Tour of California Stage 3: Auburn - Modesto, 196.2 km

[Parrulo]

Today they had a 9th man who left a convenient gap open up in the sprint. Otherwise it would have been a leadout gone bad.

ya sky leadouts never look as good as htc leadouts and fail most of the times wasn't on one of the smaller spanish stage races earlier in the season that it took their train a bunch of days to actually work? against a far from super strong opposition?

 

[jobiwan]

Weird that they give out the yellow jersey before the stage trophy.
Guess they don't want to completely copy the TDF.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

inb4 he wins the worlds again

which is, as I explained a 235235235235325235235 times, not a "easy flat race", but a 250km hard race.

Just like I explained 10000 times before and after MSR/paris tours and all other 250km+ races Freire won (or hilly stages) in 2010/2011

 

[stefrees]

Thought sky put the Mark on stage, tried to split it, then put everyone else on back foot during lead out.

 

[Parrulo]

which is, as I explained a 235235235235325235235 times, not a "easy flat race", but a 250km hard race.

Just like I explained 10000 times before and after MSR/paris tours and all other 250km+ races Freire won (or hilly stages) in 2010/2011

i know i am just teasing you

 

[search]

GC:

Hendo
Swift
Sagan 4
Haedo
Hushovd 6
Goss
Lacombe 10
Phinney
Forster
Candelario

Goss wasn't in there anymore on the last screen so he must have lost time somewhere

 

[Izzy eviel]

What happened with the TT1 rider that went down? Nasty crash.

 

[Christian]

According to German Eurosport the third rider who went down with Voigt was Fuglsang ...

Could have also been William Dugan from TT1 one though

http://twitter.com/#!/TeamType1

 

[roundabout]

Goss wasn't in there anymore on the last screen so he must have lost time somewhere

Goss must have fallen or punctured. 135th on the stage but s.t as the winner.

http://s288581967.onlinehome.fr/resultat/resultat.php5?code_course=TDC&menu=4

 

[roundabout]

Could have also been William Dugan from TT1 one though

http://twitter.com/#!/TeamType1

It was a TT1 rider. Fuglsang finished 43rd s.t.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

ya sky leadouts never look as good as htc leadouts and fail most of the times wasn't on one of the smaller spanish stage races earlier in the season that it took their train a bunch of days to actually work? against a far from super strong opposition?

Their trademark last year was brilliant leadouts that were just 200m too short, so their sprinter would function as the final leadout for somebody else.

I think you're referring to Castilla y León, where on stages 1 and 2 they set up a nice, powerful leadout, only for Ventoso to be sat comfortably on the back of it and take the win. Swift eventually won stage 5 (the only other sprint), but Ventoso didn't need to do more than just shadow him to win the points jersey.

 

[Parrulo]

Their trademark last year was brilliant leadouts that were just 200m too short, so their sprinter would function as the final leadout for somebody else.

I think you're referring to Castilla y León, where on stages 1 and 2 they set up a nice, powerful leadout, only for Ventoso to be sat comfortably on the back of it and take the win. Swift eventually won stage 5 (the only other sprint), but Ventoso didn't need to do more than just shadow him to win the points jersey.

ya thats what i was talking about. ty libertine

 

[stefrees]

Their trademark last year was brilliant leadouts that were just 200m too short, so their sprinter would function as the final leadout for somebody else.

I think you're referring to Castilla y León, where on stages 1 and 2 they set up a nice, powerful leadout, only for Ventoso to be sat comfortably on the back of it and take the win. Swift eventually won stage 5 (the only other sprint), but Ventoso didn't need to do more than just shadow him to win the points jersey.

Worth noting in the first two stages there the lead outs were for downing who couldn't make full use of them (although the lead outs weren't brilliant but still good) whereas as soon as swift got involved he was far and away quicker.

 

[hatcher]

Their trademark last year was brilliant leadouts that were just 200m too short, so their sprinter would function as the final leadout for somebody else.

I think you're referring to Castilla y León, where on stages 1 and 2 they set up a nice, powerful leadout, only for Ventoso to be sat comfortably on the back of it and take the win. Swift eventually won stage 5 (the only other sprint), but Ventoso didn't need to do more than just shadow him to win the points jersey.

