John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
Oh, and they signed in on St 20 in the Red & Grey Radioshack kit, which they then changed, apparently.
Final Stage 20 *SPOILER*
- Thread starter zimzum42
- Start date
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Well, I'm not so sure. I could even agree with darkstar and think it very successful PR. Armstrong said as much in an interview afterwards. Whether it was intended that way or not, I'm not sure, but it worked. The jersey story was given loads of coverage on French tele. The TdF coverage even went into overdrive showing the shirt, pointing out the various differences etc, saying it was a worthy cause etc etc etc and saying 'but it was the rules'. And I agree. The Tour is bigger than any one rider, or any one team, or any one cause. Radioshack cannot believe otherwise. They MUST have known the rules, they must have known it was a no-no to change strip. I'm guessing here but I guess they didn't ask because they knew the answer. They chose a deliberate cause of action.
Btw, they did wear the black jerseys for the team presentations, whether they were THE Livestrong jerseys, I don't know, but they looked like it to me. So it seems TdF PR tried to limit damage and reach a compromise.I'm just pleased they didn't give LA the mike on the podium!
Regards Cavendish, and picking up on what others have said, here's what I posted on another forum. Sorry, can't be arsed re-wording it for here!
And of future, I think, I think ,we MIGHT have seen a corner turned for Cavendish. I think Renshaw's misfortune MIGHT have been Cavendish's making. We knew Cavendish was the fastest man over 50m, over 250m even, but we've now seem him go from further. More encouraging for me though is that we've now seen him win without a lead out, jumping other trains, hopping and dodging McEwan like. I think yesterday's win was a quite fantastic display of a sprinter's talents; he rounded the final bend and took Petachi's wheel then, as Petachi hinted to go left, Cavendish kicked right and got the jump. Pethachi had gone left and it was if Cavendish was undetected (had be borrowed McEwan's cloak of invisibility?!). I reckon he was gone before the others even knew he was there, they were sprinting for 2nd. I dunno, I tend to get excited and see things that aren't there, but I reckon we could now have a fully fledged green jersey winner.
I'd like to see whichever team he's with next year change tactics with him, bring him on even more. Let him off the lead out train and develop him to a more rounded rider. I think we've seen he is more than a one trick pony.
I, for one, think it was a fantastic and worthwhile PR stunt by Lance and the Shack . At least the French nation are now aware of this new illness called cancer that Lance has discovered, and his comeback was largely about raising awareness. Good on him for alerting us to this hidden problem and let's hope some good comes of it.
Spinney
Bimbleur extraordinaire
- Location
- Back up north
Anyone know the top speed Cav has been clocked doing ? He was really motoring today.
Was watching it on ITV and, as they all approached the final bit, the camera was alongside Hoshovd and his Cervelo team lead-out man, then Cav came absolutely flying through in the background- to win by a mile (well, OK 10 bike lengths, according to CB)
That was a classic bit of film - much better than if Cav had taken the left and gone in front of the camera. Just this white blur in the background!
Manx Missile indeed!
(Anyone know if that bit has been put on YouTube or similar?)
darkstar
New Member
Don't think he'll be worrying about the jersey to be honest, offer him 5 stage wins with no jersey or the green jersey and no stage win, I think I know which he'd sooner take!
Chuffy
Veteran
- Location
- On the banks of the Exe
Bless your innocent little heart! Talk about every cloud having a silver lining!
I noticed that they'd put them back on for the podium shots, which proves my point. They were after PR material and campaign material, not just a five second slot on the news of them looking silly. As it is they don't have some of the shots they wanted, which would have been the team in the peloton, rolling along together, heading the pack around the Champs Elysees etc.
Trust me, no-one managing their PR would have pitched an idea that involved the whole team, plus Tex, being made to look like fools. That wouldn't do them or their image any good at all.
Now that Cav knows he isn't totally reliant on a full-on train, perhaps he might re-evaluate his aims? Although he still needs a lot of support getting over the mountains in the GTs.
darkstar
New Member
We know you don't like Armstrong, but you don't half commit lots of time writing about him! Find someone you actually like to spend time thinking about, jeez.
Bless your innocent little heart! Talk about every cloud having a silver lining!
I noticed that they'd put them back on for the podium shots, which proves my point. They were after PR material and campaign material, not just a five second slot on the news of them looking silly. As it is they don't have some of the shots they wanted, which would have been the team in the peloton, rolling along together, heading the pack around the Champs Elysees etc.
Trust me, no-one managing their PR would have pitched an idea that involved the whole team, plus Tex, being made to look like fools. That wouldn't do them or their image any good at all.
Now that Cav knows he isn't totally reliant on a full-on train, perhaps he might re-evaluate his aims? Although he still needs a lot of support getting over the mountains in the GTs.
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
Didn't he do this in the past though? I'm sure he's used other trains/no train in previous sprints.
I think his run of bad luck might be the making of him, he seems to have finished the tour a more mature individual than he started it this year.
I wonder if I'm the only person disappointed that Hushovd didn't take green? I rather liked the way he was reshaping the points competition into a "Rouleurs Jersey" with the contesting of intermediates &c.
Chuffy
Veteran
- Location
- On the banks of the Exe
Nothing to do with Armstrong, everything to do with the naive way that some people on here think that PR works. Just because you got on the news doesn't mean that you got what you wanted.
True. Hadn't considered the effectiveness, or otherwise, of it all. Just the quantity. I was going by the old adage of 'no publicity is bad publicity'.
rich p; what (who?
cf Kimmage 
) is this "cancer" of which you speak? Blimey, I thought I was a dab hand at sarcasm but I recognise a master when I see one! I pretty sure he has. It does seem (to me anyway) that the preferred HTC tactic for the TdF is the high speed, many carriaged train to deliver Cavendish to the 200m line. It's effective and gets results, I'm not knocking it by any stretch, but I do think it sells Cavendish short. I do believe he is capable of winning in other ways, as he has shown. And I think a green jersey winner should be more than that too... as you suggest later on,and I'll agree with.
Absolutely 100% agreed. That's pretty much in a nutshell what I meant in my earlier post, only I did it in my normal long winded wibble!
No, you're not the only person. I'm with you on this one. He knew he couldn't beat Cavendish and Petachi in a sprint finish but wanted green. Ergo, contest the intermediates. To my mind, it's what I want the green jersey to be about.
I read somewhere that the Landis scandel did wonders for phonak.....cannot find where I read this though!
