Tour de France: Cadel Evans Wins on the Mûr de Bretagne in Photo-Finish
by Jen See on Jul 5, 2011 12:39 PM EDT
in Tour de France
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Cadel Evans of BMC Racing Team won today's stage of the Tour de France in a photo finish sprint Alberto Contador of Saxo Bank. The two riders crossed the line together after a tense battle on the slopes of the Mûr de Bretagne. Alexandre Vinokourov of Astana finished third. Yellow Jersey Thor Hushovd of Garmin-Cervélo finished with the front group and successfully defended his race lead.
As the field approached the Mûr de Bretagne, the final climb of the day, the BMC Racing Team took control of the front and put Cadel Evans in perfect position. On the Mûr de Bretagne, the top riders played a taunt tactical game. Alberto Contador tried an early attack, but the others proved quick to jump on his wheel and gave him no space to ride. Cadel Evans kept his nerve, and while the others in the group tried to force him to lead out the sprint, he controlled his effort until the final meters.
On the line, Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans crossed together. The photo finish showed Evans ahead by half a wheel-length. Podium kisses for Cadel, nothing for Alberto. Today marked the first ever road stage victory for Evans at the Tour de France. The Australian previously won a time trial stage after Alexandre Vinokourov was disqualified for doping. Here are the full results.
In the general classification, Thor Hushovd successfully defended his race lead and continues to wear the Yellow Jersey. Hushovd hung tough on the final climb, which was not his favorite terrain. In the absence of time bonuses at the finish, Cadel Evans remains in second place by 1 second. Fränk Schleck is third at 4 seconds, David Millar fourth at 10 seconds, Andreas Klöden fifth at 10 seconds.
A few small gaps opened up on the final climb of the day and added to the advantage Cadel Evans is accumulating bit by bit over these first few stages. Ivan Basso and Bradley Wiggins dropped six seconds to winner Cadel Evans. A big group came in at eight seconds, including Chris Horner, Andy Schleck, Andreas Klöden, Roman Kreuziger, Levi Leipheimer, Christian Vande Velde, and Tejay van Garderen. When the race hits the mountains, these time gaps will be long forgotten.
Evans interview courtesy BMC Racing Team.
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Bad showing by A Schleck
He should not have been dropped like he was today. May not bode well for the larger mountains to come, unless he finds his form
I wouldn't take the results of a power climb
as being much of an indicator.
I think I agree with Ortt
at some point Andy Schleck has to RACE.
Today was a good day to, if nothing else, mess with people’s heads a bit.
Contador tried.
If I’m Riis, I’m pulling the hair out of the sides of my ears right now, cuz Contador’s attack looked like a fat cat5 attacking with flat tires through molasses.
ever attack at 10% gradient looks that slow
I picked Riccardo Ricco for my 2011 VDS team, and submitted said team well before the submission deadline. I fully understand the error of my ways, and plead with the VDS Gods to allow me to resubmit my team.
not Contador's previous attacks.
I’m judging by how fast not just Gilbert, but Hushovd got back to him.
Do we actually know he didn't race? Because he may well just not have had the legs
I didn’t ever see him leading the chase in group 2. I’m not sure why Riis would pull his hair out over his guy showing his legs are still good after the Giro, today was never supposed to be about gaining time as much as a psychological fight. I think the 8 seconds can give Bert a bit of a moral boost(and Cadel as well), plus his initial attack still dropped everyone momentarily.
I'm still worried about Andy's condition.
But not his result in a 2K power climb.
I don’t think that Contador’s attack looked that bad. But he was only able to get 5-10 meters when he did it, and no one had any problem closing to it. But, again, it was a short power climb, so I’m not going to want to surmise too much from it.
Most of the contenders came in within 8 seconds today. That will be close to irrelevant later.
I tend to think that possibly, quite possibly, we're seeing a human AC right now.
The question is whether he’s going to ride into form, or whether this is the Giro saying ‘not bloody likely.’
