July 06, 2004

Through the cobbles. : Armstrong survives the third stage, now fifth overall; Ivan Mayo crashed, got shook up, and lost nearly four minutes.

(2.4 miles of cobblestones? Talk about excessive...but that's the Tour de France for ya)

posted by lil_brown_bat to other at 02:14 PM - 5 comments

Armstrong's ominous prediction of the cobblestone's impact is a bit eerie.

posted by garfield at 02:28 PM on July 06, 2004

That sucks for Mayo. Prior to the Tour, I was offering even money (entirely fake money) to people if they would give me Mayo and Hamilton to their Armstrong. I feel shitty for the guy. I'm also feeling crappy because I have to watch the replays only. Last year, when I had no job, it was great to wake up early to catch the early showings. Now, I have to watch the spoiled additions late in the day. I'll still watch though. And the added money that comes from employment is very nice.

posted by 86 at 03:07 PM on July 06, 2004

I'm confused... I thought I read somewhere that it was considered bad sportmanship on the Tour to use opponents' crashes to pad your lead. Do I have that wrong, or is this a special case, or what?

posted by cobra! at 03:09 PM on July 06, 2004

cobra!, here's my take on the question of sportsmanship. Velonews has some cool rider diaries, including this from Tyler Hamilton: There's no describing how nerve-wracking the opening stages of the Tour are. For starters, there's a full field of nearly 200 guys all fired up about being at the year's biggest race. Add high speeds, rain, a bunch of crashes, spectators in the road, a good hard chase to reel in a break away and the madness that ensues before a field sprint, and you pretty much have the recipe for hard day at the office.

posted by dusted at 03:24 PM on July 06, 2004

Chris Carmichael's Velonews diary from today's stage regarding Mayo's crash and other teams capitalizing on it: Though they are adversaries, Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich, Tyler Hamilton, and Roberto Heras know there is a time and place to work together for their mutual benefit. When a crash prior to the first section of cobblestones split the field and isolated Iban Mayo, all the other team leaders sent their men to the front to make sure the Spaniard didn't make it back to the front group. He goes on to say Mayo's not out of it yet: A four-minute lead on Mayo is a good start, but it by no means puts him completely out of the running for the yellow jersey. The Spaniard is an explosive climber and he has the ability to pull back all the time he lost today in the course of a few well-timed attacks in the mountains. He may be wounded, but experienced leaders like Armstrong and Ullrich know better than to write him off yet.

posted by JohnSFO at 03:53 PM on July 06, 2004

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