Stage 9 *~spoiler~*

blazing_saddles

DaveyL wrote:

A bit like your treatment of Lance and Marco? Or is that ironic too?

Eh? Is that question placed in my direction?
I wasn't aware I'd say anything at all, ever, on here, regarding Il Pirata, other than the famous motorbike quote, which wasn't mine in the first place. :?
Always thought of him as a bit like Van Goch on a bike.

andyp

Dave_1 wrote:

Kleber, Evans and Valverde and others were gapped not long before RR attacked...it looked quite hard and was only briefly bunched up when he jumped...looked like they had no choice but to let him go. It it looked to me like he took 20 seconds per km from his point of attack to the top...have a youtube search of Pantani in the pyrenees in 98...was identical to me where Pantani almost catches Massi on the peyresourde. I hope they test RR for exogenous testosterone etc and have people spy on his every move off the bike as I am sure he can only keep up that superiority with blood doping-everyone has two arms, two legs...nobody is that much faster, nobody! Today was rubbish.

You used to believe it when it was Armstrong. :roll:

Why is it rubbish? He attacked en bloc whilst behind the GC contenders watched each other, saving their strength for tomorrow's stage. He was no threat to the overall so why chase him? It's totally plausible for someone of his size to put 20 seconds a km into a group riding a fast tempo.

I've no idea if he's clean or not but neither do you.

DaveyL

andyp wrote:

Why is it rubbish? He attacked en bloc whilst behind the GC contenders watched each other, saving their strength for tomorrow's stage. He was no threat to the overall so why chase him? It's totally plausible for someone of his size to put 20 seconds a km into a group riding a fast tempo.

I completely agree.

Oh, sorry, I thought you were talking about Landis's ride to Morzine in 2006...

iainf72

Great ride by Ricco. Looked fabulous on the TV.

The GC guys really did fanny about in the last 20km's though.

Anyone else noticed that Ricco sometimes looks just like Tyler Hamilton with sunglasses and helmet on?

andrewgturnbull

Hi there.

Great ride by the Lotto team today! After pacing Evans back to the bunch I think he gave them the rest of the day off to rest for tomorrow - good thinking.

Whilst in contrast Caisse d'Epagne burnt themselves out chasing who? Ricco, why?

Not sure about Columbia, either they also took a day off, or are too frazzled by racing for Cav and Kirchen for a week. Suspect it's the latter.

Devolder is lurking with intent... Seems to be slipping under everyone's radar.

Cheers, Andy

Jez mon

Not really sure Caise burnt themselves out chasing Ricco, they tried to keep it together, but with rico 1 min ahead with 20k to go they could have cut the gap heavily.

Ricco may have been doped, BUT the guy is built to be a climber, ever seen him time trial...if I was as doped as you guys reckon Ricco is, I'd be seriously pi$$ed about how slow I was at TTing.

I know (p)Ricco isn't the nicest guy in the world and is arrogant as anything but todays ride was amazing.

geoff_ss

Didn't someone say nice guys don't win? Perhaps you have to be so self confident that it comes across as arrogance before you can find the resources and determination to drive yourself hard enough to win. Winning's never that important to me - I just want a bit of fun.

A very good friend of mine was a successful local and occasionally national tester and road racer and he certainly wasn't liked (though highly respected) by a lot of people even though he was actually a very decent and thoughtful guy. At least to me who was absolutely no threat to him at all athletically.

The same may well apply to people like Cavendish and Ricco who certainly provided me with some great entertainment this weekend. I enjoyed today particularly as SWMBO and I rode the Aspin last month though a good bit more sedately the young Ricco

btw I'd like to thank whoever it was who posted a link to Justin.tv. We don't own a TV (and haven't for over 40 years) so this is the only way we actually get see the race. Before I retired a guy at work used to tape it for me and i watched it at lunchtime on the department's video player. I was playing with my toy aeroplanes today but I was able to watch most of the stage this evening - great.

Geoff

redddraggon

I like Ricco and Cav, i like their twatishness/cockiness

weyayeman

Why all this negativity.The guy said he would win a few stages,so he knows he will be tested.This man is a special climber,why didnt evans and his team chase him.They must have thought he aint a threat.I want to see more attacks like today.All this negativity wears you down,there are some great cyclists who dont dope.Its so sad that we cycling fans always doubt great rides,is it not enough that the gutter press say these things. :twisted:

Kléber

weyayeman, every time we've wowed at a brilliant ride, we see the truth leak out later. Armstrong, Landis, Pantani, Ullrich, you name it. You go wow in front of your TV and then sigh with despair later.

ricadus

Reminded me of Pantani's attack into Luchon off the Peyresourde in 1998 (Massi won though).

treize vents

I just got active on this forum, and I am deeply impressed by the facile cynicism displayed. Don’t forget that one reason why Ricco looked so good is that no one dared to follow him. I am quite sure, we shall see today, that some of those GC guys COULD, perhaps not the brutal acceleration, but they could have caught him eventually. And on the descent, clearly he could be caught by anyone who could descend well. And on the semi-flat run in to the finish he also could have been caught if the GC guys and their bosses could have made some kind of agreement amongst themselves. There were three Caisse guys, two Lottos, three CSC, three Lampre, 2 Liquigas, and 2 Columbia. Surely it does not take more than three brain cells and a bit of chatter to put one guy from two or three teams up front and cut the guy’s margin down. They failed to do that. So rather than make a big deal out of drug suspicions, we could point out that if the GC teams had any nouse they would have reduced the boy’s accomplishments to a “futile” demonstration of acceleration on a first cat hill.

Furthermore, you all act as if you don’t know that he has a naturally elevated haemocrit? And he is skinny as can be. And strong. Perfect. And he has the mentality, it would appear.

It is easy enough to say “must be drugs” every time someone wins. It’s a bit like me, every time yet another company rips me off with yet another fake deal or bad product, I say “ that’s capitalism”. Its gets boring after a bit, since there are always more factors that can be taken into account. More fun too, than just moaning about drugs.

ricadus

He took advantage of their defensiveness in other words.

treize vents

Yes, he took advantage of their defensiveness, inability organise themselves AND he is a superb aggressive talented climber with a high haematocrit.

dave_1

well said O'grady...exactly what is was....unreal

http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2008/ ... ogrady0809

treize vents

Dave_1 wrote:

well said O'grady...exactly what is was....unreal

http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2008/ ... ogrady0809

You missed the part where he said it was real AND unreal. However could it be real and unreal at the same time. Hmmm