bhilden@druxj.UUCP (HildenbrandBE) (08/09/85)
The first six stages of the Coors Classic are over, today Thurs. August 8, is a race day for the Men. The overall standings are: 1) Greg LeMond(RED ZINGER) 2) Andy Hampsten(LEVIS) @1:25 3) Steve Bauer(RED ZINGER) @3:08 4) Steve Speaks(SCHWINN) @4:51 5) Bernard Hinault(RED ZINGER) @5:01 6) Doug Shapiro(7-11) @5:36 7) Alex Steida(7-11) @6:00 8) Ron Keifel(7-11) @6:02 Anyway, its time to figure out what happenedd so far and what is going to happen down the road. Its eveident from the placings that Greg Lemond is the the class of the field(though Bernie may be holding back). Greg is well placed in both the road stages and criteriums. Remember that the first three finishers in each stage receive 30,20,10 second time bonuses respectively. There are 4 road races left(Tour of the Moon-8/9, Vail to Copper Mountain-8/12, Golden to Boulder-8/16, and the Morgul Bismark-8/17) plus a 10 mile individual time trial(Niwot-8/15) which could shake up the standings a bit. LeMond is riding so strongly that he probably does need to have Hinault or Bauer working for him. Depending on the circumstances all three RED ZINGER riders could make it into the top three. Andy Hampsten, currently in second place, will probably not catch LeMond and may have trouble holding onto second if Bauer gets the green light to put the hammer down. Bauer can pick up time bonuses in the criteriums(though he crashed heavily in Reno trying to do just that) and chip away at Andy's time gap. It seems that Hampsten's only hope is to isolate himself with LeMond(as he did in Reno) and force Bauer and Hinault to not chase. Don't count out Shapiro, Pierce or the Columbians as the Coors has yet to hit the altitude. Actually, the only really high altitude stage is the Vail to Copper Mountain Road Race and it only hits 11,000 ft. or so. It has been pretty hot for the riders(temps in and around 90 degrees). You may be noticing a pattern. Hampsten and LeMond were in a long breakwawy on Monday and were not particularily active on Tuesday. However, they lowered the boom on Wednesday. Hampsten is pretty much doing it on his own(his teamates NEVER do well in the Coors) and when you are up againt the boys from La Vie Claire(AKA RED ZINGER) you probably don't sleep well at nights. Seems like Andy is trying to win the Mountain points jersey(which he currently has) so he is pushing the climbs. LeMond is leading both the overall(red jersey) and the sprints(yellow jersey -- I bet Davis Phinney is upset). So far no big moves from the Russians, East Germans or any of the other pro teams, its been the RED ZINGER team dominating the roads(yeah) and the 7-11 team dominating the criteriums(big deal!). On to Colorado!!!!! Bruce Hildenbrand ihnp4!druxj!bhilden