The official debate: Should Contador have waited for Schleck?

[Joe23god]

Ac was not wrong to attack because it wasn't a mechanical, if he jumps his chain by not knowing how to shift is human error not mechanical error and why should anyone wait for human error?

If that's the case then we would have cancellara neutralising every stage because of errors.

Schleck messed up contador, menchov and Sanchez did what they had to do and went ahead

 

[Wergeland]

By the way, Contador said he didn't know what caused Andy's problems and decided to give it a go.

He has a radio. Of course he knew. Vino saw it, and actually slowed down and was just pedalling while Contador gave it everything he has. And he gave it all for the rest of the stage and by then he definitely knew.

 

[metaCYCLE]

it's astounding how everybody prefers to overlook the brilliant Riis tactics of leaving AS all by himself up there... I might be wrong but i think all the other GC guys had 1-2 men with them.

 

[MKirilenko]

So that's why AC drove his ass off. He was waiting...

Do you really think that if Contador launched a full attack, Schleck would still be able to regain a few seconds to him after stopping for bike-change?

 

[Señor_Contador]

Why don't they just wait for Lance because he's tired?

 

[Anonymous]

The actions of a scared man.

+1. Totally without class.

 

[cyclestationgiuseppe]

Bush League attack by Contador

 

[Biological Entity]

So that's why AC drove his ass off. He was waiting...

No AC was on the limit. It was a great climb by AS that he managed to make back at least 20 seconds by the top. That just shows us that Contador probably would have been dropped without AS's mechanical.

 

[ilillillli]

sorry in advance, i'll confess to not having read all 21 pages prior to this one so i apologize if this has already been said, but if there's a man to blame for schleck not being in yellow it's bjarne riis, not alberto contador. that man hamstrings his riders at every opportunity. that was terrible strategy yesterday giving away time to menchov, and it put schleck under a lot of pressure today, when things like this can happen. you don't win a tour by just marking a guy that can easily take a couple of minutes out of you in a 60k ITT. i think schleck can easily slip to 3rd behind menchov if they don't get this straightened out.

 

[BroDeal]

Ac was not wrong to attack because it wasn't a mechanical, if he jumps his chain by not knowing how to shift is human error not mechanical error and why should anyone wait for human error?

I think all the indexing, ramps on cogs, and such have created a generation of cyclists who don't know to "soft pedal" as they shift.

 

[frizzlefry]

I cant wait to hear LA's comments on todays events.

 

[sartoris]

+1. Totally without class.

-1. Totally WITH class. AC for 3rd TdF!!!

 

[Parrot23]

Ekimov's take:

"wasn't smart ride from Andy and entire Saxo team. on top of it bad luck with technical cost them "yellow".but race go now on angre,good fTdF"

"sa[v]e the team for downhill-first of all,don't go into descent with Sanchez and Conta without any team mates."

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Waited or attacked - there should be a distinction.

AC should not have 'waited' for Andy - but he didn't need to stick in an attack.
Let Menchov and SS do that if they wish and then follow.

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

Very good point noone has made....

When Andy attacked Contador was right in the middle of the group, on the inside, and was physically blocked from immediately responding by weaker riders like Lance Armstrong. Andy was at the back, watching, and timed it perfectly to leave Contador "boxed in" and having a big gap to close.

This sort of stuff is done all the time - Riis would have noticed where Contador was riding and told Andy on the radio.

In the same way that it's impossible to ALWAYS ensure you don't drop your chain, crash, get caught behind a crash, get a flat tyre and all the other reasons some of you want to make it a crime for a rival to capitalise on, it's also impossible to always ensure that you're not boxed in by riders who are unable to respond to attacks by your rivals and can't get out of your way when you want to give chase. Cancellara did this to Boonen really well in Paris-Roubaix.

This happens all the time, but whern it happens to YOU it's not that much less cu**ish than someone zooming off when your chain jams....

we can't neutralise everything.

