Tour De France 2011 - The Commuters Spolier Thread

Clever Pun

JZed wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

so to summarise: Waaaa I don't like downhills

WTF is wrong with the guy - I love downhills, its the only bit I'm relatively good at.

gravity isn't his friend like it is ours

Mark Bom

Maybe Andy Schleck can tell next years Tour route planners where HE wants to race?!

That way he might be able to actually do some racing without moaning!

The man could've given Contador a beating before the rest day, but chose to 'goal hang' and seemed scared to make any balls out decision to do something. For his lack of boll0cks I hope his Tour is over!

Ideally, Voeckler will hang in there and take the win, but I think Evans will clinch it. I'm hoping that he's going to be aggressive though and fight with Contador to take the jersey in Paris.

chilling

If AS get's to choose the route can you imagine the uphill sprint finishes he'd choose.

Cav would need a team of mountain goats as his lead out train.

cjcp

Great comments on Eurosport from Kelly and Harmon abt this just now.

t4tomo

Is Andy Schmuck going to ride for Frank Schmuck now given that his legs have gone? I can't see either of them having the wherewithall to get enough of a lead to make up for their lack of time trialling ability.

Wiggins must be gutted he crashed out, This race is there for the taking of anyone prepared to attack. That may be Evans' undoing as he seems to favour riding defensively, rarely happy to test out the others.

jonginge

http://twitter.com/#%21/Chris_Boardman/ ... 4165783554

Chris_Boardman wrote:

Rode down the final descent today. Steepest yet, very twisty under trees. Good surface but super technical, can't see it staying together...

mwah-ha-ha-ha

Specialized Needs

Kieran_Burns wrote:

...and Evans looks like he's got his helmet straps on so tight it's pulled his head in. His chin appears to grow out of the lid... it's plain scary.

I have no reason to dislike Cadel Evans. However, it was bugging me that he reminded me of someone when wearing his helmet.

I just realised who:

jzed

Here we go - looks like they're climbing Whitedown.

cjcp

Harmon's on fire

suzyb

Am I the only one scared just watching that descent :oops:

Still 4 wins by the Norwegians and there are only 2 of them in the race

cjcp

Come on, Tommy.

cjcp

HURRAH!!!! 'ave it, Bertie!!!

jzed

Where'd the Schlecks come from?

DonDaddyD

Like or not Contador played a blinder and in doing so he taught A Schleck a lesson.

Instead of doing what was expected, attacking on a climb, he attacked Schleck's weakness going downhill. Love it.

And A Schleck's lesson? Don't moan and reveal your weaknesses to the opposition so blatantly.

Feel sorry for the guy in the yellow jersey (can't spell his name) going into a car park like that.

Not sure about Contador and Sanchez helping each out like that. They're on seperate teams.

Well done Ed!

Edit How the hell did Schleck's group catch Contador! Shuts me up a bit, damn Schlecks.

EKE_38BPM

DonDaddyD wrote:

Feel sorry for the guy in the yellow jersey (can't spell his name)

Err, Thomas. Yeah, that'll do.

cjcp

DonDaddyD wrote:

Not sure about Contador and Sanchez helping each out like that. They're on seperate teams.

They're Spanish. Sanchez is aiming for podium, and in that situation, you either help each or you both lose out.

ketsbaia

Wonderful, wonderful Boassen Hagen...

tailwindhome

suzyb wrote:

Am I the only one scared just watching that descent :oops:

Still 4 wins by the Norwegians and there are only 2 of them in the race

And a week in yellow...

tailwindhome

Anybody watching it live know what happened Roche?

DonDaddyD

TailWindHome wrote:

Anybody watching it live know what happened Roche?

