L'Equipe Yesterday

B. Lafferty

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Jul 27, 2010, 5:17:46 PM7/27/10

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My cycling buddy who's over in the Pyrenees tells me that yesterday
L'Equipe had a full page retro article about the 1973 Worlds RR which
Gimondi won. Haven't see the article yet, but I looked at the finish
sprint in La Course en Tete this morning for about the 50th+ time. I
think Freddy has gotten a bad rap. It looks to me like Eddy just didn't
have it in his legs on the day. Thoughts?

Note to Lawyer Philsy, this is a non-***** post.

LawBoy01

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Jul 27, 2010, 5:47:34 PM7/27/10

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It's both.

B. Lafferty

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Jul 27, 2010, 6:02:13 PM7/27/10

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Really?? I won't discuss him in this thread.

LawBoy01

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Jul 27, 2010, 6:06:40 PM7/27/10

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No, I mean it's both, Eddy's legs weren't the best but Freddy acted
intentionally and caused the Gimondi victory.

B. Lafferty

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Jul 27, 2010, 6:16:32 PM7/27/10

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How do you figure that about Freddy?

--D-y

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Jul 27, 2010, 6:24:22 PM7/27/10

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On Jul 27, 4:17 pm, "B. Lafferty" <b...@nowhere.com> wrote:

Lance I mean Freddy dragged Lance I mean Gimondi up to Lance I mean
Eddy and Lance I mean Ocana. Lance I mean Eddy IMHO was completely
bamboozled and even though Lance I mean Freddy gave him a good
leadout, Lance I mean Eddy was demoralized and Lance I mean Gimondi
pulled the sprint of a lifetime out of his suitcase of courage and won
the race.

Lance I mean Eddy definitely "had it in his legs" to get way the hell
up the road alone with a non-sprinter before Lance I mean Freddy
foolishly sabotaged him, is the way I got the story. Open to
correction.
--D-y

LawBoy01

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Jul 27, 2010, 6:26:07 PM7/27/10

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> How do you figure that about Freddy?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Just my view after having read seemingly everything on the issue. In
my view, the telling remarks came from Maertens when he basically said
"whatever, Gimondi and Merckx consipired against me because I ride
Shimano and they ride Campy." Spin the bottle.

B. Lafferty

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Jul 27, 2010, 7:10:49 PM7/27/10

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There may be more than a little truth in that.

B. Lafferty

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Jul 27, 2010, 7:12:14 PM7/27/10

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Eddy was not at all comfortable on his machine that day as evidenced by
his adjustments to his saddle height on the fly. I don't think he could
get away.

derf...@gmail.com

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Jul 27, 2010, 8:09:33 PM7/27/10

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On Jul 27, 6:02 pm, "B. Lafferty" <b...@nowhere.com> wrote:

> Really?? I won't discuss him in this thread.

But you already did, right from the first message. You can't even not-
discuss him without discussing him.

--D-y

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Jul 27, 2010, 10:06:29 PM7/27/10

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As I understand it, after his bad crash on the 'drome early in his
career, due to very poor treatment of severe injuries, Eddy was often
uncomfortable. There's at least one other famous filmed interlude
where he goes and "borrows a 5" from a rival team car for a last-
minute saddle adjust at the start of a race. I forget the detail.

Extremely open to correction but again, the story I've heard repeated
was that Merckx was away, discomfort or no. It is just the four of
them and they don't seem to be desperate to stay away from a chase.
I do have this DVD and need to go refresh my memory, if events are in
fact shown.
In any event, and all fooling aside, Gimondi did a hell of a job
winning that sprint against at least two guys who "should have" beat
him.
Motivation with a capital M; seemed to be kind of a rare doofus moment
for Merckx.
--D-y

B. Lafferty

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Jul 28, 2010, 6:54:52 AM7/28/10

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Who?

B. Lafferty

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Jul 28, 2010, 6:58:36 AM7/28/10

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Yes. and from "A Sunday In Hell."

derf...@gmail.com

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Jul 28, 2010, 3:04:43 PM7/28/10

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On Jul 28, 6:54 am, "B. Lafferty" <b...@nowhere.com> wrote:

Exactly my point.