Tour de France stage 15 *spoiler*

greasedscotsman

Doobz wrote:

lolled @ this

Quote of the day

Astana directeur sportif Giuseppe Martinelli in Bagnères de Luchon: "The most important thing for me is to have a clear conscience and I have that tonight. I didn't tell him to wait, that's for sure..."

and

Top Ten Gift Ideas For Andy Schleck's 26th Birthday*

*by Alberto Contador

1. A signed yellow jersey
2. A new groupset
3. A dream holiday to somewhere other than Curaçao
4. An apology
5. DVD highlights of stage 15 of the 2003 Tour de France, Bagnères de Bigorre - Luz-Ardiden
6. DVD highlights of stage 2 of the 2010 Tour de France, Brussels-Spa
7. The Lion King soundtrack, particularly track two - "I Just Can't Wait To Be King"
8. A bicycle repair manual
9. A new Spanish pen-pal
10. A dog-eared copy of "How To Lose Friends And Alienate People" by Toby Young

Think you should also add to that VHS highlights of stage 19 of the 1987 Tour de France, Valreas to Villard de Lans. (I say VHS as i doubt you'll get it on DVD...)

AidanR

I feel that list needs expanding.

11. A bear wearing an Alberto Contador mask

greasedscotsman

Oh dear, how am I going to explain this one to my workmates tomorrow. I had enough trouble with the head-butting thing

donrhummy

iainf72 wrote:

Imagine if Andy returned a + test.

The internetz would explode with irony.

Please don't jinx the TDF. :shock:

donrhummy

All I know:

I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE AN ANGRY ANDY SCHLECK!!!

Finally, perhaps we'll get some real attacking like we haven't seen since "The Look."

SpaceJunk

I am not sure if Andy has got what it takes to give a meaningful and emphatic "look".

His head just ain't right. He has so much overbite that he could eat an apple through a tennis racquet.

camerone

AidanR wrote:

I feel that list needs expanding.

11. A bear wearing an Alberto Contador mask

me too

12. a note of where he gets his rest day re-fills.
13. a copy of book- how to be a greasy c*nt

camerone

there is a You tube video of contador apologising to schleck for making a mistake. hopes they can still be friends. aww, isnt he a sweetie
and he still says he was attacking at the time. do cyclists see things the opposite to how they actually happened. alberto - news for you chap, schleck was the one attacking not you

moray_gub

deejay wrote:

Moray Gub wrote:

I should'nt really ask this as i already know the answer but do you just make things up as you go along or what even the more fervent AC fan knows rioghly or wrongly he was taking advantage of the mechanical not some pre planned attack.

I don't shovel pig swill either.
I've done most things related to cycle racing and sitting in Race Jury rooms being one of them.
There you study the evidence put to you and nothing I read here relates to what i saw on the screen.
I live on this Planet and not the one ole bighead inhabits in your dreamworld.

A guy fucks about one day and you think AC should take notice of his behaviour the next.
No track stands today and AC will admit he needed a team mate to launch the planed attack today.
Tell Saxo to buy decent equipment and fit it correctly but don't come here whinging about foul play.
Time for you to go to Specsavers or get a better TV because you certainly miss things.

You are the only one who thinks that was a pre planned attack even Ray Charles could see what went on today. Tell you what the jury room you are gibbering on about must be a hoot with your incoherent clown like ramblings ,i often wonder with you are you constantly pissed or what ?

moray_gub

camerone wrote:

there is a You tube video of contador apologising to schleck for making a mistake. hopes they can still be friends. aww, isnt he a sweetie
and he still says he was attacking at the time. do cyclists see things the opposite to how they actually happened. alberto - news for you chap, schleck was the one attacking not you

There are only two people in the world who thinks it was an attack and one of them posts in here, well when i say posts thats being kind to him as its generally an incoherent rambling diatribe.

rockmount

RichN95 wrote:

Pokerface wrote:

PM me your address. I'll send you a copy of the rulebook. Oh wait - I can't. It's unwritten. 8)

How do you know what the rules are then?

It's like shagging your mate's bird, you really don't need a book of rules to tell you shouldn't do it !

moray_gub

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

People are getting all excitable about this because it somehow makes this dirge of a race more interesting.

I think its the fact that AC saw AS had a mechanical and decided to exploit that full on and then he has compounded it by basically telling porkies. You can argue till your blue in the face the rights and wrongs but AC is coming across as a untruthful greasy toad here.

bearfraser

Ok so what did Schleck say to Contador ???????? :twisted:

Kléber

Moray Gub wrote:

AC saw AS had a mechanical and decided to exploit that full on

I don't think he did. He could have gone harder both uphill and downhill. He got lucky but I don't think he tried to maximise the situation.

I'm only guessing but once he heard over the radio that Schleck had been forced to stop then he probably eased up. It was Sanchez and Menchov doing the driving and you can't expect Contador to sit up and just wait.

