The Tour articles begin

iainf72
iainf72 Posts: 15,784
edited June 2010 in Pro race
Rupert tweeted he'd been writing some stuff for the Tour

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/hop ... -z9qs.html

Bert's not a bad descender, is he? I know he's a journalist who sides with Armstrong, but based on what we've seen over the last 2 years, a fast nervous descent is not going to un nerve Bertie that much, is it? The Schlecks, Basso, Armstrong, Gesink will all be worse on it, no?
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.

Comments

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,623
    Does anyone seriously expect Armstrong to be close enough to Contador at the summit to even catch him on the descent?
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    Armstrong of old would have been the best descender among those guys but since he's come back Lance's reaction times have been pretty poor (I believe leading to most of his crashes) and he's been more timid going downhill.

    I would say from watching him that Contador's a fine descender but nothing special whereas Basso sucks big time. The odd one to me is Evans. He's OK but he should be amazing having been a mountain biker for 7 years.
  • bigmat
    bigmat Posts: 5,134
    donrhummy wrote:
    The odd one to me is Evans. He's OK but he should be amazing having been a mountain biker for 7 years.

    This always confuses me - surely descending on an MTB and road descending are completely different disciplines? Look at Chicken for another example of the less than impressive bike handling skills coming from the MTB world.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/41991871@N ... otostream/
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    I reckon we should have a descend of between Arroyo, Chinny, Moreau and Nibs to see who the best descender is. Give an Il Falco trophy to the winner.

    Armstrong is a solid descender, but nothing spectacular. He's better than the likes of Basso. I'd probably catch Basso going downhill.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    Timoid. wrote:
    I reckon we should have a descend of between Arroyo, Chinny, Moreau and Nibs to see who the best descender is. Give an Il Falco trophy to the winner.

    Armstrong is a solid descender, but nothing spectacular. He's better than the likes of Basso. I'd probably catch Basso going downhill.

    he's just scared of crashing pre TDF , come the crunch stages what has he to lose by risking it all?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBacb2V ... ata_player
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,841
    Didn't the Port de Bales feature on the first Tour that Bert won?
  • Philip S
    Philip S Posts: 398
    TakeTheHighRoad wrote:
    Didn't the Port de Bales feature on the first Tour that Bert won?
    Yes - on the stage to Loudenvielle, where Vino had that "remarkable" win... We walked up to the Port de Bales to watch the race - fantastic climb & views. Pretty sure it's another one of those Pyrenees roads that wouldn't exist if it weren't for the TdF.

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