The official debate: Should Contador have waited for Schleck?

[StyrbjornSterki]

There's also a traditional unwritten rule not to attack someone who's taking a nature break. It would be foolish of Andy to launch the attack, then ask Alberto not to counter while he stopped to take a whiz.

andy should make an alliance with lance and try to beat contador! lance will help him!

Schleck doesn't need any more help losing.

 

[scribe]

I dont buy that Contador should have a right to complain about Stage 3. He didnt have the yellow jersey.

Besides the fact everyone in the peloton knew what might happen with consequence if they weren't at the front of the group entering the pave.

 

[Biological Entity]

In other words....

"I am sorry for making that move, but it feels great to be a 3 time champion. I'll be signing my '3' shirts and hats all week. Thank you."

Yeah, + 1.

 

[nicholaaaas]

You're so wrong.

Samuel Sánchez is from Asturias, also in Spain.
Basque riders are Spanish. If they feel Basque or Spanish or Tibetan is a completely different matter and should be respected.

PD: Please, next time get the facts right before exposing your lack of knowledge publicly. It'll save a lot of embarrasement to everyone here.

Actually there are three departments of the Basque Country that are in France as well

 

[Tangled Tango]

I think it is absolutely hilarious that the folks are saying that because AC's statements doesn't square with what you saw on the video (he says attacking Andy, when I think he means counter-attacking/closing the gap; surely everyone agrees he was in full flight to catch Andy after he got the jump on him), but doesn't see anything with Andy's clearly distorted view of what happened

That didn't happen, but I believe Andy believes that's how it happened, simply because he was in the heat of battle. I was trying to make this point earlier, we are slowing down video, looking at freeze frames and trying to attribute that type of deliberation to professional athletes in full fight on the road.

Thank you for a clear and unbiased perspective on what actually happened. Not only was AC in full chase/counter attack mode, At the exact moment of the chain slip, he was looking behind and to his right. It appears quite impossible that AC could of seen what had happen as he sped passed AS without even looking at him.

 

[Night Rider]

In other words....

"I am sorry for making that move, but it feels great to be a 3 time champion. I'll be signing my '3' shirts and hats all week. Thank you."

I know Andy would do the same. Do I care? No. In my opinion unwritten rules are there to be observed at riders discretion,not followed at all costs. Contador has already waited for the Schleck's once this tour and good on him. We didn't hear him complaining that the favour wasn't returned the very next stage.

Storm in a teacup. We shouldn't lose sight of the fact this is a RACE.

 

[frizzlefry]

Besides the fact everyone in the peloton knew what might happen with consequence if they weren't at the front of the group entering the pave.

By Publicus' logic, Contador should have waited for LA on Stage 3 when LA punctured.

 

[Biological Entity]

Storm in a teacup. We shouldn't lose sight of the fact this is a RACE.

It's not a race anymore, my boy.

 

[sartoris]

I dont buy that Contador should have a right to complain about Stage 3. He didnt have the yellow jersey.

Unwritten Rule Nº 47427: Only yellow jersey holders have the right to complain when being taken advantage of.


This is getting ludicrous!!

 

[Publicus]

I dont buy that Contador should have a right to complain about Stage 3. He didnt have the yellow jersey.

He was caught up in the aftermath of Frank's crash and ultimately lost 1'13" to Andy Schleck. It was a race situation that Andy exploited to the detriment of the other GC contenders.

Similarly, they exploited what happened to Armstrong on Stage 9. He crashed in the run up, got back, but was exhausted from the effort and subsequently popped.

When AC attacked Andy on the climb to Mende, Andy wasn't paying attention and got gapped.

When Andy attacked AC today, AC was sitting in the back of the GC group and got gapped.

Andy was trying to press his advantage after attacking and in the process dropped his chain.

Now, I don't think any of the above points are in contention (it is what happened). What I'm struggling with is how AC is in the wrong here.

 

[Biffins]

I hope the next time Contador has to stop to pee, Saxo Bank bring spartacus to the front and put the frickin hammer down on the peloton.

 

[Anonymous]

By Publicus' logic, Contador should have waited for LA on Stage 3 when LA punctured.

No, it is clear The Uniballer was never a real factor in anything but who could drink the most Michelob Ultra and talk most authoritatively about Band of Horses...

 

[Night Rider]

It's not a race anymore, my boy.

For the record, I actually said the race was a foregone conclusion months ago, son.

 

[Publicus]

Besides the fact everyone in the peloton knew what might happen with consequence if they weren't at the front of the group entering the pave.

Doesn't everyone in the peloton know what will happen if you try shifting under full power?

