Psalmon said:
SeriousSam said:
What's with all the disapproval for TJ? He's doing the right figh to accomplish his objective of making it onto the podium of the Tour de France.
Because you don't get to be 2nd DURING the TdF that easily or often. Every year is different. Next year you miss out on a cross wind stage. You have a mechanical that loses you minutes. You may crash in May during preparation. You get ill, have a bad day... New talented riders come along. Older talented riders return/focus. The future is NOW.
But his goal is racing for third. That's our best from the USA now? That's who we are now? Not getting 3rd, RACING for 3rd. It's. Totally. Demoralizing. May I remind you (not the movie version, the real one):
"Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big-league ball players and the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. The very thought of losing is hateful to Americans." - Patton
There is nothing wrong with racing for third when you know your limitations. Getting third would be a huge success for him. Given that the chance he wins the Tour is less than 1%, it makes sense to target an objective that he could actually achieve.
That said, it's also not clear that Tejay doing one of those "attacks" that we saw Nibali or Contador do today makes him more likely to win the Tour. If anything, he might have blown up. Tejay can't do changes of pace as well as the others.
I get it, you want to see him attack. Most of all, many might want to see him do his part to bring down Froome.
But TJ riding as he does makes perfect sense given that he craves a Tour podium. All you guys are basically either saying "TJ, why aren't you 10 times stronger than you are! Bah" or "TJ, why don't you give up riding for the podium to entertain us? Bah!"