TdF Stage 17 *Spoilers*

AidanR

It looks suspiciously like their gloves to me...

Orleandrew

B0llocks to AC vs AS, Robbie McEwen is clearly the man of the day: http://yfrog.com/2tp5lp

8)

RichN95.

Orleandrew wrote:

B0llocks to AC vs AS, Robbie McEwen is clearly the man of the day: http://yfrog.com/2tp5lp

8)

He does that every year.

luckao

Bit of a meh stage. Wouldn't call it dull, wouldn't call it great.

Weird to see Contador matched when he did put in a big kick, although he seemed quite content for most of it. Reckon he could have put in a few more if he was obliged to.

As an aside, I've never seen as many nutters on one climb.

Abdoujaparov

Interesting stage, but what was Schleck playing at? Where were the attacks?! Trying to ride Contador of your wheel is a completely mental plan - it almost looked like he was trying to protect second!

That aside, intriguing stuff. Schleck (despite having crap tactics and not knowing how to change gear) has improved massively - chapeau.

Kléber

Abdoujaparov wrote:

Interesting stage, but what was Schleck playing at? Where were the attacks?! Trying to ride Contador of your wheel is a completely mental plan

So you're saying he should have attacked... but that riding him off his wheel was mental.

Think about it

Abdoujaparov

Kléber wrote:

Abdoujaparov wrote:

Interesting stage, but what was Schleck playing at? Where were the attacks?! Trying to ride Contador of your wheel is a completely mental plan

So you're saying he should have attacked... but that riding him off his wheel was mental.

Think about it

Huh?

Rather than setting a constant pace he should have varied it and put in more heavy digs.

Kléber

How do you know he rode at a constant pace/wattage?

Abdoujaparov

Kléber wrote:

How do you know he rode at a constant pace/wattage?

You could see he only attacked once - when he dropped everyone else. He raised the pace every now and then, but you could hardly call them attacks.

Kléber

Exactly, so he couldn't have gone any faster. It's incredibly difficult to lift the pace in the mountain. Especially since Contador is the more explosive rider, you are more likely to lose.

samiam

Kléber wrote:

Exactly, so he couldn't have gone any faster. It's incredibly difficult to lift the pace in the mountain. Especially since Contador is the more explosive rider, you are more likely to lose.

Yet he easily matched Contador's explosive attack in the last 5km.. Why didn't he continue to attack when Contador sat up?

Kléber

Why didn't he just put it in the big ring and ride up at 50km/h. Surely if he just turned his legs faster, he would have won!

:roll:

paulcuthbert

samiam wrote:

Kléber wrote:

Exactly, so he couldn't have gone any faster. It's incredibly difficult to lift the pace in the mountain. Especially since Contador is the more explosive rider, you are more likely to lose.

Yet he easily matched Contador's explosive attack in the last 5km.. Why didn't he continue to attack when Contador sat up?

Maybe he couldn't. Riding tempo up an HC isn't easy - maybe he had nothing left.

Still fantastic that he won the stage!

Abdoujaparov

samiam wrote:

Kléber wrote:

Exactly, so he couldn't have gone any faster. It's incredibly difficult to lift the pace in the mountain. Especially since Contador is the more explosive rider, you are more likely to lose.

Yet he easily matched Contador's explosive attack in the last 5km.. Why didn't he continue to attack when Contador sat up?

Probably because his legs were f*cked by Contador's attack, but the point is that before then he should have varied his pace - going slower at times to prepare for all-out efforts.

That might not have worked either, but you're far more likely to drop a rider (even Contador) by attacking than by letting them suck your wheel up the mountain.

AidanR

He did vary the pace a bit, and he did put in some attacks, but they weren't as viscious as Contador's because he isn't capable of that kind of explosiveness. Contador matched the attacks virtually instantly, which is why it didn't seem like Schleck was attacking.

paulcuthbert

Abdoujaparov wrote:

samiam wrote:

Kléber wrote:

Exactly, so he couldn't have gone any faster. It's incredibly difficult to lift the pace in the mountain. Especially since Contador is the more explosive rider, you are more likely to lose.

