Posts from — July 2019

Reims > Nancy

Distance: 213.5 kilometers.

This entire stage is in France and it is classified as “flat”. The riders spend 121 kilometers on fairly flat terrain before the cat 4 Côte de Rosières (1 km 7% grade). More flat to 147 km and the intermediate sprint at Lérouville. You continue on to 198.5 km and the cat 4 Côte de Maron (3.2 km 5% grade). Expect a bunch sprint at the finish.

A fine example of teamwork at the end when Julian Alaphilippe of DQT took the lead setting up fellow team member Elia Viviani to take the stage. Viviani is the team sprinter and had the energy to win while Alaphilippe wasn’t sure of himself. The process in sprinting is to have other team members “break trail” and pull the lead sprinter in their draft so he can conserve energy for the finish. Drafting works the same in bicycling as it does in NASCAR.

Julian Alaphilippe ( Fra – DQT – 021 ) [Yellow] 14h 41′ 39″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – BOH – 011 ) [Green] 104 points
Tim Wellens ( Bel – LTS – 168 ) [Polka Dot] 7 points
Wout Van Aert ( Bel – TJV – 088 ) [White] 2

Stage winner: Elia Viviani ( Ita – DQT – 028 )
Combative: Michael Schär ( Swi – CCC – 117 ) [Red numbers]
Team: Team Jumbo – Visma ( TJV – 081-088 ) [Yellow numbers]

Top Ten:
1 Julian Alaphilippe ( Fra – DQT – 021 ) –
2 Wout Van Aert ( Bel – TJV – 088 ) + 00h 00′ 20″
3 Steven Kruijswijk ( Ned – TJV – 081 ) + 00h 00′ 25″
4 George Bennett ( NZl – TJV – 082 ) + 00h 00′ 25″
5 Michael Matthews ( Aus – SUN – 141 ) + 00h 00′ 40″
6 Egan Bernal ( Col – INS – 002 ) + 00h 00′ 40″
7 Geraint Thomas ( GBr – INS – 001 ) + 00h 00′ 45″
8 Enric Mas ( Spa – DQT – 025 ) + 00h 00′ 46″
9 Greg Van Avermaet ( Bel – CCC – 111 ) + 00h 00′ 51″
10 Michael Woods ( Can – EF1 – 098 ) + 00h 00′ 51″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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Binche > Épernay

Distance: 215 kilometers.

This stage actually includes some racing in France. It is classified as “hilly”. The riders spend 102 kilometers cruising the hills before hitting the intermediate sprint at Dizy-le-Gros. Then there are more hills for 73 kilometers, when it is time for the chamois in the race to get busy: 173 km cat 4 Côte de Nanteuil-la-Forêt, 185.5 km cat 3 Côte d’Hautvillers, 190 km cat 3 Côte de Champillon, and 199 km cat 3+ Côte de Mutigny (the final 900 meters are a 12.2% grade). Not a lot of Polka Dot points, but the real climbing is later in this year’s Tour, so the climbers will want all they can get.

Julian Alaphilippe is “the first Frenchman in the lead of the Tour de France since Tony Gallopin in 2014.” according to the official site. He was with Tim Wellens’s break-away and launched his individual effort when Wellens had a flat tire after cresting Côte de Mutigny

Julian Alaphilippe ( Fra – DQT – 021 ) [Yellow] 09h 32′ 19″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – BOH – 011 ) [Green] 76 points
Tim Wellens ( Bel – LTS – 168 ) [Polka Dot] 7 points
Wout Van Aert ( Bel – TJV – 088 ) [White] 2

Stage winner: Julian Alaphilippe ( Fra – DQT – 021 )
Combative: Tim Wellens ( Bel – LTS – 168 ) [Red numbers]
Team: Team Jumbo – Visma ( TJV – 081-088 ) [Yellow numbers]

Top Ten:
1 Julian Alaphilippe ( Fra – DQT – 021 ) –
2 Wout Van Aert ( Bel – TJV – 088 ) + 00h 00′ 20″
3 Steven Kruijswijk ( Ned – TJV – 081 ) + 00h 00′ 25″
4 George Bennett ( NZl – TJV – 082 ) + 00h 00′ 25″
5 Michael Matthews ( Aus – SUN – 141 ) + 00h 00′ 40″
6 Egan Bernal ( Col – INS – 002 ) + 00h 00′ 40″
7 Geraint Thomas ( GBr – INS – 001 ) + 00h 00′ 45″
8 Enric Mas ( Spa – DQT – 025 ) + 00h 00′ 46″
9 Greg Van Avermaet ( Bel – CCC – 111 ) + 00h 00′ 51″
10 Wilco Kelderman ( Ned – SUN – 146 ) + 00h 00′ 51″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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Bruxelles Palais Royal > Brussel Atomium

Distance: 27.6 kilometers.

