The official debate: Should Contador have waited for Schleck?

[Big GMaC]

lance would have waited

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

 

[El Imbatido]

lance would have waited

No Lance is still climbing the Porte de Bales.........

 

[balkou]

The long road is ripe with opportunity to beat the yellow, when you can't do it with muscle. This is a new era.

New era? Maybe you're not aware of the ethics in the old times and there weren't team-cars, ear-pieces or neutral assistance.

 

[bobs nob]

So your implying that at the time of occurrence AC/DM/SS knew it was NOT a mechanical.

Read the post again and tell me where I implied that.

 

[oncehadhair]

Do anyone of the complainers ride bikes? A chain drop is usually a rider's mistake...QUOTE]
Or in this case the mechanics.
Contador's defensive comments to the extent that he didn't see what happened suggest he knows he did the wrong thing.
Schleck's comments make it obvious he thought so too.

 

[slim charles]

i am in no way experienced cycling fan, i follow this sport less than a year, so this may sound idiotic, but i don't think contador should have waited. i like them both [actually, i like 99% or riders], so i'm sorry that shleck lost yellow jersey like that, but i don't think there should be waiting in situations like that. not because 'shleck didn't wait on stage 3' or something like that. simply, bicycles are part of the sport, if you have a problem with yours, tough luck. i sure hope that that won't be what decided the tour, but i don't think contador did anything spectacularly bad, as most of posters seem to suggest

 

[Martin]

it would be normal if he would wait. at least he wouldn't look like an a$$hole if he wouldn't make turns on the front with menchov and sanchez (both of them should shame too). he would show his class, if he would step off his bike and give schelck a hand!

 

[bobmcpartland]

It's very difficult to say if Contador should have waited or not. Where do you draw the line and say it's acceptable to attack the Yellow Jersey? A puncture, crash or some other incident. What would happen if the Yellow Jersey attacked and the crashed / punctured whilst 20 seconds ahead of the rider in 2nd place on GC ?

 

[sartoris]

ARMSTONG WOULD HAVE WAITED! (2nd part)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr89ku-K2WU

 

[IlCobraFan]

Did Andy Schleck wait on Chavanel (who was in yellow) on the cobblestones?

No.

 

[nia O'Malley]

If you've noticed, Contador is riding not only with his team, but the Spanish Armada (Rodriguez, Sanchez) and has reeled in the Vino wildcard.

Andy is such a failure for not having roped in the 35 riders from Luxembourg in the peloton this year for his own benefit. I swear!

No other angles to work here. I'm acquiescing the outcome of the tour to a rider I don't care to follow as a fan. I was hoping Shrek could pull it off this year but it is not meant to be. If you see that as some sort of Armstrong angle, I don't know any other way to argue away from that.

It wasn't meant to be the second Frank started writhing on the side of the road. Because the end result likely will have come down from one person and that's Vinokourov. Maybe at the same time it's better for Andy's general learning curve, that he doesn't win it this year.
Frankly I haven't read the writing on the wall yet. It's a long way home still.

i am in no way experienced cycling fan, i follow this sport less than a year, so this may sound idiotic, but i don't think contador should have waited. i like them both [actually, i like 99% or riders], so i'm sorry that shleck lost yellow jersey like that, but i don't think there should be waiting in situations like that. not because 'shleck didn't wait on stage 3' or something like that. simply, bicycles are part of the sport, if you have a problem with yours, tough luck. i sure hope that that won't be what decided the tour, but i don't think contador did anything spectacularly bad, as most of posters seem to suggest

AFAIK this is what everyone with sense or any experience in the sport says, so you're obviously a natural
"Waiting" is a case by case decision, really, it's not a big blanket rule that needs to be applied indiscriminately.
Historically, the riders who waited were the ones who could afford to wait, or when the opponent had a major disaster on hand.
Truth is, yesterday was neither a major disaster, nor could AC afford to wait, pure and simple.

As for the rest, it's for AS and AC to sort it out between themselves, and it has sod all to do with us in the first place.



edit: rly? bug ger is still a bad word? LoL (but not sod, that means the same thng. Heee)


PS: I do like Andy. He's like a throwback to the old days, he's bad tempered, loud-mouthed, he wants the white, the yellow and the polka dots, and he wants stage wins to boot. He has no false modesty or any lack of confidence. He'll go far.

 

[Broken Spoke]

it would be normal if he would wait. at least he wouldn't look like an a$$hole if he wouldn't make turns on the front with menchov and sanchez (both of them should shame too). he would show his class, if he would step off his bike and give schelck a hand!

If your mate drops his chain on your Saturday morning blast and you keep truckin - you are an a$$hole.

If your competitor in the Tour de France drops his chain and you keep truckin - you are doing your job.

 

[quiensabe]

Thank you!

ARMSTONG WOULD HAVE WAITED! (2nd part)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr89ku-K2WU

Time to remind the world about his "sportsmanlike" attitude. And his reply to the interviewer who asked: "What were your thoughts when you saw Beloki crash?" Answer: "My first thought was 'I can't lose any time here.'" (I've got it on videotape.) Of course he changed his answer later and said something simpatico - but... he should keep quiet about "fair play."

