Tour de France the alliance thread

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Jun 14, 2010
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As i wrote in the other thread, Contador helped Samu a lot more than Samu helped COntador so its wrong to act as if Samu is just another COntador helper (as some have said).

Contador takes the pace, all the way up the climb, and about 70% of the way down the climb if not more.

He even said afterwards that Samu was very tired on the way up so since there was only 3k to the top he decided not to attack to try and break Evans, and risk breaking Samu, but to stay together.

Anyway friendships are part of cycling. Alliances are part of cycling. Id say its unfair to tell riders they can only rely on their team. Some riders get superteams built around them because of nationality, while others dont.

Hushovd made a lot of friends and it helped him in his green jersey battle.

It was right then, and it is right now.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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kjetilraknerud said:
Today, all french riders should go in a collective breakaway to ensure France finally gets a stage victory. The nationalism-alliance.
The french teams are known for stuffing each others chances by chasing each other down. They are a crazy lot!

in all seriousness, guys further back on gc will almost play into the hands of Evans. He can turn them into his little puppets.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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The Hitch said:
As i wrote in the other thread, Contador helped Samu a lot more than Samu helped COntador so its wrong to act as if Samu is just another COntador helper (as some have said).

Contador takes the pace, all the way up the climb, and about 70% of the way down the climb if not more.

He even said afterwards that Samu was very tired on the way up so since there was only 3k to the top he decided not to attack to try and break Evans, and risk breaking Samu, but to stay together.

Anyway friendships are part of cycling. Alliances are part of cycling. Id say its unfair to tell riders they can only rely on their team. Some riders get superteams built around them because of nationality, while others dont.

Hushovd made a lot of friends and it helped him in his green jersey battle.

It was right then, and it is right now.

I fkinda agree with that comment in a sense as Samu look tired but Evans seemed to have no problems with AC on that climb.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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Maybe you could quote Sporzchicks comment about it, would be a bit more faireer when you make such claims. Next time please don't play the 'hate Samu and AC card' unlesss you are trying to be funny.
 
Mar 22, 2010
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auscyclefan94 said:
I fkinda agree with that comment in a sense as Samu look tired but Evans seemed to have no problems with AC on that climb.

Sammy looked totally gassed with what little pulls he took in the run to the finish. Evans looked pretty gassed at the finish as well, of course he was working alone so why wouldn't he?

Each day could be interesting from here. Alliances? I think it could get interesting between now and Saturday. They have to try and see if Evans can crack in the mountains. I am watching anyone from Spain hooking up!
 
Jun 29, 2009
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Sanchez himself said it on the rest day but he didnt help yestetday that much because he obvously pretty fried. For AC not attacking SS...he accelarated several times but simly couldnt drop Evans. And if the leader of a team, who is in striking distance for yellow Talks about helping an other gc guy rather than going for the ein himself he embarasses and insults his Team, his fans and the sport in general.
 
Jun 14, 2010
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auscyclefan94 said:
. Next time please don't play the 'hate Samu and AC card' unlesss you are trying to be funny.

Wow, whats bitten you.

I get the feeling in a few of your responces that you dont like that I support Samu.

Just like you support Cadel, I support samu. Cest la vie.


You know the comment im talking about with Sportzchick as you responded to my response.

sportzchick said:
Hope that Sanchez gets dropped before we get to the decent so he cant help contador

She might not hate Samu but she dismisses him as someone whose just there to help Contador, so whats the difference.

Maybe i am a bit harsh on sportzchick. She seems like a good chick whenever shes not talking about Cadel (though that is most of the time unfortunately).

Anyway there was a lot more to my post than the hurried dismissal of people I percieve to be hating on Contador and Samu (and most if not all of them are actually outside this forum).

Most of the articles i read either refuse to mention Samu, or say he was there to help Contador, which to me is a stupid thing to say, considering it was Contador who didnt take opportunities to put more time in in order to help his friend.

But these are the people i have in mind when i say they hate Contador. They probably dont hate Samu (how could anyone hate Samu) but i put it that way because its an insult to dismiss him as another Contador domestique.
 
Aug 6, 2009
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Sanchez helped himself. That happened to benefit Contador also, but as others have said Contador (also working for himself obviously) did more for Sanchez than the other way around.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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The Hitch said:
Wow, whats bitten you.

I get the feeling in a few of your responces that you dont like that I support Samu.

Just like you support Cadel, I support samu. Cest la vie.


You know the comment im talking about with Sportzchick as you responded to my response.



She might not hate Samu but she dismisses him as someone whose just there to help Contador, so whats the difference.

Maybe i am a bit harsh on sportzchick. She seems like a good chick whenever shes not talking about Cadel (though that is most of the time unfortunately).

Anyway there was a lot more to my post than the hurried dismissal of people I percieve to be hating on Contador and Samu (and most if not all of them are actually outside this forum).

Most of the articles i read either refuse to mention Samu, or say he was there to help Contador, which to me is a stupid thing to say, considering it was Contador who didnt take opportunities to put more time in in order to help his friend.

But these are the people i have in mind when i say they hate Contador. They probably dont hate Samu (how could anyone hate Samu) but i put it that way because its an insult to dismiss him as another Contador domestique.

No because she understands that the Spaniards will collaborate together like they did which disadvantages Cadel. In the end, Cadel would of opened a bigger gap if the Spaniards didn't collaborate.

It's not that you support Samu, It was some of the hyping that annoyed me though I guess I do that sometimes.
 
