Vande Velde!!

donrhummy
donrhummy Posts: 2,329
edited July 2008 in Pro race
He lost 2 minutes 36 seconds on that crash during the descent. Without that, he'd be in 2nd place!! He's 3:12 back now and without the lost time, he'd be only 36 seconds back of Sastre!!

Comments

  • jonginge
    jonginge Posts: 5,945
    True. He's had a storming tour.

    Similarly, Menchov lost a minute or so in various silly ways...
    Kohl lost time on Super Besse crashing into his team-mate...
    Things may have been different if Valverde hadn't unhitched just before the top of the Tourmalet... (still has a mental block on long TTs, though)

    That's the tour baby!
    FCN 2-4 "Shut up legs", Jens Voigt
    Planet-x Scott
    Rides
  • ms_tree
    ms_tree Posts: 1,405
    As they say in football commentary 'If it had been in the net it would have been a goal'. Life is full of 'if's'!!!! :)
    'Google can bring back a hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.'
    Neil Gaiman
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    donrhummy wrote:
    He lost 2 minutes 36 seconds on that crash during the descent. Without that, he'd be in 2nd place!! He's 3:12 back now and without the lost time, he'd be only 36 seconds back of Sastre!!

    Hm, if Menchov hadnt accidentally got caught behind that crash on stage 3 etc or had a freak crash going uphill...

    IIRC Vandevelde was dropped on the climb before so he didnt lose all the time because of the crash. I dont know what he gap was over the top of the climb - i did see someone say 25 seconds but i have no idea where they got that from. This may mean that without a crash he would have come 4th overall. Still, an outstanding performance.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    If Andy Schleck had eaten a few bananas or gels on the descent of the Tourmalet, he could have won.

    Everyone has their share of bad luck but often riders need to be in a position where they avoid bad luck. Menchov got rumbled on Stage 3, where unthinkably a Dutch team were caught out by a crosswind. Vande Velde lost time on the Bonnette and maybe he crashed going down because he was trying too hard to recover time.
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    Cumulonimbus wrote:
    donrhummy wrote:
    He lost 2 minutes 36 seconds on that crash during the descent. Without that, he'd be in 2nd place!! He's 3:12 back now and without the lost time, he'd be only 36 seconds back of Sastre!!

    Hm, if Menchov hadnt accidentally got caught behind that crash on stage 3 etc or had a freak crash going uphill...

    IIRC Vandevelde was dropped on the climb before so he didnt lose all the time because of the crash. I dont know what he gap was over the top of the climb - i did see someone say 25 seconds but i have no idea where they got that from. This may mean that without a crash he would have come 4th overall. Still, an outstanding performance.

    The gap was 35 seconds but he'd already pulled back part of that when the crash occurred.

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