Tour de France stage 15 *spoiler*

bipedal

Contador better hope he doesn't have any mechanicals / crashes in the coming mountain stages because he can forget about any gentlemanly waiting around from Saxo

sherer

donrhummy wrote:

sherer wrote:

someone posted that AS said he would have attacked if this was in reverse.

Not good that AC said he didn't realise, I felt AC had another big attack in him but kept looking round and not sure whether to wait or not so clearly knew what was happening.

No, Andy said he would NOT have attacked if it was the reverse.

yep you are right. Must take some reading lessons tonight

gabriel959

bipedal wrote:

Contador better hope he doesn't have any mechanicals / crashes in the coming mountain stages because he can forget about any gentlemanly waiting around from Saxo

Like in the pave?!?

psiturbo

At least AC cannot say I dropped him and he was no match for me!

It would be awesome if AC would say "This stage win clearly shows I am number 1"

mea00csf

I don't get it, it apears pro cycling can only happen in a sterile little bubble, any kind of outside influence must be negated by a go slow or a reorgansiation of the peleton.....

Why not just not bother holding the race, and just award it to whoever maxes out their power to weight ratio that year in laboratory......

Incidents happen to everyone, and surely, throughout a 3 week tour everyone will have their share of good and bad luck so why try and neutralise everything that happens.

To an outsider, it appears that the only thing that matters in this race is how well you can get up mountains, not bike handling, not bike setup, not where you choose to ride in the peleton (the disadvantage of being at the front versus the risk of being further back and getting caught behind a crash), not gear selection (even i know that turning a high gear means you're more likely to have problems with gear changes and i'm rubbish....)

I say just get on with the race and stop trying to even out every little thing......

eh

Someone should present Schleck with one of these:

plectrum

mea00csf

Respect the peleton, respect the individual.

Contador was bang out of order today as was Sanchez and Denis.

afx237vi

IMO, the pavé stage was different. On a stage like that, people expect crashes and mechanicals there's an unspoken agreement to race on when they happen. Especially this year after the truce the day before.

Plus it's obviously a much bigger group and different teams are racing for different objectives. Try telling Hushovd to wait for a GC rider two days in a row.

On a mountain stage, when it's man against man, they're all racing for the same thing. The rules are different.

Bakunin

SpaceJunk wrote:

It's disgusting.

Menchov and Sammy S are dirty rats too! Armstrong WAS right about AC.

I hope AC falls off his bike tomorrow and gets bitten on the bum for it.

AC might end up winning the Tour, but the cycling community knows who the moral victor is.

Actually I hope Schleck smashes the cheating little runt on the tourmalet, grabs 2 mins and holds on in the ITT, then sign up for Lance's team just so the Hog and LA can torment him forever.

Wow -- this is one of the dumbest posts I've read in a long time.

He dropped his chain -- sh!t happens.

mididoctors

afx237vi wrote:

IMO, the pavé stage was different. On a stage like that, people expect crashes and mechanicals there's an unspoken agreement to race on when they happen. Especially this year after the truce the day before.

Plus it's obviously a much bigger group and different teams are racing for different objectives. Try telling Hushovd to wait for a GC rider two days in a row.

On a mountain stage, when it's man against man, they're all racing for the same thing. The rules are different.

thor is probably going to lose the green because of Saxo neutralising the stage...

so what comes around.. not saying i think bertie digging in when andy's chain stuffed up was exactly appropriate...

Pokerface

Yes, it's a race. Yes, mechanicals happen. But there used to be some sort of respect between riders at the top - and there used to be a bit of respect for the Yellow Jersey.

I guess what stinks about the whole thing is that Contador doesn't really NEED to take advantage of Andy in this way. As a True Champion™ he should be able to easily beat him on the road - and not in this way.

I personally would have had a HUGE amount of respect for Contador if had waited for Andy in this instance. Not that he cares what I think.

gabriel959

Contador comments for Marca:

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate ... auto&tl=en

drewfromrisca

Ok can someone clarify - did he drop his chain whilst changing gear or was it because of the bump that he seemed to kick up over knocking the chain off?

dg74

I've said elsewhere - bad form from AC.

gabriel959

drewfromrisca wrote:

Ok can someone clarify - did he drop his chain whilst changing gear or was it because of the bump that he seemed to kick up over knocking the chain off?

Changing gear by what I saw.

I also think Contador lied about no seeing the mechanical.

sherer

a rider with the ability of AC should have waited to battle it out man against man not man against rider fixing his chain.

ShaunL

Schleck was unforetunate in two ways to get a mechanical and then have to try and chase down a descent with only one person to help seeing as Vino wouldn't in any way.

