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

[Lady Luck]

Well Spain have just won the world cup so Contador should be sky high this evening.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

TFF and Galic Ho - stop your little bickering right now, or you'll find yourselves unable to post until after the Tour.

 

[Galic Ho]

More stupid commentary. Dang, you are full of FAIL today.

Please tell me you are joking on the last one. Basso looked like he was struggling. Gesink did as well. All evident by their body language. Menchov didn't really show much to make a real stab at his form from, so I assume he is good. Evans was good until the end and for every part of the climb, bar the Samu and Schleck small gap AC looked very good. All body language. Kreuziger looked fine, heck he was getting bottles for himself and Basso and Rogers and Sastre appeared to do well, but Michael was hurting a bit. All body language related when I made the post. No interviews, no articles available, just simple observation. For what...10 seconds. Yeah, those 10 might make up one GC position but overall they only determined who won and who kept pace.

The real mountains are about gaping your rivals at the bottom of a climb and making real time on GC. I hardly ever buy into mass GC group finishes like today. Why? Because they often only gives glimpses and every recent GT has had one like todays where very small time is won. We'll see how it pans out over the rest of the Alps and Pyrenees. I'm sure everyone but Samu is really upset they lost 10 seconds.

 

[D Avoid]

It is truly wondered full to see a Stressed Alien in the Yeah-Hello Jersey, Andy will be pleased for him, although being a real man, it might be difficult.

 

[Lady Luck]

I know Contador is Jesus to a lot of people but I don't think he would admit to being unable to follow an attack at the end of a mountain stage in the tour. At the Dauphine, yes, but not at the tour - it will be a huge boost to his opponents.

And even if he did believe he could have if he really really wanted to, he's probably being dishonest with himself.

Schleck is his greatest rival - it's just not something you allow to happen if you can prevent it.

 

[Galic Ho]

TFF and Galic Ho - stop your little bickering right now, or you'll find yourselves unable to post until after the Tour.

I was joking. Hence the sarcasm icon. I won't reply to TFF for the rest of the day just to be safe. I honestly don't care. Not trying to upset anyone. Sorry if I did.

 

[Anonymous]

TFF and Galic Ho - stop your little bickering right now, or you'll find yourselves unable to post until after the Tour.

Someone comes out and flames me, calling me an "idiot" (about 10 pages back) because I dared say that Contador couldn't follow Schlecklet's wheel, and you are now coming around to deleting posts? I mean, Contador agrees with me, and yet I posted something wrong? Okay, I guess when I point out the serious error in his assessment, its now a big deal?

Then, the well known FACT that Basso published his number somehow misses this genius of cycling knowledge, and he flames me again for daring to say that Basso's profile looked clean, and I did something wrong? Okay? Where were you guys when he was posting his insulting genius commentary before?

 

[jilbiker]

I am looking at the condition of the bodies and thinking that Schleck has about another week left in him, Cadel about two, and Contador about two. I'm revising my prediction to go with Contador 1st , Evans 2nd, and Schleck 3rd. Without Frank, Andy is in trouble all the way to Paris. I think Contador did what he had to do today and although he may not be ready yet to explode, and even if he was, it would probably not have been a smart thing to do. It would be better to leave everyone just guessing. The way I saw things today was that Andy "needs" to win for his psyche and his brother, and when Sanchez came up, Contador didn't think he needed to race his compatriot, so he was just simpatico with the way things were going to unfold. The Astana team did great today but maybe too much. This is one of those tours where I like all the current leaders. In the end, at this point (I can change my mind, right?), I don't think Andy has the horses, and I don't think that Evans does either but he is a little better with going it alone (I mean, he has about a gazillion years of experience doing it that way), and Contidor doesn't have all the horses, either, but he has a few and maybe one or two more to play. I think the surprise today, or the card for the future in the Pyrennes, was De La Fuente (who coincidentally finished near Hincapie and Ballan but are not true climbers). So one never knows, I think it will be Evans and Contador in the end, and if Contador has any magic, it will be him. One last note. Thank the Cycling God for the elimination of Armstrong. Hopefully, Liggett and Sherwin are next.

I totally agree. AS is operating like a young man who thinks I can ride and ride and ride non-stop. Clearly no need for his move today, I expected main contenders to just mark each other and warm up. If he continues like this, then one week tops.

