Schlecks Depreciation Thread

[Damiano Machiavelli]

So what next for Andy?

A change of approach seems appropriate, like racing week long stage races, a Giro or a Vuelta for the win. I mean a Giro may well suit a pure climber like him (although maybe he wouldn't like the gradients).

On the other hand if he does the same next year he'll still go in as either the no.2 or no.3 favourite. I could understand him just trying again.

What should he do next in your opinion?

Andy could have won this Tour. His own timidity, stupidity, and arrogance prevented him from doing so. He should have made real attacks in the Pyranees. Instead he was too worried about dropping Frank. Andy has no chance of beating an in form Contador, and from what we saw of the others, no one else does either. Andy needs to choose GTs that Contador does not race. Next year's Giro would be a good choice because Contador will not attempt the double next year.

 

[Grayguard]

The Giro is definitely a possibility - if Contador doesn't start in it. The Vuelta could be a possibility too. No matter what, he needs to learn, to attack more when he's strong, and improve his TT further.

 

[zealot66]

taking the **** out of the schlecks isnt worth the breath. Last year leipheimer complained about the descents too. where is all the vindictive hatred and pussification of Levi? About 5 people get interviewed on American TV during the whole tour. I reckon there are alot of others in the peleton who feel the same way, they just dont get interviewed. I was a little disappointed in Andy yesterday asking Cadel to pull.

Cadel looked to me many times to be the only BMC rider working and he just ****ing did it. He owned his own race. He didnt complain about all the bad luck he has had, he just captained his own destiny. And just road the TT of his life. He earned the victory.

I remember Lance saying that you have to be able to TT to win the TDF. You cant just be a climber. If the schlecks ignored TT training then that is their own fault. I love watching the schlecks climb but if they dont get some umph in their TT, a top podium place might never happen.

They say the strongest man wins the TDF. It sounds like a Captain Obvious statement but in the World Cup of cycling, you have to have it all. Cadel was the strongest and the fact that he was alone alot of times proves he was the strongest. I enjoyed this tour more than any I have watched since 98.

 

[BYOP88]

Great year for the Schlecks and Leoturd-shrek, they won all the races they'd targeted. RVV, P-R, L-B-L and the Tour, bravo well done..........................oh wait they didn't

 

[Jeanne]

böh, they still managed to get on the podium, both of them, which is also a remarkable result! I personally never really believed in this happening.

 

[perico]

taking the **** out of the schlecks isnt worth the breath. Last year leipheimer complained about the descents too. where is all the vindictive hatred and pussification of Levi?

What??? The Bottle is probably the most despised rider on this forum who currently has use of both his testes. People probably don't b!!ch about Leipy complaining as much because they expect it from him. They already couldn't stand him.

 

[thehog]

böh, they still managed to get on the podium, both of them, which is also a remarkable result! I personally never really believed in this happening.

If there ever was a Tour built for the Shlecks this was it. Andy should have won and he didn't lose it in the TT either. The mucking about in the Pyrenees, concentrating on Contador and what he was about to do was Andy's let down.

They didn't drive home the advantage in the Pyrenees where they could have put a lot of time into Contador which would have made him an insignificant factor in the race and cracked Cadel by making him chase on his own.

No Wiggo, no JVDB - this was Andy's chance and he blew it.

 

[mr. tibbs]

What??? The Bottle is probably the most despised rider on this forum who currently has use of both his testes. People probably don't b!!ch about Leipy complaining as much because they expect it from him. They already couldn't stand him.

Yep, this is true. There are few riders who I actually dislike; Leipheimer probably tops that list.

 

[Jeanne]

If there ever was a Tour built for the Shlecks this was it. Andy should have won and he didn't lose it in the TT either. The mucking about in the Pyrenees, concentrating on Contador and what he was about to do was Andy's let down.

They didn't drive home the advantage in the Pyrenees where they could have put a lot of time into Contador and making him an insignificant factor in the race and cracked Cadel by making him chase on his own.

No Wiggo, no JVDB - this was Andy's chance and he blew it.

hey, I didn't say they made no mistakes and had no chance to get one of them, on the top of the podium! Maybe it was too bad for them they got some advantage over Contador after the first stage.
But whatever - I still think a brother-double on a TDF podium is remarkable (did this ever happen before? don't think so?)!!

 

[killswitch]

...cracked Cadel by making him chase on his own.

That's doubtful (i mean the Schlecks would have dropped themselves first before cracking Cuddles).

 

[titan_90]

So what next for Andy?

A change of approach seems appropriate, like racing week long stage races, a Giro or a Vuelta for the win. I mean a Giro may well suit a pure climber like him (although maybe he wouldn't like the gradients).

On the other hand if he does the same next year he'll still go in as either the no.2 or no.3 favourite. I could understand him just trying again.

What should he do next in your opinion?

I think he needs to get some week long race wins and try to win the Giro and Vuelta. And it is plainly obvious to every cycling fan out there he needs to work on his TT and bike handling skills. Without those he will need to have his rivals all have bad luck to win a Tour.

