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

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I rather have Evans or Basso win than the Schlecks.
So for god sake I hope Cadel holds it together

 

[jobiwan]

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

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.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

sorry hitch, couldn't resist

 

[Phoenix23]

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.

 

[sublimit]

The S Sanchez win was gifted to him by the Shlecks lol.



Only kidding.
I'll get my coat...

 

[dlwssonic]

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.

hey morabito was with there with the favs and he only dropped in the last 7 plus km i think.

 

[marco1_79]

Basso was the strongest today. He was quite fresh at the end of stage while Andy didn't look so great.

 

[Anonymous]

its the first mountain, it aint over yet.

 

[theyoungest]

I honestly don't know who to cheer for now... I'm not particularly fond of the Schlecks, I don't care much for Evans the GT rider, I sort of like Basso but not how he rode today... Thomas Voeckler?

Oh wait, there's still Contador. Let's hope he recovers a bit.

 

[MartinGT]

Can't stand rendell or Boulting. So biased.

Both bell ends. Ned should stick to Wendy Ball.

 

[Pharazon]

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

 

[auscyclefan94]

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.

Morabito, Moinard and Santaromita supported him very well. I think he doesn't mind if he is delivered to the final climb with a few team mates and then drop off. Morabito didn't go too hard in the final. Could of finished much higher.

 

[TRDean]

Very happy to see Cunego up there! I hope he continues to ride well. I'm putting my hopes in Evans. I just don't want a Schleck to win. Maybe Frank...but not Andy.

 

[The Hitch]

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?

Well i would point out that hes exactly 5 seconds better off than 10 days ago.

Had Cadel or Basso or one of the Schlecks been dropped then there would be reason to hope, but they all still looking strong and are way way ahead of him.

 

[spalco]

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

I fully agree, I enjoyed it a lot. I don't know what more people expected than what ended up happening.

 

[MartinGT]

Right kids, Im off

Thanks all and have fun

 

[auscyclefan94]

The Hitch is the new me with his fanboyism!

 

[patrick767]

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.

 

[hfer07]

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...

 

[spalco]

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.

That's not what they did though. Yes, hats off to Evans, he hung on and looked good, but he hardly ripped apart the field today.

 

[auscyclefan94]

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

 

[DenisMenchov]

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!

I also met Rasmussen and he is a very nice guy.

 

[rainman]

10th overall for Nicholas Roche, delighted for him

 

[Sea The Stars]

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?

 

[TeoSheva]

where is Cav? I think on saturday will be really hard to stay in the time limit...