Lance Armstrong vs. Jeff Gordon

[Hueij]

Courchevel > Briançon
Mercredi 13 juillet - Distance: 173 km
Savoie (74)
Km 55 Col de la Madeleine Alt. 2 000 m Ascent of 25,4 km at a 6,1% gradient
Km 110 Col du Télégraphe Alt. 1 566 m Ascent of 12 km at a 6,7% gradient
Km 133 Col du Galibier Alt. 2 645 m Ascent of 17,5 km at a 6,9% gradient
------
Haute-Garonne (31)
Km 85 Col du Portet d'Aspet Alt. 1 069 m Ascent of 2,7 km at a 8,4% gradient
Km 100,5 Col de Menté Alt. 1 349 m Ascent of 7 km at a 8,1% gradient
Km 137,5 Col du Portillon Alt. 1 320 m Ascent of 8,3 km at a 7,2% gradient
Hautes-Pyrénées (65)
Km 162 Col de Peyresourde Alt. 1 569 m Ascent of 13 km at a 6,9% gradient
Km 182,5 Col de Val Louron-Azet Alt. 1 580 m Ascent of 7,5 km at a 7,9% gradient
Km 205 Saint-Lary Soulan (Pla d'Adet) Alt. 1 669 m Ascent of 10,7 km at a 7,6% gradient

Looks like I have to take leave from work these two days to watch these on tv. And people still wonder what is more difficult, NASCAR or the Tour

[pchang]

Originally posted by Flubber


None that I have seen yet. I actually don't like the TTT rule changes. I think a team should just live with their time regardless of what it is

Last year seemed to be an attempt to make it harder for Lance to win without actually being too blatant about it (reduce his team time trial advantage and reduce the difficulty of the mountain stages). Hopefully, they will just run a straight race this year. I didn't really mind the overall reduction in the difficulty of the mountain stages, but I thought the team trial rule changes went too far.

[alva]

Courchevel > Briançon
Mercredi 13 juillet - Distance: 173 km
Savoie (74)
Km 55 Col de la Madeleine Alt. 2 000 m Ascent of 25,4 km at a 6,1% gradient
Km 110 Col du Télégraphe Alt. 1 566 m Ascent of 12 km at a 6,7% gradient
Km 133 Col du Galibier Alt. 2 645 m Ascent of 17,5 km at a 6,9% gradient
------
Haute-Garonne (31)
Km 85 Col du Portet d'Aspet Alt. 1 069 m Ascent of 2,7 km at a 8,4% gradient
Km 100,5 Col de Menté Alt. 1 349 m Ascent of 7 km at a 8,1% gradient
Km 137,5 Col du Portillon Alt. 1 320 m Ascent of 8,3 km at a 7,2% gradient
Hautes-Pyrénées (65)
Km 162 Col de Peyresourde Alt. 1 569 m Ascent of 13 km at a 6,9% gradient
Km 182,5 Col de Val Louron-Azet Alt. 1 580 m Ascent of 7,5 km at a 7,9% gradient
Km 205 Saint-Lary Soulan (Pla d'Adet) Alt. 1 669 m Ascent of 10,7 km at a 7,6% gradient

Man, I don't even want to do this by car, let alone on a bike.

Lance is not as good as last year but neither is the opposition.
He's got a good chance to win.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by pchang


Last year seemed to be an attempt to make it harder for Lance to win without actually being too blatant about it (reduce his team time trial advantage and reduce the difficulty of the mountain stages). Hopefully, they will just run a straight race this year. I didn't really mind the overall reduction in the difficulty of the mountain stages, but I thought the team trial rule changes went too far.

I liked neither change but I think the lesser mountains one was within the normal range of what the tour has been in the past ( just on the "easier" end of the range). If they started taking away the big mountain stages I would be very disappointed.

One thing-- I sort of wish they were back to the Alp d'Huez this year. It just seem in many ways to be Armstrong's mountain and win or lose I would have liked to see him tackle it one more time

[Flubber]

Originally posted by alva


Lance is not as good as last year but neither is the opposition.
He's got a good chance to win.

I make no assumptions as to where Lance stands until I see him falter in the Tour itself. In the past folks have underestimated him and I doubt we have ever een him ride his hardest. Last year was typical . . he rode hard in a couple of stages and outclasses the field and could just content himself with sticking with his main rivals the rest of the way.

[alva]

The other mountains on that list are far more grand than l'Alpe d'Huez, it just get's alot of PR.

Oh, and Lance didn't like his trip over it last year.

Last year seemed to be an attempt to make it harder for Lance to win without actually being too blatant about it

They've been doing this for years btw, not just agains Armstrong.
When Hinault was big, nearly every stage stage was a time trial and there were no mountains to climb at all.
[/exageration]

[Flubber]

Originally posted by alva
The other mountains on that list are far more grand than l'Alpe d'Huez, it just get's alot of PR.

True-- there is just something about that mountainand it has been one where things tend to happen (big separations)

Originally posted by alva


Oh, and Lance didn't like his trip over it last year.

Irrelevant whether he enjoyed it. I just would have liked to have seen him ride it again. I'm not suprised its not on the tour since theyusually take a few years between visits for most of the locations

[alva]

True-- there is just something about that mountainand it has been one where things tend to happen (big separations)

Well yeah but only because it's always the last one to be climbed.

I'm not suprised its not on the tour since theyusually take a few years between visits for most of the locations

It's very expensive to get the Tour to your city.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

armstrongs style of pedalling means that he only has real advantage when the gradient is more then 8% (the red zone on most maps of the tour.) between 6 and 8%, Ullrich has a slight advantage, and below that, they are pretty much equal with the rest of the group.

this tour has less red zone scents, and more 6 - 8% because they, for the second year, want to make it a closer race.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by alva

Well yeah but only because it's always the last one to be climbed.

Well YEAH!! It was always a great one to watch people drop on the previous mountains until there would be a core of the strongest climbers left at the base of that last mountain, perhaps with each of the contenders having one worker-bee rider left with them. Then to see that UPS blue move to the front and foce the pace until Armstrong jumped was something else.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
armstrongs style of pedalling means that he only has real advantage when the gradient is more then 8% (the red zone on most maps of the tour.) between 6 and 8%, Ullrich has a slight advantage, and below that, they are pretty much equal with the rest of the group.

.

Interesting, I had seen nothing on that. Is this a scientific ( ie labratory) analysis of their pedalling methods or is it more anecdotal based on results from stages ( either on the tour or other races) that they have raced?

[Lawrence of Arabia]

Interesting, I had seen nothing on that. Is this a scientific ( ie labratory) analysis of their pedalling methods or is it more anecdotal based on results from stages ( either on the tour or other races) that they have raced?

im not sure. I watched the entire tour de france last year (minute for minute) in europe on TSR or TF1, or Eurosport, and one of the commentators went into the strengths and weaknesses of the top competitors, and he mentioned this.

(i also had the chance to go see a race, which was loads of fun. we went to the last mountain stage, étape 18, annemasse to lons-le-saunier and camped out on the last peak, the 1320 meter high Col de la Faucille, right after the last turn, about 100 meters from the top. theres a little village up there. im also visible on certain video footages, right when the riders come around the corner. its pretty chill)

http://www.letour.fr/2004/presentationfr/parcours_flash2.html