How can Contador lose?

[Ryaguas]

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.

And I'm pretty sure that is not going to be the Uniballer =D I'm dare to say that is going to be Kloeden...

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.

Yeah but for him there is not Il SuperGiro d'Italia y La Gran Vuelta a España... for him those are pretty small races where the small teams have pretty crappy performances...

This does not look good for the all important team classification

Team Astana is not looking the crown for the Team GC... they are pretty sure that Saxo or Liquigas will get it... don't even think that The Shack could get it... they are going to be toasted after Pyrinees and in the ITT they are going to lost TONS of time...

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.

Those kind of fans are in ways of extinction that is pretty sad... we have to create a reserve and put them all together with P&P they will be superDuper happy I'm pretty sure

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

That was a day to put all the spanish mountains goats, and the imported one from Italy, in the corral and let them rest before the alps

 

[hrotha]

Today's stage. Muravyev must have been ordered to mark them Astana climbers. No doubt Bruyneel has something up his sleeve!

181 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana 0:02:52
182 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Astana 0:06:19
183 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Astana 0:08:45
184 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana
185 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team Radioshack

Tiralongo wasting a bit too much energy here.

 

[Delicato]

AC's gregarios don't waste any extra energy...Well, maybe we can now hope for some serious pace-setting by Astana in the Alps, stage 8 in particular.

Or maybe Astana is just soooo weak...

 

[Barrus]

Today's stage. Muravyev must have been ordered to mark them Astana climbers. No doubt Bruyneel has something up his sleeve!

181 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana 0:02:52
182 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Astana 0:06:19
183 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Astana 0:08:45
184 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana
185 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team Radioshack

Tiralongo wasting a bit too much energy here.

I really wonder, why has no other team done this beofre, what is the advantage to have your climbers waste a lot of energy to keep up with the peloton when they could just as well take it nice and easy in the last hour or so

 

[icefire]

lance will match him all the way..bar one stage i can see lance having a bad day an loseing big mins at some sstage...

i noticed the strong astana team, 4 of them finished couple mins behind in the past few days on the flat

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.

They were following instructions from his team leader and DS to soft pedal in the last kms in order to keep their strength for the mountain stages. It makes sense. And it's what AC has told today after the stage to Spanish TV commentators.

 

[Ryaguas]

I really wonder, why has no other team done this beofre, what is the advantage to have your climbers waste a lot of energy to keep up with the peloton when they could just as well take it nice and easy in the last hour or so

Because most of the teams doesn't have the Italian structure that the Astana team has... Astana is a team just for Contador, the only thing that matters for them is a third crown for El Pistolero, the green, polka-dot and white jersey doesn't matter... Le maillot Jaune is the only objective...

 

[Barrus]

Because most of the teams doesn't have the Italian structure that the Astana team has... Astana is a team just for Contador, the only thing that matters for them is a third crown for El Pistolero, the green, polka-dot and white jersey doesn't matter... Le maillot Jaune is the only objective...

But the same is the case with Liqui, Radioshack and certain other teams, as has been the case in most grand tours, there are always teams only going for the overall win, yet as far as I know this does not often happen, that they give the climbers the first few days "off"

 

[Thee_chisa]

AC's gregarios don't waste any extra energy...Well, maybe we can now hope for some serious pace-setting by Astana in the Alps, stage 8 in particular.

Or maybe Astana is just soooo weak...

the worst thing contador can do is to take the jersey too early as his team will be beat trying to defend it on flat stages and then he will have no team in the third week. at the moment he wants to keep away from the lead

 

[Barrus]

the worst thing contador can do is to take the jersey too early as his team will be beat trying to defend it on flat stages and then he will have no team in the third week. at the moment he wants to keep away from the lead

I always wonder, why does a team like Astana really need to defend it in the flat, just know which riders are in the break and just soft-pedal to keep the gap just beneath the 15 minutes, and only if there is a good climber in there or an overall contender keep it within 5 minutes. If it really is a flat stage the sprinters teams will keep the break close

 

[Thee_chisa]

I always wonder, why does a team like Astana really need to defend it in the flat, just know which riders are in the break and just soft-pedal to keep the gap just beneath the 15 minutes, and only if there is a good climber in there or an overall contender keep it within 5 minutes. If it really is a flat stage the sprinters teams will keep the break close

i agree, i think geraint should try to get it tomorrow but then sky not defend it.

astana's problem is that is they get it, other teams with smaller contenders - such as levi, lofqvist, etc we be told to attack to for astana to chase.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

But the same is the case with Liqui, Radioshack and certain other teams, as has been the case in most grand tours, there are always teams only going for the overall win, yet as far as I know this does not often happen, that they give the climbers the first few days "off"

Perhaps the cobbles left some of them feeling particularly depleted. Just a thought. Plus it was hot (at least yesterday, haven't watched todays stage yet). But I have also wondered why a GC team doesn't do that, maybe they do and I just haven't paid attention to their times.

 

[buckwheat]

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.

Yes, that's exactly the way it's going to happen!

 

[buckwheat]

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.

Where in the hell do they come up with this $hit.

A dream is a short lasting psychosis and a psychosis is a long lasting dream.

Schopenhaurer

Ps.

I hope the dream is over for your sake.

