Le Tour de France 2011 STAGE 8 - Aigurande-Super-Besse Sancy 189 km

[Moviefan1203]

For the white jersey battle, it would be interesting if Gesink abandoned. I have no idea who could win it, Uran? Taaramae? Coppel?

Definitely not Thomas and Hagen, that's true.

Taaramae and Coppel need to go to bigger teams, they have real GT GC potential.

 

[SiAp1984]

I would be surprised if Basso plays a role in this race. No ITT, no punch in the mountains, bad preparation (Mt Etna crash).

AS needs to gain time on Evans before the final ITT. About 1 minute should do it. But Evans looks very strong. AC... I hope is is not just doing a mega-2001-Lance-bluff and IS out of form...

 

[auscyclefan94]

Cut BMC some slack. They tried to win the stage but couldn't close the last bit of the gap. It happens.

The only positives that I take out of today are:
1) Cadel didn't take yellow
2) BMC were up there with some numbers. Good to see.

I question Lelganue's thinking of sending them to the front for most the day.

 

[Moviefan1203]

AC... I hope is is not just doing a mega-2001-Lance-bluff and IS out of form...

That could be the case, but I think both Schlecks are going to be in top form by the third week.

 

[Jux1893]

Rui Costa ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Huge improvement to my velogames team.

 

[dlwssonic]

The only positives that I take out of today are:
1) Cadel didn't take yellow
2) BMC were up there with some numbers. Good to see.

I question Lelganue's thinking of sending them to the front for most the day.

yup would have liked them to conserve their energy for the end. But i think gilbert would have won the stage anyway. but evans could have beat gilbert if he had reacted earlier.

 

[just some guy]

How much time does Andy need over Cadel before the final time trial to feel comfortable? At least a minute and a half I would think. If Cadel can limit his losses, he has a fighting chance to win this race.

1.30 to 2 min depending on how deep Cadel goes

 

[El Pistolero]

No he couldn't.

 

[goggalor]

Thor should give a huge thanks to CVV and Tommy D for helping him close the gap in the final 200 m. And probably in the last 5 K too. Great team effort.

Not sure what BMC were doing on the front after the 2nd cat. Maybe Evans wanted the stage win, or perhaps the team management wanted yellow for publicity reasons. But if Evans is serious about the GC he should be happy not to wear the maillot jaune for the next few stages... but then again that realistically means he'll never see yellow this Tour.

 

[Publicus]

yup would have liked them to conserve their energy for the end. But i think gilbert would have won the stage anyway. but evans could have beat gilbert if he had reacted earlier.

Based on what? He finished 3" back of Gilbert with the rest of the GC candidates, but I'm willing to bet you wouldn't say any of the others could have beaten Gilbert if they had reacted sooner. He looked good with that dig, but the group did close it down. It would be one thing if he had maintained the initial gap on AC and AS, but he didn't.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Paul sherwen cam out with a classic during the coverage:

"Christopher Riblon is the most experimented riders of the front group"

 

[Anonymous]

folks, lets wait till the real mountains before we judge contador.

 

[ScottyMuser]

did Horner have to withdraw today, and I just missed it? His name is not on the list of finishers yet so... If so, RSH down to 7 already, with (probbably) their best climber down. ha ha ha

 

[dlwssonic]

Based on what? He finished 3" back and with the rest of the GC candidates. He looked good with that dig, but the group did close it down. It would be one thing if had maintained the initial gap, but he didn't.

evans actually doesnt gap his contenders. he just manages to outsprint them. he rarely gaps them as he doesnt have the explosiveness but he can surely beat the others in a power sprint.

 

[Jan the Man]

People read way too much into a finish like this-

From today it's not possible to deducte who will be best in the high mountains.

With respect Hushovd and G came in in the main group.

As with Schleck dropping eight seconds the other day it didn't mean he had bad form.

The fact remains imo that come the mountains Schleck and Contador will drop all the others except maybe Basso and possibly VDB2 like a stone.

 

[gilbertador]

look at the climb the only guy to judge today is Gesink and Vino
Gesink is in big trouble and Vino will make the tour bludy exciting

 

[dlwssonic]

with gesink probably out of contention. evans has a good chance of getting a podium now. but he still has to do well.

 

[thehog]

its true contador didnt look very strong today he was grimacing as he attacked and it wasnt a very good attack. I think he doesnt have great form. i certainly think it will be very hard for him to win le tour.

So you're not meant to grimace when you're riding hard?

What next? No breathing when attacking?

 

[furcah]

How much time does Andy need over Cadel before the final time trial to feel comfortable? At least a minute and a half I would think. If Cadel can limit his losses, he has a fighting chance to win this race.

Minute and half? Are you kidding me. In 2009 when Contador won the ITT and Andy lost one min and 45 sec. Last year he lost 30 secs to Conta. Besides Conta is better timetrialist than Cadel.

If you looked video about Andys preparation to Tour they said that he can ride 40 km ITT stage with 40 watts more than last year. That means 90 seconds. Of course i dont believe that he actually can ride it 90 seconds faster than last year compared to Contador but he wont lost a minute to Contador and even less to Evans.


Tours last ITT is the only ITT in the year when he's on peak and rides ITT seriously and 2 last years have shown us that Andy can recover better than his CG-rivals to that last ITT.

He could loose 90 seconds to Evans in WC ITT race, but not in TDF after 2 weeks in the mountains.



edit: i would say he needs 30 seconds to Evans and 45 seconds to Conta.

 

[dlwssonic]

So your not meant to grimace when you're riding hard?

What next? No breathing when attacking?

I meant he didnt look very comfortable and his attack wasnt really strong.

 

[goggalor]

Based on what? He finished 3" back of Gilbert with the rest of the GC candidates, but I'm willing to bet you wouldn't say any of the others could have beaten Gilbert if they had reacted sooner. He looked good with that dig, but the group did close it down. It would be one thing if he had maintained the initial gap on AC and AS, but he didn't.

dlwssonic is of course biased and overly optimistic on behalf of BMC, but it is true that Contador, Schleck and Evans took a quick look at Gilbert going past then went back to looking at each other. I doubt Evans would've beat him, but I don't think there would've been a time gap.

 

[red_flanders]

Like I said a few days ago, not sure why everyone thought there would be gaps on this stage.

 

[dlwssonic]

dlwssonic is of course biased and overly optimistic on behalf of BMC, but it is true that Contador, Schleck and Evans took a quick look at Gilbert going past then went back to looking at each other. I doubt Evans would've beat him, but I don't think there would've been a time gap.

yes agreed. yes i also admit that im a bit bias and pretty overly optimistic.

 

[SiAp1984]

The fact remains imo that come the mountains Schleck and Contador will drop all the others except maybe Basso and possibly VDB2 like a stone.

This being said, how much advantage would AS need over AC for the final ITT? I guess, AC is not able to deliver a magic extraterrestial ITT like he did 2009. So 1 min should be enough for Andy. What do you think?

 

[Carl0880]

Like I said a few days ago, not sure why everyone thought there would be gaps on this stage.

I thought the same about gaps but I went back to 2008 stage, and eventhough I remember Ricco winning the stage, I had forgotten it was about a 10-12 rider sprint at the line, so last night I realized not much gaps, but certainly didn't expect Hushovd to keep Yellow though