TdF Stage 12 - Fri 16th - Bourg-de-Péage - Mende 210.5km

[Roland Rat]

Has Armstrong finished yet?

 

[hrotha]

All the Contador criticizers forget how your beloved Uniballer won 7 Tours: Strong dedicated team with 1 clear leader, 8 domestiques.

Gaining 10 seconds on a very strong contender (who happens to be winning the race at the moment) who only lost about 60 seconds on mountains to last years winner is MUCH MORE important than having one of your old domestiques winning a stage.

Now stop criticizing Alberto and lets talk about Lance...do you think he is coming back next year??

Can't we discuss this without throwing LA in? Seriously now, it's getting old.

If those 10 seconds were that important, seeing AC's current form, I'd say he'd have gone all out in the Alps. He didn't.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

So... The people who previously have a go at Vino for attacking and leaving his GC leader (Contador) behind, are now having a go at Contador for attacking, and leaving a potential stage winner (Vino) behind.

Make up your minds, can't have it both ways. Personally I think the relationship is working well.

I have to agree with you. the schizophrenia with which the relationship is (mis)characterized by the folks here is like a rollercoaster ride.

 

[ttrider]

Awesome by Contador he was tactically perfect!
Attacked Shleck at the perfect time, and...he only did this because he knew joaquin rodriguez would catch vino anyway!

All in all top day from Astana and a prelude to the pyrenees, when the hills get steep Contador is still superior to Shleck

 

[hfer07]

Oh dear- I have LOL'ed by reading some of the resent coments
Vino was going to be caught by JRodriguez anyways, & BTW the undisputed Team Leader of Astana is "Alberto Contador" - not Vino-
today's tactics worked out just fine by both, if you think of Vino getting higher on the GC

 

[staubsauger]

oh well of course, today's 10sec would be the one that making him win le tour.

he looked back to vino after he was leading rodrieguez to pass him. and it was very clear that rod would be the winner in a sprint against each other even if would have reconnect.

no no that's the same thing he always does. like with klöden and levi in the past. but just go on believe the story of the poor man who got aggrivied by jb and the hog. it came not from nothing. he's just not team-minded otherwise not even zubeldia and paulinho would have turn ones back him.

 

[Nickbeam]

really good ride by Denis, glad to see him in-form(that's a clear thing now) expected a little more from Gesink, i think he was suffering a bit in the middle of the mountain.

 

[Thee_chisa]

Has Armstrong finished yet?

3.30 down

 

[ak-zaaf]

Vino wouldn't have beaten Rodriguez anyways

That's the whole thing.
Rodriguez tried to get the stage win from Contador verbally, but he clearly shook no. He still wanted an Astana stage win and Vino was spent.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I'm disappointed Vino didn't win either.

However, at that point Contador had to pull all the way and Rodriguez could just follow wheels.

Well done by Astana, 2 and 3 today.

RadioShack was spectacular again. Lance only lost 3:30 in 4k today. Definitely going for a stage win, I guess. Far be it from him to be up there trying to help Levi. Teamwork indeed.

 

[Lance Armstrong]

But even solo Rodriguez probably would have caught Vino. It sucks he cracked at the end.

I doubt, Alberto did 80% of the job. Rodriguez just sucked his wheel. Vino lost 4 seconds on 1,5km. Hi didn't crack.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

oh well of course, today's 10sec would be the one that making him win le tour.

he looked back to vino after he was leading rodrieguez to pass him. and it was very clear that rod would be the winner in a sprint against each other even if would have reconnect.

no no that's the same thing he always does. like with klöden and levi in the past. but just go on believe the story of the poor man who got aggrivied by jb and the hog. it came not from nothing. he's just not team-minded otherwise not even zubeldia and paulinho would have turn ones back him.

I love the whining. Love it.

 

[frizzlefry]

What am I deflecting? I thought Astana's tactics were excellent.

How did Lance do today? I know it's tough on you fanboys.

So putting 10 seconds into AS who is obviously not as strong as Contador on the steeper climbs was worth wasting a Stage win for Vino?

Since you want to bring LA/RS into it, would you say the same thing if it was LA bridging to a RS rider to put 10 seconds into an obviously weaker AS?

 

[therhodeo]

Far be it from him to be up there trying to help Levi. Teamwork indeed.

