Official thread- TDF Stage 7 Barcelone - Andorre Arcalis 224km

[frizzlefry]

Well... there is a 3rd option. He could have said "Alberto showed that he is clearly the strongest man in the race. He attacked today and looked really good"

No athlete, no matter what sport, ever admits publicly someone is stronger/better then he is(at this stage of a competition). That is a sign of weakness. Thats something that is said after the event is over or clearly out of reach.

 

[lean mean &green]

Contador is not a fool, he knows the traditions of teams and the yellow jersey, if LA got that jersey today, LA would have then become the team leader and the only remaining chance he would have had to beat LA would be the TT. Contador is a 3 time GT champion for a reason, he knew that after LA's time gain on stage 3, he had to get back that time today, period, end of story. Now he has placed himself at the front of the team again and once he pulls on the yellow, that will be game over for LA. LA knows this, hence why he was ****ed off and used the media for his passive aggressive war with AC.

All good points but JB very wisely didn't want to defend yellow an extra week. AC vs LA can be sorted out in the 3rd week so why not have AG2R help at the front of the peleton till then. It all works out nicely for Astana tho b/c he fell 6 secs short.

 

[byu123]

Oh come on..... what evidence do you have from the last 3 years that Armstrong can climb better than anyone else in the pack? Opening prologue he was off the pace. Giro he was off the pace. Today???

Today??? Exactly. What was he supposed to do attack his own team mate who has already pi$$ed away a team plan which was working to perfection??? That would have been dumb and looked very bad. ("Gee I know I'll compound the stupid mistake my Astana team mate made by riding draft and pulling the rest of the non-Astana GC contenders up to him . . . .") LA didn't follow AC because he is a smart bike rider not because he couldn't . . . at least for today.

We know that when A. Schleck and C.Evans went, LA covered them easily so he obviously had some gas in the tank. Fact that AC drafted behind some motorcycles into a headwind to get 2 seconds on him doesn't mean very much in terms of answering the question. No doubt AC looked good. But so did LA. And the question of whether LA can hange with AC on a climb when both are going all out . . . still hasn't been answered.

 

[RightWingNutJob]

I don't think we can clearly state anything from today. AC looked strong at the end but that was only 2k worth of effort and we still have a hell of a lot more than that to go. Schleck looked like he was matching AC's acceleration for a while but couldn't hold it. Maybe from AC getting help from the bikes or not, who knows. But people are jumping to way too many conclusions.

 

[SpeedWay]

I noticed the winner didn't zip his jersey at the end. A french guy should know better. Especially when he wasn't really in threat of being overtaken.

My thoughts on the whole AC thing was, if he was going to go and set things to rights....he should have gone sooner in the climb. Waiting till the last 2km really muted any real assertion of dominance over his other team members. In some regards, it almost seems as though his effort was not 'balls out' because of that fact.

The idea that he might have been going against his DS might have attributed to the late attack. But if he did have the form to go,...he should have went earlier. So either he didn't have the form, or his inexperience is showing again. I hope he does better next week.

He's young and not the sharpest knife in the rack. Hope his "look at me" attack was worth it for him. It borders on being embarrassing for Astana in a pure tactical sense. Obviously if he had a shot at winning the stage more power to him.

 

[aermet]

Today??? Exactly. What was he supposed to do attack his own team mate who has already pi$$ed away a team plan which was working to perfection??? That would have been dumb and looked very bad. ("Gee I know I'll compound the stupid mistake my Astana team mate made by riding draft and pulling the rest of the non-Astana GC contenders up to him . . . .") LA didn't follow AC because he is a smart bike rider not because he couldn't . . . at least for today.

We know that when A. Schleck and C.Evans went, LA covered them easily so he obviously had some gas in the tank. Fact that AC drafted behind some motorcycles into a headwind to get 2 seconds on him doesn't mean very much in terms of answering the question. No doubt AC looked good. But so did LA. And the question of whether LA can hange with AC on a climb when both are going all out . . . still hasn't been answered.

Bruyneel stated in his post race interview that there was no team plan other than to communicate with the others. What team plan were you referring to? The LA interview where he said there were team orders not to go for it? LA was full of it. The fact that JB said what he said after the race says that AC did not attack against orders.

No one, with what we saw today, can say anything about LA's condition during the climb or his ability to counter or follow. Contrary to what some claim to have seen, LA did not respond immediately and quickly to all the attacks during the climb.
AC did not draft MCs to get 2 secs. He attacked into a strong headwind and rode solo for 2km and got a 20 sec gap. Big difference.

 

[aermet]

He's young and not the sharpest knife in the rack. Hope his "look at me" attack was worth it for him. It borders on being embarrassing for Astana in a pure tactical sense. Obviously if he had a shot at winning the stage more power to him.

What was embarrassing was what LA did the other day into the wind calling his 2 teammates to help drive the break to gap his supposed "co-captain".

