Which gc riders will lose the tour de france on stage three?

[ttrider]

why was everyone so worried about contador yesterday!
He was with the entire radioshack team icluding Armstrong and the only thing they were ever going to do was drag armstrong and so also contador back to the front as fast as possible!

 

[R.0.t.O]

Tough to call because on these stages the sections between the cobbles are just as crazy as the cobbles themselves - you have to be near the front and everyone has to battle for their places. If there are crashes there then all bets are off in terms of who loses time, even bigger guys like Armstrong or Evans can be taken out.

I'd worry about Basso, he looked technically weak on the strade bianche and doesn't have the sort of team that can get him through very well. We'll see whether Cervelo really consider Sastre to be a GC contender - will they keep Hushovd and Hunt close to him or do they follow the stage leaders? Contador will probably be ok, of course he's only little but he's powerful and has some strong team help. Schlecks... we'll wait and see, they certainly have the right team around them but how do they recover from yesterday?

 

[kjetilraknerud]

Sastre will be fine with Hunt and Klier by his side, Hushovd can go on his own.

 

[Publicus]

Well, considering 7 out of 9 Astana riders crashed, and seeing what happened to everyone else, I'd say it was a matter of luck.

Astana is not as strong as RadioShack, but they're not weak by any means.

Funny enough I think he is making too much of one shot. There were 3 or 4 Astana riders with AC when he went down (Vino and Tiralongo were directly involved with the crash, as was Armstrong). And they were with him thereafter. He had gotten another bike so he was being paced back up by the one rider.

 

[Anonymous]

why was everyone so worried about contador yesterday!
He was with the entire radioshack team icluding Armstrong and the only thing they were ever going to do was drag armstrong and so also contador back to the front as fast as possible!

Contador.

I think that guy is a lot tougher than anyone seems to give him credit for, but he is also very quiet, doesn't talk a lot and seems to have no seire to always be in front of a camera.

So it's easy for much of the media to keep running their lips on their "story" - .......

I think, personally, that whether they intend it or not, people are getting swayed by the constant refrain of Vs and other American media telling us how Contador is no challenge to Armstrong, he's weak, his team is weak, etc.

It's all part of the constant Armstrong mind game that the stupid media play right into.

I expect Contador to silence them all. Again.

 

[sublimit]

Armstrong rode rubbish and didnt have control of his bike, position was good but bouncing up and down - It was pretty lame stuff.


Andy Has Cancellera to pull him along on the flat and thats a big advantage for him, Astana look dysfunctional but AC can ride. Its difficult to call it at the minute.

 

[Thee_chisa]

i was half right with the schlecks

 

[mastersracer]

Armstrong rode rubbish and didnt have control of his bike, position was good but bouncing up and down - It was pretty lame stuff.


Andy Has Cancellera to pull him along on the flat and thats a big advantage for him, Astana look dysfunctional but AC can ride. Its difficult to call it at the minute.

what? that makes no sense...

 

[theyoungest]

Funny how Menchov got the most votes. OK, Gesink didn't fare so well, but he's lucky he's still in the race.

 

[luckyboy]

Armstrong/Levi/kloden - Apollo, Boeing, cavfan11, Ferminal, klmorgan, luckyboy, palmerq, rxgqgxnyfz 8 10.39%

What do I win?

 

[Mach Schnell]

Armstrong rode rubbish and didnt have control of his bike, position was good but bouncing up and down - It was pretty lame stuff.

What? Pease post us a YouTube link of you showing us how its REALLY done eh
Honestly, I was surprised more of the GC contenders didn't end up like poor Frank. That really sucks, he was having a great run in this year.
I hate it when the organizers put these sort of stages in to "shake things up". Just like the St Nazaire stage in '99 which saw some of the hopefulls end their tour. I really dislike seeing riders tour chances ended because of factors outside of their control, I'd always rather see them slug it out mano a mano on the cols, not losing time or crashing out on some BS cobble sections added for the spectators. If I want to watch cobble racing this time of year, I'll slap on a classics DVD
Andy and Cadel just got plain lucky that nothing bad occured to them. Sometimes, thats all that it takes, just that little bit of luck.

 

[turtlesoup]

What? Pease post us a YouTube link of you showing us how its REALLY done eh
Honestly, I was surprised more of the GC contenders didn't end up like poor Frank. That really sucks, he was having a great run in this year.
I hate it when the organizers put these sort of stages in to "shake things up". Just like the St Nazaire stage in '99 which saw some of the hopefulls end their tour. I really dislike seeing riders tour chances ended because of factors outside of their control, I'd always rather see them slug it out mano a mano on the cols, not losing time or crashing out on some BS cobble sections added for the spectators. If I want to watch cobble racing this time of year, I'll slap on a classics DVD
Andy and Cadel just got plain lucky that nothing bad occured to them. Sometimes, thats all that it takes, just that little bit of luck.

and yesterday was terrible stage done for spectators only right? Or a serious cross wind breaks up the peleton? It was a great stage to add, action in the first week of the tour is awesome, Glad it isnt just thread after thread about how cav is or isnt performing on the 10 sprint stages in a row that are usually the first half of the tour.

 

[Climbing]

Well... I did not vote before... so easy pick for Basso!
Damn he can really only climb!!