It's 2009, everyone is a winner and is supposed to get a gold star. Well except for Cadel.
The Tour de France
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To some extent, yes, but Contador would not want to be isolated with the Schlecks. It made no sense to attack half-assed the way he did. I mean, had be made a harder attack, earlier, and gained a bunch of time to secure his lead and get the stage win, great. But all he did was drop his teammate, and possibly knock other team members off the podium. To me it smelled like he was still worried about competition from his team. He only tried once - he stopped attacking once Kloden was dropped, even though the Schlecks were on the rivet.
I still do not understand the "isolation" bit of big mountain climbing.
At that point of the race, I have to imagine that everyone in the top 25 is near redline.
If the Schlecks decided to launch attack after attack, I would imagine they blow themselves up before they put Contrador into jeopardy. In comparison, Contrador put an attack himself, and both Schlecks caught him without a lick of teamwork.
Maybe at the bottom of the climb, having teammates is important, but I would imagine nearing the summit of your fifth major climb, I figure every man for himself.
There is only one "r" in Contador.
If you saw how the Schlecks worked together today you should recognize the value of having a teammate. If Contador was thinking about an attack, he should have had Kloden attack a couple of times, make the Schlecks chase him down, and them hit them hard just when they were trying to recover.
Once he was isolated, the Schlecks should have tried to do exactly that, with Frank hitting the gas a couple of times in the hope that Contador would soften, opening the door for Andy to jump.
What if it's windy? What if the leader has a flat and the team car is stuck behind some riders/officials/whatever a mile down the road?
I'm with you, though. When it is mano a mano uphill, I don't see the problem.
Yep.There is only one "r" in Contador.
If you saw how the Schlecks worked together today you should recognize the value of having a teammate. If Contador was thinking about an attack, he should have had Kloden attack a couple of times, make the Schlecks chase him down, and them hit them hard just when they were trying to recover.
Once he was isolated, the Schlecks should have tried to do exactly that, with Frank hitting the gas a couple of times in the hope that Contador would soften, opening the door for Andy to jump.
I bet Johan is steaming mad right now, throwing things at the wall. They had a chance to fill the podium, and Contador's move today made that much less likely.
I wouldn't be totally shocked if Contador had a catastrophic wheel failure in the TT tomorrow. Johan's probably talking to Mavic right now to get him on an R-Sys front wheel...
These guys are climbing a lot faster than most people think. There is still an advantage with the draft.
Yes, that is the standard tactic. Let the lesser rider/domestique or whoever (but it definitely works better if that person is high up on the GC) attack to test it out and soften the legs, then let the real one go. But I'm guessing that they (both the Schlecks and Kloden/Contador) were going fast enough and were tired enough that that tactic probably wouldn't work. Or at least, it would be a big gamble and risk blowing up. I mean, Contador attacked once and Kloden went off the back quick. He was the weakest of the 4, but I think that shows you that they were moving pretty quick.There is only one "r" in Contador.
If you saw how the Schlecks worked together today you should recognize the value of having a teammate. If Contador was thinking about an attack, he should have had Kloden attack a couple of times, make the Schlecks chase him down, and them hit them hard just when they were trying to recover.
Once he was isolated, the Schlecks should have tried to do exactly that, with Frank hitting the gas a couple of times in the hope that Contador would soften, opening the door for Andy to jump.
After seeing some of the reactions from the stage and all, I think that Contador might have just made a bad decision. Seems like he might have wanted to drop the Schlecks (1) because he thought could (so why not do it) and (2) because that would put them further back in the GC. Now, if he were smart he would have played it safe as his time over the brothers is sizable. But maybe after almost 3 weeks of racing and flying up 5 climbs on the day he just made a stupid decision...then when he saw Kloden was off the back he panicked a bit, kept it steady and hoped Kloden would come back.
I think the speculation that he was deliberately trying to distance Kloden (or Armstrong, for that matter) doesn't make much sense. As soon as Kloden was dropped (which Contador couldn't assume would happen) and Contador saw it, he eased up. It was quite likely that if Kloden hadn't blown up so hard there, he could have kept a manageable gap and rejoined on the descent. Basically, I think Contador just made a poor choice. Now if he had kept the attack going and really pushed the pace, I'd say that he was trying to gap his own team.
It doesn't seem like Contador is much of an actor given his "bike throw" at the line today. Yeah what a sprint...
