TDF GC - Time to talk

[Anonymous]

tell us about his competition.

Well, they were professional cyclists who were lapped twice by Mr Armstrong....twice.........without breaking a sweat. Why don't you tell me about it since you seem to know everything without really having any idea of that which you spew ***.

 

[BikeCentric]

I just watched Mr Armstrong destroy the field in Nevada City. "So what?" you say. He, Levi, and Ben Jaques Mayne lapped the field twice.....and then with six laps left he dropped everyone up the 120 feet of climbing like he had a motor on his bike. It didn't even look hard. Still you say "So what?" He is thin and strong and will certainly not be in the mood to ride for anyone in 2 weeks. Poor ole Contador is going to get the shaft, and get it hard. No lube. Oh well, he should have chosen more wisely last year and read the writing on the wall everyone else saw. I will post pictures and a couple of funny stories about the race later.

"Good" I say. "Why?!" you ask - because this means that Armstrong will try to ride for himself in Le Tour, yet Contador will still win and make Armstrong look like the selfish *** that he is. This will make me happy.

 

[Anonymous]

"Good" I say. "Why?!" you ask - because this means that Armstrong will try to ride for himself in Le Tour, yet Contador will still win and make Armstrong look like the selfish *** that he is. This will make me happy.

I hope so, but when I post the pictures, you will see an Armstrong that looks like the Armstrong of old. He lost his upper body weight, and he didn't look to be in any bother. That was a wicked tough course, and they had shelled the field by the 3rd lap. Twice he lapped them.....I hope Contador can do it alone, because he won't have the services of Leipheimer, Horner, or presumably The Hog either.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I hope so, but when I post the pictures, you will see an Armstrong that looks like the Armstrong of old. He lost his upper body weight, and he didn't look to be in any bother. That was a wicked tough course, and they had shelled the field by the 3rd lap. Twice he lapped them.....I hope Contador can do it alone, because he won't have the services of Leipheimer, Horner, or presumably The Hog either.

Team Astana this year has t-mobile team of 04/05 written all over it. i wouldn't be surprised if armstrong and contador are close in gc that armstrong will chase contador down. it will be a shock to armstrong that he is not the leader. he was fine riding for levi because he's a compatriot and good friends. the cultural differences might be interesting with Spain V America in Astana. Armstrong says he has no problem with riding for contador but when the pressure is on to choose a leader things could get intersting on the road and in the team bus. could be a great soap opera in the making!!!

 

[Mellow Velo]

I hope so, but when I post the pictures, you will see an Armstrong that looks like the Armstrong of old. He lost his upper body weight, and he didn't look to be in any bother.

Interesting, that he's managed to do that, while not in competition. He didn't seem able to lose it, during the Giro............

 

[lucybears]

Well, they were professional cyclists who were lapped twice by Mr Armstrong....twice.........without breaking a sweat. Why don't you tell me about it since you seem to know everything without really having any idea of that which you spew ***.

.............

 

[Angliru]

I'm just shocked the moderators allowed it to remain.

 

[RdBiker]

I hope so, but when I post the pictures, you will see an Armstrong that looks like the Armstrong of old. He lost his upper body weight, and he didn't look to be in any bother. That was a wicked tough course, and they had shelled the field by the 3rd lap. Twice he lapped them.....I hope Contador can do it alone, because he won't have the services of Leipheimer, Horner, or presumably The Hog either.

 

[subzro]

1. Contador
2. Armstrong
3. Andy Schleck
4. Evans
5. Menchov
6. Sastre
7. Rogers
8. Gesink
9. Krueziger
10. L L Sanchez

 

[Jasper]

Apparentely, after his tour de Suisse succes, Tony Martin now wants to take a shot at the white jersey, thereby implying that he rates himself already at the same level as Andy Schleck, Kreuziger, Luis Leon Sanchez and Robert Gesink. Pretty bold Tony, this TDS ain't no TDF.

 

[laurentiu46]

Yeah,this Tour de Suisse made some people think very far...
Tony Martin,just like Cancellara on yellow,will probably hold on to the white jersey until the stage to Arcalis,but no further

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

1 - Menchov
2 - Kreuziger
3 - Gesinck
4 - Rogers
5 - Sastre
6 - Evans
7 - Vandelvelde
8 - A. Schleck
9 - Leipheimer
10 - Nibali

Contador, Kloden, and Armstrong will not finish the Tour (may not even start the Tour). Just a gut feeling, but I'm going with it.
Hell, it's le Tour! Anything can happen.

i'd love this to happen, but im thinking no haha.

