Official Thread: TdF Stage 9, Saint-Gaudens - Tarbes 160.5 km

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auscyclefan94

auscyclefan94

Jun 16, 2009
19,654
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What a boring stage! Snooze fest. I swapped over to the F1! An aussie won there though so that's great. Nothing spectacular from the pyrenees this year. Back to sprint stages. I think the stage into Colmar should be interesting with 2 cat 1 climbs. Maybe more descisive than Verbier. Pellizotti should of attacked Fedrigo from 1km out because they were guaranteed theat the peleton weren't going to catch them. Another day in the tdf which was really a boring, stupid and pointless one.
 
djconnel

djconnel

May 21, 2009
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Boring? Unbelievable. You prefer F1 where guys drive around and around and around in circles, looking for the rare chance to pass?

It was an epic finish today. The break did a fantastic job keeping the pressure on. And the 2-up sprint was classic.
 
Amsterhammer

Amsterhammer

Jun 22, 2009
4,991
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I haven't read through this topic, but I'd be very surprised if my reaction to today's stage was much different from the majority here.

The plus points - two riders who attacked all day got their just reward and fought out a spirited finish. I would have been happy to see either of them win as I had no preference. I would also have been sort of satisfied if the group had caught up and Freire had won the sprint because Rabo deserve a change of luck (ten Dam also fell today). Good to see Menchov carrying water, but he should have hit the front to up the pace much sooner.

The negative side - just about everything else. What a criminal 'waste' of the Tourmalet when a group of almost 100 are able to reach the top together. What stupidity to have such a long run-in after the climb. But, the ASO's strategy appears to be working as we had yet another French winner. :rolleyes:
 
djconnel

djconnel

May 21, 2009
192
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Amsterhammer said:
The negative side - just about everything else. What a criminal 'waste' of the Tourmalet when a group of almost 100 are able to reach the top together.
Click to expand...

I disagree here. They're trying to avoid being formulaic. It's great the last few years they've been mixing things up a bit, breaking free of the canonical formula which had been in place for so long. The Giro and Vuelta had been much more interesting.

These long climbs today appear to have no effect as long as they produce no immediate time gap. But they take their toll in fatigue and in recovery. They're still important.
 
Cobblestones

Cobblestones

May 13, 2009
3,093
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Amsterhammer said:
(ten Dam also fell today).
Click to expand...

Two achievements.

1) We found something which wakes you up faster than coffee, and
2) ten Dam got a new nickname 'the Mole'.

How's that for one stage.
 
Dr. Maserati

Dr. Maserati

BANNED
Jun 19, 2009
13,250
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Amsterhammer said:
I haven't read through this topic, but I'd be very surprised if my reaction to today's stage was much different from the majority here.

The plus points - two riders who attacked all day got their just reward and fought out a spirited finish. I would have been happy to see either of them win as I had no preference. I would also have been sort of satisfied if the group had caught up and Freire had won the sprint because Rabo deserve a change of luck (ten Dam also fell today). Good to see Menchov carrying water, but he should have hit the front to up the pace much sooner.

The negative side - just about everything else. What a criminal 'waste' of the Tourmalet when a group of almost 100 are able to reach the top together. What stupidity to have such a long run-in after the climb. But, the ASO's strategy appears to be working as we had yet another French winner. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Amsterhammer, you pretty much captured it there. Yes- holding off the bunch and the 2 up sprint were the highlights.

The thread was far more exciting than the stage - TFF posted a photo, which I assume was from his earlier days - and that caused more banter than the rest of the stage combined.
 
R

richwagmn

Jun 18, 2009
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What a waste today. Unfreakin believable. Well coming week should be dull enough. Finally get some work done.
 
Amsterhammer

Amsterhammer

Jun 22, 2009
4,991
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Dr. Maserati said:
Amsterhammer, you pretty much captured it there. Yes- holding off the bunch and the 2 up sprint were the highlights.

The thread was far more exciting than the stage - TFF posted a photo, which I assume was from his earlier days - and that caused more banter than the rest of the stage combined.
Click to expand...

Anyone care to point me at said photo? I haven't got the time (or strength) to scroll through how ever many pages.....
 
whiteboytrash

whiteboytrash

BANNED
Mar 17, 2009
525
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So much for Lance saying last years Tour was "joke". This year Tour is friggin beyond a joke. Great having Big America Texas and Astana back to put the excitement back into the Tour.... not.

