The official debate: Should Contador have waited for Schleck?

[guncha]

sanchez and menchov were pulling on the front too,its not like contador is alone in it

But they didn't care about them the other day....

 

[warmfuzzies]

It does, we're not living in a fairy tale world here. What comes around goes around.

Remember this if Albertoe ends up in a ditch.

 

[VeloCity]

http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/1111
From -0:43 to -0:38.

If by micro-second you mean 3-4 seconds, yeah. And you can see Vino slow IN RESPONSE to AS slowing, BEFORE Vino passed him.

Yes, because Vino turned back and saw he was about to ride into AS' back wheel, which is what I said. There's no chance that in that moment Vino was like "ok AS is slowing down his chain's come off I'll respect tradition and shut down".

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Perhaps the only positive in today's stage is that the Lance fans really have their panties in a knot.

 

[131313]

But there has been a long tradition of waiting for GC contenders who have mechanicals on the mointain stages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T66LLvqgZS4

 

[scribe]

Awfully dim for superhuman wattage production.

 

[El Pistolero]

Remember this if Albertoe ends up in a ditch.

I won't complain if Alberto would overcome to same tommorow or on any other stage. I'm not expecting Schleck to wait for Conti when he has a flat tire or any other mechanical issue. That's bike racing. Get used to it.

 

[saganftw]

Perhaps the only positive in today's stage is that the Lance fans really have their panties in a knot.

pls take armstrong with you to appropriate thread

 

[The Crusher]

You left out the dotted lines from his eyes to Andy's drivetrain. But yes, this is an excellent shot showing that Alberto had plenty of time and the right angle to see Andy looking down at his dangling chain.

 

[nia O'Malley]

The crux of the matter is ........ it wasn't really a mechanical, was it? It was self-inflicted.

 

[VeloCity]

Hell, it took Schleck several seconds to figure out what happened but we're supposed to believe that Vino and Contador should've known it and reacted to it immediately?

 

[Dr. Maserati]

AC fans. Please admit this atleast.

When AC wins the Tour in a week's time, everyone will say it was because of Schleck's mechanical.

That's a fact. Admit it.

His win is now tainted.

AC has alienated millions of potential fans and supporters. All the support is behind AS now. Ac will probably win anyway but from now, forever, AC is a marked man.

I don't think so.

Only if the margin of overall victory is less than AC's gain today - and I really don't think that will happen.

But it has the potental to be a long rivalry.

 

[killswitch]

Hell, it took Schleck several seconds to figure out what happened...

How do you know that?

 

[mr. tibbs]

A situation of attacking a stronger rider on a mechanical, at a critical point of the race, cheapens the efforts of all involved in the race.

Well...But Schleck wasn't stronger. I do think Contador should have waited, but Schleck wasn't stronger.

Again, if I were in Contador's shoes, I would have waited. It's not like he wasn't on track to win the Tour without getting yellow today.

 

[Publicus]

Vino is looking behind at the exact moment AS drops his chain (-42 sec), turns around to see AS slowing down in front of him and lets up and moves to AS' right to avoid riding into AS' back wheel. I don't think it was because he "thought it was inappropriate to continue the attack" at all, it was to avoid crashing into AS, and at that point Vino was probably thinking that AS was shutting down the attack. There's no sign at all that Vino knew AS was having mechanical problems.

It's like no one has ever seen an attacker shut down an attack after he's being closed down. They do it all the time. Watching freeze frames of shots is not how the riders saw it or how it played out. It was in the heat of a very tense moment and AC was in full flight to catch Andy. I don't know if he knew WHY Andy had stopped his attack, but I can't imagine anyone really expects that he should have slowed down to figure it out.

Now one can ask the question of why he continued to race AFTER he found out, but at the moment he was flying up the road, is probably the wrong time to expect him (or any other rider) to ask that question.

Btw, does anyone know what was the gap between the group at the top of the climb? I have it in my mind that it was less than 15 seconds (13 actually), but I think my ears may misinterpreted 30 as 13.

 

[Biological Entity]

Perhaps the only positive in today's stage is that the Lance fans really have their panties in a knot.

I think a lot more people than Armstrong fans wanted to see an exciting and fairly won last week of the tour. Cycling fans in general really wanted this.

Not one AC fanboy has said they would have liked to see him win in a totally fair and undisputed way, which I think is quite telling.

Looks like they're not on strong moral ground anymore to attack other riders who have been accused of wrong doing. They just want a win by any means necessary.

 

[guncha]

Contador is a sore loser. He accelerated immediately when he saw Andy had a problem. During the decent he got a better guys to work with while Andy had to work alone. It means Andy not only lost 40 seconds today but he also used much more energy to limit his loses. Due to huge amount of wasted energy his results during the days to come won't be the same as they should have been.

 

[The Crusher]

Yes, because Vino turned back and saw he was about to ride into AS' back wheel, which is what I said. There's no chance that in that moment Vino was like "ok AS is slowing down his chain's come off I'll respect tradition and shut down".

I fully agree that Vino had to shift his line. But I don't think it was THAT sudden, and I think he could easily see what was happening. And you can see that when he's safely shifted over, he doesn't stand back up.

 

[palmerq]

I didnt see the stage live but i just watched it a few times on youtube and I think it was a bit of dodgy of alberto... it looked very obvious what had happened to schleck and he had enough time to notice. so bad work contador...

 

[warmfuzzies]

The fact that people would expect him to wait is ridiculous. Why not put the favorites on trainers and just compare the results? They race on the road not indoors, and that can change things. To drop a chain in this day and age just shows poor bike prep or no mechanical sympathy whatsoever.

Educate yourself on Tour de France tradition. It is an integral part of what makes the race great. Until today, not attacking the yellow jersey during a mechanical was a fairly well respected tradition in the peloton.

 

[saganftw]

The crux of the matter is ........ it wasn't really a mechanical, was it? It was self-inflicted.

but it doesnt matter because contador didnt know whats goin on...he saw andy schleck attacking then suddenly he flew past him...and he kept goin...after that starts the BS about being up front and having to go hard

 

[StyrbjornSterki]

Andy started the day with a 31 second lead. He crossed the summit 17 seconds after Alberto and was 39 seconds behind at the finish.

Conclusion: Andy Schleck lost the MJ in the descent, not on the climb.

 

[Piratical]

Perhaps the only positive in today's stage is that the Lance fans really have their panties in a knot.

They do? What does today's incident have to do with Armstrong? Or are you one of those "cycling fans" who can't get it up unless Armstrong has something to do with the result?

 

[Von Mises]

The cobbles are a completely random situation anyway which is why many believe they should not be in a grand tour. Nobody ever waits on the cobbles, which is why you never saw Armstrong fans whine that Contador sailed past whilst he was at the side of the road.

But there has been a long tradition of waiting for GC contenders who have mechanicals on the mointain stages.

Thats why I wrote: " Even if Saxo and Schleck did wrong on stage 3, it does not justify Contador´s action."
Some AC fans are trying to defend todays situation with an argument that "others are bad too", but even if true that there have been other clasless tactics, it does not justify what happened today. In fact, with this justification they are admitting that Contador´s action was wrong.

 

[indurain666]

The crux of the matter is ........ it wasn't really a mechanical, was it? It was self-inflicted.

I agree with that, AS should know better how to use his drivetrain.