Vive le Tour

[Tittirongi]

It's basically a TTT leading in to the finish. 1km from the end it turns into an Olympic Sprint - Hincapie leading off, Renshaw doing the second pull and then Cavanagh with the glory. It's a pretty amazing sight.

Yep, amazes me to see their GC riders doing massive pulls on the front too, like Tony Martin and Kim Kirchen.

Their team unity is also fantastic to watch, they truly have it down to a fine art. The other night when Milram raided the lead-out train, you could see Hincapie (I think) pushing the Milram guys out of their train.

Bring on the mountains tonight! Missed last night's stage, but heard it was pretty dull. Always good to see an escape survive, but not by that much.

 

[dibo]

It's just down to the speed they get. They get the single file going at 65kmh and get in front - anyone else has to basically be sprinting themselves to compete. A 9 man flying team pursuit over the last 4km is impossible to compete with. They're so organised.

The only way to break it up is to be harder at the front from earlier (so Milram, CTT, whoever try to drive it on), in which case the tactics will simply shift to have the final three break off the bunch later in the sprint. You've still got the problem of having probably the third or fourth best sprinter in the field leading out the best or second best - too much power and pace there.

 

[Atomic]

I was dissappointed not to see George Hincapie pull on the Yellow jersey last night. In the big scheme of the General Classification, it wouldn't have meant anything other than one day of glory for Hincapie and his team as he will be beaten in the mountains I'm sure. From all reports, he's a nice guy and a good professional that's been around for years. It's always a good feeling to see a nice guy finish first, even if it's only for a day.

 

[Tittirongi]

So uh, Contador, did alright?

That's the fastest vertical ascent in TDF history, something like 1900m/hour vertically.

Beating the previous record of Bjarne Riis what was in the 18xxm/hour range, with some chemical assistance

 

[dibo]

Watching Contador was incredible. Unfortunately, I mean that in the Ricco, Vinokourov, Rasmussen sense of incredible. I can't bring myself to believe that he's not on the juice. Guys like Sastre and the Schlecks had no answer whatsoever.

I'd love him to be clean and just celebrate an amazing performance, but all that glitters is not gold.

 

[dibo]

BTW - Cadel's tour is now definitely over, short of him somehow pulling a Vinokourov or a Landis and just monstering a massive long break somewhere. But because it's so recent in the memory, nobody's going to let him do that. Oh, and they were juicing too...

 

[Tittirongi]

Yep, every stage. Cadel chasing yellow probably helps.

AM - Valverde's out, as he's banned from racing in Italy and the race takes a short interlude through the Italian Alps.

I don't think Stage 20 will be the decider. I think Stage 17 will be the killer:

Someone's going to make a break on one climb here and make it stick. It won't necessarily be the last climb either, I have in mind a break our own Cadel made back in 2005 on a stage with a similar profile.

It's party time!

 

[dibo]

Cadel's tour is basically proper f**ked unless hes been foxing and he pulls 10 minutes on the field here. Something I dont get is why Van Den Broeck has the legs to get into breaks every day but nobody seems to be there to guide Cadel. Guys like Van Summeren are great on flat stages because theyll pull like Clydesdales for 200km into the wind but yesterday he was going backwards as soon as they hit the first speed-bump.

Seems to me that Silence-Lotto has decided in light of Cadels poor position this year that theyre going the Agritubel / Cofidis / Euskaltel-Euskadi option of hitting for stage victories rather than going for jerseys, which has Cadel less than pleased given theyre largely responsible for his poor position.

Hes now actually a great chance to get a win tonight, Astana will let him have 3 or 4 minutes because hes no threat, and they can hold the gap where they want it. Other teams defending the top ten may be less keen.

To get the win itll have to be a solo break though, which on tonights stage isnt impossible at all.

 

[Tittirongi]

I don't think they will give him time tonight. Not with the ITT tomorrow.

And by 'they' I mean any team with someone in the top ten.

All power to Cadel, but i'm now cheering Wiggins for the GC. If he is next to Alberto at the end of the stage tonight, he will be in yellow or a bee's robbie slater away from it after the ITT

 

[tuftman]

Yep, every stage. Cadel chasing yellow probably helps.

AM - Valverde's out, as he's banned from racing in Italy and the race takes a short interlude through the Italian Alps.

I don't think Stage 20 will be the decider. I think Stage 17 will be the killer:

Someone's going to make a break on one climb here and make it stick. It won't necessarily be the last climb either, I have in mind a break our own Cadel made back in 2005 on a stage with a similar profile.

It's party time!

Thats sickening, man its gonna be a blast!!

I've missed the last 2 stages, but has Lance tried anything by way of attacking, or could he be saving himself for this stage to land the yellow?

 

[Morgan30]

contador was nearly flawless, until he dropped his own team mate against team instructions

was impressed with the schleck brothers, they just couldnt get away

cadel last night......

 

[dibo]

Super Jens! Hope the big fella gets well soon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCasmDE94S0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UncELpyKQLU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WfD7lYkKqA

 

[Tassiemariner]

Must say, Time trials are my least favourite days of le tour.
I just can not get pumped for them.

 

[Atomic]

Individual time trial... THE RACE OF TRUTH... Hard NOT to get pumped up for this!

 

[dibo]

I love Jens - "Of course there's always a possibility to win the Tour you know, I mean all it takes is that five Astanas are attacked by a bear in the mountains, in the Pyrenees, you know and they out, and we're just smoking you know, just taking it easy to Paris."

 

[Teddy Bear]

Does anyone else think if the circumstances were different Armstrong could have gone close to winning this. He is riding the best support role anyone has ever rode but I reckon he had enough energy to go up the mountains just as fast as Contador. A different team with the right support for Armstrong may have seen it closer at the top. I wonder what he will do next year.

Can't wait to see him go up Mont Ventoux and hopefully he will give it everything to replicate a few years ago.

 

[Tittirongi]

Does anyone else think if the circumstances were different Armstrong could have gone close to winning this.

No.

He is riding the best support role anyone has ever rode but I reckon he had enough energy to go up the mountains just as fast as Contador.

Verbier proved that Contador shits all over him up a hill, last night and Monaco proved that Contador shits all over him in an ITT.

He hasnt ridden anywhere near the 'best support role anyone has ever rode'. Rast, Paulinho, Zubeldia have done all the support work.

The fact is, if Armstrong had the legs, he could have been in the position to win it, because Astana came into the race with basically 4 protected riders (Contador, Armstrong, Kloden, Leipheimer)

He's doing a good job for a 37 year old after 1273 days off, but there's a new generation.

 

[dibo]

Contador is a beast of a rider at the moment. Nobody else is in the same league.

As for Cadel, he seems to be in a bad headspace. His ITT wasn't spectacular, but it wasn't awful. Seems to lack power, but did a good job on the climb. That says to me that he's got some legs there, but he doesn't seem to have the ability (whether it's mental or physical) at the moment to push out a big long effort that glazes the eyes and puts blood in the mouth. A disappointing tour, but we'll see how he goes at the Vuelta and Worlds.

 

[Teddy Bear]

No question Contador is the best rider but the way Armstrong took care of Wiggins on the climb the other day and  did the same to Cadel and others the day before was nothing short of impressive.

 

[happy]

surprise, surprise. there will be coverage of today's stage on German tv...

anyone seen a picture of Jens Voigt after his horrible crash?