Well I admit I thought my bet on Purito was safe this morning, but that was epic. Truly truly epic.
Contador's will to never accept second place is what makes a true champion. What made the TdF so dull was that even when Nibali got into that breakaway group he went back like some lost sheepdog and was happy to defend third.
Sad for purito and not just because i lost my modest bet on him, but he must not have got on his bike yesterday because he was feeling a bit under the weather. But Contador deserved the red jersey, and the stage victory today.
To answer the 'clinic' question seeing as the ITV guys bought it up I saw nothing fishy about the win today. Saxo have been loosening up Katusha's domestique's for the last few days. Moreno in particular has done alot of work. They softened them up further this morning with an early attack, obviously Katusha would have had to work hard to bring that back.
Now when Contador went with Purito feeling a bit under the weather and probably not at full concentration h missed him. He was going to rely on his team to bring them back, but the gap between domestiques and the top riders is large. They obviously couldn't. Now Contador has teammates and allies in the group ahead. He bridges to them, and obviously he calls in a favour from his old mate Tirango and well obviously his own team-mates will help him.
Once Contador has Rodriguez out of his wheel and Rodriguez's teammates don't chase him since they are all either half cooked or not paying attention, then he is obviously going to be able to take time out of him. Contador took 40 seconds in the first 19k of the ITT on the flat stage out of Purito, and he is clearly the strongest rider in the world on a moderate gradient (~4-7%) or so. This suits him. With both riders effectively pushing a time trial he is able to take time out of Purito. Note that Valverde was able to almost ride back up to Contador near the end, but that the gap stabilised at about 2:40 to Purito in the end and Contador (And Valverde) in the end were clearly fatiguing.
Anyway best Grand Tour stage I've ever seen in my life that, when a true champion's back is against the wall - thats when they find a way to win and they are a true champion. Chapeau Contador.
Contador's will to never accept second place is what makes a true champion. What made the TdF so dull was that even when Nibali got into that breakaway group he went back like some lost sheepdog and was happy to defend third.
Sad for purito and not just because i lost my modest bet on him, but he must not have got on his bike yesterday because he was feeling a bit under the weather. But Contador deserved the red jersey, and the stage victory today.
To answer the 'clinic' question seeing as the ITV guys bought it up I saw nothing fishy about the win today. Saxo have been loosening up Katusha's domestique's for the last few days. Moreno in particular has done alot of work. They softened them up further this morning with an early attack, obviously Katusha would have had to work hard to bring that back.
Now when Contador went with Purito feeling a bit under the weather and probably not at full concentration h missed him. He was going to rely on his team to bring them back, but the gap between domestiques and the top riders is large. They obviously couldn't. Now Contador has teammates and allies in the group ahead. He bridges to them, and obviously he calls in a favour from his old mate Tirango and well obviously his own team-mates will help him.
Once Contador has Rodriguez out of his wheel and Rodriguez's teammates don't chase him since they are all either half cooked or not paying attention, then he is obviously going to be able to take time out of him. Contador took 40 seconds in the first 19k of the ITT on the flat stage out of Purito, and he is clearly the strongest rider in the world on a moderate gradient (~4-7%) or so. This suits him. With both riders effectively pushing a time trial he is able to take time out of Purito. Note that Valverde was able to almost ride back up to Contador near the end, but that the gap stabilised at about 2:40 to Purito in the end and Contador (And Valverde) in the end were clearly fatiguing.
Anyway best Grand Tour stage I've ever seen in my life that, when a true champion's back is against the wall - thats when they find a way to win and they are a true champion. Chapeau Contador.
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