I think that's the nature of just about every sprint train though; they all tend to get swamped in the final 500 metres. Yesterday, if Swift didn't have that kick to get passed Lancome they would have had the same criticism leveled at them. Or to put it another way, having a really quick sprinter on the end makes a train look a hell of a lot better.

FWIW Swift was ill for the first two stages of Castilla y Leon (losing minutes on stage 1), so they were working for Russell Downing, who as strong as he is, isn't the sprinter Ben Swift is.

 

[NickBVK]

Hope that rider that went down over Jens is okay, can see his head bounce off the pavement.

Baden Cookes crash was bizarre, not sure if he was finishing his turn or just got clipped from behind but he went sideways fast with 1 leg out

 

[craig1985]

I think Andy has a stalker.

 

[Anonymous]

I think Andy has a stalker.

Uhhh..... I don't think that is a California girl.

Just sayin'.

 

[Granville57]

I think Andy has a stalker.

By the looks of it, yeah.
I wonder if the same could be said about the girl in the foreground?

BTW, what happened to all that "on bike" camera footage?

 

[Spider1964]

Antipodean Twitter War...

Tweet from Greg Henderson -
Happy with that one.Longest sprint of my career but it worked out ok. @swiftybswift had some unnecessary fighting at a 1k to go.cheers Rabo.

Tweet from Matt Goss -
@Greghenderson1 had a word to the rider myself as it took me out plus about 4 spectators.

Tweet from Michael Mathews -
@Greghenderson1 @swiftybswift whats with that can you tell me how it was unnecessary.

Tweet from Greg Henderson -
@blingmathews talk tomoz. It's just about mutual respect in the bunch. You shouldn't really knock @swiftybswift in yellow off his leadout.

Tweet from Michael Mathews -
@Greghenderson1 @blingmathews @swiftybswift yeah we will i didnt knock him watch the video he knocked me.

 

[Andy99]

Tweet from Greg Henderson -
Happy with that one.Longest sprint of my career but it worked out ok. @swiftybswift had some unnecessary fighting at a 1k to go.cheers Rabo.

Tweet from Matt Goss -
@Greghenderson1 had a word to the rider myself as it took me out plus about 4 spectators.

Tweet from Michael Mathews -
@Greghenderson1 @swiftybswift whats with that can you tell me how it was unnecessary.

Tweet from Greg Henderson -
@blingmathews talk tomoz. It's just about mutual respect in the bunch. You shouldn't really knock @swiftybswift in yellow off his leadout.

Tweet from Michael Mathews -
@Greghenderson1 @blingmathews @swiftybswift yeah we will i didnt knock him watch the video he knocked me.

Didn't see any of the race...but looks like 'bling' has a lot to learn..??

 

[Ferminal]

So... what did Matthews actually do, or did he just breach "mutual respect". Sounds like he tried to pull something out of the Bruiser Brown school of positioning?

He was the first one down, causing the crash, and getting the blame for it (but trying to offload it onto Swifty)?

 

[Spider1964]

Goss & Henderson are contending that he tried to bump Ben Swift off his leadout... Henderson claims a "lack of respect" for the yellow jersey? Wonder what he'd think about the lack of respect that jersey get's here by some poster's in the forums??

I hear the sounds of schoolgirls fighting.

One thing about Mathews is that he does not "respect" reputations (meaning he is not over-awed by them)... also the reason he is going to be a such a good rider.

 

[greenedge]

Oscar no. Nice sprint by Henderson. Think Goss will take stage 5 and Hushovd the 8th.

 

[LugHugger]

So... what did Matthews actually do, or did he just breach "mutual respect". Sounds like he tried to pull something out of the Bruiser Brown school of positioning?

He was the first one down, causing the crash, and getting the blame for it (but trying to offload it onto Swifty)?

One of the Rabo riders tried to bump Swift into a gutter coming out of one of the last corners. Swift was in about 4/5th place in the Sky train. It was pretty obvious on the live feed with the Rabo rider actually looking at Swift rather than the road for a second or two.

 

[Parrulo]

mathews learning a few things from oscarito already

i may start to like him if he keeps doing this kind of stuff