Jun 14, 2010
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auscyclefan94 said:
No because she understands that the Spaniards will collaborate together like they did which disadvantages Cadel. In the end, Cadel would of opened a bigger gap if the Spaniards didn't collaborate.

It's not that you support Samu, It was some of the hyping that annoyed me though I guess I do that sometimes.

They didnt cooperate because they were Spanish. They cooperated through cycling logic.

They were cooperating with Evans too until he decided to drop them. At that point, they are in a group of 2. They can cooperate to help both their times or refuse to work together in order not to be attacked for working together.

99% of the time that 2 riders are together, chasing or trying to distance another rider they work together. Nothing to do with whether they are both Spanish or not.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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Sophistic said:
Sanchez himself said it on the rest day but he didnt help yestetday that much because he obvously pretty fried. For AC not attacking SS...he accelarated several times but simly couldnt drop Evans. And if the leader of a team, who is in striking distance for yellow Talks about helping an other gc guy rather than going for the ein himself he embarasses and insults his Team, his fans and the sport in general.

Riders/teams often have goals that intersect that make their working together mutually beneficial. It's also helpful to have built relationships with other riders on other teams so that the lines of communication are more open and receptive to having this synergy of riders working to assist in reaching their targets. Its part of the sport and the game. Those that don't like itobviously don't know how to play it, simply don't play it well at all or even more likely are on the losing end of this coupling.
 
May 13, 2009
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auscyclefan94 said:
No because she understands that the Spaniards will collaborate together like they did which disadvantages Cadel. In the end, Cadel would of opened a bigger gap if the Spaniards didn't collaborate.

It's not that you support Samu, It was some of the hyping that annoyed me though I guess I do that sometimes.

I understand that you have a horrible man crush on Cadel Evans, but seriously, your arguments seem to deteriorate very quickly from weak to absurd and pathetic. Samuel Sanches is fighting for a podium spot, if he drops 3 guys racing for podium, why wouldn't he collaborate with Contador, Evans, or any other racer who would be trying to gain time on them for that matter?:rolleyes:
 
Mar 10, 2009
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auscyclefan94 said:
No because she understands that the Spaniards will collaborate together like they did which disadvantages Cadel. In the end, Cadel would of opened a bigger gap if the Spaniards didn't collaborate.

It's not that you support Samu, It was some of the hyping that annoyed me though I guess I do that sometimes.

If Cadel were better at cultivating relationships within the peloton I doubt he or his directors would hesitate in welcoming the aid of another team or rider when it is mutually beneficial. Your never ending whining about this Spanish conspiracy against Cadel is way beyond old and tired.
 
I find it hard to believe anyone would dislike some rider cuz of nationality. But that's a rabbit trail.

IMO I don't care who helped who when the two are Samu and Conti at this time. Because both are down to Cadel on GC, so it only makes sense that the two work together to pull Cadel back. I'm a Cadel fan here and even that does not bother me. That's just racing. I would expect more of the same over the next few stages.

At some point both Samu and Conti will have to get time on the other, but when they were chasing Cadel into Gap that was not the moment to be attacking each other. And by staying together into Gap they were able to reduce the gap to Cadel. Smart riding IMO.
 
Feb 25, 2011
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Sophistic said:
Sanchez himself said it on the rest day but he didnt help yestetday that much because he obvously pretty fried. For AC not attacking SS...he accelarated several times but simly couldnt drop Evans. And if the leader of a team, who is in striking distance for yellow Talks about helping an other gc guy rather than going for the ein himself he embarasses and insults his Team, his fans and the sport in general.
you've said this on another thread and NOBODY agreed with you.

Samu is working with Contador to help himself, not AC.

if anybody thinks that this is insulting or embarrassing, they are not a fan of the man, his team, or cycling. he has ridden with pride and heart, to the best of his abilities, and has never stopped reaching for the MJ even if he was penalised early on based on an unfair call.
 
Oct 4, 2010
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German Eurosport-commentators just said Contador told Sanchez at the "foot of the climb" about his plan.
 
Aug 6, 2009
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cprior said:
German Eurosport-commentators just said Contador told Sanchez at the "foot of the climb" about his plan.

The Spanish paper El Pais apparently reported that this Sanchez told them that Contador informed him and that Contador also confirmed that "they'd talked". I have that from a Danish newspaper though, I haven't read the original article, nor would I understand a word of it if I had.
 
Jun 15, 2009
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holy cow, two riders on different teams worked together in a break!! :eek:

funny how no one gives a rat's rectum about Terpstra and Ignatev working together when they were a two man break the other day...

complete nonsense to be whinning about Sanchez and Contador working together as a break. How dare they behave like any other break :rolleyes:

thank God for HTC and their efforts in destroying all such breaks
 
Aug 6, 2009
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OMG Sanchez and Contador are attacking on the descent again, make them stop with all this working together stuff, it makes the baby Jesus cry!
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Cerberus said:
OMG Sanchez and Contador are attacking on the descent again, make them stop with all this working together stuff, it makes the baby Jesus cry!

They should be punished, this behavior cannot be tolerated.
 
Jun 10, 2010
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Samu just said they talked about going all out in the descent again today. Of course they're going to work together as long as their interests are the same.
 
Aug 6, 2009
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ak-zaaf said:
They should be punished, this behavior cannot be tolerated.

Since we've already established that this kind of behavior is an offence to both men and gods i propose the death penalty - by thunderbolt.