TDF Stage 19 - Saturday, July 24 2010, Bordeaux - Pauillac, 51 km ITT

[Francois the Postman]

Contador says he's gone through stomach upset last night and he saw it all lost. It may explain his ITT performance:

Original in Spanish:

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/2010/07/24/ciclismo/1279985010.html

Half-decent google translation:

http://translate.google.com/transla...10/07/24/ciclismo/1279985010.html&sl=es&tl=en

Bug or nerves?

To me Alberto was showing signs of real nervousness throughout the Tour. I wonder if it was form or the result of "the weight on" and "nagging doubt in" his own mind. The person who made this Tour so hard for him might have been Contador more than Andy, without wanting to take one bit away from a great ride by Andy.

If they hadn't gone into a headwind today, maybe Andy would have lasted a bit longer and would have been able to drive Contador really close iover the whole length. If he knew he now had that sort of 50k TT in his legs, no wonder Schleck was showing the confidence that he was displaying in the mountains, despite not getting "the time he needed in the ITT".

I did suspect Andy would lose a lot less time than some of us were anticipating, Contador has hardly been domineering anything the way he has before. I did not expect them riding identical times for so long.

 

[Dedelou]

AS attack would've been futile? What about the other time he attacked Contador and took ten seconds? I don't think it's safe to say it would've been futile, and Andy wasn't losing any bike lengths to Contador until the chain debate.

I am not saying Andy should've won the tour, but I think he was slightly stronger in the mountains and probably the stronger rider overall this year. Yellow jersey doesn't always mean you're the better rider, just like 3rd place didn't mean Lance was actually third best last year (you'd have to think Frank Schleck / Wiggins / Kloden were better individuals). It's still the yellow jersey, though.

Not to mention Andy would've had the advantage of starting after Contador if he hadn't dropped his chain, which might have been enough right there.

beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the yellow jersey is the sign that the wearer in Paris won the race. Miss "Couldda Wouldda" never wears yellow. She lives in the minds of fans, she never races. Now that the mountains are finished we can safely said that they did not show us the better climber. Of course anybody is intitle to think what they want but they can't rewrite history. In mende contador dropped andy and Andy dropped Contador at the end of two stages both time in a flat sections.

 

[franciep10]

Maybe he's riding clean this year, I don't know how else to explain his massive drop in form

 

[reubenr]

wait wait wait.. You trying to tell us that when ASO planned the route, one to two years in advance, they took into consideration the placing of this year racers? Boy they are good. Here I thought they only knew how to make a few extra bucks but I find they might be wizards. Last time trial "always" should be a long one. The reason for that is simple: It becomes a battle between the 10 GC guys , regardless of where they are finishing in the TT due to race or wheater conditions. Cancelera got lucky because he started early? Well that does change anything , not even a second for the likes of contador, schleck, Menchow or Sanchez. They were fighting each others and the Longer trial , like the mountains or the in between stages demands that the tour's top guys who are fighting for the overall win should all be good in all the aspects of the race. NO specialist should be able to win the tour based on his dominance in one type of skill.. Stage winners have that privilege.

Although you may not agree, I think the organizers really do have good information and even an idiot could predict the outcome in this instance to a fairly accurate degree. Having a time trial at the end of the Tour to help decide the victor is an OK concept, but if you tailor the course one way or the other, you might be favoring a particular rider over another. The fact that this TT was in to the wind, later in the day, and was devoid of any climbs, speaks for itself. Boring! The race organizers were interested in making the Tour as competitive as possible down to the last day and in the process made it one of the more boring ones. If you had put this TT at the beginning of the race, it would have messed up everything, so I think the organizers know very well what they are doing but, to me, it is not very interesting.

 

[Dedelou]

Although you may not agree, I think the organizers really do have good information and even an idiot could predict the outcome in this instance to a fairly accurate degree. Having a time trial at the end of the Tour to help decide the victor is an OK concept, but if you tailor the course one way or the other, you might be favoring a particular rider over another. The fact that this TT was in to the wind, later in the day, and was devoid of any climbs, speaks for itself. Boring! The race organizers were interested in making the Tour as competitive as possible down to the last day and in the process made it one of the more boring ones. If you had put this TT at the beginning of the race, it would have messed up everything, so I think the organizers know very well what they are doing but, to me, it is not very interesting.

