Stage 9 TDS: Liestal ITT - 26.9km

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I was away for the weekend and didn't know anything up till now.

I can only conclude Gesink is a choker like Cadel Evans.

 

[python]

i dont understand people who overestimate armstrong's tds performance. that's just what will be spun for his fanboys. lets face it, it was the most non-selective tds in the recent years - no mt finishes, no real mountain stages except for one.

and what did armstrong achieve ?

survived that single selective stage by exploring his team mates (who beat him in the itt) and placed 42 and 11th in the races where he needed to show his strength the most.

if the course was similar to DL gesing would obviously be the strongest and armstrong would barely be in the top 10.

not good to overestimate his second on the gc.

 

[Publicus]

i dont understand people who overestimate armstrong's tds performance. that's just what will be spun for his fanboys. lets face it, it was the most non-selective tds in the recent years - no mt finishes, no real mountain stages except for one.

and what did armstrong achieve ?

survived that single selective stage by exploring his team mates (who beat him in the itt) and placed 42 and 11th in the races where he needed to show his strength the most.

if the course was similar to DL gesing would obviously be the strongest and armstrong would barely be in the top 10.

not good to overestimate his second on the gc.

Someone should probably tell Lance that:

“Third in (the Tour of) Luxembourg, second in Switzerland, I’ll do the math for the next race,” Armstrong told reporters.

“All I have to do now is stay healthy and find that extra one percent.”

The RadioShack leader pointed out that the Switzerland race contained some of the top contenders for the Tour and was therefore the best reference point for July.

“I think if we look at the field here, on all levels—the sprinters, climbers and all-rounders—and its speed, and compare it to the alternative race, this is what you’ll see at the Tour.

 

[Mellow Velo]

2000 Dauphine
1 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service 46.56
2001 TDS
1 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service 47.18.84
2002 Dauphine
1 Santiago Botero (Col) Kelme-Costa Blanca 52.30 (46.85 km/h)
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service 0.42
2003 Dauphine
1 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal presented by Berry Floor 49.32.58
2004 Dauphine
1 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 55.51.49
5 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal presented by Berry Floor 1.57.89
2005 Dauphine
1 Santiago Botero (Col) Phonak Hearing Systems 1.00.06.55
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.26

2009 TDS
1 Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia 0:32:21

11 Lance Armstrong (USA) Team Radioshack 0:01:09


Make of this, what you will......

 

[Barrus]

Someone should probably tell Lance that:

That's going to be on boring and underwhelming tour than, if the TdS is how we should expect the riders to race the tour de France

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

The elephant in the room big question now becomes:

What if Lance wins the Tour?

Then what happens?

 

[icefire]

He is and I pressume he's watching SportItalia to be in this time warp!
Nova Sport on Czeck tv, also delayed "live" by 90 minutes.

Motorbikes rule Sunday tv.

Today's TV in Italy was ruled by New Zealand's football team

 

[jaylew]

Schleck dedicates win to KK. Nice. I always heard they weren't the best of friends.

 

[Barrus]

The elephant in the room big question now becomes:

What if Lance wins the Tour?

Then what happens?

First, that won't happen

Second if it does, this sport is shown to be an even greater fraud than it could be seen prior to that. If he wins and than the something comes from the Landis allegations a sh1tstorm of epic proportions will be coming his and the sports way. I already have posted some musings of mine about this in the LA-thread or in a similar type thread.

 

[Publicus]

The elephant in the room big question now becomes:

What if Lance wins the Tour?

Then what happens?

It would depend on HOW/WHY he won. If he suddenly starts dropping folks in the mountains (say the Brothers Schleck), it will be a very dark stain on the sport. If Andy or AC are hurt/ill/not up to snuff and Armstrong guts out a win by riding smart (minimize losses in the mountains) and pulls off a good TT (like here), then I don't think you can realistically do anything other than say chapeau and pull on your waders.

 

[wattage]

The elephant in the room big question now becomes:

What if Lance wins the Tour?

Then what happens?

The clinic would go into meltdown.

 

[wattage]

If he suddenly starts dropping folks in the mountains (say the Brothers Schleck), it will be a very dark stain on the sport.

Actually, Andy dropping everyone but AC on the climbs would be as much of a laugh riot as LA dropping Schlecks. Andy has been crap this whole year, being dropped by grupetto.

 

[jaylew]

It is like clockwork. My man Tommy D. gets an article about him in the cycling press that says he is going well at the TdS, then he places 49th in a medium length time trial.

Vande Velde even worse at 55th.

 

[Publicus]

Actually, Andy dropping everyone but AC on the climbs would be as much of a laugh riot as LA dropping Schlecks. Andy has been crap this whole year, being dropped by grupetto.

Andy hasn't looked like he was all that fit, but he's mixed it up on the sharp end of the peloton more than a few times this year. He put in some very hard accelerations on the Queen stage here, which Lance hasn't done all year. It was considered a success that he finished in the top 10 on a mountain stage, albeit one with a downhill finish.