 

[BroDeal]

Why don't they just wait for Lance because he's tired?

No one wants to get to Paris in August.

 

[Polish]

Why did Alberto ATTACK? Forget about "waiting"

It is one thing to WAIT for a Yellow Jersey suffering from a MINOR mechanical.
It is the Way of The Tour. Honorable.


But it is quite another thing to ATTACK the Yellow Jersey is such a situation.
boo boo boo boo bang bang bang.

Looking forward to AC's retirement.

 

[Benotti69]

Don't know where the Maillot Juane tradition is officially recorded, dont think it is, it is one of these unwritten things within the peloton and the TdF.

If you want to ride the TdF and respects its traditions, one of them is not to attack the jersey when it has a mechanical, and i think that applies to all the peloton, whether these machanicals are punctures, broken seats and slipped chains etc... to blame AS for a slipped chain in 2010 is stupid. These guys ride precision equipment and they are not supposed to slip chains. Aint AS's fault. Blame SRAM (Red) or his mechanic.

AC has by this attack on the yellow declared he is not going to follow TdF tradition and that is a double edged sword.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

+1. Totally without class.

if you can't shift gears properly you don't even belong in the pro peloton. I don't know how to say in english but his behind gears were way too small so the chain was too loose because of that and when you bump against something the chain falls off. it's how own dumb mistake and he should be ashamed top his whole team

 

[ericthesportsman6]

I predict that no one will watch another bike race all year because they will be to busy arguing pointlessly about this.

 

[2wheels]

The "huge omg dropped" gap to Schleck buddy, not anyone else... Contador had to go 100% to catch up, he's not going to instantly switch off.

Watch the replay. Conta looks right at Schleck, already off his bike, as he goes by. News flash #2-- they all have radios. Even if his eyes weren't working, his radio was. He attacked, and continued to do so, for twenty minutes with full intent.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you really think that if Contador launched a full attack, Schleck would still be able to regain a few seconds to him after stopping for bike-change?

Well, I don't know what you were watching but Bertie had been gapped. Even Vino sat up when he saw Schleck have a problem.

The reason AC went full gas is because he is afraid of Schleck. There is no other reason.

If AC was all that, he certainly would have just tempo'd until Andy rejoined.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Don't know where the Maillot Juane tradition is officially recorded, dont think it is, it is one of these unwritten things within the peloton and the TdF.

If you want to ride the TdF and respects its traditions, one of them is not to attack the jersey when it has a mechanical, and i think that applies to all the peloton, whether it be punctures, broken seats and slipped chains etc... to blame AS for a slipped chain in 2010 is stupid. These guys ride precision equipment and they are not supposed to slip chains. Aint AS's fault. Blame SRAM (Red) or his mechanic.

AC has by this attack on the yellow declared he is not going to follow TdF tradition and that is a double edged sword.

load of bullcrap, have you ever seen tour the frances?? lemond got attacked when he had a flat in 1990 by the whole of chiapucchi's team

 

[metaCYCLE]

sorry in advance, i'll confess to not having read all 21 pages prior to this one so i apologize if this has already been said, but if there's a man to blame for schleck not being in yellow it's bjarne riis, not alberto contador. that man hamstrings his riders at every opportunity. that was terrible strategy yesterday giving away time to menchov, and it put schleck under a lot of pressure today, when things like this can happen. you don't win a tour by just marking a guy that can easily take a couple of minutes out of you in a 60k ITT. i think schleck can easily slip to 3rd behind menchov if they don't get this straightened out.

my point exactly. but it's way easier to trash AC who is such a lame climber and would have lost 7-9mins on that climb...

 

[Futuroscope]

i need to watch the replays but to me it seems like contador at first was simply responding to schlecks attack and then later on he wasn't going at full speed up the mountain (when he noticed andy had problems). what more can he do? he can't just stop as there are other riders to consider too.