I bet the 2010 Tour will go down in history as "interesting tour" it was the really end of the amstrong era but at the same time , schleck and menchow performance made it clear Contador will have to fight harder to get the next one.. i think that prospect is exciting

 

[lagartija]

Uh, Contador gained 31 seconds head-to-head after week 1, 1.10 with the chain.

do the math, he was down 1:23, and is up 39 seconds, thats a 2 min turn around

 

[lagartija]

Maybe he's riding clean this year, I don't know how else to explain his massive drop in form

i dont know i just read he was on antibiotics 10 days before the tour started, that cant be good for the form at his level , then it was just recently reported he had some stomach issues and was not able to sleep or recover appropriately ...if this is accurate then he was never 100%, and as he said himself, had more of an concervative approach, then i think all the shleck fans better hope andy gets really , really good in the ITT, because that was far from contadors best

 

[blaxland]

Cancellara=Great ride
Martin=super ride
Contador=WTF?How can he loose that much time?(Please no wind comments.See Wiggans)
Menchov=Excellent ride,well deserved podium(No attacking )
Sanchez=Ok,but wasnt expected to go to well.
Gesink=Pass/Needs to improve TT
Van Den Broek=Surprise of the tour,consistant
Schleck=Wow he really has improved/or everyone else is getting worse.
Wiggans=Good ride solid effort.
I never thought the second best TT in the world would loose 5 minutes to Cancellara in a TT.................WTF??????

 

[reubenr]

Maybe he's riding clean this year, I don't know how else to explain his massive drop in form

Let's see. The statement is accompanied by a "massive" amount of data so we should take it seriously or just discard it as another Liggett/Sherwen remark. It is very difficult to repeat as a winner or to come in as a favorite, and it is especially difficult to be on form when the media is rejecting you in favor of a non-hispanic, english speaking cyclist/hero. The fact that Contador was booed is a disgrace. Even on club rides, they don't wait for you if you drop your chain. What a whiner and in support of Schleck the media kept referring to the incident as a mechanical, when it simply does not qualify. What's wrong with this picuture? If on the odd chance, the quote was in reference to Mr. Armstrong, I would only add that Mr. Armstrong now knows how hard the TDF actually is.

 

[icefire]

Bug or nerves?

To me Alberto was showing signs of real nervousness throughout the Tour. I wonder if it was form or the result of "the weight on" and "nagging doubt in" his own mind. The person who made this Tour so hard for him might have been Contador more than Andy, without wanting to take one bit away from a great ride by Andy.

If they hadn't gone into a headwind today, maybe Andy would have lasted a bit longer and would have been able to drive Contador really close iover the whole length. If he knew he now had that sort of 50k TT in his legs, no wonder Schleck was showing the confidence that he was displaying in the mountains, despite not getting "the time he needed in the ITT".

I did suspect Andy would lose a lot less time than some of us were anticipating, Contador has hardly been domineering anything the way he has before. I did not expect them riding identical times for so long.

Maybe Contador nervousness was because he had been taking antibiotics until a few days before the race started and he was aware of the potential impact in his form. I recall he said he had a flu a few days before the national champs, so the antibiotics story seems to fit.

How far is Contador from his peak form? What would have been the outcome without these health issues? We'll never know. The fact is that for one reason or another, despite a rather boring race in the last week, the result has been very close. Mr Proudhomme must be extremely happy for that, but I fear he'll attribute it to the course design and he'll repeat something similar in years to come.

 

[franciep10]

Let's see. The statement is accompanied by a "massive" amount of data so we should take it seriously or just discard it as another Liggett/Sherwen remark. It is very difficult to repeat as a winner or to come in as a favorite, and it is especially difficult to be on form when the media is rejecting you in favor of a non-hispanic, english speaking cyclist/hero. The fact that Contador was booed is a disgrace. Even on club rides, they don't wait for you if you drop your chain. What a whiner and in support of Schleck the media kept referring to the incident as a mechanical, when it simply does not qualify. What's wrong with this picuture? If on the odd chance, the quote was in reference to Mr. Armstrong, I would only add that Mr. Armstrong now knows how hard the TDF actually is.

First of all I don't get any of my opinions from the versus crew as they are imbeciles, I don't think this has anything to do psychologically with alberto it's not about armstrong or "chaingate" from what I've seen all year he's been missing his acceleration that he had last year he attacked three times on AX 3 domains but couldn't create any separation, Alberto is a great champion and he rode hard this year and that's the problem he was so effortless and dominant last year that something must have changed, maybe he's holding back and riding conservative but I think he stopped micro dosing but maybe I should talk about that in the clinic.

 

[Villaba]

Cancellara=Great ride
Martin=super ride
Contador=WTF?How can he loose that much time?(Please no wind comments.See Wiggans)
Menchov=Excellent ride,well deserved podium(No attacking )
Sanchez=Ok,but wasnt expected to go to well.
Gesink=Pass/Needs to improve TT
Van Den Broek=Surprise of the tour,consistant
Schleck=Wow he really has improved/or everyone else is getting worse.
Wiggans=Good ride solid effort.
I never thought the second best TT in the world would loose 5 minutes to Cancellara in a TT.................WTF??????