Dunno
The end of this stage reminded me in some ways of Fleche Wallone last year. Contador went ahead on that one but got reeled in and eventually Evans made a smart move and beat him. That didn’t hurt Bert in the Tour, even if it was several weeks later.
It’s one thing to be able to stay with Bert on a smallish climb at the end of Stage 4 of the Tour, but it’s another thing entirely to stay with him on the third HC behemoth of the day after two weeks in the saddle. Until Cadel or anyone else does that, I think Bert is still the favorite.
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by tehGrindCrusher on Jul 5, 2011 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions
For him, I agree, it showed he does not have the freshest of legs.
For me, happy as a lark, ignoring the possible dangers on the roads ahead.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
I find it hilarious
how him finishing 2nd on a stage apparently shows his lack of form. Especially on a classics type stage, not even a mtn finish. How high expectations have become or how desperate people looking for weaknesses are looking?
I think he misjudged the distance
left a bit of a gap to Cadel a few meters before he started sprinting. In the end he still gapped or beat all his other GC rivals on a climb which was really just 1km long. Attacks on 10% slopes never look fast, look at his attack on the Angliru or Gardeccia.
In the end he still gapped or beat all his other GC rivals on a climb which was really just 1km long.
’Cept for JVDB, Fränk, Samu and Kloden that is.
But that maybe depends on your definition of GC rivals.
Well he beat them didn't he?
they hung on to not lose any time but they couldn’t challenge him, make the climb 13km long and they are gone.
Had he sprinted in the drops, he may have pipped him.
"On paper, your team is awesome." -- Pigeons on my WVDS team, and life in general.
Quite possible, given it was a headwind at the finish line.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
I thought it showed the opposite of lack of form.
"It's the greatest job in the world until Peyton comes off the field and you think his thumb might be broken and there's three minutes left in the AFC Championship Game and you're down by three to New England and you haven't taken a snap all year. Yeah, it's a great job until that point." - Jim Sorgi.
"If I couldn't play for the Colts, I would probably stop playing football." - Peyton Manning.
Some of us are groping for any hope of AC's leg collapse.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
Well at least you can admit it
it’s OK, I’m trying to read too much into 8 seconds myself, join me on the yoga mat as we are both looking to stretch.
Encourgaed by Contador
In past races (ex 2008 giro), Contador would lose time on finishes like this one. Today he gained time. He may have left the attack too late as he didn’t have long on the steep part of the climb.
Not at all worried about Evans. Even in his prime, he had 1 or 2 bad days in the high mountains. In recent years, it has been 2 or 3
How do you know what was his prime?
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
"in recent years"...
in recent years, Cadel has been injured or ill by the mountains, so not exactly typical for him – so as sminer says, how do you know that was his prime previously?
2007
Cadel was not sick or injured in 2007
He imploded in the final 5K of Plateau de Beille and was buried on Peresyourde. In 2008, he struggled up ADH and was not hampered by sickness or injury
yes, you said 2-3 days in recent years
and I was saying recent years weren’t typical – didn’t say he didn’t have problems on certain stages in 2007 and 2008. Then again, in 2007 Rasmussen and Contador took off on a few stages – who’s to say how the race would have played out if Rasmussen wasn’t there in the first place?
first part suited him
yet AS was not able to follow Conta.
Unless AS finds form quickly, he will likely lose more time on the small summit finishes this week-end as well
The fact that Hushovd held on makes it look worse for Schleck
Cause now it’s like, he lost to Thor? Really? Really?? Really.
I guess we won’t know for sure until stage 12.
Well at least I have 1995, 2000, and 2003. Those were fun.
by dees ees en drama on Jul 5, 2011 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions
I guess we won’t know for sure until stage 12.
Exactly. I think the media and fans get over excited about ideas like momentum and psychological victory and tend to put too much stock in them. We can pronounce Andy dead when he gets left as such on one of the big climbs.
Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
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by tehGrindCrusher on Jul 5, 2011 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions
ok so just me let say this
I have a feeling that he is not as good as last year. Since it is a feeling from my side nobody really can counter my argument. hehehe. seriously….I have this feeling. We will know on Luz Ardiden….where Little Scheleck says the tour begins for him.
