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

[ratatata]

Contador on the stage:

Alberto Contador came to the top of Super Besse “with good feelings, but the finish was not very demanding in terms of slope and it was very difficult to break”, he said explaining the outcome of the stage.
To Alberto this was not a duel with Andy Schleck, because “it was a climb of force, for people who can go up with the big plate, rather than for climbers, so I'm happy. Little more could be done on a stage like today. The best is that I've finished without a fall”.

 

[Gingerale]

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.

very well put. at least it applies in my case. AS is highly promoted on the coverage i'm watching. then he does a time trial at the Suisse tour and i think, whaaa? Cav , lol... but he is a super sprinter

 

[RedheadDane]

(Ignoring all the arguments)

You know what? This is why I love cycling! You never know what's gonna happen. I am throughoutly impressed by Thor, as they said on Danish television: He is basically ignoring gravity*.

*Not the exact word, couldn't really remember it. But the meaning remains

 

[just some guy]

(Ignoring all the arguments)

You know what? This is why I love cycling! You never know what's gonna happen. I am throughoutly impressed by Thor, as they said on Danish television: He is basically ignoring gravity*.

*Not the exact word, couldn't really remember it. But the meaning remains

And maybe JV as well

 

[Gingerale]

Contador on the stage:

thanks. great to read some of his words. have yet to watch how he was riding the climb. have to wonder about both gesink and conti after having crashes last week.

 

[kjetilraknerud]

And maybe JV as well

I can hear JV on the radio "Thor! Drop back, sprint for 34th!"

 

[luckyboy]

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

Wow he finished ahead of an injured rider.

 

[LaFlorecita]

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.

So? What I mean is that it wasn't because of Andy that they finished that close to each other. Alberto did a TT way below par.

Alberto is known for doing great in a TT after 3 weeks of racing. Frankly, if you would let him race a TT at the beginning of a GT, and you would let him do the exact same course after 20 days of racing, I'm certain the second time would be much quicker.
And random experts and (ex-) teammates have been quoted stating that the key to Alberto's success is his ability to recover. He also said it himself, that he is lucky he can recover so well. What exactly has shown us Andy can recover better than his main rivals?

You keep telling us Andy has improved his TTing, but you seem to forget (or don't know) that Bjarne Riis said Alberto's new time trial position makes him go 1 second faster per kilometre.

 

[jonjungel]

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.

Unless they have 4+ minutes to everyone, there is no way that Andy and Fränk will not go all in on stages 12, 14, 18 and 19. While 90s to Evans, Klöden and Contador might be enough before the ITT (though I doubt it), it is not a bet they are willing to take.

 

[ggusta]

Despite admiring his style in the Giro I'm still firmly on the Contador hater side, but I think it's ridiculous to write his obituary just yet. How about waiting until the actual mountains to check his legs. Does anyone doubt he could have taken 10 minutes or more in the Giro if he wanted? Contador unleashed is out of this world, I think some people here will get a big surprise next week.

I hope you are right. I want to see the smugness wiped off of Shrek's face. But despite what AC said today, there was just no apparent snap. We'll just have to wait.

 

[Bavarianrider]

So? What I mean is that it wasn't because of Andy that they finished that close to each other. Alberto did a TT way below par.

Alberto is known for doing great in a TT after 3 weeks of racing. Frankly, if you would let him race a TT at the beginning of a GT, and you would let him do the exact same course after 20 days of racing, I'm certain the second time would be much quicker.
And random experts and (ex-) teammates have been quoted stating that the key to Alberto's success is his ability to recover. He also said it himself, that he is lucky he can recover so well. What exactly has shown us Andy can recover better than his main rivals?

You keep telling us Andy has improved his TTing, but you seem to forget (or don't know) that Bjarne Riis said Alberto's new time trial position makes him go 1 second faster per kilometre.

Helll no it would not be faster

 

[LaFlorecita]

Unless they have 4+ minutes to everyone, there is no way that Andy and Fränk will not go all in on stages 12, 14, 18 and 19. While 90s to Evans, Klöden and Contador might be enough before the ITT (though I doubt it), it is not a bet they are willing to take.

