similarities between stage 19 and '95 tour prologue

the conditions were utterly horrible today, riders crashing, slipping and
sliding every which way. i couldn't help but notice the similarites to the
prologue in '95. jacky durand of all people took the maillot jaune that
day, several riders took serious falls including Chris Boardman who i
believe broke his ankle in the process. similarly, Uwe Peschel fell hard
today and punctured a lung, and still finished 30th, unfortunately for
boardman riding with a broken leg/ankle just wasn't an option. from the
looks of when Millar finished, the weather did not look nearly as bad,
someone with actual TV coverage of the race could present a more informed
opinion on that one. in '95 the weather was light rain i believe, by the
time indurain and the GC contenders rode it was horrid if i recall correctly
naturally eliminating them from contention, another possible similarity to
the stage 19 ITT.

what i find rather frightening is that millar's average speed was 54.36 k/hr
in the wet, what were 'dragsters' like LA and JU capable of on a dry course
? 56-57 k/hr or higher, those speeds just wow me. for many of us, just
maintaining that speed by our lonesome on the flat for a kilo or two is
difficult or impossible for some, but for 49k's ?!? i guess that is the
difference between the recreational/racer types and the elite pro.

5 going on 6.

shawn

They had a strong tailwind to help them though. Otherwise they would
average around 30+ mph.


Jiyang
"swj" wrote in message
.net...
the conditions were utterly horrible today, riders crashing, slipping and
sliding every which way. i couldn't help but notice the similarites to
the
prologue in '95. jacky durand of all people took the maillot jaune that
day, several riders took serious falls including Chris Boardman who i
believe broke his ankle in the process. similarly, Uwe Peschel fell hard
today and punctured a lung, and still finished 30th, unfortunately for
boardman riding with a broken leg/ankle just wasn't an option. from the
looks of when Millar finished, the weather did not look nearly as bad,
someone with actual TV coverage of the race could present a more informed
opinion on that one. in '95 the weather was light rain i believe, by the
time indurain and the GC contenders rode it was horrid if i recall
correctly
naturally eliminating them from contention, another possible similarity to
the stage 19 ITT.

what i find rather frightening is that millar's average speed was 54.36
k/hr
in the wet, what were 'dragsters' like LA and JU capable of on a dry
course
? 56-57 k/hr or higher, those speeds just wow me. for many of us, just
maintaining that speed by our lonesome on the flat for a kilo or two is
difficult or impossible for some, but for 49k's ?!? i guess that is the
difference between the recreational/racer types and the elite pro.

5 going on 6.

shawn

"swj" wrote in message
.net...
the conditions were utterly horrible today, riders crashing, slipping and
sliding every which way. i couldn't help but notice the similarites to
the
prologue in '95. big snip

shawn


In the 95 prologue Boardman was almost hit by his following car when he
crashed. In the ITT yesterday you could see Jan waving at his team car to
back off after he fell cause they were driving too close.

Stan Cox

56-57 k/hr or higher, those speeds just wow me. for many of us, just
maintaining that speed by our lonesome on the flat for a kilo or two is
difficult or impossible for some, but for 49k's ?!?

Maintaining that speed? How about even reaching it (without a big hill
and a tailwind)???

&roo

"swj" wrote in message
.net...

what i find rather frightening is that millar's average speed was 54.36
k/hr
in the wet, what were 'dragsters' like LA and JU capable of on a dry
course

There was a huge tailwind. This is why speed records on open road courses
are actually kinda hard to evaluate.