Posts from — July 2013

Bourg-d’Oisans to Le Grand-Bornand

Distance: 204.5 kilometers.

Since yesterday ended with a pair of Hors Catégorie climbs the sadists in charge decided to start with a pair: Col du Glandon and Col de la Madeleine. While not as steep as yesterday, they are both about 20 km climbs. They throw in a sprint just to wear people out before the category 2 Col de Tamié, which is followed by a pair of category 1 climbs, Col de l’Épine and Col de la Croix Fry.

At the end of the stage the Jerseys should be known.

Rui Costa has taken his second stage, and Movistar has a lot to celebrate.

The Polka Dot is still up for grabs with Rolland only one point behind Froome after today, and there are more mountains tomorrow. Pierre’s chances are very good because the teams will not want to risk the current standings of Froome and Quintana.

RadioShack-Leopard will really be trying to make up their 3+ minute deficit in the team competition and beat Saxo-Tinkoff. Given Contador’s wish to be in Yellow, that will make tomorrow a very ‘interesting’ stage and the last real racing of the Tour.

Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 77h 10′ 00″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 380 points
Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 051 ) [Polka Dot] 104 points [Froome]
Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) 3 [White]

Team: Saxo-Tinkoff ( TST – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Rui Alberto Costa ( Por – MOV – 124 )
Combative: Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 051 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
2 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TST – 091 ) + 05′ 11″
3 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) + 05′ 32″
4 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 05′ 44″
5 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 05′ 58″
6 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 164 ) + 08′ 58″
7 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 09′ 33″
8 Daniel Navarro ( Esp – COF – 139 ) + 12′ 33″
9 Alejandro Valverde ( Esp – MOV – 121 ) + 14′ 56″
10 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) + 16′ 08″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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Door Guard

Do you have a pass?

[Editor: Property has started sitting on a bookcase by the door out of the computer room and swatting me if I don’t stop and scratch her head.]

Friday Ark

Gap to Alpe-d’Huez

Distance: 172.5 kilometers.

Déjà vu all over again…

The stage starts by going over the category 2 Col de Manse which they already did at the end of Stage 16. Then after a short section of hills it’s over the top of category 3 Rampe du Motty. Things aren’t too bad for about 40 km and it’s time to go up category 2 Col d’Ornon, over the top and down to the valley for the sprint. The first 110 km was just the warm up for the pain to come.

Alpe d’Huez is a Hors Catégorie, a dozen kilometers at better than an 8% grade on a road that features nearly two dozen hairpin turns. This would be a good ending for a stage in the Alps, but it was felt that the stage was too short, so they added the run up the category 2 Col de Sarenne. Still feeling it to be too short, their solution was to loop around and climb the Alpe d’Huez again with the finish at the summit.

Christophe Riblon obviously felt the stage was ‘just right’, because he won it, took the Red Numbers doing it, improved his general classification by 8 places, his sprint classification by 14 places, and moved up to third place from 34th in the battle for the Polka Dots, meaning he will be wearing the Jersey.

Christopher Froome increased his lead to five-plus minutes over Alberto Contador, and still leads in the battle for ‘king of the mountains’.

Nairo Quintana moved up to third in the general classification, which is a place on the podium at Paris, has a 9+ minute lead for the White Jersey, and is only 7 points behind Froome to win the Polka Dots at the end. He is only 21 seconds behind Contador in the general, so second place is within reach.

Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 71h 02′ 19″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 380 points
Christophe Riblon ( Fra – ALM – 089 ) [Polka Dot] 104 points [Froome]
Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) 3 [White]

Team: Saxo-Tinkoff ( TST – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Christophe Riblon ( Fra – ALM – 089 )
Combative: Christophe Riblon ( Fra – ALM – 089 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
2 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TST – 091 ) + 05′ 11″
3 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) + 05′ 32″
4 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 05′ 44″
5 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 05′ 58″
6 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 164 ) + 08′ 58″
7 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 09′ 33″
8 Michael Rogers ( Aus – TST – 098 ) + 14′ 26″
9 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) + 14′ 38″
10 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 167 ) + 14′ 39″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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US 98, the main East-West route along the beaches in the Panhandle is closed at Panama City until some time tomorrow because a QF-4 drone crashed on take-off from Tyndall AFB this morning. The road goes through Tyndall.