Still plenty of chances and plenty of action to come.

RichN95.

drewfromrisca wrote:

Ok can someone clarify - did he drop his chain whilst changing gear or was it because of the bump that he seemed to kick up over knocking the chain off?

The bump was caused by the chain, not vice vera.

blazing_saddles

So, Contador wins the MJ at huge cost to his public image.
Meanwhile, Menchov and Sanchez get a free ride through all the
fallout and move nicely up the GC standings and onto Andy's heels.

drewfromrisca

Ah ok cheers guys. Just looking at it on youtube.

Kléber

Contador wasn't doing much work on the descent, he seemed embarassed about it all.

GeorgeShaw

gabriel959 wrote:

Contador comments for Marca:

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate ... auto&tl=en

I had started before anything happen to him Andy

So much so that he was 10 metres behind Andy.

neilmacd

gabriel959 wrote:

drewfromrisca wrote:

Ok can someone clarify - did he drop his chain whilst changing gear or was it because of the bump that he seemed to kick up over knocking the chain off?

Changing gear by what I saw.

I also think Contador lied about no seeing the mechanical.

Definitely his face in the post stage interview said a thousand words.
Lying little sh1t if you ask me and definitely has no sporting morals.

When Armstrong crashed in the Pyrenees after hooking a musette Ulrich & Mayo waited, umpteen other times down the years that similar things have happened and the unwritten rule is not ot attack the yellow jersey.
Contador's actions today are the equivalent of diving to win a penalty in a football match or eye gouging in Rugby. Neither have any place in sport.

Contador has shown that he isn't in top form and his comment of I was going to attack a km earlier doesn't really hold much water. If he was feeling that good why didn't he attack then?

Super Domestique

Pokerface wrote:

Yes, it's a race. Yes, mechanicals happen. But there used to be some sort of respect between riders at the top - and there used to be a bit of respect for the Yellow Jersey.

I guess what stinks about the whole thing is that Contador doesn't really NEED to take advantage of Andy in this way. As a True Champion™ he should be able to easily beat him on the road - and not in this way.

I personally would have had a HUGE amount of respect for Contador if had waited for Andy in this instance. Not that he cares what I think.

That sir sums up what I feel on the matter. Although I would add that booing AC on the podium when he collected the YJ was a tad unsporting also by those in the crowd. (or was it just the Saxo Bank team bus )

smithy21

What is Contador trying to suggest? That he was not aware of what had happened?

So in Contadors mind Andy attacks and then suddenly blows up?? Hardly likely bearing in mind his tour performance so far.

Even if he was initially unaware his DS would have told him what had happened.

I'm not buying the pave argument either. I may have missed it but I didnt hear many complaints at the time.

RichN95.

neilmacd wrote:

Contador's actions today are the equivalent of diving to win a penalty in a football match or eye gouging in Rugby. Neither have any place in sport.

They're not the equivalent at all. In neither of those situations has the opponent done anything wrong. Schleck dropping his chain is his own fault. It's not bad luck, it's bad gearing shifting

Pokerface

GeorgeShaw wrote:

gabriel959 wrote:

Contador comments for Marca:

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate ... auto&tl=en

I had started before anything happen to him Andy

So much so that he was 10 metres behind Andy.

The moment of truth:

FransJacques

We say "huge cost" now but if a few years (if AC indeed wins) it will be an "incident" like the kid's musette to LA when frankly no one *really* waited but at least they didn't attack.

Someone talked about "respect" at the top of the sport but from almost 30 years of watching TdFs it's mainly respect for the Mellow Johnny. Hinualt got a fair dose when he fell while wearing it. Lance showed respect to the small french guy on Bonjour when he had it a few years back.

I missed it as I was in a bloody meeting but am waiting for the replay tonight. Then I'll have more of an opinion. I knew when I saw Renshaw it was wrong and the commissaires seemed to agree, will see this one on the re-run and see if AC noticed it or not.

Bakunin

No one stopped in a small group when Alberto got a flat in a mountain stage in 2007, probably costing him the stage.

If I remember right he banged his bars and then raced the next day.

Nine seconds does not ruin the Tour -- people need to take a breath.

Contador did not deserve to be booed.

AidanR

I think comparing this to stages 2 and 3 is a bit of a red herring - stage 2 was a complete anomaly where spilt oil brought down over half the peleton, and stage 3 was always going to cause splits in the field, so the onus was on the GC contenders to be well placed.

There is a noble tradition of not taking advantage of another's misfortune in the TdF... heck, even Armstrong abided by that!