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

[Cimber]

My first impression of Contador on the last climb was that he looked tired. But even when he is tired his face seldomly reflects that kind of agony so I was inclined to agree with the people who suggest that he might have injured his knee. His style today was so not Contador. Even a cooked Contador usually looks different.

But after comparing stage 4 to stage 8 I think its obvious that he also prefers his left side on stage 4. Maybe fatigue just made it more obvious.

Have a peak for yourself:

Stage 4: http://tour.tv2.dk/video/index.php/nodeId-41446226.html

Stage 8: http://tour.tv2.dk/article.php/id-41582146:tv-se-contador-angribe-schleck.html

 

[Fight.The.Power]

A final note and question on the thread. Will wiggo be able to race in the vuelta???? I hope so.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

You keep guessing, matey. I have lost the count on how many times I've had to hear this or this other contingent hyping a rider as the next coming of Eddy Merckx only to see him fade away or, most commonly, never become anyone of significance.

Gesink said himself today his legs aren't working btw, I fail to see how his chute had anything to do with that.

agreed. gesink trained and lived like a pro when he was a junior. there's not too much growth margin left in him and that's not per se neccesary, because he has incredible level but when you also crash at every important race it starts to become a bit sad

 

[BYOP88]

that would make for a great vuelta unless the dutchies cough D_T cough starts with his nibali hate (he himself admitted that nibali was one of his least favourite riders) and starts going on about how gesink will crush nibali weeks before the vuelta even starts



libertine there is no point trying to argue with this guy. even when showing him this kind of data

Yeah the guy must be a Schleck lover(it would be more of a shock if Schleck finished top 10 in a 40km+ ITT), and must believe that he does it all on bread and water.

 

[kurtinsc]

In reading through the thread, I noticed a lot of people upset at the commentators saying TJVG looked the strongest.

To me he did look the strongest... with 30km to go. I really don't see anything wrong with various commentators suggesting that. With the Cat-2, he was pretty much leading everyone up the hill shedding everyone but Costa, then going forward for quite some time even after the two frenchmen reconnected on the downhill, he'd be the one to pull back the attacks.

Which in retrospect was probably a really dumb thing to do. Costa didn't have to lead much at all until inside 5 km when he was answering attacks and making them himself.

I have no idea if Costa was stronger or not... but he definitely rode a smarter race. TJVG seemed to be a bit overconfident by working that much from that far out... then had nothing when Costa made his move.

My gut tells me that Costa had just as much today as TJVG and possibly more. But he rode a MUCH smarter race.

 

[jobiwan]

Yeah the guy must be a Schleck lover(it would be more of a shock if Schleck finished top 10 in a 40km+ ITT), and must believe that he does it all on bread and water.

It most certainly would be a shock, that's why eventually Schleck will have to stop just following Contador's wheel and attack, but today was a good sign. Contador to me looks much closer to '10 Tour form than '09, which obviousl is good for Andy. Evans and VDB looking good too!

I wish some Schleck fans would get a grip on reality. It's better to just accept how good Contador is and move on, instead of trying to belittle him.

It makes the rest of us Schleck fans look bad!

 

[Gingerale]

A troubling stage. Gesink, et al.

Damn crashes! A lot of riders looking forward to the rest day.

My first thought earlier was that Contador was injured, but still game.
Looking for a recording, not a very good one, but here he is with Schleck on his wheel (skip forward to 2:50):
Link:
http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/aso-tdf-2011/?title=Official+Stage+8+Highlights&dashboard=tour-de-france&id=1044785351001&yr=2011

With respect, if he was a horse and trotted by you looking like that, you would say he was lame.

Sad to hear that Intxausti had to retire. He has one of my favorite names in the peloton! El Inagotable!, his name reminds me of Inexhaustible in English. So for me Intxausti's retirement is a metaphor for the peloton as they limp into rest day.

lol at the horse analogy. i don't get 'lame' from the performance as i think i've seen him pedal like that before. yet i almost, not quite, buy it. it makes sense he and others crashing last week would be sore and compromised. yeah, the "carrots" or euskatel - euskadi have stood out watching TDF's and the other races i've had a chance to watch. memorable names and great climbers, if not a little unlucky at times. endearing traits. sammy is a star on the team. phil or paul called him LL sanchez today. have to keep heads up with these guys commentating. i certainly would be worse by far. they also had me confused as to who was whom in the breakaway for moments too.