He came in ahead of the Contador group I think. Did well.

tailwindhome

Overall Standings

1. VOECKLER Thomas 181 TEAM EUROPCAR 73h 23' 49"
2. EVANS Cadel 141 BMC RACING TEAM 73h 25' 07" + 01' 18"
3. SCHLECK Frank 18 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 73h 25' 11" + 01' 22"
4. SCHLECK Andy 11 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 73h 26' 25" + 02' 36"
5. SANCHEZ Samuel 21 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 73h 26' 48" + 02' 59"
6. CONTADOR Alberto 1 SAXO BANK SUNGARD 73h 27' 04" + 03' 15"
7. CUNEGO Damiano 161 LAMPRE - ISD 73h 27' 23" + 03' 34"
8. BASSO Ivan 91 LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 73h 27' 38" + 03' 49"
9. DANIELSON Tom 52 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 73h 29' 53" + 06' 04"
10. URAN Rigoberto 118 SKY PROCYCLING 73h 31' 25" + 07' 36"


Evans has to be favourite now......

spen666

suzyb wrote:

Am I the only one scared just watching that descent :oops:

Still 4 wins by the Norwegians and there are only 2 of them in the race

Compared to is it 4this year by the Manx men and there is only 1 of them in the race

norway population 5 million = 4 wins = 1.25 million people per win

iom population 80,000 = 4 wins =20,000 people per win

clearly the iom are over represented and in the interests of equaslity and diversity we should be having positive discrimination in favour of other nations.

jonginge

DonDaddyD wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Anybody watching it live know what happened Roche?

He came in ahead of the Contador group I think. Did well.

Only gained 26s in the end. Shame as it was a bold move.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-fran ... 17/results

jzed

Roll on tomorrow, col agnel, Izoard, Galibier

suzyb

spen666 wrote:

suzyb wrote:

Am I the only one scared just watching that descent :oops:

Still 4 wins by the Norwegians and there are only 2 of them in the race

Compared to is it 4this year by the Manx men and there is only 1 of them in the race

norway population 5 million = 4 wins = 1.25 million people per win

iom population 80,000 = 4 wins =20,000 people per win

clearly the iom are over represented and in the interests of equaslity and diversity we should be having positive discrimination in favour of other nations.

Yes but the Manx man's stage wins were team assisted for almost all of the stage. The Norwegian's wins were only assisted for a large part of the stage.

And if I were any good at maths I would work out how factoring in that assistance alters your figures.

tailwindhome

It's time.

Get your predictions in.


I predict TWH spends all day resisting the temptation to follow online then cracks about 4pm and has a sneaky peek.

This is coming down to a tag team effort Evans, Bertie, Sanchez on one side and the Schelcks on the other.

BMC and Leopard to keep the pace high for the first 2 climb, softening up the peleton leaving an elite group on the Izoard. Evans and Bertie will go mental on the descent to rattle the Schlecks but the 'heads of state'TM will be together at the foot of the Galiber.

The onus is on Bertie to attack, which he will. I think Evans will possibly stick with the Sclecks and let him go rather than risk a complete blow up on the climb and ride steady to minimise time losses believing he has enough in hand to beat Bertie in the Time Trial.

Sanchez is the wild card here


Or they'll all ride up together in the most over hyped sportive ever

rick_chasey

Depends on which way the wind blows...

suzyb

I predict suzyb will get back with lunch just in time for the start of the live coverage and end up getting no work done at all this afternoon.

I love how the mountain stages of the tour fit in perfectly with me working from home.

As for the actual race, I'm going with this

Or they'll all ride up together in the most over hyped sportive ever

edhornby

here's a thought, Bertie and Sanchez have been riding together for the past week but they are 15secs apart on different teams, at some point they will have to attack each other - because bertie is the better TTer the ball is in sanchez's court

if they are up the road today with no-one else in tow they will start duelling, but what if cuddles is on their wheel again?

DonDaddyD

Questions:

I still don't understand how Schleck's group was able to catch up with Contador - is he that slow and just a really good climber. Explain how Schleck's group managed to catchup?

What does the Mavic car with the Mavic branded bikes do?

Is Thomas Voeckler clean? No one has mentioned or given a whiff to any doping, while refreshing... really!?