Then again, maybe Contador is just dumb like a fox....On a side note, Nibali must have been flying at the end of the climb/beginning of the descent. Lance went pretty quick away from that group and really started hammering when he hit the downhill. A minute later I see Nibali come up behind him...so he must have really REALLY been hammering.
Had AC not attacked , would have Lance been able to catch up considering he caught and Passed Kloden ? and what Deal did AC make with the Sleck Brothers ? since it was obvious he gave them the stage win , but for what ?
I think the AC attack has been blown out of proportion. The kid likes to win every chance he gets. He thought he could attack and go for the solo win, he was wrong and got his team mate dropped. If it worked it would have been pretty awesome. The schlecks aren't known for being good descenders so he could have stayed away on the way back down. He isn't a tactical robot like Lance was. I like that, it makes things interesting.
Attack
Attack
Attack
Attack
Attack
Attack
plus AC gave one of them a pat on the back at the finish
With that (those, really) gesture(s) he was indicating that he wasn't going to come round and steal the stage. To do so would not have been very sporting, considering he refused to do any work after realizing that he'd only dislodged Kloden (and has bagged a stage, and there are no time bonuses to be had, and has the yellow jersey). I don't think the Schlecks are fluent in Spanish, so verbal communication would have been shaky at best. I'm not sure why everyone seems to want to hand Contador the stick. He's just racing. He's had some brilliant tactical moments, and some not so good ones. Armstrong dropped team mates in the mountains when he was winning tours too!
On another topic...Thor rocks. From Velonews: “That’s not the issue. That wasn’t the only reason to attack,” Hushovd said. “I wanted to have fun up there, get some points along the way and be prepared for the Champs-Elysées. I did that and it was an amazing day for me.”
Name another sprinter that considers soloing off the front on a mountain stage a way to have a fun ride.
Armstrong-> Team RadioShack
LOL
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/072409dnbusarmstrongsponsor.6b28fd16.html
More Lolling from today's TT
LOL
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/072409dnbusarmstrongsponsor.6b28fd16.html
More Lolling from today's TT
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Those teammates weren't 2nd and 3rd in the overall standings though.
What happened to lance's bad ass TT skillz?
Gonna be tight for ventoux
Edit: this just in......... A schleck haulin ass
Gonna be tight for ventoux
Edit: this just in......... A schleck haulin ass
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Contador's TT'ing ability does not compute...
Just wait a month till all the blood test results come out
He was only 18 seconds off him in the first TT.
Spanish rice = yellow
Coincidence?
True. At 139 pounds it doesn't add up.....most have a heart the size of a race horse.
Lance just doesn't have conditioning right now...with a year of training he can improve 90 seconds and then some.
Seriously. Damn. Crazy that he can put out that kind of power...and that is after leading in the mountains for a few days.
Oh, and as for giving the stage win the Frank yesterday, that was very understandable. The Schlecks (Frank especially) did a lot of work and helped Contador distance himself from Wiggins. I would have been surprised if Contador had tried to take the win, as he already has a solid grip on he yellow.
Oh, and as for giving the stage win the Frank yesterday, that was very understandable. The Schlecks (Frank especially) did a lot of work and helped Contador distance himself from Wiggins. I would have been surprised if Contador had tried to take the win, as he already has a solid grip on he yellow.
I know man I don't f'ing get it. I've been thinking it all along... how do you go from sucking something awful in the TTs to being the only one in the field that can even come close to Cancellara... not to mention beating him by 3 seconds on a relatively flat course.
Last time I saw this kind of TT improvement it was with Kash on Astana in 07... nuff said.
Well there IS a 700+ ft climb in there
There will be a massive battle for the 3rd podium spot on Ventoux.
Armstrong, Wiggins, Kloden, and F Schleck are only 34 seconds apart from
3rd through 6th on GC.
Even if the first three work together to try to stay with Schleck on Ventoux, they will have to attack each other at some point.
Should be fun.
Armstrong, Wiggins, Kloden, and F Schleck are only 34 seconds apart from
3rd through 6th on GC.
Even if the first three work together to try to stay with Schleck on Ventoux, they will have to attack each other at some point.
Should be fun.
Well there it is... Radio Shack.
Johan with Lance as team leader.
Johan with Lance as team leader.
Meh...mistakes are mistakes... If you look back at early interviews, everyone agrees that the ultimate goal is for Astana to get the top spot on the podium in Paris, period. There's still a mountain top finish, and anything can happen in a race, so it does make some sense to try and do whatever one can to get as much time as possible on probable challengers.