Personally I think it may beging and end….
In search of a new tagline.
Looks this way to me too.
But then I look at last year’s 8.9 km prologue result:
122 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:01.09
by Mr 60 Percent on Jul 5, 2011 6:29 PM EDT up reply actions
i had the same feeling about conta last year
well there was plenty of evidence – anyway turned out to be true even though he won the tour, i still think he had an off year.
Every second counts...
I’m stoked that Evans has gained 6 sec on Wiggins and Basso, and 8 sec on Andy, Levi, Horner, Gesink. Yes, it might not matter much in the mountains in the end, but then again it might.
As he said to one interviewer...
You’re talking to a guy who lost the Tour de France by 23 seconds.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
Shrug
Every time you ask that question, you will get one of two answers.
Ask it to someone who has lost a few seconds and the answer will be “the Tour is long, a few seconds won’t matter in the mountains.” Ask it to someone who has won a few seconds and the answer is “Every second counts, you never know how close it’ll be in the end.” Might as well not ask the question at all.
JVDB lost 38s in the TTT, went for option A; JVDB won a handful of seconds today, went for option B.
You can say that about every question
I’m sure Bert was actually thinking after stage 1"this is big fuck" but he was not going to say that.
I was told there would be no math.
Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
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Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
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by tehGrindCrusher on Jul 5, 2011 1:58 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, that turned out about as expected.
Except that most people expected Gilbert to win. A little long for him I think.
More shows how differently GT stages and Classics are ridden and raced
Different length of race, different obligations and priorities of the teams during the race, all the GC guys turn up in peak condition, different speed the finale is approached at, ability to recover day by day, many other factors.
Day to day recovery might really be a factor
The other things not so much. Either the climb was simply to much for him or the first three stages are in his legs.
He did say his legs failed him.
"On paper, your team is awesome." -- Pigeons on my WVDS team, and life in general.
I think it also shows some guys building form
where as geez, he’s got to be losing form.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
agree
but every single commentator, cyclist asked, DDIFP, bookmaker and Phil himself seemed to be oblivious to that at the start of the stage and had him down as an overwhelming favourite – and his team slogged their guts out on the front so there must have been in house confidence.
May be that he simply wasn’t good enough on the day.
Cumulative effects of several days racing (c/f last year’s Vuelta where results a little up and down)
the best, in form, field he has faced this year over the distance and terrain
Mostly today reiterated how much Cadel and Bert were missed this year in the ardennes
this DDIFP called it
it being the fact that, unlike what a lot of people were predicting, Gilbert’s win was far from a 100% guarantee.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
as a horseracing man can confirm
there is no such thing as a certainty in any race.
Also think the performance needed to win such stages in GTs is often underrated. Cadel, Bert, Vino and many others at the top of the list today have much more experience than Phil of that kind of effort – and it showed a little.
you need to drop the "DD"
so doesn’t apply to you
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
you haven't seen me with my shirt off.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
I think that Gilbert has a high power to body weight ratio.
So he can climb the short ones like crazy. But I don’t think his body is as good at clearling out lactic acid as the true climbers. Today he was on the limit of how far his special physique can carry him. Another K and he would have been going off the back of all the climbers.
Gilbert is a wonderful athelete. But the rule of horses for courses still applies. Looks like there are a couple of stages that may still be good for him, however.
Looks like we are going all the way to stage 12
without much seperation – except for Conador and Sammu.
Looks like a good day for a breakaway
to make hay. But the contenders will sit in the peleton.
I wouldn't normally do this, but it might be the only time I get something right . . .
Hey WilliamH: How ’bout Hushovd?
Extremely impressive. Made me look a bit of an idiot
Still not going for Green, though.
Actually, I think he is.
Vaughters is, I think, running the sprints equivalent of a “zone read” offense in American Football. Farrar is something of a decoy—points he gets are points Hushovd’s competitors can’t get, and by making efforts in the intermediate sprints against Farrar, it leaves things more open in stages like today for Hushovd at the end.