Yet he easily matched Contador's explosive attack in the last 5km.. Why didn't he continue to attack when Contador sat up?

Probably because his legs were f*cked by Contador's attack, but the point is that before then he should have varied his pace - going slower at times to prepare for all-out efforts.

That might not have worked either, but you're far more likely to drop a rider (even Contador) by attacking than by letting them suck your wheel up the mountain.

+1

Although Schleck is still in the running for the White jersey this year. He's at a level in his abilities already that a lot of riders don't reach until their late 20s or early 30s (if at all!) - and he's got there at 25. He's got a lot to learn, and probably today was another one of those learning days. He's still a young rider and will only improve over time and experience.

He's had his first yellow jersey and his first stage win this year. That'll give him a taste and he'll want more. He'll be back stronger and better (maybe even in the time trial!) in 2011.

I think it's super that Schleck and Contador are such good friends, despite being big rivals. I think it's only got to be a positive thing for the image of the sport, and a positive thing for racing in the years to come.

If he never wins the Tour, it'll be a shock.

Kléber

Andy Schleck's won a lot more aged 24 than Contador has.

paulcuthbert

24, and probably not yet at the peak of his powers. It's exciting. I was worried that with Armstrong's retirement that my interest in pro racing would dwindle - but having someone your age to follow now is fantastic.

I'm very excited for the next few years in pro bike racing!

mididoctors

Kléber wrote:

Why didn't he just put it in the big ring and ride up at 50km/h. Surely if he just turned his legs faster, he would have won!

:roll:

cos he would end up stuffing his chain changing ring.. ho ho

they are incredibly evenly matched in the hills

berties dig was that one big nasty super effort or what... after that bertie conceded the stage

if the tour is won by 30secs or less..never hear the end of it?

guess we will see these two battle it out next year..ho hum yet another year

stage needed the climbs more compacted together.. modified yesterdays stage backwards with 2 HC may have isolated the lead guys and encouraged the riders 5-15th place on GC to go for a ride..sastre gave it a go but just disintegrated between the mari blanc and the soulor

marie blanc>aubisque>tourmalet.. nasty

I thought bertie's boyish grabbing of andys cheek and wink didn't go down well with andy... some sort of dominant primate behaviour fail....




the west side of the tourmalet is a a nasty lump

mididoctors

I see petacchi was suffering finished behind the bus...

cervelo missed the chance here when he started going out the back on the Marie Blanc..?

BikingBernie

mididoctors wrote:

stage needed the climbs more compacted together.. modified yesterdays stage backwards with 2 HC may have isolated the lead guys and encouraged the riders 5-15th place on GC to go for a ride...

They would in all probability still ride tempo until the final 5 km of the final climb. The days of the climbers attacking on the first col of the day, or a rider like Merckx attacking alone with 140 km and three cols still to go are long over.

Kléber

Exactly. Teams are more organised, nutrition and sports science is better (no spectacular blow ups thanks to energy bars and heart rate monitors) and race radios allow the gaps to be monitored with precision.

chriskempton

BikingBernie wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

stage needed the climbs more compacted together.. modified yesterdays stage backwards with 2 HC may have isolated the lead guys and encouraged the riders 5-15th place on GC to go for a ride...

They would in all probability still ride tempo until the final 5 km of the final climb. The days of the climbers attacking on the first col of the day, or a rider like Merckx attacking alone with 140 km and three cols still to go are long over.

The riders do seem much more evenly matched than even a couple of years ago.

<cough>

iainf72

afx237vi wrote:

Personally I lost a bit of interest when it became obvious that Contador was in no danger of getting in trouble. And it became obvious fairly quickly.

Ditto. From about a minute after Schleck attacked you could see he was on the rivet and had nothing else. Contador was also on the rivet but he didn't really need to do anything else.

Dan Friebe was saying on the CN podcast that the Tour really needs to bring back time bonuses for winning a stage. Today may have played out slightly differently if there were some seconds to be had.

I think in this Tour there have been 3 or 4 interesting stages, but overall the racing ain't been great. The Tour is so big now and things like top 10 are important which seems to stop people taking risks. Aside from Sastre, I guess. But imagine is 1 in 20 of those kind of moves stuck, it would be pretty good.

