btw, soler is way still in it. the results on velonews say he only lost three seconds on the stage... it seems as if the organizers really want a close GC for the first 3 stages
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
I was oh so close with my Kirchen stage prediction. And 11th for Millar!!! Wow. If only Valverde hadnt gained a second, Millar would have been very well placed to go for Yellow. If he is in good form though, maybe he could take it in the TT - although that would involve losing less than 6 seconds on Cancellara.
I dont know why people thought it would be a sprint stage, a look at the profile clearly shows that it wouldnt be. And what makes you think that 'pretty much everyone' thought it would be a sprint? Maybe you mean, people who dont know a lot about cycling and think that if theres no mountains, it must go down to a sprint.
The likes of McEwen and Cavendish both said they would not have a chance today.
Zimao91 wrote:
All the Eurosport experts thought a sprinter would win it
sadly, eurosport has a tendency to only hire people who know nothing of the sport but believe they are endowed with infinite knowledge of it.
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
SportingNonsense wrote:
I dont know why people thought it would be a sprint stage, a look at the profile clearly shows that it wouldnt be. And what makes you think that 'pretty much everyone' thought it would be a sprint? Maybe you mean, people who dont know a lot about cycling and think that if theres no mountains, it must go down to a sprint.
The likes of McEwen and Cavendish both said they would not have a chance today.
Well, McEwen and Cavendish are both pretty much "flat" sprinters. Heck, anything more than a speed bump seems to throw Cav off his sprint.
But everything I saw seemed to predict a sprint amongst the more "hill capable" sprinters like Hushovd, Friere, and Zabel, with a chance of a good sprinting hill rider like Kirchen, Valverde or Cunego taking it.
I didn't see anyone predicting a top 10 with riders like Evans, Pereiro or Frank Schleck in the running. The finish list looked more like something you'd see in a hilly classic.
Perhaps others were predicting that... I didn't see it though.
Zimao91 wrote:
All the Eurosport experts thought a sprinter would win it
sadly, eurosport has a tendency to only hire people who know nothing of the sport but believe they are endowed with infinite knowledge of it.
Thats not true on the British front. We have an Ex-Pro Sean kelly hes always on the ball. David harmon is great at predicting reults and he always picks an outsider.
The only stupid person that British Eurosport have is Emma Davis, she really doesnt have a clue, even though shes a pro Women :/
Zimao91 wrote:
All the Eurosport experts thought a sprinter would win it
sadly, eurosport has a tendency to only hire people who know nothing of the sport but believe they are endowed with infinite knowledge of it.
I live in Germany and Eurosport is so much better then the german TV stations ARD and ZDF
At ARD and ZDF :
Pre-Stage :
Doping!!! (they just bought Jaksche to tell something about Doping , last year (after the Landis 2006 Tour) they have done the same , only Doping!!! I would say 25%Tour/75% Doping at ARD and ZDF (And therefore , the germans pay for that...)
At the Stage :
Boring like hell , I would wonder if someone wouldn´t sleep in with the commentaries (I haven´t heard of them before , but they switched after 2004 the Commentaries at ARD because a very incompetent commentary (before the Mountain Time Trial to the L´Alp d´Huez) wondered why Voigt fell back to the group with Ullrich , Basso and the others , he shouted at him "What are you doing!?!?" and some other stupid things)
At Eurosport :
Pre-Stage :
Everything you would like to hear , rider interviews , stage commentaries (what could be the breakpoint and so on) also you have seen a video of 1997 stage win of Erik Zabel as he won the Stage to Plumelec
At the Stage :
Competence also they are shaking that a little bit of (to not sleep in) with some jokes and so on , but also you hear somethings about doping but not more then 5 Minutes in a whole stage , also there are 3 commentaries , 1 could be boring , 2 also but 3 are very good
WoW , Valverde attacked at the lower step of that Hill but how fast he get at Kirchen , just impressive
Could be the beginning of a winner at the Tour...
I think that Valverde could manage tomorrow a 2nd win... But also Freire , Pozzato , Zabel and Ciolek could have a look at the stage tomorrow (maybe Wegmann too)
Edited by Rin on 05-07-2008 22:00
,btw very bad for soler ...
