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Official thread - TdF Stage 4: Team Time Trial (Montpellier - Montpellier 38 km)

Page 25 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
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Anonymous

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franciep10 said:
OK I get I think astana has been covered, what about columbia, they were supposed to challenge astana for the win today, but they weren't good, i think they went all out yesterday and were too tired to work in the team time trial.

Gotta say, I was surprised. I know yesterday was a hard day for them, but I thought their horsepower would still be fresh enough to pull out a better result. Any idea what the look from Cav was about in the last meters. (could have been nothing, but it was kind of strange.)
 
Mar 10, 2009
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franciep10 said:
OK I get I think astana has been covered, what about columbia, they were supposed to challenge astana for the win today, but they weren't good, i think they went all out yesterday and were too tired to work in the team time trial.
I think that many here hoped Astana would get spanked, and the team to do it was Columbia. But there were two things working against that hope (as I pointed out in post #14), fatigue and team objectives.

What surprised me were the performances of Katusha and Caisse d'Epargne
 
franciep10 said:
OK I get I think astana has been covered, what about columbia, they were supposed to challenge astana for the win today, but they weren't good, i think they went all out yesterday and were too tired to work in the team time trial.

I thought they left too much on the road yesterday. Perhaps they realize their ultimate goal is the green jersey and road conservatively today (relatively speaking) to preserve their legs for tomorrow and Thursday.
 
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Anonymous

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Publicus said:
I thought they left too much on the road yesterday. Perhaps they realize their ultimate goal is the green jersey and road conservatively today (relatively speaking) to preserve their legs for tomorrow and Thursday.

exactly what ive been saying.. columbia did a training ride today, and for the same reason they wont go for the gc, they get more from getting cav the win in paris and the green jersey.. if it wasnt obvious before, its more obvious today what there intentions are
 
Jul 7, 2009
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Cobblestones said:
Then someone will attack* which will drop LL right away and possibly LA. Riders who should make the selection: Sastre, Evans, Kloden, Contador, Kreuziger, A. Schleck, possibly Menchov, Martin, VdV, Nibali, Kirchen + a couple others.

So let me get this straight, Levi and Lance get dropped right away but Martin, VdV, Nibali and Kirchen don't? LL and LA but not Kirchen and VdV? Really? Really?
 
Jul 7, 2009
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My current Betfair position

Hi, new here.

Well what a great couple of stages those were if you think Armstrong is a serious contender. All other GC rivals must be starring down the barrel of Arcalis on Stage 7, including Contador... and with Armstrong with the bit between his teeth, and Bruyneel also looking for No. 9, there's no-one else I would rather have money on.

And on that note I actuall do have my have my money on him; I've been backing Armstrong on Betfair for weeks, if he wins outright I will be buying a new Cervelo RS frameset from the proceeds... stand to win over $2.5K net on the aging giant... Go Lance Go :D

Chairvelo.
 
Jul 7, 2009
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Well that sucks ....

To have the likes of Cadel, Sastre, Menchov 2-3 mins off the pace so early in the TdF is ridiculous - what a farce ...
 
May 13, 2009
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Padeiro said:
So let me get this straight, Levi and Lance get dropped right away but Martin, VdV, Nibali and Kirchen don't? LL and LA but not Kirchen and VdV? Really? Really?

Reading comprehension is your friend here. See the 'possible' I put in the sentence?

Yes I think LL and LA will get dropped early. Look at the Giro footage again. It tells you why I think so.
 
Kazistuta said:
Yeah, and everybody knows that TDF is just the continuing of the Giro.......

LA is way better than he was in Italy and will go further than Klöden in the mountains...and Martin...and Nibali...and Kirchen....

Thus far, I've seen no evidence for Armstrong being any better than he was in the last week of the Giro.
I don't think all these years off and the age can be compensated.
 
Jul 7, 2009
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Publicus said:
Maybe I don't understand what you are trying to say. If Contador is stronger he's not sitting back with Lance just because JB says so (which I don't think will happen). And Lance isn't leading the team or the peleton. This isn't Disco or 2005. I think that is going to be the difference. Contador isn't going to bury himself riding tempo for Lance. He has his own ambitions.[/QUOT

I dont think Contador will be solo for very long during this race. Johan will have astana set the tempo. The strongest will be there at the end Someone will attack and it will be up to everyone to follow. I don't think Contador stay away from lance. His acceleration may be a challenge and lance will have to take some time to bridge the gap. However, I don't see lance getting dropped.

