The amazing thing is that if DZ could have avoided a fall for another 500 m, he still would be wearing the yellow jersey. Great stage! I love looking at the GC and seeing a whole bunch of Americans there. I am moving to Georgia this fall and am looking forward to the Tour De Georgia even sans Armstrong.
Are you sure about that? I thought in the TTT, you had to finish, period. And the time you finish is the time given since there is not group finish. I thought I heard the comentators saying something like that as I watched DZ crash.
The OLN guys later changed their tune said that there was a new rule that if he'd finished in the last km he would've gotten the team's time. But they're sometimes wrong. I'm sure it'll be discussed in-depth in tonight's coverage although I usually don't watch that.
Most of the reports that I have read stated that within the last KM the time would have been the same as the team. I remember a huge crash last year with about 30 ? riders. They all recieved the time of the Peleton despite the time it took for them to get up and moving again.
It's definitely the rule for a fall during a peloton finish. I just don't know if it's the rule for a time trial.
Okay, just looked it up in the Tour refs, and he definitely would've gotten the team time if he'd fall in the final km: This, from the section with rules of the TTT: "In the event of a fall, puncture or mechanical incident duly recorded by officials, after passing the "Red Flame" (1 km mark), the rider or riders having suffered the accident are credited with the time of their team-mates with whom they were riding when the incident occurred." Of course, it's moot because he was beyond 1 km from the end, but it just makes it that much more disappointing for Zabriskie.
Wednesday's Stage 5 is another day for escapers and, probably in the end, the sprinters: According to comments by Bjarne Riis, there is some doubt whether Zabriskie will be able to start Stage 5. Riis also says the fall definitely cost Team CSC the victory, as team leader Ivan Basso was the rider behind Zabriskie, and the team slowed briefly to make sure Basso wasn't caught out as well: http://www.eurosport.com/home/pages/v4/l0/s18/e7203/sport_lng0_spo18_evt7203_sto738968.shtml The article also says it was a skipped chain which caused Zabriskie to go down, not a wheel touch, as had been initially speculated. Finally, Lance has dedicated the TTT victory by Team Discovery to injured teammate Vyacheslav Ekimov.
L'équipe gives 57 KMH, which is a record for TTT (the stage, however, was fairly easy). Either I was wrong with my conversion, either 38 MPH is the peak speed (while 57 KPH is the average). Pretty fast, in any case. PS to all cycling fans : DON'T EVEN TRY TO UNDERSTAND PRO-TOUR REGULATIONS. Imagine the US College football ranking system mixed with the UEFA cup qualifying system. Imagine something one hundred times more complicated. Multiply the result by the number of rules in Rugby Union, and you'll get a faint idea of some of the easiest rules in cycling. Nobody here understands them either, even the pundits. We just pretend to understand (so we can play smart-ass with foreign tourists), but we don't. It works exactly the same way than wine.
Apparently, Zabriskie has made today's start as all 189 riders started Stage 5. Lance Armstrong didn't put on the yellow jersey until after the peloton rode through the neutral zone, apparently in a sign of respect to Zabriskie, who lost the yellow jersey after falling. Lance is highly respectful of Tour lore, and this is sort of a page from the book of Eddie Merckx. Merckx refused to wear yellow in 1971 the day after he took over the race lead because of a fall by Luis Ocana. But Lance IS wearing yellow during the actual racing today.
You just have to feel bad for Dave Z. It was clearly only a matter of time but one more day in the yellow jersey would be awesome. By any reading of the rules, he was very close to retaining it. On the other hand, he DID get to wear the yellow for two days. There are a lot of great riders who never got to do that.
Actually they said it was 1.5 K from the finish, I was just pointing out what the announcers said. In a normal stage the window is 3k, but in a TTT its 1K.
Wow! Another crazy sprint to the finish. And McEwen with the victory. The finish: Robbie McEwen has beaten Tom Boonen to win the fifth stage by about 30cm. The radar clocked McEwen at 63km/h as he crossed the line. The top seven in the stage is: 1. Robbie McEwen (AUS - DVL) 2. Tom Boonen (BEL - QST) 3. Thor Hushovd (NOR - C.A) 4. Stuart O'Grady (AUS - COF) 5. Angelo Furlan (ITA - DOM) 6. Allan Davis (AUS - LWT) 7. Bernard Eisel (AUT - FDJ). I just like Thor. Ever since he won the prologue last year, he is the sprinter that I root for.
The GC did not change much as most finished in the peleton. David Zabriskie finished in the peleton and maintained 9th place. What do you guys think of the Tour forcing Lance to wear the Yellow? I like the tradition of not wearing it if the former leader crashes. I say, poor taste by the race officials.
Well, I can understand some of the reasons for insisting that he wear it. It's certainly easier to see where he is on the TV - and I can only imagine taking the time to actually go out to the road and see the peloton flash by. At least when there's a yellow jersey in there, you might be able to catch a glimpse of the race leader. Nice attempted gesture by Lance though. No changes in any of the jersey wearers for tomorrow - despite not winning the stage, Boonen extended his points lead by winning the first sprint before the breakaway took over. Hushovd is in second place, 29 points behind. McEwen is only in 4th place, with the relegation from Stage 3 having a real impact on this classification. The rider who was on the attack the longest, Juan Antonio Flecha, will wear the red number tomorrow in Stage 6.
Today's Stage 6 is a little more rolling with 4 Cat 4 climbs. Maybe a breakaway will actually succeed today .... Only one rider has retired so far - Spanish rider Constantino Zaballo (Saunier-Duval) pulled out of yesterday's stage, probably with an illness of some sort.
There is already a breakaway, they have a 8' 15" advantage. And we have a new virtual race leader: Mauro Gerosa (Liquigas). He whacked a knee on his handlebars during the team time-trial Tuesday. Zaballa reportedly could barely turn a cadence through the pain this morning and opted out of the race.
Yup, I know - it's just my own personal rule that I don't post any news from the stage until at least the end of the stage. But there's no rule against it. Thanks for the info on Zaballa. Tough luck for the guy.
What a crash! Tomorrow is perdicted to be the same type of weather. Armstrong essentially kept his same lead. I think tomorrow that there might be a successful breakaway. I feel it.
All started by the guy in the lead. Strange that Lance let Vino get a few seconds - well, would have been if not for the crash. Excellent move by Vino, IMO.