On Jul 19, 5:44 pm, Paul Cassel
wrote:
Somewhat new to bicycling and the racing.

I look at the standings posted by Bob Martin and from my viewing on
Versus. What sort of deficit is reasonable to make up at this point
based on historical efforts?

Frex, is Hincapie's almost .5 hour deficit something that has been
overcome by others in the past? At what point can we say that someone
with a deficit of X minutes is effectively out of the running for the
overall winner?

The actual time deficit is significant but is not the only factor.
There was a fellow named Pereiro who last year recovered just about .5
hour in a single stage (13) and ended up second (maybe even first)
overall, mostly because nobody was paying attention to him.

See http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2006...sults/tour0613
So yes, it's possible, but not common.

DR