How can Contador lose?

[Ryaguas]

you wait when the group is down to 20 astana will only have ac an vino an The shack will have 4 or so..they can climb i ain't saying they can't,just not with the top 20 or so which means vino better not blow up!! or it's game on for gc

Don't understimated Tiralongo and Dani Navarro they are the AC's darkhorses for the mountains... dont even count with Jani what you see in Alpe D'Huez between El Pistolero and Jani was a AC at a 60 or 70% and a Jani in 90% of effort in the climbing... Jani is not going to make it but if he is in a great day he can do it pretty well... mmmm about Vino well when the attacks starts LL and AK will be toasted but Vino can hang it... just remember Il Giro... he is in a great form and he is going to prove it... about Vino back stabbing AC uffff stop that rumour-mill... that is not going to happen... Vino is committed with the team and with a third crown for El pistolero... If alberto has the maillot jaune secured he is going for a Top 5 finish...

 

[rxgqgxnyfz]

184 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana 0:05:23
185 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Astana
186 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team Radioshack
187 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana 0:06:06
188 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Astana

That's certainly most unusual. It's their whole climber squad.

Believe it or not, but Navarro and Tiralongo both had birthdays yesterday.

We had a discussion if they all (including one ex-Astana rider, Muravyev) decided to have a cake while at it and just have nice easy ride for themselves.
________
VAPORIZERS

 

[mowie133]

Don't understimated Tiralongo and Dani Navarro they are the AC's darkhorses for the mountains... dont even count with Jani what you see in Alpe D'Huez between El Pistolero and Jani was a AC at a 60 or 70% and a Jani in 90% of effort in the climbing... Jani is not going to make it but if he is in a great day he can do it pretty well... mmmm about Vino well when the attacks starts LL and AK will be toasted but Vino can hang it... just remember Il Giro... he is in a great form and he is going to prove it... about Vino back stabbing AC uffff stop that rumour-mill... that is not going to happen... Vino is committed with the team and with a third crown for El pistolero... If alberto has the maillot jaune secured he is going for a Top 5 finish...

darkhouse you only mentioned a little the yellow!!! if he gets it early which is unlikely as andy is ahead of him lucky for the team,cose if they got it early even you would have to give in an say they would blow up im the last week!! so andy getting time is a good thing in a way!
an vino vino vino,your right he will work for ac not matter what..just coming off the giro is a question mark...look ac might win by an hour but atleast his team people can dream he will have to fight by himself tooth an nail

 

[mowie133]

So you envision Radio Shack riding defensively in the mountains? Hard to win that way when you are a couple of minutes behind several guys.

na mate as soon as the roads go up they will attack an attack..crazy if they don't..just i feel the love shack will have more riders in a group of 20 or so,which would scare the top gc riders like ac abit going onto a hill top finish..

 

[Ryaguas]

darkhouse you only mentioned a little the yellow!!! if he gets it early which is unlikely as andy is ahead of him lucky for the team,cose if they got it early even you would have to give in an say they would blow up im the last week!! so andy getting time is a good thing in a way!
an vino vino vino,your right he will work for ac not matter what..just coming off the giro is a question mark...look ac might win by an hour but atleast his team people can dream he will have to fight by himself tooth an nail

right Vino is coming off the giro but seems to be almost recovery, just remember the stage 3 how he hammer the difference made by Spartacus... he has been inside the peloton mostly of the time this stage so I can say that he is going to be fully recovered for the Alps...

El Pistolero is not going for the maillot jaune this second week... you have to wait for the Tourmalet not once but twice! right now the responsability of the attack is on the Uniballer's team... they are going to attack early in the alps and Saxo and Astana and BMC have to respond to those attacks, the saxo and the BMC have the bigger responsability cuz they are high in the GC but the Rabo, Liquigas and Katusha have to work harder too cuz they are at 2.40 and more... so the responsability is not on the AC's side...

