TDF Stage 15 - Monday, July 19 2010, Pamiers - Bagnères-de-Luchon, 187 km

[hrotha]

Well that was disgraceful. I'm not sure Menchov and Samu are to blame, considering they were responding to AC's attack and it's unlikely they all could have agreed to wait after that.

No, it's not illegal. No, I don't know if Andy would have waited. No, I don't think Andy was dropping AC. No, this has nothing to do with stages 2 & 3 in my opinion.

If you've soft-pedalled two or three mountain stages waiting for the Tourmalet to settle everything, then wait another extra minute until Andy catches up. This wasn't good.

Also, this is why throwing away mountain stages and putting all your eggs in the same Tourmalet basket is not a good idea. I hope Riis & Andy got the memo.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Has anyone else been getting 404's when they refresh this thread?

yes. weird. i blame contador.

 

[RdBiker]

Maybe this is a stupid point of view, but perhaps Contador does not think his only rival is Schleck. Sanchez and Menchov are both close in time, and Menchov in particular might be considered a threat to attack for real. Perhaps it is a mistake to think Contador thinks it is a two man race just because the media does.

Contador was pushing the pace whilst he could've just sat behind Menchov and Sanchez. That way he could've said that he waited for Andy as much as he could without loosing his chances in the race while the other two were the "bad boys".

 

[alberto.legstrong]

All this trauma dram will make for good last week though. Let's see if AS can channel his anger into riding.

He may channel it into doing something dumb, after yesterday he appears more than able.

 

[Carl0880]

Interesting perspective on this thing is that I think Vino realized Andy had sometime of mechanical problem, because Vino was within meters of Andy's wheel, but as soon as Vino passed him on the right he pretty much slowed down to a crawl.

If Vino thought Andy had blown, he would have kept going and attack the climb once Alberto got on his wheel, thinking they could have combined efforts to put time in on Andy (Before finding out about the mechanical). COnsidering they are teammates i doubt we will hear Vino say that, but that is what it appeared when i first saw it happened and it looked the same replaying it.

 

[Pleadthe5th]

I am so so so happy for Tommy he is such a decent, nice guy I know the peleton will be happy for him also.

It looked to me like even Vino had the class to stop attacking when he saw Andy drop his chain. Alberto capitalized on it and that's poor form in my opinion. And 2 wrongs never make a right.

Alberto had a golden opportunity to prove he is a true champion, the next patron of the peleton, and gain the respect of his peers and fans alike. Instead, he is truly "yellow" tonight and will have to deal with crowds booing him. There is a big stain on his yellow jersey. He would have gained so much respect from everyone, if he would have just sat up and not seem to attack when the MJ was in difficulty.

As far as LA and the shack now wanting to help Saxo and AS? What can they really do? Lance was never even in contention today for the stage win and I know for a fact he really wanted this stage.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Sorry, but it we are talking about fairness, then no, it isn't okay to attack at that point if you know he isn't back there because he is in trouble.

I disagree completely. If Contador is back there because he's inattentive or messing about, that's his own problem. He should always be watching Schleck. If he lost focus, Schleck was correct to attack.

There is no parallel between this and attacking your rival when he has a mechanical. That's just utterly lame.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

AC to his team,

Ok, we know Andy is way stronger than me,
so when we get to the Tourmalet, I want you guys to ride the road 4-wide and let me by. Whatever you do, don't let Andy Schleck get by you or I'll lose the Tour for sure.

that was kinda lame

 

[Bala Verde]

i don't think menchov has really showed signs of much weakness, he has followed pretty much everything in the last couple days. He has been just as AC and AS in the last two days.



no he saw, definitely.

The thing could be: if/when he saw that Andy's chain came off, did he assume it was a mere mis-shift, which often takes less than a second to fix. I mean, you just shifting up/down again and voila, it's back on. Or was he aware that it was something worse (broken chain/jammed drive train), a problem for which he actually had to dismount.

And I do like what I am seeing from Mr. Sphinx

 

[Dedelou]

Schleck riding like a beast, he closed the gap to Contador right down on that climb.

it does help that they didn't do the 'big chainring number " on him or he would be at a minute ..

 

[Publicus]

Contador says in interview he thought Andy got dropped or blew or something. Says he had no idea Andy had a mechanical. And that either way this is part of racing.

What a moron and a liar.

Do you think he had the Eurosport feed running on his iPhone at the time? I'm not sure what was coming over race radio at the time, but do the riders get that information instantaneously? But I would be careful about projecting your knowledge gained from the television feeds onto the riders in this case.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

Has anyone else been getting 404's when they refresh this thread?

yes, we are definitely killing their servers

 

[reyan12]

Karma for AS.Contador had waited for him when he crashed now he will expect agai this time..He shouldnt be in the yellow in the first place.

 

[balkou]

Yeah , since the do have radios(still), he can't claim ignorance.

Actually three radios were malfunctioning (in addition to Andy's chain): Astana's, Rabobank's and Euskaltel's...

 

[Dedelou]

Andy gapped Contador. It was Vino that was on Andy's wheel.

Look again.. Contador was fast coming back on both Andy and Vino.. vino seemed to slow when he hears Andy's troubles and Alberto , and crew goes by.

 

[Biological Entity]

Are people really saying AC did not have a team radio?

 

[Dedelou]

You don't beat the yellow with a mechanical. Especially when the yellow is kicking your *** on the road prior to it happening. Contador showed what class he really is.

tomorrow they can settle it. class was not part of the menu today, but at least they didn't kill him in the last kilometer up as they could have

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Has anyone else been getting 404's when they refresh this thread?

Yes - it must be the most popular thread ever!

 

[RdBiker]

I know! MAYBE Contador didn't notice that Schleck and Vino slowed down at all because he thought he himself was going so much faster! That explains it all.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you think he had the Eurosport feed running on his iPhone at the time? I'm not sure what was coming over race radio at the time, but do the riders get that information instantaneously? But I would be careful about projecting your knowledge gained from the television feeds onto the riders in this case.

You have to be kidding that you think Alberto didn't know Andy had a mechanical. Come on.

 

[lostintime]

It would have interesting if Vino would have helped AS on the run in. Vino is old school though. He has the honor to not attack AS, but wouldn't help him either.

AC though ...... lets just say honor isn't in the vocabulary. He still has a lot to learn.

 

[hrotha]

Are people really saying AC did not have a team radio?

It's starting to be a bit ridiculous. After how many stages have Astana riders claimed their radios didn't work?

 

[bonafido]

In any competition **** does happened! I just hope AS able to get back his yellow jersey in the next stage.

 

[Ferminal]

Are people really saying AC did not have a team radio?

Alby Davis could confirm this.

 

[Dedelou]

BS. No one had to wait on stage 2. They just did...Their bad. It is completely something else to attack a guy who is smoking you when he has a mechanical.

Pathetic move by Contadoosh!

smooking probably was andy's mistake. they tell you it is bad for one's health. bad thing when you are in yellow not to know how to use the gears.. Good thing that condator , sanchez and menchov didn't smoke and eased up on the last kilometer of the climb. we still have a race