He used up all the "teammate juice" last year trying to "help" Contador.

 

[Roland Rat]

3.30 down

I think it's nice of Armstrong in his final tour to show us what should have happened all those years.

 

[ak-zaaf]

I doubt, Alberto did 80% of the job. Rodriguez just sucked his wheel. Vino lost 4 seconds on 1,5km. Hi didn't cracked.

Andy was cracking. If they were hunting for stage wins they'd have Bouyges on their chest.

 

[ExRower]

awesome ride by the boys today. was good to see contador try to let vino latch on...but i'm pretty sure his DS was on the earpiece screaming "venga venga venga" to put time on Andy Schleck.

Agree with most of you here, I would have wanted to see Vino win a stage too.

 

[indurain666]

Has Armstrong finished yet?

Yes, about 4 minutes behind former teammate Alberto Contador The Pyrenees are going to be eternal for Armstrong. But it doesn't matter because he only came back in an effort to raise cancer awareness, so the longer he spends riding the better it is for Livestrong foundation

 

[CatsNK]

He'd distanced his main rival, who just happens to be in the yellow jersey. Of course he pushed on.

To me it looked like Contador was torn between wanting Vino to win and wanting to put time on Schleck. He was looking behind and sitting in front of Rodriguez trying to keep the pace high but not so high that Vino couldn't catch back on.

I hope that you are right. It did seem as if Contador was looking back for Vino.

Maybe Vino has another chance another day to win a stage. I hope so. The Eurosport commentators (who hate Vino) kept saying that he'll drop back again in the Pyrenees. I hope they are wrong.

As for LA, Eurosport wasn't mentioning it but the race ticker on the official site showed him dropping off the back of the peleton.

 

[Ferminal]

So putting 10 seconds into AS who is obviously not as strong as Contador on the steeper climbs was worth wasting a Stage win for Vino?

Since you want to bring LA/RS into it, would you say the same thing if it was LA bridging to a RS rider to put 10 seconds into an obviously weaker AS?

Is a Vino stage win worth wasting a Contador overall victory?

Afterall, that's what people have been saying about Vino all along, never going to put a GC candidate ahead of himself etc etc.

 

[hrotha]

I'm disappointed Vino didn't win either.

However, at that point Contador had to pull all the way and Rodriguez could just follow wheels.

Well done by Astana, 2 and 3 today.

RadioShack was spectacular again. Lance only lost 3:30 in 4k today. Definitely going for a stage win, I guess. Far be it from him to be up there trying to help Levi. Teamwork indeed.

Why did Contador have to pull?
He wasn't going to gain any significant time for the GC.
If Vino (nevermind the others) catches up, J. Rodriguez's chances diminish. Rodriguez would have had to pull, increasing AC's chances of taking the stage, and if he didn't and hesitated for a while, Vino could have made a comeback.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

So putting 10 seconds into AS who is obviously not as strong as Contador on the steeper climbs was worth wasting a Stage win for Vino?

Since you want to bring LA/RS into it, would you say the same thing if it was LA bridging to a RS rider to put 10 seconds into an obviously weaker AS?

It's a race for the yellow jersey. The psychological blow to Schleck was quite worth it. Schleck was quite sure of himself, but after today, he's going to have doubts again. It wasn't just about 10 seconds. Plus, Alberto didn't really know how far back Schleck was anyway. It could have been a bigger gap.

Let's not mince words here. You RS fans don't care about Vino or anything else. You just want to demonize Alberto because he's put 20 minutes into your boy Lance already. Which I find quite funny.

 

[Henrik]

I still wonder why Cervelo was doing the job, Sastre wasn't that good on the final climb

 

[Polish]

Alberto is becoming more like Lance each and every day.
I may well end up being a Alberto fanboy someday!

bang bang
bangbangbang

bang

 

[indurain666]

So putting 10 seconds into AS who is obviously not as strong as Contador on the steeper climbs was worth wasting a Stage win for Vino?

Since you want to bring LA/RS into it, would you say the same thing if it was LA bridging to a RS rider to put 10 seconds into an obviously weaker AS?

AS was obviously not as strong as AC?? Are you watching the raise or Radioshack's stream does not show the front of the race anymore?