I'm not a fanboy... I'm pretty realistic... El pistolero said it "It's more likely that I will lose than win" the tour is starting and we have to wait for the Tourmalet, the Ax3 domaines, etc... Basso can climb awesome if he is on the rail and with Kreuziger the liquigas is the bigger threat, Menchov hasn't had luck in Le grand Boucle but this year he could made it also rabobank is a climbing machine... Andy hasn't had a good year but we all know that he can climb almost like AC... etc etc...

 

[Publicus]

na mate as soon as the roads go up they will attack an attack..crazy if they don't..just i feel the love shack will have more riders in a group of 20 or so,which would scare the top gc riders like ac abit going onto a hill top finish..

Well if it's what you feel, then it's what you feel. Logically, I don't see it (if they are attacking, they will be probably driving the peloton and in the process burning matches), but I guess it could happen. Having watched both teams rather closely this year, I think you are dismissing the climbing talent at Astana.

 

[53 x 11]

Its good to see what a five star thread looks like during the tour.

Cant we go back to debating the 09 tour.

 

[lancewillwin8]

I see Vino as a real weakness for Contador. Its pretty clear that Vino is the one calling the shots on the team and will only ride for contador if he sees it as benefiting himself.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I see Vino as a real weakness for Contador. Its pretty clear that Vino is the one calling the shots on the team and will only ride for contador if he sees it as benefiting himself.

You have to hand it to the Lance fans. They're dumb as hell and not afraid to show it.

 

[ManInFull]

You have to hand it to the Lance fans. They're dumb as hell and not afraid to show it.

Well said.

 

[ManInFull]

Lance will beat him.

Lance has been back traning for almost two years now, he is going to get better and better.

Contador is to young and inexperienced he has only won 4 gts lance has won 7. contador also has a very week team that was not able to support him on the pavel and that is why he dropped back, no team.

They wont be able to support him in the montains, how do you expect contador to climb with the best unless the has at least three team mates around him? Seriously.

You really make LanceLovers look bad!! Let's see...Lance has won 7 GTs and Contador has won 4 at the age of 26. He's 27 now. How many had Lance won going into the Tour at the age of 27? NONE. Yes, that's right--ZERO. Your youth and inexperience rant is nothing more than what you hear on Versus...Contador did just fine on the cobbles, right? Of course, you had been brainwashed to believe that Lance was going to destroy Contador by minutes on the cobbles. From the look of it, Lance had the weaker team on the cobbles. Contador did have Vino with him until the very end...Lance had to drop his last domestique to catch the group in front of him. It's fine for you think that we're still in the 1999-2002 timeframe. But, come back to reality when you're making comments.

 

[WonderLance]

You really make LanceLovers look bad!! Let's see...Lance has won 7 GTs and Contador has won 4 at the age of 26. He's 27 now. How many had Lance won going into the Tour at the age of 27? NONE. Yes, that's right--ZERO. Your youth and inexperience rant is nothing more than what you hear on Versus...Contador did just fine on the cobbles, right? Of course, you had been brainwashed to believe that Lance was going to destroy Contador by minutes on the cobbles. From the look of it, Lance had the weaker team on the cobbles. Contador did have Vino with him until the very end...Lance had to drop his last domestique to catch the group in front of him. It's fine for you think that we're still in the 1999-2002 timeframe. But, come back to reality when you're making comments.

LOL. I live in the UK, how could I watch Vursus? You need to study some history, stop hating excellence and get out on your bike. Its easy to be a critic on your laptop.

 

[chambers]

I think that Lance is going to win by 7 seconds. His falling behind is all part of this master plan to **** off Greg Lemond. Greg won the closest Tour in history by coming back from 50 seconds down to win by 8 seconds. Lance is going to come from further back and win by 7 seconds so that people will not talk about Greg anymore when they talk about the closest Tour of all time. Its all about Greg.

 

[auscyclefan94]

So you envision Radio Shack riding defensively in the mountains? Hard to win that way when you are a couple of minutes behind several guys.

