The official debate: Should Contador have waited for Schleck?

[BroDeal]

This thread betrays to complete idiocy of just about every poster so far, the Tour is a race of traditions as much as who crosses the line first. And it appears that ... just like Berto, you guys have no respect for the maillot jaune either!

Respect for races went out with Lance Armstrong. Now it is dog eat dog.

 

[scribe]

It actually looked like Menchov and Sanchez were soft pedaling a bit considering how Contador was steaming away from them.

 

[Parrot23]

Did people boo contador on the podium?

Yes, very much so.

 

[Lifeshape]

Utterly Disgraceful! AC doesn't have the snap he has in years previous and he has relied on Schleck's misfortune. If he was destined to win, he would already be up by two minutes by now. Instead, he was waiting for the final TT and then came along this gift...

 

[roundabout]

From the closed topic: guess that puts the "gentleman" facade in perspective. When the battle gets tough Contador is no different from the rest.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Let's keepi t all here: http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=8900

 

[sethelliottmeyer]

I cannot believe how many of you people keep saying Schleck had a "mechanical." Give me a break! He dropped his chain. His fault. Are you seriously saying AC is at fault because he wouldn't wait for AS to learn how to shift properly?

 

[oronet commander]

Do anyone of the complainers ride bikes? A chain drop is usually a rider's mistake, why the hell AC had to wait?

Everything should be forgiven to childish Andy?

 

[VeloCity]

It is a two-man race but that's beside the point. All up to the individual about how he wants to ride. As it was Contador that drove it on - end of story. Chances are if he'd have sat up the others would but again that's beside the point

It wasn't a snap call either - they had 20 minutes to decide what to do

Unless you can guarantee AC that he won't crack on the next couple of stages or unless you can guarantee AC that neither DM or SS won't take back time on the Tourmalet and in the ITT then, no, it's not a 2-man race.

DM and SS were not going to wait, cause they're more concerned with each other than with AS. AC made the split second decision that he wasn't going to allow DM and SS to gain time.

That was AC's choice - wait for AS and let DM and SS gain time or push on. He chose the latter.

 

[Rooboy]

Why was Schleck even attacking there in the first place?

Surely any gains made at the top of the climb would most likely have been nullified on the descent by the chasing group or am I missing something.

 

[Jux1893]

I'm a Contador fan, but i didn't liked what happened today.

It was a mechanical problem, so he should have waited for Andy, Maillot Jaune or not. He's a very strong contender for the win, he deserved a few seconds. Furthermore it was impossible for AC to say at that time the problem was Andy's fault. It's a shame.

I didn't liked the way Andy acted yesterday. By staying only in the weel of AC and letting everyone else go, he gave a very poor showing of how a MJ should act (at the moment I thought it wasn't very sportsmanlike). However it's a very weak excuse for what happened today.

 

[scribe]

Can you merge threads Susan? There is stuff I'd like to try to reply to.

 

[MKirilenko]

Wow, a lot of whining here, I see. Why didnt Saxo wait for many ppl getting mechanicals on cobbles? TdF is not a charity

 

[nia O'Malley]

AC is saying he didn't know AS was fully stopped behind him, AS was attacking him a lot and when he saw his chance, he went on and didn't have time to realise what had really happened



which frankly is pretty plausible


Why would he wait to double check if the chain had indeed fallen off rather than jinxed

 

[VeloCity]

Utterly Disgraceful! AC doesn't have the snap he has in years previous and he has relied on Schleck's misfortune. If he was destined to win, he would already be up by two minutes by now. Instead, he was waiting for the final TT and then came along this gift...

Like the 1-minute gift when AS took advantage of AC's misfortune in St 3?

 

[scribe]

Why was Schleck even attacking there in the first place?

Surely any gains made at the top of the climb would most likely have been nullified on the descent by the chasing group or am I missing something.

Contador put at least another 15 seconds on Shrek in the descent. I think Shrek would have had :30 seconds on Contador by the peak AND had AC in the red zone.

 

[Ferminal]

Wow, a lot of whining here, I see. Why didnt Saxo wait for many ppl getting mechanicals on cobbles? TdF is not a charity

Chavanel's cries will be falling on deaf ears!

Tbh I'm not interested excuses, I'm sure AC knew what he was doing (if not right away), he did it and it's a low move but it's part of the race, time to move on and fight the next battle, this hasn't decided the Tour.

 

[D Avoid]

I'm now , strangely finding myself hoping that Armstrong beats the new wearer of the dispossessed, Hello Jersey.

 

[scribe]

Like the 1-minute gift that AS took in stage 3?

Contador was not in yellow on a cobbles stage. PLUS. Hazards on cobbles is part of the race.

 

[Parrot23]

Give me a break! He dropped his chain. His fault.

That is true, and this is an issue with both Schlecks generally (bike handling).

Also, Andy benefitted enormously at Spa from Cancellera slowing everything down.

Not quite as clear cut as folks are saying, but still, Alberto should have slowed.

 

[dlwssonic]

Contador put at least another 15 seconds on Shrek in the descent. I think Shrek would have had :30 seconds on Contador by the peak AND had AC in the red zone.

lol why you keep on calling him shrek

 

[saganftw]

just check bikechatter,even other cyclist themselves feel like it wasnt nice from contador...and they know better than we do

 

[Bala Verde]

Looks like his drive train jammed. The images show his wheel jumped up, as if it blocked suddenly.

Any news on what happened in reality?

 

[patrick767]

AC is saying he didn't know AS was fully stopped behind him, AS was attacking him a lot and when he saw his chance, he went on and didn't have time to realise what had really happened

which frankly is pretty plausible

It's plausible for the initial moments of Contador's attack. It's not plausible that he still didn't know as he continued to attack to the top of the climb and beyond.

 

[scribe]

Chavanel's cries will be falling on deaf ears!

Chavanel is not a GC contender. There was no threat of the strongest rider in yellow losing the tour, as he doesn't realistically consider himself the strongest rider.