If anything it shows up Saxo's weakness, they have nobody capable of staying with Andy Schleck in the mountains, he needed a team mate. A shame Franck crashed out perhaps.

greasedscotsman

OK, I think I've got it now, think I fully understand the "rules". But I'm now unsure why everyone (or all the points competition) contenders wait for Mark Cavendish on stage 1 when he crashed...

iainf72

Jaja, who I think was on the motorcycle at the time near them agrees with Kleber. He said Bert didn't press the advantage because if he did there would've been a much bigger gap.

Pross

I'm not sure about that, I think Andy was climbing more strongly so limited his losses on the climb, it opened back up on the descent when he was at a disadvantage especially as van den Broeck didn't start working until a long way down the hill. Can't really blame Menchov and Sanchez, they were behind Bertie at the time so when he kept going they had no choice other than to lose time to him. Had Bertie sat up I'm sure those two would have too. This could be the beginning of the end for etiquette in racing but then I suppose we have to move with the times!

Abdoujaparov

Kléber wrote:

Moray Gub wrote:

AC saw AS had a mechanical and decided to exploit that full on

If anything it shows up Saxo's weakness, they have nobody capable of staying with Andy Schleck in the mountains, he needed a team mate. A shame Franck crashed out perhaps.

Would have been good if saxo had one other rider near Andy, but over all I think they did a great job yesterday. They pushed a pace on the climb that put everyone on their limit, but not quite beyond it so when Andy attacked he could do it out of a large group making it much more difficult for Contador to mark him. Clever

marie blanc

Regardless of the elusive rule book, in hindsight, for his own interests, Contador should’ve waited, because he’s now expressed regret for not doing so and this whole incident will affect his morale. While Schleck will now be fuelled by righteous anger. AC is not an Hinault-type.

Those who hate Contador for not letting their idol win last year now feel they have the right to lay into him – what levels of vitriol!

Pokerface

greasedscotsman wrote:

OK, I think I've got it now, think I fully understand the "rules". But I'm now unsure why everyone (or all the points competition) contenders wait for Mark Cavendish on stage 1 when he crashed...

They didn't

knedlicky

All this stuff about ‘noble tradition of not taking advantage of another's misfortune’, ‘big No No to attack the Yellow Jersey when the rider has a crash or mechanical’, ‘unwritten rule in the peloton that you did not capitalise on someone else's crash or mechanical’, “etiquette’, etc, is nonsense.
It’s a race and all competitors have to take it how it comes, including rivals taking advantage when they can.

It’s wrong to say ‘the players of TDF used to have a gamesmanship not found in other sports’, this approach never really existed in past decades, at least to the extent that some people now believe.
Merckx didn’t wait for Ocana when he punctured, Thevenet for Merckx when he was attacked by a spectator, Zoetemelk for Hinault when he punctured, Roche for Bernard when he punctured, Chiappucci for Lemond when he punctured, etc.

The idea of waiting only really took over during the Armstrong years, when on the one hand LA almost demanded it from others or, in order to appear magnanimous, granted it to certain others (but only in hypocritical fashion, i.e. not to all rivals), while on the other hand the media played up this notion to suggest the sport still had some ideals despite doping scandals.

Those who should know best, ex-riders Hinault, Bernard, Jalabert and Bruyneel, have all stated what Contador did is quite legitimate.
One of them also pointed out that if people expected Contador to wait, where do you draw the line, because Menchov and Sanchez would have heard through their earpieces what had happened.

skavanagh.bikeradar

Sh!t happens. Today it happened to Andy Schleck.

I was willing Schleck to climb back to withing striking distance and to close the gap on the descent to keep things interesting but he couldn't do it. Mostly I was annoyed that he's faffed about for so long to take it to Contador when the onus is on him to do so as his ITT is weaker than Contador's. The track standing the other day was ridiculous.

"This is Andy. Andy had a mishap on his bike today and lost some seconds to his main rival in a race. HTFU Andy!".

mea00csf

those saying AC should have waited, how many attempts should he have given AS to get his chain back on, i counted it took 3......that's just inept.

The unwritten rules have made the whole race so contrived, in trying to make it all completely "fair" it's so skewed that it's just beyond comprehension.

Look at biathlon as an example, tons of sportsmanship, but if the gun jams it's just tough luck and one of those things, and it's none the worst for it.

pollys_bott

If I may play Devil's advocate for a moment, I'm quite bemused and amused by 14-odd pages of hand-wringing over an incident which may or may not be covered by theoretical unwritten rules in a sport where the main protagonists have for years blatantly broken actual written rules

deejay

Moray Gub wrote:

deejay wrote:

Time for you to go to Specsavers or get a better TV because you certainly miss things.

You are the only one who thinks that was a pre planned attack even Ray Charles could see what went on today. Tell you what the jury room you are gibbering on about must be a hoot with your incoherent clown like ramblings ,i often wonder with you are you constantly pissed or what ?

Nope, no whisky down here and no goats either.

The original post was to give an alternate view about the possibilities but No, your so full of pig shite to allow reasonable thoughts for a balanced debate.
that ain't my problem dummy that you think you are always right.

Yes OK he saw him and said feck you, and was gone.
OK now. ?