Cadel's only hopes

[rolfrae]

What was the crybaby Evans referring to today when he got dropped like a wet turd and complained that it wasn't his form but he couldn't comment for professional reasons? His team is feeding him lead pellets? Using the dark shadow of Omerta? Sorry but Wiggo/VadeVelde are riding all over him...anyone....Bueller....anyone?

Essentially the team aren't good enough, not supporting him sufficiently and he's ****ed. They are letting guys get in breaks rather than support him. THey see him as a lost cause already and he's maybe now inclined to agree?

 

[Publicus]

Essentially the team aren't good enough, not supporting him sufficiently and he's ****ed. They are letting guys get in breaks rather than support him. THey see him as a lost cause already and he's maybe now inclined to agree?

Not sure what that has to do with his inability to follow accelerations by Andy Schleck or Lance Armstrong.

I just picked this up via his website:

Obviously, I am not at my normal level, I have to see a Doctor now to see what the problem is. Of course I'm personally very disappointed; I -as usual- had very high expectations for this Tour de France, along with many other supporters, team mates, friends etc. I have not been able to deliver this year, now I have to go and find out
why....

 

[Ninety5rpm]

Let's not forget, last year's Tour was "a bit of a joke". It's not just Cadel. I think the competition is a lot different this year, and it's not just Astana. Schleck is stronger. Wiggins is unbelievable. Etc.

He seemed to be in his best form ever going into this Tour, and he probably was. It's just not good enough.

 

[rolfrae]

Not sure what that has to do with his inability to follow accelerations by Andy Schleck or Lance Armstrong.

It's not my excuse, it was his.

 

[Cobber]

Let's not forget, last year's Tour was "a bit of a joke". It's not just Cadel. I think the competition is a lot different this year, and it's not just Astana. Schleck is stronger. Wiggins is unbelievable. Etc.

He seemed to be in his best form ever going into this Tour, and he probably was. It's just not good enough.

I agree the tour field is stronger this year but it also seems that something might not be right with Cadel..... he lost time to Moreau, Karpets, Zabriskie, and came in with Thomas Voekler's group. Sure, he might not have challenged Contador this year, but c'mon.....

 

[Escarabajo]

I agree the tour field is stronger this year but it also seems that something might not be right with Cadel..... he lost time to Moreau, Karpets, Zabriskie, and came in with Thomas Voekler's group. Sure, he might not have challenged Contador this year, but c'mon.....

Correct.

Besides we have Christophe Le Mevel, in front of him also.

 

[Ninety5rpm]

I agree the tour field is stronger this year but it also seems that something might not be right with Cadel..... he lost time to Moreau, Karpets, Zabriskie, and came in with Thomas Voekler's group. Sure, he might not have challenged Contador this year, but c'mon.....

Good point, good point.

I can relate, by the way, because I've been riding a lot more the last few months and seem to just be getting slower and slower. Ugh. Late 40s...

 

[Anonymous]

I agree the tour field is stronger this year but it also seems that something might not be right with Cadel..... he lost time to Moreau, Karpets, Zabriskie, and came in with Thomas Voekler's group. Sure, he might not have challenged Contador this year, but c'mon.....

Yea, something is off with him for sure, and the Tour is suffering because of that.

 

[Barnaby]

Only a wild stab in the dark, but his reference to 'seeing his doctor' brings back memories of Chris Boardman's problems of not producing enough testosterone which exacerbated his health (osteopenia), for which the UCI would not allow him to take the correct medication.
Then again, what meds could Evans take for excessive whingeing?

 

[Captain Kirk]

quote from Cycling News, somethings going on here.

Long overdue mutual seperation....time to get a real team.


Redant was impressed with Evans' teammate Jurgen Van Den Broeck who made it into the day's escape and performed well, eventually finishing fifth.

"Jurgen proved he can do it in the mountains for three or four days in a row. Maybe he is the guy who can do it in the future. He still has to grow of course. He had a great Giro last year and missed out on the white jersey because of riders like Sella and Ricco, but he is a diamond you can keep and treasure."

