Paris - Nice: STAGE 1 - Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines --> Contres: 201.5 km

[Anonymous]

Part 1 up, Part 2 in about 10 minutes

Goes from the split to the finish. Quality will improve, youtube doing its processing thing. HQ will go up tonight at some point.

both parts up.

 

[ratatata]

Contador just posted on his twitter...he's not sure about starting tommorow!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Rabo doesn't have the bank (ho ho) to get him. I'd be shock to see him go anywhere other than Caisse (but can they afford to pay him AND Valverde the megabucks they demand?) or Team Fernando Alonso.

That'll be Santander then.

 

[Anonymous]

Contador just posted on his twitter...he's not sure about starting tommorow!!!

Probably feeling a bit silly. Yet again today contador showed his tactical ineptness, he knew there were winds, did he not learn from watching sky in qatar.

 

[theswordsman]

Alberto Contador's twitter via Google Translate. Sounds like he's hurting.

Windy and rough day on goal difference but the trouble is the fall on the right leg, there are q see, I hope to continue tomorrow

I guess today wasn't a guaranteed sprint finish, and the rest of the race isn't as predictable as some thought.

 

[Delicato]

Contador will have a hard time now. Valverde closing in on him. And LL Sanchez and Kreuziger with a nice bonus.
Mende is only 3/4km.... might not be enough

Luis is not really good on short steep climbs (unlike Valverde), I am pretty sure he will lose at least 5 seconds (or more) to Contador (if we assume that he wins which is more than likely), Kreuziger and especially Valverde can be dangerous, but still I don't think they can outclimb Contador on Mende. So, after Thursday's stage Contador should be in yellow. However, Publicus (and other forum members who support AC) should still be worried, the Astana Paris-Nice roster is kind of...weak, really. Especially when we find out that his best domestiques like Pereiro and Navarro lose more than 7 minutes on one stage.

 

[Jamsque]

Probably feeling a bit silly. Yet again today contador showed his tactical ineptness, he knew there were winds, did he not learn from watching sky in qatar.

I wouldn't go quite as far as calling him tactically inept, but he certainly wasn't as on the ball as he might have been. Considering there had been several crashes and splits due to wind already in the stage his team really should have had him up in the first 20 or 30 spots for the last 50km.

I'm sure if Lance had been racing he would have made it

 

[Delicato]

Probably feeling a bit silly. Yet again today contador showed his tactical ineptness, he knew there were winds, did he not learn from watching sky in qatar.

Wow, you sound too Lance Armstrong-ish.

 

[Anonymous]

Doesn't matter for me, I'm home now so I won't get to look at youTube till work tomorrow.

I have had with all my feeds getting slowed down by the censor pulling them out scanning them then sending the on, I am going to the local sports bar and demanding Eurosport tomorrow.

flv

blah blah blah blah blah

 

[Mellow Velo]

Tiago Machado loses 5 mins on stage....

Overrated? Surely. Where are all those folks who were getting all wet about the fact that he was riding here and was going to kick ass?
I said he'd be invisible. Well, not quite. Hard to be invisible when you trail in.
Paris-Nice ain't a stroll around the Algarve.

Shack looked very weak, today. Horner and Leipheimer continue to fall off. Brajkovic had to use 3 FDJ riders to get back to the main group. Popovych went on holiday.
That July pave doesn't look quite so tempting.

Dan Martin is a dark horse. He was 9th and is a climber.
Tom Danielson is a pink elephant.

 

[Anonymous]

Very much speculation at this point.

It's pretty solid speculation though, they have apparently made noises about coming into cycling, and they are firmly in Alonso's pocket, so if he wants to do something they'll be there with him. If they can afford the rumoured $35m to rid Ferrari of Raikonnen for him, they can afford a cycling team for a few years.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, you sound too Lance Armstrong-ish.

Ive been saying for years that contador was lacking tactically, paris nice and the tour last year showed that imo. today did nothing to disprove that theory. if you are a contender, in weather like that, you have to be at the front.

 

[Jamsque]

Dan Martin is a dark horse. He was 9th and is a climber.

Wrong Martin, Tony was 9th not Dan. Dan came in with the Contador/Leipheimer group.

 

[Anonymous]

It's pretty solid speculation though, they have apparently made noises about coming into cycling, and they are firmly in Alonso's pocket, so if he wants to do something they'll be there with him. If they can afford the rumoured $35m to rid Ferrari of Raikonnen for him, they can afford a cycling team for a few years.

and bear in mind f1 budgets are being forcibly reduced over the next few years, it wont cost them nearly so much to sponsor ferrari. spare cash lying around.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Probably feeling a bit silly. Yet again today contador showed his tactical ineptness, he knew there were winds, did he not learn from watching sky in qatar.

Seeing the all ended up in the back group, minutes down, he'd have been better off watching Cervelo in Qatar.
Watcha Lance.

 

[Delicato]

Dan Martin is a dark horse. He was 9th and is a climber.

That was Tony, not Dan, Dan was 63th today and finished with the main bunch.

 

[Publicus]

Ive been saying for years that contador was lacking tactically, paris nice and the tour last year showed that imo. today did nothing to disprove that theory. if you are a contender, in weather like that, you have to be at the front.

Did anyone see the crash? I only saw him getting back on Gorzad's bike.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Wrong Martin, Tony was 9th not Dan. Dan came in with the Contador/Leipheimer group.

Oh well. He must have got dropped during the add break.
At least it wasn't Dean Martin.

 

[Anonymous]

Did anyone see the crash? I only saw him getting back on Gorzad's bike.

I dont think they showed it, they showed one earlier but i dont think it was the ac crash.

 

[Moondance]

That was Tony, not Dan, Dan was 63th today and finished with the main bunch.

Same holds for Tony though

 

[maltiv]

No one from Cervelo made the split...Now that is surprising. Usually the best team in windy conditions.

 

[Anonymous]

great reporting by the bbc

clearly omloop is not in europe. Duck eggs.

 

[Anonymous]

great reporting by the bbc

clearly omloop is not in europe. Duck eggs.

Yeah but Flecha's not a natural English speaker so it doesn't count.

 

[Delicato]

great reporting by the bbc

clearly omloop is not in europe. Duck eggs.

At least you get a coverage of cycling events.

When Menchov won Vuelta (back in 2007), his win was barely mentioned by any of our mass-media sources

 

[Aguirre]

just read the Cyclingnews report and they don't say the split was made by Caisse d'Epargne, instead they glorify Boom, and don't mention Caisse.
Not exactly what has happened, it was Caisse whom made the break and then Boom went. LLS, Valverde, Gutierrez and Chente, as usually they do in France.