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

[Anonymous]

Frank looks pretty confident. The good thing about him being the Lay-O-Tard leader is that he has questionable TT skills (not saying none, but it is his weak point), so it could stay exciting for the whole tour.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Meh ACF was right again Today where many tipped Cadel and BMC to crumble.

 

[Finn84]

Hoogerland 93rd today 24'26".

 

[Kopuliak]

tony martin and peter velits GONE GONE GONE

Velits fastest rider in last climb, faster than 2nd Sanchez there.Finally, he's still only 1min behind TOP 10 a he made 5 mins to T. Martin today...

 

[Duartista]

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.

Yep. If it wasn't for Sanchez and Lotto it would have been terrible.

 

[SiAp1984]

Greipel beats Cavendish (who gloriously fights back the next day), Alberto Contador cracks (well, not for good... yet...) in the mountains, Evans can stay with the best uphill... What a great week in the Tour! Sad thing, that Andreas Klöden crashed again today and therefore had to give up all his GC-hopes... Oh, and Martin should not go for the overall in a three-week-race. He just doesn't have it...

 

[salixcycling]

They are all dickheads (being the ITV guys).

Still a good ride by Geraint Thomas.

No, P&P are, but the ITV crew themselves add a lot to the presentation.

Excellent ride by G - much better than anyone reasonably expected.

 

[taiwan]

Hoogerland 93rd today 24'26".

If he's out of teh polkadots anyway, maybe he can DNS now.

 

[dlwssonic]

LOL at everyone saying contador was "bluffing" about him having poor shape. great ride by cuddles today he looked very strong in the mountains and put the hammer down. of cause he doesnt have the acceleration to drop basso and schlecks. it took a while but i actually think he can win le tour. a schlecks evans podium is looking likely. basso is a bit far back and he has an average TT. he needs to drop them in the mountains. In the end samu gained a magnificent 10 seconds! after an effort of 15km. nahhh just kidding around with hitch. great ride by him but he could have gotten a few more seconds if not for that super long celebration.

 

[Kwibus]

I feel sad for Gesink, I hope he goes to la vuelta with fresh legs and wins. I have become fond of his riding style over the past 12 months.

I will cheer for him if he decides to leave the Tour. He's a GC rider, not a guy to get into a break so that he can win the stage.
Winning the Vuelta (podium is also fine ) is a lot more interesting imo.

 

[Dedelou]

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.

Not really too bad a stage if you consider it as the first real mountain test. However, Voekler hanging , Gilbert and a few others still near the front at the finish probably means the big guys all held back

 

[patrick767]

Attack like crazy, because they'll need a BIG gap. I think now that they know Contador's not completely there, they can attack full blast.

If they can do that, I could see Frank getting on the Podium.

I'm still surprised they didn't go harder and earlier today with Contador struggling, but maybe they didn't have it in them or maybe it's just because it's the first true mountain stage and even though it was a huge one with potentially big time gaps, they road tentatively to test the waters.

 

[dlwssonic]

Meh ACF was right again Today where many tipped Cadel and BMC to crumble.

dont forget me when i predicted BMC and evans will unleash all hell on the poor souls of the schlecks and contador Morabito is looking good.

 

[sublimit]

They are all dickheads (being the ITV guys).

Still a good ride by Geraint Thomas.

They are full of **** apart from Boardman. Nice ride by the G-man considering the hard lead out stuff he does on the flat.

 

[Arnout]

Basso's gonna win the Tour.

 

[No_Balls]

Some notes in brief:

- Leopard not that strong as i thought it was.

- Voeckler man of the day.

- Saxobank pretty decent up to Luz where they fell of like bricks. Disappointed at Sörensen and Navarro.

- Contador is not there sadly. Even more worse then last year. However not so far off as i feared. Combination of tireness+knee perhaps. If there is that knee he might get better. Still just the first mountain-stage. He must do something miracuosly know though.

- Andy didnt look that strong either. I am not sure he eased today. Frank stronger of them two for know.

- Cuddles did a smooth ride.

- Very well earned win today for Samu.

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, after today, Voeckler is a bit more likeable. Nice of him to congratulate Samu, and his interview was good also.

 

[Kwibus]

As ive explained its because stage wins mean far less to me than the GC. I havent been hyping up Samu for a year because i felt it was possible that he could get that earth shaking once in a lifetime - TDF stagewin.

GC is my concern.

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.

I think people are mostly trying to tell you to get over your selfpity that Sanchez is out of contention for the podium. I'm not sure he's out of contention, but you allready said his chances for the podium are gone after 2 stages. That's like 10 days ago so maybe it's time to get over yourself?

 

[Ad Rock]

Brilliant shot of Rasmussen. I've softened on him recently and realize he got screwed in a major way.

EDIT: I hasten to add that I still don't like him.

Where is the original of that Pic btw? ...would make a great wallpaper!

I almost hate to say it, but my opinion of the guy has done 360 as well... in 2007 I was at the Tour when he was tossed and was glad to see the guy fall from grace....

...then last month I went to Lake Garda, Italy and it turned out I was staying only about a kilometer from his bike shop, Los Locos! Went in to see if they had anything interesting and was quite surprised when Michael himself walked out and sat down at the front counter!

Of course, I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass by and politely asked if he would mind if I snapped a quick picture with him.... I was quite surprised when he suggested that we go outside to where the light was better to get a better picture... ie: he was more than willing to oblige a cycling fan to a picture!... He was super nice and seemed genuinely interested in where I was from (he had spent some time in Canada, where I'm from), what I was doing in Garda, whether I was enjoying myself...etc etc. I talked to him for at least 20-30 minutes and found him very cool, calm, personable, and down to earth.... seemed like a genuinely nice guy! ...Since then I can't help but think that maybe it really was just a mistake that left him in so much trouble back in '07... and if it wasn't, you need to forgive and forget at some point!

 

[goggalor]

Fun stage. Awesome win for Samu. Evans now needs to let Andy's acceleration go on the next mountain top finish and ride tempo behind. Better to give both Schlecks one minute each than two minutes to one of them.

 

[hrotha]

Not really too bad a stage if you consider it as the first real mountain test. However, Voekler hanging , Gilbert and a few others still near the front at the finish probably means the big guys all held back

Yeah, there's precedent, but it's really sad that a stage with a perfect parcours being a snooze-fest is what we've come to expect just because it's the first one.

 

[The Sheep]

I feel sad for Gesink, I hope he goes to la vuelta with fresh legs and wins. I have become fond of his riding style over the past 12 months.

this dutch maffia member is rooting for Evans now

 

[auscyclefan94]

They are full of **** apart from Boardman. Nice ride by the G-man considering the hard lead out stuff he does on the flat.

Can't stand rendell or Boulting. So biased.

 

[spalco]

The ITV pundits are going crazy about Geraint's ride today. Gary Imlach suggested that if he had not been in the breakaway he would have been up there with the GC guys on the final climb...

Well, if Voeckler managed to do it...

 

[UselessToo]

sad hero of the day - Peter Velits (crash, mechanical in the bad time - monster tempo by Leopard Trek and lost "only" 4minutes)