2011 Tour de France, Stage 12: Cugnaux - Luz-Ardiden, 209 km

[dgodave]

The big thing about today was Tommy Danielson...mega WTF!

He's the hometown boy here. I was happy to see him do well. Hope he hangs in there.
.

 

[jobiwan]

Samu in polka tomorrow!

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

Very happy to see Cunego up there!

+1 million

Forza little dude.

Although...I think he will crack big time on one of the climbs.

 

[DenisMenchov]

WOW 100. rider hasn t finished yet.

 

[sublimit]

given how weak Contador and Andy seemed today compared to leat yearm it really sucks for the GC who are already out.,. VDB, Wiggins etc

I would of been interested in what Horner could of done today but we will never know. Wiggens probably would of held on also.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Samu in polka tomorrow!

awesome reward for showing balls today.

 

[Sylvester]

Its like telling me i should be dancing in the stree because he won GP MIG, which by the way i see as a bigger victory than this.

You're overdoing it. Less is more. I suggest you read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislavski's_system to improve your internet persona's acting abilities.

 

[TeoSheva]

I would of been interested in what Horner could of done today but we will never know. Wiggens probably would of held on also.

Wiggins lost a great chance...

 

[hrotha]

By the way:
74. SANCHEZ Luis-Leon 47 RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 6h 18' 43" + 17' 28"

LOL

 

[musorowegudo]

1O stage to go and several mountains finish still.. Lots can happen for better or worse..

If AC said the real tour starts in the Pyrenees, and he looses time there, what does it mean?

 

[jobiwan]

I am wondering about the time Andy would need on others going into the time trial:

Frank -0:45
Cadel +1:30
Contador +0:45
Basso -0:30

And Frank:

Andy +0:45
Cadel +2.15
Contador +1:30
Basso +0:15

How accurate is that?

Also is Voeckler likely to hang in there much longer?

Sure if Andy were in yellow it would help him a lot, but over Cadel? I'd say he really needs AT LEAST 2 minutes. Just to be safe you know.

 

[Andre.J]

Wow, 52 pages before the race even started...

Who says cycling is not popular?

 

[No_Balls]

this what I see so far:
*Basso is dangerous-cannot be underestimated

Agree.

*the Schleck Bro's playing by their book-the one-two punch is working and might catapult Frank in a very good position, if the rest are only paying attention to Andy..that is dangerous-even if he stinks in the ITT he can have a conformable buffer by the time they reach the last week...

Thing is Frank stinks even more in the ITT so it is probably wisest to watch Andy first. How he looked today couldnt make any of his few fans happy.

*Evans looking good & I hope he'll be more aggressive in stages to come- he just cannot win the tour by Following Basso...

He will follow everyone whereva.

*Contador is not going to win this one and I state it right now-the evidence is there-too much fatigue & crashes combined together have just wore him down-I cannot he him "magically" getting back in shape by the 3rd week-and even if he can- he might have a huge deficit by then...

For sure. It is not looking good. But give it some mountains more. He might pull off something when/if he gets the feeling back .

 

[Pharazon]

size of the autobus is insane

80 riders finished at 33.05

 

[DenisMenchov]

I m really disappointed that Van den Broeck abandoned. He would blow them today

 

[Lanark]

I am wondering about the time Andy would need on others going into the time trial:

Frank -0:45
Cadel +1:30
Contador +0:45
Basso -0:30

And Frank:

Andy +0:45
Cadel +2.15
Contador +1:30
Basso +0:15

How accurate is that?

Also is Voeckler likely to hang in there much longer?

I would say Andy needs about 1 minute on Cadel in the ITT. He 'only' lost 2 minutes to Cadel in the final ITT in the 2008 Tour, and he has gotten a lot better since then, while Cadel has become worse. Evans hasn't been really that great in the ITT's this year anyway, I think a minute on Evans or Contador will be a confortable lead for Andy Schleck.

Fränk has done some decent ITT's in his life, but on a bad day he can be really, really poor. I think he will lose a little bit more than your predicitions.

 

[Dermie]

this what I see so far:
*Basso is dangerous-cannot be underestimated

*the Schleck Bro's playing by their book-the one-two punch is working and might catapult Frank in a very good position, if the rest are only paying attention to Andy..that is dangerous-even if he stinks in the ITT he can have a conformable buffer by the time they reach the last week...

*Evans looking good & I hope he'll be more aggressive in stages to come- he just cannot win the tour by Following Basso...

*Contador is not going to win this one and I state it right now-the evidence is there-too much fatigue & crashes combined together have just wore him down-I cannot he him "magically" getting back in shape by the 3rd week-and even if he can- he might have a huge deficit by then...

Cadel did real well, he did a lot of work in those last k's, and he rode smart by not trying to chase down frank he rode like a real world champion made me feel warm and fuzzy as his fanboy

 

[Anonymous]

given how weak Contador and Andy seemed today compared to leat yearm it really sucks for the GC who are already out.,. VDB, Wiggins etc

I dont think Andy was weak at all.

 

[kurtinsc]

The big thing about today was Tommy Danielson...mega WTF!

Not too big a WTF, there were other bigger suprises near the front.

Danielson is mentally weak, and always seems to get sick in the third week of a GT... but he's got a 6th, 7th and 9th place finish in the three Vueltas he's finished. He was sitting at 9th in the other Vuelta he withdrew from after stage 17.

He's never going to win a GT, but getting a top 10 at the TDF isn't really suprising as long as he doesn't have his trademark sickness next week.

 

[patrick767]

Also is Voeckler likely to hang in there much longer?

I don't see how he can. He's not a top tier climber. It's amazing that he hung in there today.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I dont think Andy was weak at all.

+1

when necessary he closed gaps with ease

 

[Captain_Cavman]

Cadel did that all by himself pretty much.

Basso has got Szmyd. Andy's got Frank. Contador's got CAS.
Who does Cadel have? Morabito. Everyone's quivering in fear!

BMC will Cadel's downfall in this Tour.

Lots of Teams without a team leader now. BMC need to spend some big bucks getting them to ride for Cadel.

 

[saganftw]

with so many favourites out of the race,i wont be surprised to see voeckler in top 10 in paris

basso,cunego,evans quite impressive

contador vulnerable but still in the game

schlecks will proly blow the tour playing all kind of mind games

HTC complete GC failure with martin,i hope they start to see velits as their only serious GC hope and LEAVE HIM ALONE IN FLAT STAGES,cav can win with 7 men anyway

good ride by various no-name artists like vanendert,jeanesson,rolland

nice victory for sanchez but i dont think he can podium this year,maybe polka dot...

 

[Dermie]

I would say Andy needs about 1 minute on Cadel in the ITT. He 'only' lost 2 minutes to Cadel in the final ITT in the 2008 Tour, and he has gotten a lot better since then, while Cadel has become worse. Evans hasn't been really that great in the ITT's this year anyway, I think a minute on Evans or Contador will be a confortable lead for Andy Schleck.

Fränk has done some decent ITT's in his life, but on a bad day he can be really, really poor. I think he will lose a little bit more than your predicitions.

Looked to me that Cadel rode very well in the TTT this year so why would he not ride real well in the ITT???

 

[Ferminal]

By the way, all the drama in the last 4 km, and all the balls exhibited by Samu, can't change the fact that the stage sucked.

Agreed 100%.

Like I said before the start, interesting from an overall perspective, but unlikely that the stage would entertain. Hats off to Leopard though (the team, no the Schlecks).