 

[auscyclefan94]

Vande Velde crashed on the descent down to the finish line of stage 15 and ended up losing roughly 3 1/2 minutes. He had actually been dropped on the climb, but limited his losses to around 15 seconds behind the Evans group at the summit.

If he hadn't crashed, then there would've been roughly around 30 seconds difference seperating the two riders going into the final TT, where Vande Velde ended up beating Evans by at least 30 seconds.

Would've could've, of course, but the next day he had no trouble staying in the lead group, and even attacked Evans, Menchov on the climb to Alpe d'huez.

Menchov was dropped on the descent. Vandevelde was dropped on the climb.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Cadel deserves better

Let's not forget, last year's Tour was "a bit of a joke". It's not just Cadel. I think the competition is a lot different this year, and it's not just Astana. Schleck is stronger. Wiggins is unbelievable. Etc.

He seemed to be in his best form ever going into this Tour, and he probably was. It's just not good enough.

Two years finishing second in the tour is no 'joke'. Really... if he had a proper team in the last two tours he would of won both of them. Evans can match it with the best and his consistency has proved that. This year he had good form coming into the race, he was attacking and seemed happy. With the ttt loss of time it has demoralised him. Then he has had to play catch up were everyone is against him because the other riders obviously rate him. I think he bonked on Verbier but the Bourg Saint Maurice stage showed that his head wasn't with it. I don't know why but personally i hope this tour he realises that he needs to move teams even if you have Van den broeck you need 8 strong committed guys to fill the team. Anyway the Belgian team seems to be pumping up Van den Broek as their next gc hopeful.

I think Cadel should:
1) Take a break away from cycling to get his head bacck to normal
2)Move teams - He needs better support that he deserves. Go to an organised english speaking team like Garmin.
3) Aim for the World Championships or Giro Lomabardia or the Vueelta.

Cadel you deserve better than the mob at Silence Lotto.

 

[BroDeal]

I posted during the stage that I think Evans is probably sick. He never has really bad days, and now he has had two in a row with a rest day in between. I would not be surprised if he blows completely tomorrow on the steeper climbs.

There is not way some of the climbers who rode away from him should drop him if he were feeling alright.

 

[colwildcat]

I still think that in a tour, unless it was absence any explosive climbers, Cadel is not built to win. He simply cannot accelerate with Contador, with a Basso, etc on the big climbs. Team or not, I think his shot at this has passed.

 

[Wergeland]

Silence-Lotto showed where their priorities are today. Ok, so they let Van Den Broeck go. They could really use a stagewin and maybe keep a very talented rider happy, so'll he'll stay with the team. I get that, but read what the DS said to Cylingnews today:

"We came here with a goal of helping him go for yellow and we stuck to that, we tried to get someone in the break today, like Saxo Bank did, but it didn't work."

Today their goal was a stagewin for Van den Broeck, not to help Evans.

 

[Wergeland]

I still think that in a tour, unless it was absence any explosive climbers, Cadel is not built to win. He simply cannot accelerate with Contador, with a Basso, etc on the big climbs. Team or not, I think his shot at this has passed.

Not many can. Especially not Carlos Sastre, yet he won last year.

 

[Ninety5rpm]

Let's not forget, last year's Tour was "a bit of a joke". It's not just Cadel. I think the competition is a lot different this year, and it's not just Astana. Schleck is stronger. Wiggins is unbelievable. Etc.

He seemed to be in his best form ever going into this Tour, and he probably was. It's just not good enough.

Two years finishing second in the tour is no 'joke'.

Lance, whom I quoted here, was talking about the Tour overall being a "bit of a joke" last year. If you want to interpret that to mean that Cadel's 2nd place showing was a joke too, whatever, but I don't think that's what Lance meant, and it's certainly not what I meant.

