TDF Stage 17 - Thursday, July 22 2010, Pau - Col du Tourmalet, 174 km

[Eyeballs Out]

Yes, he attacked with 10 km to go and Contador stayed in his wheel for the entire 10 km. Contador only attacked him once during those long 10km, but couldn't shake Schleck off as well. Contador didn't sprint for the stage victory and Schleck took the victory.

So, who called Contador an *** that has no class on this forum? He told the peloton to wait for Samu Sanchez and gave away a stage win. That's class. Something Eddy Merckx or Bernard Hinault would have never done.

I wouldn't have done it as well, but it's Conti's choice.

That horse has already bolted

 

[ak-zaaf]

Truth hurts! mcquaidd loves cadel and has told him that he will eliminate all those dopers who have beaten him but cadel is so amazing that he sometimes beats them!

The man who made a spectacular transition well in his 30s after joining the renowned champion makers of Phonak!

 

[theswordsman]

whaaaa.... if not for stage 3 it wouldn't

Or if Alberto had let Lance and others convince him to chase the guys ahead instead of sit up and wait for the Schlecks on stage 2, Andy would have been out of contention.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Again, the public was there. Leipheimer was long gone. Stay at the front if you expect attacks you want to follow. You don't need to go all out the entire time cause hey, the public is in the way.
I'm not saying it's a good thing the public is in the way, but they came so close at times that you can figure that dropping back, even for a little while, can cause problems.
Sounds more like he was stuck behind Menchov and Sanchez. I'll need to see a vid of this, but it sounds like he was to blame for a big part.

The dutchies are turning on each other!😉😀

Has Wigans come in yet??

Maybe Ryder can phone him and give some encouragement.

Dimspace is riding a tandem bike with him so he can finish!

 

[Futuroscope]

I am very disappointed that they didn't sprint for the win. too much talk about sportsmanship. they basically shut it down the last 2 KM.

 

[cotterpin]

It was the typical Tour by Leipheimer where he blows chunks on one stage.

Too bad Horner lost time hauling escorting Armstrong and chasing the team classification. He would have done well if he had been able to ride for himself.

2 bad we'll never know

 

[meandmygitane]

He only dropped one place and can possibly pass Gadret again the the TT so not that bad.

Thomas Löfkvist started the climb about 15 places from the back of the Peloton, out in the wind looking for a teammate to help him advance to the front. But since Flecha was in the break and Wiggins last in the bunch and couldn't tow him up.

So he was left alone when the peloton split and had to solo himself up (with some help of cracked Flecha+EBH I imagine.)

The climbing squad and tactics of Sky hasn't left me impressed at all! Where the heck was Pauwels and Geraint? Couldn't Bradley helped him up a bit?

 

[nia O'Malley]

Hinault has a serious soft spot for AS. I've noticed a while ago, did anybody else?

Also AS is one of the few who seems to actually pay attention (with interest shown) to what he says at hand-shaking time

 

[Roland Rat]

Maybe it was the translation, but the other day Contador said they had "reached an agreement". It bothered me. Today there was no reason for him to work at front, but it sure didn't look like he contested the stage finish either. They shook hands immediately after, which is fine, but when they were off the bikes, Alberto put his hand on Andy's face and winked at him. I'd feel better if he had fought to the line. I've been a big fan, but they wasted the team effort the other day when Astana didn't need to work. I haven't enjoyed this race as much as last year.

Don't forget the first week, which was very interesting for a number of different reasons - cobbles, Cav, seeing Armstrong get dropped... (the Cav, Cobbles and Commodes week)... it's just a shame the Tour pretty much ended as soon as AC and AS distanced themselves on GC.

 

[Francois the Postman]

Doesn't matter anyway, the argument is void, because as others have pointed out as well he won something like 8 minutes from yesterday's breakaway.

I know, but all "they could have" arguments when it comes to any RS rider except Lance has been voided the moment they put their signature down.

No matter how you twist or turn the RS performance, it is screamingly obvious that Bruyneel did not get half the team's potential accomplishments out of this Tour if they had actually raced for, what do you call them.... vaguely realistic goals.

It's the one year where he could have shown what you actually do as a DS with a flawed team. Arguably the first time in a long time when we could see how good he really is as a DS.

As a DS, he performed well below par by all standards.

 

[schnebit]

Today proved it wouldn't.
AC will take a minute on a bad day in the TT.
If Schleck would have dropped Contador today you would be right.