Now if Andy is blitzes the prologue or the final TT, then you will be onto something.

 

[BroDeal]

Vande Velde even worse at 55th.

TD also has the excuse that he was in the break the day before, but still when he is going well he does well in short time trials like this.

Garmin might be better off throwing the support of the whole team behind Farrar for the green jersey.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Armstrong is going the way of Gilberto Simoni.
The spirit is willing, but father time has caught up with his legs.
The zip has gone, on both the climbs and in the trialing.
He can no longer follow rapid acceleration.
If Contador and Schleck (even Basso) bring that to the Tour party, he's toast.

 

[BroDeal]

Deep thoughts from Velonews comments:

"Lance sand-bagged this TT. No way on earth he couldn't have come up with 12 seconds if he wanted to.......either that or he had a brake rubbing or flat or something wrong. He's hiding his form from everyone."

Occasionally there is a good one:

Lance's main problem seems to be that he now TT's with the speed of Frank Schelck and Climbs like Wiggins. Getting 11th in the TT at the tour and 7th on the climbing stages should find him in the top 10 overall but he needs the top five to get crashed out by Cav to have a shot."

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Armstrong is going the way of Gilberto Simoni.
The spirit is willing, but father time has caught up with his legs.
The zip has gone, on both the climbs and in the trialing.
He can no longer follow rapid acceleration.
If Contador and Schleck (even Basso) bring that to the Tour party, he's toast.

The difference is, we were sad to see the back of Gibo.

 

[issoisso]

Today's stage reminded me of a discussion on a forum two years ago. At the time Breukink said Gesink was more talented than Dekker and "only" lacked mental strength. At the time the dutch fans were very annoyed by that. I wonder if it turns out Breukink was right?

The difference is, we were sad to see the back of Gibo.

Speak for yourself. Some of us don't see a big difference between his brand of agressive narcisiscm and Armstrong's.

Deep thoughts from Velonews comments:

"Lance sand-bagged this TT. No way on earth he couldn't have come up with 12 seconds if he wanted to.......either that or he had a brake rubbing or flat or something wrong. He's hiding his form from everyone."

Occasionally there is a good one:

Lance's main problem seems to be that he now TT's with the speed of Frank Schelck and Climbs like Wiggins. Getting 11th in the TT at the tour and 7th on the climbing stages should find him in the top 10 overall but he needs the top five to get crashed out by Cav to have a shot."

Gold right there

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

None the less, Lance thinks he can win, and has the full backing of his team, including one or two riders who could be able to finish ahead of him otherwise, but will sacrifice themselves for him.

So let's say Berti has a bad day, like last year's Paris-Nice, or crashes out. Schlekette isn't looking that great, Basso gave all for the Giro. You see where I'm going? What happens if by some chance Lance does win the Tour?

Even if he doesn't win, he's already going to have microphones around him all the time, and use the platform to proclaim his innocence day after day. If he only wins a stage, or even ends up in yellow for a day, that will be a huge trump for him, and he'll be constantly talking about how true he is, and how clean he is, and how he never doped, never would, and this performance proves it.

Then what happens if months down the line, what Landis has proclaimed turns out to be validated by the federal investigation? Even if only some of it?

What happens to cycling then?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Speak for yourself. Some of us don't see a big difference between his brand of agressive narcisiscm and Armstrong's.

There wasn't much of one. But late-career Gibo seemed endearing, and it also depends where you are and what you hear, and of course how you perceive a rider. For example, I think Prince is an awesome musician, and certain things he does I just laugh off and think are awesome because it's Prince, and he can do these things. If another musician were to do the same thing, they'd be a pompous, self-absorbed pezzo di merda who I'd want to kick into next week.

Ergo - Gibo was a self-absorbed, narcissistic dick, but I enjoyed watching him race, so I let him off the hook. Armstrong was a self-absorbed, narcissistic dick, and I didn't enjoy watching him race, so I hold it against him.

I'm a hypocrite, but at heart, we all are.

 

[issoisso]

What happens to cycling then?

In the US? Ka-boom.

Everywhere else? "Oh look, another big fish busted.......anyway, I like the Vuelta's route".

 

[Libertine Seguros]

In the US? Ka-boom.

Everywhere else? "Oh look, another big fish busted.......anyway, I like the Vuelta's route".

...but I wish they'd put another climb on the Lagos de Covadonga stage!

 

[issoisso]

...but I wish they'd put another climb on the Lagos de Covadonga stage!

Well, you know how that stage is. They can't really do much more with it. Kinda like the Ventoux.

At least it gives a breakaway a decent chance of building a lead.

 

[Barrus]

In the US? Ka-boom.

Everywhere else? "Oh look, another big fish busted.......anyway, I like the Vuelta's route".

And: Thank god we won't need to hear about that sycophant @sshole anymore