gutted wiggins fanboy

[Thee_chisa]

i must admit to being a bit gutted by wiggins' failure on the latter part of the climb. after last year i expected him to stay with the top guys.

i really dunno what his plans are now.

he needs to keep riding and hoping that some of the others in the top 10 get trailed off and have a bad day like he did.

on the bright side he is only a few seconds behind sastre and basso and still within 1.30 of contador and the other guys like that.

i was disappointed by the lack of team he had - but credit to TL for staying up there.

i think the stage on tuesday will suit him better as it is not a mountain top finish and the weather should be cooler.


3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0:01:01
4 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:01:03
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0:01:10
6 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions 0:01:11
7 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo 0:01:45
8 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack 0:02:14
9 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:02:15
10 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia 0:02:31
11 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0:02:37
12 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:02:40
13 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:02:41
14 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:02:45

there is 1.43 over those riders, i can see the following riders having a bad day VDB, ryder, levi, sanchez, rogers, gesink, basso, and i think he'll take time out of a lot of these riders on the TT.

still, interesting to see what develops. it is nice to have a british rider to cheer on after all the years in the wilderness since millar (robert).

still gutted though

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

This race isn't anywhere near over. I thought Wiggins rode quite well today.

 

[Lady Luck]

Yes it was disappointing. I think the expectation on him this year may have paid. Last year the pressure was off and he came from no where.

Two minutes isn't a total disaster though.

 

[Thee_chisa]

This race isn't anywhere near over. I thought Wiggins rode quite well today.

well, i hope he was having a bad day early in the tour. but if this is a trend he will lose a lot of time in the pyrenees. if he wants a podium - which i believe he does - he really needs to pick it up and man up on some of the climbs to come, especially the mountain top finishes.

and he should not have his team setting the pace as they are not strong enough. rather he should have them remain with him as long as possible and he should look to try and follow cadel and conta near the top.

 

[Thee_chisa]

good tour this year though, conta doesn't look unbeatable, cadel looks good - but he has done this before and struggled later on, schleck looks good but he hasn't much of a team in the mounts with frank gone, menchov hasn't screwed anything up yet, and mick rogers is having his best tour for years.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

good tour this year though, conta doesn't look unbeatable, cadel looks good - but he has done this before and struggled later on, schleck looks good but he hasn't much of a team in the mounts with frank gone, menchov hasn't screwed anything up yet, and mick rogers is having his best tour for years.

I really think it's wide open at this point. Contador looks to have a very strong team. Saxo are a bit questionable. RS riding for Levi...hmm....

Liquigas and Rabo look quite good. I wasn't surprised by Basso today, since he wasn't great at the start of the Giro either.

 

[Angliru]

Well he did say that he wasn't going to beat Armstrong this year and he's well on his way to doing that.

Edit: That should say that he "was" going to beat Armstrong. I hope everyone knew what I meant.

 

[Thee_chisa]

Well he did say that he wasn't going to beat Armstrong this year and he's well on his way to doing that.

so is samuel demoulin

 

[hrotha]

I think most people forget last year everybody soft-pedalled in the mountains due to several tactical factors and Wiggins actually was dropped when things got serious in the Le Grand Bornand stage. I'd say he did OK today. So OK in fact that I would not write him off just yet, even though just yesterday I thought he was Jaskula mark 2.

 

[fatandfast]

As was written by a paid.professional observer Wiggins kept his chit together and didn't go to the temple of doom, like Mr.Armstrong who was riding so f-ing slow he looked like he should have had coffee for the team. I can't stand Wiggins but he rode very well throughout. The way he kept his composure and didn't give up is a great example of a great racer. The way Armstrong rode in the clouds totally spaced out, overlapping wheels in a small group where the leader was getting a feed was the a senior moment. Trying to pedal through a traffic circle was a move that is corrected in a cat5 crit crash..WTF Lance. With Wiggins TT times he kept himself in the thick of things.

 

[Angliru]

and he should not have his team setting the pace as they are not strong enough. rather he should have them remain with him as long as possible and he should look to try and follow cadel and conta near the top.

That was a baffling strategy. Who is their ds?

 

[Notso Swift]

Yes it was disappointing. I think the expectation on him this year may have paid. Last year the pressure was off and he came from no where.

Two minutes isn't a total disaster though.

+1 to that (and it the same with VandeVeld the year before), freedom from favouritism is underrated

 

[Thee_chisa]

That was a baffling strategy. Who is their ds?

sean yates

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

You guys are insane giving up on Wiggins already.

