Stage 16 *spoiler*

cogidubnus

What a unexpected brilliant stage. Thanks Bertie for bringing the tour to life Love or loathe him he knows how to light up a race. Andy Schleck must be regretting his complete tactical naivety in the Pyrenees, not seen his interview but he needs to grow some balls if he is complaining about the descent.

Really impressed with Evans form, will be interesting to see how he climbs the next few days but looking good for the TT.

Anyone got any photo's of AS today

frenchfighter

Remove Stage 1 crash and break by Voeckler. Very tight. Borderline ridiculously tight given how far into the race we are.

GC after stage 16

1 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
2 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:00:04
3 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:21
4 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:00:37
5 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:01:18
6 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:02:05

AND check the TTT results.

Stage 2 results
1 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 24:48
2 BMC RACING TEAM 24:53 + 00:04
3 SKY PROCYCLING 24:53 + 00:04
4 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 24:53 + 00:05
5 HTC - HIGHROAD 24:54 + 00:05
6 TEAM RADIOSHACK 24:59 + 00:10
7 RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 25:00 + 00:12
8 SAXO BANK SUNGARD 25:16 + 00:28
9 PRO TEAM ASTANA 25:20 + 00:32
10 OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 25:28 + 00:39
11 FDJ 25:34 + 00:46
12 TEAM EUROPCAR 25:38 + 00:50
13 AG2R LA MONDIALE 25:42 + 00:53
14 QUICK STEP CYCLING TEAM 25:45 + 00:56
15 LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 25:46 + 00:57
16 SAUR-SOJASUN 25:50 + 01:02
17 LAMPRE - ISD 25:53 + 01:04
18 KATUSHA TEAM 25:53 + 01:04
19 MOVISTAR TEAM 25:58 + 01:09
20 VACANSOLEIL-DCM 26:03 + 01:15
21 COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 26:08 + 01:20
22 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 26:10 + 01:22

cogidubnus

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frenchfighter

Wow. Shame he hasnt been ok.

Tusher

Could someone please slap Schlecklet? Girning like a wean that the finish was on a descent.
Glad to see Boardman putting him right- "Well, that's racing".

He's have to look the word up in a dictionary.

inkyfingers

That was more like it. I can't believe how Andy Schleck just blew up on that climb, and once he was off the back he had no chance on the descent. Big respect to Contador for having a go and for Evans trying to gain some time on the descent...lucky that Contador had Sanchez to help him pull Evans back or I think his loss would have been more like 10-20 seconds.

EBH rode that sprint really well at first, not trying to jump onto Hesjedals wheel, then he seemed to switch off for a moment while Thor attacked..frankly a schoolboy error. Think he would have won that if he'd been more alert. Lucky he already has a stage win in the bag I guess.

frenchfighter

Here you go Cog : )

Getty

steviedonut

Luckao wrote:

Dorset Boy wrote:

A Scklek just been whinging - done himself no favours at all today claiming the descent was too dangerous :roll: .

What about the ascent? Too wet?

He should have sent Canc to the front to neutralise the stage.

you said it before i did,wheres spartacus when you need him,eh?
seriously,AS really does come across as a pitiful whinger,he can bleat on about how only he and frank attacks(bollocks) but if he does win the tdf this year(which i doubt) its all down to some stupid idiot on stage one as opposed to any brilliance on his part,unless he has a really impressive time in the alps

cogidubnus

frenchfighter wrote:

Here you go Cog : )

Getty


That one captures them perfectly.

Cheers FF

clanton

Sound slike its been a hell of a day. Missed it due to work - will there be highlights on ITVplayer tonight? What time?

FJS

Cogidubnus wrote:

What a unexpected brilliant stage. Thanks Bertie for bringing the tour to life Love or loathe him he knows how to light up a race. Andy Schleck must be regretting his complete tactical naivety in the Pyrenees, not seen his interview but he needs to grow some balls if he is complaining about the descent.

http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/Tour/110719_TDF_Reactie_Favorieten#

luckao

clanton wrote:

Sound slike its been a hell of a day. Missed it due to work - will there be highlights on ITVplayer tonight? What time?

Not sure about the player. They'll be on ITV4 at 7pm.

stokepa31

just seen the interview. What a plank. that was exactly what we wanted to see. Racers making the best of a difficult technical downhill finish to punish riders that have no all round ability. He really is in another world. Hope its raining tomorrow and he takes another packet

cogidubnus

Cheers FJS

eh

Watched it also what a donkey, maybe the TDF could build a roof over the descent

cogidubnus

I really don't what planet he is on. We the fans want to see the worlds best cyclists mixing it over a wide range of terrain and disciplines.

