Tata Kontador

[Delgado]

You really think Lance can do THAT!

Well he is GOD isn't he?

[Delgado]

Where are all the "Contador cant lose" guys now? On this forum most guys (90%+) said he is unbeatable etc. I knew and did say that it is near impossible for anyone who have done the Giro de Italy to actually win the Tour De France in the same season.... (looks at the statistics)

 

And the last time trial is over a mountain so I doubt if Schleck will lose more than a minute there...

 

I predict that Contador will not finish this tour and it will be a fight between Schleck, Evins, Wiggins and Gesink. Radioshack has too many leaders (if they had one then surely they had to win yesterdays time trial since they have the most time trial experts in their team). Sure, Radioshack will have 3 guys in the top 10 at the end, but none in the top 5....... Look at how Evins and Hincapie dragged their team single-handedly to almost victory yesterday. How can the Shack with the likes of kloden, Leipheimer, Brakovich & Popovych to name a few not match that?

 

Also looking forward to tomorrows stage.

By the time this Tours official results come out in 2015 many would have forgotten what transpired in any case!

[Squier]

Love these early predictions!

 

I'm glad that crash happened; I was preparing myself for a relatively boring Tour with AC being a couple of seconds up when they reach the Alps and just sitting on Andy's wheel and closing it out in the TT. Now we'll be seeing Contador doing the attacking in the mountains.

 

Seeing the big guns defending is boring, now we'll be seeing the biggest gun of them all doing the attacking.

 

Anyway, Cadel looks very confident. He wanted yellow from day 1. Does he really think that he can defend the yellow jersey for three weeks? Quite a different strategy... a bit too bold for my liking.

 

We still haven't seen any proof that Andy has hit some form. I was expecting him to, at least, sit on Contador's wheel yesterday and not concede any time. I'm assuming he was just conserving and didn't want do dig deep so early. We'll have to wait until stage 12 to find out. Though, like I said before, I'm sure he's ready.

[Thug]

Seems he's just crashed again according to several Twitter sources.

[Bos]

That’s why I think they should maybe fix it before as part of the race bible .Then everybody knows.

 

But yes there is a huge difference between a finish like that and a mountain top. Any hill that you see Cancelarra sprint up in a 53x16 or something is as good as a sprint finish.

 

Yesterday was more of an uphill and I would think the rule would not apply there.

 

Yesterday's stage was tailor made for the hill "punch" riders. It has no relevance what so ever on form for me.Either you are that type of rider or you are not.

2km at 15% is nothing compared to 12km at 8 or 10%.

The way people analyse yesterday's stage you would swear that means Vino,Hushovd and Gilbert are now overall contenders and Mountain goats because they were able to stay with Contador and Evans and Andy,Gesink,Wiggens and Basso could not.

 

I know this is besides the point.. but a 2km climb at 15% would have most of the peleton shitting in their pants. Wasnt it 2km at 10% ? I stand to be corrected..

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Checked the results and time splits were given on both Stage 1 and 4 inside the last 3km but not Stage 3.

 

It seems the rule is that time splits are given if the stage ends on a classified climb. It's probably in the rules somewhere I just couldn't be arsed to find it.

 

Uh-Uh, cant be mate, otherwise those riders stuck behind the second crash on stage 1 within the 3km finish would have been penalised time, and they were not.

 

Yesterday, stage 4 the split times were given, hense the query.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

By the time this Tours official results come out in 2015 many would have forgotten what transpired in any case!

 

- Ha,Ha, this is true, but hey, a bit of speculation here and there is fun dontcha think?.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

As long as it is clarified before the stage starts it is fair to everyone?The tour has changed a lot. It is about entertainment these days. The organisers is very happy with the way things are going as causes for excitement in the coming days.

 

Remember in the past how booooring the flat stages always were? We only need some cobbles now as well!!

 

Aye, indeed, I agree, but from what I have read it was not clarified before, hense Sastres comments as well as many folk commenting on international sites.

 

But as I said, 'Berto has not complained, Saxo has not appealed so its probably a moot point now anyway, but conspiracy theories aside, the question still remains, why was there differant rules applied to two similar stage finishes.?

Edited July 6, 2011 by GrumpyOldGuy

[orbeaorca]

Anyone that doubts that Alberto will be on the podium are nuts. it wont be easy for him to get 1st. The mountain stages will be different this year. Contador will have to attack this year unlike last year when he toyed with Andy to attack him. EXCITING!!

 

Last year Alberto lost time in Roubaix also. I dont think it was fair that he lost extra time and Andy lost nothing.

 

Andy has WON how many grand tours or even one week races? A big fat NULL. He may end up being someone who had the potential but never delivered.

 

Point being Berto knows how to win,even if he has bad days and a weak team. Pschologically he is much tougher than Andy and he fired his first salvo at Andy on the Mur Bretagne.

 

To all the evans fans he will crack in the 3rd week. I like jurgen van de broecke for the podium also.

 

Voeckler is simply one feisty rider.

Edited July 6, 2011 by orbeaorca

[Squier]

Seems he's just crashed again according to several Twitter sources.

 

I was quite impressed with the way he handled it. Sure, it was still far out but he simply got up, took of his helmet and glasses, wiped some sweat and waited for the team car. No panic, no nothing. They gave him the wrong bike, he looked at and just clmly tossed it to the side of the road, got another one and continued. Even though I expect nothing less of him, another rider could've easily gone into a flat spin after his recent spell of bad luck.

 

I don't like the guy but he's a class rider. 1:30 is a lot to get back, but I'm not writing him off just yet.

 

Here's a photo from after the stage. Bit of a bad angle but you can just see the damage to his back:

 

['Dale]

Me believe 'Berto is just feeling lucky and fortunate to not miss the rest of the Tour due to injury.

Looks like quite a fall at speed.

 

Cool pic from velonews.com:

 

http://velonews.competitor.com/files/2011/07/wxP1010144-325x487.jpg