The team time trial from the palace over to the site of the 1958 World’s Fair with its distinctive sculpture of a molecule.

Strong showing for the Dutch team in the first two stages. Alas, it couldn’t help the Netherlands Football team in the World Cup final in Lyon.

Mike Teunissen ( Ned – TJV – 087 ) [Yellow] 04h 51′ 34″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – BOH – 011 ) [Green] 50 points
Greg Van Avermaet ( Bel – CCC – 111 ) [Polka Dot] 2 points
Wout Van Aert ( Bel – TJV – 088 ) [White] 2

Team: Team Jumbo – Visma ( TJV – 081-088 ) [Yellow numbers]

Top Ten:
1 Mike Teunissen ( Ned – TJV – 087 ) –
2 Wout Van Aert ( Bel – TJV – 088 ) + 00h 00′ 10″
3 Steven Kruijswijk ( Ned – TJV – 081 ) + 00h 00′ 10″
4 Tony Martin ( Ger – TJV – 086 ) + 00h 00′ 10″
5 George Bennett ( NZl – TJV – 082 ) + 00h 00′ 10″
6 Gianni Moscon ( Ita – INS – 005 ) + 00h 00′ 30″
7 Egan Bernal ( Col – INS – 002 ) + 00h 00′ 30″
8 Geraint Thomas ( GBr – INS – 001 ) + 00h 00′ 30″
9 Dylan Van Baarle ( Ned – INS – 008 ) + 00h 00′ 30″
10 Elia Viviani ( Ita – DQT – 028 ) + 00h 00′ 31″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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Full Time

United States 2-0 Netherlands

This is the first match that the US has played in the tournament without scoring in the first 12 minutes.

The worse mistake Netherlands made was Stefanie van der Gragt high kicking Alex Morgan in the penalty area at 60 minutes. Van der Gragt drew a yellow card and the US was awarded a penalty kick. Enter Megan Rapinoe and the US is up by 1. The Oranj goalie, Sari van Veenendaal, had been a brick wall in the first half, but Rapinoe finds a way. This was only the second penalty kick in a WWC final and the only one that found the net. Rapinoe is now tied with Alex Morgan with 6 goals for the tournaments, and the US has set a new record of 26 goals for the tournament.

At 69 minutes Rose Lavelle’s goal was one of the finest single efforts of the tournament. She dribbled through the Oranj defense and found the hole Megan punched through van Veenendaal’s ‘brick wall’.

Update: Megan Rapinoe was awarded the Gold Boot for the most scoring in the least amount of time and the Gold Ball as the best player in the tournament. Rose Lavelle won the Bronze Ball as the third best player.

Brussels – Brussels

Distance: 194.5 kilometers.

A generally level stage that starts and ends in Brussels the capital of Belgium. There are two minor challenges for the Polka Dot Jersey, the category 3 Mur de Grammont (43.5 km) followed quickly by the category 4 Bosberg (47.5 km). The intermediate sprint takes place at Les Bons Villers (125 km) for the Green Jersey. The course then continues through small villages including Waterloo on the way back to Brussels.

Mike Teunissen ( Ned – TJV – 087 ) [Yellow] 04h 22′ 37”
Peter Sagan ( Svk – BOH – 011 ) [Green] 50 points
Greg Van Avermaet ( Bel – CCC – 111 ) [Polka Dot] 2 points
Caleb Ewan ( Aus – LTS – 161 ) 3 [White]

Stage winner: Mike Teunissen ( Ned – TJV – 087 )
Combative: Stéphane Rossetto ( Fra – COF – 157 ) [Red numbers]
Team: Team Jumbo – Visma ( TJV – 081-088 ) [Yellow numbers]

Top Ten:
1 Mike Teunissen ( Ned – TJV – 087 ) –
2 Peter Sagan ( Svk – BOH – 011 ) + 00h 00′ 04″
3 Caleb Ewan ( Aus – LTS – 161 ) + 00h 00′ 06″
4 Giacomo Nizzolo ( Ita – TDD – 207 ) + 00h 00′ 10″
5 Sonny Colbrelli ( Ita – TBM – 043 ) + 00h 00′ 10″
6 Michael Matthews ( Aus – SUN – 141 ) + 00h 00′ 10″
7 Matteo Trentin ( Ita – MTS – 107 ) + 00h 00′ 10″
8 Oliver Naesen ( Bel – ALM – 037 ) + 00h 00′ 10″
9 Elia Viviani ( Ita – DQT – 028 ) + 00h 00′ 10″
10 Jasper Stuyven ( Bel – TFS – 138 ) + 00h 00′ 10″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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Full Time

England 1-2 Sweden

The First Half was the game. At 11 minutes Sweden’s Kosavare Asllani scores and 10 minutes later her teammate Sofia Jakobsson finds the net as England’s defense wobbles.

