Tour de France 2011 STAGE 20 - Grenoble 42.5 km ITT

[Rivendel]

Best post I have read in here. Lot of blind people still fail to see that Evans has proved he has been the strongest man of the peloton over the 3 weeks. He will ice it off with the yellow jersey today.

I Agree Evans deserves the 1st and has fought like a lion for it and played very smartly every day
But Contador deserves at least the 3rd! if it wheren't for him we'l be now talking of a boring tour and another very different podium
i hope he'll make it!

 

[TourOfSardinia]

No, you have missed my badly made point.
Simply that if there is a shower of rain towards the end, I was thinking that it would favour Cadel and the gap could increase, as into Gap.

Wiggins was well ahead of Martin, at the Dauphine 2nd CP, but lost about 15 seconds and the stage on the final, wet descsent in Grenoble.

15 seconds, late on, could be the difference between winning and losing.

A Menchov moment at least...

 

[mickkk]

Head to heat in the TT, Evans 12, Schlek 1 so far.

Evans goes at 12.36 eastern aussie time, shrek 2 minutes later. Pity is wasnt the other way around then Evans would have a Bunny to chase.

 

[LaFleur]

We can yack alll we want about the battles, but the most importan of them will start in 13 minutes!! Let me introduce the....

Amador vs Sabatini Face-off!!!!

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Hope Cunego doesn't get eaten/passed by Contador - that would be too sad, after tdS.

Order of departure
158. ROLLAND Pierre 15:51:00
159. DANIELSON Tom 15:54:00
160. BASSO Ivan 15:57:00
161. SANCHEZ Samuel 16:00:00
162. CONTADOR Alberto 16:03:00
163. CUNEGO Damiano 16:06:00
164. VOECKLER Thomas 16:09:00
165. EVANS Cadel 16:12:00
166. SCHLECK Frank 16:15:00
167. SCHLECK Andy 16:18:00

 

[Galic Ho]

Head to heat in the TT, Evans 12, Schlek 1 so far.

Evans goes at 12.36 eastern aussie time, shrek 2 minutes later. Pity is wasnt the other way around then Evans would have a Bunny to chase.

Top 20 (I'm not sure) but definitely the top 10 have time gaps of 3 minutes, not 2 in the ITT. Cannot be that close at the end of the race given the nature of the course and GC being so important at race end. Mountain time trials are often different though, I swear they are often just 2 minute gaps. All the big names will be 3 minutes apart.

Tommy V and Franck Schleck are a relatively good comparison in ITT skill and strength. If Franck is a good bunny to follow, so is Tommy V. Cunego is also a nice bunny for Contador to chase, though I'm hoping he holds onto a top 5 and stops Samu.

 

[SarahDane]

Andy will win with 3-5 seconds.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

How is the weather today? I mean will it be raining in early on and then dry later?

 

[yell4cadel]

Andy will win with 3-5 seconds.

3-5 seconds,,, dreaming..

Cuddles will win by 24!!

 

[Square-pedaller]

Hope Cunego doesn't get eaten/passed by Contador - that would be too sad, after tdS.

Order of departure
158. ROLLAND Pierre 15:51:00
159. DANIELSON Tom 15:54:00
160. BASSO Ivan 15:57:00
161. SANCHEZ Samuel 16:00:00
162. CONTADOR Alberto 16:03:00
163. CUNEGO Damiano 16:06:00
164. VOECKLER Thomas 16:09:00
165. EVANS Cadel 16:12:00
166. SCHLECK Frank 16:15:00
167. SCHLECK Andy 16:18:00

Cunego is starting after Contador, so unlikely that Contador will pass him.

 

[SarahDane]

3-5 seconds,,, dreaming..

Cuddles will win by 24!!

Believe me, I'm cheering for Evans.

 

[TeoSheva]

Cunego is starting after Contador, so unlikely that Contador will pass him.

maybe Cunego will pass Contador

 

[El Pistolero]

Yes.

After conceding 40s on each of the first two segments to Wiggins in the Dauphine, Evans took back 11s from the top of the climb to the finish.

VDB took even more in the final part of the time trial. Starting slow is bad, end of story.

 

[LukeSchmid]

2 big things in Andy's favour

1 Cadel never got the time on Sastre.
2 Andy is very very confident.

Other than that logic says Cadel.



Descents favour Cadel time wise, but their existance helps ANdy in a way because it lets him rest up between climbs, go harder on the climbs - his advantage.

If their wet and Andrew isnt scared then the rain doesnt neccesarily favour Cadel.

How it helps Cadel though is that it makes the times slightly slower. The slower the times the more time Cadel has to put vital seconds into Andy.

Why would the climbs be an advantage?
In 2009 he gained time on Andy on the climb and was faster even than Contador. Also Evans is seen as one of the best in the world on short climbs, certainly better than Andy. Andy has not out climbed Evans on long climbs that are supposed to favour him. Why would he do it on the shorter climbs?

 

[search]

what happened to the (large) live ticker on letour.fr?

I can't find it, just that small flash version. Can anyone provide a link (if it still exists)?

Edit: ah, okay, there it is: http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/2000/allChronos.html

 

[AussieGoddess]

heap of riders out on the course now ...

does anyone know what time we will get live feeds?

 

[Square-pedaller]

The Tour de France website have a poll on who will be in yellow at the end of today. Just over 8500 votes so far:
Cadel 53.14%
Andy 32.15%
Franck 10.98%
Voeckler 2.87%
Cunego 0.86%

 

[AeroAdvantage]

This Time Trial will be the most important ITT Cadel Evans has ridden in his career to date. It represents his greatest ever chance to win the Tour. And perhaps ? his last. With a 57 second deficit in time, and given his ability as an accomplished ITT I cannot see Cadel letting this slip from his grasp.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Cunego is starting after Contador, so unlikely that Contador will pass him.

Oh thanks for the correction.

 

[Square-pedaller]

http://tour-de-france.sport.francetv.fr/direct-video

Live ticker

Also, it's saying that live video will start at 1350. Since all the video feeds come from France 2 TV, I guess that's the earliest that any live video will start.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Head to heat in the TT, Evans 12, Schlek 1 so far.

Evans goes at 12.36 eastern aussie time, shrek 2 minutes later. Pity is wasnt the other way around then Evans would have a Bunny to chase.

Actually it is 00:12 eastern time.

 

[Square-pedaller]

We can yack alll we want about the battles, but the most importan of them will start in 13 minutes!! Let me introduce the....

Amador vs Sabatini Face-off!!!!

Amador 4 seconds slower at first intermediate (Renshaw 4 seconds slower still)
Update: Amador 1 second slower at second intermediate
Update: Amador 47 seconds faster at 3rd intermediate (both have been passed by Pate)
Update: Amador 62 seconds at faster at finish, so hasn't taken the lanterne rouge from Sabatini

 

[MartinGT]

Well I am off out today on the bike, too nervous to watch!

 

[SarahDane]

Put 100 danish crowns on Andy as the winner, courtesy of Jobiwan's prediction. This way I'll be happy either way.

 

[auscyclefan94]

nobody is tipping who is going to win the stage today. Does anyone care?