I find it very odd that Hushovd did not get any intermediate points though...
Well at least I have 1995, 2000, and 2003. Those were fun.
by dees ees en drama on Jul 5, 2011 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions
We'll see: I'd expect him to start snapping those up
on days when the other sprinters won’t make it to the intermediate . . .
A point on a sprint stage counts just as much as a point on a tough stag
It seems like he left points on the table. I bet it was because he was defending the yellow, though.
Well at least I have 1995, 2000, and 2003. Those were fun.
by dees ees en drama on Jul 5, 2011 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions
The only problem with that is that Thor has to be sure to score enough of his own.
I’d say it’s almost more of a dual threat. Have both take points as they can, see who is where later on.
btw, have to admit I was really surprised to see Hushovd make it.
thought he’d get dropped at 2k . . .
I have a theory
Thor will go on another breakaway on stage 13 under the ruse of going for the sprint point. However, instead of slowing down like the Pelaton expects after being out-sprinted by Hoogerland, he drops all of his breakaway mates on the slopes of the Aubisque and descends like a madman to put 20 minutes into the Pelaton. In the post-race interview, he reveals his top-secret training regimen deep in the fjords of Norway, and declares himself a GC contender.
Never trust a Norwegian conspiring with a guy in thick, dark-rimmed glasses.
I credit all Garmin good performances
to the extra Argyle added in the kits for the tour.
In search of a new tagline.
Good results here certainly works in Vaughters favor
he’s all about the argyle
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
+1
Giro have made the Vuelta and Tour step up, which they are doing nicely
I picked Riccardo Ricco for my 2011 VDS team, and submitted said team well before the submission deadline. I fully understand the error of my ways, and plead with the VDS Gods to allow me to resubmit my team.
I am too.
"It's the greatest job in the world until Peyton comes off the field and you think his thumb might be broken and there's three minutes left in the AFC Championship Game and you're down by three to New England and you haven't taken a snap all year. Yeah, it's a great job until that point." - Jim Sorgi.
"If I couldn't play for the Colts, I would probably stop playing football." - Peyton Manning.
this
I picked Riccardo Ricco for my 2011 VDS team, and submitted said team well before the submission deadline. I fully understand the error of my ways, and plead with the VDS Gods to allow me to resubmit my team.
that
Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the passive where you can use the active.
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
-Orwell, Politics and the English Language
www.battleredblog.com
by tehGrindCrusher on Jul 5, 2011 1:48 PM EDT up reply actions
I disagree
Well at least I have 1995, 2000, and 2003. Those were fun.
by dees ees en drama on Jul 5, 2011 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions
I know, right?
I’m kinda confused, actually. Am I watching the right race? Is this really the Tour de France? That was some good stage.
At the risk of re-opening a tired old topic
What do we have to do to get bonifications back into the tour?
To whom should I be addressing my letters?
IIRC
the lack of bonifications is largely the result of doping, and stage winners getting crossed off of the record books. They feel that they would have to recalculate all of the time bonuses every time a top 3 stage finisher lost his place.
Well at least I have 1995, 2000, and 2003. Those were fun.
by dees ees en drama on Jul 5, 2011 12:16 PM EDT up reply actions
That sounds like an old wives tale
They simply considered the GC battle would be better without the time bonuses I think.
wrong thinking on their part then (imho)
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
Oh, I agree, but I'm pretty sure that was the reason
don’t know how that logic went? Which was the first year without bonis, 2009?
I think it was a few years before that.
Part of me think/remember that they didn’t want Cippolini to win the yellow jersey on the first stages.
"It's the greatest job in the world until Peyton comes off the field and you think his thumb might be broken and there's three minutes left in the AFC Championship Game and you're down by three to New England and you haven't taken a snap all year. Yeah, it's a great job until that point." - Jim Sorgi.
"If I couldn't play for the Colts, I would probably stop playing football." - Peyton Manning.
they were there in 2007, i'd have to check for 2008
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
A.S.O.
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"Long Live Cols" - ant1
You, Sir, are a fountain of information. Chapeau' (or however the heck you spell it!!)
