One man and his stage (SPOILERS)

Go Thomas!

I can remember afternoon after afternoon five years ago when I sagged
off work to sit on the sofa, yelling 'Thomas! Thomas! Thomas!' as
though, a thousand miles away in France, he could hear me and be
encouraged.

I LOVE breakaway riders - they are the people who set races alight. I
LOVE riders who will not admit they're beaten, who will not
acknowledge it's hopeless, who will not bow down before the might of
the big sprint teams. And of them all, although big Jens Voigt is the
strongest and wiliest, Thomas is the bravest and the most foolish: the
romantic, the man who rides for passion and for sentiment and for
shining belief.

Go Thomas!

In the epic poem that is cycle racing, yours is by no means the least
glorious stanza!

On Wed, 8 Jul 2009 14:26:03 -0700 (PDT), Simon Brooke
wrote:

In the epic poem that is cycle racing, yours is by no means the least
glorious stanza!

This is shaping up to be a really interesting tour, isn't it?

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/urc | http://www.nohelmetlaw.org.uk/
"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken
Newsgroup may contain nuts.

Simon Brooke wrote:
Go Thomas!

I can remember afternoon after afternoon five years ago when I sagged
off work to sit on the sofa, yelling 'Thomas! Thomas! Thomas!' as
though, a thousand miles away in France, he could hear me and be
encouraged.

I LOVE breakaway riders - they are the people who set races alight. I
LOVE riders who will not admit they're beaten, who will not
acknowledge it's hopeless, who will not bow down before the might of
the big sprint teams. And of them all, although big Jens Voigt is the
strongest and wiliest, Thomas is the bravest and the most foolish: the
romantic, the man who rides for passion and for sentiment and for
shining belief.

Go Thomas!

In the epic poem that is cycle racing, yours is by no means the least
glorious stanza!


Yes a wonderful well deserved stage win

Jan

On 08/07/2009 22:26, Simon Brooke wrote:
I LOVE breakaway riders - they are the people who set races alight. I
LOVE riders who will not admit they're beaten, who will not
acknowledge it's hopeless, who will not bow down before the might of
the big sprint teams.

AOL.

That win was very well deserved, although I think this is the first time
I've ever found myself hoping that a breakaway would be caught!

I wanted to see Cav win again.

--
Danny Colyer http://www.redpedals.co.uk
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
“If two men on a job agree all the time, then one is useless. If they
disagree all the time, then both are useless.” - Darryl F. Zanuck

On 8 July, 23:50, Danny Colyer wrote:
On 08/07/2009 22:26, Simon Brooke wrote:

I LOVE breakaway riders - they are the people who set races alight. I
LOVE riders who will not admit they're beaten, who will not
acknowledge it's hopeless, who will not bow down before the might of
the big sprint teams.

AOL.

That win was very well deserved, although I think this is the first time
I've ever found myself hoping that a breakaway would be caught!

I wanted to see Cav win again.

Not taking anything away from Cavendish, the way he actually
accelerates away from all the other sprinters is phenomenal - but
there is a big difference for me between the rider who sits
comfortably in the wheels all day, being shepherded and cosseted by
his team, and then does five minutes intense work at the end of the
day to take the glory, and the rider who goes out with a small bunch
of friends on a day long fight, knowing that the odds are impossible,
knowing that the chances of success are infinitesimal, and still
fights - the rider who alone outrides the whole peloton. Cav is an
extraordinary athlete, but it's a completely different scale of
achievement.

Simon Brooke wrote:

On 8 July, 23:50, Danny Colyer wrote:
On 08/07/2009 22:26, Simon Brooke wrote:

I LOVE breakaway riders - they are the people who set races alight. I
LOVE riders who will not admit they're beaten, who will not
acknowledge it's hopeless, who will not bow down before the might of
the big sprint teams.

AOL.

That win was very well deserved, although I think this is the first time
I've ever found myself hoping that a breakaway would be caught!

I wanted to see Cav win again.

Not taking anything away from Cavendish, the way he actually
accelerates away from all the other sprinters is phenomenal - but
there is a big difference for me between the rider who sits
comfortably in the wheels all day, being shepherded and cosseted by
his team, and then does five minutes intense work at the end of the
day to take the glory, and the rider who goes out with a small bunch
of friends on a day long fight, knowing that the odds are impossible,
knowing that the chances of success are infinitesimal, and still
fights - the rider who alone outrides the whole peloton. Cav is an
extraordinary athlete, but it's a completely different scale of
achievement.

It's a different kind of achievement. I wouldn't want to argue about
whether it's of a different scale or greater or lesser.