 

[Galic Ho]

I know Contador is Jesus to a lot of people but I don't think he would admit to being unable to follow an attack at the end of a mountain stage in the tour. At the Dauphine, yes, but not at the tour - it will be a huge boost to his opponents.

And even if he did believe he could have if he really really wanted to, he's probably being dishonest with himself.

Schleck is his greatest rival - it's just not something you allow to happen if you can prevent it.

Jesus had longer hair and is of Hebrew decent. Contador is not divine. He is beatable. He's been beaten before. You just cannot expect him to annihilate the opposition every time the road goes uphill. Every time a rider makes a big move, people look to him in future stages/races to do the same. I expected, along with many others, to come from AC today. Lot of riding to go in the Tour.

As for Spain...they just won the WC. Lots of happy and confident Spaniards for the next few weeks. Could translate on the roads of the Tour. There are a lot of Spaniards riding in France.

 

[Anonymous]

I've been asking for weeks now. If you have them, post them or please drop it. Proof of the blood profiles is needed. Start a thread and prove it. Cycling does not need any more sensationalist claims, of doping or clean riding. We've all seen and heard enough over the last 20 years.

Okay, since I have to play nicey nicey and you obviously don't, let me nicely show you the blood profiles that are so well hidden all over the internet.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=16259028

Now, please excuse me if this seems harsh, because I assure you that I am eating sugar as we speak, and my words are sweet, but if you read my post, my point was that his profile is what you would expect to see from a clean rider.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Please tell me you are joking on the last one. Basso looked like he was struggling. Gesink did as well. All evident by their body language. Menchov didn't really show much to make a real stab at his form from, so I assume he is good. Evans was good until the end and for every part of the climb, bar the Samu and Schleck small gap AC looked very good. All body language. Kreuziger looked fine, heck he was getting bottles for himself and Basso and Rogers and Sastre appeared to do well, but Michael was hurting a bit. All body language related when I made the post. No interviews, no articles available, just simple observation. For what...10 seconds. Yeah, those 10 might make up one GC position but overall they only determined who won and who kept pace.

The real mountains are about gaping your rivals at the bottom of a climb and making real time on GC. I hardly ever buy into mass GC group finishes like today. Why? Because they often only gives glimpses and every recent GT has had one like todays where very small time is won. We'll see how it pans out over the rest of the Alps and Pyrenees. I'm sure everyone but Samu is really upset they lost 10 seconds.

Hey, as a wise soul once said, it is stage 8, not 18, but that goes for ALL the rider's body language.

 

[Anonymous]

I was joking. Hence the sarcasm icon. I won't reply to TFF for the rest of the day just to be safe. I honestly don't care. Not trying to upset anyone. Sorry if I did.

If you were joking, and I missed it then I apologize. You quoted two posts by me and they appeared to insult me. (calling my post idiotic and foolish seems like an insult. Also, saying that my reference to Basso's blood values was not true, and that I was saying he was doping was a complete misreading of my words.) If that was not your intention, then I misread what you wrote also.

 

[bobs nob]

I know Contador is Jesus to a lot of people but I don't think he would admit to being unable to follow an attack at the end of a mountain stage in the tour. At the Dauphine, yes, but not at the tour - it will be a huge boost to his opponents.

And even if he did believe he could have if he really really wanted to, he's probably being dishonest with himself.

Schleck is his greatest rival - it's just not something you allow to happen if you can prevent it.

you're starting to babble. does the bottle say 1 every 4 hours or 4 every 1 hour? It could make a difference.

 

[Galic Ho]

Someone comes out and flames me, calling me an "idiot" (about 10 pages back) because I dared say that Contador couldn't follow Schlecklet's wheel, and you are now coming around to deleting posts? I mean, Contador agrees with me, and yet I posted something wrong? Okay, I guess when I point out the serious error in his assessment, its now a big deal?

Then, the well known FACT that Basso published his number somehow misses this genius of cycling knowledge, and he flames me again for daring to say that Basso's profile looked clean, and I did something wrong? Okay? Where were you guys when he was posting his insulting genius commentary before?

