Interesting Start For Discovery

amit wrote:
The rule of thumb is that a pack can close down 10 secs. per kilometer
on a break. The top of the Poggio is less than 6 kms from the finish so
a break needs something like a minute in front of the sprinters teams
to make it to the finish, we can maybe shave it down to 40 sec or so
because of the technical descent. Still, that's asking the attackers to
gain a lot of time on a fast short climb. Moving the finish closer to
the Poggio does increase the odds of a non sprint finish though.

Or remove the asphalt and make a cobblestone Poggio. :-)

BTW, isn't there a cobblestone climb in the Lombardy finale?

Kenny

"John Verheul" schreef Nuyens called Boonen a queen?


Yes. I understand you're not familiar with chess. The king shelters cowardly
in a corner, the queen leads the charge.

John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:

The rule of thumb is that a pack can close down 10 secs. per kilometer
on a break. The top of the Poggio is less than 6 kms from the finish so
a break needs something like a minute in front of the sprinters teams
to make it to the finish, we can maybe shave it down to 40 sec or so
because of the technical descent.

Half of that -- 20 seconds -- is enough if the attckers aren't blown

And half of that is enough if the attackers are willing to collaborate
and the chasers are blown or disorganized (happened in 2003).

Jenko

On 2 Mar 2006 00:40:39 -0800, "amit" wrote:


The rule of thumb is that a pack can close down 10 secs. per kilometer
on a break. The top of the Poggio is less than 6 kms from the finish so
a break needs something like a minute in front of the sprinters teams
to make it to the finish, we can maybe shave it down to 40 sec or so
because of the technical descent.

Half of that -- 20 seconds -- is enough if the attckers aren't blown

JT

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Kenny wrote:

BTW, isn't there a cobblestone climb in the Lombardy finale?

That was the Colle Aperto up to the Città Alta of Bergamo. See Di Luca
in action there
http://grahamwatson.com/2001/lombardia/image14.html

GdL finish has been moved to Como so it's not ridden now.

Jenko

Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
Bart wrote:
"John Verheul" schreef Nuyens called Boonen a queen?


Yes. I understand you're not familiar with chess. The king shelters cowardly
in a corner, the queen leads the charge.





Dumbass -


Usually your grasp of English slang is very good, but in this case I
suggest you look it up in urbandictionary.com


thanks,

K. Gringioni.

Considering that the individual using the term 'queen' to describe
Boonen is neither British nor American, then it's not reasonable to
assume that he meant it in a way consistent with English slang usage.

Another analogy to consider: in the Army the Artillery is the "King of
Battle" and the Infantry is the "Queen of Battle". The Artillery, as
you may know, stays well to the rear and fires at the enemy from afar,
whereas the Infantry assaults the enemy in close combat. Much like in
chess, I suppose, where the queen is the most powerful piece.

I'm sure you'll have some smartass comment about Infantrymen being
queens, but if you do don't be surprised if some steely-eyed,
thin-lipped professional killer (aka 11B) doesn't pimp slap you just
for the hell of it.

S.

Jenko wrote:
John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:

The rule of thumb is that a pack can close down 10 secs. per kilometer
on a break. The top of the Poggio is less than 6 kms from the finish so
a break needs something like a minute in front of the sprinters teams
to make it to the finish, we can maybe shave it down to 40 sec or so
because of the technical descent.

Half of that -- 20 seconds -- is enough if the attckers aren't blown

And half of that is enough if the attackers are willing to collaborate
and the chasers are blown or disorganized (happened in 2003).


i disagree, 20secs at the top of the poggio isn't enough to win MSR,
but with the caveat that the time gap in question is not from the
attackers to pack, but from the attackers to petacchi and his train.

lazysegall wrote:

wht do you mean by "races"? mcewen's has never been a guy to win
classics, even the sprinters classics, but he does win tdf and giro
stages (three each in 2005).


What I mean here is that I am not sure where Lotto's priorities lie. I
am not Belgian, but it seems that their top priorities would lie in
winning Belgian races. I am not saying that Lotto is wasting money on
mcewen, but I don't find his victories very compelling and I don't see
why Belgian fans would either. To be fair though I don't have anything
to back this up and Mcewin does basically guarentee stage victories.

no cycling fans find sprint wins in flat GT stages to be more
compelling than wins in tough classics or the mountains, but it has
it's place. a tdf stage win gets roughly 10,000 times more worldwide
exposure than a win in RVV or GW.

wrote:
In interviews after 2005 Paris-Tours, Devolder gave a strong impression
of being unhappy with Discovery.

maybe his old team (vlaanderen 2002) will take him back.

amit wrote:

i disagree, 20secs at the top of the poggio isn't enough to win MSR,
but with the caveat that the time gap in question is not from the
attackers to pack, but from the attackers to petacchi and his train.

There's been 3 good attacks at the Poggio in recent years.

As I said, in 2003 Bettini, Paolini and Celestino had 14" at the summit
of the Poggio over Cipollini and 3 teammates of him. Bettini and co
kept a safe distance of 11" at the finish. In a 3 vs 3 and the stronger
riders usually win.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003...3/?id=livecomp

Last year it was just 5" and Kirchen ruined the break by sitting to
protect Petacchi. Otherwise, Fassa's train (just Velo and Sacchi) would
have had a hard time catching the attackers in the final flat 2 kms.

In 2002 Bettini had 12" over the peloton, waited for Figueras in the
descent and the duo was just 6" at the bottom. They rode against 4
Cipollini teammates and were caught with 800m to go.

Jenko