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

[Angliru]

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 69:00:56
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:01:45
3 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:01:49
4 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:03:03
5 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:03:26
6 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:03:42
7 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:03:49
8 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:04:01
9 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:06:04

What a great stage!!

Jobiwan out of respect for you I'm holding back my celebration. No offense but I couldn't help but get a chuckle out of your altered signature line.

 

[Spine Concept]

Gesink: his pre-Tour season this year was better than last year. His placings in T-A and Pais Vasco were better. His '11 Dauphinee was poorer than his '10 Suisse, but overall CQ says this season was worth 100 pts more.

If he lacked mental or physical toughness he wouldn't have finished the 2009 Vuelta in 6th place after crashing (on his knee, was it?) on stage 17.

Well, you managed to miss the point. Believe it or not he could have done better, he has that much potential. Especially this year after he displayed his improved time trial abilities. Delahaye said himself that Gesink could have won the T-A had he not struggled psychologically during the course of the race. It was evident through his climbing, which was below par to say the least. Furthermore, he might have done better in those races, but he sucked hard in the (semi-) classics. If you want to continue this discussion I suggest we take it to the corresponding thread before we get reprimanded for hijacking another thread with Gesink jibber jabber.

 

[Angliru]

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

Well Leopard said they needed Contador to attack for their strategy to be successful. Well Contador attacked but Leopard failed to hold up their end... Time for plan B.

 

[Captain_Obvious]

Goddamnit. I sure picked a good day to skip the tour!

 

[Spine Concept]

Goddamnit. I sure picked a good day to skip the tour!

Shame on you. It was epic, for more reasons than one. Hope you can get to watch the extended highlights.

 

[Captain_Obvious]

Shame on you. It was epic, for more reasons than one. Hope you can get to watch the extended highlights.

Yea i'm downloading some stuff now

I'm beating myself over the head though; would have LOVED to see that unexpected attack. What a champ.

 

[Polka Dot Punter]

Hated the fact that Thor won. These stages used to present a chance for the lesser riders to get themselves a chance of the win after spending so much time working for the big names. There have been very few chances for a break to even get away and now Hushovd has decided to take two of those opportunities away from them as well.

Not Thor's fault, and the other breakaway riders today are somewhat stupid for having worked with him to begin with, but I'm really hating that the domestiques and smaller riders aren't getting their chance this tour.

 

[Cimber]

Only downside to the stage was Thor winning it.

 

[Dedelou]

They should neutralize this

call it a "chain reaction"..Schleck loosing time when the road is not rising on a stage that didn't even deserve to be mentioned according to many people here

 

[Spine Concept]

Can't hate Thor for being ambitious though. Aside from that you have to love the way he caught EBH with his pants down.

 

[taiwan]

Well, you managed to miss the point. Believe it or not he could have done better, he has that much potential. Especially this year after he displayed his improved time trial abilities. Delahaye said himself that Gesink could have won the T-A had he not struggled psychologically during the course of the race. It was evident through his climbing, which was below par to say the least. Furthermore, he might have done better in those races, but he sucked hard in the (semi-) classics. If you want to continue this discussion I suggest we take it to the corresponding thread before we get reprimanded for hijacking another thread with Gesink jibber jabber.

Well you said " he's not the same/not up to his usual standards/based on early season results", but by objective measure his season so far has been better overall. If the point which I missed is that his family issue is affecting him psychologically, then it's still not affecting the level of his racing generally. Is that all you were saying-that his head issues haven't made him any worse? Reposted in the appropriate thread.

 

[red_flanders]

Just heard the Andy Interview. Some excellent points:

"People don't wanna see the riders taking chances." (to be fair, said in regards to the descend, but still, come on...

"Is this really what people wanna see, the race being raced on the downhills and not the mountains." (well, no, we would much rather see it being raced on stage 1 because of a crash and the 3km rule. The pacours wasn't bad then, was it?)