Actually dude, I wanted to see the numbers. I totally forgot about that post. Thanks for reminding me. I was simply asking you to post them, because lots of people keep referencing them in a general matter with no reference to anything specific. I have been looking for ages for the numbers because I wanted to see how they match up with Lance and Wigans from last year. They aren't in the Clinic and not in the Pro thread to my knowledge. I've left messages replying top other posters on threads where they are mentioned, that I want to see these figures Sassi has. I don't particularly trust a system where they control who views the figures (you need to register on Sassi's clinic website and be approved to view data). Too complicated for me to do over a few figures I assumed someone on this forum would have seen and posted. After all we've seen every other figure imaginable. Simply surprised there has been so much talk about them and yet no figures in the Clinic. I was making a request...not a personal attack.

I didn't call you an idiot. I posted the original part (and I explained this pages back to another forumist) well before the race quotes were in. Maybe in the US you have news and tv coverage but at 2am in Australia, I have diddly squat. I was giving my opinion. It is wrong from time to time. Sue me. Plenty of people make calls during the race and get it wrong. Happens every stage. I suggest people don't take it so personally. Seems Contador agreed he didn't have it so easy. But my main point the entire time was that 10 seconds, based on history, is not going to lose you any sleep unless you are Laurent Fignon.

 

[sagard]

Contador was lucky today he had help from the other GC men after getting dropped. Gesink and Krueziger pulling the last couple hundred was a big plus. Still think if Schleck is serious he needs at least 3+ going into the TT. Hard for me to see him gaining that kind of time on both Evans and Contador.

I don't see any huge gaps coming from any GC man, so I'll put my money on Contador or Evans winning via the last TT.

 

[bobs nob]

Jesus had longer hair and is of Hebrew decent. Contador is not divine. He is beatable. He's been beaten before. You just cannot expect him to annihilate the opposition every time the road goes uphill. Every time a rider makes a big move, people look to him in future stages/races to do the same. I expected, along with many others, to come from AC today. Lot of riding to go in the Tour.

As for Spain...they just won the WC. Lots of happy and confident Spaniards for the next few weeks. Could translate on the roads of the Tour. There are a lot of Spaniards riding in France.

Don't think good news isn't limited just to Spaniards who bear little to no resemblance to the popular image of the deity.

Shack is giving out gift cards for anyone who brings in used electronics. Now they don't have to trash that blood centrifuge. Don't tell me there will be no spillover effect.


http://www.radioshack.com/uc/index....ontent/HTML/pages/tradeandsave.html&noBc=true

 

[D Avoid]

I am watching this again on VS and Phil is by far the most clear-headed of the two. It seemed that once LA was out of it, he felt free to tell the truth. Paul kept with party line right to the bitter end. Way to go down with a ship based on a fraud.

It was Liggett who appeared on ITV news 5 years ago, trying to convince us that the 99 tests and the revealations in that days/weeks Lequipe, could not possibly be, as if you knew the man and what he'd been thorough, you would know that he would never do such a thing as cheat, it was the pukiest interview I have seen, from a not very subtle, super sycophant. This from a man who is clearly being paid by Armstrong to spin his lies, he has been at it for years, people like him are responsible for the shoddiest journalism available toaday, the subject, "The joys of cycling in the mire, while raking money with a pen to hire".

 

[auscyclefan94]

A great day for Australian Sport. One of the great moments in sport. Cadel in yellow. I am going to be insufferable! The victory is even better because cadel fought fron having a nasty crash to get yellow. A sign of a great champion.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Dark horse for this tour: Carlos Sastre

 

[Galic Ho]

If you were joking, and I missed it then I apologize. You quoted two posts by me and they appeared to insult me. (calling my post idiotic and foolish seems like an insult. Also, saying that my reference to Basso's blood values was not true, and that I was saying he was doping was a complete misreading of my words.) If that was not your intention, then I misread what you wrote also.

I wasn''t saying your post was incorrect. I just haven't seen the numbers around here. Very strange given how big the clinic is here. Last year we had figures on everything and every conceivable topic. My last sentence about "sensationalism" was me generalizing, about people generalizing all the time (be it the current race results or doping) and that when you get a quantifiable measurement that it is nice to have the figures. I simply don't want to be left thinking Basso might have done something and hoodwinked a couple of people because Sassi said something and nobody bothered to collaborate and double check. I've seen it happen all to often. People get lazy when accountability comes into question. People tend to shun that aspect of life.

