The 2015 Tour De Stinkin' France Contest WITH RESULTS

[creekster]

Btw PAC, per @letourdata, Rodriguez' finish line speed at the top of the Mur de Huy was 21.6k , which as far as it is translated correctly, is 13.4 mph.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

I meant to post last night about how echelons are really the only real way to legally shed an unwanted rider. In small break away groups with multiple teammates, you'll see some attacking techniques that force the odd man out to either chase everything down himself or watch the rider ride off the front alone.

Terrible stage today. You couldn't have drawn up a less likely place for a massive spill. Here's a really interesting POV of one of the OGE team mechanics. These guys are truly amazing. The way that manage wheels, extra bikes, multiple languages (I believe this guy speaks three of them in this video) and just mass chaos. Kudos to them. Also, the background moaning is heartbreaking.
https://youtu.be/7raIxrzodt4

[RC Vikings]

Terrible stage today. You couldn't have drawn up a less likely place for a massive spill. Here's a really interesting POV of one of the OGE team mechanics. These guys are truly amazing. The way that manage wheels, extra bikes, multiple languages (I believe this guy speaks three of them in this video) and just mass chaos. Kudos to them. Also, the background moaning is heartbreaking.
https://youtu.be/7raIxrzodt4

That was painful to watch yesterday. As close as these guys ride I'm shocked more on them don't go down during a race.

Also did anyone notice how terrible Froome looked going up the Mur de Huy, his knees are out, his pedal stroke is jerky, I can' stand watching him on a bike.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

The Yellow curse continues.

[PaloAltoCougar]

The Yellow curse continues.

I understand that Tour etiquette dictates that the next in line should decline the Yellow the following day, but if I were Froome, I'd do so more out of fear than respect.

[old_gregg]

The Yellow curse continues.

pretty racist bro

[creekster]

Team Time Trial tomorrow. This could have a big effect on the GC. Froome's confidence is very high, and Team Sky did not seem to work too hard today on the Mur de Bretagne. But BMC is a strong team and might carry Teejay to a strong position on the GC heading into the Pyrenees. I am excited. If you havent watched a stage yet, try to catch this one.

I'm sorry I have been so absent. Travel and work, etc. But I will update the contest after tomorrow. Vive Le Tour!

[creekster]

The team time trial is one of my favorite stages. It is a thing of beauty when a team sets up its oen pace line and methodically attacks the course as one. It can also be very revealing. You an see who the strong men are on each team, as they shed the weaker men. This year, the TTT has the potential to upend the GC standings. The course is very hilly for a TTT, however, and so the teams look a bit raggedy out on the course. Astana, for example, saw Nibali get excited and go out too fast on a hill resulting in the team falling apart and losing cohesion. He tried to slow down but the damage was done and very early on Astana lost a couple of its riders.

How about Peter Sagan in this tour so far? I am very impressed with his abilities. Even though he is without a stage win at this point, he has been, IMO, the best overall rider. There he is contesting sprint finishes and in play for the final classification on the Mur de Bretagne. The guy is amazing.

Am I the only one who hears “Stevorino” whenever Phil throws it to Steve Porino? Probably.

Team Sky and BMC put on quite a show. Froome was taking huge pulls in the front. BMC looked like a strong team but at the first two time checks the two teams were within one second of each other’s time. Rising up the final climb to the finish it looked to me like Team Sky would beat BMC;’s time until Roche, in the crucial fifth position, cracked and Froome and the boys had to slow a bit to let him back on. As a result BMC won by one second over Team Sky. But the real story is who lost on this stage. Contador lost more than 25 seconds to Froome, Teejay and Quintana. Nibali lost even more, which doesn’t surprise me given the raggedy looking performance by Astana.

I am so tired of those Hannah Davis and her talking horse ads. Enough already.

[scottie]

The 2015 Tour De Stinkin' France Contest

creek, I guess I could google this but I prefer your answers -- for TTTs, do they take the time of a team's final rider to cross the finish line and then apply that time to every rider on the team individually?

[Moliere]

creek, I guess I could google this but I prefer your answers -- for TTTs, do they take the time of a team's final rider to cross the finish line and then apply that time to every rider on the team individually?

I believe they take the time of the fifth rider to cross and give that to the top five riders. All others get their own times.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

creek, I guess I could google this but I prefer your answers -- for TTTs, do they take the time of a team's final rider to cross the finish line and then apply that time to every rider on the team individually?

Time stops at the fifth rider across the line. If I remember correctly, all team members get the same time whether they were #2 or #8, 5 minutes later. Not that it matters because anyone finishing off the front five isn't racing for time.

[ERCougar]

Time stops at the fifth rider across the line. If I remember correctly, all team members get the same time whether they were #2 or #8, 5 minutes later. Not that it matters because anyone finishing off the front five isn't racing for time.

If that's the case, shouldn't a team just let its star rider loaf it and get a recovery day?

[creekster]

If that's the case, shouldn't a team just let its star rider loaf it and get a recovery day?

They could but the star rider would get screwed in the GC. The GC stars are stars because they are strong riders. You'll notice that froome pulled much more than almost anyone else on team sky, as did contador for tinkoff. Teejay pulled less than those two but only because they have a worlds winning time trialist in Rohan Dennis to pull BMC along. So if a team lets its GC guy loaf the five racing will not do nearly as well and the GC guy will likely lose a lot of time. Take tinkoff. With contador they lost about 25 seconds to froome. Without him they prolly lose another 10-30 seconds. That's a LOT.

[mtnbiker]

Moliere is right in that the first five riders, or as many as finish together without a time gap, get the time of the 5th rider across the line. Any gaps after the 5th and those riders get their own times.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Thanks for the write-up, creek. Do the riders who fall off of the front five have to finish the race to remain in the Tour? It seemed like some were like the first stage of a multi-stage rocket--get things off to a good start but fall away once their fuel was spent.