Riis on Contador's & Schleck's Relative Strength

[shouldawouldacoulda]

As for who is stronger in the mountains, who knows? Andy took 10 seconds out of Alberto on a climb that suited him. Alberto took 10 seconds back on a climb that suited him. On other climbs neither one has been able to drop the other despite numerous attacks. It appears to me like Andy has been able to mark Alberto's attacks more easily than vice versa, but at the end of most climbs they've been side by side. They've been evenly matched and apart from their trackstands it's been great to watch.

This is a really fair statement. Even Riis admitted he thinks both riders are equal in the mountains.

Nor did Riis know whether Schleck’s attack on the Port de Bales would have been successful, had his chain not come off. “I’m not sure because Contador was on his way back to Andy,” said Riis. “To be honest, I don’t really see one of them [as being] stronger than the other on the climbs.”

Here's another interesting bit from today:

Schleck : “Mon Tour pourrait déjà être fini, avec l’étape de Spa où tout le peloton m’a attendu. Lundi, la situation était différente. Je ne peux pas me plaindre. Je n’aurais jamais été en jaune si je n’avais pas été attendu en Belgique. On se tient en huit secondes avec Alberto, ce n’est rien du tout. Le Tour va se décider au Tourmalet. Celui qui aura le maillot jaune en haut aura gagné le Tour.”

Tout semble donc applani entre les deux coureurs. Quant aux sifflets qui poursuivent Contador, Schleck a pour leurs émetteurs un dernier mot : “Arrêtez, s’il vous plait. Pour moi aussi.”

Source: Velochrono.fr

It looks like the main characters in this drama are trying to put it behind them and let it go. Maybe we should too?

After all, there is more juicy stuff to talk about with Guadret being a complete d*ck to Roche... Maybe its not as fun because its further down the GC, but in terms of breaking the rules of unwritten cycling etiquette it is a much bigger breach.

 

[mr. tibbs]

I don't think Riis statement means what you think it does. I read it to mean that Contador was trying to close the hole and might have succeded. If he was sure that Contador was closing the gap he wouldn't have said I don't know. Also I think the situation is very clear (or very clearly unclear perhaps). Since Schlecks chain jumped of within 1 perhaps 2 seconds of Contador starting to respond there's just no way anyone including Schleck, Contador and Riis could have known whether he would succeed in closing the gap.

Oh, right. I guess I focused on the "Contador was coming back part." Good point, though: we'll never know for sure. Schleck's ride up the mountain after he got back on was pretty impressive, so maybe that was his day. (His ride down the other side, though...not as much.)

 

[shouldawouldacoulda]

It didn't matter if Contador was going to be able to mark the attack. He would have reclaimed all the time on the down hill with Sanchez and Menchov even if Schleck had a 30-40 second head start.

This is a really good point! I've not seen anyone else make it.

Schleck was only 15 seconds down going over the summit, he had gained back 10 seconds on Contador, Sanchez, Menchov on the climb. Schleck then lost 25 seconds on the decent.

 

[Polish]

Ahwhid

Again, I like Schleck, but I just don't think beating Contador was ever in the cards for him this year.

I agree - I think Alberto would have beaten Andy anyway.

But know we will never know....

And the "Attack Him When He Is Down" attack will follow Alberto to the end of his career and beyond.