2011 Tour de Suisse, Stage 6: Tobel-Tägerschen - Triesenberg/Malbun, 157.7 km

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Scansorial

Scansorial

Jan 1, 2011
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luckyboy said:
The final TT will be 32.1km. Looks like it could be another stage race messed up by the TT.
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I'm not exactly rooting for Leipheimer to win, but how can a stage race be messed up by the TT? TTs are part of the game. If a good TTer wins by barely hanging on in the mountains, how is that any better than a good climber who wins by barely not losing too much time in the TT?
 
UpTheRoad

UpTheRoad

Jul 27, 2009
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benpounder said:
I understand why so many here love to hate Levi - his riding stlye is similar to Indurain - hang on in the mountains and dominate the ITT's. In order to be "carried" up a mountian however, one has to be able to hang on to a wheel. Not too many riders today were able to do that today. And not too many riders have his palmarès.
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Indurain did much more than hang on in the mountain stages. He also went on the attack at times. He wasn't Chiappucci, but he was much more aggressive than Bottle even when he didn't need to be. Plus, when he was chasing anyone out in front, he put his nose in the wind.
 
BillytheKid

BillytheKid

Jun 1, 2011
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Parrulo said:
i see

lets hope cunego puts 30 secs into bottle tomorrow due to his kick so he can have a chance at winning this. he certainly deserves it much more then bottle for making stage 3 one of the best stages in a while
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Levi is not a good descender as where Cunego is. There's also some opportunity there. If you can force him to chase off the Fuelapass? ;)
 
luckyboy

luckyboy

May 26, 2009
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Scansorial said:
I'm not exactly rooting for Leipheimer to win, but how can a stage race be messed up by the TT? TTs are part of the game. If a good TTer wins by barely hanging on in the mountains, how is that any better than a good climber who wins by barely not losing too much time in the TT?
Click to expand...

It's so boring having people win a TT and then just follow wheels for the rest of race/sucking wheel and then dominating the TT. These are my least favourite type of riders and I just hate TTs.

I have the same attitude to TTs as Libertine Seguros's has to sprints.
 
1

18-Valve. (pithy)

May 4, 2011
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Chef_Vodnik said:
I think after that crash nobody expected him to. Still, he was fifth in the mountain time trial after that big shock. He obviously held back after his chances for the overall were done for and concentrated on keeping a good form for the Tour in which he was one of the best climbers.

I really don't see where everyone is getting these thoughts from. I have yet to find a saying from him claiming to be one of the top climbers nor does he ever claim to be one of the best stage riders out there. It's all fantasy journalism, if anything. Now, if any rider himself would proclaim that he's one of the best, I'd understand the amount of vapor that gets produced here on a constant basis, but as far as I know, Frank doesn't - and that just bothers me me up.
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I don't understand it, either. I'm not hating. ;)

He's getting older, though, perhaps too old to really compete in high mountain stages at the Tour, like he did in 2008 and 2009. Not everyone is a Chris Horner. But we'll have to see. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if he's up there once again.
 
BillytheKid

BillytheKid

Jun 1, 2011
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luckyboy said:
It's so boring having people win a TT and then just follow wheels for the rest of race/sucking wheel and then dominating the TT. These are my least favourite type of riders and I just hate TTs.

I have the same attitude to TTs as Libertine Seguros's has to sprints.
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Levi only had Rast to help him out. Rast did a h*** of good job during the Fab train. Both he and Levi where out to the side of it. Levi was catching more wind that Frank S. TT's are part of the sport. Leipheimer would be in the top three, but like I say he's not so good on the techno downhills. :D
 
M

Moondance

Jul 2, 2009
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Fantastic win for Kruijsie. Lovely to see the young man get his first win in such style.

Shame about Soler. :(
 
M

Mellow Velo

Mar 11, 2009
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Just caught up.
The only really winner today was the climb. Along with a headwind, it killed of much of any ambition that might have been lurking.

Hero of the day: BMC's Matthias Frank, by a country mile. A truly fantastic effort.
Big, big chapeau.
Villain of the day: Team One rule for us Trek.

Levi is his own worst enemy. When it comes to work, he just won't do a tap.
All that sucking for just 8 seconds. Hard to tolerate, never mind like.

Kruijswijk is a true man of orange.

Oh and Eskimo Tom has learnt a new way to fail from Schlekette. :eek:
 
benpounder

benpounder

Mar 10, 2009
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UpTheRoad said:
Indurain did much more than hang on in the mountain stages. He also went on the attack at times. He wasn't Chiappucci, but he was much more aggressive than Bottle even when he didn't need to be. Plus, when he was chasing anyone out in front, he put his nose in the wind.
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How many non TT stages did Indurain win in the 23 GTs he raced in? How many stages did Indurain have to "stick his nose into the wind" because someone up the road threatened his overall lead?