 

[trevim]

Tiago of course.

I don't know about Tiago Machado. Tactically he isn't the smartest guy around We'll see!

 

[BYOP88]

It most certainly would be a shock, that's why eventually Schleck will have to stop just following Contador's wheel and attack, but today was a good sign. Contador to me looks much closer to '10 Tour form than '09, which obviousl is good for Andy. Evans and VDB looking good too!

I wish some Schleck fans would get a grip on reality. It's better to just accept how good Contador is and move on, instead of trying to belittle him.

It makes the rest of us Schleck fans look bad!

Yes it looks like that for Contador, regarding form. But is Schleck on good form or not?

 

[jobiwan]

Yes it looks like that for Contador, regarding form. But is Schleck on good form or not?

I guess we have to just wait till the Pyrenees. Obviously Stage 4 was much harder but Andy and Frank were paying very close attention today and responded well to Contador's "attack".

If Luz Ardiden were tomorrow I might have some doubts, but it seems as they are getting close to last year's form and will probably be right with Alberto on Thursday (I hope )

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Kurtinsc - I had money on tjvg for a top three place. I agree with you completely. (

 

[Dedelou]

I don´t get - Andy can now ITT.

If we look at the last race pre- tour Andy was horrid

Andy would need 1.30 to 2 min on an inform Evans - the question remains how deep Evans will go in the Mountains to keep up with Andy.

Where Does Contador end up and VDB2.

The Podium as I see it is a race in 4

Andy it´s his to lose - I hope he tries to get Fränk on the Podium then they might both lose

Contador - how tired is he ?

VDB2 - can he ride with no team and get ahead of the other 3 for the ITT - better ITT rider than Andy but nerves etc

Evans - Will he go deep and explode or ride smart ?

from the moment AC lost 1 20 in the first stage his strategy for the TDF was modified i am sure. as far as I see the GC has in front of him is changing all the time but Evans, - F Schhleck, kloden, Martin and basso have not taken a single second on him in 6 stages. A schleck lost a few (precious seconds on a stage ) so let's say that the AC managed his deficit well this first week without pushing too hard.. Now comes a territory where he can pick up more time. Let us see what the intermediate stages to the pyrenees will yield. So far nobody in this forum could have predicted this kind of first week

 

[Gingerale]

My first impression of Contador on the last climb was that he looked tired. But even when he is tired his face seldomly reflects that kind of agony so I was inclined to agree with the people who suggest that he might have injured his knee. His style today was so not Contador. Even a cooked Contador usually looks different.

But after comparing stage 4 to stage 8 I think its obvious that he also prefers his left side on stage 4. Maybe fatigue just made it more obvious.

Have a peak for yourself:

Stage 4: http://tour.tv2.dk/video/index.php/nodeId-41446226.html

Stage 8: http://tour.tv2.dk/article.php/id-41582146:tv-se-contador-angribe-schleck.html

it's interesting. of course my experience is limited to that of others here but i have seen him with a similar syncopated cadence before. i like watching contador out of his seat and pedaling. the look on his face and the extra stubble i have not noticed there before and made me wonder how fatigued he was last week - stage 4. still think he's good. didn't expect him to try and win the stage today, just test himself and not lose time.

 

[SiAp1984]

that would make for a great vuelta unless the dutchies cough D_T cough starts with his nibali hate (he himself admitted that nibali was one of his least favourite riders) and starts going on about how gesink will crush nibali weeks before the vuelta even starts



libertine there is no point trying to argue with this guy. even when showing him this kind of data

Oh, I AM impresses by this detailed result sheet. Hope to take a closer look at it tomorrow.

 

[taiwan]

A final note and question on the thread. Will wiggo be able to race in the vuelta???? I hope so.

Yeah me too.

Contador did look a bit laboured in following Evans' acceleration in the Eurosport video on Steephill. Whether fatigue or injury that's not a good sign. Evans continues to look excellent, and Andy seems to have come out of hibernation finally.

 

[Parrulo]

Yeah me too.