Bruyneel is not known for being very ambitious or versatile with his plans. He has always just had the team ride tempo then let lance ride away from everyone. He can't pace Bertie up the climbs and has to send riders off the front as the shack need time but I am not sure if bruyneel will change from his old ways.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

lance is 1 minute behind contador?? they will ride defensivly until there's wind or contador crashes or has a flat tire. and if nothing happens lance hopes to get back in itt I guess...

 

[Kwibus]

na mate as soon as the roads go up they will attack an attack..crazy if they don't..just i feel the love shack will have more riders in a group of 20 or so,which would scare the top gc riders like ac abit going onto a hill top finish..

Nice for the shack to have 4 riders in the group of 20, but in the last group of 10 it will probably just be 1 rider.

 

[ManInFull]

LOL. I live in the UK, how could I watch Vursus? You need to study some history, stop hating excellence and get out on your bike. Its easy to be a critic on your laptop.

HA! I was only criticizing your weak takes. The fact is, AC has been more successful than Lance was at the same age in their careers. I believe that Lance had won a World Championship and maybe stage or two in a GT at the age of 27. Yes, I realize he missed a season or 2 due to cancer. The FACTS makes your youth and inexperience rant inaccurate.

 

[ruamruam]

184 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana 0:05:23
185 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Astana
186 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team Radioshack
187 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana 0:06:06
188 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Astana

That's certainly most unusual. It's their whole climber squad.

This does not look good for the all important team classification

 

[hrotha]

Believe it or not, but Navarro and Tiralongo both had birthdays yesterday.

We had a discussion if they all (including one ex-Astana rider, Muravyev) decided to have a cake while at it and just have nice easy ride for themselves.

I have no trouble believing it. I said it was unusual, and it is - I've never seen the domestiques taking it that easy in the last kilometres before. I didn't try to guess what the cause was.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

Its good to see what a five star thread looks like during the tour.

Cant we go back to debating the 09 tour.

Kloden and LA couldn't have podiumed together. It was one or the other. AK cracked after days of dragging Lance around. AC's attack on the Schlecks was just the straw that broke AK's back. But of course, our media (US) here can't deviate from their LA Good AC Bad narrative so reality and the truth were early casualties.

If they get back to racing (tomorrow?) we can drop this thread like it was on fire.

 

[Publicus]

I have no trouble believing it. I said it was unusual, and it is - I've never seen the domestiques taking it that easy in the last kilometres before. I didn't try to guess what the cause was.

I thought it was unusually smart and I wonder why other DS haven't chosen to keep their climbing domestiques out of the usual sprint-train driven peloton insanity. It's not like a guy like Szymd is really needed to help chase and he is burning up useful reserves trying to stay in contact with the peloton.

Maybe it won't make a difference at the end of the day, but right now I think it was a pretty smart move.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

LOL. I live in the UK, how could I watch Vursus? You need to study some history, stop hating excellence and get out on your bike. Its easy to be a critic on your laptop.

I thought God gave us the internet so we could criticize (everything and anything). Nice Avatar! Was Lance on the cover of last month's Mandate Magazine? How many yellow wristbands are you wearing right now? Are they all on your wrists?

Seriously, I love the Lance fans and it's a danm shame we don't have a few more here but I fear we chased many away.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

I thought it was unusually smart and I wonder why other DS haven't chosen to keep their climbing domestiques out of the usual sprint-train driven peloton insanity. It's not like a guy like Szymd is really needed to help chase and he is burning up useful reserves trying to stay in contact with the peloton.

Maybe it won't make a difference at the end of the day, but right now I think it was a pretty smart move.

Sit up and hydrate, boys. Your day is coming soon, but that day ain't today.

 

[Señor_Contador]

thee chisa, here's what works for me when I stop making sense (according to my wife, it only happens when my lips move)[...]

You ought to tell her that it all started when you said "I do".

 

[alberto.legstrong]

You ought to tell her that it all started when you said "I do".

She knew I don't when I said I do. They don't care. (In general, your mileage may vary.)