just as amusing as the fanboys.

And Bobke doesn't need to use his hands...

 

[lostintime]

Van Velde's crash at Giro has never really been explained/understood. Some rumour that his Felt's front fork broke.

I'm glad I don't have the need for speed anymore and will gladly ride my steel frames 'till my breath no longer carries me.

Will Specialized be forthcoming as to the cause either? Probably not. Hey's it's carbon . . it's not IF it'll break, it's WHEN

 

[Amsterhammer]

Dutch tv said Jens' "stuur" broke after he went over a bump. Normally this would mean 'handle-bars', but I suspect that they may mean the fork. No doubt, that will also become clear in due course.

The legend that is Kenny van Hummel finished last on 34 minutes and a bit, but within the time limit!!! He's now 45 minutes behind the next guy.

Go Kenny!

 

[krebs303]

Voigt possible head/shoulder injuries. Waiting for updates
Jens Voigt transported to hospital at Bourg-Saint-Maurice. He did NOT lose consciousness (France TV)

 

[Cobber]

The CN live coverage said something about his team having "a lot of trouble with punctures" or some such thing. I'm sure the team tire sponsors loved that!

Andy has had about 10 punctures so far that we've seen..... something must be going wrong.

 

[rolfrae]

Andy has had about 10 punctures so far that we've seen..... something must be going wrong.

Could a blown front tyre have caused him to lose his grip on the bars? Will it be a battle of the sponsors (tyre vs fork/steerer) to pin the blame on the other?

 

[frizzlefry]

The anti-fanboys are just as amusing as the fanboys.

And Bobke doesn't need to use his hands...

Yea I know, its one big circle jerk.

 

[Parrot23]

Andy has had about 10 punctures so far that we've seen..... something must be going wrong.

Ha, ha. I wouldn't want to be their tyre supplier right now; bit like Van Velde's fork never been explained. Teams will be very hush hush about this stuff, not to enrage the team supplier.

 

[frizzlefry]

If you pause the video at 10 seconds you can see a broken fork.

 

[lostintime]

The legend that is Kenny van Hummel finished last on 34 minutes and a bit, but within the time limit!!! He's now 45 minutes behind the next guy.

Go Kenny!

I say if they guy is giving it his all to finish, officials can stretch their rules or make new ones (as they famously do) to let him continue if he doesn't make a time limit within a few minutes.