Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

Some more thoughts on today’s Team Time Trial. After reading a few articles and viewing the OLN coverage for the 5th time I think I had a chance to digest the events of the day. First, there is a mystery as to why David Zabriske crashed. He did not hit the barrier and did not touch wheels with the rider in front of him. Not even Zabriske himself could explain why he crashed. Maybe he jerked his handlebars or lost his concentration for a bit. Whatever the excuse, the crash will be a clip that will be shown again and again to show a rider succuming to the pressure of the yellow.

Team CSC as Bobby Julich was quoted as saying must feel like they were “punched in the gut”. This is motivation that will probably help themin some of the mountain stages. Anger is a bigger motivator than any other emotion. Just ask Lance Armstrong. The stage 1 performace may have been due partially to the extra “random” drug screening the French ministry of sport made Armstrong go through the day after the regular tests.

Team Phonak imploded during the team time trial. They were dropping riders as they went. There was a great shot Alex Moos recovering after he got dropped by his Phonak teammates. The next shot caught up with Phonak and there was Steve Zampieri not taking any turns at the back looking like he was about to explode. Looks like they need some practice in the TTT.

Gerolsteiner had some odd handlebar setups. I have seen these before and they look like a mix between aero bars and cow horn bars. They look like very narrow cow horn bars that point in. The armrest are on the end. Not sure if this setup is more aerodynamic than the aero setup, but that did not seem to provide them an advantage in any way.