Thanks for the link. I knew about the Mapei website but think that kind of info should not be restricted. It's there, so it should be available to view for everyone. Whole other issue other than todays stage.

As for the stage. I am kind of annoyed. I had Franck hoping onto the podium this year. His crash really does blow. I think he could have done it. Would have been very interesting to see how Andy handled today with Franck backing him up.

About idiocy. There is a big difference between living permanently in Idiotville and just passing through. Some people are residents, the rest of the world tend to visit or just pass through from time to time. As for the Lance bashing...joke as well. Someone else (who I can name) was giving you a ribbing for saying something about 50 pages or so back. I was making a joke about that...because we all know that is why you really post; to kick Lance when he is down

 

[Galic Ho]

Hey, as a wise soul once said, it is stage 8, not 18, but that goes for ALL the rider's body language.

For all I know Contador will bonk and loose time. Vino may take over the reins and Cadel can win the Tour. I was surprised at the Giro's unravelling...why not they Tour?

Short story...everything is still under relative control. Still early days. Tour seems at a glance to be Contadors or Schlecks. But it was always going to be amongst most fans.

I wanted a break today...a really big one. I didn't see it. Guess the riders knew what they were doing.

After seeing those figures and the events of the last day, Floyd's statements and the AFLD increased intent, maybe, just maybe, cycling is getting cleaner. What does this mean? Anyone of a number of guys could win this. But it will probably be AC or AS.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Someone comes out and flames me, calling me an "idiot" (about 10 pages back) because I dared say that Contador couldn't follow Schlecklet's wheel, and you are now coming around to deleting posts?

Sorry, but I can't spend 24 hours here babysiting this place, not just moderating this thread and forum, but all the others as well. It's way more work than you realize.

Maybe you didn't notice, but I didn't state your comments on Contador were wrong. What I told you to do was stop hurling insults at each other. Both of you. You're showing little or no tact in your responses. Instead of making only logical comments in return then letting it go, you feel the need to put snide little insults and put downs attached to it. And that's what pisses me off. If you have something to say to Galic Ho, then say it through a PM, and if you can't stand to read his posts, then put him on Ignore. But continuing to play tit-for-tat back and forth out here in the open for all of us to read is annoying at the very least, and against forum rules and warrant for a ban at the most.

 

[Galic Ho]

Don't think good news isn't limited just to Spaniards who bear little to no resemblance to the popular image of the deity.

Sergio Ramos hair certainly fits the look typically associated with Jesus. There is even a Jesus in the peloton. Though I crack up every time Phil and Paul pronounce his name. Parents might have been better to simply name him Zeus.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Way back during the stage when Cadel was virtuel maillot jaune, you said:

I don't want him to have it.

And now it's

A great day for Australian Sport. One of the great moments in sport. Cadel in yellow. I am going to be insufferable! The victory is even better because cadel fought fron having a nasty crash to get yellow. A sign of a great champion.

You are obviously not a real, true Cuddles fan, but a Johnny-come-lately fairweather fan who has jumped on the bandwagon now that Cadel's ahead.










I kid, I kid.

 

[Galic Ho]

Dark horse for this tour: Carlos Sastre

Good to hear someone agree. Carlos was very quiet. Poor man hardly gets a mention by Phil and Paul and he won the Tour 2 years ago. Carlos looks to have recovered physically from his Giro injuries. Basso, Evans and Sastre have done phenomenally well so far this Tour. Carlos even had a better Prologue than Menchov and Basso. Could well be a dark horse. Another dark horse...Jurgen van den Broecke. He has performed very well. Very surprised he was up there today.

BMC should let a breakaway get time. Tell Hyjesdal to go in a move and get some time, someone of that calibre. Cadel's team cannot afford to lug the maillot jaune around France for an extended period.

Big loser. Captain obvious. Next biggest loser, his team. Wigans also. Looks like the might lose those 20 minutes BroDeal has been talking about.

Who do I feel sorry for? Rogers. His team are too strongly geared towards Cavendish. I hope Cav gets dropped and finishes outside the time limit so time soon in the mountains. Would give Rogers more support and make the sprints less of a formality seeing Frodo has opened his account and removed the gremlins.