le tour 2006 course is dull.

[Michael Press]

le tour 2006 course is dull. The first week is all flat
stages with no team time trial. The TTT is good becaus it
breaks the string of sprinter's stages. The TTT is fun to
watch. Each team can be on stage alone, showing their
abilities, techniques, tactics, and strategy.

The first time trial is this boring straight course.
Nothing on it for a good bicycle handler to use to gain an
advantage on a less skilled handler. Boring. What else can
you say when the most exciting event of the day is Bobby
Julich crashing out of the race?

Everyone says the the mountain stages will shake out the
field, but so what? It is always so. Can anyone make a
case for this years mountain stages being intrinsically
more interesting than other years mountain stages? They
appear to me, admittedly inexpert, to be boring, tedious,
and dull.

Finally they evicerated the field with their petty doping
circus.

--
Michael Press

[[email protected]]

Michael Press wrote:
> le tour 2006 course is dull. The first week is all flat
> stages with no team time trial. The TTT is good becaus it
> breaks the string of sprinter's stages. The TTT is fun to
> watch. Each team can be on stage alone, showing their
> abilities, techniques, tactics, and strategy.
>
> The first time trial is this boring straight course.
> Nothing on it for a good bicycle handler to use to gain an
> advantage on a less skilled handler. Boring. What else can
> you say when the most exciting event of the day is Bobby
> Julich crashing out of the race?
>
> Everyone says the the mountain stages will shake out the
> field, but so what? It is always so. Can anyone make a
> case for this years mountain stages being intrinsically
> more interesting than other years mountain stages? They
> appear to me, admittedly inexpert, to be boring, tedious,
> and dull.
>
> Finally they evicerated the field with their petty doping
> circus.
>
> --
> Michael Press

If you can't reach the television to change the channel from your cell
you should ask the warden to turn it to World Series Poker for you.

Don't know much about le Tour do ya?

Andy

[Ro]

Michael Press > wrote:
>le tour 2006 course is dull. The first week is all flat
>stages with no team time trial. The TTT is good becaus it
>breaks the string of sprinter's stages. The TTT is fun to
>watch. Each team can be on stage alone, showing their
>abilities, techniques, tactics, and strategy.
>
>The first time trial is this boring straight course.
>Nothing on it for a good bicycle handler to use to gain an
>advantage on a less skilled handler. Boring. What else can
>you say when the most exciting event of the day is Bobby
>Julich crashing out of the race.


admittedly inexpert, to be boring, tedious,
>and dull.
>Michael Press

Sounds like a reflection of your own personality.
Turn it off and watch something elseit the tour does not suit you.
Ro

[RicodJour]

Michael Press wrote:
> le tour 2006 course is dull. The first week is all flat
> stages with no team time trial. The TTT is good becaus it
> breaks the string of sprinter's stages. The TTT is fun to
> watch. Each team can be on stage alone, showing their
> abilities, techniques, tactics, and strategy.
>
> The first time trial is this boring straight course.
> Nothing on it for a good bicycle handler to use to gain an
> advantage on a less skilled handler. Boring. What else can
> you say when the most exciting event of the day is Bobby
> Julich crashing out of the race?
>
> Everyone says the the mountain stages will shake out the
> field, but so what? It is always so. Can anyone make a
> case for this years mountain stages being intrinsically
> more interesting than other years mountain stages? They
> appear to me, admittedly inexpert, to be boring, tedious,
> and dull.
>
> Finally they evicerated the field with their petty doping
> circus.

Isn't the route generally designed to reduce the past year's winner's
advantage? This year's route has no TTT, fewer mountain stages and
more sprint stages. I'm not sure why they'd feel that they needed to
reduce an essentially leaderless team's "advantage", but it certainly
seems like they designed it to give Disco some fits.

R

[Razorback]

> Michael Press:
>
> Everyone says the the mountain stages will shake out the
> field, but so what? It is always so. Can anyone make a
> case for this years mountain stages being intrinsically
> more interesting than other years mountain stages? They
> appear to me, admittedly inexpert, to be boring, tedious,
> and dull.

I think the mountains are always the most fascinating stages. It's a
given that many riders will crack. The "peloton" (if it can be called
that) on a late HC climb (think Alpe d'Huez) consists of about 4-5
riders! The riders are strewn about the mountain like debris from a
passing car. There is no way to "fake it" up a mountain. There is no
way to draft, either (going that slow, there isn't much wind to block
anyway).

And the difference between the French Alps and Pyrenees is exquisite.
The Alps are longer but not as steep. The Pyrenees look easier on
paper, but some of those climbs hit spots of 12 degree incline. Hitting
a steep incline like that after 1500 miles are behind you, sometimes
the rider just isn't ready to deal with that, and has to abandon the
race on the spot. Get me the car, Jamison! I want a nap and a beer, and
right now!

