Have CSC lost confidence in Sastre?

Eurostar
Eurostar Posts: 1,806
edited July 2008 in Pro race
Yesterday on the Liggett/Sherwen show I thought I heard one of the CSCs saying that they were going for the team classification, implying that was the best they could hope for. Riis seemed a bit down in the mouth about nobody putting any time into Cadel. So I'm thinking that they've given up on Sastre - he couldn't attack yesterday, so he won't be able to today.
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<h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>

Comments

  • wasp707
    wasp707 Posts: 116
    I'm thinking that CSCs best hope is for Sastre to attack on the Croix de Fer which will force others to chase him down and for Frank to attack on the Alpe. Don't know if they'll get enough time on Evans though.
  • richa
    richa Posts: 1,632
    wasp707 wrote:
    I'm thinking that CSCs best hope is for Sastre to attack on the Croix de Fer which will force others to chase him down and for Frank to attack on the Alpe. Don't know if they'll get enough time on Evans though.

    How about Andy going on the Galibier (with Jens for support?), then Carlos on the CfF, and finally, Frank on the AdH....
    Rich
  • leguape
    leguape Posts: 986
    RichA wrote:
    wasp707 wrote:
    I'm thinking that CSCs best hope is for Sastre to attack on the Croix de Fer which will force others to chase him down and for Frank to attack on the Alpe. Don't know if they'll get enough time on Evans though.

    How about Andy going on the Galibier (with Jens for support?), then Carlos on the CfF, and finally, Frank on the AdH....

    Do Cadel, Menchov etc need to chase down Andy though? At present he's not a huge threat to them is he at 9 minutes back. It's only Nibali that needs to worry about him and those in 5-15 who still have podium and GC aspirations.
    http://www.atomicecho.com/cycling
  • Eurostar
    Eurostar Posts: 1,806
    The point I was trying to make is that the rider who said that CSC are merely aiming for the team prize has let the cat out of the bag that Sastre's team think he doesn't have a chance. Could it be that they have low expectations of Carlos because of the new clean regime?

    At Betfair he's the favourite to win today's stage - time to bet the life savings on him not doing it? :mrgreen:
    <hr>
    <h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>
  • ajohn9
    ajohn9 Posts: 260
    What were you saying Eurostar? :P hahaha
  • a_n_t
    a_n_t Posts: 2,011
    Eurostar wrote:
    he couldn't attack yesterday, so he won't be able to today.


    dont you just love hindsight? 8)
    Manchester wheelers

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  • OffTheBackAdam
    OffTheBackAdam Posts: 1,869
    Looks like they were boxing clever?
    Perhaps they had more faith in him than the Frank & Andy show.
    Remember that you are an Englishman and thus have won first prize in the lottery of life.
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    To be honest I think Sastre looked stronger than Frank even before today - when Frank was up the road Sastre did nothing but when Sastre was up the road the other day Frank did cover attacks from his group which helped Evans. The suprise today isn't that Sastre won but that Evans couldn't hold him to 30 seconds or so on the stage - that would have been perfect tactics if he'd had the legs.
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • ricadus
    ricadus Posts: 2,379
    Eurostar wrote:
    The point I was trying to make is that the rider who said that CSC are merely aiming for the team prize has let the cat out of the bag that Sastre's team think he doesn't have a chance. Could it be that they have low expectations of Carlos because of the new clean regime?

    Since Lance did the 'sickie' act on the Glandon/CdF in 2001 ahead of his awesome attack on the final climb we should always be wary of bluffs. I suspect Evans trusts no-one within 5 minutes of his time.
    Tour de France
  • Eurostar
    Eurostar Posts: 1,806
    Sportzchick ftw! Nobody took any notice of this thread this morning so I went to the Spoiler thread with my theory about CSC giving up on the GC because Sastre couldn't attack. This was her response:

    "dont believe a word - its a ploy to make Cadel complacent"

    And my reply was:

    !"That makes sense - Riis is such a pro that he wouldn't allow his riders or their Dads to give anything away. He's just sandbagging. Isn't that Sastre's best tactic these days? Didn't he do it on Hautacam the other day, causing Sean to launch into one of his "heh...you know" chortles?"

    I really enjoyed today - you've got to take your hat off to Riis. He knew months ago that Evans the diesel would be marking CSC's GC contender up the Alpe so he could finish him off in the TT. So he created a decoy, Frank, who even managed to get yellow before the Alpe. Perfect! Evans didn't realise that Carlos was the real CSC leader until he was 1m30 up the road.

    But Carlos has been the leader all along really...and he's had better odds for the GC than Frank. Bloody genius of Riis to give the impression that Carlos was having a bad year so he could sneak him in under the radar.
    <hr>
    <h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>
  • dirk_van_gently
    dirk_van_gently Posts: 826
    Well clearly they haven't lost confidence.
    If you see the candle as flame, the meal is already cooked.
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  • ricadus
    ricadus Posts: 2,379
    Like I said Evans probably probably trusts nobody/suspects everybody, but there's only a limited number of people he can mark when he can't also rely on back up from his team-mates on the endgame climbs.
    Tour de France
  • deltadawn
    deltadawn Posts: 168
    Eurostar wrote:
    So I'm thinking that they've given up on Sastre - he couldn't attack yesterday, so he won't be able to today.

    Ouch! Don't you just hate it when you go out on a limb.... and someone saws it off?

    :wink:

    Dawn

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