http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbEcbCqMNjs

I guess the overhead view makes Feillu's sprint look a little saner. Seems like he managed to cover 250 meters in the last 225 meters.

GC contenders have always been at the front of the bunch in the first week. Not all, certainly, but few would hide at the back until the mountains. Back during the Indurain era, Big Mig would be just behind the sprinters in the final k. LeMond, Fignon, Hinault, Merckx, all did the same. Andy Schleck was 16th today.

Part of the game is positioning. Ivan Basso and Cadel Evans have been doing a great job, and you'll see that Basso has moved up from 23nd to 15th since the team time trial without gaining a second on yellow. He's probably spent a good bit of energy riding at the front, but yesterday and today he and his team were obvious at the front in the final hour of racing. Radio Shack wasn't riding at the front like Liquigas or BMC--and one of their GC riders is out, one is totally out of contention, one is probably out of contention. And the one who was riding closest to the front most often is in fifth place.

While there is luck, there is also some calculation. Some people try to conserve as much energy as possible, so they ride further back. Some are willing to burn some energy as a tradeoff to hopefully having a safer race. Yes, it's true that not everyone can be at the front at the same time, but from what I've seen, not everyone wants to be at the front most of the time.

This is where being a smart, attentive racer makes a difference. And that's part of the excitement. And why the favorites will have to tolerate this. Without this, the Tour is not nearly as interesting, or difficult.

As for Feillu, keep in mind that the lens they use to shoot the finish makes the gaps between riders seem smaller than they are. Feillu isn't going through big holes, but they're big enough for him to get through without crashing or even altering the line of others.

@ JP

You're right about the camera angle. The overhead view shows he has lots of room. Maybe not the smartest / most efficient line, but he had enough room to be safe.

The overhead also shows that Greipel had a much better jump and if he had started three riders ahead, would have taken the stage, and easily. But he wasn't on his teammate's wheel when he started his sprint and his team didn't do the job that HTC did.

He also didn't go for the intermediate sprint. Jury's still out on that one. Head to head between them two would be awesome to see. Like for like.

Uhhhhhh, "Did I finish?"

Kinda hard to watch:

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22825103/vp/42433236#43689047

And sorta crazy RS/medical directors let him finish.

That video of Horner is appalling. I would think that any medical professional watching it would say for a team doctor / manager to let an athlete ride for 20-30k in such a condition is borderline crazy. Maybe there is a lot I don't know about when it comes to concussions but it seems pretty apparent to me he won't be starting tomorrow. Otherwise, I think Jason Bay is a sissy and the Mets doctors are too cautious.

wow...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x08VO5-gOh8

What's with Cadel Evans and the water??? Very funny. Not sure how accidental any of that can be. Good banter though.

I agree totally with Mike. I think it was the TdF doctors (not the team's doctor) who should have prevented Chris Horner to ride to the finish. I know they are employed by the TdF organization, but as doctors I'm sure they didn't do the right thing. Chris was not capable of deciding himself whether he could go on or not since 25 km further he had no clue about what had happened. I find this shameful. A lot of people are to blame (Tdf doctors, team doctor, team manager....). Riding on in pain because one has a broken bone or road rash is one thing, riding on with a concussion is a different matter. I would like to know what my teammates who are in the medical field think.

I've just read this in Velonews: "Tour doctor Pascal Rivat was quoted in L’Equipe, saying: “I said what I thought (that he should stop). I let him continue, but I never left his side.” Rivat was seen checking on Horner from the doctor’s car during the remainder of the race and stayed close to the Horner group of riders until they crossed the line..."

If doctor Pascal Rivat thought Horner should stop, this opinion should have been decisive, should have prevailed.

It was foolhardy and stoopid. I know the doctor was next to him the rest of the race, but unless his english is terrible (which I doubt), I find it hard to believe that he couldn't tell Horner was completely out of it. Hell, even if you were deaf you could just look at the guy and tell he was in another realm of existence; he still had a glazed over look in his eyes 25km later!

Seriously, if Horner had lost consciousness or control of his bike and fallen a second time, an additional hit to his head could have been catastrophic. I'm willing to give Brunyeel a little leeway here, b/c I'm not sure if he could tell exactly what Horner's condition was. But I would assume the team doctor checked him out after they found him LYING IN A DITCH UNCONSCIOUS and somehow let him get back on his bike. Then the TdF doctor not to quickly overrule any team decision after a few K of treating him, seems ludicrous and scary.

As far as Evans goes....just when I want to like the guy after all his whiny meltdowns b/c of his nice turn as world champ last year, he sprays a water boy for getting too close to him. What a baby.

