2011 Tour de France Stage 16 (18/7/2011): Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Gap, 162.5km

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Now lets see what they do on Pramartino tomorow.

Its harder and its descent is worse. ANd it comes after Sestrieres.

With The Great One in the race, boredom is by no means guaranteed.

I predicted today would suck and tomorrow would be great...

I hope we get an even more awesome showing tomorrow.
awesome stuff...

 

[TourOfSardinia]

In my opinion Evans should have waited for Samu and Contador and work together to get a bigger gap on Voeckler and the Schleck. Now he wasted lots of energy for 3 seconds. The three of them working together on the last flat kilometers could have created a bigger gap than they did now. But still, great riding by Evans. And thanks Contador for bringing some life to the Tour.

It was time.

 

[Met de Versnelling]

Looks at sig.

Now to find those who ridiculed my statement...

 

[sportzchick]

In my opinion Evans should have waited for Samu and Contador and work together to get a bigger gap on Voeckler and the Schleck. Now he wasted lots of energy for 3 seconds. The three of them working together on the last flat kilometers could have created a bigger gap than they did now. But still, great riding by Evans. And thanks Contador for bringing some life to the Tour.

true but Samu and Contador are behind him in the standings - Cadel has lost by less then 30 seconds before so he knows every second counts

 

[Escarabajo]

+1.

On the last climb there will be an explosion of the GT contenders. This is the third week, and there will be no waiting.

Who is going to win. Probably a breakaway rider. But who cares, the excitement will happened behind in the main peloton.

I think I like my predictions.

Not that you needed a Crystal Ball to guess it.

 

[spalco]

if ac continues to improve he should win the tour tho.

otherwise evans might actually win......
umbelievable.

Yeah. I think Frank is still in it too though. Andy's gonna have to pull off a monster attack in the Alps; don't know if he has that in him.

 

[Ferminal]

In my opinion Evans should have waited for Samu and Contador and work together to get a bigger gap on Voeckler and the Schleck. Now he wasted lots of energy for 3 seconds. The three of them working together on the last flat kilometers could have created a bigger gap than they did now. But still, great riding by Evans. And thanks Contador for bringing some life to the Tour.

They wouldn't have worked with him... he put in maybe a little more effort than would have otherwise, but doing it this way forced Contador to use energy too.

 

[jobiwan]

The Tour isn't over for Andy by any means, but the gap over Contador is not so comfortable anymore. Tomorrow will be a nervous stage for sure.

Alberto still needs time over Cadel, and he could work with the Schlecks to get it.

Or he could just go on his own, too.

 

[hfer07]

I just want to state two thing:

1-) THANKS Mr CONTADOR FOR "REVIVING" THE RACE
2-) FROM NOW ON- IS ONLY ABOUT CONTADOR Vs EVANS 2.0

 

[luckyboy]

Weren't people saying the same about Contador after Luz? Clearly this wasn't Andy's day, but just goes to show how quickly things can turn. I wouldn't count Andy out just yet.

Contador lost a few seconds on a huge mountain when he was recovering from injury. Andy lost a minute on a pretty much nothing stage for GC.

 

[Jamsque]

GC Top Ten with times to Evans in brackets:

Voeckler
Evans 1'45" (0)
Frank 1'49" (4")
Andy 3'03" (1'18")
Samu 3'26" (1'41")
Contador 3'42" (1'57")
Basso 3'49" (2'04")
Cunego 4'01" (2'16")
Danielson 6'04" (4'19")

Frank and Andy have to attack in the Alps if they can, but I think this tour is Contador's to lose now. He can put 1'30" in to Cadel over the two MTFs and take the rest in the ITT.

 

[RedZone]

In my opinion Evans should have waited for Samu and Contador and work together to get a bigger gap on Voeckler and the Schleck. Now he wasted lots of energy for 3 seconds. The three of them working together on the last flat kilometers could have created a bigger gap than they did now. But still, great riding by Evans. And thanks Contador for bringing some life to the Tour.

how so?
cadel rode flat out and the 2 working together couldnt catch him, so they wouldnt have been any faster all together

 

[bicing]

Everything was great about this stage, but Hushovd winning his second stage after wearing the yellow jersey for so long is just too much for me.

Pity.

He is having an unbelievablly wonderful tour after his absence from the spring classics. I'm impressed!

 

[Gingerale]

thor!

but yellow is for voeckler .

happy! at least conti attacked on the climb. samu and evans followed. the others couldn't.

evans better on the descent but only gained 3 seconds. contador is baaaack!

 

[Descender]

What a pathetic loser this Andy Schleck... I almost pity him. Almost.

 

[sublimit]

Hagen blew that, He can learn from Cav next year how to finish a sprint.

 

[kurtinsc]

In my opinion Evans should have waited for Samu and Contador and work together to get a bigger gap on Voeckler and the Schleck. Now he wasted lots of energy for 3 seconds. The three of them working together on the last flat kilometers could have created a bigger gap than they did now. But still, great riding by Evans. And thanks Contador for bringing some life to the Tour.

I don't think it would have mattered. I don't think he was working to distance Contador and Sanchez on the descent... it just happened. In the flats waiting for them to catch up wouldn't have gotten him any more time on Voeckler I think, though it might have saved him a little energy.

 

[jsem94]

Cavendish rides brilliantly. LOL.

What a race. Best stage so far by a LONG shot. Samu, Conti and Evans really gave it to AS and his cowardly riding. Tommy V gave it all in the descent, all power to him. I think the podium is going to be Cuddles, Conti & Samu. Ivan Basso was another loser today, sad.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

LMAO....
That was racing like in the 80´s.

The Schrecks: kaputt (loosing 20 and over 60 seconds).
Now it was payback for not attacking.
The gain of 2 seconds might help to save the 10th spot in the end.

 

[SarahDane]

39 seconds between Andy and Bertie. I think that number sounds familiar?

Well, who said everyone (and Andy) looked like a great descender next to Frankie?

Voeckler, Andy and Basso are the biggest losers her.

And what was with Cav coming in just after Andy? I think the poster, who said he was answering the rumours about him holding on to the cars, is right.

Great stuff from the poster who said Andy should have dropped his chain on the descent.

 

[gorgos]

Norway 1-2

Oh dear

Norway 1-2-3. Hesjedal is of Norwegian descent.

 

[woodie]

This aint over.

Hopefully not, maybe he might attack now, but I really don't think he has the form.

It will be interesting either way

 

[hughmoore]

Great ride from Cuddles, Contador and Sanchez.

Go Cuddles!!!!!!!




Hugh

 

[lilyprotector]

This aint over.

+1
anything could still happen. didn't believe contador was out from his bad day, and he is clearly racing again. andy could rise again, but the problem is he needs to get a ton of time on evans.

but it's not looking great for andy. and he came in 45s after frank. wtf happened today?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Cavendish finished 4 minutes ahead of Gesink.

Did he get pulled by a Ferrari or?