Gesink will probably be riding for Menchov, but could still crack the top ten... Gesink is my favorite cyclist but i don't think we will see him seriously contest the tour win until 2012 (maybe 2011.. would be nice.)

Anywho for me the win will come from one of these men; Evans, Contador, Sastre, Menchov and maybbeee armstrong, who knows what he'll bring to the table...

1) Menchov
2) Contador
3) Armstrong
4) Evans
5) Sastre
6) A. Schleck
7) F. Schleck
8) Gesink
9) Liephiemer (if it wasn't for the one... semi long TT i'd have my doubhts that he'd even top ten)
10) Kruziger

My hearts says;
Menchov (yellow)
Friere (Green)
Gesink (white)
Ten Dam (Polka)
^ seems to be a pattern there haha ^_^

the brain says
Menchov (Yellow)
Cav (Green)
Schleck (Whiye)
??? (Polka.. this is the most unpredicatable comp.)

 

[gregod]

i cannot believe not a single person has picked cadel to win. remember, you heard it here first.

1. evans
2. contador
3. sastre

 

[franciep10]

Okay here's my prediction.

1. Contador
2. Menchov
3. Schleck
4. Evans
5. Sastre
6. Armstrong
7. Krueziger
8. Gesink
9. Leipheimer
10. Devolder- surprised, i thought so

 

[Anonymous]

not a pleasant post to read. A shame that a 'senior member' finds that sort of reply necessary

Tell you what, why don't you write about the guy and have him threaten you by PM to a fight, etc, etc, etc. To me he is as useless as toe jam and I have grown tired of his tiresome sniping.

However, upon further review, it does read overly harsh. I deleted my portion. You can leave it in your post, however if your shock is genuine, you will remove the quote.

 

[Anonymous]

I just watched Mr Armstrong destroy the field in Nevada City. "So what?" you say. He, Levi, and Ben Jaques Mayne lapped the field twice.....and then with six laps left he dropped everyone up the 120 feet of climbing like he had a motor on his bike.
It didn't even look hard. Still you say "So what?" He is thin and strong and will certainly not be in the mood to ride for anyone in 2 weeks. Poor ole Contador is going to get the shaft, and get it hard. No lube. Oh well, he should have chosen more wisely last year and read the writing on the wall everyone else saw. I will post pictures and a couple of funny stories about the race later.

This was not a quality field even by US standards let alone tour standards.
Even Ben Jaques Mayne, who hung with them, is not a top american pro.

It doesn't even appear to have drawn as good a field as the Gila.

None of this is surprising and is no proof whatsoever that what he says about Contador getting the shaft in the tour is true.

As for the ranting and raving and personal insults? It was nice not having his poison around for a couple of days.

I'm not taking the bait.

 

[Anonymous]

I am not home from vacation yet, but the picture you posted from yesterday isn't a good example of what I am talking about. I have one of him climbing out of the saddle, and while he is muscular, he is also muscularly slim.

 

[lucybears]

Tell you what, why don't you write about the guy and have him threaten you by PM to a fight, etc, etc, etc. To me he is as useless as toe jam and I have grown tired of his tiresome sniping.

However, upon further review, it does read overly harsh. I deleted my portion. You can leave it in your post, however if your shock is genuine, you will remove the quote.

If you have any issue with the guy, please keep it between yourselves. The rest of us don't want to know about it, not even to the extent of "To me he is as useless as toe jam and I have grown tired of his tiresome sniping."
However, as requested, I have removed the portion of the post that you have.

 

[RightWingNutJob]

I'm not sure I agree with the whole idea that watching LA perform in a crit race is telling anything about his motivations towards the tour.
But I do believe he is going there to try and win. One thing I have always noticed about Lance is he always seems to be very high up on GC even in the early stages of the GT's. I believe we saw this earlier this year in Italy. I'm not going to look it up because I'm lazy but I do believe if we go back and look at his Tour victories he always seemed to be Very High on GC before getting to the Critical mountain and TT stages. I don't believe we will see anything different this year and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if by the time we get to the first mountain stage he is already up by a minute on his nearest competition.

