2011 Tour de France Stage 1: Passage du Gois - Mont des Alouettes 191.5 km

[icefire]

he says 30

The crash was on the right side of the road but it wasn't like lots of riders could get out of it on the left side. If he thinks he had only 30 men ahead of him when they were more than twice that number, that explains it all. He needs to learn to count.

 

[killswitch]

Impressive as usual by Gilbert.

Cance seems to have shed a lot of weight...

Yes, Saxobank need to have their fair share of blame for todays outcoming. Not because he himself was were he shouldnt have been but for the far from convincing work they put up after the crash.

Having said that, they wont lose 40 seconds to Leopard on a 20 km timetrial.

+ Contador's snail pace at the end was baffling...

 

[GroupDK]

I agree it was a big mistake from Saxo bank sungard was in that part of the peloton.

The danish tv station ask bjarne riis about it a few minutes after the race.

And as I recall he stated, that they have been up front in the peloton, and in regards to the next few km was a little big downhill they have decided to move a little bit down the peloton.
I dont know if it was to prewent a possible injuri if the front peloton went down from the little bit higher speed downhill or what.

From previus, it obvius that Riis allways prefered his rider and captain being infront of the peloton.

I cant not say if the have analyzed it to much, but one thing is for sure, you dont figure in a part where there are no other captains, primary because it would be almost impossible to come up in the peloton again if all the other teams have there toprider - 10km before stage-end..

 

[No_Balls]

Letting Samu's carrot army lead the chase was one of the strangest tactical decisions I've seen in the Tour in quite a while. They were six km from the end. They'll bury themselves for 20 km tomorrow to limit a smaller time loss than the one they didn't bother with today.

Indeed. Apart from politics in the Astana camp 2009 (when he on occasions was left alone) i have never seen such passive work for a captain in trouble. At least not which springs to mind.

 

[thirteen]

By the way, the Ag2r twitter and facebook accounts say that six of their riders hit the deck today. One of them was Nicolas Roche, but he finished with the lead group. Does anyone know where he went down?

very early on.

from CN commentary:

13:38:12 CEST
A crash! two Europcars and two Movistars. We think everyone is ok.

13:42:20 CEST
Apparently there were more riders involved in the crash than we were aware of. Nicolas Roche, for example, is only now being brought back up to the peloton. Well, actually he has just arrived there.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Indeed. Apart from politics in the Astana camp 2009 (when he on occasions was left alone) i have never seen such passive work for a captain in trouble. At least not which springs to mind.

And it wasn't even as if they were sitting back while another strong team did the work. Euskaltel are probably the worst team in the professional sport to have working to bring a split back on the flat.

 

[No_Balls]

+ Contador's snail pace at the end was baffling...

Can´t say i liked his body language at the end as well. Had he fire in his eyes and sprinting to make up the damage then i would have seen this as a mere hiccup which would have been solved as soon as the road turned upwards, but this was something else.

Wheter he suffers of the effects from Giro or it was a sign of the SBS state at that point i don´t know. But if they feel to much from the Giro then they are in trouble. The majority of SBS rode in Italy as well.

 

[palmerq]

Can´t say i liked his body language at the end as well. Had he fire in his eyes and sprinting to make up the damage then i would have seen this as a mere hiccup which would have been solved as soon as the road turned upwards, but this was something else.

Wheter he suffers of the effects from Giro or it was a sign of the SBS state at that point i don´t know. But if they feel to much from the Giro then they are in trouble. The majority of SBS rode in Italy as well.

I think contador is too tired for this tour and doesn't want to be here, but I am usually wrong

 

[mewmewmew13]

Can´t say i liked his body language at the end as well. Had he fire in his eyes and sprinting to make up the damage then i would have seen this as a mere hiccup which would have been solved as soon as the road turned upwards, but this was something else.

Wheter he suffers of the effects from Giro or it was a sign of the SBS state at that point i don´t know. But if they feel to much from the Giro then they are in trouble. The majority of SBS rode in Italy as well.

maybe a combo but maybe he is a bit depressed with all the dangling decisions out there...

 

[GroupDK]

I agree it was a big mistake from Saxo bank sungard was in that part of the peloton.

The danish tv station ask bjarne riis about it a few minutes after the race.

And as I recall he stated, that they have been up front in the peloton, and in regards to the next few km was a little big downhill they have decided to move a little bit down the peloton.
I dont know if it was to prewent a possible injuri if the front peloton went down from the little bit higher speed downhill or what.

From previus, it obvius that Riis allways prefered his rider and captain being infront of the peloton.

I cant not say if the have analyzed it to much, but one thing is for sure, you dont figure in a part where there are no other captains, primary because it would be almost impossible to come up in the peloton again if all the other teams have there toprider - 10km before stage-end..

But there have clearly been a mistake in conversation.
Riis stated that Contador and the protector-riders was where they should be before the crash in about 15-20 position and judging if the should fall a little bit down the peloton due to the nearest km a little downhill.
And obvius from the TV footage that Contador wasnt even close to that and way more back in the peloton.
http://ekstrabladet.dk/sport/tour-de-france/article1581056.ece

But its primary Matteo Tosatto role as a rider with a lot of rutine, to protect Contador and make sure that he is placed where he has to be.
And Matteo Tosatto got the place on the tour-team of many supprise, instead of Gustov Larson TT capblities, primary to nurse contador.

 

[killswitch]

The majority of SBS rode in Italy as well.

