Stage 8: Station des Rousses - Morzine-Avoriaz 189km

[Anonymous]

I'll hold you to this: you called him a "man" not a pu$$y

Wrote that in a moment of weakness, I did.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Spectacular wheelsucking from Levi today. Most uninspiring racer in the entire peloton.

Hey did you hear RadioShack has the strongest team in the mountains?

 

[Parrot23]

I know, but he's gonna need to take more than 9 seconds on each mountain stage. He'll need like 2 minutes come the final TT.

This seems to be the key issue. Also vis Evans.

 

[Anonymous]

Cadel was caught off guard when the attacks went.

No, Cuddles has no explosion in his legs. He has to grind, and will always suffer to riders who can attack in the high mountains.

 

[Moondance]

Unless Evans seriously fucks up on a stage he shouldn't he will probably hold the jersey until stage 14 at least... Thats 5 days of very hard work for the poor BMC boys. Brent Bookwalter, we hardly knew ye.

 

[sometriguy]

I wouldn't worry about AC, it wasn't very steep at that point in time.

He is at his best on steeper sections, I'm not surprised andy could pull away

 

[The Hitch]

so where did levi come in. WHere did Roman Kreuziger come in? where did ivan basso come in?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Parrot 23, conti just was not that good today. AC still a better climber.

 

[BroDeal]

Didn't really need to go after AS so late in the stage and waste energy for such a little gain, or that is my opinion. As said, Evans is his main rival now as Armstrong is out of the race.

Evans?? Oh, come on.

Conti will be worried about what Schleck can do on the harder mountains.

 

[Parrot23]

Andy was practicing a couple of hard surges in Tour de Suisse, then backing off. Who would have thought it would drop Bertie?

 

[ak-zaaf]

Spectacular wheelsucking from Levi today. Most uninspiring racer in the entire peloton.

VDB said Leipheimer got mad at him for holding his position. Things are tense at The Shack.

 

[Publicus]

No, he got DROPPED. He tried to cover and it wasn't there.

One thing to note though is that Contador had covered every move to that point, and Andy was sitting in. I would say now that the tactics changing to Contador following Andy could produce a gap for Andy on another stage. The pressure for Contador just eased in the sense that he no longer has to ride like the leader of the Tour. That moves to Andy, and we will see how he handles it.

Not taking away from Cadel being in yellow, but when they get to the high mountains, he will pop off the back just because he has to grind.

Agreed. I'm surprised that he even tried to cover, but then I am not (he's a racer, which is what I like about him). Rest day is well deserved for everyone.

But this race is far from decided. Andy, Evans and Contador all have an equal shot of winning.

 

[sportzchick]

loving the hate for Cadel - makes him in yellow too sweet

Cadel was going to be yellow regardless......could he be foxing as well

 

[armstrong]

Watching LA just casually going up the hill now - it's a first.

 

[saganftw]

schleck was very impressive,if he can counter contadors attacks in future stages it will be hell of a tour

 

[Kwibus]

Nice ending of the stage. The pace was so high the entire day that no topcontender thought about attacking. Gesink seemed to be dying all the time, but in the end he still had a lot of power.

AC not being able to follow AS wheel is ofcourse great news. Maybe it will be just once tho which i'm afraid of and then AS has to wonder why he didn't attack earlier.

Anyways I don't think it's a suprise nothing really happened on the last mountain besides riding a high pace. LA breaking is too bad for the Tour, but that cycling. Much respect for them. With or without dope.

 

[The Hitch]

bad day for astana. They lose their only jersey. Lantern Rouge.

 

[autologous]

MAybe we're entering into an era of actual racing again.

That would be refreshing.

Actual racing?
Saxo race neutralization to stop Andy from getting dropped made a total mockery of that concept.

Great ride by Andy today, but he shouldn't be in contention. His tour was over except for Cancellara's bullsht move.

 

[movingtarget]

Evans won't mind passing the jersey over as long as it does not cost him time to his rivals

 

[nesocip]

Sanchez is a 3rd week rider, i actually expected him to lose time today. Seeing this i think top 5 seems realistic for him. Maybe even 3rd if Evans cracks as he usually does.

A shame he didnt get the stage victory today.

 

[bobs nob]

I think Armstrong is just bluffing. He's going to go in the break a la Landis and win it all.

Well, bring on retirement 2.0, followed by comeback 3.0 featuring numerous appearances in court.

 

[kurtinsc]

Evans has worn the leader's jersey in the last 3 GT's. Not a bad accomplishment.

 

[ak-zaaf]

Parrot 23, conti just was not that good today. AC still a better climber.

Sure, but you have to admit it's very unexpected that he couldn't follow the second or third punch.

Too bad there's not a killer stage tomorrow

 

[BroDeal]

How far down is that wild boar?

I think it recovered on the lower slopes and beat Armstrong to the top.

 

[meandmygitane]

Wiggins fell all the way back to Thomas Lovkvist, 1:45. His tour is probably also over, it would take a miracle in the pyrenees for him to better his 4th place of last year.

Löfkvist is pacing Bradley the last bit, 'tis a pity that Thomas couldn't/wasn't allowed to go with Ryder Hesjedal to the finish, maybe he lost 40s for that.

Löfkvist did good considering he was pacing the peloton along with his Sky team mates in the Col de la Ramaz and was hurting even then.