The Tour de France looms on the horizon, and those riders planning to race are putting the final touches on their form – or going into last-minute panic mode, final exam cram-style. The Critérium Dauphiné has long been a favorite preparation race serving both purposes rather well.
It’s a favorite of the Tour’s GC contenders as it usually features stages that, if not identical to key stages from the Tour, will at least feature many of the same climbs; habitual Tour winners like Indurain, Armstrong, and Clentador have traditionally used this race as their preferred method of final preparation; riders seeking additional form will take the beating taken from a week of suffering and have just enough time to recover prior to the Tour. And, of course, riders who have aspirations in July may also find they are a few kilos heavy yet and may indulge in some ultra-lean Spanish beef in order to get to fighting weight.
It’s also a dangerous gamble: ride too hard at the Critérium and you could fire off the Guns of Navarone and enter the Tour in a state of fatigue, as Pharmy did in 2003. A delicate balance, this.
The challenge in predicting the results of a preparation race such as this is that the favorites for the Tour are (hopefully) peaking in one month, not during this event. But they’ll be good – maybe good enough to win. But probably not. Combine that with that the notion that a rider with little hope in July may be looking for glory and will be in peak form, leading to an unexpected result – a review of last year’s race with Jani Brajkovic is a great example of this case.
With that we kick off into the first minor-stage VSP for the Critérium Dauphiné. Being a week-long stage race, the points on offer are 7 for first, 5 for second, 4 for third, 3 for fourth, 2 for fifth, with the usual allotment of bonus points for getting the rider right but the place wrong. Also, there are no rest days, so no rest day swaps, but we will have our usual approach for riders who drop out. Piti Principle applies as always. Also review the guide, being careful to note that the rules have changes a bit this year, and we may not have completely updated the guide yet, so if there’s a question, ask.
Best of luck to all.
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@Cyclops
Two different shoes?
@heath
Yup
@Brett
No they're the same shoes ('cept one's a left and one's a right). You're just seeing to different parts of them.
@Cyclops
Nice bike. Is it new ...?
@G'phant
A week old.
@Cyclops
Yeah, I know. Just winding you up. Though it IS a nice bike.
It's not about the praising, it's about not tarring riders without due cause.
@frank
Touche'!
And BWAAAAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAAAAA spambot!
Except, :-( . I liked a place I could write above a third grade reading level and not have to go back and edit down to 25 words or less if I wanted there to be even a chance someone would actually glance at it, much less read it (vis a vis Heinous Book of Face, the Land of the Quarter-Second Attention Span).
Other Velominati write long posts, don't they? Ocassionally? I don' wanna stop! (whine like a p*ssy @ssed pro who missed his last hit of steak)
Have a cookie.
No wait, I offered you one yesterday, don't want you to lose lean.
Have a bottle of water.
oh yeah, the race...
Really nice ride by Van Den Broeck. But...
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
ALLEZ VINO !!!!!!!!!!!! Slavs Rule!
Didn't pick him for overall coz figured he's aiming for Tour, but sentimental fave.
As for my win pick, Cadelephant - whatever. But unless he's improved lately, he has such a whiney voice I illogically blech in his general direction based soley on how much that annoys me.
(The truth is (sort of), I just opened the page so a bunch of other people's picks showed, closed my eyes, and planted a finger on the screen. Closest name went in that slot. I mean really. Logic finds little comfort here.)
Why not?
Thanks. I was afraid maybe there was an earthquake or tsunami or Louisiana's foot finally sank all the way or something and I'd missed it.
(This is actually something that happens to me, since I gave up watching/reading the news except for ocassional quickchecks on the Homeland (Palestine/Mid East + sub-Balkans). I usually find out the world is ending from the Heinous Book of Face, a few days after it's happened.)