TOC Stage 1: Sunday, May 16 2010, Nevada City - Sacramento, 167.8km

[craig1985]

Could you link us to the Berkhout/Duyn commentary at race time? I swear I'll throw bricks at my laptop if I have to put up with Sherwen and Liggett again.

Photos or it never happened.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Martijn does tv commentating? I didn't know that.

Susan

Yeah, track worlds, some cycling races and sometimes even ski jumping (at the olympics even)

Anyway, hope for less falls today.

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah, track worlds, some cycling races and sometimes even ski jumping (at the olympics even)

Anyway, hope for less falls today.

BTW, slightly OT, what's up with your avatar? Is this a symbol of your rekindled love for Dekker, or the opposite?

 

[Barrus]

Could you link us to the Berkhout/Duyn commentary at race time? I swear I'll throw bricks at my laptop if I have to put up with Sherwen and Liggett again.

I don't know where to find it, I just watch it on dutch Eurosport and with digital television I can choose between Dutch and British commentary. I don't know whether it is available online, I believe even the eurosport player only has the English commentary

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Guess I'll look for the audio feeds at cyclingfans and mute the tweedledee and tweedledum feed.

 

[blaxland]

What about the tdu?

Good ride by Kristoff for 3rd. Burghardt was 6th as well. Still not convinced about Cav.

I second that................................well done Kristoff and Team Bmc.

 

[Eyjafjallajokull]

Go jelly belly!

 

[maltiv]

I second that................................well done Kristoff and Team Bmc.

Apparently Burghardt didn't know Kristoff was on his wheel, so he was sprinting for himself instead of trying to lead out Kristoff. so basically kristoff had to do everything himself, and seemingly he passed A LOT of riders in the last few meters. I haven't seen any TV pictures of this, but according to some he was the fastest of them all in the last meters. I might be biased, but I believe he would've beaten Cavendish yesterday if he'd had a proper lead-out and a better position when the sprint started.

 

[Jamsque]

Kristoff certainly looked fast out there, and did well to overhaul Robbie Hunter.

 

[theyoungest]

Apparently Burghardt didn't know Kristoff was on his wheel, so he was sprinting for himself instead of trying to lead out Kristoff. so basically kristoff had to do everything himself, and seemingly he passed A LOT of riders in the last few meters. I haven't seen any TV pictures of this, but according to some he was the fastest of them all in the last meters. I might be biased, but I believe he would've beaten Cavendish yesterday if he'd had a proper lead-out and a better position when the sprint started.

And if Boonen and Bos and Chicchi and whoever weren't out of contention before the sprint started things would also have looked a lot different. This is the way it played out, chapeau to Cav, better luck next time to everyone else.

 

[Galic Ho]

Do you guys have any suggestions for what to shout at some of the riders? My GF and I wanted to yell at the riders coming up Bonny Doon rd, and I was hoping to shout some specific comments... definitely going to have her shout for Cozza to give her a mustache ride, lol.

Epo-Lance. Repeat and turn it into a chant. Repeat again.

Alternatively yell out something to do with Contador coming up behind the Shack. Should **** Lance off enough.

 

[Anonymous]

is it wrong to want to kill small ginger children?

 

[Jamsque]

is it wrong to want to kill small ginger children?

Don't worry, I'm sure their parents hate them.

 

[Andy99]

Does anyone have any idea why team cars in the US don't use proper roof racks. They look like tourists with their 'thule' ones..?!

 

[Eyjafjallajokull]

Why is everybody hating on the TOC? I thought it was a perfectly reasonable stage - they can't all be mountain classics.

And didn't you see Jelly Belly try to blow up the peloton?

 

[flicker]

No, just delete it. Or watch the last 10 minutes, which were vaguely entertaining.

BTW, Dutch Eurosport commentary for this race is not too bad, yesterday they had Huub Duyn co-commentating. It's not the usual Nelissen-Blijlevens combo.

I was out riding my bike in the Santa Cruz mountains yesterday. Who won the stage into Sacramento?

 

[Race Radio]

Does anyone have any idea why team cars in the US don't use proper roof racks. They look like tourists with their 'thule' ones..?!

The racks you see in Europe on team cars are all custom made. There are no companies in the US that make racks like that so they use the Thule/Yakima racks.

 

[pedaling squares]

is it wrong to want to kill small ginger children?

Uh... I'm guessing you're no longer going to be too worried about bad language and cheeky usernames on this forum if you're putting kids' pictures on the net and writing about killing them.

I know you're joking but, just sayin'...

 

[Captain_Obvious]

This is the first time I'm watching cycling with commentary from Liggett and Sherwen. I have to say that their commentary is seriously lacking in depth. If you pay attention 2/3 of what they’re saying is completely irrelevant and they’re good at stating the obvious over and over...

Have they always been this shallow and crappy compared to European commentary? Has it something to do with their viewers? Sponser obligation?

 

[Barrus]

Allright for tonight UK commentary it is, although the Dutch Eurosport isn't bad, it is probably the best you can get, but the Uk has Backstedt and I always enjoy him so much when he talks.
And just watching it, what a lot of people who came out to look during the stage, but what a snoozefest, although it was nice to see Marc de Maar riding up front again

 

[nickel999]

Allright for tonight UK commentary it is, although the Dutch Eurosport isn't bad, it is probably the best you can get, but the Uk has Backstedt and I always enjoy him so much when he talks.
And just watching it, what a lot of people who came out to look during the stage, but what a snoozefest, although it was nice to see Marc de Maar riding up front again

Backstedt also does a good job on Cycling TV for those that subscribe. He has been covering the Giro (audio only though) for their service. I usually mute the RAI feed and listen to him.

 

[doddy13]

Why is everybody hating on the TOC? I thought it was a perfectly reasonable stage - they can't all be mountain classics.

Couple of corners would have been nice, even a small hill.

 

[Eyjafjallajokull]

Couple of corners would have been nice, even a small hill.

Nice corners in those incredibly fast final laps. You even had a few bodies on the road. What more do you want?

You've got to have a few sprinters stages.

 

[cycledp]

Is it just me, or has all the excitement of sprint finishes disappeared because of the HTC train for Cavendish? Every race ends the same: the train takes the front, then dwindles down to Renshaw and Cavendish and finally ends with Cavendish sprinting the last few hundred or so meters. It's no longer fun to watch. I don't care about Cavendish's attitude. That's irrelevant. It's just so boring to watch now. I miss the sprints of the past with McEwen, Boonen, Hushovd, Freire, etc. There might have been lead out men but not huge lead out trains. Matt Goss (also from HTC) won the stage in the Giro today, but didn't need a lead out train. I would just enjoy seeing more finishes like that instead. Anyone else feel the same way? Just curious as to how others see this.

 

[tgsgirl]

The HTC Train de Tedium? Yeah, I could do without it.