However, I am only saying this because I believe lance is near the same form of 2005. If he is the Contador has no chance.
 
Jul 7, 2009
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Parrot23 said:
That is not correct. It keeps getting repeated (CN is incorrect on this). I saw Contador walk up and give Lance and high five and hug etc.

They are being civil, though we can't see if Lance is hogging the team at dinner time and isolating Contador (given he doesn't speak English).

Good sportmanship so far.

On the television coverage I didn't see Contador anywhere near Armstrong. That's why I believed CN report. If he did then thats cool.
 
Jul 7, 2009
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Snake8 said:
Actually it happened four years ago.

Some of you guys are so down on this race why do you even bother watching? IT IS STAGE 4!!!!!

If you really think the race is over feel free to go talk about the veulta in Alpe's thread...that is if you know what the vuelta is....

Hey thanks for letting me know what stage it was. I thought it was the last stage. What does the green jersey mean? Good god!

Vuelta a Espana was first held in 1935 and they started to have it yearly in 55 or 56 i think. Thanks for letting me know about it.
 
Jun 10, 2009
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dadoorsron said:
On the television coverage I didn't see Contador anywhere near Armstrong. That's why I believed CN report. If he did then thats cool.
You see it when LA gets off his bike and walks up to the team bus. AC is already at the bus near the door. It's difficult to see, but they embraced and high fived each other, then AC went into the bus while LA stayed outside high fiving other Astana riders as they came by.
 
Jul 7, 2009
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RightWingNutJob said:
You see it when LA gets off his bike and walks up to the team bus. AC is already at the bus near the door. It's difficult to see, but they embraced and high fived each other, then AC went into the bus while LA stayed outside high fiving other Astana riders as they came by.

I'll have to watch the replay today.
 
Jun 26, 2009
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RightWingNutJob said:
You see it when LA gets off his bike and walks up to the team bus. AC is already at the bus near the door. It's difficult to see, but they embraced and high fived each other, then AC went into the bus while LA stayed outside high fiving other Astana riders as they came by.

Yes. I saw that as well.
 
Jun 26, 2009
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Thoughtforfood said:
Gotta say, I was surprised. I know yesterday was a hard day for them, but I thought their horsepower would still be fresh enough to pull out a better result. Any idea what the look from Cav was about in the last meters. (could have been nothing, but it was kind of strange.)

I think he was just looking to see if the team was still with him/where they were.

EDIT: Or he may have been thinking "Why the F*** am I leading? Where's Hincapie and Renshaw?"
 
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Boleyn said:
I think he was just looking to see if the team was still with him/where they were.

EDIT: Or he may have been thinking "Why the F*** am I leading? Where's Hincapie and Renshaw?"

That is what I was wondering.
 
Apr 9, 2009
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old man 1, FDQ 0.....

again in stage 4: team Forum Drama Queens get taken down by the old man and his Astana team. ;-)

on my TV, LA was pulling a lot in the middle sections and AC/Kloden was looking particularly strong at the end. With about 1km to go, LA took the lead out and I was thinking - "WTF, is he really going to try to pull all the way to the finish?"; Obviously he couldn't and AC came on like a freight train - it seemed LA maybe over-cooked at that point.

as to LA and AC not respecting each other - Tweet from LA: "And they might need to repair the pavement on the sections where Alberto was pulling. All in all, great day."

One article even had AC wishing they could have put LA in yellow....that he knew how much it meant to him:

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/94656/contador-more-than-happy-with-ttt-result

...and then listen to his press conference. LA is going to try is legs off, but he also realizes the tick-tock of time and how hard it is. He even said he was wrong and disrespected Sastre and VdV.

Mortality is tough for a champion....at least he will lay it out on the road. If AC beats him on the road, LA will be just fine with that, but don't expect him to just soft pedal. PLus, I think LA thinks AC has some things to learn...yesterday showed that. Races aren't always won by the fastest.