Tour Of California

Morrisseeee

I suppose it's interesting now that an Irish cyclist is doing well & also to see the suffering !!

Is the suffering a bit too much though ?!
Yesterday: over 200km in 44'C (111@F) and finished off with a 6km @ 8.5% climb, hitting 17% at the end.

Mørkøv after the stage:

"Today's stage was probably the hottest I've ever done. 45 degrees and on the last climb I saw two riders lying in the side of the road, knocked out by the heat."

lennymc

it was fairly savage allright.

t'bear

I wish I was there, in California I mean, and not sitting in a saddle unless it was a 10km decent, some of the swimming pools around Palm springs looked nice and cool :-)

Peterx

It looked to be too hard.
The first 40 across the line all came to an immediate stop and were pushed out of the way of the finish line by race officials.
Some poor lad was caught on camera putting ice cubes down his jersey, down his shorts, in his armpits, everywhere.
Another lad was completely out of it and was essentially carried away, heatstroke I presume.

Fair play to Deignan though, not something you'd be used to in Donegal!

happytramp

Peterx wrote: »

Fair play to Deignan though, not something you'd be used to in Donegal!

It's far from palm trees and swimming pools he was raised.

spoke2cun

When you get strong winds and hailstones for 9 months of the year, any other type of weather, hot or cold, is a doddle. They build us tough up here.

thebourke

i watched the stage last night on eurosport..it crazy stuff that last clumb...nearly every person that finished aad to be helped over the line...the heat was too much...good result for deignan...

Zyzz

There's suffering..then there's cruelty..

I'm leaning more towards the latter.

Shakakan

Lets hope Philip can keep it up! He had shown a bit of a return to some sort of form over the past couple of races so it's good to see.

I'm not sure what we should expect of Matt Brammeier..... he's been consistent I guess...

luapenak

Shakakan wrote: »

I'm not sure what we should expect of Matt Brammeier..... he's been consistent I guess...

Presumably getting into the break on one of the flat stage

Peterx

A bit random I know but I really like that they have the three three on the podium at the presentation in this tour.

dave2pvd

spoke2cun wrote: »

When you get strong winds and hailstones for 9 months of the year, any other type of weather, hot or cold, is a doddle. They build us tough up here.

Yeah, but 43C is beyond hot. Give me hail and wind any day*. Unlike 43C, it can be turned into a tailwind.




* but not for 9 months!

REBELSAFC

“It’s never been this hot in Ireland,” joked third-place finisher Deignan of today’s blazing desert temperatures. “The heat reminds me of the Tour of Spain. But when you race that in August/September, your body is more used to it. The conditions today were a bit of a shock to the riders.”

http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/news/press/2013-stage-2-recap.html


Sounds like he is really enjoying his cycling at the moment

riparooo

Anything over 40c is unpleasant even to walk in, never mind haul yourself up a hill after a few hours in the saddle. Well impressed with the fact that he was able to stay more or less with the two who passed him in the final km. With this improved TTing and a more suitable final MTF he is very much still in contention for a second multi race stage victory this season.

Brian?

riparooo wrote: »

Anything over 40c is unpleasant even to walk in, never mind haul yourself up a hill after a few hours in the saddle. Well impressed with the fact that he was able to stay more or less with the two who passed him in the final km. With this improved TTing and a more suitable final MTF he is very much still in contention for a second multi race stage victory this season.

Last summer in Phoenix, Az I cycled in +45C once. Never again.

Had to head out at 6am to beat the heat, sure it was only in the mid 30s. These were fairly flat 60-70km spins. God bless those lads climbing that monster hill in that heat. There is nothing that can cool you down, nothing.

ryan_sherlock

It looked a bit like what I did in the Philippines a few weeks ago, it wasn't as hot (topping out around 40) but was a lot more humid.

Final day, I drank about 12-15 bottles of water, 20+ thrown over my head. Ice shoved anywhere I could. A lot of good riders blew their lights if they pushed even a little too hard. I had been out there for a few weeks so was starting to acclimatise.