 

[Amsterhammer]

i cannot believe not a single person has picked cadel to win. remember, you heard it here first.

1. evans
2. contador
3. sastre

I cannot believe that anyone still believes that Evans will ever win a major tour. His only chance is to find himself a strong enough team, but even then I have my doubts.

I'm still thinking (hard) about predictions - but I feel sure that the winner will be one of Lance, Contador, Menchov or Sastre. Evans will ride top 5, as usual.

 

[lucybears]

I'm not taking the bait.

Good advice for everybody, whatever forum they're on.

 

[Outsprinted]

My all over prediction is:

Stage 1 (ITT): Fabian Cancellara (The best time trialer there are, and in super form)

Stage 2: Daniele Bennati (Surprises Cavendish)

Stage 3: Mark Cavendish (He's the best sprinter hands down.)

Stage 4: Team Columbia - High Road ( They got Martin, Hincapie, Kirchen, Lövkvist and Rogers enough said)

Stage 5: Thor Hushovd (The norwegian is more powerful than anyone.)

Stage 6: Kim Kirchen (A short uphill finish, and Kirchen is really fast.)

Stage 7: Roman Kreuziger (Kreuziger is strong.)

Stage 8: Pierrick Fedrigo (Probably a breakaway stage.)

Stage 9: David Moncoutié (For the polka dots!)

Stage 10: Mark Cavendish (A sprint again!)

Stage 11: Mark Cavendish (Cavendish is always as strongest the second week)

Stage 12: Oscar Freire (Cavendish can't win all the time.)

Stage 13: Gustav Larsson (The swede goes solo and time trials to the finish.)

Stage 14: Thor Hushovd (Thor can sprint!)

Stage 15: Andy Schleck (Not so tough, but Schleck need to earn time)

Stage 16: Vladimir Efimkin (Two tough climbs, and the russian is aggressive)

Stage 17: Andy Schleck (He continues to earn time.)

Stage 18: (ITT) Cadel Evans (The australian wants this tour.)

Stage 19: Gerald Ciolek (Cavendish aint there anymore, and his old leadout man are fast.)

Stage 20: Andy Schleck (Mont Ventoux! Schleck shows whos the man, and wins the stage and Le Tour.)

Stage 21: Thor Hushovd (Champs-Elysées, he has won here before.)

GC:
1. Andy Schleck (The strongest climber)
2. Alberto Contador (Just can't keep up with Schleck!)
3. Cadel Evans (Time trials best, but is to slow uphill.)
4. Roman Kreuziger (He's so allround!)
5. Carlos Sastre (Not as strong as before.)
6. Robert Gesink (Captain, but aint totally ready.)
7. Kim Kirchen (Has a strong team.)
8. Lance Armstrong (No, you can't do it.)
9. Gustav Larsson (Andy Schlecks strongest domestic, time trials strong)
10. Denis Menchov (The giro+tour are to much.)

White:
Andy Schleck

Green:
Thor Hushovd (The most consistent, got a better team than he has ever had.)

Polka Dot:
Vladimir Efimkin (He's very agressive in the mountains.)

 

[Bala Verde]

...

Great! Now I don't have to watch the Tour anymore...

 

[ingsve]

Stage 5: Thor Hushovd (The norwegian is more powerful than anyone.)

He used to live in Perpignan so I'm sure he would enjoy winning this stage alot.

 

[franciep10]

My all over prediction is:


GC:
1. Andy Schleck (The strongest climber)
2. Alberto Contador (Just can't keep up with Schleck!)
3. Cadel Evans (Time trials best, but is to slow uphill.)
4. Roman Kreuziger (He's so allround!)
5. Carlos Sastre (Not as strong as before.)
6. Robert Gesink (Captain, but aint totally ready.)
7. Kim Kirchen (Has a strong team.)
8. Lance Armstrong (No, you can't do it.)
9. Gustav Larsson (Andy Schlecks strongest domestic, time trials strong)
10. Denis Menchov (The giro+tour are to much.)

White:
Andy Schleck

Green:
Thor Hushovd (The most consistent, got a better team than he has ever had.)

Polka Dot:
Vladimir Efimkin (He's very agressive in the mountains.)

so astana get's no jersey's and no stage wins, unlikely with contador.