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The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

I'm going to be a bit contrary here.

I place 50% on Schleck for throwing his chain. He has been up enough mountains that he should not have allowed that to happen. I do small hills 1/2 mile in length max, I and I know when I throw a chain it is because I did something stupid.

Then I give 25% to Contador for attacking when Schleck was off the bike. I do think he realized what was going on and let up before hitting the top of the climb. No way does Schleck get that lead down to 15 seconds at the top without those guys letting up a bit.

That leaves the remaining 25% to Sanchez. He kept the pace up and drilled it down the hill. To me that was equally poor form as Contador's initial thrust. I give 0% to Menchov because I didn't see him driving the trio with any force at any point, but I'll re-watch tonight.

I think a just result would have been Schleck losing 20 seconds, but keeping yellow.

Schleck's tactics were abysmal in my opinion. Had he successfully opened a gap on those guys, they would have closed it down on the decent anyways. He needed to let Menchov and Sanchez go up the road again and hope Contador wouldn't follow. Then attacking by bridging up to Sanchez/Menchov was the only way he was going to gain any time on AC.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

sagard said:
I place 50% on Schleck for throwing his chain. He has been up enough mountains that he should not have allowed that to happen. I do small hills 1/2 mile in length max, I and I know when I throw a chain it is because I did something stupid.
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I blame SRAM! :D

sagard said:
Schleck's tactics were abysmal in my opinion. Had he successfully opened a gap on those guys, they would have closed it down on the decent anyways. He needed to let Menchov and Sanchez go up the road again and hope Contador wouldn't follow. Then attacking by bridging up to Sanchez/Menchov was the only way he was going to gain any time on AC.
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Yeah, it really wasn't an ideal stage to gain a lot of time. Maybe unless he had a teammate in the earlier break that could have waited at the top to work with him, but that wasn't the case.

Tomorrow isn't a good one to gain time either. The summit of the final climb is 60km from the finish. So all of Schleck's aggression will have to be taken out on the Tourmalet summit on Thursday. Will he be able to gain enough time on Contador to hold AC off on the long TT? I highly doubt it. In fact, I would bet that AC will be able to hang with him up it.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

brianvf said:
I blame SRAM! :D

I highly doubt it. In fact, I would bet that AC will be able to hang with him up it.
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Never trust a double click. :)

AC will mark Schleck the whole way, then as a gentlemen won't contest the stage.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

sagard said:
I'm going to be a bit contrary here.

I place 50% on Schleck for throwing his chain. He has been up enough mountains that he should not have allowed that to happen. I do small hills 1/2 mile in length max, I and I know when I throw a chain it is because I did something stupid.

Then I give 25% to Contador for attacking when Schleck was off the bike. I do think he realized what was going on and let up before hitting the top of the climb. No way does Schleck get that lead down to 15 seconds at the top without those guys letting up a bit.

That leaves the remaining 25% to Sanchez. He kept the pace up and drilled it down the hill. To me that was equally poor form as Contador's initial thrust. I give 0% to Menchov because I didn't see him driving the trio with any force at any point, but I'll re-watch tonight.

I think a just result would have been Schleck losing 20 seconds, but keeping yellow.

Schleck's tactics were abysmal in my opinion. Had he successfully opened a gap on those guys, they would have closed it down on the decent anyways. He needed to let Menchov and Sanchez go up the road again and hope Contador wouldn't follow. Then attacking by bridging up to Sanchez/Menchov was the only way he was going to gain any time on AC.
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To be honest it's a little tough to tell from initial viewing. Schleck attacks Contador goes after him, Schleck all of a sudden slows down could Contador really tell what happened? I agree I have no idea what Schleck was doing if he was going to attack to gain time he needed to attack a lot further away then 3 K left to go on the climb. Obviously Menchov, Sanchez and Contador laid off a bit on the rest of the climb, it took Schleck 30 seconds to fix it yet he pulled back 15 seconds over the top. Sanchez seemed to be the one drilling it on the way down although once they reached the flatter section Menchov, Contador and Sanchez seemed to share the duties.

These "unwritten rules" always seemed to be so inconsistent. I don't remember anyone waiting for poor Cadel Evans in the Vuelta last year and I don't remember anyone taking too much heat for it. If "tradition" dictates they wait everybody should have waited not just Alberto. Say Alberto waits and then it turns out that Andy needs a bike change 1, 2 minutes go by now Sanchez has yellow and Menchov is in second.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

brianvf said:
So all of Schleck's aggression will have to be taken out on the Tourmalet summit on Thursday.
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They said on today's broadcast that Thursday's forecast calls for heavy rains, so what that means for the ultimate mountain-top showdown we'll have to see.

Probert said:
If "tradition" dictates they wait everybody should have waited not just Alberto. Say Alberto waits and then it turns out that Andy needs a bike change 1, 2 minutes go by now Sanchez has yellow and Menchov is in second.
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When Armstrong went through the field in 2003 after Beloki crashed and when Lance himself had the handle in the handlebar crash, Tyler Hamilton encouraged the leaders to wait both times. You look like a total jerk if one guy sits up and says "let's wait" and you whiz by. It didn't look like anybody was encouraging anyone else to wait today.

It is mute at this point; Contador has yellow. Now it is up to him to convince watchers that he's the best man in the bike race, which he hasn't done to date.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

ARM said:
When Armstrong went through the field in 2003 after Beloki crashed and when Lance himself had the handle in the handlebar crash, Tyler Hamilton encouraged the leaders to wait both times. You look like a total jerk if one guy sits up and says "let's wait" and you whiz by. It didn't look like anybody was encouraging anyone else to wait today.

