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

[Fight.The.Power]

Can someone start a stage 9 thread cause I think Thor is now gonna lose his jersey???

Maybe

 

[mewmewmew13]

Man of the tour so far is Hushovd. No doubt about it.!!!

Thor is certainly doing the maillot jaune proud! I'm really happy for him.

..but don't forget Philippe Gilbert is a monster in this Tour also! Every finish so far he is a huge presence...what a rider!

Excellent Tour !! Can't wait to see things shake up even more

 

[BYOP88]

Actually yes for several reasons. Those 2 ITTs are the only ITTs in the last 2 years Andy has takes seriously.


We all know that Andy doesnt care about any other race but TDF and LBL. He doesnt even try in any other race therefore races like TOC ITT doesnt show anything that Andy can do in ITT.

I can list some reason for you.

1) 2 weeks in the mountains makes the gap between good and bad ITTers smaller than most of you can think.
2) Last ITT is in the only week of the year when Andy is on his peak. We know that he's the master in peaking at the right moment.
3) Andy improved his ITT by 40 watts according to document made about his preparation to tdf.
4) This is the only ITT in the whole year where Andy actually tries his best.

I think this year Schleck will pull a "Rasmussen 2007 TdF ITT" and his fans will say without irony "told you he'd improved this year".

 

[furcah]

I have not see anything this year that shows me Andy has improved his TT abilities by the watts he is claiming. Many people claim things in the off season. If i listened to what riders say in the run up to the Tour, I would have bet my house on Radio Shack with their strong teams to win the last two years.

Andy has raced ITT's this year and has not show a spark of this improvement. Frank did well in the one TT, the one with his magical attachment on his belly. Since that one, I have no evidence of good TT abilities from a Schleck. Andy hung with his brother at the back during the TTT taking few pulls. Granted few could match Fabian's speed, but to fall back so soon, seems odd, if you have good TT abilities.

Wasn't Cadel dealing with a bad elbow or something by the time the ITT came around last year? Can't say that his results last year can be used to gauge his talent.

All I know Andy needs time on most every GC contender in the ITT. If Andy, AC and Cadel are within 30 seconds of each other, I wouldn't put my money on Andy's claim of better ITT skills just yet.

One thing is that he really doesnt care about anything else but TDF. He havent shown anything on the mountain this year either. So you really cant judge Andys abilities on anything else but TDF.

Second thing is that in the past 2 TDF Andy lost allmost the same time in prology and ITT to his main GC-rivals. Given that fact it seems to me that Andy can limit his loss in ITT when riders have rode 2 weeks in the mountains before the ITT.

Recovery is as important as ITT-skills after those 2 weeks in the mountains. Andy have shown this in the 2 past TDF but noone here seems to understand it.

 

[LaFlorecita]

In 2009 he surely did. He was 12th in the stage. And even though Evans didnt take it seriously last Conta surely did and Evans isnt as good timetrialist as Conta is.


I never said so. I've said that 60 seconds is what Andy needs to Contador at max.

I know 40 watts seems alot but he worked alot on his ITT during winter so its sure he's better in it compared to last year.

AC was really bad last year, normally he would never finish in 35th place.


Andy's TT in TdS was horrible, and in the TTT he didn't look good either.

I really hope Alberto finds his good legs in time, to force Andy to do something. With Andy having a 90 second advantage, all he has to do is wheelsuck Alberto to the finish.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Just for the record, Tony Martin dropped Robert Gesink on the first Cat 2 mountain of the Tour
Uhh i wish i could see some of the Gesink fanboys faces

 

[luckyboy]

I think this year Schleck will pull a "Rasmussen 2007 TdF ITT" and his fans will say without irony "told you he'd improved this year".

Lets hope the outcome is the same then.

 

[Bavarianrider]

AC was really bad last year, normally he would never finish in 35th place.


Andy's TT in TdS was horrible, and in the TTT he didn't look good either.

I really hope Alberto finds his good legs in time, to force Andy to do something. With Andy having a 90 second advantage, all he has to do is wheelsuck Alberto to the finish.

Don't forget that the TT comes right after a streak of hard mountain stages. It's only 42km and not flat at all.
If Schleck will be good in the mountains he really shouldn't loose to much time in the TT, unfortunately,

 

[furcah]

Just for the record, Tony Martin dropped Robert Gesink on the first Cat 2 mountain of the Tour
Uhh i wish i could see some of the Gesink fanboys faces

Gesink is still feeling the affects from his crash. Actually its so bad that he is going to retire from this race.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Furcah totally agree. When players have something to ride for they can put in amazing ITT times. You ask Sean Kelly

 

[therhodeo]

Just for the record, Tony Martin dropped Robert Gesink on the first Cat 2 mountain of the Tour
Uhh i wish i could see some of the Gesink fanboys faces

And thanks to you we know that all climbs no matter the grade are equal so I think we should all accept that Martin and Hushovd are elite climbers now.