Please note, I'm not comparing Levi to BigMig, as Indurain was far better. No, I'm merely pointing out that their style of winning is similar - mitigate the losses in the mountains and dominate the TTs.

As a side note, of the 12 GTs Levi has raced in, he crashed out of two, and never finished below 18th place in the ones he finished. And six of those were in support of someone else. Like I said, i understand why so many here love to hate Levi. But I suspect that many professional cyclists would love to have his palmarès.
 
Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

Jun 7, 2011
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Wow, to compare him to Indurain, even if you say the latter was better is all kinds of wrong. Who were the GC climbers that could really drop Indurain? I can't think of any. Indurain just followed indeed, because he didn't need to attack. That's a totally different scenario. The day Leipheimer leads a GT with 5 minutes and doesn't attack, that's the day you can compare them.
 
Eyeballs Out

Eyeballs Out

Jun 19, 2009
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Leipheimer was right to sit on Cunego today (not that he'd ever do anything else of course)

Nothing worse than seeing the yellow jersey get a free tow thanks to idiots racing for 4th and 5th place
 
Moose McKnuckles

Moose McKnuckles

Nov 7, 2009
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benpounder said:
I understand why so many here love to hate Levi - his riding stlye is similar to Indurain - hang on in the mountains and dominate the ITT's. In order to be "carried" up a mountian however, one has to be able to hang on to a wheel. Not too many riders today were able to do that today. And not too many riders have his palmarès.
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Don't ruin your argument by comparing Levi to Indurain. Indurain wins. Levi just wheelsucks.

Levi's palmares are littered with masterful wins in the Cascade Classic, Tour of the Gila, and, of course, the "4th Grand Tour".

But yeah, he's always thereabouts in a stage race.
 
benpounder

benpounder

Mar 10, 2009
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luckyboy said:
I have the same attitude to TTs as Libertine Seguros's has to sprints.
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At least you recognize that opinions vary, and that yours is no better and no worse than anothers.

I was bored stiff during Indurain's reign, and yet when Levi races the very same way, I root for him. I could say it is because he is a fellow ski racer, but in honesty, it is because he is a fellow Yank...
and a nice guy. (unlike another Yank whom I've always known to be a jerk.)

(Maybe I ought to change my screen name to YankeeCyclingFan...):D
 
UpTheRoad

UpTheRoad

Jul 27, 2009
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benpounder said:
At least you recognize that opinions vary, and that yours is no better and no worse than anothers.

I was bored stiff during Indurain's reign, and yet when Levi races the very same way, I root for him. I could say it is because he is a fellow ski racer, but in honesty, it is because he is a fellow Yank...
and a nice guy. (unlike another Yank whom I've always known to be a jerk.)

(Maybe I ought to change my screen name to YankeeCyclingFan...):D
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He doesn't race the same way. That's the problem. Sure, BigMig didn't ride like Contador, but he put the work in to chase when necessary. He had the Banesto train, but also led the chase after Pantani on one stage (I seem to recall it finished at an airport). He, Rominger, and the Motorola climber from Colombia (can't recall his name at the moment) ran away up the Galibier. Indurain instigated the charge into Liege where Bruyneel Leipheimer'd his way to a win. He was much more aggressive than LL even when in yellow.

When all he had to do was limit his losses and make it up in the TT, he actually did put his nose to the front and work to limit the loss.

If he were isolated I would have felt confident that Indurain would have chased hard. If LL is isolated, I have a feeling he would soft pedal until a teammate catches up to give him a wheel.
 
Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

Mar 13, 2009
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btw..

Current CQ ranking (rolling, so from june to june)

1. [Ned] Rabobank PRT 10279
2. [Usa] HTC - Highroad PRT 10112
3. [Usa] Team Garmin - Cervélo PRT 9965
4. [Lux] Leopard - Trek PRT 8768
5. [Ned] Vacansoleil - DCM PRT 8582


:D
 
T

theyoungest

Jan 11, 2010
15,616
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
btw..

Current CQ ranking (rolling, so from june to june)

1. [Ned] Rabobank PRT 10279
2. [Usa] HTC - Highroad PRT 10112
3. [Usa] Team Garmin - Cervélo PRT 9965
4. [Lux] Leopard - Trek PRT 8768
5. [Ned] Vacansoleil - DCM PRT 8582


:D
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The fact that Vacans is in 5th speaks volumes about this ranking. I'm sorry, but I attach less and less importance to it.
 
Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

Mar 13, 2009
29,413
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They Soler fell twice.

After the first fall he let himself be treated by the doctor, but then 6km later he fell down very suddenly, like a collapse. Probably from the damage done by the first fall.
 
Publicus

Publicus

Mar 17, 2009
11,341
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
They Soler fell twice.

After the first fall he let himself be treated by the doctor, but then 6km later he fell down very suddenly, like a collapse. Probably from the damage done by the first fall.
Click to expand...

Jeebus, I hope he is okay. I don't pray but I'm putting as much positive energy out to the universe as I can at this moment.
 
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