From a power point of view, at those temperatures, you have to drop FTP (or what you expect to see) by 10-20%! Recovery is difficult - one day I got mild heat stroke - that sucked...

Amazing stage last night - wanted to go to bed early, couldn't - great to see Philip up there.

Wishbone Ash

A bit off topic but does anyone else think the motorcycle camera work is far more inferior in the TOC?

Lots of off centre shots, jolting camera work, road surface footage, footage shot through highway central reservation foilage etc.

Presumably the US production companies are not as experienced as their European counterparts.

Razleavy

Just thought I'd post this here for people wanting to watch this live:

http://tourtracker.amgentourofcalifornia.com/

It's a legit live stream with real-time race information, etc.

kerry4sam

Razleavy wrote: »

Just thought I'd post this here for people wanting to watch this live:

http://tourtracker.amgentourofcalifornia.com/

It's a legit live stream with real-time race information, etc.

Thanks for this linkie. I was watching this yesterday and jeez was it gripping! The heat was something savage; almost felt uncomfortable watching them climbing at times it just looked cruel!

Will tune in again though

CardinalJ

I walked for an hour in 45 degrees once and I felt ill for hours afterwards.

The end of the stage last night was brutal. Everyone wants to see tough racing, but I thought it was too much. I'd say there were quite a few complaints from the teams.

riparooo

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

A bit off topic but does anyone else think the motorcycle camera work is far more inferior in the TOC?

Lots of off centre shots, jolting camera work, road surface footage, footage shot through highway central reservation foilage etc.

Presumably the US production companies are not as experienced as their European counterparts.

The motorcycle guys are actually the same as the TdF. From the TOC website "The 2013 Amgen Tour of California once again included a broadcast partnership with the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO), owner of the Tour de France. ASO brought its Tour de France television production team to California and shot the entire race in HD."

TheBlaaMan

CardinalJ wrote: »

I walked for an hour in 45 degrees once and I felt ill for hours afterwards.

The end of the stage last night was brutal. Everyone wants to see tough racing, but I thought it was too much. I'd say there were quite a few complaints from the teams.

Five riders were hospitalised after the stage and rehydrated via I/V saline - four of them started todays stage:eek:

CardinalJ

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Five riders were hospitalised after the stage and rehydrated via I/V saline - four of them started todays stage:eek:

Seriously impressive isn't it!? Certainly ads to the spectacle, but if its the same today there will certainly be more lads retiring. Was Pieter Serry the guy who didnt start again? Presumably not, he looked in the horrors.

dave2pvd

Gavin Mannion up the road today. I believe he's 5th in young riders classification. Rode well yesterday. His Dad is Irish.

TheBlaaMan

CardinalJ wrote: »

Was Pieter Serry the guy who didnt start again? Presumably not, he looked in the horrors.

yes

CardinalJ

Interesting to hear so many riders giving out.

2 non starters and one drop out so far.

dave2pvd

Echelons!

The US teams have done well so far in ATOC. However, this will leave them flat footed - echelons are from European racing. Jamis/Acevedo in trouble?

Where is PD??

buffalo

Was watching this about an hour ago, thought I'd timed it very well with getting home from Corkagh Park. Then as a certain person attacked about 1.5km to go, I realised I was watching yesterday's stage.

I'm going to bed.

Razleavy

Delighted for Jens!

dave2pvd

Best stage yet!

At ~half distance, road changes direction. Jens Voigt immediately realizes there's a serious sidewind. With his team mates, starts an echelon. Only ProTour teams realize what's going on. 18 riders in the front echelon. Only 1 is non-PT. Included up front are Sagan, Matthews, Farrar, Hushovd, and most importantly: van Garderen.

Deignan, Acevedo, Frank and other contenders are in group 2. Remainder of the peloton minutes behind.

The group of 18 work well together. The chase of UHC, Bontrager and occasionally Jamis cannot possibly compete with the collective ftp in the front group. Nor the very skillful blocking of a couple of Cannondale riders (which Phil and Paul don't even notice. For a whole hour).