It is mute at this point; Contador has yellow. Now it is up to him to convince watchers that he's the best man in the bike race, which he hasn't done to date.
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Beloki was within serious striking distance of Lance at that time I think about a minute back and no one waited for him, granted he had to abandon, but they didn't know that for a while, so it's only the guy in yellow who deserves the consideration? If Contador had slipped a chain Schleck could have drilled it and not been criticized? As for the second incident in 2003 Lance himself has stated he didn't think that Ulrich i slowed down and waited. Chavanel had how many mechanical incidents on the pave and nobody waited so you only have to wait if the guy in yellow has a chance of winning the whole tour? I remember in one of Lance's victories, also 2003 where Victor Hugo Pena won yellow because he beat Lance by 2 seconds in the prologue and then he got yellow when postal won the TTT. The next stage they had him riding Tempo for Lance which is a huge violation of yellow jersey protocol, the leader of the race does not work for someone else, when Lance was called on it I believe the response was something along the lines of Victor wanted to do it.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Even though he might not have gained time doing it, I was majorly impressed by how Schleck was rioding wearing the yellow jersey. He was setting the pace, driving, and daring Contador to stay with him if he could. Riding like a leader.

I don't think Contador knew at first it was a mechanical, it looked at first like he'd just cracked, and Contador went for it. Then it seemed like he might have gotten the news, and held up a little bit, but by then Menchov and Sanchez were up with him and pressing on also, so he had no choice but to go with them.

I don't like the way it happened, I think he should have gotten those two to wait with him, but it's done. We'll see what happens in the next few days.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

I haven't had a chance to really watch the stage, I saw about 15 minutes before dinner, and one look at the incident, so I can't really comment. However, it seems that AC has apologized via youtube:
Conti apologizes
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Reaction for others in the Race.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/07/news/lance-armstrong-other-tour-riders-react-to-port-de-bales-chain-debate_129995

Bjarne Riis had pretty much my opinion that Conntador couldn't wait unless Menchov and Sanchez wait as well.

“It’s hard to say. I didn’t really see what happened,” he said. “If Contador waits, the other guys have to wait, too. He needs to follow, of course. It’s a ****ty situation.”

Contador and Schleck's reaction.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/07/news/great-chain-debate-contador-inherits-yellow-jersey_129993

This has another good quote from Riis “Sánchez and Menchov were going full gas. It won’t help to criticize. For us, it would have been better if they had waited, but we cannot expect any help in these circumstances,” Riis said. “I think Contador waited at the beginning, but it took awhile before Andy was on his bike again. How long can Contador wait? I don’t know. Of course we’d have hoped he waited more. I don’t want to create a polemic, but how many guys crashed today? Nobody helps them, nobody waited. That’s how it is"

Now if Schleck's own Tour Director isn't blaming Contador it's tough for anybody else to do it. Of course Riis violated the ultimate rule of the yellow jersey, cheat to win the Tour.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Probert said:
Now if Schleck's own Tour Director isn't blaming Contador it's tough for anybody else to do it.
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I would bet that Riis is holding back a bit. :)

Petacchi under investigation:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/petacchi-under-investigation-in-italy

Roche/Gadret tire fun from yesterday:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/roche-furious-at-gadret-for-not-helping-with-tyre

And look who's in the break today. Mr. Lance himself. Might be tough to win from this group though...Cunego, Fedrigo, Barredo, Plaza. Those riders aren't just going to gift him the stage.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Valiant effort from Barredo comes up just short.
40km solo ride caught with 1km to go.
Fedrigo times it right to get the sprint win from the break.

Horner and Lance finish 5th/6th. If Horner wouldn't have been working as much, I bet he could have been up closer.

Hushovd wins the field sprint and will take back the green jersey.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Basso had a horrid day and finished with the gruppetto over 30 min back. Supposedly he has bronchitis.

I knew I should have picked Menchov or Sanchez for my fantasy team instead of Basso!

Rest day tomorrow, and then the Tourmalet summit finish! Schleck has to attack and try to break Contador. He might be able to get back into yellow, but unless Contador completely cracks, I doubt he'll get enough time to hold off AC in the final TT.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Pretty uneventful stage from a GC standpoint but nice attacking by Lance and Co. I sure was rooting for a stage win by a Shack rider (Horner). I will be rooting for Moreau to take the polka dot on Thursday.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Does anybody feel they lost points with George?

I had Jens with 98, now he has 61. Kruiziger was over 100, now he is below.

I was really pulling for Lance for old times sake, but oh well. He didn't have it when compared to the remainder of the break. Nice try.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

The points definately went down, though I don't know why.

I was totally an ABL (Anybody but Lance) fan today and was pretty sure it had to be Fedrigo, he is much faster than anyone in that group and seemed really frisky. Frankly I think that Radio Shack had a better chance of Alphonse winning that sprint than Lance. And watching the Hog's post race interview was funny...

Thursday has to be AC, right?
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

sagard said:
Does anybody feel they lost points with George?

I had Jens with 98, now he has 61. Kruiziger was over 100, now he is below.

I was really pulling for Lance for old times sake, but oh well. He didn't have it when compared to the remainder of the break. Nice try.
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I don't know if I lost points but I moved up a couple of spots in the standings.
 
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