Horner observation: Although you can't see in this photo, I noticed he was wearing his helmet chin-strap loose around his neck at the pre-race interview. I'd seen photos of Wouter Weylandt doing the same. Totally undermines the effectiveness. I remember back in the day when helmets were made compulsory in the Tour and many pros would wear straps loose (probably because they were mad at being forced to wear them), but nowadays you think these guys would know better.

Boonen was also showing a cognitive deficit the day after his crash and was allowed to start by his team. It took other cyclists dropping back to the Quick Step car to express their concerns to get the point across that he should stop.

http://pages.citebite.com/p8m5s5b7fkwc

The UCI and ASO need to address this NOW, before the Tour is over. I know they're Europeans and aren't used to quick action without exhaustive deliberation and negotiation, but this is getting really hard to watch. A good start would be to 1. order the doctor to disqualify riders who are cognitively unable to decide for themselves whether to continue; and 2. come up with a quick and dirty helmet-strap tightness standard that must be followed by all riders at all times.

@Owens: I like Cadel's sense of humor.

I definitely agree: the TdF docs should have pulled him out. 25k of him not knowing where he was or what was going on? Jesus! Pascal Rivat should be fired for letting him continue. What if Horner would have had a lapse and lost control of his bike and ended up beneath the doctor's car? That was EXTREMELY unsafe. Totally bs.

How is Cadel acting like prima donna humorous? It doesn't seem ironic in the least, anyway... I mean, I find it funny, in the way that I also laugh at celebrity fuax pas. But it doesn't inspire any support.

I just watched the water bottle incident again, and I'm getting more and more into it.

First off, Cadel Evans isn't new at water bottles. I'd rank him in the top .00001% of the world's population when it comes to the operation of squeezable water bottles. It clearly wasn't an accident. That much is obvious.

Secondly, Cav (or whichever HTC rider it was) was completely oblivious to the gag, suggesting this was a spontaneous act. Notice how the HTC rider seems genuinely perplexed by the sudden stream of water. No acknowledgement, simply a bit of a recoil and carrying on, indicating it wasn't some sort of retaliation or inside joke. Cadel was instigating something here. Blazing a new trail, if you will.

Number three: the Shoulder Grab. Cadel, feigning sympathy and apologetic concern, reaches out to the afflicted party with a seemingly earnest grasping and shaking of the shoulder, as if to express a sincere feeling of regret and hope that nothing has been taken personally. The recipient, in his state of exhausted bewilderment, ventures only a sideways glance and hurries on, exactly as fast as his custom Shimano cleats will allow.

4: The Hasty Re-mount. Upon realizing that yet another of his zany Kiwi pranks has gone misunderstood ("piss off, they LOVED the dog joke!"), Cadel wisely hops back on his BMC and flees the scene with a bit of haste.

And finally: The Head Shake. The Prestige. Man, he so fucking nailed that head shake! Smileless. Perfect. With a bit of a "we'll see how this one goes over" raising of the eyebrows and self-actuating, crisp exhale through the mouth. Cadel committed here. He held fast. He stuck the deadpan. So hard to do.

With all this turmoil and misfortune that have marked the first part of the Tour, it is good to see that someone is loose. Someone is having fun. Someone is sticking to his head-shake deadpan even after his retarded New Zealand attempt at a practical joke mostly only succeeds at irrigating some random soigneur's ear canal.

Jeff- I'm the last to be a stickler but I believe that Cadel is an Aussie rather than a Kiwi and I would not want Messr. Malcolmson, our resident Kiwi,p to take umbrage and perform a Haka on your doorstep.

Seems to say the TdF docs are little more than first-aid assistants. Maybe they don't have much authority in a rider continuing; that's more the team doctors.

http://inrng.com/2011/07/rider-health-rules-team-doctors/#more-4145

The Tour doctors are often the first ones dealing with the riders who have crashed. Whatever their role compared to the team doctors, they have professional responsibilities as doctors which, certainly, are more important than what their contracts with A.S.O. state.

The way riders behave reminds me of a NY City Ballet dancer who was talking to a physical therapist at the HSS; the PT told her to rest for at least a week, that everything would be fine after three weeks, she told him she was dancing that evening.

Scheisse!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWT8yeHGA0U

Seriously. WTF.

Think he's tough?

According to my tan lines I'm not ridin enough

Good grief. Hoogerland is a fucking hero, to pedal home after that 'ish. Flecha too. Oww......

Unfortunately the tour has it's first positive.
A.Kolobnev (katusha) positive for an unnamed diuretic from a test during Week1 of the tour.
According to lequipe.fr

An good article on Hoogerland in the WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303812104576439862756666174.html

I never noticed it before, but in the photo you can see that he "ringered" the fence post with his front rim like it was a high-stakes game of horseshoes.

AAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHH. They could have used a pic where you couldn't see his taint. Nice, WSJ.

is it just me or did Hoogerland get a wax recently?