 

[delgado]

Why was he even using Force?

because that's what the juniors get at saxo?

 

[VeloEcosse]

On this event alone, I would agree with you. However, given Saxo's behaviour on stages 2 and 3, as far as I'm concerned it's now even and Andy Schleck should stop being a whiny little girl.

Its a fair comment.

On the one hand Saxo Bank, I suppose are very focussed on finding a new sponsor for next year and Bjarne Riise would want to hold onto the jersey for the maximum amount of time to show that he has a top pro squad. The neutralised zone incident didn't really help.

I do think that a lot of people forget that Andy Schleck is still a very young man and might not have all the tools required of a successful GC contender just yet.


Has it happened to you before then? If so, can I guess that it happened some time in the 1980's?

Ahhh the 80's.."the past is another country. They do things differently there" - Tommy Saxondale

 

[Bala Verde]

I might be a little late to the party, so in case it hasn;t been mentioned yet. the Cannibal has spoken, end of discussion :

source in dutch

‘Dit is koers. In de plaats van Alberto Contador had ik hetzelfde gedaan. Je moet toch niet wachten in volle finale? Dit is onderdeel van het spel. Maar ik kan wel niet geloven dat Contador niet gezien heeft dat Andy Schleck pech had,’ reageert Eddy Merckx op de kettingproblemen van Andy Schleck.

‘Soit, Andy moet nu maar met een groots nummer uitpakken in een van de komende dagen, want de Tour is nog niet gedaan. Het blijft spannend, ik denk dat er nog spektakel komt.’

Merckx 'bolded' "I would have done the same"

(other reactions from Armstrong; Fignon; Hinault)

 

[christianpetrin]

I have carefully watched what happened yesterday and can say I can´t believe how unfair that situation was. First AS didn´t shift when his chain came off and second, AC clearly kept pushing the pace, several times looking back to see the gap and keeping pushing.

How AC talks about fair play. Fair play: What does he know about it. He apologies. Well, Andy might accept it, if HE GIVES BACK the time he took there. It´s quite easy to do mistakes than apologies and I don´t really think it was a mistake. It was planned and just shows what kind of ride AC is.

I can just hope that I´ll never ride against such nasty riders like AC. AC doesn´t deserve any of our respect.

That´s because of riders that cheat and don´t play fair that cycling has a bad image in many countries (i.e. Germany).

 

[scribe]

Time to remind the world about his "sportsmanlike" attitude. And his reply to the interviewer who asked: "What were your thoughts when you saw Beloki crash?" Answer: "My first thought was 'I can't lose any time here.'" (I've got it on videotape.) Of course he changed his answer later and said something simpatico - but... he should keep quiet about "fair play."

I think we are all still waiting for Beloki to rejoin that race.

 

[wmneff]

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

contador would have to slow and slow down other attacking contenders?bottom line=life sucks sometimes.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Why was he even using Force?

The Red front der. has a titanium cage, it is just plain too flexy to shift consistently. Specialized specs their Red bikes with Force derailleurs for that reason. AFAIK the teams get special front derailleurs with a Force cage on a Red clamp. If Andy switched to an all Red mech. it might have saved him 10 grams, but cost 39 seconds. Oops!

 

[phlatties]

bottom line=life sucks sometimes.

amen.

"oh no trouble, oopsy"
"not my problem--c-ya"
"you were mean to me"
"I was. I'm so not like that"
"bffs?"
"sure. let's ride together, ok?"

the cannibal has been overtaken by waifs.

 

[badboyberty]

Why was he even using Force?

Saxo use Force because Force integrates better with Gruber Assist Drives better than Red.

 

[jstern]

Respect is gone in cycling. Its all about one thing #1, and I dont even mean winning its all about the individual. Look at the Roche incident or even Floyd Landis throwing everyone under the bus to gain a little publicity.

 

[indurain666]

Perhaps we should neutralize the whole TDF all the way to Paris. Just to make sure nobody loses time due to mechanicals, crashes, lack of fitness etc.

 

[flatboy]

flatboy

Please clarify some things for me. Why didn't Andy wait for Armstrong on cobbles when he flated? Or for that matter why don't they wait whenever a GC contender flats? Do these "unwritten" rules only apply to the Maillot Jaune or to any GC contender? Who decides who is a legitimate contender? You said that these rules apply to a Maillot Jaune wearer who is a legit GC contender? Who decides this? Can you say that someone who can't time trial in the top 20 riders isn't really a GC contender? Why don't these "unwritten" rules apply to other races, the Vuelta, the Giro, my local criterium? Why is it only the Tour? Do we have special unwritten rules for the super bowl or a heavyweight title fight or the world cup? I don't believe so.

So we want more Americans to get into cycling, right? And you really expect that with all these crystal clear "unwritten" rules. Clear as mud, I would say. By the way read Zinn's article on his analysis of the chain drop.

I'm just laying this out there. I am sympathetic to both sides. But "unwritten" rules will always be a problem. Write them down if you want it that way.