 

[scribe]

Contador cooked his team today and made no gains on Shrek. Looking good for Saxo going forward as they didn't turn guys inside out to protect the jersey.

 

[Señor_Contador]

Contador cooked his team today and made no gains on Shrek. Looking good for Saxo going forward as they didn't turn guys inside out to protect the jersey.

If by "good" you mean some sort of self-imposed paralel reality then I agree.

I mean... reality check here gumbah: Andy's advantage over AC is 31 seconds. Judging by what happened at the prologue, he needs at least 2.30 (although if we extrapolate the time gaps and distance of the prologue to those of the TT AS is going to need > 4 minutes) on AC by the time they get to the penultimate stage.

AC is, if you ask me, playing his cards right: He's peaking this week, he's got AS thinking that he's going to attack at any point, which puts Andy on a deffensive stance (as opposed to offesive, a la Alps) and the Luxembourger, let's be realistic, is running out of real estate.

To me, AC is playing his cards like he did in the 2008 Giro with Riccó. Too bad Andy's running out of real estate though.

Why isn't there someone at Saxo with a sane mind telling him to attack?!

 

[scribe]

If by "good" you mean some sort of self-imposed paralel reality then I agree.

I mean... reality check here gumbah: Andy's advantage over AC is 31 seconds. Judging by what happened at the prologue, he needs at least 2.30 (although if we extrapolate the time gaps and distance of the prologue to those of the TT AS is going to need > 4 minutes) on AC by the time they get to the penultimate stage.

AC is, if you ask me, playing his cards right: He's peaking this week, he's got AS thinking that he's going to attack at any point, which puts Andy on a deffensive stance (as opposed to offesive, a la Alps) and the Luxembourger, let's be realistic, is running out of real estate.

To me, AC is playing his cards like he did in the 2008 Giro with Riccó. Too bad Andy's running out of real estate though.

Why isn't there someone at Saxo with a sane mind telling him to attack?!

Astana played a large card today and came up short. All the talk about Saxo being under pressure to protect the jersey has not really come into play. I see Riis with the upper hand going into this final week. AC probably has to sit back and rely on his ITT at this point, but the next moves until that point suits Saxo better.

 

[khardung la]

Contador cooked his team today and made no gains on Shrek. Looking good for Saxo going forward as they didn't turn guys inside out to protect the jersey.

They don't look cooked to me, but anyway what they did was good: making a fast race to weaken Saxo and AS, and more importantly avoiding any attack from Schleck. It is obvious that AS was quite impressed to see Contador surrounded my team mates that BTW looked strong. One day less in the race, one day less for Contador to get the yellow.

I never liked Riis tactics, but this year he is even worst than usual.

 

[scribe]

They don't look cooked to me, but anyway what they did was good: making a fast race to weaken Saxo and AS, and more importantly avoiding any attack from Schleck. It is obvious that AS was quite impressed to see Contador surrounded my team mates that BTW looked strong. One day less in the race, one day less for Contador to get the yellow.

I never liked Riis tactics, but this year he is even worst than usual.

Should Astana do that same thing over the next few stages, we'll have to move this discussion to the clinic.

 

[killswitch]

Why isn't there someone at Saxo with a sane mind telling him to attack?!

Port de Bales is much more suited to Andy. If he doesn't attack and get a gap there, he'll lose the Tour imo.

 

[warmfuzzies]

All the woofin' about how superior Alberto is to the rest of the peloton - and now the argument is that he'll win the Tour in the ITT. Are they giving Pistoolero gear refunds if he loses?

 

[warmfuzzies]

This does not look good for the all important team classification

Hilarious - I believe it was Publicus who stated during the first week of the the Tour that Astana had the best team for the mountains. The guy is Cycling News' own Nostradamus.

 

[scribe]

Hilarious - I believe it was Publicus who stated during the first week of the the Tour that Astana had the best team for the mountains. The guy is Cycling News' own Nostradamus.

Yeah. And he was probably running around for the majority of the Armstrong era proclaiming how LA was going to crush the competition. If my name were Nostradamus too, I'd have had it printed on a NY Yankees jersey a long time ago.

 

[warmfuzzies]

I really wonder, why has no other team done this beofre, what is the advantage to have your climbers waste a lot of energy to keep up with the peloton when they could just as well take it nice and easy in the last hour or so

Perhaps Astana's climbers were cooked and weren't saving any NRG because they had already used it. Or maybe it was because Alberto is an egomaniac who grinds his team into the ground rather than letting them maximize their GC placing

 

[Señor_Contador]

Perhaps Astana's climbers were cooked and weren't saving any NRG because they had already used it. Or maybe it was because Alberto is an egomaniac who grinds his team into the ground rather than letting them maximize their GC placing

Which is what every other team leader does of course...

 

[La Pandera]

Perhaps Astana's climbers were cooked and weren't saving any NRG because they had already used it. Or maybe it was because Alberto is an egomaniac who grinds his team into the ground rather than letting them maximize their GC placing

...and perhaps you can't see past your Livestrong tinted lenses to see that Astana's domestiques have proven virtually every pundit wrong. The smiley face after the last sentence I'm guessing implies that it was a joke because if it was meant to be serious you have my sympathies for your obvious shortcomings. If you were serious, what would be the point of the Astana domestiques "maximizing their GC placing" when their goal is to win the Tour for Contador?