Vino Fully Recovered

by KevinK on Jul 16, 2007 5:38 PM EDT

Hot off the wire!

Eurosport | Mon, Jul 16, 15:48
Astana manager Marc Biver insists team leader Alexandre Vinokourov will return to his best form after the first rest day of the Tour de France. "We have limited the damage. Tomorrow you will quickly understand that Vino has fully recovered," he said.

I'm sure there are those in the audience who add mental quotation marks around several terms in Biver's statement. But maybe, just maybe, the Khazakh children's choir sang to Vino over the phone, and his spirits are lifted. Or, repeated viewings of Borat have restored the plucky Khazakh's will to rage.

If others riders aren't similarly "recovered" they might need to lookout tomorrow.

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The possibilities make the mind spin.

Coup De Pot Rouleurs

by Clydesdale on Jul 16, 2007 4:22 PM EDT reply actions

Ummm

The way I read this statement I see more that the team is gonna ride (sink or swim) for Vino rather than Kash or Klodi. That and some emotional bluster. Biver pretty much panicked on stage 5; he's not the one to cooly and accurately assess the situation.

I do see that Vino's getting better. But I also saw yesterday he couldn't keep up even with the other GC guys not riding all out. One day of light riding (today) will not cure all his hurts. He won't all of a sudden be flying up stage 9's HC's leaving the field in his wake. The best he can probably expect is to just keep up- which is a step forward for him.

What he needs to fully recover is about a week. A week to get over the pain plus re-toughen his body to go all out. The thing is, he might get it. Stage 9 could see him bleed a little more time (a minute?) then he has a couple of flat days before the ITT where he will; keep up. THAT will be when he needs to be fully recovered and IMO he'll be close by then.

So he'll go into the Pyrenees needing to make up time and the rest of the field will know that. Its hard to see the field letting him go in a stage like they did w/ Landis on stage 17 last year.

A lot of folks have criticized his rivals for not putting more time on him and in part they are right. But an important aspect of where he sits right now is that all of his rivals (except Rogers of course) have time on him and its a lot harder to pass all of them even if they have a relatively small time gap. He may pass one of them or two or three. But there will always be several others who are keeping up with him- unless you think he's THAT much better than the rest. I don't.

by ursula on Jul 16, 2007 4:25 PM EDT reply actions

Or, Biver is bluffing

Biver might want the other teams to think Vino is good, even if Vino can do no more than hang on to the leader's group.

He might be hoping that they don't increase the pace to put the hurt on Vino.

He might be hoping that, if they think Vino is healthy, the other teams will worry most about watching Vino, and not so much about chasing down a breakaway group that includes Kash.

by socal @ Podium Cafe on Jul 16, 2007 8:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Biver

I don't know much about the guy, but assume he's been around the media enough to know how to craft his messages. And that his messages are what he wants people to believe, whether it has any basis in reality or not. And further, that he's more likely to want people to believe things that aren't really true.

Not all the time, of course. When a DS says they think X, Y or Z is the biggest factor in the race, or a certain stage will be the hardest, they may well be candid. But when it comes to their star rider's health, the incentive to guard the truth is high.

Got a problem? Va fa Napoli!

by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 16, 2007 8:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Tomorrow

is gonna really, really hurt. And if Vino isn't fit, he could lose huge gobs of time.

Got a problem? Va fa Napoli!

by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 16, 2007 5:39 PM EDT reply actions

Leipheimer warns against

writing off Vinokourov's Tour de France chances

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/16/sports/EU-SPT-CYC-Tour-de-France-Notebook.php

by orangekick on Jul 16, 2007 6:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Vino gets one more day

Easy for Biver to say. Two years ago the stage was almost identical but a little harder. Vino and Botero broke away and win by a little over a minute over a pack of 26. After that, the time gaps were huge.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/?id=results/tour0511

Sad to see how many are out of real cycling after just two years.

Vino should be safe here. But Klodi will kill him in the TT unless his coccyx breaks in half.

by Mr 60 Percent on Jul 16, 2007 6:31 PM EDT reply actions