I thought the same about Contador finishing so far behind being a good TT. Maybe the reports about his sickness are true. This pic posted before says it all, look at those red eyes.

 

[Polish]

I thought the same about Contador finishing so far behind being a good TT. Maybe the reports about his sickness are true. This pic posted before says it all, look at those red eyes.

It has been a long time since I cried at the end of an extremely difficult ride/effort, but I have done it once or twice. Heck, Lance teared up a few times during his 1999 victory.

Alberto's eyes are red from an emotional release - not from sickness....

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I looked like that when I finished the Everest Challenge.

 

[Ferminal]

There is "no" wrong side on the Tourmaletl both sides are right but they are indeed different in lengh and other variables.

I thought they were comparing two times from different sides.

I found out they were comparing times under race conditions and "let the break get 15mins" conditions.

 

[offbyone]

Menchov wins the ride of the day

While shleck rode a better time trial then he usual does, it was truly contador who rode a much worse one.

 

[Boeing]

Contador rode was in a bit of bother but rode admirably. Well done

*** edited by mod ***

 

[VoidSix]

Apologies, my original post wasn't very clear. I was highlighting you as someone who joins in July, posts palpable rubbish during the Tour then likely disappears quicker than Cav tomorrow.

No one will ever match Mercx. Someone could be equally talented, but the nature of modern cycling is such that they could never win the same breadth or volume of races. His record is as safe as Bradman's.

Only a bit self-righteous. While we're at it, you might want to spell his name correctly (Merckx). Pretty in love with the past to exclude all possibility of Contador passing Merckx on the list. What if he wins 9 tours in addition to his Vuelta and Giro victories (which will probably also grow) and other victories? You're still going to put Merckx on top? What if he never loses a grand tour that he enters? Still then?

Gotta love people so in love with history they refuse to let it go.

 

[Hangdog98]

Chaingate correction

Will Contador win the TdF by exactly the same number of seconds that he gained when he attacked the Maiiliot Juene after the mechanical incident?

Closest (corrected for Honour) TdF finish ever?

 

[Captain Serious]

Hee hee
P1SSA!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZeMkbXv1Ck

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Hee hee
P1SSA!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZeMkbXv1Ck

Good stuff!!!

 

[auscyclefan94]

When Cadel said he wasn't going to try today I didn't think he meant come 5th last! He actually seems very happy and optimistic after the tdf this year.

Dissapointing rides: Sanchez, Radioshack!

Par rides: Gesink, Contador and Rodriiguez

Surpisingly good rides: Schleck, Geraint Thomas, Rabo (in general rode very strongly)

 

[nia O'Malley]

i dont know i just read he was on antibiotics 10 days before the tour started, that cant be good for the form at his level ,

that is enough to take the edge off anyone. Long enough to be recovered, but short enough to still feel flat in oneself.

It's good enough for me, though I never felt AC was inferior to last year, just showed a certain lack of confidence throughout. Won like a champion though, he's growing on me. He nearly killed himself to get over the psychological time he felt was needed to redeem himself. Of course I understand spanish, so to me he's more than an unspeaking face but a real human being

 

[reubenr]

Only a bit self-righteous. While we're at it, you might want to spell his name correctly (Merckx). Pretty in love with the past to exclude all possibility of Contador passing Merckx on the list. What if he wins 9 tours in addition to his Vuelta and Giro victories (which will probably also grow) and other victories? You're still going to put Merckx on top? What if he never loses a grand tour that he enters? Still then?

Gotta love people so in love with history they refuse to let it go.

I really don't think it is very sensible to compare two different eras. Mr. Merckx was head and shoulders above his generation, whereas, today, it is very difficult to choose anyone that would ever dominate all around the way in which Mr. Merckx dominated cycling during his day. As much as I like Mr. Contador, I do not think there is anything that he can realistically do that will allow for a comparison. To think otherwise is not to look at the record books. Given the level of talent today, the equipment, the training, on and on, it is very difficult to dominate outside of a specialty area, alla Cancellara, Cavendish, Contador. Cadel Evans seems to be more of an all around, but one would never think to compare him with Merckx because he could never come close in the number of achievements.

 

[Boeing]

When Cadel said he wasn't going to try today I didn't think he meant come 5th last! He actually seems very happy and optimistic after the tdf this year.

Disappointing rides: Sanchez, Radioshack!

Par rides: Gesink, Contador and Rodriiguez

Surprisingly good rides: Schleck, Geraint Thomas, Rabo (in general rode very strongly)

you really need to let the radio shack thing go

and offer some significance to your statements now and again