Well, at this point it's almost a foregone conclusion that AC will win...

Had Schleck still been in yellow today with his 8 second lead... who knows. At least he would have gone into the TT with some kind of advantage (last person to start, psychological, etc.).

 

[nicholaaaas]

Of course AC tried. 8 seconds to go into time trial where he could puncture or break a pedal or anything, is a stupidly small advantage

you're grasping... cuase even if he gets a flat he'll still be 20 minutes ahead already and a brand new bike with be 10 feet away

 

[nia O'Malley]

I am very disappointed that they didn't sprint for the win. too much talk about sportsmanship. they basically shut it down the last 2 KM.

Look, they've done those deals for decades, give it a rest



LoL@McKeown.

 

[auscyclefan94]

The man who made a spectacular transition well in his 30s after joining the renowned champion makers of Phonak!

Phonak? Your comments are bordering on trolling! I WILL REPORT YOU!!!!!!!😉

Doping is a very isolated practise!

 

[ak-zaaf]

I am very disappointed that they didn't sprint for the win. too much talk about sportsmanship. they basically shut it down the last 2 KM.

Andy worked the entire climb. Only an a-hole like Cadel would take the win after a climb like that. 😉

/edit: don't report me ACF ;p

 

[nia O'Malley]

you're grasping... cuase even if he gets a flat he'll still be 20 minutes ahead already and a brand new bike with be 10 feet away

You know............putting down repeatedly one amazing athlete doesn't make the other amazing one any better, and it is just you who looks bad and ***.
Give it a rest too, I was repeating what Contador said, that 8 seconds made him nervous, you're repeating the voices in your own head apparently.

 

[theyoungest]

yeah....come on Nibali

Nibali? He can't keep up with them.

 

[hrotha]

I'm not the biggest Levi fan - I doubt being a Levi fan is even physically possible - but I cannot begin to express my disgust with RadioShack. Levi has been killing himself for a top GC place when that was the only thing the team had, he was dropped, and Klödi, Horner and Armstrong went all lalala and kept going. The only help he found was Paulinho, and I reckon it must have taken a while for Paulinho to catch him.

Yes, he would have cracked regardless, but come on, this is disgusting. I hope RadioShack folds and their decent riders find a team elsewhere. They've been a cancer to this race.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Richie Porte! He will be my next protege after Cadel wins the tour in 2011 or 2012. People will not see cadel as a threat and that will play into evans' hands!🙂

Richie Porte can't attack uphill, let stand even follow the best.

He couldn't even follow the great Bauke Mollema in the final mountain stage (and some other mountain stages) in the Giro.
We all know the great Bauke Mollema will destroy Schleck and Contador with at least 10 minutes advantage next year

 

[auscyclefan94]

Andy worked the entire climb. Only an a-hole like Cadel would take the win after a climb like that. 😉

/edit: don't report me ACF ;p

HOW DARE YOU! You better watch your back akzaaf as ACF94 has already booked his flight to Holland to hunt you down!

 

[SpeedWay]

If not for the dropped chain, this would have been a much more interesting race...

Other than the obvious, the GC was determined due to a mechanical many days ago.

 

[goggalor]

I timed the last 9 k at 26:20 (Schleck attacked at aprox. 10 to go).

I'd say Hesjedal's top ten this year is as impresive a ride than Wiggins' 4th, if not more so. Will we see Ryder lead Team CBC in le Tour deux mille onze (and finish 25th)?

 

[nicholaaaas]

Eurosport are saying Saxo bank are going to try to split the peloton in the wind tomorrow.

first they'll have stuart go down a break is collarbone again talking out everyone but the remaining saxo riders and fabian will win the tour for ***

 

[ak-zaaf]

HOW DARE YOU! You better watch your back akzaaf as ACF94 has already booked his flight to Holland to hunt you down!

Good for you, you'll finally see what an actual country looks like.

 

[ManInFull]

Me too. And by Schleck. Don't want either of them to win the Tour again, I hope next year sees some young, attacking swashbuckler to come in and show them how it's done.

Of course we all want to see some attacking fool (Contator 2007) when the TdF every year. But, that isn't going to happen. Clearly, it takes someone who is much stronger than the nearest competitor to be able to do that. Even Lance only did that for the first 2 or 3 TdFs and then he started taking time in the TT and basically riding with the strongest GC contender for a particular mountain stage. Maybe AC is just as strong as last year, but AS has made significant improvement in his climbing?