.....
The Showdown
Side note: This stage will take place on Thursday, but is being put up now because it is the main event.
The moment weve all been waiting for. The ride onto the dreaded "col du Tourmalet"
The stage is set, and 4 champions remain.
For Andy Schleck, 25 years young, this is his last chance. He simply has to attack. He has come 2nd before, but it was never this close. Perhaps he wont come this close again. There will be no second chances. 2 minutes minimum is what he needs. Most doubt he has the strenght to do this.
But there is hope yet. He has been strong in the mountains. Perhaps strong enough. Dont forget he won his 1st grand tour stage a week ago. The mountains are his playground. He will be in no mood to lay down, not with the painful memory of 2 days previous still fresh in his mind. Perhaps this will prove to be enough to move the young Luxemburger into cycling history. THis will be hard. This will be painful. And make no mistake about it, if Schleck is to win, he will need to pry the yellow jersey from his rivals cold, dead hands.
And to win he will have to beat the one. The great champion of our time. He will have to beat the 4 time Grand tour winner, the man from madrid who has not been beaten in a GC battle yet, and perhaps never will. The defending champion. Alberto Contador Velasco. Make no mistake, it is he who is in pole position. Contador has been king of the mountains for the last 3 years. No one has come close to him. With the stage set on the Spanish border, he will be favourite to ride away from the competition and prove once again that he has simply to much class. But with his speciality the time trial coming up, might he hesitate to take that risk? For remember, he does not need to gain any time on his rival. Perhaps defense will be his best option. All he has to do is stay with his young pretender. If he can manage this he will only need to reach out his hand and a historic 5th grand tour will be his.
But there are others remaining in this race. For Dennis Menchov and Sammuel Sanchez, the maillot jaune was never a realistic possibility. And yet going into the big one, they lie a mere 2 minutes behind the leaders. The Russian knows what it takes to win grand tours. Hes done it before. The Time Trial might suit him more than the others. A podium spot at the very least seems to be his to lose. But dont rule out the Olympic Champion. In the deep dark mountains of the Basque country he is a hero. This is his territory. Early on, it was only he who managed to stay with the top 2. And in the last few days, there have been signs that these are the 2 riders peaking for the main event. They finished 15 seconds ahead of the top 2 on a lesser stage a few days ago. Could this be a sign of things to come. Or might their rivals commit the fatal mistake of only marking eachother. There are those who will be quick to pounce on such an event. There are more than 2 men in this race yet.
The stage is set.
Once all the dust is settled, once all the smoke is cleared... who will it be?
The Showdown
Moose McKnuckles said:
Side note: This stage will take place on Thursday, but is being put up now because it is the main event.
The moment weve all been waiting for. The ride onto the dreaded "col du Tourmalet"
The stage is set, and 4 champions remain.
For Andy Schleck, 25 years young, this is his last chance. He simply has to attack. He has come 2nd before, but it was never this close. Perhaps he wont come this close again. There will be no second chances. 2 minutes minimum is what he needs. Most doubt he has the strenght to do this.
But there is hope yet. He has been strong in the mountains. Perhaps strong enough. Dont forget he won his 1st grand tour stage a week ago. The mountains are his playground. He will be in no mood to lay down, not with the painful memory of 2 days previous still fresh in his mind. Perhaps this will prove to be enough to move the young Luxemburger into cycling history. THis will be hard. This will be painful. And make no mistake about it, if Schleck is to win, he will need to pry the yellow jersey from his rivals cold, dead hands.
And to win he will have to beat the one. The great champion of our time. He will have to beat the 4 time Grand tour winner, the man from madrid who has not been beaten in a GC battle yet, and perhaps never will. The defending champion. Alberto Contador Velasco. Make no mistake, it is he who is in pole position. Contador has been king of the mountains for the last 3 years. No one has come close to him. With the stage set on the Spanish border, he will be favourite to ride away from the competition and prove once again that he has simply to much class. But with his speciality the time trial coming up, might he hesitate to take that risk? For remember, he does not need to gain any time on his rival. Perhaps defense will be his best option. All he has to do is stay with his young pretender. If he can manage this he will only need to reach out his hand and a historic 5th grand tour will be his.
But there are others remaining in this race. For Dennis Menchov and Sammuel Sanchez, the maillot jaune was never a realistic possibility. And yet going into the big one, they lie a mere 2 minutes behind the leaders. The Russian knows what it takes to win grand tours. Hes done it before. The Time Trial might suit him more than the others. A podium spot at the very least seems to be his to lose. But dont rule out the Olympic Champion. In the deep dark mountains of the Basque country he is a hero. This is his territory. Early on, it was only he who managed to stay with the top 2. And in the last few days, there have been signs that these are the 2 riders peaking for the main event. They finished 15 seconds ahead of the top 2 on a lesser stage a few days ago. Could this be a sign of things to come. Or might their rivals commit the fatal mistake of only marking eachother. There are those who will be quick to pounce on such an event. There are more than 2 men in this race yet.
The stage is set.
Once all the dust is settled, once all the smoke is cleared... who will it be?
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