20

Sunday, 26 July 2015 03:08
dr_phil_physics: (French-flag)
Saturday was Stage 20 in the Tour de France -- the fourth day in the Alps and the last day before the somewhat ceremonial run into Paris. Two brutal HC, Beyond Category, climbs today -- including the finish on the legendary Alpe D'Huez. This Tour was very heavy on the mountain stages, and it shows in the results.

Chris Froome (U.K. -- Team Sky) earned enough points today to take over the Polka Dot Jersey of the King of the Mountain competition as best climber. But he won't wear the Polka Dot Jersey tomorrow, because he is still in the Yellow Jersey of the overall winner. And Yellow takes precedence. He's worn yellow for 15 of the 20 stages so far and has 29 yellow jerseys in total. Tomorrow will be 30, a new Tour record.

Nairo Quintana (Columbia -- Team Movistar) earned enough points today to take 2nd in the Polka Dot Jersey. But he won't be wearing the Polka Dot Jersey tomorrow either, because he is still in the White Jersey of the best young rider. And White takes precedence.

Romain Bardet (France -- Team AG2R) had been leading the Polka Dot Jersey -- and despite being in third place after today, he will wear the Polka Dot Jersey into Paris as the Honorary King of the Mountain. He is also second place in the White Jersey competition, but to show how good Quintana is, Bardet is 14 minutes behind.

Froome is leading with a time of 81:56:33 and is just 1:12 of Quintana. But... by tradition, the jerseys are set, so Stage 21 into Paris is more of a coronation for the winners than a race. Froome also won the 2013 Tour de France.

To round out the results, Peter Sagan (Slovakia - Team Tinkoff-Saxo) clinches the Green Jersey for best sprinter. And Team Movistar wins the Team competition (Yellow Helmets) with a combined time of the first three riders*** of 246:55:21 and 57:23 ahead of Team Sky.

Whew. It has been a spectacular Tour de France and I am sorry to see it go. Til next year, au revoir!

UPDATE: The end was as predicted. There's another award, but not a colored jersey, for the Most Aggressive rider -- given to Bardet, the man who wore but didn't win the Polka Dot Jersey.

Quintana came in 2nd overall behind Froome, but won the White Jersey. Some result as 2013. For 2016, I guess he'll be over 25 on January 1st, so I suppose he'll just have to win the Tour outright.

Dr. Phil

*** -- This is the first year that I recall NBCSN actually explaining how the team competition works in detail. It's the sum of the three fastest riders on each team, except that the time for the Team Time Trial is taken from the fifth team member to cross the finish line. There were 19 teams of 9 men each -- 160 riders started Stage 20 and I believe that this morning there were only two intact teams left.

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10

Tuesday, 14 July 2015 15:15
dr_phil_physics: (French-flag)
It is July.

It is Bastille Day.

Vive la France!

It is also up to Stage 10 of Le Tour de France.

I don't know why I like watching this so much every July, but I do. Those three weeks of 2013, during my Year Without A Summer, were something special.

In college my last bicycle was a fairly decent Raleigh I'd bought new from a bike shop in Evanston freshman year, using the proceeds from my first Federal income tax refund. (grin) Alas, my bicycle days are long gone. The bicycle itself was destroyed by the elements in North Carolina - it should never have been stored outside under plastic, but that wasn't my decision. Sad, really. It was silver with blue accents. But Greensboro in the summer was brutal hot, humid and hilly -- not the freewheeling flats of Chicago and Evanston. And those tires were wholly unsuitable for the rough streets of Laurium.

The race begins on the Fourth of July, this year in Holland, then Belgium, then cobblestones (!) and finally into France by Stage 5, I think. Monday was a rest day, but the first nine days were amazing. The coverage on now NBCSN, previously Outdoor Life Network/OLN/Versus, is superb. But there were conflicts with other Fourth of July events and so the on-screen NBCSN schedule didn't match what they showed, so I saw very little of Stage 1. But I've pretty much been able to catch parts of the morning live coverage, afternoon and midnight repeats for the rest. Thankfully our big trip South was before all this. (grin)

Lord knows who will win, because there were a couple of horrendous high speed crashes and some amazing breakaways that actually worked. An Eritrean rider has become the first African to lead any of the divisions -- the polka dot jersey for the King of the Mountain points. I've been watching this for at least ten years and am finally beginning to understand how the teams, the peloton, the breakaways work. And how wind changes things, etc. Fascinating. And quite beautiful to watch.

I know of no other sport where the spectators can literally be in your face until the last moment during the steepest mountain climbs. Today was the first day in the Pyrenees. A couple of Category 4 climbs, second easiest, and 12 miles plus of an HC -- beyond category -- climb. Nine miles of greater than a 9% grade. Twice this tour they've been on grades of 19%. Uphill. And racing to beat the other guys.

Anyway, only three days in the Pyrenees, then a few days until the Alps. All too soon Le Tour de France will be over until next year.

We'll always have Paris... (sn*rt)

Dr. Phil
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