My point was that getting 2nd in a Tour that seemed not quite as competitive as a typical Tour might explain at least partially why he's not doing as well this year, which does seem to be particularly competitive. Even Sastre, who got 1st last year, is having a hard time keeping up (even if you exclude the TTT).

It would be interesting to compare the top 5 or even top 10 from last year to where they are placed on GC this year, especially after tomorrow's bloodbath.

 

[scribe]

Evans bothers me. He seems to complain about his team every year. It seems like he is his own undoing.

 

[mherm79]

Evans bothers me. He seems to complain about his team every year. It seems like he is his own undoing.

which is why it's no surprise that his team isn't riding themselves into the ground like we saw the Astana / Saxo boys do on st16. It's why Popo appears to have 'improved' so much - no he hasn't. this year he is simply riding himself into the ground whereas last year his wasnt.

i'm an aussie - but I am sick and tired of hearing Cadel winge about his team, other riders, media expectations and any other excuse he can come up with for the fact that he just isn't able to match the others.

in 08 he couldnt match the shelcks of sastre on the climbs, in 07 it was a doped rasmussen and contator. what put him on the podium in those years was his superior TT ability.

that advantage has dried up in 09

 

[badboyberty]

Lance, whom I quoted here, was talking about the Tour overall being a "bit of a joke" last year....

You do remember that Lance has already apologised to Carlos Sastre for making an unfounded comment? Once someone has publicly retracted a comment it's often best not to base arguments upon it. It makes your commentary look a "bit of a joke".

 

[Captain Kirk]

+999............

i think cadel should:
1) take a break away from cycling to get his head bacck to normal
2)move teams - he needs better support that he deserves. Go to an organised english speaking team like garmin.
3) aim for the world championships or giro lomabardia or the vueelta.

Cadel you deserve better than the mob at silence lotto.

 

[Ninety5rpm]

You do remember that Lance has already apologised to Carlos Sastre for making an unfounded comment? Once someone has publicly retracted a comment it's often best not to base arguments upon it. It makes your commentary look a "bit of a joke".

He apologized for how it came off, especially in terms of insulting the riders, which he did not intend.
He did not retract the fundamental point, which was that it looked like a race he believed he could have won, and also implies it wasn't as competitive as your typical Tour.

 

[yourwelcome]

He did not retract the fundamental point, which was that it looked like a race he believed he could have won, and also implies it wasn't as competitive as your typical Tour.

And so far it looks like he was absolutely right, like or loathe him.

Regarding Evans' chances, I wonder if this Tour marks the start of another wonderdrug era and part of what we're seeing is Evans and Sastre being outgunned by a return to oldschool assisted racing. I guess that's a discussion for the other forum, but I'd say it's not that farfetched nor a non-factor given the history of several riders currently leaving them behind. Pardon me for stating the obvious... I'll get my coat.

 

[jamese]

silence lotto have no focus

It seems to me that silence lotto race as if they have no plan for each day.Even on flat stages they dont ride as a group or show any team solidarity at all.Poor Cadel is mostly on his own and this works against him tacticly as he must follow other teams,this obviosly annoys the hell out of them and they work to destroy any moves he makes.He should change teams to one built around him with clear year long plans.

 

[auscyclefan94]

which is why it's no surprise that his team isn't riding themselves into the ground like we saw the Astana / Saxo boys do on st16. It's why Popo appears to have 'improved' so much - no he hasn't. this year he is simply riding himself into the ground whereas last year his wasnt.

i'm an aussie - but I am sick and tired of hearing Cadel winge about his team, other riders, media expectations and any other excuse he can come up with for the fact that he just isn't able to match the others.

in 08 he couldnt match the shelcks of sastre on the climbs, in 07 it was a doped rasmussen and contator. what put him on the podium in those years was his superior TT ability.

that advantage has dried up in 09

He did take responsibility that he wasn't good enough. But you also have to acknowledge that his taem support for the tour over the past 4 years has been dismal. This shows that Lotto's main priority is the classics which they have been terrible over the past 5 years.