Next year will be my 25th Tour de France. Here's hoping it's better than the last few.

kanto

iainf72 wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

Personally I lost a bit of interest when it became obvious that Contador was in no danger of getting in trouble. And it became obvious fairly quickly.

Ditto. From about a minute after Schleck attacked you could see he was on the rivet and had nothing else. Contador was also on the rivet but he didn't really need to do anything else.

Dan Friebe was saying on the CN podcast that the Tour really needs to bring back time bonuses for winning a stage. Today may have played out slightly differently if there were some seconds to be had.

I think in this Tour there have been 3 or 4 interesting stages, but overall the racing ain't been great. The Tour is so big now and things like top 10 are important which seems to stop people taking risks. Aside from Sastre, I guess. But imagine is 1 in 20 of those kind of moves stuck, it would be pretty good.

Next year will be my 25th Tour de France. Here's hoping it's better than the last few.

I agree with virtually everything you say here. Firstly, it is true that the tour has been eventful and lots of incidents have occurred to make drama, but the racing quality has not been great. If I'm being honest, I found the TDF really boring overall, and I'm a big fan of Contador, Sanchez, and several of the high placed riders. The Giro had riders doing well that I don't like, but there were so many interesting stages, and nicer racing going. If bonuses were brought back for stage wins and high positions it would make the racing a lot more interesting.

gabriel959

Kléber wrote:

Andy Schleck's won a lot more aged 24 than Contador has.

But Andy is not 24, is he? He is 25. Contador won his first Tour when he was 25.

On the whole I agree with you though, Andy has won more but lets not forget AC had the cavernoma in his brain age 22.

DaveyL

kanto wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

Personally I lost a bit of interest when it became obvious that Contador was in no danger of getting in trouble. And it became obvious fairly quickly.

Ditto. From about a minute after Schleck attacked you could see he was on the rivet and had nothing else. Contador was also on the rivet but he didn't really need to do anything else.

Dan Friebe was saying on the CN podcast that the Tour really needs to bring back time bonuses for winning a stage. Today may have played out slightly differently if there were some seconds to be had.

I think in this Tour there have been 3 or 4 interesting stages, but overall the racing ain't been great. The Tour is so big now and things like top 10 are important which seems to stop people taking risks. Aside from Sastre, I guess. But imagine is 1 in 20 of those kind of moves stuck, it would be pretty good.

Next year will be my 25th Tour de France. Here's hoping it's better than the last few.

I agree with virtually everything you say here. Firstly, it is true that the tour has been eventful and lots of incidents have occurred to make drama, but the racing quality has not been great. If I'm being honest, I found the TDF really boring overall, and I'm a big fan of Contador, Sanchez, and several of the high placed riders. The Giro had riders doing well that I don't like, but there were so many interesting stages, and nicer racing going. If bonuses were brought back for stage wins and high positions it would make the racing a lot more interesting.

Has anyone actually considered that, about 98% of the time, [whisper]bike racing isn't actually that interesting?[/whisper]

CyclingBantam

Pokerface wrote:

Wow. There's just no pleasing some people. And you can tell who on the forum has probably never ridden or raced a bike.

Some of the best racing I've seen for a while there. But the effort that takes is immense. Some people seem to think they can race at that pace for the entire Tour.

+1,000,000

This has been an excellent Tour and I can never see how people seem to think riders can just attack as if they are lazy for not doing so!

mididoctors

BikingBernie wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

stage needed the climbs more compacted together.. modified yesterdays stage backwards with 2 HC may have isolated the lead guys and encouraged the riders 5-15th place on GC to go for a ride...

They would in all probability still ride tempo until the final 5 km of the final climb. The days of the climbers attacking on the first col of the day, or a rider like Merckx attacking alone with 140 km and three cols still to go are long over.

yeah but last chance to shake up the GC and all that

stage 15 they had a go... nearly pulled it off

takethehighroad

I thought that was pretty good as far as bike racing goes. I guess that's how 'proper' football fans feel when they watch Spain play, it was the two best climbers in the world slugging it out at the pinnacle of their sport.



Made me think of this