I cannot believe that Armstrong was telling riders not to attack today. I just cannot believe it.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
djconnel said:
I disagree here. They're trying to avoid being formulaic. It's great the last few years they've been mixing things up a bit, breaking free of the canonical formula which had been in place for so long. The Giro and Vuelta had been much more interesting.

These long climbs today appear to have no effect as long as they produce no immediate time gap. But they take their toll in fatigue and in recovery. They're still important.
Click to expand...

Maybe, MAYBE 3% of cycling fans outside of France would describe that stage with an adjective other than "sucked."
 
mr. tibbs

mr. tibbs

Mar 10, 2009
2,278
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11,485
One good thing about the Tourmalet being neutralized was that we got to look at Roche's exceptional Irish champion's kit for a long time while AG2R were coasting at the front. That thing is CLASS. (I only hope Pippo was taking notes for his pending re-design of the Italian jersey.)

But other than that...sad stage. I was getting all excited as the peloton started up the climb--and then I looked at the distance-to-go ticker and was like "Oh yeah. 70+ km."

Lame.

Oh and also, early on during the first climb, Paul saw an Astana fall out of the peloton. He read the bib number (25) and announced with surprise that "number 25, Andreas Kloden, has dropped out of the main group!" (This despite Kloden being number 23.) So for the rest of the stage he and Phil were convinced that Kloden had actually done so, and only managed to chase back on the descent.

As a Klodenfan: Grr :mad:. This guy gets little enough respect as it is.
 
Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez

Mar 11, 2009
10,526
3,534
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Mellow Velo said:
up, today showed, once again, why the Tour is pants and the Giro pull's them down, every year.
Click to expand...
Funny thing is, the Giro course wasn't that great (no major, famous climbs. Blockhaus snipped, ITT too long), and it still managed to be much more exciting than this. Almost from the start to the very finish, with lots of great days throughout.

Publicus said:
It must be said that Paulhino and Zubeldia have been working their butts off over the last couple of days, especially Zubeldia.
Click to expand...
Why are the Spaniards (essentially Contador's domestiques) doing all this work? Conspiracy talk anyone? :eek:
 
S

Smera1

May 10, 2009
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Alpe d'Huez said:
Why are the Spaniards (essentially Contador's domestiques) doing all this work? Conspiracy talk anyone? :eek:
Click to expand...


Maybe, but who knows Contador can form new alliances in the likes of Caisse and Euskatel riders when the Alps arrive.
 
Amsterhammer

Amsterhammer

Jun 22, 2009
4,991
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Alpe d'Huez said:
Funny thing is, the Giro course wasn't that great (no major, famous climbs. Blockhaus snipped, ITT too long), and it still managed to be much more exciting than this. Almost from the start to the very finish, with lots of great days throughout.
Click to expand...

Can only agree with this. The Giro had fewer and lesser 'names', but far more action and excitement.
 
I

issoisso

Mar 18, 2009
4,186
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Amsterhammer said:
Can only agree with this. The Giro had fewer and lesser 'names', but far more action and excitement.
Click to expand...

But that's every single year, to be fair. Some races tend to be exciting every year for whatever reason, while others tend to be boring every year, for whatever reason.

Personally, I'd say the most exciting major races tend to be, in no particular order,

Giro
Suisse
País Vasco
Critérium International
 
Cobber

Cobber

Jun 18, 2009
1,086
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Amsterhammer said:
Can only agree with this. The Giro had fewer and lesser 'names', but far more action and excitement.
Click to expand...

So true.... The Dolomites were over after the first week and there was still plenty of action after that. The fact that the organizers produced such an exciting race was a real credit to them. And I didn't hear anyone complaining about the course being too hard which resulted in doping either!
 
M

Mellow Velo

Mar 11, 2009
10,062
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Don't really know where to put this, since there's a thread running, but it's also relevant here.
IMO, the most consistently exciting stage race, by a country mile, is Paris-Nice.
Highlight of the season. Always produces oceans of attacking, exciting fare.
Why? Because of it's parcours, which, over the past few years, the ASO have honed to perfection. It's a course that is constantly going up or down or twisting and narrow.
Makes it all the more mystifying, that they then turn around and give us this mish-mash of bloated botchism.(my word):mad:
Btw: +1 on the DL, too
 
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