Tour of Beijing - 5th October to 9th October

[Anonymous]

Someone should tell Chris Froome and Sky that then: http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,23107_7220501,00.html

He thinks there are time bonuses available and that a sprinter will win the GC. Says he'll probably be used as a domestique during the race.

hope he realises in time..

I sent an email to get the article corrected.

 

[DirtyWorks]

You get as many WT points for winning this crap as for the Dauphine or Paris-Roubaix and more bonus points for the license ranking as for getting 2nd at the Vuelta...

Strange how the organizer (world cycling promotions) lead by Pat with Alain and other UCI execs in leadership positions were able to arrange that with such haste. Alain claimed the event had to get in the queue just like the others. Dirty, dirty dirty.

The course and rules looks like they are using it to experiment with a more television friendly format.

 

[Anonymous]

right, have the roadbook.

DEFINATELY NO TIME BONUS's

edit: but then the rule book says "The General Individual Classification by time is established by adding up the times recorded for the
stages, taking into account bonuses and penalties — Article 2.6.014 of UCI Regulations."

although all that regulation says is "2.6.014 The times as recorded by the timekeeper-commissaires shall be entered in the general time classifications. Bonuses are only taken into consideration for the individual general classification."


Every stage finish is pan flat, so how they are going to work out the winner god only knows. Looks very much like whoever wins the TT will wear the jersey all the way through.

There is a points competition, a king of the mountains competition, and a young rider classification.

Basically, this race is really really lame,

 

[Anonymous]

they also, it states in the rules, have to present themselves at the podium within five minutes of crossing the line or they can be penalised.

That doesnt give much time for celebrating and going through doping control.

 

[richtea]

Maybe they'll use that to create the splits and keep us on our toes

 

[maltiv]

right, have the roadbook.

DEFINATELY NO TIME BONUS's

edit: but then the rule book says "The General Individual Classification by time is established by adding up the times recorded for the
stages, taking into account bonuses and penalties — Article 2.6.014 of UCI Regulations."

although all that regulation says is "2.6.014 The times as recorded by the timekeeper-commissaires shall be entered in the general time classifications. Bonuses are only taken into consideration for the individual general classification."


Every stage finish is pan flat, so how they are going to work out the winner god only knows. Looks very much like whoever wins the TT will wear the jersey all the way through.

There is a points competition, a king of the mountains competition, and a young rider classification.

Basically, this race is really really lame,

Stage 3 could definitely cause some selection if it's raced extremely aggressively. In other words, you're probably right.

 

[Anonymous]

Stage 3 could definitely cause some selection if it's raced extremely aggressively. In other words, you're probably right.

the final climb is 220m over 4km - very generously called a 1st cat, but then theres 12km of descent which would be great if it was a technical descent with lots of corners.

From the top of the climb, theres a couple of turns, one hairpin and the final 5km looks like this...

cant see any of the riders that did well in the prologue, Martin, Boom, Froome etc being even troubled by this.

 

[cineteq]

Beijing Local Time UTC/GMT +8 hours (12 Hours ahead of ET)

Stage 1 ITT Start Order and Times (last 20 riders)
127 15:06:00 TXURRUKA ANSOLA Amets EUS
128 15:07:00 HOWARD Leigh THR
129 15:08:00 JI Xi Tao CHN
130 15:09:00 PERAUD Jean Christophe ALM
131 15:10:00 WESTRA Lieuwe VCD
132 15:11:00 TERPSTRA Niki QST
133 15:12:00 CLARKE Simon AST
134 15:13:00 PLAZA MOLINA Ruben MOV
135 15:14:00 OVECHKIN Artem KAT
136 15:15:00 BRAJKOVIC Janez RSH
137 15:16:00 MILLAR David GRM
138 15:17:00 BOOM Lars RAB
139 15:18:00 NUYENS Nick SBS
140 15:19:00 SAGAN Peter LIQ
141 15:20:00 CUNEGO Damiano LAM
142 15:21:00 BOOKWALTER Brent BMC
143 15:22:00 FROOME Christopher SKY
144 15:23:00 POSTHUMA Joost LEO
145 15:24:00 VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen OLO
146 15:25:00 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel EUS
147 15:26:00 MARTIN Tony THR

Complete list here:
http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=43874

 

[Nielsa]

Nick Nuyens to finish among the five last overall.

 

[Anonymous]

I Cant even work out what gmt+8 is backwards... cet i can cope with, us races i can cope with, even aussie races i can cope with, but working out what is 8 hours behind 3 in the afternoon is tough work

i make that 7am uk time.. which isnt when eurosport coverage is on...

Ok.. Beijing are 7 hours ahead of the UK, not 8 hours, which is what completely confused me. So Martin sets off possibly at 8.26 uk time, 9.26 in europe

 

[cineteq]

Ok.. Beijing are 7 hours ahead of the UK, not 8 hours, which is what completely confused me. So Martin sets off possibly at 8.26 uk time, 9.26 in europe

UK time is 7 hours behind. So that means that the race starts at 6:00 and T. Martin starts at 8:26 UK time. Easy enough?

 

[Anonymous]

UK time is 7 hours behind. So that means that the race starts at 6:00 and T. Martin starts at 8:26 UK time. Easy enough?

yeh, got there in the end.

Im fine working out cet, aussie time, and eastern, mountain, pacific etc. middle east loses me.

The roadbook is up on cyclingtorrents.nl for those that want it

 

[Boardslide]

I Cant even work out what gmt+8 is backwards... cet i can cope with, us races i can cope with, even aussie races i can cope with, but working out what is 8 hours behind 3 in the afternoon is tough work

i make that 7am uk time.. which isnt when eurosport coverage is on...

Ok.. Beijing are 7 hours ahead of the UK, not 8 hours, which is what completely confused me. So Martin sets off possibly at 8.26 uk time, 9.26 in europe

Eurosport2 is live at 07.15 BST, 08.15 CET

 

[luckyboy]

Seen some tweets reporting riders complaining about the smog in Beijing.

 

[auscyclefan94]

12 corners in the 11.3km course, seems to be well balanced course.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

If Peraud is in good form he could do something in this race. Thing is though that I don't think I've even noticed him in any race since the Tour.

Having the TT first and such a flat parcours is a bit unfortunate from a racing point of view as the whole thing may be decided in the first stage, particularly if Martin is taking it seriously. He's a good enough climber that it's hard to see anyone putting significant time into him. With a bit of luck, the teams in real need of World Tour points and which have sent strong teams (like Euskaltel and Ag2r) might go nuts on the lumpier stages. If that doesn't happen the whole thing could be a bit grim.

 

[shadowblue]

ticker

ticker found here
http://www.live.matsport.fr/

 

[User Guide]

Dowsett leading time first 44 home 13:57:22

 

[theyoungest]

Seen some tweets reporting riders complaining about the smog in Beijing.

Via @edekker1970

 

[auscyclefan94]

Feed starting in two minutes for aussies on sbs site.

EDIT: It is suppose to be live but is giving a black screen!

 

[sublimit]

http://sports-livez.com/channel/ch-3.php

we have coverage.

 

[AussieGoddess]

Is on tv here ...

Eurosport pay tv - but each stage live

 

[auscyclefan94]

Did the guy holding Boom smakc him on the bottom?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Martin had a shaky start down the ramp!

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Not what you'd call large crowds, esp if you discount those under the age of 10. But the crowd announcements are in English