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

[MartinGT]

I am starting to loose some of my admiration I had from ASchleck.

He is so nervous, all the time looking for Bertie. When Bertie was "suffering" they didnt have the tactics to attack him using FS & AS and wear him down.

Now they are complaining about descents not suiting them etc. If they want to save face come up with a better excuse, bull sh!t, whatever!

I have always admired the GC riders for their athletisism and their climbing etc. But now I just dont want to hear their moaning. At least when Bertie has an off day he will be honest.

*sigh*

I also dont understand the "hate" towards Thor winning today. Some people saying that EBH deserved it and was better, well, Thor crossing the line first says different.

Anyways

Chapeau and see you all again tomorrow

Crack

 

[therhodeo]

ive lost every respect for Sammy Sanchez over the last couple of days, instead of going for the win himself big time, he is talking bout helping a guy who doesnt even ride on the same team?

His best friend and countryman. Which makes 2 really solid domestiques from other teams for him counting Tiralongo.

 

[No_Balls]

The tour may be over by the time I get home but the first thing I'll do when I get back is download this stage.

Do you know any good web-site where you can download stages?

 

[Arnout]

Do you know any good web-site where you can download stages?

cyclingtorrents[dot]nl

 

[BM1979]

Maybe i was being a bit to harsh on Cuddles and his attacking. It definately took balls from him to do the descent the way he did and well done for that.

Also i will admit he has attacked more than 3 times in his career.

Worlds, FW, Giro stage 7 and now a half attack on the descent so thats 3 and a half.

Joking aside, what prompted my responce was someone writing that Cadel and Contador are the ones who deserve praise for attacking riding, and i stand by my assertion that it is wrong to compare Contador who possibly has the most famous signature attack in cycling history, vs Evans who does it very rarely.

And obviously i believe a number of other riders deserve more praise for attacking in this Tour than Cadel.

To be fair though , For Cadel to do an attack that looks as explosive as AC , the Group would have to be pedalling backwards, he just is not that sort of climber.

He rides to his strengths and I just hope they gain another minute on the brothers tomorrow.

 

[No_Balls]

cyclingtorrents[dot]nl

Alright, thanks.

 

[Kwibus]

I´m inclined to think the same. The crash just gave him an excuse.

I also doubt he had the form, but it's impossible to tell. When you fall driving 70km/h and you fall on your back how would you feel? You'd have serious bruises and it's impossible to recover from such a blow within a week. You'd probably wouldn't have gone to work as it would hurt too much.

So I'm not going to say that Gesink uses his crash as an excuse. I most certainly have my doubts, but it's too easy to say he's mentally weak like some dutch media suggest or that he uses it as an excuse for his possible poor form.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Gesink was allright in the Dauphine when the mountains hit. I'm not going with the 'not in shape' story.

He has more problems with his back than he is letting the world know.

 

[thirteen]

ive lost every respect for Sammy Sanchez over the last couple of days, instead of going for the win himself big time, he is talking bout helping a guy who doesnt even ride on the same team?

Sammy is doing exactly what he should -- anything he needs to do to win. by helping AC, he is helping himself as well. he's riding very smart, imo, getting rid of pretenders.

 

[Spine Concept]

I also doubt he had the form, but it's impossible to tell. When you fall driving 70km/h and you fall on your back how would you feel? You'd have serious bruises and it's impossible to recover from such a blow within a week. You'd probably wouldn't have gone to work as it would hurt too much.

So I'm not going to say that Gesink uses his crash as an excuse. I most certainly have my doubts, but it's too easy to say he's mentally weak like some dutch media suggest or that he uses it as an excuse for his possible poor form.

I´ve heard the ''what if you crashed at 70 km/h'' argument so much that it is the very reason I think that gave him an excuse. Let's be frank, Gesink wasn't at his best the whole first part of the season leading up to the Tour. If it wasn't for his improved time trialing he wouldn't have had any notable result aside from Oman. At the Dauphine he shows up for two days where the favorites didn't have many reasons to chase him down and he still couldn't drop Wiggins. I'm sorry but I just don't buy it.

 

[trevim]

His best friend and countryman. Which makes 2 really solid domestiques from other teams for him counting Tiralongo.

And the entire Movistar team The guy knows how to make friends!

 

[Sem Travões]

Well Andy really needs some Downhill training this winter (now would be better I guess), hopefully for him he didn't had to take the Armstrong shortcut.
In any case, this stage was great in one thing, now and more than ever with the exception of Evans, or Voeckler (I don't believe I just write that), everyone must attacks in every piece of climb of the next stages.
It's gonna BE like Sir Bobby Robson used to say when he was training in Portugal.

ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK

 

[131313]

And yet Vaughters decided that Thor wasn't to go for green. The green jersey race might look different if he hadn't done something that foolish. Oh, Cav would still be in the lead, but Thor would be better placed.

??

Thor never would have been allowed in either of those breaks if he'd have been in the hunt for green. The strategy actually worked perfectly, two stage wins for Thor (and 3 for Garmin). Which is two more than he'd have had otherwise.

I have to say though, it's a good thing Thor won today because that was the most curious piece of riding by Hesjedal I think I've ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen a guy do the fake sell-out better than that. Next time Ryder, maybe you should actually attack in the last 2K and let your teammate counter. It may even work out for you in the end!

 

[powderpuff]

When did Evans attack.

No he didn't have to attack he just simply rode away from him.

Long way to go to Paris with lots of big climbs and plenty of attacks to cover; this race is far from over.

 

[etymology]

excellent stage, grand to have contador back to liven things up.

i have neither a clue what will happen in the next three stages, nor any reality based speculation regarding the final podium. *if* the next three stages are ***half*** as animated as today's, we are in for a few barn-burnig days of real racing.

i know one thing for sure, and i know it to be true because phil and paul said it:
"i had a feeling cadel's plan was to attack today, but contador did it before him"

*that* explains everything, doesn't it?

 

[mr. tibbs]

Samu is the overlooked star of this race. He's been quietly destroying everyone for a week, and the fans and commentators don't seem to notice. Without that silly stage 1 business...

 

[LaFlorecita]

please tell me he didn't say that. please.

just when i thought he couldn't fall any lower in my esteem

He's going to like tomorrow's descent even better

 

[Escarabajo]

You dont think this years GC was a lot more open for guys like Gesink and VDB than usual?

Of course, but because Evans is in good position for the win it does not translate into Gesink having a good chance for the win.

Things change from year to year. Evans is better than the last two years. That’s a fact. So you can not use his last two years performance as a comparison baseline.

What about Cunego. With which Cunego you want to compare him to??? I have no idea.

You see, A > B and B > C does not mean A>C, especially when we use different years as comparison. Tours are raced differently from year to year also. So many variables that you can not have a good assessment had a rider not crashed out of contention.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I´ve heard the ''what if you crashed at 70 km/h'' argument so much that it is the very reason I think that gave him an excuse. Let's be frank, Gesink wasn't at his best the whole first part of the season leading up to the Tour. If it wasn't for his improved time trialing he wouldn't have had any notable result aside from Oman. At the Dauphine he shows up for two days where the favorites didn't have many reasons to chase him down and he still couldn't drop Wiggins. I'm sorry but I just don't buy it.

He dropped Wiggins, Evans and JvdB in the Allevard stay. Please pay attention.

Ofcourse it's a matter of opinion but I don't buy the whole not in shape thing. I firmly believe he left his entire form on the road to Cap Frehel.

 

[therhodeo]

And the entire Movistar team The guy knows how to make friends!

Haha I didn't want to throw out all the other guys in the peloton who would likely help him but I agree. I love cycling for this. So counter to American sports where everything is based on the team.

 

[rides like a girl]

I really have to have a better strategy for getting to work and still watch the stages! Today I blame the engineer who laid the road between the train station and my house. Had he done a better job, perhaps with fewer lights and no other cars, I wouldn't have missed the attacks. By the time I got to the station, they were on the downhill. Engineer should be fired for such incompetence. How dare he make the road like that!

 

[Spine Concept]

He dropped Wiggins, Evans and JvdB in the Allevard stay. Please pay attention.

He ''dropped'' them in one stage. Factor in the fact that Wiggins and the others had no reason to chase him - if they could - and it wasn't that impressive at all. In the other one he attacked with 1 km or less to the finish. That hardly attests to having great form. An another note, you are one to talk about paying attention, let's not get into that.

It is indeed a matter of opinion, I have based mine on observations since the start of the season. He's just not the same Gesink this year. The truth hurts but I have come to terms with it, maybe you should too.

 

[etymology]

I really have to have a better strategy for getting to work and still watch the stages! Today I blame the engineer who laid the road between the train station and my house. Had he done a better job, perhaps with fewer lights and no other cars, I wouldn't have missed the attacks. By the time I got to the station, they were on the downhill. Engineer should be fired for such incompetence. How dare he make the road like that!

ahhhhhhhhhh, quit yer' whining and be thankful the three cars ahead of you did not attack in the rain!

 

[Bumeington]

sorry. don't know how to add accents. there's an accent on the "a".

stupid joke on "cyclisme a deux vitesses" and not going all the way to "cyclisme a une vitesse".

don't want to go any further anyway or translate it as further discussion would require the clinic.

just a silly joke.

For the record I thought it was a great joke

 

[Swabian Lass]

Or that they didn't swerve into you to avoid a passing tree!