Fran Kirby brings England back into the game with a great shot at 31 minutes, but two minutes later Ellen White has her second goal of the tournament voided by the VAR (video-assisted referee) and that’s the way things ended.

England wasn’t ready initially and Sweden found openings. England got back in the game, but melted after White’s goal was disallowed. Sweden was the better team on the pitch.

Cycling News has their race preview. The best way to understand the appeal of this race is to be there and watch nearly 200 riders tear through a small village at absurd speed on a road designed for horse-drawn carts.

For a different take the BBC have a rider doing the honors: Tour de France stage guide – Adam Yates profiles the 21 stages of the 2019 race.

The teams, their abbreviations, and their riders’ bib numbers:

Updated.

Booze from busted barrels pollutes Kentucky River:

A fire that destroyed a massive Jim Beam rickhouse filled with about 45,000 barrels of aging bourbon in Kentucky has sent runoff into nearby waterways, which has state officials worried about a massive fish die-off.

Firefighters from four counties responded to the blaze that erupted late Tuesday. It sent flames shooting into the night sky and generated so much heat that firetruck lights melted.

A “rickhouse” is a warehouse for aging bourbon in barrels. The bourbon isn’t bottled until the end of the aging process. Given a large wooden structure, filled with wooden barrels containing flammable liquid, this was a difficult fire to control. The initial “guess” is that lightning caused the fire.

An update in the Marshae Jones case in Jefferson County, Alabama – the District Attorney has dropped charges:

Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff District Attorney Lynneice Washington made the announcement in the unusual case that drew headlines and criticism around the globe.

“This is truly a disturbing and heartbreaking case. An unborn child was tragically lost,” Washington told reporters. “There are no winners, only losers, in this sad ordeal.”

Bad laws lead to bad results. Under that Alabama law, a miscarriage could lead to being charged with manslaughter.

The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security…

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As always, here are the Tour basics if you want to follow along. The Tour starts on July 6^th in Brussels, Belgium for the first two stages.

The cartoon characters from my header are wearing the various colored jerseys that indicate the leader in the different classifications in the race.

The Maillot Jaune, Yellow Jersey is worn by the rider with the lowest time overall in the race. The eventual winner of the race may never have come in first in any stage, but was near the lead throughout the race and achieved the lowest time over the entire course of the event. The winner is normally an “all-arounder”, someone who is very good at the sprints and the hill climbing, even if they aren’t the best. Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, and Fabian Cancellara are “all-arounders”, showing up on the lists of the sprinters and the climbers, while staying in the top ten for overall time.

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Full Time

Netherlands 1-0 Sweden

The action starts at 2 PM CDT.

Defense is king in this battle that may end with a penalty shootout.

The game has gone full time with a tie, and they will now play two 15 minute periods of “Extra Time”.

At the 99 minute mark, Jackie Groenen of the Oranj put one into the lower corner out of reach of Sweden’s goalie, Hedvig Lindahl.

The US and the Netherlands will meet in the Final on July 7th, and England will face Sweden to decide third place on July 6th.

Full Time

England 1-2 US

The US scored the first goal at 10 minutes with a Christen Press header. Ellen White equalized for England 9 minutes later with her 6th goal. Alex Morgan regained the lead for the US with a header at the 31-minute mark. That was Morgan’s 6th goal and her present to herself on her 30th birthday.

Megan Rapinoe is reported to have a hamstring injury and is ruled out of the game. It has to be frustrating because she was tied with Ellen, Alex, and Sam Kerr with 5 goals for the tournament.

US Goalee Alyssa Naeher’s saves were the difference for the win. In the second half, the US shifted to a five-player defense and protected their goal. Another US final. Ellen White of England was barely offsides for what would have been the equalizer, but the VAR caught it and her second goal was called back.

La fête du
Canada
Day

Thank you for not yet building a fence along your southern or western border, and for brewing great beer.

This is the 152nd anniversary of the signing of the Constitution Act of 1867.

Schedule of Ottawa events and some background.