Official Thread: Stage 16 TdF Martigny - Bourg-Saint-Maurice

[OKRider79]

There are some pictures, here
For anyone with a strong stomach.

That crash is reason enough to keep radios in the race. Can you imagine what kind of cluster there would be if the peloton came across a rider like that on a descent at 70 kph?

 

[Parrot23]

"He's been a great champion and he still is as he's shown today. For the first time, we've talked during the race. Today I didn't need his help, but I am sure that if I were in trouble, he would have helped me." Contador stated.
"By saying he is willing to help me, he shows his greatness."

Looks like the New York Times guys need to step their game up.

Email them and see what they say; they like to think they're the paper of record

Actually the journalist is Juliet Macur, who has a good relationship with Lance (did a pre-Tour interview etc.), so there's no motive for misquoting here. She's probably using a pool translation.

She's there covering the whole Tour and is there today (just been in a group interview with Lance, I see). I'm not on Twitter, but here's her page:

http://twitter.com/JulietMacur

 

[benpounder]

Yea I see what you are saying. Could be he wasnt expecting the hump, and when you hit something like that on a bike, and are not expecting it, your handle bars go away from you. that looks like what happened. The fork most likely broke after the wheel turned sideways.

Given how much effort he had just put in, I'd guess fatigue played a big part.

Best wishes for Jens...

 

[_frost]

max power is important in endurance events, how should you be able to push 450 watt efficiently if you have no leg power.Guys like Cancellara or Grabsch can push high gears with much more ease than say the Schlecks->less oxygen consumption->better results in flat TTs.

Absolutely rubbish. For 450 watts at 90 rpm cadence you need about 50 N-m force which equals roughly 28kg. That is way less than an average person needs to stand up. Oxygen consumption doesn't have anything to do with your maximum strength or power.

I am also really interested to hear the mechanism that causes to lose suistainable power (power over 10 minutes) with (healthy) weightloss.

 

[_frost]

Too bad for Jens

 

[Wheels Go Round and Round]

I'm sorry, where did those guys finish compared to Armstrong Sunday? Today? Easy answer, behind and with. I would suggest that he hasn't beaten ANY of those guys yet, and as Armstrong just said, it wasn't that steep and he can't accelerate with the the younger riders. I think you might want to listen to the man himself.

Who is Ben?

so now you want to Listen to LANCE? ROFLMAO

how convenient..... you are a clown of epic proportions

flame away

 

[Anonymous]

so now you want to Listen to LANCE? ROFLMAO

how convenient..... you are a clown of epic proportions

flame away

Funny, this from the guy who said Lance was definitely going to win the Tour.

 

[Wheels Go Round and Round]

Funny, this from the guy who said Lance was definitely going to win the Tour.

it isn't over yet

I don't believe I said "definitely" but why be accurate, it's just not your style

 

[Anonymous]

it isn't over yet

Yes it is.

 

[Wheels Go Round and Round]

Yes it is.

all they need to do is open the doping file on Contador

 

[Publicus]

it isn't over yet

I don't believe I said "definitely" but why be accurate, it's just not your style

I believe the appropriate response is "Hope springs eternal."

 

[Anonymous]

all they need to do is open the doping file on Contador

...irony is not your strong suit I see...

 

[Anonymous]

I believe the appropriate response is "Hope springs eternal."

Or "A dog always returns to its own vomit."

 

[Alan Quay]

I can't help wondering how many of the following group would have got back to the Contaggins group if he had'nt acted as a carrot?

 

[Anonymous]

I can't help wondering how many of the following group would have got back to the Contaggins group if he had'nt acted as a carrot?

In reality, probably most of them. The section where he caught them was not to severe, and like I have pointed out, Dave Z caught them.

I will say this, Mr. Armstrong looked like a completely different rider than he did Sunday...

 

[slcbiker]

Assuming nothing happens to AC, the yellow jersey is his...

However s%!t happens. Ask Voight or Beloki. At least I'd wait until after tomorrow, with all the descents on that stage.

 

[Anonymous]

Assuming nothing happens to AC, the yellow jersey is his...

However s%!t happens. Ask Voight or Beloki. At least I'd wait until after tomorrow, with all the descents on that stage.

Lance gonna pull the ole Cinzano move on him?

 

[frizzlefry]

Lance gonna pull the ole Cinzano move on him?

HaHa.
At the least, LA got some confidence out of that ride. That may help him.

 

[eleven]

Assuming nothing happens to AC, the yellow jersey is his...

However s%!t happens. Ask Voight or Beloki. At least I'd wait until after tomorrow, with all the descents on that stage.

I think Contador pretty much has it in the bag, but a bad day on Ventoux could lose him everything. He needs a good TT to make sure that nobody feels like they have a shot to overcome him without an epic blowup.

 

[frizzlefry]

If I were LA, all I would worry about is marking A Schleck and Wiggins. He cant worry about AC. He's to strong. Schleck and Wiggins arent as strong as AC.
Saxo though knows he wont try and chase AC if Schleck is chasing. So they have that card to play to get A Schleck on the podium.

 

[eleven]

If I were LA, all I would worry about is marking A Schleck and Wiggins. He cant worry about AC. He's to strong. Schleck and Wiggins arent as strong as AC.
Saxo though knows he wont try and chase AC if Schleck is chasing. So they have that card to play to get A Schleck on the podium.

Agreed. And it's hard to know what will happen, but it seems logical that Armstrong will beat both of them in the TT and gain some valuable time. Question is: Can he hold that time on Ventoux?

 

[Anonymous]

If I were LA, all I would worry about is marking A Schleck and Wiggins. He cant worry about AC. He's to strong. Schleck and Wiggins arent as strong as AC.
Saxo though knows he wont try and chase AC if Schleck is chasing. So they have that card to play to get A Schleck on the podium.

The battle could be between he and Wiggins, because Wiggins can TT really well. Should be fun to watch.

 

[Rob_Roy]

I think Contador pretty much has it in the bag, but a bad day on Ventoux could lose him everything. He needs a good TT to make sure that nobody feels like they have a shot to overcome him without an epic blowup.

Ofc it can happen but I think the Paris-Nice race was a nice lesson for AC and it wont happen again,specially not in a GT.
I doubt that anyone in the peleton can drop him when he is 100% like now.

Last year in the Giro I doubt that he was at 100% but he still managed to climb with the best.

Since I always cheer for the underdogs I will ofc still hope and pray for a tighter TDF..

 

[Mellow Velo]

At the moment, I would tentative suggest, that the podiums spots are between Contador, A Schleck, Wiggins and Nibali.
On the other hand, I would not be surprised, that by tomorrow evening, I may have to revise this opinion.

 

[fulcrum]

Thanks for clarifying that mistranslation. I was going to say that was the first bad statement I've heard from Contador before you clarified.

You would think that the New York Times is owned by Randolph Hearst based on how they translated that...