Tour de France stage 1 *spoilerific*

124

Comments

  • edhornby
    edhornby Posts: 1,780
    Mr 60% was aiming for his team to own yellow throughout the tour.... Cancellara has kept his part of the bargain

    one hell of a descent from Cancellara no doubting that
    "I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, how good is that"
    --Jens Voight
  • Quite Frankly
    Quite Frankly Posts: 386
    edited July 2009
    Armstrong finished 10th at 40 seconds down, 22 down on Berti. All four Astana leaders finished in the top 10.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Contador gets the job done again. I saw a lot of talk about him not being such a good time trialler, which I never really understood. Times are very tight though. Sastre didn't doo that great but then that wasn't surprising.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • le_patron
    le_patron Posts: 494
    Quite Frankly wrote:
    Armstrong finished 10th at 40 seconds down, 22 down on Berti. All four Astana leaders finished on the top 10.

    :lol::lol:
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,711
    Leipheimer is screwed. Evans has 7 seconds on him! :lol:
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Pleased for Cancellara although I was hoping Wiggins would get it. Great kit/bike combo for him. Contador looks so much better out of the horrible Astana colours.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • emadden
    emadden Posts: 2,431
    Berti CONtadope is in the polka dot
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  • Philip S
    Philip S Posts: 398
    What was the design on Cancellara's jersey? Looked like contour lines?
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Contador 00
    Kloden 03
    Evans 05
    Leiphemier 12
    Kreuziger 14
    Nibali 19
    Armstrong 21
    Van de Velde 39
    A. Schleck 42
    Sastre 47
    Rogers 54
    Gesink 56
    Menchov 1:13
    Pellizotti 1:15
    F. Schleck 1:18
    Kirchen 1:38 :shock:
  • emadden
    emadden Posts: 2,431
    Cancellara on France 2 just said that he will not win the Tour.... He is delighted to be in yellow and will ride hard for as long as he can.. He will do the best he can to defend...
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  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Wonder what was up with Kirchen. High Road seem to have come in with 3 GC men. Maybe they have decided that Monfort and/or Rogers is their man? I saw somewhere that Kirchen was expecting to come good in the last week.
  • emadden
    emadden Posts: 2,431
    Geez... I just heard CONtadope speak for the first time... He sounds exactly like Speedy Gonzales .... hahahaha
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  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Philip S wrote:
    What was the design on Cancellara's jersey? Looked like contour lines?

    Guessing it was probably to highlight his Olympic gold. He had gold bands on his shorts too... as well as the Swiss flags and rainbow bands on his sleeves.
  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291
    Odds (after TT)

    Cont 1.95
    Schl 8.4
    Arms 9.2
    Evans 9.8
    Sast 22
    Leip 34
    Menc 36
    Kreu 44
    Klod 48
    exercise.png
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Note to Brain Smith: Cavendish HAS finished the Giro, stop saying he hasn't

    He was 132nd: http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/giro08/?id=results/giro0821
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    I thought Andy Schleck looked good, considering this ain't his thing.

    Roman K looked ace. Cadel nice and solid. Bertie still the man to beat. Lets hope Vaughters has his guys keyed up to help defend the Bertster when it matters.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • Quite Frankly
    Quite Frankly Posts: 386
    Caisse had a bit of a mare, highest placed rider was Luis Pasamontes in 42nd place at 1.26 down.

    Arroyo and LL Sanchez both nearly 2 minutes down.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,485
    Winners today:

    Cancellara
    Contador
    Wiggins
    Evans
    Andy Schleck
    Carlos Sastre

    All of them did as well as or better than expected.

    Losers today:

    Armstrong
    Menchov
    Kirchen

    All of them did worse than expected.
  • Jez mon
    Jez mon Posts: 3,809
    I would say Armstrong did better than expected, I would have put him as an outside chance for top ten, but he managed it, Just.

    I would also put Roman Kreuziger firmly in the "winners" column.

    Astana as a team did annoyingly well, but in the end it wasn't a great surprise I suppose.

    Overall, today told us that Menchov might have a difficult time and reinforced Bertie's claim to be the favourite.
    You live and learn. At any rate, you live
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,485
    Armstrong was fourth of the four potential team leader candidates in Astana. That's not good if he hopes for the rest of the team to support him, especially in a stage that he would have won back in his prime.
  • Jez mon
    Jez mon Posts: 3,809
    Yea, but I don't know anyone who truly thought that Lance would be the team leader
    You live and learn. At any rate, you live
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,485
    Bar the man himself. :wink:
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,874
    armstrong looked a tad ordinary to me... its going to be hell for him he is going to take such a hiding
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    mididoctors wrote:
    armstrong looked a tad ordinary to me... its going to be hell for him he is going to take such a hiding


    I thought tenth want too bad actually and i think thats where he will probably end up in Paris
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    andyp wrote:
    Armstrong was fourth of the four potential team leader candidates in Astana. That's not good if he hopes for the rest of the team to support him, especially in a stage that he would have won back in his prime.

    But he is not in his prime now though so who really expected him to win or beat Cancellara and Berte et al ?
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    emadden wrote:
    Geez... I just heard CONtadope speak for the first time... He sounds exactly like Speedy Gonzales .... hahahaha

    Whats with all the childish name thing youve got going like lancey pansy and bertie contadope ? Id expect that from a primary 5 schoolkid.
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,874
    Moray Gub wrote:
    mididoctors wrote:
    armstrong looked a tad ordinary to me... its going to be hell for him he is going to take such a hiding


    I thought tenth want too bad actually and i think thats where he will probably end up in Paris

    maybe but i think he could fade badly... this tour is going to be very tough
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • BrianS
    BrianS Posts: 112
    RichN95 wrote:
    Note to Brain Smith: Cavendish HAS finished the Giro, stop saying he hasn't

    He was 132nd: http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/giro08/?id=results/giro0821

    Apologies...you are correct. :D
    www.braveheartfund.com
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    Moray Gub wrote:
    emadden wrote:
    Geez... I just heard CONtadope speak for the first time... He sounds exactly like Speedy Gonzales .... hahahaha

    Whats with all the childish name thing youve got going like lancey pansy and bertie contadope ? Id expect that from a primary 5 schoolkid.

    It could be who you're dealing with, although I'd put him at 3. I'd love to meet him. Knowing me I'm sure I'd walk away shaking my head and laughing.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,485
    Moray Gub wrote:
    andyp wrote:
    Armstrong was fourth of the four potential team leader candidates in Astana. That's not good if he hopes for the rest of the team to support him, especially in a stage that he would have won back in his prime.

    But he is not in his prime now though so who really expected him to win or beat Cancellara and Berte et al ?
    I didn't. But LA has spoken this week about the road deciding who should lead the team, which you could read as meaning he thinks he ought to.

    I think it's well documented that athletes who've been dominant in their field find it hard to cope with the diminishing effects of age so I don't think Armstrong is unique in this sense. His comments to John Wilcockson indicate he thinks he can win the Tour. That's looking like wishful thinking tonight, but a three week race always throws up surprises.

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