Menchov absolutely crushed it today

[Moose McKnuckles]

Lost in the talk of AC and AS seems to have been an absolutely dominating performance by Menchov today.

He put nearly 2:00 into Contador. That's a spectacular amount of time, and it raises some questions about next year. Clearly, this year's podium finishers are the class of professional cycling's GC contenders.

Next year, the consensus seems to be that AS will be stronger than AC. However, Menchov didn't lose a lot of time in the mountains, really, and with such a performance in the TT, he could really threaten for the win next year. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that we'll see a 1-2 battle between AC and AS next year.

 

[TopCarbon]

Menchov worked very hard, and his efforts paid off.

 

[saganftw]

it depends coz he s got no contract,he may as well go to katusha...will rodriguez be willing to work for him? he left caisse because of the same reason

i will be interesting though,if he focus again on TdF next year

 

[The Sheep]

Menchov only does well in even years. Next year he won't be good.

 

[hrotha]

With Denis you never know. 2011 could easily be one of them silly Menchov years, but I don't think it's simple maths, even years=good, odd years=bad. We'll see.

 

[Denkoff]

I think he has great

 

[saganftw]

I think he has great

away with your double entendres

 

[skidmark]

it depends coz he s got no contract,he may as well go to katusha...will rodriguez be willing to work for him? he left caisse because of the same reason

i will be interesting though,if he focus again on TdF next year

I thought Rodriguez left because they wouldn't select him for the Tour, not necessarily because he wanted to lead, but because he got great results and still wasn't chosen for the A-team at the TdF. Although I guess he's equalled Valverde's best Tour finish with his 8th place.

As for the OP, it's tough to speculate without a route, but yeah, should be a good tour next year. It was nice to actually have some (well-founded) doubts about whether Contador could win, the rivalry will be good between those 2, and hopefully some others can step up.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I do think part of the succes is due to Gesink limiting the damage for Menchov on the Tourmalet and the Madeleine, although Gesink was mainly doing that for himself, it did help Menchov

Menchov is better with a steady pace, if the chasers kept jumping then he might have lost more time those stages

 

[El Pistolero]

Uh.. While Menchov obviously rode a great Tour he just isn't on the same level as Schleck/Contador. Every time those two decided to not hold back in the mountains Menchov lost a lot of time. They could have easily made a much bigger gap on the other GC contenders if they wanted to.

 

[theyoungest]

Every other rider of the Menchov type (strong in time trial, try to hold on in the mountains) was nowhere in this Tour. This proves that if next year he gets a Tour more suited to his characteristics, he could do really well indeed.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Can Denis have another Tour where he doesn't crash and the weather is so good for him ? I think this is probably the best he's ever been - even better than his GT victories

I've been disappointed with the way they used Gesink - thought he was going to ride a much more attacking race - but I suppose it's a results business and it's hard to argue that Menchov and Gesink could have finished any higher up GC

 

[theyoungest]

Can Denis have another Tour where he doesn't crash and the weather is so good for him ? I think this is probably the best he's ever been - even better than his GT victories

I've been disappointed with the way they used Gesink - thought he was going to ride a much more attacking race - but I suppose it's a results business and it's hard to argue that Menchov and Gesink could have finished any higher up GC

The plan was for Gesink to attack on the final climbs... the problem is he couldn't.

 

[Nickbeam]

Denis was superb today. the only guy who beat him in the wind was wiggo. almost 2mins on contador, who expected it? He really needs to do smth with those rest days, now it's clear, that he lost the Tour on the stages following them.

 

[icefire]

Menchov only does well in even years. Next year he won't be good.

All his GT wins are in odd years

 

[icefire]

Can Denis have another Tour where he doesn't crash and the weather is so good for him ? I think this is probably the best he's ever been - even better than his GT victories

I've been disappointed with the way they used Gesink - thought he was going to ride a much more attacking race - but I suppose it's a results business and it's hard to argue that Menchov and Gesink could have finished any higher up GC

They should have joined the Cervelo guys in stage 2 ignoring whatever Cancellara said at the time.

 

[saganftw]

All his GT wins are in odd years

it doesnt matter what number is in year

if he decides to ride giro or vuelta he ll proly win it anytime (ofc w/o contador and a.schleck participating) i think hes 3rd best stage race cyclist in the world

 

[Moondance]

All his GT wins are in odd years

At Le Tour odd years are always bad, in his Rabobank years that is (2005 was pathetic, 2007 rode meekly for Rasmussen and pulled out, 2009 was totally not in form). As a young Menchov in 2003 he finished 11th (+ white jersey) with Banesto, so he can break the mould.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

To be fair to Wiggins, crap tour, but he beat Menchov today, and absolutely stuffed everyone else setting off in the last 40.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

To be fair to Wiggins, crap tour, but he beat Menchov today, and absolutely stuffed everyone else setting off in the last 40.

The wind became much worse when Menchov started. Wiggins started at least 50 minutes earlier I think?

 

[TopCarbon]

Uh.. While Menchov obviously rode a great Tour he just isn't on the same level as Schleck/Contador. Every time those two decided to not hold back in the mountains Menchov lost a lot of time. They could have easily made a much bigger gap on the other GC contenders if they wanted to.

nobody is on the same level

 

[El Pistolero]

nobody is on the same level

Well, Contador and Andy are way closer to each other than Contador/Schleck to Menchov.

That's what I meant really. No need to nitpick.

 

[ttrider]

A tour with two tts and no cobble would make him beat andy in theory but reality is andy wouldnt have ****ed about on Ax3 and AC AS would have earned another minute

 

[la.margna]

wow. definitely an incredible time, considering he was confronted with the same hostile wind conditions like AC and AS... wow. respect, Denis.

 

[The Hitch]

The wind became much worse when Menchov started. Wiggins started at least 50 minutes earlier I think?

wiggins started 25th or 24th

menchov 4th

for 170- 10 its 1 min gaps
for 10-1 gap is 3 minutes

so 15 minutes to 10
18 from 10 to 4

so 33 minutes give or take is what i work it out as.

so wind may have been much worse for menchov.