Larsson, Cooke and Nuyens must be completely out of form then...

 

[Boeing]

Welcome to the Tour De France Tommy D.

Rule number 1. Stay clear of christain Vande Velde at all times regardless

 

[Ninety5rpm]

The results are very confusing:

32 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:20
33 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
34 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
35 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard
36 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
37 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Pro Team Astana 0:00:06
38 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek 0:01:20
39 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:00:06
40 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team
41 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
42 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar
43 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ 0:01:20
44 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre - ISD 0:00:06
45 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack
46 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team 0:01:20
47 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Team RadioShack 0:00:06
48 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha Team
49 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling 0:01:20
50 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Katusha Team 0:00:06

I presume that those involved in the second crash, who came in at 1:20 with those involved in the first crash, were given the time of leading group 06) that they presumably would have come in with if not for the 2nd crash. Yes?

 

[No_Balls]

And it wasn't even as if they were sitting back while another strong team did the work. Euskaltel are probably the worst team in the professional sport to have working to bring a split back on the flat.

Yes, its probably stands in the blueprints of how to chase on the flat, point 1: Do not let an army of mountain-goats chase when after teams setting up their elite sprinters for the stage.

SBS should have immediately taking control of the situation and lead the chase. Crystal clear, really.

I think contador is too tired for this tour and doesn't want to be here, but I am usually wrong.

I do think he want to be there. But i am not sure his body is of the same opinion.

Let´s see how the next coming weeks turns out. He could be on a "down" to gain momentum and buliding a new form, like what we saw the first week in Italy.

 

[No_Balls]

Larsson, Cooke and Nuyens must be completely out of form then...

I didn´t like their absence. Larsson would have been necessary today (and certainly for tomorrow).

 

[luckyboy]

And it wasn't even as if they were sitting back while another strong team did the work. Euskaltel are probably the worst team in the professional sport to have working to bring a split back on the flat.

Just watched the end again. The accident happened at 9.4km out. By the time we all realised AC was in that group (about 6km out) he only had 2 riders with him - Porte and Navarro I think. Navarro was on the front with 2 Euskaltels until around 4km out, and Porte must've fallen back on the early part of the climb.

Weren't exactly sitting back.

 

[killswitch]

I didn´t like their absence. Larsson would have been necessary today (and certainly for tomorrow).

Larsson can also climb a bit (having finished in the top 15 in the Giro).

 

[luckyboy]

Larsson just won his national championship TT and did well in the Tour du Suisse prologue and TT as well.

 

[Arnout]

The results are very confusing:

32 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:20
33 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
34 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
35 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard
36 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
37 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Pro Team Astana 0:00:06
38 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek 0:01:20
39 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:00:06
40 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team
41 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
42 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar
43 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ 0:01:20
44 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre - ISD 0:00:06
45 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack
46 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team 0:01:20
47 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Team RadioShack 0:00:06
48 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha Team
49 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling 0:01:20
50 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Katusha Team 0:00:06

I presume that those involved in the second crash, who came in at 1:20 with those involved in the first crash, were given the time of leading group 06) that they presumably would have come in with if not for the 2nd crash. Yes?

Yes, even though this results show that the first crash was held up by the second crash

 

[luckyboy]

That results chart demonstrates how ****ed up the 3km is in an (admittedly rare) situation like this.

 

[GroupDK]

Just watched the end again. The accident happened at 9.4km out. By the time we all realised AC was in that group (about 6km out) he only had 2 riders with him - Porte and Navarro I think. Navarro was on the front with 2 Euskaltels until around 4km out, and Porte must've fallen back on the early part of the climb.

Weren't exactly sitting back.

Yeah that was also what i saw from the tv pictures.

for the most time it was offcourse the SBS riders there was pushing the pace to close the gap and it was first in the last 4km that euskatel also took the lead.

And not easy to gain on a peloton 10km before stage-end with almost all the teams with there captain and on the first day..

The main thing that I wondered about was SBS attitude the last few km when they got contact with andy shlecks group who offcourse just was rolling the last part on to finish, because of -3km rule.
Here should SBS have taken the lead and set the pace..

but actually a strange situation, when you think about it, there are in the same group, but for andy its all about to waiste time the last km to finish and the oppesit for contador..

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

yes, i also thought that sometimes

for example if you flat at 4km, wouldn't it be wise to try and hang on for dear life until 3km? and then change?

 

[killswitch]

LOL at Porte's tweet:

shared a trip in hotel lift with some of Team Leopards finest lads... Thanks @schleckfrank for the nasty little present as he exited!

 

[luckyboy]

Maybe Contador is just so confident that he is increasing the headstart for Andy every year..

Stage 3, 2009: 00'41"
Stage 3, 2010: 01'13"
Stage 1, 2011: 01'14"

 

[Ramira]

Maybe Contador is just so confident that he is increasing the headstart for Andy every year..

Stage 3, 2009: 00'41"
Stage 3, 2010: 01'13"
Stage 1, 2011: 01'14"

After Stage 3, 2009: 00'41" ahead. (yea he lost 41 seconds on the winner but so did Andy)
After Stage 3, 2010: 0'31" behind. (sure he lost 1'13" on Andy but he was 42 seconds behind after the Prologue)
After Stage 1, 2011: 01'14" behind. (this could well be over 01'31" after stage 3)

Considering he won by 39 seconds last year being over a minute further behind after stage 3 makes this gap quite meaningful.