This isnt the Tour of many mountain finishes so AS can win.

luckao

When your main rivals have no qualms about launching themselves down a fast descent, it says more about your mindset than the responsibility of the organisers. Nothing like airing your weaknesses to your rivals. Cadel must be thinking he'll throw himself down the mountains in the next few stages.

Mac9

I like Andy Schleck but that post race inteview was a real case of sour grapes.

He whinged like a spoilt child and came across as bitter. "Most fans would agree with me that they don't want to see dangerous descents like that, it's not racing". Right, if the finish isn't at the top of a 100km 9% incline climb then its not racing?

He sounds like a skillful footballer moaning that defenders shouldn't be allowed to slide tackle, or a batsman - a flat track bully - moaning that the pitch was too green and took too much spin. That's the way it goes, Andy!

Roll on the Alps!

cogidubnus

Pretty much sums up his thoughts on today

andyxm

Imagine... making the riders go downhill as well as uphill. Who would have expected that?

sing_for_absolution

andyxm wrote:

Imagine... making the riders go downhill as well as uphill. Who would have expected that?

I know. Didn't someone tell Andy Schleck this when he first started riding? :shock:

I think I enjoy the descents as much as the ascents up the final climb or a HC. Total respect for them riding down at high speed. Not so much respect when they're in 'throw toys out of pram' mode.

You never see an F1 driver blame the circuit if he's slow on it.

Gazzetta67

Mac9 wrote:

I like Andy Schleck but that post race inteview was a real case of sour grapes.

He whinged like a spoilt child and came across as bitter. "Most fans would agree with me that they don't want to see dangerous descents like that, it's not racing". Right, if the finish isn't at the top of a 100km 9% incline climb then its not racing?

He sounds like a skillful footballer moaning that defenders shouldn't be allowed to slide tackle, or a batsman - a flat track bully - moaning that the pitch was too green and took too much spin. That's the way it goes, Andy!

Roll on the Alps!

I notice how the schlecks never said anything like this when Contador lost over 1min30 on the 1st stage.

Serve's those 2 poosies right for arsing about in the pyrenees thos as Sean Kelly said could they attack as they were more prob at their limit.

Imagine the rain having the audacity to come down on the course today - No Cancellara today to help them all to slow down...Oh what a big shame

ddraver

It's hard to be a Schleck Fan today...

GO CADEL!!!

iainf72

A good tweet.


dnlbenson Perhaps to understand A Schleck's post-race reaction you need to remember what happened to his teammate at the Giro #tdf

Pross

What a complete tool Andy is. When he had the chance to test Bertie in the Pyrenees he wasted it. Today Bertie showed how it should be done and Andy claims it is down to a dangerous parcours! I'm surprised he didn't get Canc to neutralize it. I think the Schlecks are the only favourites to avoid the crashes so far and yet he is the one complaining about danger.

I said this last year but I think these medium mountain stages are the way to go to get attacking racing as the peloton apparently gets cleaner. Great day for Norway!

andyrac

Well Cadel and Bertie now know what to do - descend like demons tomorrow and try to put even more time into the Schleks. Unless, the pair of them attack on the climb - but I'd still fancy them to be caught coming down.
They had their chance in the Pyrenees when Bertie was less than 100% - and didn't take it. Fortune favours the bold - hence their lack of GT's.

ddraver

^^Get as much of the gap over the top while putting in the least amount of energy then drop like a stone into the valley. S'what I'd do (and clearly I'm an expert!!)

TMR

I am not uncaring about Wouter, but FFS! Man up AS

afx237vi

iainf72 wrote:

A good tweet.


dnlbenson Perhaps to understand A Schleck's post-race reaction you need to remember what happened to his teammate at the Giro #tdf

I doubt any of the pro peloton will ever forget what happened to Weylandt, but that doesn't stop them from racing. Would Cancellara have baulked at that descent if he'd been at the front of the race? Jens Voigt crashed twice on the descent the other day but didn't complain about the route.

mrushton

Comedy and drama all in one show. Schlek was fantastic - you really don't want him to win. I'm not a fan of Contador but I haven't seen him bitching about finishes/crashes etc and the Giro had some sketchy descents (the Crostis got cancelled). He stuck it to them all and Evans put on a great show . Schlek vs Hushovd. You could see why one was World Champion and one is looking to be an also-ran.