 

[grimpeur]

What was he supposed to do attack his own team mate who has already pi$$ed away a team plan which was working to perfection???

So Armstrong riding against Contador after the split on the stage into La Grande-Motte wasn't pi$$ing away the team plan?

LA didn't follow AC because he is a smart bike rider not because he couldn't ... at least for today.

Dude, you are living in LA-LA land... literally. NO ONE could have followed Contador's acceleration today.

 

[Parrot23]

What was he supposed to do attack his own team mate who has already pi$$ed away a team plan which was working to perfection???

They still don't have yellow, so the ostensible plan is still working. All that's happened is that Lance and Alberto have transposed places, and everyone has their undies in a knot about this, LOL.

In any case, they wanted yellow or went for it in the TTT (when it could get Lance in yellow), and so why we should be scandalized by Alberto coming close today to yellow today is a mystery to me--IF HE IS CO-TEAM LEADER. The premise seems to be that he's not even that.

 

[Cobblestones]

Is anybody really expecting AG2R to lead the peloton around for the next week? That's pretty deluded. Of course Astana will drive it just as they did since the TTT.

 

[Wheels Go Round and Round]

here is what Wiggins had to say............

As for Contador's attack, Wiggins said, "I think everyone had the fear of god when he went, because it's Alberto. Everyone went, better not go with Alberto. And it was a headwind. Lance looked like he had good legs. He was blocking [for him]. Then the Schlecks had a go."

 

[Cobblestones]

Nice article

 

[Publicus]

here is what Wiggins had to say............

As for Contador's attack, Wiggins said, "I think everyone had the fear of god when he went, because it's Alberto. Everyone went, better not go with Alberto. And it was a headwind. Lance looked like he had good legs. He was blocking [for him]. Then the Schlecks had a go."

I remember when Lance attacking use to put the fear of g-d in fellow riders....

 

[Cobblestones]

What about a stage 8 thread?

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Nice article

So I am not the only one.
If they could read it they'd chase you down to burn you.
How can such a respected news magazine dare to mention doping and Astana so often in just one article...

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

What about a stage 8 thread?

Anything with a 40k+ decent after the last mountain finish souldn't get a thread ot our principle!

 

[Bala Verde]

Nice article

Good article.

Those Germans...

Armstrong machte nicht den Eindruck, als könne er wie früher gegnerische Attacken einfach kontern. Und das war erst die erste Bergetappe dieser Tour. Im Ziel ließ der 37-Jährige den Kopf hängen wie ein alter Mann.

The rest of it though should be reserved for the dark side of the forum

 

[Wheels Go Round and Round]

So I am not the only one.
If they could read it they'd chase you down to burn you.
How can such a respected news magazine dare to mention doping and Astana so often in just one article...

I put it in the German to English translater

it's about what I expected out of it

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

I'll start quoting German sources more often from now on.

Interesting though that Der Spiegel didn't even mention Marin once or any of the big guns outside of Astana.

@Bala Verde
The ones who see the truth should not confuse the dark side with the light one!

Oh btw.
Do you understand the language or do you trust google or similar stuff?

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

I put it in the German to English translater

it's about what I expected out of it

Bratwurst, Bier and Oktoberfest?

Did anyone watch the Heino Vid btw?

 

[Futuroscope]

contador looked really strong, question is if lance could have gone with him.

among the other GC contenders evans, lance, wiggins and andy schleck looked the strongest. but i doubt wiggins can maintain this form for the rest of the tour.

 

[byu123]

contador looked really strong, question is if lance could have gone with him.

among the other GC contenders evans, lance, wiggins and andy schleck looked the strongest.

Still don't have an answer to that intriguing question. Wouldn't bet on Armstrong being able to match Contador but wouldn't be too surprised if he was able to. Time will tell. Unfortunately it looks like we may have to wait for the Alps as all of the remaining climbs in the Pyrennes are followed by long descents and flats.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

contador looked really strong, question is if lance could have gone with him.

among the other GC contenders evans, lance, wiggins and andy schleck looked the strongest.

Actually I wonder if there can be made any judgements upon today results.
Arcalis is redicoulisly flat for an HC climb and a 11 guy's group of favs tells you that the tempo wasn't high long enough...
Maybe Martin, Wiggins and Lance totally blow away tomorrow.
Maybe the'll take the stage win...

 

[Anonymous]

OK, just watched the attack again. The motorbike bullsh!t is totally busted. He accelerated hard and the motorbike was there very shortly, but moved up quite fast. By the time Schleck tried to cover, the motorbike was well ahead of Contador. Schleck is another sour grape eater.

 

[RightWingNutJob]

Actually I wonder if there can be made any judgements upon today results.
Arcalis is redicoulisly flat for an HC climb and a 11 guy's group of favs tells you that the tempo wasn't high long enough...
Maybe Martin, Wiggins and Lance totally blow away tomorrow.
Maybe the'll take the stage win...

Agree with this. Can't make too much out of today.
not enough info......cannot compute......