A grand tour is big enough to have plenty of room for both kinds and
many others. Some will resonate more with some people than others. I
love to see riders attacking on a mountainside, whereas time trials
leave me cold.

The lone escape is certainly more romantic than the carefully marshalled
sprint finish, but that too has its own special kind of magnificence.
Maybe some people value the team-work that lies in it above the
individualism of the escape.

Daniele
--
Wanted: TEAC A-2300SX, Akai GX-4000D

Simon Brooke wrote:
On 8 July, 23:50, Danny Colyer wrote:
On 08/07/2009 22:26, Simon Brooke wrote:

I LOVE breakaway riders - they are the people who set races alight. I
LOVE riders who will not admit they're beaten, who will not
acknowledge it's hopeless, who will not bow down before the might of
the big sprint teams.
AOL.

That win was very well deserved, although I think this is the first time
I've ever found myself hoping that a breakaway would be caught!

I wanted to see Cav win again.

Not taking anything away from Cavendish, the way he actually
accelerates away from all the other sprinters is phenomenal - but
there is a big difference for me between the rider who sits
comfortably in the wheels all day, being shepherded and cosseted by
his team, and then does five minutes intense work at the end of the
day to take the glory, and the rider who goes out with a small bunch
of friends on a day long fight, knowing that the odds are impossible,
knowing that the chances of success are infinitesimal, and still
fights - the rider who alone outrides the whole peloton. Cav is an
extraordinary athlete, but it's a completely different scale of
achievement.

I tried hard to recall the name of the rider who impressed me so much
with long (usually futile) beakaways that I thought "that's a name to
remember".
Fortunately Wikipedia helped with
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combativity_award

It was Eros Poli.
Sadly the strength of Cav's team has prevented such adventures so far.

--
Roger Thorpe

....you had the whole damn thing all wrong/
He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays...

In ,
Simon Brooke tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell
us:

I LOVE breakaway riders - they are the people who set races alight. I
LOVE riders who will not admit they're beaten, who will not
acknowledge it's hopeless, who will not bow down before the might of
the big sprint teams. And of them all, although big Jens Voigt is the
strongest and wiliest, Thomas is the bravest and the most foolish: the
romantic, the man who rides for passion and for sentiment and for
shining belief.

Scientists! Use your l33t cl0n1n9 5k1llz to build us a New! IMPROVED!!
Jacky Durand.

--
Dave Larrington
http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk
While you were out at the Rollright Stones, I came and set fire
to your Shed.

On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 11:20:37 +0100, "Dave Larrington"
wrote:

In ,
Simon Brooke tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell
us:

I LOVE breakaway riders - they are the people who set races alight. I
LOVE riders who will not admit they're beaten, who will not
acknowledge it's hopeless, who will not bow down before the might of
the big sprint teams. And of them all, although big Jens Voigt is the
strongest and wiliest, Thomas is the bravest and the most foolish: the
romantic, the man who rides for passion and for sentiment and for
shining belief.

Scientists! Use your l33t cl0n1n9 5k1llz to build us a New! IMPROVED!!
Jacky Durand.


Is it not a Law of Teh Universe that Jacky Durand should always been
known as "Plucky Jacky Durand"? The adjective "Little" may also be
added.
--
Tim

In message
Simon Brooke wrote:

On 8 July, 23:50, Danny Colyer wrote:
On 08/07/2009 22:26, Simon Brooke wrote:

I LOVE breakaway riders - they are the people who set races alight. I
LOVE riders who will not admit they're beaten, who will not
acknowledge it's hopeless, who will not bow down before the might of
the big sprint teams.

AOL.

That win was very well deserved, although I think this is the first time
I've ever found myself hoping that a breakaway would be caught!

I wanted to see Cav win again.

Not taking anything away from Cavendish, the way he actually
accelerates away from all the other sprinters is phenomenal - but
there is a big difference for me between the rider who sits
comfortably in the wheels all day, being shepherded and cosseted by
his team, and then does five minutes intense work at the end of the
day to take the glory, and the rider who goes out with a small bunch
of friends on a day long fight, knowing that the odds are impossible,
knowing that the chances of success are infinitesimal, and still
fights - the rider who alone outrides the whole peloton. Cav is an
extraordinary athlete, but it's a completely different scale of
achievement.

Yes but the day after a team time trial is a good day to try a break
away. It's quite clear that most of the teams were not putting in as
much effort at the front of the peleton and that is why Cavendish ended
up sprinting for third rather than for 1st.

It's going to be interesting to see how things develop in the upcoming
mountain stages. Astana have 4 riders within about half a minute of the
yellow jersey which also means that the other teams have to mark all
four riders.

Mike
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark
\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing,
" || _`\,_ |__\ \ | caving, antibody engineer and
` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"