I think he will struggle a bit on the Pyrenees, but he has to be a favorite for the TT. It's long and flat, perfectly suited to his track racing background. He will put 2-3 minutes into Schleck easily.

 

[Thee_chisa]

You guys are insane giving up on Wiggins already.

I think he will struggle a bit on the Pyrenees, but he has to be a favorite for the TT. It's long and flat, perfectly suited to his track racing background. He will put 2-3 minutes into Schleck easily.

i am not giving up, but i think if he wants podium he needs to be with the top guys rolling into a stage like todays. having said that, i am hoping he was having a bad day and will recover. if he can keep this as his "bad day" and keep up in the next mountains he may have a chance. can't see him challenging conta and schleck though. i think his rivals are levi, menchov, kreuzinger, etc. top 2 places seem to be sown up, but then again, lots of racing to be done yet! roll on tuesday, i may even get a couple of hours on the bike tomorrow

 

[Angliru]

I think most people forget last year everybody soft-pedalled in the mountains due to several tactical factors and Wiggins actually was dropped when things got serious in the Le Grand Bornand stage. I'd say he did OK today. So OK in fact that I would not write him off just yet, even though just yesterday I thought he was Jaskula mark 2.

Well we all know why Astana was soft pedaling last year so that is no longer the case this year. If he was going to run with the big dogs then this was the first stage to show that he isn't a flash in the pan. This performance is similar to the Ventoux stage but actually worse because he wasn't yo-yoing off the back this time he just was dropped. His team riding tempo on the front for whatever misbegotten reason didn't help him one bit.

 

[Thee_chisa]

Well we all know why Astana was soft pedaling last year so that is no longer the case this year. If he was going to run with the big dogs then this was the first stage to show that he isn't a flash in the pan. This performance is similar to the Ventoux stage but actually worse because he wasn't yo-yoing off the back this time he just was dropped. His team riding tempo on the front for whatever misbegotten reason didn't help him one bit.

well, astana only had navarro? up there today at the end so i think the pace was pretty hot. and basso's face gave a lot away

 

[Christian]

after last year i expected him to stay with the top guys.

I think he himself expected to be better, otherwise he probably wouldn't have made his team keep the pace high on the climb at one point (I think it might have been the first climb, don't remember exactly).

It was a pretty good performance IMO, but definitely not as good as he was on last year's Mt. Ventoux for example. Wonder whether he'll be able to reach that level again this year.

Lövkvist was dropped before Wiggins, right?

 

[Night Rider]

Wiggins was lucky last years course was easier than usual. I picked him for 7th or 8th this year and I think that’s what he’s on track for. I feel for you though, it’s always difficult seeing the rider/s you support falter.

 

[Angliru]

You guys are insane giving up on Wiggins already.

I think he will struggle a bit on the Pyrenees, but he has to be a favorite for the TT. It's long and flat, perfectly suited to his track racing background. He will put 2-3 minutes into Schleck easily.

...but how many minutes will he lose in the upcoming mountain stages? With Contador showing vulnerability we can anticipate a rise in confidence in the other contenders and a resulting increase in aggression. I don't think Wiggins will respond well to all the attacking that will likely take place.

 

[Thee_chisa]

I think he himself expected to be better, otherwise he probably wouldn't have made his team keep the pace high on the climb at one point (I think it might have been the first climb, don't remember exactly).

It was a pretty good performance IMO, but definitely not as good as he was on last year's Mt. Ventoux for example. Wonder whether he'll be able to reach that level again this year.

Lövkvist was dropped before Wiggins, right?

yep, lovkvist was off the back but caught wiggins up and rode him in.

he said he felt very strong on the first climb (which is why i think he had his guys make pace) but just blew on the mourzine climb and decided to throttle back and ride his pace home rather than try and hang on and blow.

 

[Thee_chisa]

...but how many minutes will he lose in the upcoming mountain stages? With Contador showing vulnerability we can anticipate a rise in confidence in the other contenders and a resulting increase in aggression. I don't think Wiggins will respond well to all the attacking that will likely take place.

i hope he was on a "jour sans" and can hang with the top guys in the pyrennes but you dunno, time will tell!

 

[metaCYCLE]

did wiggo actually attack anybody on a climb? ever?

 

[Thee_chisa]

did wiggo actually attack anybody on a climb? ever?

he did a bit last year, but i don't think he has the confidence as he hasn't been in the position before and worries about blowing and eventually losing time.

 

[Angliru]

did wiggo actually attack anybody on a climb? ever?

He put in one that I can recall last year but it was really, really non-threatening to see. He appeared to be spinning too easy a gear so it looked like he was spinning away but going no where.