[analphilosopher] Keith Burgess-Jackson: Le Tour (a new post at AnalPhilosopher)

[analphilosopher at lists.powerblogs.com]

Posted by Keith Burgess-Jackson:
Le Tour
http://www.analphilosopher.com/posts/1121047751.shtml


   Lance Armstrong lost the yellow jersey today. Don't panic. He did it
   on purpose. The leader of the Tour has an obligation to put his team
   at the front of the peloton. This wears on the team. Lance wants to
   save his team for the mountains. Obviously, Lance wouldn't let just
   anyone take the jersey. If one of his main rivals (such as Jan
   Ullrich) had gone up the road, Lance and his teammates would have
   chased him down immediately. But the breakaway riders today were no
   threat to win the overall title. Lance's team rode tempo (as it's
   called) at the front of the peloton most of the day, keeping the
   breakaway within a certain safe distance. At the end of the day, Lance
   lost just over six minutes to the winner, Dane Michael Rasmussen, and
   just over three minutes to German Jens Voigt and Frenchman Christophe
   Moreau. Lance is now 2:18 behind Voigt, who donned the yellow jersey
   as overall leader. Voigt can't stay with Lance in the mountains, so
   Lance is not concerned. In fact, since one of Voigt's teammates on
   CSC--Ivan Basso--is a contender, Voigt's wearing the yellow jersey
   will hurt the team. Believe me, Lance knew exactly what he was doing
   today. Rasmussen covered the 106.2 miles in 4:08:20, for an average
   speed of 25.67 miles per hour. Voigt's average speed through the first
   nine stages is an eye-popping 28.72 miles per hour. See here for
   images from today's stage. Tomorrow is the first of two rest days in
   the Tour. Believe it or not, the riders will have to ride their bikes
   tomorrow--just not as far or as fast as they would if they were
   racing.