 

[zealot66]

OK, maybe I didnt brush up on my haters list on levi. my bad. I just think there are people we dont see and hear that feel the same way. Andy is in the camera everyday and was probably rattled by the death. I do agree with you guys on Andy not losing it in the TT alone. He played it safe in the pyrenees and missed out on the time. Just think if he had 'taken the race by the horns' ONCE in the pyrenees, he might have saved himself in the TT.

One thing about descending, is that the organizers cant get a mountain top and then redo the road down the other side.

Bottom line, Cadel won and likely Andy will win one day too if he learns his lessons. If my memory serves me correct, Contador when he came to discovery was not a great TT'st and made a concentrated effort to become one and it got him where he is. Or am I wrong again ?

 

[Kender]

andy pinned all his hopes on a hail mary.

in the process he burned too much energy for not enough time gain

don't get me wrong, i enjoyed his early attack. but equally as soon as i saw the time gaps start to come down on the way up the galibier due to cadel grinding his way up (unassisted) I knew the tour was over for andy.
After that he was never going to be strong enough to drop cadel again baring incident. well said incident came but he was still unable to help contador put any time into cadel. he was just too strong

tbh i dont know where andy could have gained enough time on cadel to win this. cadel was just in the perfect condition both physically and mentally. he was here to race. and he was racing to win

andy was here to beat contador to the exclusion of all else. congrats, he did that. but in the process he lost the race

 

[Kender]

If my memory serves me correct, Contador when he came to discovery was not a great TT'st and made a concentrated effort to become one and it got him where he is. Or am I wrong again ?

in 2001 he won the under 23 spanish time trial championship. he always had some ability against the clock. it just needed to be fine tuned for the pro scene

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

andy was here to beat contador to the exclusion of all else. congrats, he did that. but in the process he lost the race

He barely even beat an injured Contador. The Schlecks had the chance to bury him in the Pryenees but they did not have the balls or the smarts to do that.

 

[zealot66]

andy pinned all his hopes on a hail mary.

in the process he burned too much energy for not enough time gain

don't get me wrong, i enjoyed his early attack. but equally as soon as i saw the time gaps start to come down on the way up the galibier due to cadel grinding his way up (unassisted) I knew the tour was over for andy.
After that he was never going to be strong enough to drop cadel again baring incident. well said incident came but he was still unable to help contador put any time into cadel. he was just too strong

tbh i dont know where andy could have gained enough time on cadel to win this. cadel was just in the perfect condition both physically and mentally. he was here to race. and he was racing to win

andy was here to beat contador to the exclusion of all else. congrats, he did that. but in the process he lost the race

Thats a good point. It was obvious that they were more interested in keeping contador at bay in the mountains than watching Cadel eek his way up. Like I said, I love watching the schlecks in the mountains but Cadel won this race and some of it singlehandedly.

 

[LaFlorecita]

in 2001 he won the under 23 spanish time trial championship. he always had some ability against the clock. it just needed to be fine tuned for the pro scene

+ his first win as a pro was a time trial.

 

[cineteq]

So what next for Andy?

How about starting winning 1-week stages such as Paris-Nice, Dauphiné, Basque Tour, etc...and do ITT serious training?

 

[zealot66]

well it appears my cycling history needs some work. At least you guys arent as big of A holes as some other forums.

 

[hfer07]

find hard to believe that Andy & Frank have not committed entirely to improve ITT skills at all- and that was clearly evident today-they know it-specially Andy should have realized by now that without that skill, he won't win the Tour ever-that simple....
I also notice that Andy has not gotten near to AC's climbing powers-considering that the Spaniard was in disadvantage & yet they seemed equal in that terrain.........


I'd love to hear what Riis has to comment on Andy

 

[Jeanne]

find hard to believe that Andy & Frank have not committed entirely to improve ITT skills at all- and that was clearly evident today-they know it-specially Andy should have realized by now that without that skill, he won't win the Tour ever-that simple....
I also notice that Andy has not gotten near to AC's climbing powers-considering that the Spaniard was in disadvantage & yet they seemed equal in that terrain.........


I'd love to hear what Riis has to comment on Andy

How do you know they didn't work on their ITT? I guess they HAVE worked on that a lot. They are just not strong enough, and I don't think they will EVER reach a level like Evans or Contador. And still, they didn't finish too band in the overall TT results today! They did pretty good!

 

[hfer07]

How do you know they didn't work on their ITT? I guess they HAVE worked on that a lot. They are just not strong enough, and I don't think they will EVER reach a level like Evans or Contador. And still, they didn't finish too band in the overall TT results today! They did pretty good!

RESULTS

 

[BillytheKid]

How do you know they didn't work on their ITT? I guess they HAVE worked on that a lot. They are just not strong enough, and I don't think they will EVER reach a level like Evans or Contador. And still, they didn't finish too band in the overall TT results today! They did pretty good!

Your being nice. I can understand that, but the seconds get thick at a distance of 42ks.

A loss of two minutes is getting you a** kicked. Sorry, but true.

 

[toestrap]

this tour was made for them, lots of mountains and not as much ITT's and they couldn't pull it off. Can't see them ever winning the tour now.

 

[Jeanne]

RESULTS

Andy finished 44th last year in the final TT, this year 17th. Yeah, obviously he did not improve at all