More fireworks for 2010!
(being AC already has will win) Tomorrow will he help get a teammate or 2 get on the podium?
Having initially rooted for anyone who would beat Armstrong, I'd be pretty happy to see the man take third.
I was more surprised by Andy's TT. He won the Luxembourg ITT champs in 2005...but Luxembourg is a pretty small place. Didn't know he was that much better than his brother (better climber, better descender, better in the ITT).
The TT is about knowing your body's limits and being able to dose your efforts (and a ton of mental toughness), so it is something that can be learned (especially with the aid of physio data and lots of training).
I was a bit surprised too... but he has improved his TTing a ton since the 2007 TdF. He had good results in the 2008 Giro ITT and was 4th in the Olympic ITT, so it's not totally out of nowhere.
I was more surprised by Andy's TT. He won the Luxembourg ITT champs in 2005...but Luxembourg is a pretty small place. Didn't know he was that much better than his brother (better climber, better descender, better in the ITT).
The TT is about knowing your body's limits and being able to dose your efforts (and a ton of mental toughness), so it is something that can be learned (especially with the aid of physio data and lots of training).
Fo realz.
I mean hell, the guys have cancellara on their damn team to take advice from.
Agreed that Contador's attack was just a poor choice. I just think he waited too long, and that it was strange that he didn't keep trying once Kloden was dropped.
As for today, Contador certainly showed everyone who's the boss this year. His TT ability has been coming along - didn't he win the Spanish national TT championship this year? And the climb definitely helped him, he was flying where the other guys were getting bogged down.
Obviously it's a race for second place now. Armstrong needs to attack Andy Schleck on Ventoux, rad. He's got some unfinished bidness up there after giving the win to Pantani whenever that was. How about a stage win and a big F-U to the ghost of the pirate?
As for today, Contador certainly showed everyone who's the boss this year. His TT ability has been coming along - didn't he win the Spanish national TT championship this year? And the climb definitely helped him, he was flying where the other guys were getting bogged down.
Obviously it's a race for second place now. Armstrong needs to attack Andy Schleck on Ventoux, rad. He's got some unfinished bidness up there after giving the win to Pantani whenever that was. How about a stage win and a big F-U to the ghost of the pirate?
TT is about training at TT. The ability to produce your peak power in a very uncomfortable position. I could hop on my MTB and pump out 300 watts no problem. Put me on a TT bike and I would probably struggle to output 200. Spend a few months stretching and riding a TT bike and I could get that 300 watts. Spends thousands and thousands of dollars in a wind tunnel to perfect power/resistance ratio and your gold. Contador probably never worked much on his TT skills because it was never that important to him until he suddenly became a contender two years ago.
He's built like Rassmussen though....classic alpine climbers build. Levi is similiar weight and height but his legs got some serious meat on them, so it at least looks like he can produce power.
You'd think Contador would struggle in the TT like the Basque riders from Euskadi.....that's why it seems like it doesn't compute.
You'd think Contador would struggle in the TT like the Basque riders from Euskadi.....that's why it seems like it doesn't compute.
He, potentially, cost the team a lot of money. If they sweep the podium there will be a ton of prize money for the team.
Yeah, but every rider in the top 20 has worked on their TT skills.
I looked over the time checks and Contador was the leader at the first time check, then had 48 seconds on Cancellara at the top of the climb.
Fabian was not ripping it before cresting the summit, but he must have been smoking on the final section to put 43 seconds on Contador.
Not trying to explain his speed but how someone like Contador could go from a bad TT-ist to a good one.
It's already starting and it figures LeMond (LeMonde) would have something to do with it.
http://www.bikeradar.com/blogs/article/contadors-annecy-faux-pas-22537
Maybe a better explaination of Contador's TT
http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/95744/cancellara-says-motorcycles-helped-contador
I have also noticed this year that the motos stayed pretty close to the leaders on several of the stages. All those guys make a point to ride behind the motorcycles.
http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/95744/cancellara-says-motorcycles-helped-contador
I have also noticed this year that the motos stayed pretty close to the leaders on several of the stages. All those guys make a point to ride behind the motorcycles.
Ahh Greg, we've missed you. 
Can I be the first one to say, "f*#k off Greg Lemond" for the 09 Tour. Why can't he fall from a cliff???