 

[Gingerale]

Cause he was amazing in Suisse

that's funny. he was so amazing at TdS

yeah. would have liked seeing AS ride the dauphine pre TDF. but it would have had ppl talking since grenoble is the same time trial.

 

[furcah]

AC was really bad last year, normally he would never finish in 35th place.


Andy's TT in TdS was horrible, and in the TTT he didn't look good either.

I really hope Alberto finds his good legs in time, to force Andy to do something. With Andy having a 90 second advantage, all he has to do is wheelsuck Alberto to the finish.

There was headwind for both Schleck and Conta last year.


And like i've said Schleck would propably loose 90 seconds to conta and Evans in WC ITT when they are all fresh, but that has nothing to do with the ITT in TDF because noone is fresh in it. Everyone is exhausted from all those mountain stages. And 2 past years in TDF have shown us that Andy can recover better for the ITT than his main rivals.

 

[khardung la]

If Contador attacks deep in a stage like this then he is desperate and burns himself for some few seconds. If like today he just controls the situation and check how the other go (having also headwind and percentages of just 5% at the end) he is burnt and not a favorite anymore.

Can we wait to stage 12? Up to now there is nothing indicating that he is not the strongest favorite. He has won 6 out of the last 7 GTs...

 

[Fight.The.Power]

I have only been part of this forum for a short time but been amazed at how critical most of the users are. Most contributions are negative and a particular dislike of AS and Cav. Really brings me down actually.

 

[just some guy]

Can someone start a stage 9 thread cause I think Thor is now gonna lose his jersey???

Maybe

done ......

 

[Bavarianrider]

Hushovd is really impressive. Great Tour by him so far

 

[cprior]

I hear ya:

Does anybody know how bad Contador's knee is from the stage 5 crash? He seemed to be favoring one side of his body a bit. I'll have to look to see if it was the side that he injured.

I cant find the original post from whoever said it but it did look a bit like Contador was favouring one side.

I think that Contador showed good form on stage 4. He rode at the front and almost won the stage. He showed that he is strong.

The stage 5 crash may have caused more damage than he is letting on. That is what it looked like to me. He was definitely favoring one side. Does anybody know about his injuries?

I'm not a cyclist but a runner. As such always keen about biomechanics. Contador looked VERY odd methinks.

 

[hrotha]

And thanks to you we know that all climbs no matter the grade are equal so I think we should all accept that Martin and Hushovd are elite climbers now.

Haha, well played.

Seriously though, Martin is looking pretty good. I definitely wouldn't rule out a top 10 completely, although I'm still not sure about his consistency over three weeks.

 

[Bavarianrider]

I have only been part of this forum for a short time but been amazed at how critical most of the users are. Most contributions are negative and a particular dislike of AS and Cav. Really brings me down actually.

So what did you excpect. Love, peance and flower power all day long?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Lets hope the outcome is the same then.

Yeah I really hope Andy doesn't win, I think he one of the most boring riders in the peloton. He showed it again today, only sucking Alberto's wheel. But that's all he has to do, he will almost certainly put time into Cadel in the mountains, and the 90 seconds will be just enough to fend off a tired Contador in the ITT.

(There was someone who said AC was preferring one side, I have checked it and it seems like he is putting more weight on his left leg, and he has hurt his right knee. He had a lot of swelling yesterday, so I think he still feels it.)

 

[therhodeo]

I have only been part of this forum for a short time but been amazed at how critical most of the users are. Most contributions are negative and a particular dislike of AS and Cav. Really brings me down actually.

With Schlecklet its mostly people just pointing out that most of his propaganda is BS and he's rarely as good as he wants to tell people. With Cav is mostly that no amount of winning makes you likeable when you run your mouth like he does.

 

[peloton]

And 2 past years in TDF have shown us that Andy can recover better for the ITT than his main rivals.

It really is the Tour time in here....

lol, like the ITT AC won in -09?

 

[Gingerale]

feeling compelled to say something positive about Versus coverage.

i like when they put a camera in on team cars. also, very interesting hearing Radio Shack given instructions and report pre race. feeling bad for Horner which makes me root for Kloden.

 

[cprior]

(There was someone who said AC was preferring one side, I have checked it and it seems like he is putting more weight on his left leg, and he has hurt his right knee. He had a lot of swelling yesterday, so I think he still feels it.)

I think it is customary treatment to put raw meat on e.g. beaten-up boxer's eyes...