5K to go, 41 year old father of 6, Jens Voight attacks. Because that's what Jens does. Jens rides away from the group. Jens wins the stage.

Chasers finish 1min down. Not a great day for PD, who made a huge effort in the chase.

GC:

1. Tejay van Garderen (BMC)

2. Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff)

3. Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) 0:50

4. Matthew Busche (RadioShack) 1:04

5. Philip Deignan (UnitedHealthcare) 1:17

TheBlaaMan

Deignans team were seriously lacking yesterday and he has suffered as result.

On a slightly separate topic, isn't it high time that this forum had a Jens Voight awesomeness thread stickied on the front page? The guy is inspirational - possible questions about his time on T-Mobile apart - and he is a joy to watch. Entertainment personified.

Beasty

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

isn't it high time that this forum had a Jens Voight awesomeness thread stickied on the front page?

No ...

manafana

while i lost bit of love for him for whole way he dealt with the lance issue, theirs no doubting hes one hell of a rider and he sure knows how to use every last watt on the pedals great attack

daragh_

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Deignans team were seriously lacking yesterday and he has suffered as result.

On a slightly separate topic, isn't it high time that this forum had a Jens Voight awesomeness thread stickied on the front page? The guy is inspirational - possible questions about his time on T-Mobile apart - and he is a joy to watch. Entertainment personified.

Yes. yes and yes. JENS IS AWESOME.

riparooo

Yesterdays result really shows the importance of team work!

The PT tactics were smart and got an unexpected result for their GC riders. Deignan's team were quite frankly shown to be at best second rate - there seemed to be little if no co-ordination with the Janis team and others who might have been interested in pursuing. At one point the chasers had got the gap down to 30 seconds, could see the leaders and somehow let the gap drift out again.

Deignan was forced to do way too much work, a day before the TT - a very bad show by his teammates. Fingers crossed for the TT of his life later today and he gets back in a podium position.

dave2pvd

riparooo wrote: »

Yesterdays result really shows the importance of team work!

The PT tactics were smart and got an unexpected result for their GC riders. Deignan's team were quite frankly shown to be at best second rate - there seemed to be little if no co-ordination with the Janis team and others who might have been interested in pursuing. At one point the chasers had got the gap down to 30 seconds, could see the leaders and somehow let the gap drift out again.

Deignan was forced to do way too much work, a day before the TT - a very bad show by his teammates. Fingers crossed for the TT of his life later today and he gets back in a podium position.

UHC are a solid Pro Conti team. What we saw yesterday was the the ProTour boys, who race in Belgium many times a year, school the US domestic teams. As a fan of the domestics over here, it was a bit disheartening. Not surprising however.

However, to such a thing of beauty as that echelon forming had me glued to the screen. Didn't get any more work done in the office after that!

Now Jamis are firmly second rate. They are a one trick pony when it comes to stage racing. They were unable to contribute meaningfully to the chase. You could say the same for Mancebo's 5 Hour Energy team. Keep in mind though, if the ProTour is Div 1, those teams are Div 3. The gulf in experience, resources and ftp is huge!

UHC worked their ar$es off - particularly ex-BMC rider, John Murphy. It was too late though. Plus, 2 of Sagan's teammates put on a masterclass in blocking. If they hadn't been there, that gap may have closed. I think they were the reason 30sec blew up to 1min.

I'll have to watch the stage again. It really was something. The big winner for me were the TV guys. That coverage was superb. If only Kelly and Harmon done voice-over instead of Phil and Paul...

retalivity

no splits in the TT?

colm_gti

Deignan put in a respectable TT despite all his work in yesterdays stage, but Teejay Van Garderen....holy moley!

Fr D Maugire

A bit disappointing for Deignan, I expected him to lose a place or two but he was the slowest of the Top 10 GC guys and was behind riders he beat in the TT in Gila. I think he will struggle to make up many places on Mt Diablo, maybe go for the stage win instead might be a better shot.