Do not interfere in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!
That was a class win by Cuddles
See, see, I can be objective. Sometimes.
Good to see that PhilGil is only human. But also, why the fuck did you chase down JVDB Phil?
And finally: poor Wally. So sad to see him DNF.
wondered about the chasing down bit too
thought for a second Richardson Bike Mart had started sponsoring OPL. (nasty Texas racing joke there . . .)
Snort! (from Amarillo)
Do not interfere in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!
I think he still thought he could win at that point
Which, seeing as he’s won what, 12 of the past 17 races he’s entered, wasn’t an entirely stupid assumption.
Forgive me, but I have to rub it in
whenever PhilGil doesn’t win a race. He’s thatgood.
I love when your almost perfect colloquial English doesn't quite come out...
… ‘makes a dent in’ :)
Sure
But it was still poor tactics. Cuz he could have let Van Den Broeke go, let the others chase, punk them at the line.
Oh, right, sorry
I can really never spell anyone’s names unless I have a results sheet in front of me. D’oh!
Also: I thought he was Belgian? So we Van Den? Man, you people are confusing in your part of the world. ;)
There is no clear rule
for the vande, vanden, Van de and Van Dens of this world. Hence the tendency to just call everyone VDB, VDW etcetera. Otherwise, it’s just too hard.
Ezactly what I was thinking
Looked to me like he was over-eager to win today. Gotta stay calm, dude. See: Cadel.
Making other dudes close a gap, be it in the middle or the end of a race of any time, is an easy way to improve your chances. Especially when going 100% in the final when following their wheel means only having to go 90%.
My fruit bowl is full of sex wax--gavia
by Douglas Ansel on Jul 5, 2011 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions
thank you for saying this
sometimes my gut says, “what the heck?!” when watching a race, but then I doubt myself, assuming I must have missed something. This is a small bit of vindication right here.
I loved Cadel's quote:
“Today my hero is Marcus Burghardt”, for taking him from the back (when he had the flat 15k out), right to the front for the last few kms. Couldnt’ have been easy, given how stretched out the peleton was, and the narrow and wet roads. Chapeau.
I was surprised to hear it was Cuddles first outright win (apart from the belated time trial victory after vino’s pos). I’ve been enjoying watching him in the tour for many years, and I think I just assumed he’d won a few stages to go along with the days in yellow and other milestones.
Anyway, great stage, fantastic to see him get the win today. I’m really enjoying this tour, and I’m enjoying watching Cadel being out in front (but without yellow pressure), instead of wondering how much time he can make up. Still very nervous about the big climbs, but it should be fun to watch.
by LurkerMcLurkerson on Jul 5, 2011 12:58 PM EDT reply actions
+1 all the above
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
PhilGil inty on Sporza
What went wrong?
“Just the legs. I can’t say that I made a mistake. The legs just decided otherwise.”
JVDB attacks with 500m to go, and you try to catch up with him. What was the plan at that point?
“Jurgen didn’t say anything to me, so I thought he was leading out the sprint. To anticipate from far out. And just then I had to switch to a smaller gear to catch up, but I just couldn’t. So I stayed in that just-too-big gear, and my legs had a lot, a lot of lactic acid. It was a bit too hard.”
And that deep into the finale, it wasn’t possible to set up a clear plan?
“I told Jelle to ride a bit slower on the really steep part of the climb, but he said he didn’t hear me because of the noise of the public. So he kept on accelerating and I never really recuperated from that effort. I was in the red too soon.”
Are you disappointed?
“No! (laughs) Definitely not. I’ve had a nice Tour so far, it was incredible and well … (shrugs) it would’ve been special cause it’s my birthday but hey, that’s racing.”
