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

[Ryo Hazuki]

End of the Tour for us dutchies

I;m dutch and I enjoy this tour more every day

 

[sublimit]

77. GESINK Robert 41 RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 6h 18' 59" + 17' 44"

Cheers. 17 minutes plus.


Ouch

 

[ManInFull]

I sort of predicted this. I feared that it would be worse though. No reason to process the funeral at this stage. But well, if he is feeling the fatigue, then there is a reason to just wish him a high finish.

I agree. I just don't see him getting better. It was taking everything he had to hold on as long as he did. The "strong" AC would certainly have attacked at some point and would have undoubtedly went with Frank.

 

[theyoungest]

I;m dutch and I enjoy this tour more every day

Your boy Uran sort of failed today. Fecking Jeannesson beat him.

 

[fixedgear]

Do you believe him? He looked like he was fighting for his life to me in the final sprint today. Hard to buy a champion like him would be content with that performance.

He looks cooked. He was grimacing when the accelerations happened and I can't understand why he kept closing the gap to Frank. Why not let Cadel do the work? Despite his comments, I think he knows he won't win this tour. Hope Cadel hangs on for the win.

 

[sublimit]

Wth? He is injured.

It makes my day when the likes of you get banned

As somebody mentioned you are too sensitive.. You can dish it out but cant take it so I suggest you take a hike.

 

[Parrulo]

one thought crossed my mind tho.

what would have happened today if contador was on his giro form? i mean he clearly is miles away from his best form and he still was able to hang till the last 500 meters.

 

[No_Balls]

I think it is too early for fatigue more likely lack of form. The Pyrenees is probably ACs TdS or Dauphine. Having ridden the Giro he can't possibly have a proper Tour preparation.

That is another aspect. He only rode NC after the Giro and it can be judged as a proper preparation.

Good that we have a mountain stage tomorrow with a long distance to the end which means another prep. for getting the rhythm back. I think he even ruled out the pyrenees as a final verdict for the outcome (possibly knowledged that he would be a bit off there).

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Too bad Uran lost a lot of unnecessary time, but then again, so did many others. The white jersey is definitely within his reach tough.

he will eat jeanneson in itt although I expect to break him before that and taaramae will drop back even more as well. he will definetely take it, should he stay fit

 

[Dedelou]

So wheelsucker Leipheimer seems to be the RS leader again. I hope hog just goes for stages/KOM/whatever because I really do not want to see Zubeldia, Pauhlino, etc towing him up the mountain and doing nothing on their own.

Zubeldia is best placed in GC for that team..

 

[Gloin22]

The Russian sprinter Galimzyanov has finished the stage 58mins down, outside the time limit and been eliminated.

 

[Dedelou]

I'm bummed about Klöden. He finally had the chance to show what he can do in the Tour and ride for his own GC. This sucks.

Too many crashes have taken the fight out of his legs. He had another nasty crash today

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

How much did Gesink lose?

It made my day when he went out the back.

I laughed my *** off as well, can't wait for tonights talkshows making excuses for his ridiculous performance

 

[Anonymous]

He looks cooked. He was grimacing when the accelerations happened and I can't understand why he kept closing the gap to Frank. Why not let Cadel do the work? Despite his comments, I think he knows he won't win this tour. Hope Cadel hangs on for the win.

Cadel is not going to chase Frank. Frank will lose 1:00 + to Cadel in the TT. Cadel just needs to watch 1) Andy and 2) Contador 3) Frank if he extends his lead over Cadel close to a minute or so.

He controls this he wins.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Your boy Uran sort of failed today. Fecking Jeannesson beat him.

you fail at trolling

 

[sublimit]

The guy laughs at Gesinks failure.

I dont know why you target Dekker Tifosi, he has a right to respond to that post.

Look I was winding up Dekker and TLR as they always get their knickers in a twist over any criticism of the Dutch riders and then throw their toys out of the pram.. Its kind of funny to see and I wasn't disappointed today.