The QF-4 is a conversion of the F-4 Phantom, and is used as a target for weapons systems. As a safety measure the aircraft has a detonation charge that can be remotely activated if the ground loses control. They don’t know if that charge went off when the aircraft crashed, so they are closing the road to prevent any risk.

They had to use the charge to destroy another QF-4 last week over the Gulf, because it decided to wander off course.

US-98 over here goes through Hurlburt Field and an Eglin AFB facility on the local barrier island.

Embrun to Chorges

Distance: 32 kilometers.

This is the second individual time trial, but it isn’t anything like the flat speed course of the first one.

Right at the start you begin the category 2 climb to the top of Côte de Puy-Sanières, then you swoop down the other side to find the climb up the category 2 Côte de Réallon. The last ten kilometers are downhill to the finish.

You also need to keep in mind as you pedal that tomorrow will be a really nasty day in the Alps, so you don’t want to tire yourself out.

While rain was thrown in to make the day more exciting, Chris Froome took the stage and extended his leads for both the Yellow and Polka Dot Jerseys. Alberto Contador lost less time than Bauke Mollema, so he is now in second, and his team, Saxo-Tinkoff, moved into the Yellow Numbers.

Gorka Izaguirre didn’t start today. That was a better deal than the one dealt to Jean-Christophe Péraud, who crashed, possibly breaking his collarbone, during a trial run, but started anyway and crashed again ending his Tour.

Red Numbers are not awarded for Time Trials.

Now it’s on to the Alps.

Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 66h 07′ 09″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 377 points
Mikel Nieve Iturralde ( Esp – EUS – 116 ) [Polka Dot] 88 points [Froome]
Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) 5 [White]

Team: Saxo-Tinkoff ( TST – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
2 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TST – 091 ) + 04′ 34″
3 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 04′ 51″
4 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 164 ) + 06′ 23″
5 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) + 06′ 58″
6 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 07′ 21″
7 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 167 ) + 08′ 23″
8 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 08′ 56″
9 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) + 11′ 10″
10 Daniel Martin ( Irl – GRS – 175 ) + 12′ 50″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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Vaison-la-Romaine to Gap

Distance: 168 kilometers.

After a rest day in Provence, today’s stage should be interesting. It starts with a category 3 followed by a category 2 climb, then a downhill slope to the middle of the stage. The slope then heads uphill for the sprint, and ends going over the category 2 Col de Manse with a downhill sprint to the finish.

It was Rui Alberto Costa day on the Tour. He won the stage, the Red Numbers, and moved up 9 places in the standings by cutting his deficit by about 11 minutes.

Meanwhile, back in the peloton, Alberto Contador went on the attack against Chris Froome and almost eliminated both of them with a crash on the descent. To make matters even more wonderful, Alberto decided to award a hand-gesture to Nairo Quintana for attacking while he was trying to come back from his own screw-up. Alberto gained a bit of infamy for doing the same thing during the 2010 Tour, and winning the Yellow as a result, while Quintana didn’t reduce his deficit at all.

Thibaut Pinot of FDR and Danny Van Poppel of VCD didn’t start. Pinot has a sore throat, but he said it was more a matter of too much stress being the team captain in only his second Tour and anxiety over the descent speeds. Danny is only 19, and the team didn’t want to risk his development by over-stressing his body at this point.

The second Individual Time Trial tomorrow.

Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 65h 15′ 36″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 377 points
Mikel Nieve Iturralde ( Esp – EUS – 116 ) [Polka Dot] 83 points [Froome]
Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) 5 [White]

Team: RadioShack Leopard ( RLT – 041-049 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Rui Alberto Costa ( Por – MOV – 124 )
Combative: Rui Alberto Costa ( Por – MOV – 124 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
2 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 164 ) + 04′ 14″
3 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TST – 091 ) + 04′ 25″
4 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 04′ 28″
5 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) + 05′ 47″
6 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 167 ) + 05′ 54″
7 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 07′ 11″
8 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 07′ 22″
9 Jean-Christophe Péraud ( Fra – ALM – 081 ) + 08′ 47″
10 Daniel Martin ( Irl – GRS – 175 ) + 09′ 28″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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Apollo 11

Commander:

Neil A. Armstrong

Pilot: Columbia Command Module

Michael Collins, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

Pilot: Eagle Lunar Module

Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., Colonel, USAF

Launched: 16 July 1969 UT 13:32:00 (08:32:00 CDT)

Landed on Moon: 20 July 1969 UT 20:17:40 (15:17:40 CDT)

Landing Site: Mare Tranquillitatis – Sea of Tranquility (0.67 N, 23.47 E)

Returned to Earth: 24 July 1969 UT 16:50:35 (11:50:35 CDT)

1. Stand Your Ground played no part in the trial of George Zimmerman, it was the excuse used by the local prosecutor for not filing charges when the crime occurred. Zimmerman’s attorneys used the standard Self-Defense provisions of the law.

2. The Prosecution filed the wrong charge against Zimmerman, even though they lacked the evidence to prove it. This is the second time recently that prosecutors in Florida have gone to trial with unprovable charges and lost the case because they couldn’t prove it beyond reasonable doubt. They are getting as bad as the Los Angeles district attorneys.

3. Zimmerman could have and should have been charged with Manslaughter. Manslaughter was included in jury instructions, but the prosecutors didn’t explain to the jury how the facts in the case corresponded to the elements of the law.

4. The Judge is restricted to explaining the law, she could not tell the jury how that law applied to the current case, as the judge must remain impartial.

Manslaughter would have been a short, straight-forward trial. Trayvon Martin was dead, and George Zimmerman killed him. That was never the question, that was a fact. The prosecutors should have used that great legal fiction, “the reasonable man”, to show that Zimmerman caused the death of Martin by failing to act “reasonably”. There were several points on the night of the incident when, if Zimmerman had done the “reasonable” thing, there would have been no confrontation with Martin and no death.

The prosecutors had a case they could have proven with the evidence they had, most of it supplied by Zimmerman, but they decided to go for the ‘big win’ because CNN was going to cover it. This was never about the death of Trayvon Martin, this was about the political aspirations of the prosecutors. Justice was not served.

After Christopher Froome won the ride to the top of Mont Ventoux today you started seeing people talking about drugs.

Both Christopher Froome and Nairo Quintana were born and raised at altitude. Froome was born and grew up above 1600 meters (a mile) in Nairobi, Kenya, and Quintana above 2800 meters in Tunja, Colombia. Their respiratory systems are extremely efficient at altitude, which means they don’t tire like the flat-landers. There is a reason Kenyans keep winning marathons.

If Quintana were not about a foot shorter than Froome, he would have been the first to the top, but he has to work harder.

Givors to Mont Ventoux

Distance: 242.5 kilometers.

This is the longest stage on the Tour, it comes on Bastille Day, and finishes at the top of the 1912 meter Mont Ventoux that is reached by road that would give a snake a backache because of all of the hairpin turns. You start with three category 4 climbs in the first 45 kilometers. Then about 100 kilometers of hills before a category 3. After another 50 kilometers of hills, they expect a sprint to speed you to the final 20.8 kilometer climb at an average of 7.5% to reach the top of the Hors Catégorie Mont Ventoux.

Pierre Rolland, along with every other French rider, would love to win this stage on this day.

Christopher Froome added the stage and the Polka Dots to his bag today taking the climb to the top. It will be worn by Mikel Nieve, because the number two in the category, Nairo Quintana, is back in the White. Froome also extended his overall lead by over a minute.

Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 61h 11′ 43″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 357 points
Mikel Nieve Iturralde ( Esp – EUS – 116 ) [Polka Dot] 83 points [Froome]
Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) 6 [White]

Team: Saxo-Tinkoff ( TST – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
Combative: Sylvain Chavanel ( Fra – OPQ – 152 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
2 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 164 ) + 04′ 14″
3 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TST – 091 ) + 04′ 25″
4 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 04′ 28″
5 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 167 ) + 04′ 54″
6 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) + 05′ 47″
7 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 06′ 22″
8 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 07′ 11″
9 Jean-Christophe Péraud ( Fra – ALM – 081 ) + 07′ 47″
10 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) + 07′ 58″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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La Fête Nationale
Bastille Day

Thank you for the help with the Revolution.

