TdF Stage 7

[europa]

Robbie had to change bikes early on - that'd mess him up.

Apparently the final climb FLATTENS OUT to a mere 10%

Glad I'm watching it, not riding it

Richard

[McPete]

Egads, that's heluva slope to be leveling to... Watching these blokes climb though... it puts me down another step... my climbing is often an exercise of much huffing and puffing in my granny gear doing a stately 17-19km/h...

[europa]

78km to go. On a long but gentle climb, and Robbie's been dropped

The lad's suffering, which we expected, but more than he needs to.

Looking forward to seeing what Cadel can do today.

Richard

[McPete]

Listening to these current and average speeds is mind-wilting... On those roads, I'd be struggling average that in the car!

[europa]

Listening to these current and average speeds is mind-wilting... On those roads, I'd be struggling average that in the car!

Sell the Corolla and by a Jag

But yeah, I'd be miles behind.

Robbie was back in the peleton at 72km, then well out the back at 66km to go, on a relatively gentle climb. Still, he's a cunning old bird and will survive.

Richard

[moosterbounce]

Over the last few days I thought "I'm definitely not a sprinter"...not I'm thinking "I'm definitely not a climber"...and I'm not a cafe rider as I don't drink coffee...hmmmmm...I'm just a fan

I love le Tour...especially when it starts at 8.30pm

[stryker84]

i agree, neither a sprinter nor a climber, and while i love coffee, i couldn't afford to be a cafe rider. looks like i'm just bike crazy.

[europa]

I love le Tour...especially when it starts at 8.30pm

Boo, expect a barb about cf to follow (we started at about a quarter to snooze)

Robbie's back in the pack.
Stuey is now a super domestique and isn't he good in that role.

Stuffit, I'm going to change the gearing on the Europa and go for a ride while the lad is warming up for his soccer match tomorrow

Richard
hey, this cycling stuff is addictive, if you don't pander to your addictions, they become a problem but if you succumb and embrace your addictions, they become every one else's problem, not yours

[McPete]

I'm with Moo... I can ride a road bike without falling off much, and for the moment that'll be plenty.

And Europa... I actually doubt my Landcruiser would be getting out of second in this terrain... I can almost hear it now... "Hills? Hurrr... Baaaad"... It'd be fun in a Stag or Spitfire though

That last climb looks scary, just from the gradient on the mappy thing. The sprinters look like they might agree with me.

[stryker84]

Stuey is great in most any role cept full-out sprinting. but yeah, he does pull the riders along well.

[McPete]

Cancellara must have had a bit of a moment of terror there... Power to him for pulling that hop though!

[europa]

They're in the valley and just showed a shot of the mountain they have to climb I'm taking up knitting

Richard

[McPete]

Yeah, I'm thinking bowls might be more my thing, looking at that.[/i]

[Kev365428]

What about that camera shot of the freeway with the mountain at the end of it. Must be heart breaking to see that.

And if I see that bloody Telstra "Oh, so you used to play for Collingwood" ad again, I'll scream.

Kev.

[McPete]

The bikeforce ad is quite annoying too, but the Telstra one takes the cake, I agree.

[europa]

Man, wasn't that fun? The lad who won the day, can't even remember his name let alone spell it, didn't he do a great job? And both our GC hopes, Cadel and Michael, were in the 'big bunch of heroes'.

Can't wait till tomorrow night ... well, I can but you know what I mean

Richard
tired and pithed, but at least my bike is ready for a ride tomorrow while the lad prepares for his soccer match

[nimm]

40km/hr average, 200km and with those bigs climbs in there... just incredible!

[europa]

I can't average 40km/hr over the edge of a cliff and we don't have cliffs 200km high ... maybe that's why I'm not a pro rider
Stern riding isn't it.

Richard

[mikesbytes]

Yeh, 40.4kph average, thats amazing. I've averaged 41kph over 50k, but that was on the flat.

[nimm]

That's pretty impressive mike! I need to ride more regularly...

I just did as close to a time trial as I can get, down south along the freeway. No traffic and a nice smooth path - 33.3km/hr over 40.5km. My best ever

Unfortunately got a flat at the end when cooling down pfft, i'll add it to the black cat thread.

[mikesbytes]

33.3kph in your own air is pretty dam quick. My 41kph was with other riders, most of which were quicker than me.

[europa]

Therein lies the mistake the GC riders made last night, they allowed a breakaway of 15 riders. Not only is 15 enough to maintain a high speed, it's enough to allow tired riders to rest within the breakaway before taking up pace making again. I'm beginning to wonder if the GC riders this year have the tactical nouse of men such as Armstrong and Indurain.

Richard

[mikesbytes]

Therein lies the mistake the GC riders made last night, they allowed a breakaway of 15 riders. Not only is 15 enough to maintain a high speed, it's enough to allow tired riders to rest within the breakaway before taking up pace making again. I'm beginning to wonder if the GC riders this year have the tactical nouse of men such as Armstrong and Indurain.

Richard

Thats why the peleton was working so hard, to pull them in. In the end the winner was only 3min something in front.

[Hotdog]

I was in awe of the climbing performance too, then even more so after dragging myself up a ~200m in ~4km climb this morning (a mere bump in the road compared with 1100m in 16km of the Col de Colombiere). And now I've just had a look at the profile for today's stage Three category 1 climbs in a row with the finish line being at the summit of the final climb.

[sogood]

Thats why the peleton was working so hard, to pull them in. In the end the winner was only 3min something in front.

And there were only 3 or 4 left out of that original breakaway. All the rest died on the mountain climb.