Gesink is rubbish anyway so I'm not surprised injured or non injured.

 

[Frihed89]

what happened?

Underinvestment! The GC stars were all waiting for someone else to attack. Waiting, they all decided, was the optimal strategy.

I'm not sure that Frank wasn't told to bolt.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Wot? 2,500 plus posts? Ridiculous. Nobody can read that much verbiage.

Had to wait until now to watch the last 10km.
Hah! Lose Ardiden.
I bet the Smuckies and Cuddles are kicking themselves.
Could have killed Bad Knee Bertie off completely, but were too timid by far.
Reputations all, eh?

Phil Gilbert TDF winner 2012.

Oh and Ivan and Damiano are back!

 

[luckyboy]

I laughed my *** off as well, can't wait for tonights talkshows making excuses for his ridiculous performance

Do you know he's injured?

 

[Dedelou]

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

Means the real Tour continues tomorrow and the day after and so on till Paris. People are amazing in their reactions. Less than 3 days back during the rest day, countless posters here were carrying on with the impending withdrawal of AC. Today stage sees his loose a few precious seconds but probably meet a personal challenge of doing rather well in the first mountain stage. The saga continues .. we have a competition rather than an domination. If AC was in troubles today and did not win.. his competitors didn't kill him either.. He is now in 7th place in the GC.. That means only 5 to 6 teams ahead now.

 

[Carl0880]

That is another aspect. He only rode NC after the Giro and it can be judged as a proper preparation.

Good that we have a mountain stage tomorrow with a long distance to the end which means another prep. for getting the rhythm back. I think he even ruled out the pyrenees as a final verdict for the outcome (possibly knowledged that he would be a bit off there).

Contador is the complete wild card of this tour. He could either just start a slow weardown from the Giro and just seem to be able to keep up or he may need a few days to get back to form and for a big attack. We all dont know, many of us think we know, but not sure. Don't forget the first day in teh mountains can be strange for some riders, sso Contador and A. Schleck form is a cause of question for today, but not a final verdict.

The worrisome possibility also is that maybe Contador just stays with the climbers and on the day of the TT he has his best form, and maybe Andy/Frank does not. This is probably not a likely scenario given the current facts, but if I am Leopard, its one I do need to keep in the back of my mind.

Andy Final TT form may seem to be better, but I think too many people are reading into last years results. There was massive cross/head wind for the final 30 riders. Only 1 of the Top 20 finished in the Top 30 of the stage, Menchov around 11th. The next in the stage results was Vinokourov at 33rd. Both of these riders are bigger and more solidly built riders who can handle the wind better.

Does the results indicate that A. Shleck was closer to Contador compared to previous years, yes I will agree, but I am not sure it means he close as significant as the time indicates.

 

[sublimit]

I laughed my *** off as well, can't wait for tonights talkshows making excuses for his ridiculous performance

I cant get Dutch TV which is a shame because that could be good!

 

[No_Balls]

one thought crossed my mind tho.

what would have happened today if contador was on his giro form? i mean he clearly is miles away from his best form and he still was able to hang till the last 500 meters.

He would have set a blistering pace. Luz Ardiden is not that steep (like Etna) and fit perfectly for his attack-time-trial-attack kind of style.

I saw immediately at Tourmalet that he was off, way off, his best. He was further back in the pack, sitting very close to the bars on the saddle, giving more powers on lesser parts, and his head somewhat sloping/turning.

So i was very pessimistic at the Tourmalet and foresaw a much worse outcome then the final told us.

 

[rainman]

I wrote the race report today, which turned out to be the length of a novel......

Back onlive report Sunday and the final Saturday. We trade off on duties so that nobody burns out.

Susan

thanks to you and team. Its the only coverage I can get at work.

 

[El Pistolero]

They're also going to get their hands full in trying to drop Voeckler lol. Barely lost 7 seconds to Contador. I'm not sure how his time trial is, but it can't possibly be worse than the Schlecks? Can it?