Contador did look a bit laboured in following Evans' acceleration in the Eurosport video on Steephill. Whether fatigue or injury that's not a good sign. Evans continues to look excellent, and Andy seems to have come out of hibernation finally.

wiggo may be able to ride the vuelta but i doubt he will be in shape if he did indeed broke his collarbone. his frankiness schleck aimed at the vuelta after breaking his collarbone and he clearly wasn't at his best. he did well but i don't think he was in top shape. the vuelta this year starts earlier so i think it will be very hard for wiggo. still i hope he manages it tho.

just checked last year's vuelta and frank finished 5th almost 5 minutes down on nibles. i am impressed at how much above every1 else nibali and mosquera were now that i checked it

 

[Dedelou]

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.

i think the camera was french and wanted to give you the impression he was being dropped when in fact they all arrived at the same time except for Gilbert who gained 3 seconds on the bunch. In addition to the french camera , the english speaking commentators constantly pull their "my voice is faster than your eyes type of trick: constantly telling us he is in trouble or not reacting just when he happens to be moving to the front. So whatever. Let the results show us what will be in the end.

 

[Anonymous]

why can't folks wait for the mountains before they judge contador, atm we are at the hills. Is grimacing while riding a bicycle that bad?

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

My first impression of Contador on the last climb was that he looked tired. But even when he is tired his face seldomly reflects that kind of agony so I was inclined to agree with the people who suggest that he might have injured his knee. His style today was so not Contador. Even a cooked Contador usually looks different.

But after comparing stage 4 to stage 8 I think its obvious that he also prefers his left side on stage 4. Maybe fatigue just made it more obvious.

Have a peak for yourself:

Stage 4: http://tour.tv2.dk/video/index.php/nodeId-41446226.html

Stage 8: http://tour.tv2.dk/article.php/id-41582146:tv-se-contador-angribe-schleck.html

Thanks for those videos. I guess my observation was probably skewed due to the side view, and mainly just for those few pedal strokes around 2:45 of your second video.

On second viewing of the finish, Sanchez looked good! He got almost no camera time , but at the end it looked like he towed Evans around the outside of the final curve and then just coasted in for 4th looking quite smooth.

 

[Dedelou]

why can't folks wait for the mountains before they judge contador, atm we are at the hills. Is grimacing while riding a bicycle that bad?

we all have the tendancy to see what we want to see each day. Some of us even try to project the final outcome based on "our own" perception of today's stage . But the Tour, is made of dealing with each of the 21 days of racing. One could make the argument , and some did , that AC strategy for stage 1 was not very smart or successful . Those people are now "obligated" to admit by their own criteria that his strategy for stage 6 and 7 was "genial" in term of eliminating the 4 prong beast (AKA : Retirement Shack) meant to crush him on week 3. (humor me -one more paragraph) So then what was today's strategy for AC? First possibility: Not loosing time on any important competitors? check. Second, gaining time on those ahead of him in GC. I give him a half check for that since he manage to pass 15 competitors, who were ahead on time yesterday. So he went from 35 to 20. That is 45 down since stage one with only 20 to go and two week to do it. Now tell me one rider in this year Tour who has progressed that much in one week? And according to my (of course skewed ) perception without pushing to hard or killing his team to defend a yellow jersey or to gain 1 second. Today BMC left a lot of juice on the road and what did they gain for it? not even one second.. Ditto for Astana, they worked hard.. HTC had hopes to for Tjay ( me too by the way ) and he lost the stage

 

[maxmartin]

he is a great rider, but seems lack some mental toughness

This just in, Gesink will probably retire

http://nos.nl/artikel/254888-gesink-twijfelt-over-vervolg-tour.html

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I agree Gesink is overhyped, i don't agree he is a second tier rider. If he is a second tier rider, so is basically everybody else except Contador, Gilbert & Cancellara for instance. (generalizing a bit)
Anyway, i think he should wait for the resting day or the day after to decide. You never know this was indeed unrelated to his crash and was just his obligatory offday. He's still in front of Contador & Sanchez. Less than a minute behind JVDB, Basso, Cunego... Seems a bit premature to throw in the towel.

 

[mr. tibbs]

I really hope that the eventual winner of the Tour actually does something to earn it.

That is all.

 

[spalco]

[snip]

Well said, I agree completely.

 

[musorowegudo]

i think the camera was french and wanted to give you the impression he was being dropped when in fact they all arrived at the same time except for Gilbert who gained 3 seconds on the bunch. In addition to the french camera , the english speaking commentators constantly pull their "my voice is faster than your eyes type of trick: constantly telling us he is in trouble or not reacting just when he happens to be moving to the front. So whatever. Let the results show us what will be in the end.

Paul Sherwen is one culprit!