TdF stge 1 Monaco ITT, 15.50 km

[Alpe d'Huez]

Monster ride by Spartacus. The way he caught and powered past Menchov was astonishing.

Contador I think was trying to say something, and did. Good rides also by Brad Wiggins. Andy Schleck did okay I thought, better than expected.

And Lance only 4th best on his team! Who thought that would happen? Well, some people perhaps. Astana may indeed have the top several spots after the TTT. We'll see.

I found the best feed to come from Aussie's SBS, with none other than Phil and Paul.Link here.

Remember, you can always go to Steephill.tv if you don't know how or where to see the race.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Well, Leipheimer is screwed. Evans has 7 seconds on him!

 

[DavidT]

Best thing about today's result is that Versus will back off just a little on their gushing, sycophantic admiration of Armstrong. And the 2 muppets, Phil and Paul, may talk about some other riders pre-race.

 

[Publicus]

Yes, I agree that AC has the best opportunity. But the infighting surely won't end after today's results.

If it doesn't that's because JB isn't half the manager the press makes him out to be. In the test against the clock, Contador was the better man on his team.

But I feel what you are saying. Lance won't accept the reality of the situation until he gets dropped on Stage 7.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

I was hoping for more from him and Gesink didn't look too hot either.

Their team Doc quit recently

 

[Anonymous]

Well, Leipheimer is screwed. Evans has 7 seconds on him!

Yea, trading off sucking wheels won't gain either very much time.

 

[Publicus]

From your lips to G-d's ear!

Best thing about today's result is that Versus will back off just a little on their gushing, sycophantic admiration of Armstrong. And the 2 muppets, Phil and Paul, may talk about some other riders pre-race.

+Infinity

I fear though it will be still be all Lance, all the time. How does he handle not being in the top 5 in a prologue/tt? Has that ever happened before? Should they cancel the Tour to allow him more time to prepare? Yada, Yada, yada.

 

[Anonymous]

If it doesn't that's because JB isn't half the manager the press makes him out to be. In the test against the clock, Contador was the better man on his team.

But I feel what you are saying. Lance won't accept the reality of the situation until he gets dropped on Stage 7.

He'll come up with some excuse as to why he wasn't on form (maybe the course had too many turns and the barriers looked scary or something?), and leave the door open for him winning.

Roll will still talk about how he is going to kill everyone sooner or later. It will be just like the Giro. Every stage, we will be subjected to constant camera shots of Mr Armstrong and constant talk of when he will attack and the possibility of him winning every stage regardless of the type of stage. Fun fun fun.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

In fact it was only the 2nd time out of 20 TdF TT's that Lance was not in the top 3.

 

[BroDeal]

Best thing about today's result is that Versus will back off just a little on their gushing, sycophantic admiration of Armstrong. And the 2 muppets, Phil and Paul, may talk about some other riders pre-race.

Care to bet on that?

During the Giro the commentator was still expecting Armstrong to leap off the front at any moment and win the thing.

I am waiting for the spin from the fanboys. I think they have to get their talking points from somewhere before they are allowed to post.

 

[Anonymous]

Care to bet on that?

During the Giro the commentator was still expecting Armstrong to leap off the front at any moment and win the thing.

I am waiting for the spin from the fanboys. I think they have to get their talking points from somewhere before they are allowed to post.

Yea, somehow this will be proof that those 6 samples were a hoax.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Ha ha, you just haven't noticed the 5 new Lance threads that opened after the tt.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

I dont know why everyone is giving LA a hard time over the TT - I thought it was a pretty good time for a domestique.

 

[eric_vv]

I was hoping for more from him and Gesink didn't look too hot either.

Gesink more or less did what was expected. He really has trouble in the shorter TT's look t the result from the Dauphine for the difference with the longer TT's.

1st stage 12 km TT Gesink 46th on 1'02
4th stage 42 km TT Gesink 13th on 1'46

 

[DavidT]

Care to bet on that?

During the Giro the commentator was still expecting Armstrong to leap off the front at any moment and win the thing.

I am waiting for the spin from the fanboys. I think they have to get their talking points from somewhere before they are allowed to post.

If Armstrong had won today the muppets and Roll would have been orgasmic in their admiration. Now they will have to back off some.

 

[hfer07]

I am very exited about Roman Kreuziger (Cze- Liquigas)
Overall -I guess today's results turned out to be as expected - too bad for Menchov though...

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Well, Leipheimer is screwed. Evans has 7 seconds on him!

LOL!

Care to bet on that?

I am waiting for the spin from the fanboys. I think they have to get their talking points from somewhere before they are allowed to post.

I watched the Aussie feed with Phil and Paul. The other Aussies there were talking a lot about Armstrong already. How this was a great result for him. He's been away for three years. His form was good. This is only the start of a long three-week Tour, etc.

I have the same fear that you and Thought do, that just like the Giro, no matter where he is on the road, we'll always have a camera on him. Like I said before, Tadej Valjavec, Marzio Bruseghin and David Arroyo finished ahead of Lance at the Giro, and all got almost zero coverage. I fear the same thing here.

 

[BroDeal]

If Armstrong had won today the muppets and Roll would have been orgasmic in their admiration. Now they will have to back off some.

That is a good thing then. I don't think I could handle seeing an orgasmic Roll. Seeing Ron Jeremy was bad enough.

 

[Bala Verde]

Verus is awful!

Surprised by Wiggins great results, as well as Menchov's poor performance (although short TTs are not his specialty, he lost too much time on the big guns). The rest was sort of predictable. Great stage though! Expected more of LL Sanchez as well as Rosseler.

 

[jaylew]

I dont know why everyone is giving LA a hard time over the TT - I thought it was a pretty good time for a domestique.

I really do think it was a good time for him. I've been saying for awhile that he hadn't shown any of his old TT form.

 

[BikeCentric]

Contador made quite a statement. Evans also looked very good.

 

[slcbiker]

Cancellara then Contador was the obvious choice.
Better than expected from Kloden and Wiggins, Kruezinger.
About as expected for Evans, Leipheimer and Armstrong.
About as expected for Sastre and Schlecks, but they already have 40-50 seconds to make up on Contador/Evans. Not so good for them.

Menchov is probably done as far as the podium goes.

 

[Chomsky]

No matter who anyone hates or loves I think we likely all agree that the prologue was absolutely fabulous. The course was fantastic and can't remember any prologue near as entertaining as today. I hope they do more technical longer routes for the prologue in the future.

 

[Anonymous]

If it doesn't that's because JB isn't half the manager the press makes him out to be. In the test against the clock, Contador was the better man on his team.

But I feel what you are saying. Lance won't accept the reality of the situation until he gets dropped on Stage 7.

first stage 07 contador was not even in the top ten in a much shorter prologe over 30 seconds down. didn't show up in the top then until stage 8 which was the 2nd mountain stage.

AC made a strong statement but it's not over yet.

 

[535xiguy]

I agree that Phil and Paul's gushing about LA is a bit much, but I am amazed at all of the LA bashing on this forum. Cycling is much more popular today that it was before LA. Like him or not, Lance has been good for the sport.

Last years tour became a joke when Astana was excluded. My wife and I still enjoyed watching it but I couldn't help feeling disappointed that we didn't get to see Contador and Leipheimer compete.

I will be surprised if Carlos Sastre finishes in the top 5 this year.

AC was the favorite to win the Tour (and still is after the first stage) but counting LA out after one stage is a mistake. This tour will be decided in the last week, not the first.

This is going to be fun