Tour of California

[oldpotatoe]

Just saw this(CyclingTips)..the return of 'national' teams? Not a bad idea, IMHO..takes some of the YUGE $ out, levels playing field some altho a 'russian' oligarch team would have a ton of ruble at their disposal..great doctors too

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/05/drea...s-and-stripes/

[earlfoss]

We could use more of that national team stuff, IMO. They really banded together and animated the race. Love it. Making the national team and wearing that jersey used to be a big, big goal for racers of my era.

[Fivethumbs]

This is from the 1996 Roanoke Times regarding the 1996 Tour DuPont:

The left turn at Ninth and Jamison was where the race's first- and second-place riders, Tony Rominger and Laurent Madouas, respectively, slid and fell in the rain and hail. That opened the flood gates for overall leader Lance Armstrong to win his third stage of the current Tour. Armstrong has a 51-second lead heading into today's Stage 6, which leaves the Salem Civic Center at 11 a.m. and is expected to finish in Blacksburg at 4 p.m.

"I was scared of the turn,'' said Armstrong, the 1995 Tour DuPont champion. ``I had just enough time to react and get away.''

The crash threatened to push Rominger, the second-place rider entering the stage, back deep into the pack. But other than some nasty scrapes up and down his right side, the Swiss rider wasn't hurt by his fall.
In a surprising move by the race's chief commissary, Gunter Koch, the sixth- through 39th-place riders (a group that included Rominger) were given a time 16 seconds slower than Armstrong's 4:41.19. Motorola's Axel Mercx, Mapei-GB's Federico Echave and Festina's Jean Cyril Robin and Pascal Herve finished right behind Armstrong.

Usually a race leader who crashes in the last kilometer of a stage is credited with the same time as the eventual stage winner. Rominger and Madouas crashed with 1.5 kilometers to go.

But Koch ruled that because of the adverse and unusual weather conditions, any rider in the lead pack who crashed within the last two kilometers was not penalized.

"I think the commissary made a great call,'' said Steve Hegg, the Chevrolet/LA Sheriff rider who is in fifth place, 1:26 behind Armstrong, entering Stage 6.

Jim Ochowicz, Motorola's team director, said he disagreed with the decision, but Union Cycliste Internationale rules do not allow protests of such a ruling.

"If we hadn't done something, it might have discouraged the riders to take extra risks,'' said Brook Watts, the Tour's media field coordinator.

[benadrian]

I took a vacation day to ride up Baldy and watch the race. I got to see the women's race pass at the beautiful curvy section of GRR (does that have a name?). I saw the men go through the first KOM, and then rode to the top (stopping in Cookie Corner) for the finish.

The next day, I just lounged under a tree at 200m to go in Pasadena and watched the final laps of the men and women.

It was fantastic. A beautiful couple days of riding, and always a delightful conversations to be had with fellow cyclists. Then, support from everyone up the final few kms to the ski lifts. What a great time and place to be a cyclist.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by benadrian

I took a vacation day to ride up Baldy and watch the race. I got to see the women's race pass at the beautiful curvy section of GRR (does that have a name?). I saw the men go through the first KOM, and then rode to the top (stopping in Cookie Corner) for the finish.

Sounds like we were in similar spots though I chose to forgo the finish after climbing to the lifts and descended GRR/GMR after the men came through for the final climb. Did you happen to see Bill Walton? I followed him to the top of GRR before the women arrived.

I just call that curvy section "the descent from GRR into Baldy Village"

[mtechnica]

Yeah I pretty much did the same thing you guys did. I was the idiot riding a cross bike with two panniers full of alcoholic beverages and food, got a lot of interesting comments

[benadrian]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

Sounds like we were in similar spots though I chose to forgo the finish after climbing to the lifts and descended GRR/GMR after the men came through for the final climb. Did you happen to see Bill Walton? I followed him to the top of GRR before the women arrived.

I just call that curvy section "the descent from GRR into Baldy Village"

I did see Bill Walton, but I didn't realize it was him until afterward when I watched the NBC replay and they had an interview with him. I was just like, "Woah, that's a giant dude on a giant bike!"

[robt57]

I'll share this here. Made our vacation just a bit more special for me.. Podium loitering can pay off.

Luckily, I also have a bear paw crushing handshake, else I may have had to go get an x-ray after this handshake. What A gracious 200% approachable guy Jens is.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by benadrian

I did see Bill Walton, but I didn't realize it was him until afterward when I watched the NBC replay and they had an interview with him. I was just like, "Woah, that's a giant dude on a giant bike!"

A giant dude …slathered in sunscreen… on a very nice Holland. It was painful just looking at his knees and ankles, basketball was hard on them.

[weisan]

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