Babbling on and on about the bad pacours...

I must say, Fränk is a MUCH more gracious looser than Andy, wouldn't mind him winning at all, except for the fact that he is Andy's brother, and then his team. But that shouldn't mean too much. RESPECT Fränk.

Full agreement on all points.

I guess Andy thinks we want to see his enforcer Cancellara neutralize the stages when he falls behind. What a shameful attitude. Never rooting for that guy again.

 

[red_flanders]

Frank views on the stage:

“We were a bit surprised that Contador went on the climb,” said Fränk Schleck. “We didn’t count out the possibility. of course. We know that he is a rider that attacks when he has good legs, but we had anticipated he would wait for the Alps.”

“Contador knows all too well that the Schlecks don’t perform at their best in the cold and rainy conditions,” Fränk said. “It’s all part of the game -- knowing your opponents and knowing their weaknesses. He knows the conditions today, coupled with the dangerous descent, were not our strong point.”

Source: http://www.leopardtrek.lu/news/schlecks-lose-time-rainy-day-gap

Good heavens what a stark contrast to his whiny little brother. Go Fränk. Hope you gain leadership of the team with your legs.

 

[Dedelou]

This aint over.

i will agree fully. This tour is not over until.. Paris.. right .. I knew it.

 

[Dedelou]

oh how i missed contador.

this is how a true champion rides

nah.. he was always there.. just nursing a wounded knee (wink)

 

[Franklin]

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

I'm a HUGE Vino fan, but I think you are way to harsh here. Cadel has not been hiding himself at all. He competed from stage 1.

He doesn't have the acceleration so it's not that obvious. But what's impressive is that he has been in contention in more stages than any other GT hopeful... I'm just expecting him to crack because of the energy spent in the hilly stages.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yea i'm downloading some stuff now

I'm beating myself over the head though; would have LOVED to see that unexpected attack. What a champ.

He ain't no captain obvious, that's for sure

 

[Captain_Obvious]

Watching the final 15km's now. Oh boy oh boy! look at him go, dancing on the pedals.

 

[Cimber]

Watching the final 15km's now. Oh boy oh boy! look at him go, dancing on the pedals.

Would liek to watch it again. Can you link pls?

 

[Captain_Obvious]

Would liek to watch it again. Can you link ?

No link, but I'll PM you some info.

 

[Cimber]

No link, but I'll PM you some info.

cheers (10 char)

 

[Dedelou]

Truth be told, this was a much harder climb than Plateau de Beille so it's understandable people got dropped.

[/
#10
Yesterday, 02:04

sultanofhyd
Senior Member

Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 182

How the hell does that climb get cat 2 status and how the hell does this stage get classified as a medium mountain stage? ]

everybody sees what they want to see . The racing makes the outcome not just the terrain

 

[DenisMenchov]

I have to say ONE thing. You keep putting Andy as Leopard leader, but I believe that it is Franck. And if he had bad day on Plateau, then their tactics is working just fine. He has 2 minutes over Contador, he couldn t have asked for more coming into the Alps.

 

[Dedelou]

Crap statement by the Schlecks and one of the reasons why I would like to see them fail utterly, just to readjust their mentality.


Also did anyone else saw the way Contador kept fidgetting with his radio, taking it in and taking it out the entire time?

I saw that and was wondering if he had an earache on top of his knee-ache and his giro tiredness. yesterday he warned his competitors he had been riding with one foot tied behind his back and an extra GT than most of them .. watch his adding " riding without radio" I hope he doesn't get to the point of passing the finish line first but on foot . just to make it fair with the others.

 

[Angliru]

It was a fact. Cuddles never was much of an attacker in most of his GTs. Even Leipi has attacked at times you know.

"Leipi" has never attacked in the Tour that I can recall and rarely if ever in Europe. He saves all of his attacks against domestic riders and World/Pro Tour riders that are at a U.S. stage race for the training miles, beaches and babes.