> Finally they evicerated the field with their petty doping circus.

I agree with you 100% on this issue. It is indeed a circus. Guilty
until proven innocent. No dirty blood tests, only rumor and innuendo.

[Mike Jacoubowsky]

> Everyone says the the mountain stages will shake out the
> field, but so what? It is always so. Can anyone make a
> case for this years mountain stages being intrinsically
> more interesting than other years mountain stages? They
> appear to me, admittedly inexpert, to be boring, tedious,
> and dull.

Right. Riders had been complaining that it was impossible to do back-to-back
nasty stages without resorting to "recovery" aids, and not enough rest days.
So they made the course less challenging, and a couple years ago added a
second rest day.

> Finally they evicerated the field with their petty doping
> circus.

Guess some people didn't get the memo...

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

"Michael Press" > wrote in message
...
> le tour 2006 course is dull. The first week is all flat
> stages with no team time trial. The TTT is good becaus it
> breaks the string of sprinter's stages. The TTT is fun to
> watch. Each team can be on stage alone, showing their
> abilities, techniques, tactics, and strategy.
>
> The first time trial is this boring straight course.
> Nothing on it for a good bicycle handler to use to gain an
> advantage on a less skilled handler. Boring. What else can
> you say when the most exciting event of the day is Bobby
> Julich crashing out of the race?
>
> Everyone says the the mountain stages will shake out the
> field, but so what? It is always so. Can anyone make a
> case for this years mountain stages being intrinsically
> more interesting than other years mountain stages? They
> appear to me, admittedly inexpert, to be boring, tedious,
> and dull.
>
> Finally they evicerated the field with their petty doping
> circus.
>
> --
> Michael Press

[Donald Munro]

Michael Press wrote:

> le tour 2006 course is dull. The first week is all flat
> stages with no team time trial.

The stage to Valkenberg wasn't flat or boring.

> The TTT is good becaus it breaks the string of sprinter's stages. The
> TTT is fun to watch. Each team can be on stage alone, showing their
> abilities, techniques, tactics, and strategy.

But its the July consensus is that its unfair.

[Donald Munro]

Michael Press wrote:

> le tour 2006 course is dull. The first week is all flat
> stages with no team time trial.

The stage to Valkenberg wasn't flat or boring.

> The TTT is good becaus it breaks the string of sprinter's stages. The
> TTT is fun to watch. Each team can be on stage alone, showing their
> abilities, techniques, tactics, and strategy.

But its the July consensus is that its unfair.

[Donald Munro]

Michael Press wrote:

> The TTT is fun to watch. Each team can be on stage alone, showing their
> abilities, techniques, tactics, and strategy.

But its unfair.

[Kurgan Gringioni]

Donald Munro wrote:

> > The TTT is good becaus it breaks the string of sprinter's stages. The
> > TTT is fun to watch. Each team can be on stage alone, showing their
> > abilities, techniques, tactics, and strategy.
>
> But its the July consensus is that its unfair.




Dumbass -


It's only unfair to teams who are unprepared.


thanks,

K. Gringioni.

[Donald Munro]

Donald Munro wrote:
>> But its the July consensus is that its unfair.

Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
> It's only unfair to teams who are unprepared.

I'm level with bret in the fish trolling category, but do I get extra
points because its july ?

[Simon Brooke]

in message . com>,
RicodJour ') wrote:

> Isn't the route generally designed to reduce the past year's winner's
> advantage? Â*This year's route has no TTT, fewer mountain stages and
> more sprint stages. Â*I'm not sure why they'd feel that they needed to
> reduce an essentially leaderless team's "advantage", but it certainly
> seems like they designed it to give Disco some fits.

If we consider yesterday's stage as a virtual TTT, the results (fifth man
over the line) are:

T-Mobile: 2.02.77
Discovery Channel: 3.13.07
Phonak: 4.34.51
Bouygues Telecom: 4.35.36
Gerolsteiner: 4.38.99
Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears: 5.05.35
Lampre-Fondital: 5.13.54
Team CSC: 5.15.69
Saunier Duval: 5.18.50
Davitamon-Lotto: 5.31.86
Francaise Des Jeux: 5.42.71
Cofidis: 5.46.48
Milram: 5.57.83
AG2R-Prevoyance: 6.12.28
Euskaltel-Euskadi: 6.22.21
Rabobank: 6.29.82
Crédit Agricole: 6.37.85
Agritubel: 6.40.56
Liquigas: 6.56.73
Quick-Step-Innergetic: 7.04.09

So dropping the TTT hurt Discovery less than it hurt T-Mobile.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; I put the 'sexy' in 'dyslexia'

[Tom Kunich]

"Michael Press" > wrote in message
...
> le tour 2006 course is dull.

Whereas your comments are really exciting.