Know that feeling
sometimes yelling “shut up legs” just doesn’t cut it.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
Maybe
but if JVDB thought it was a good idea to ride for himself rather than for Gilbert (on that stage, on Gilbert’s birthday, when there was no GC gains to be made) he must be the dumbest fucking belgian since that dude in 1940 who said “the Germans probably won’t pass through here this time”
by Jens on Jul 5, 2011 6:37 PM EDT up reply actions 6 recs
It's so worthwhile reading through the posts to find gems like this.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
The way I saw it was that JVDB saw that nobody was pulling and all the favorites were looking at each other
So he increased the tempo (it was a slomo attack) so that:
- Gilbert could take his wheel and be launched for the sprint
- somebody else would cover that move thinking it would be more serious, and Gilbert would counter
None of these things really happen and Gilbert had to dig in to catch his wheel. I think that was a mistake. Once he had lost JVDB wheel, he should not have done anything, and let Evans or AC cover Jurgen. Now granted, JVDB might have failed to communicate with Gilbert. But I think that once Gilbert had lost JVDB wheel, unless he is feeling invincible, he has to let someone else close the gap…
by FrenchKheldar on Jul 5, 2011 8:22 PM EDT up reply actions
I don't think communication was possible between riders at that point
language was replaced by spit at that point
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
I certainly thought he was trying to lead Gilbert out...
A pretty logical thing to do. Most days, you’d expect to Gilbert to stay on the wheel and then fly away for the win.
My second place behind Contador is worth a lot--Michele Scarponi
Open comment
Come on, people. Here you can show your love for Thor.
...
"It's the greatest job in the world until Peyton comes off the field and you think his thumb might be broken and there's three minutes left in the AFC Championship Game and you're down by three to New England and you haven't taken a snap all year. Yeah, it's a great job until that point." - Jim Sorgi.
"If I couldn't play for the Colts, I would probably stop playing football." - Peyton Manning.
THOR SMASH!!!!!!
Seriously, that was awesome from the Thor, especially since he usually looks a bit out of his element on the Flanders-style climbs that are this length or even shorter. Dude really has been really re-tooling his training, it seems.
Also, this makes me wonder if Thor can be more of a threat in Flanders next year…
My fruit bowl is full of sex wax--gavia
by Douglas Ansel on Jul 5, 2011 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions
this seems to me to be "yellow jersey juice" rather than any change in thor
Warning... not everything I say should be taken entirely seriously
I love Thor
Thor on his epic stage 17 mountain break in 2009 – that helped him keep Green.
In pic, his Green points work is done and he is going slowly …. long since passed. He seems content:
Behind Thor I believe is Phil wearing a polka dot Dress and watching Giro highlights on his phone
"Long Live Cols" - ant1
It's a little conspiracy that our body uses on us.
Give the body some food and the brain gives it a shot of dopamine. It ain’t playing fair. The miles I have to ride to make up for those little shots.
Epic, epic, epic
So freaking epic. Go into the kitchen to prepare lunch as Sporza had interrupted their feed for the news anyway, come back to see Thor. On a rampage. In the queen’s stage of TdF. So, freaking, cool. Love that dude.
He seems to be enjoying the teams successes as much as his own.
He looked so excited at the end of P-R for VanSummeren and for Farrar yesterday.
BOOM!
Great photo on cycling news of Thor leading sammy sanchez up the climb, who’d of thought that would ever happen, he smashed it!
Is it js it me or is sammy hurting more than Thor?
they look equally miserable
what’s with the “8” on Sanchez’s head-tube? Did he sign up for the extra photo option?
fyi, in future, just link the picture's url, copyright infringement otherwise
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
Or AT LEAST link the pic back to the page where you found it
In this case http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-4/photos/180752
"On paper, your team is awesome." -- Pigeons on my WVDS team, and life in general.
Thank you, Holden
Making my way down this thread, I was becomingly increasingly distressed by the scarcity of the Thor-love. As it happens, I was starting to think that I would have to post a call for some Thor-love – you beat me to it.
Goddamn, what an exceptional specimen he is :-). A workmate today, unaware that I was watching ‘on delay’, mentioned Cadel’s stage win… having had this much revealed to me, I caved in and checked the results. And I got some strange looks when I yelled “THOOOOOOOR! Just look at YOU, boy!”… I was A Bit Pleased, you know ;-)
the best thing about a Cadel win
Is that you can see how much it means to him. He’s so uncool he’s cool.
