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What is the best exhibition of the last five years?

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Best exhibition of any rider since 2007.

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Afrank said:
Don't know the interview your referring to, but everyone knows that his attack was a last effort for him to win the race. If his move had been caught it would probably have been planned for Frank to then go. But if the original plan had been to just set up Frank for a attack they would have waited until the last climb, or the 2nd to last.

Which it was ;)
 
Afrank said:
No he didn't, he had fallen down on the GC so he made one last big effort to pull himself back into contention. Just like Contador on Fuente de it was a last big effort to win the race.

There has been conflicting reports in the media quoting Andy's true intentions on that stage. At one point it was reported that due to Andy's fall in the GC, he saw the attack as an opportunity to weaken Cadel and his team by making them chase in hopes that by the time Andy was caught, Frank would be able to dance away taking back the time that separated him and Cadel. It was believed that Andy's attack would not succeed since it was unprecedented in recent times for a contender to make such an effort from so far out. At the same time the threat could not be ignored thus necessity for Evans/BMC to pursue and limit the damage/prevent Andy from regaining his lost time in the GC.

Considering the bond that exists between the 2 brothers it's not too far fetched that Andy would make such a high risk attack to benefit his brother since his chances had been blown on a previous stage.
 
Aug 16, 2011
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LaFlorecita said:

Didn't see El P's post, had to get going so just hit reply without checking for others posts. Doesn't change much whether it was planned or unplanned though, what matters is what the move became.
 

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Angliru said:
Considering the bond that exists between the 2 brothers it's not too far fetched that Andy would make such a high risk attack to benefit his brother since his chances had been blown on a previous stage.

with what emotions you ended to watch that stagE? burnt from the inside a little bit?
 
airstream said:
with what emotions you ended to watch that stagE?

I ended up wondering why he didn't commit to an effort like this earlier in the Tour knowing that he needed a cushion to make up for his inevitable time loss in the TT's.
Entertaining as it was I knew it wouldn't be enough regardless of how optimistic he tried to play to the media.
 
Parrulo said:
the "only" difference btw contador's solo and andy's solo was that contador was about to lose the vuelta simply because despite trying everywhere, he couldn't drop rodrigues. andy was about to lose the tour because he didn't try as he should in the pyreneus and then got scared of a descent a lost a minute there.

simply put both were running out of road and in positions to lose the race but one was there because he lacked strength while the other was there because he lacked aggression.

had andy raced the entire tour as he did on those last 2 mountain stages being properly aggressive instead of trying 2 second long accelerations, he would have probably won the tour.

Difference is though contador was 15s behind and still had the return of the king home stage at bola del mundo, where all he would need was a handful of seconds. Andy though was level with Evans but projected to lose 2 minutes on the tt so he really needed big time unlike contador who could take back almost his entire advantage with bonus seconds alone.
 
The Hitch said:
Difference is though contador was 15s behind and still had the return of the king home stage at bola del mundo, where all he would need was a handful of seconds. Andy though was level with Evans but projected to lose 2 minutes on the tt so he really needed big time unlike contador who could take back almost his entire advantage with bonus seconds alone.

Except Rodriquez was better on those kind of climbs all Vuelta - including Bola del Mundo. The stage to Fuente Dé was Contador's best chance and I think he knew it. Contador engineered a TT situation where he would be stronger than Purito. Which was of course very impressive, but lets not rewrite the Vuelta, Rodriquez was the best climber - just about ;)
 
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uphillstruggle said:
Except Rodriquez was better on those kind of climbs all Vuelta - including Bola del Mundo. The stage to Fuente Dé was Contador's best chance and I think he knew it. Contador engineered a TT situation where he would be stronger than Purito. Which was of course very impressive, but lets not rewrite the Vuelta, Rodriquez was the best climber - just about ;)

Purito wasn't the better climber, he was just a better sprinter. When did purito take time on Contador?

Contador dropped purito a few times but he always came back with the better sprint at the end. That's it.
 
Aug 23, 2012
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Miburo said:
Purito wasn't the better climber, he was just a better sprinter. When did purito take time on Contador?

Contador dropped purito a few times but he always came back with the better sprint at the end. That's it.

+1 We saw it in Ancares or Lagos. Purito was the best uphill finisher. Not climber.
 
uphillstruggle said:
Except Rodriquez was better on those kind of climbs all Vuelta - including Bola del Mundo. The stage to Fuente Dé was Contador's best chance and I think he knew it. Contador engineered a TT situation where he would be stronger than Purito. Which was of course very impressive, but lets not rewrite the Vuelta, Rodriquez was the best climber - just about ;)

Only you are assuming contador would do nothing until the last 3k of the final climb. We already saw on cuitu negru and of course fuente de that contador was willing to try stuff with his team. if nothing else he would have had majka and co drill it from the start. And bola may seem a relatively meh climb until the final 3k but remember nibalis entire team blew up on the lower slopes in 2010 and that included kreuziger who was giving a superdomestique performance every bit as impressive as szmyd at the giro . To say that purito had it in the bag cos he had a 15s lead with the main mountain stage still to be ridden is stretching it.
 
Miburo said:
Purito wasn't the better climber, he was just a better sprinter. When did purito take time on Contador?

Contador dropped purito a few times but he always came back with the better sprint at the end. That's it.

30 seconds-ish on Bola Del Mundo & 20 seconds on the Jaca. Plus he dropped him on the Barcelona stage. So no, not just sprints.

These are facts, but don't let it get in the way of your narrative.
 
Jun 19, 2012
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for me its stage 17 of the TDF 2010 , contador and schleck going head to head up the col du tourmalet was awesome viewing , and showed the world of cycling how far ahead of every other rider they are when fully fit .

roll on july and pray they are both fully fit and we may just see the race of the century .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL8dkc3rgl4&feature=my_favorites&list=FLYeDQP3Ww6ektzmM-eBICnQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4I0auUP5iQ&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkQv-l15c74&feature=relmfu
 
The Hitch said:
. To say that purito had it in the bag cos he had a 15s lead with the main mountain stage still to be ridden is stretching it.

I wasn't saying that he had it in the bag. Contador could have gone from the the bottom of the climb and totally cracked him (and with AC that is not even that far fetched:eek:) but I felt that purito had it to stay with him on that climb and in fact he even dropped him.
 
Jul 16, 2010
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Purito just totally cracked on Fuente De, he didn't underestimate Contador. If he could've followed why did he get dropped by Valverde? ;) Who finished within 6 seconds of Contador by the way.

It doesn't matter if you were stronger on all the other mountain stages if you're not consistent.
 
The Hitch said:
Btw another difference in this **** measuring contest is that schleck did it on a stage designed to be stage of the decade. Contador did it on just about the 1 stage the organizers did not want a gc battle on.

Conclusion: contadors is longer.

+1

cineteq said:
Well said sir! Looking better on Andy's avatar by a mile. :D

:rolleyes:

ferryman said:
I just love Giro 2011, Stage 19. Contador pure class, on many levels.

Yes! :)
 
Afrank said:
Don't know the interview your referring to, but everyone knows that his attack was a last effort for him to win the race. If his move had been caught it would probably have been planned for Frank to then go. But if the original plan had been to just set up Frank for a attack they would have waited until the last climb, or the 2nd to last.

I would think that if the idea was to work for Frank, then the further from the finish Andy initiated his attack, the more fatigued would Evans/BMC be once Andy was eventually reeled in, setting up Frank to put as much time into Evans as possible. An attack any later wouldn't potentially result in the gains that Frank would need to cover his inability in the TT.
 

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