I know it is traditional that the final stage into Paris is not competed. It seems to be a gentlemens agreement that whoever has the yellow at that point is allowed to keep it without challenge, making the run into Paris mostly a party, with a little bit of final sprinting by the specialists.
I find myself wishing that the 23-seconds could have been challenged this year. I know it would have been tough, but with some cooperation from some other teams, maybe Cadel or Levi could have made up the difference. I would love to have seen one of those heroic individual performances to vault one of them up to a challenging position. I don't have a great understanding yet of all the nuances of the strategy involved, but 23 seconds just doesn't seem like that much.
I am also a NASCAR fan. I just can't imagine 42 drivers allowing Kevin Harvick to win the race because he went in to the last lap with the lead. In fact, Harvick entered the last lap of this years Daytona 500 in seventh place, but made a tremendous charge out of turn 3 and ended up beating Mark Martin for the victory by a margin measured in thousandths of a second. Obviously, there is a lot of difference between a 200 mph stock car and a 40 mph bicycle, but I would have loved to see that kind of intensity in this years final stage.
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Hi Chuck, I often wonder about the last stage too. When Lance was riding, the lead was too great to overcome in that traditionally flat stage, but this time.... It is a very tradition bound race, I think it was Dugard who said it's rules are by the nature of being French, based in the rules of war and Chivalry circa 16th century Knights. There are various behaviors like not attacking when the Maillot is down, or during a nature break, that are enforced by the Cappo. In the last two years there hasn't been a Cappo because Lance retired and the guys who could have stepped in to control the peloton were sidelined by scandal or injury. Another factor has to do with not making enemies in one stage because a lot can change during a 3 week race!
Anyway, the tradition not to take the Maillot Jaune in the last stage has been around at least since LeMond took it when the last stage was a time trial, which I gather they have not repeated since.
The other interesting piece of strategy has to do with the Director's choice of stage combinations. There has been talk since I've been watching, about races being tailored to give advantage to one type of racer while diminishing the types of stages of another racer they want to diminish. Making time trials shorter or changing the order in which they occur can make it harder for a given racer to out perform in his area of expertise. Certainly the race changes made in the last two years or so that Lance raced were evidence of that.
Loved you blurb about spinning too. I tried a class and could keep up with most of what the instructor did, but decreased the numbers of in and out of the saddle in the last 15 minutes to conserve energy. What stopped me from coming back was the music. Music makes it or breaks it for me. If I love the music, I never get tired. If I hate it, I just can't perform. I wish I was the type that just loved it for doing it, but well, we each have our motivators and music gives me wings!
Well, I've babbled enough! Thanks Chuck, catherine
Hey Catherine - thanks for all your insight on racing for the yellow in the final stage. Agree with race management or not, I'll get used to it and will always be a fan of le tour regardless. With the absence of Discovery next year, I will have to find a new team to follow. Maybe Slipstream will 'slip' in.
As far as the Spinning music, I totally agree with you up to a point. I too am highly motivated by good music with a strong beat. There is definitely music I like and that that I don't. I love classic rock (to an ol' guy, that would be 70's early 80's) I guess the differenc between you and me is that I can deal with the music and make my own ride. I tend to go to classes with particular instructors for that very reason, but sometimes I just have to take what I can get
Well said.
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