I love watching him win and I wish he got where he is now years ago.
Contador and Cadel both gave it everything. Ace race.
Interview with Riis on Danish TV.
He doesn’t put much value on the 8 secs. They wanted the stage.
"It's the greatest job in the world until Peyton comes off the field and you think his thumb might be broken and there's three minutes left in the AFC Championship Game and you're down by three to New England and you haven't taken a snap all year. Yeah, it's a great job until that point." - Jim Sorgi.
"If I couldn't play for the Colts, I would probably stop playing football." - Peyton Manning.
From the stage 4 jury decisions
“John Gadret (Ag2r), fined 100CHF for "peeing in public"”
No word if this is the start of the Gadret-Roche pissing contest.
by Logy on Jul 5, 2011 4:36 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs
Where is that motorcycle with the outhouse
on the back when you need it.
loving Thor
Alberto… cheers for trying something. I would not count this guy out.
Cadel… kind of awkward on the bike and in front of th camera for me to warm up to him much. I won’t root against him.
Andy… dude, c’mon, show me something.
he's saving it for july
is today a…wait…what day is this?
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
He's kind of shy from what I gather
That probably plays a part in his akwardness. Now on the bike, he’s just akward, but DAMN powerful!
Focus on easy first. If that's all you get, that ain't half bad - Caballo Blanco
Uran...
did he run out of legs or were his team order to under no circumstances try & win the damn thing? ;-)
"I’m hoping for the Mortirolo-Gavia combination, then we can ride down to Bormio for ice cream." Emma Pooley on the Giro Donne
After he went to the front and tried a small attack
he looked pretty well cooked and mostly fighting to hang on to the lead group.
Hinaultian versus Menchovian tactics
And I am completely unsurprised that he tried something here as I thought he would after Stage 1’s debacle. The fact that he wanted the stage shows the importance Riis places on the psychological blow he would have landed here. On a 2k power climb, he was only going to gain 5-10 seconds anyway, but the fact is that those seconds might prove critical later…
I still think that Andy Schleck’s strategy of waiting until Stage 12 is “Menchovian”. He is playing this too conservatively and is missing the point- Cadel is showing that aggressive “Hinaultian” tactics of ATTACKING TODAY can and will carry the day- Alberto set the pace in the Giro, and Cadel is playing by the same aggressive playbook- Chapeau to both of them for panache and class.
Schleck is waiting to “round into form” because he ain’t got the form at the minute. Because he uses all the races for training (as opposed to Franck, who does enter races to win and was up there today), I suspect that Andy does not have the race intensity and the adrenaline rush that comes with racing to WIN, and so he is stuck in a tactical mind set that is so 2005.
I don’t discount him- His talent makes that foolish- but tactically, Phil and Cadel and Alberto are streets ahead and Lay-o-Pard is showing the same tactical density that cost Fabian wins this spring when he was clearly the strongest man out there…
I suspect that AC will continue to try to have a go to chip, chip chip away at those time losses. I still think that any stage this week that supposedly has Phillipe Gilbert written all over them (stages 6 and 8) AC will have another go.
Today AC and Cadel also showed Menchovian pretenders like Levi and “No one can drop me except Alberto (And apparently, 100kg Husovd) on a climb” Horner and Kloeden and Wiggo that while playing it safe and maximising TT’s will work up to a point- They all have won lovely week-long stage races this year- they don’t win Grand Tours in the Contador era. AC today put them all back in their place as solid top 10 talent, but not GT winners….
Again, expect more of the same- Attacks to gain small amounts of time in week 1. AC is experienced enough to know that gaining 1 minute is a hell of a lot easier that 1minute 40 sec in the mountains even for the best climber in the world, and the rest of the contenders have already hit him with their best shot.
Finally, I think that if AC is 60-70 seconds behind at Stage 12- well, like I said, he only needs about 700m to make this first week just fade into memory….
No one was "playing it safe" on this sort of climb
If they’d had the legs, they’d have been in the front group.