I hope you're right...

 

[therhodeo]

Helll no it would not be faster

No but the difference for him would be much less than other riders. He just recovers better.

 

[Bavarianrider]

No but the difference for him would be much less than other riders. He just recovers better.

Ok yeahh that's true.
But if you look at the past, actually most climbers lost lesser time in the second TT then in the first

 

[LaFlorecita]

Helll no it would not be faster

Yeah, you make me realise what I just said was plain stupid. But I think, if you would compare the time differences, it would be better.

 

[luckyboy]

Just watched the final climb again - can't see Contador favouring one side more than the other tbh.

He just upped the pace a couple of times. The camera angle was awful (just side on Contador) when Cadel went so we couldn't see if AC was pulling him back or not.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Just watched the final climb again - can't see Contador favouring one side more than the other tbh.

He just upped the pace a couple of times. The camera angle was awful (just side on Contador) when Cadel went so we couldn't see if AC was pulling him back or not.

To me it looked like he pushed harder with his left leg.

 

[ggusta]

Just watched the final climb again - can't see Contador favouring one side more than the other tbh.

He just upped the pace a couple of times. The camera angle was awful (just side on Contador) when Cadel went so we couldn't see if AC was pulling him back or not.

It was hard to tell because I was distracted when half the field blew past the 3 of them like they weren't even there.

 

[SiAp1984]

... Alberto did a TT way below par.

Alberto is known for doing great in a TT after 3 weeks of racing. ...

Time to put two urban legends straight:

1st "Berto was not at his best in 2010" => Wrong. A. Schleck just got better in the mountains, AC stagnated on a very high level.

2nd "Berto is a world class ITT rider" => Wrong. He is and always has been strong in short, hilly ITTs. He always was able to ride a longer ITT slightly above average. He did ONE great (certain-Heras-style) ITT in his whole live in 2009 and I guess nobody wants to know exactly HOW he did this. Face it: Last years Tour ITT was more the usual AC-ITT compared to the one 2009. And 2010, he already was at his best (see above).

 

[luckyboy]

No way AC was at his best in last year's Tour. Don't you remember his face at the end of that TT? He was shattered.

 

[Parrulo]

Time to put two urban legends straight:

1st "Berto was not at his best in 2010" => Wrong. A. Schleck just got better in the mountains, AC stagnated on a very high level.

2nd "Berto is a world class ITT rider" => Wrong. He is and always has been strong in short, hilly ITTs. He always was able to ride a longer ITT slightly above average. He did ONE great (certain-Heras-style) ITT in his whole live in 2009 and I guess nobody wants to know exactly HOW he did this. Face it: Last years Tour ITT was more the usual AC-ITT compared to the one 2009. And 2010, he already was at his best (see above).

3rd "SiAp1984;591543 knows his stuff about cycling" => wrong just look at the post i am quoting and there is no need for further proff

4th "SiAp1984;591543 isn't biased" => wrong i can see the hate in every single one of the words he so furiously types on his keyboard

 

[ggusta]

Time to put two urban legends straight:

1st "Berto was not at his best in 2010" => Wrong. A. Schleck just got better in the mountains, AC stagnated on a very high level.

2nd "Berto is a world class ITT rider" => Wrong. He is and always has been strong in short, hilly ITTs. He always was able to ride a longer ITT slightly above average. He did ONE great (certain-Heras-style) ITT in his whole live in 2009 and I guess nobody wants to know exactly HOW he did this. Face it: Last years Tour ITT was more the usual AC-ITT compared to the one 2009. And 2010, he already was at his best (see above).

Wrong forum, I know. Sorry, but he did it the same way about 90-99% of the rest of them do it. Get real.

 

[just some guy]

Andy watching Contador Everyone else watching Andy - Gilbert going HARD

Costa winning

 

[Kwibus]

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

I'm afraid he will indeed. I don't think he can motivate himself for more days of suffering and losing time so that he might be recovered for the Alps so he maybe could win a stage.
I expect him to leave the TdF and focus on the Vuelta. His back isn't getting any better riding 200k a day.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Wow he finished ahead of an injured rider.

Don't feed the troll