 

[scribe]

By Publicus' logic, Contador should have waited for LA on Stage 3 when LA punctured.

A stunning amount of guys keep referencing stage 3 as an indicator of comparable racing. Race the pave with those standards argued for today's stage, and my grandmother could win Paris-Roubaix. There would be no race, as the hazard is paramount.

 

[Biffins]

2010 will be remembered as the year the sport changed from having honor in wins to winning at any costs.

And Alberto Contador will forever be remembered in infamy as the guy who tore up the "unwritten rules".

From now on, it's win at any costs.

 

[nia O'Malley]

This is a confidence game

Yes, that's all it ever was.
The rest I disagree with but we've had 100 pages on it already

I do not know what is all about Schleck first if he still does not know that when you stand up you do not switch the crankset. Well, this is his mistake, i also do not understand this fair-play this is the tour and maybe you are not aware that in the past such as charly gaul lost a Giro because he stopped top take a ****. Actually that was very common to attack when someone had a mechanical problem.
So will see if Andy will be capable of blowing the race tomorrow I would love him to do it, but AC is smarter than him, Also on this thread i even seen Menchov or Sanchez being criticized..

Charly Gaul was the last Luxemburger to win the tour, curiously enough.

I think you forget that they are men, and even if my friend were the one that attacked...he!!, ESPECIALLY if it were my "friend," I would think the same thing "sucks for you dude" and probably tell him as I went by that he was buying at the end of the ride.

You forget that this little tactic went on all day yesterday too, with Contador feigning fatigue to bait Schleck into attacking and Schleck knowing all along about it ( he mentioned it in an interview). There's a reason Vino was ready to pounce.

This is a game they are both well trained and versed in; getting caught at your own game is only fair.
Only, in the heat of the moment
- AC thought AS had blown up pure and simple, and/or had only a minor chain embarassment
- AS was persuaded AC attacked after he had dismounted, neither of which actually happened. One got a major problem, the other had gone by already.

I'm sure they are square now after watching replays.

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, 1100+ posts on the subject is enough for me...well, actually the mentally ill troll has probably added 80 or so, so lets make that 1000+...

Ya'll have fun!

 

[rickibobbi]

Really don't have a favorite here, AC or AS, grand tour riding is brutal, most of the people involved are really not paragons of much of anything save being really amazing athletes. Schleck benefited from peleton crashes in the cobblestones, for example. Often when people wait for the yellow jersey its in a part of the stage that isn't really being contested. So, if Ullrich or Armstrong were in a similar situation, what would they have done, and the emphasis has to be on "similar". Its really not clear what is the right thing to do in such situations, this was the "crux" of the race, what to do, what to do.

 

[Biological Entity]

No, it is clear The Uniballer was never a real factor in anything but who could drink the most Michelob Ultra and talk most authoritatively about Band of Horses...

But surely you're a big fan of Armstrong now? He's a man's man.

You're really into Men.

 

[Hugh Januss]

AGAIN.

Winning a 3 week race on a single mechanical by your only real legitimate threat is an awful way to win the race. It sullies the efforts of everyone involved in the race, and doesn't show the public who was the strongest competitor.

Regarding Stage 3. Shrek was already doing interviews at the finish when AC had his mechanical. There was actually discussion here that AC should have gotten the same time as his group, not sure how that panned for him.

It was not a mechanical it was operator error. AS tried to shift while powering on the pedals and the chain came off, then he took longer to get it on and get under way again than any pro bike racer should have taken.

 

[2wheels]

Nonesence. there were about 100 other threads started about this. Theres a reason this was the one which survived

It only got through first because my computer had a mechanical. You took advantage.

 

[nia O'Malley]

2010 will be remembered as the year the sport changed from having honor in wins to winning at any costs.

And Alberto Contador will forever be remembered in infamy as the guy who tore up the "unwritten rules".

From now on, it's win at any costs.

If you really, truly believe that, you haven't watched all that many Tours.

 

[Anonymous]

2010 will be remembered as the year the sport changed from having honor in wins to winning at any costs.

And Alberto Contador will forever be remembered in infamy as the guy who tore up the "unwritten rules".

From now on, it's win at any costs.

...seriously? Bet you never saw a Tour before 1999....

 

[Biological Entity]

Okay, 1100+ posts on the subject is enough for me...well, actually the mentally ill troll has probably added 80 or so, so lets make that 1000+...

Ya'll have fun!

Great contribution to the discussion today.

1. AS was wrong to attack in the first place.

2. AS is a pussy.

3. Contador is a MAN.

Thanks, mate. Good job.