Some background.

Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule to Lyon

Distance: 191 kilometers.

Two category 4 climbs; the sprint; two category 3 climbs, and then three more category 4 climbs before the finish. This is stage for the General riders, i.e. too tough for sprinters, but not tough enough to give the climbers a big advantage. Froome should be in good shape, but the White Jersey could go back to Quintana.

The peloton decided to relax on this stage, so it was a break away and race among the domestiques, with Matteo Trentin, normally Mark Cavendish’s lead off rider, taking the stage. Julien Simon made an attempt at becoming the first French rider to win a stage, but he was caught at the last minute.

The leaders were saving their energy for tomorrow’s slice of hell.

Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 55h 22′ 58″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 357 points
Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 051 ) [Polka Dot] 50 points
Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) 7 [White]

Team: Saxo-Tinkoff ( TST – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Matteo Trentin ( Ita – OPQ – 158 )
Combative: Julien Simon ( Fra – SOJ – 218 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
2 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 164 ) + 02′ 28″
3 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TST – 091 ) + 02′ 45″
4 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 02′ 48″
5 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 167 ) + 03′ 01″
6 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 04′ 39″
7 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) + 04′ 44″
8 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) + 05′ 18″
9 Jean-Christophe Péraud ( Fra – ALM – 081 ) + 05′ 39″
10 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 05′ 48″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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Weapons of Mass Embarrassment? The Texas legislature is confiscating sanity napkins from the public watching the latest attempt to impose ‘Sharia law’ on the women of Texas. Apparently they can carry guns if they have a concealed weapons permit, but not Kotex.

I think that pretty much separates the ‘Lege’ from anything in the same galaxy as reality.

The government is still trying to frame the narrative about Edward Snowden, but the Washington Post article that Marcy Wheeler read accidentally confirms the New York Times conclusion that Snowden wasn’t a systems administrator, but a hacker.

The article talks about concerns that Snowden will reveal sources and methods involved in hacking into Chinese systems. Snowden wasn’t the one who told people that we were hacking, that was General Alexander bragging about US Cyber Command, and MI6 bragging about substituting a cupcake recipe for an explosives recipe in the Aspire magazine site. Snowden has stayed with hoovering up the data of innocent people, not going after legitimate targets.

A systems administrator would see the data from hacking on the system, but that wouldn’t indicate the source of the data, or how it was obtained, only who ‘owned’ it on the system.

Tours to Saint-Amand-Montrond

Distance: 173 kilometers.

Although it has the category 4 Côte de Crotz the course will still favor sprinters, with the possibility of another pile up at the finish. The Alps are coming up.

Mark Cavendish made up for yesterday and won the stage and the Red Numbers. He is now tied for third place for the all-time number of stages won with André Leducq at 25 stages.

While the Jerseys didn’t change backs, it was a terrible stage for Alejandro Valverde and the Movistar team caused by a flat tire. Valverde went from second to 16th losing around 8 minutes on a day when Chris Froome lost a minute of his overall lead.

In addition to losing a minute from his lead, Froome also lost the help of Edvald Boasson Hagen who didn’t start as result of injuries received in yesterday’s crash at the finish.

Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 51h 00′ 30″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 357 points
Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 051 ) [Polka Dot] 50 points
Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) 7 [White]

Team: Saxo-Tinkoff ( TST – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Mark Cavendish ( GB – OPQ – 151 )
Combative: Mark Cavendish ( GB – OPQ – 151 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
2 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 164 ) + 02′ 28″
3 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TST – 091 ) + 02′ 45″
4 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 02′ 48″
5 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 167 ) + 03′ 01″
6 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 04′ 39″
7 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) + 04′ 44″
8 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) + 05′ 18″
9 Jean-Christophe Péraud ( Fra – ALM – 081 ) + 05′ 39″
10 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 05′ 48″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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