Official Thread Stage 21 Montereau-Fault-Yonne - Paris Champs-Élysées 164km

[dgodave]

WHY do they go around that goofy hairpin, instead of rounding l'Arch de Triomphe?
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[Cobber]

WHY do they go around that goofy hairpin, instead of rounding l'Arch de Triomphe?
.

I think traffic would be really tough to reroute.

 

[rhubroma]

WHY do they go around that goofy hairpin, instead of rounding l'Arch de Triomphe?
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They can't for trafic reasons. This was also explained on la RAI.

 

[scribe]

I mentioned earlier that LA was having a long talk with Thor too. Are we to speculate that every rider he talks to is someone he wants to see at Radioshack?

It's hilarious reading these comments. No offense!

 

[Captain Serious]

In case anyone cares, they averaged 49.9km/h for the previous 11km

 

[dgodave]

I think traffic would be really tough to reroute.

Makes sense. Would be a cool run, though.

 

[Cobber]

These forums are dead today.......

 

[VeloGirl]

I was in Paris this past June.

Here is a pic of just how small that "smooth strip" on the side of the road is...

Can't be more than 6 inches wide.

The road is actually in pretty bad condition.

 

[VeloGirl]

Another pic of the Champs surface...

 

[Cobblestones]

These forums are dead today.......

A lot of people gone already.

It was just too much. Too many posters just stirring the sh!t in the last weeks. I don't want to belittle posters with small postcount, but to see someone with, say, 5 posts jumping on the 'stop the haterz' bandwaggon which some of the more regular posters are promoting (I'm looking at you Amsterhammer), is wearying.

If you're a new poster (on any forum), you should first try to make a name for yourself with positive posts which contribute to the main purpose of the forum. On this board, try to formulate insightful posts on bike racing. Once other posters see that you more or less know what you're talking about, they will respect your opinion no matter on which side it falls as long as it is well formulated, the arguments hold water and it is reasonably polite.

Another advice to new posters: If you have to say something about a widely debated topic (take LA's 1999 samples retested for EPO), DON'T start a whole new thread. Go to the appropriate board, find the appropriate thread (there will likely be several) and make an effort to READ IT! If you really have something new to say which hasn't been said before, then by all means do so there.

 

[kjetilraknerud]

That was a crazy sprint by Renshaw/Cavendish.

 

[El Imbatido]

According to Phil, lance got 2nd overall. Thats news to me. Man, Phil just gets worse every year.

 

[dgodave]

Cav by a boulevard width! (Never saw that coming...)
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[hfer07]

even the final sprint wasn't that interesting at all...
congrats to ALBERTO CONTADOR

 

[lostintime]

Same as it ever was . Same as it ever was. Same as it ever WAS.

Gawd . . . . too much Cav and Columbia for me this year.

 

[Danilot]

So does Thor Push-off get to keep that green jersey?

 

[El Imbatido]

Thor keeps it as long as he finishes no lower than 16th

 

[slcbiker]

Jeez, somebody couldn't even come close to holding Cav's wheel. Huge gap.

 

[Amsterhammer]

What an unreal 'sprint'. There was nobody else in shot. Cav can thank Renshaw big time.

Congratulations to Contador, Pelizotti, Thor and Schleklet!

 

[Hugh Januss]

That was a crazy sprint by Renshaw/Cavendish.

They went around that last corner at ieast 5 kph faster than the rest. It looked too easy, they must be on something.

 

[dgodave]

Jeez, somebody couldn't even come close to holding Cav's wheel. Huge gap.

Its all about who had to touch brakes in that final bend... I think.
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[ThisFrenchGuy]

Wow at the final non-sprint, other teams clearly were out of ideas to beat Columbia at their own game. Cavendish didn't have to worry one bit for his win on the Champs. Congrats to him and his team.

At least Garmin tried something...

What other strategies would have been possible to upset Columbia?

EDIT: It seems the two Garmin that tried to infiltrate on the right on Place de la Concorde kinda messed up the last turn and cut Thor (and the rest) from the wheel of Cavendish.

 

[Cobber]

Wow at the final non-sprint, other teams clearly were out of ideas to beat Columbia at their own game. Cavendish didn't have to worry one bit for his win on the Champs. Congrats to him and his team.

At least Garmin tried something...

What other strategies would have been possible to upset Columbia?

EDIT: It seems the two Garmin that tried to get on the right on Concorde kinda messed up the last turn and cut Thor (and the rest) from the wheel of Cavendish.

Maybe a Bos-Impey like approach!

 

[titan_90]

Same as it ever was . Same as it ever was. Same as it ever WAS.

Gawd . . . . too much Cav and Columbia for me this year.

+1
I respect Cav for being the fastest sprinter in the world, but he makes the sprints so boring to watch.

Now we can look forward to the Vuelta which will be an exciting race.

 

[CerveloFan]

I'm also pretty tired of Cavendish winning every stage - though I thought Garmin's attempted lead-out challenge made this a little more exciting.

I'm not sure why Cervelo wouldn't try to challenge Columbia's lead-out - they seem to have brought a team with riders to help Hushovd (Roulston, Lancaster, Haussler, even Klier who didn't do much, no Gerrans) and they have tried in the past - in the Tour of California. I know Thor only needed to be in there to win green, but who wouldn't want to win in Paris again?

And Cav just complained in his interview that he would have won green without the disqualification - he won 6 stages and he still complains...