Oh I don't know
AC went pretty deep to do what he did. I’ve never seen him grimace like that. Maybe AS can’t afford to do that right now.
just a note re: Horner
He said in a post-stage interview that he flatted at a bad moment and had to chase back super hard; didn’t rejoin the front of le peleton until the base of the climb; said it was the hardest 2k climb of his life. A lot of times there’s a story beyond “god, why isn’t he trying?” behind the results sheet.
by stronzo on Jul 5, 2011 7:58 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I don't agree with any of this.
People do what they are good at and don’t do what they are not good at. Not everybody has the same weight, power, and endurance. There are different body types with different muscle configurations. To ask guys with nothing but slow twitch muscles to attack on a short power climb is asking them to waste their time for your entertainment. You might as well ask them to contest the sprints.
“AC today put them all back in their place as solid top 10 talent, but not GT winners….”
Well, then, let’s just give him the final yellow jersey and the clenbutorol cup and stop the Tour. Why are we wasting our time with this race? We could have just lined them all up at the bottom of a 2K climb, let them race it off and not wasted our time with the rest. We can determine the best in less than half an hour. We don’t need 21 days.
Indeed +Many But...
“You might as well ask them to contest the sprints.”
Sprinter-diesel Andreas Kloden would like to have a word with you.
by Mr 60 Percent on Jul 5, 2011 10:32 PM EDT up reply actions
I think I know what you are talking about.
Everyone, including me, about fainted when Kloden won a final sprint against Sammu. I don’t think even Kloden believed it.
If cancellata's truly sick
LT haz trubbel planket.
by R Mc on Jul 5, 2011 11:55 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Subjective GC update
Evans
Fat Schleck 3"
Kloden 9"
Wiggins 9"
the rest of the Shack Pack 17"
Gesink 19"
JVDB 38"
Basso 1’02"
Cunego 1’11" :)
Hesjedal 1’21"
Contador 1’41"
Kreuziger 2’28"
Sam San 2’35"
Cyril Gautier 57" First frenchie
Kern/Péraud/Gadret/Coppel 3’ and more
Kern seems done, no?
Here’s an outside the box thought: Arnold Jeannesson will be top French rider on GC this year.
Like how he’s racing, like his talent, like how he hasn’t been overworked this year.
by Mr 60 Percent on Jul 5, 2011 10:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Not sure about that...
Chavanel might do well too, QS doesn’t really seem to have a plan for the Tour, so a top 20 finish for Chava might be as good as anything…
Voeckler is still around a minute back too.
But yeah, Jeannesson is promising. Hard to tell how he will fare over 3 weeks though… He’s more a classics rider so I would think the curtain call will come around Luz-Ardiden. We’ll see
by FrenchKheldar on Jul 5, 2011 10:50 PM EDT up reply actions
I meant I was not sure Jeannesson would finish top Frenchie
Because yeah, Kern is done for the GC I would think.
by FrenchKheldar on Jul 5, 2011 10:52 PM EDT up reply actions
Could be Gautier too
I just get the sense there will be a Kruiswijik at the Giro performance from one of the youngsters. Meaning someone under the radar.
by Mr 60 Percent on Jul 5, 2011 11:04 PM EDT up reply actions
He has tendinitis.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Oops forgot skinny schleck !
Don’t think Vino will figure in the GC battle though…
by FrenchKheldar on Jul 6, 2011 12:37 AM EDT up reply actions
That's why I'm a fan.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
What I like about Gavia's picture at the top
is that you can see how much thicker Evans’ legs and arms are
than Contador’s. I think that is what hurts him on the 12K uphill slogs.
For the people who want to extrapolate from 2K to 12K, I think that the limiting factor today was lactic acid and how much could build up in a short time while still having the muscles function. Fighting it was what caused all those tortured looks. On a 12K climb I think it’s more about A. The heart lung machine. B. The food reserves in the muscles.
I think both thin and small tend to help.
Andy is tall and weighs more than Contador.
Of course those are not the only elements, otherwise Brajkovic should outclimb them all.
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