Recent content by The Crusher

One fought, the other bought.

If you really want to understand cycling fans, you need to understand that today, on the descent, when Vino caught up to Andy, a large number of fans were hoping that Vino would get greedy and tow Andy back up to Alberto. Just so that we could all go online and talk about that too.

Nope. This is not correct. Look at the last 10 or so seconds of this video: http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/1111 It's a slow motion front view replay. You see Andy change gears with his right hand at the moment the event occurs. Only after he dropped the chain does he use his left hand...

The front view is deceptive. Being at a distance, and zooming in tends to flatten the field of view. But in the video, you do see AC appear a bit behind Vino, after both Andy and Vino have slowed down. So I think AC was a bit out of position, and made a good effort to get back. But I think...

Ok. People complained that some are calling it a mechanical without evidence. Fair enough, I don't know for sure. But where's the evidence that it's rider error? Let's see some evidence. Look at the video, and show us where he went wrong. I'm not taking sides on this one yet, I'm just...

Nope. That was Vino, NOT Alberto. Alberto was farther behind. But don't worry, lots of us made that mistake at first. Just go back a few dozen pages, and catch up.

It's not that simple. This is part of the tactical sense of making an attack at a time like this: to isolate your opponents. If no mechanical, Andy leads Alberto over the top, and Alberto is alone with no descending help. From what I've heard, Andy can descend at least as well as Alberto...

How can you be sure of what cog he was on before the incident? Are there no failure modes that would cause the chain to jump across a few cogs?

So now that I've dispatched the myth that Alberto would've caught Andy, let's take a look at the notion that this was rider error. On this one, I fully admit I'm out of my depth, and will simply try to direct the discussion. In this video: http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/1111 When the...

Yes. He rode uphill faster than Alberto, at at time when Alberto (according to his own testimony) was on the attack, trying to put time into Andy.

Fair enough. Based on the footage, and where Alberto eventually appears, I think Andy probably put in a well-timed attack, with Alberto out of position (hmm, maybe he was on a nature break... chaingate turns into ****gate!). And yes, INITIALLY Vino goes hard to close the gap on Andy. But if...

For my own part, I'm not saying that it was wrong for Alberto to go. I'm saying two things: the evidence clearly shows Andy was the stronger rider today, and would've gained time, but for the mechanical. And IMHO, Alberto probably did know or at least suspect that Andy had a mechanical issue.

Ha! Nice job, I knew someone would do that.

So is anyone going to try to dispute this? After Andy got back on his bike, he went up the hill FASTER than Alberto! Doesn't that answer one question?

By the way, doesn't this seal the deal? Andy spent 30 seconds fussing with his chain (idiot), but then he makes up 20 seconds against AC (who was with teammates), chasing him up the hill? In other words... No way in hell would Alberto been able to catch Andy going up the hill. At which...