Posted on 07/19/2006 9:15:41 PM PDT by nutmeg
Stage 17: St. Jean de Maurienne to Morzine-Avoriaz -200.5km
Course: This is almost identical to the stage in 2000 when Marco Pantani attacked on the first climb (the 15km, 6.4-percent Saisies) and forced Armstrong's U.S. Postal squad to chase for 100km over the Aravis, Colombière and Châtillon climbs to the foot of the day's main obstacle: the mighty Col de Joux-Plane (11.7km at 8.7 percent). It was partway up the Joux-Plane that Armstrong bonked and could only watch as Ullrich and others rode away from him, and he conceded almost two minutes by the finish in Morzine.
History: Morzine has seen 13 finishes of the Tour, including that one six years ago, which was the last time the ultra-steep Joux-Plane was climbed in the Tour. The only Tour winner to win a stage into Morzine was Pantani, who scored a solo victory here in 1997, the year before he won the Tour. Morzine's mountaintop neighbor, Avoriaz, has seen stage wins by two other Tour champions, Lucien Van Impe and Bernard Hinault.
Favorites: If riders are still battling for podium spots, then the Joux-Plane climb and descent suits Leipheimer and Landis. But it's more likely that a long-distance break will succeed, giving a rider like Michael Rasmussen a chance to win the stage and the King of the Mountains competition.
Graphics by CyclingNews.com
You got that right. It makes you wonder whether Floyd could have done better when he was "team supporting" Lance in the past.
Seriously, though, do you think Bob can do commentary AND post on FR at the same time?
I've been a member since 2001, and I've had my picture up in a Freeper gallery before.
Bob and I both might be screwballs, and we are both Catholic, and we both like bike racing, but that's about it.
Does this mean the USA team has a chance of winning?
I don't really follow this most European of sports, but a Lance-less win by the USA would be a delight!
The French would commit mass suicide.
We'll know this weekend if he has it in him to win.
Although he may not be destined to ride competitively on the international circuit again, may he soon be free of the pain he has been enduring.
~ joanie
Congtatulations! How many bets did you win, besides my hat? :-)
Michael Rasmussen simply won't let people forget he is the best bicycle climber in the world. His baby must be the best crawling climber:
~ Blue Jays ~
They have been very courteous about it all, but I’m sure that, despite Floyd’s accomplishment, this media attention is not their cup of tea. (They don’t even own a television, and had to walk quite a distance to a neighbor’s house in order to watch him in the Tour.)
Our son, Dan, as well as so many others who know Floyd personally, have observed that Floyd is an entirely different person on his bike than off. On the bike, Dan says he is a ‘beast’ – totally focused, determined, consumed and immovable. Off the bike, he is quiet, humble and unassuming.
An aside … After his devastating performance last Wednesday, when he fell ten minutes back, and nearly everyone was assuming that his odds of winning had dwindled to zero, he and his team sat down and applied a heavy dose of mathematics and technology in order to analyze his gruesome performance, and calculate how to at least attempt to compensate for it the following day.
The team, and the team physiologist, used the information compiled by the computers on his bicycle that measure and record his power, in watts, his pulse, heart rate, etc. in order to decipher exactly what had gone wrong on Wednesday. By their calculations and observations, it seemed as if his physical collapse was not the result of one single factor (such as lack of sufficient food or water, or not pacing himself properly). They surmised, instead, that his physical collapse was actually the result of his long-term over-worked body simply telling him it was time to shut down (much like what might happen to someone who has suffered from an extended period of sleep deprivation).
His bike-mounted instruments showed that, as he slowed down on Wednesday, his average power output fell by about thirty percent, even though he reports that he thought he was pushing at his maximum.
His physiologist examined all of Wednesday’s data, and, taking into account the fact that his lack of exertion over the dismal last portion of Wednesday’s stage could conceivably provide him an edge on Thursday, he calculated that Floyd could maintain extended (maybe twenty-minute) bursts of up to 400+ watts of power output on Thursday. And he could conceivably average 360-380 watts for the entire stage, without his body shutting down again. (Take it from me, that’s almost super-human – when I’m biking at full-throttle, I am expending about 150 watts. :)
What the physiologist prescribed was precisely what Landis did on Thursday, monitoring his power output via his handlebar computer, and following the prescription to a T – while leaving the rest of the competition, literally, in the dust.
Knowing what I’ve been told about Floyd, I imagine that the mathematical calculations represented only half of the reason behind his ‘legendary’ ride on Thursday. I suspect that sheer emotion – a combination of ‘inspirational’ disappointment, passion, and resolve – made up the balance. :)
(No response necessary. Going to be off-line for a while.)
~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.