Tour de France 2007 thread (2 Viewers)

[rettucs]

well turned out there was about 60 in that group so I suppose they couldn't kick them all out

 

[rettucs]

have to say I have a newfound respect for Contador and Ivan Basso. Pair of dopers who have obviously learned their lesson. Particularly in the case of Basso (after last year's Giro) I often wondered how good he'd be riding clean. Now I know. Hes damn good.

And one of the riders of this tour must be Haimar Zubeldia. You barely hear mention of him but look how high hes riding in the GC. Hes up there day after day and nairy a mention of him. Radioshack are the forgotten team of this tour. The only ones not getting a mention at all (apart from the moment every day when Levi blows up)

 

[oh shit]

I wonder how Leopard Trek will play it today. Do they calculate that Andy's got enough time over Evans to survive Saturday, take over the peloton, set a high pace for the leader group and try to wear him down? Or will Andy attack again, try to crack his rivals and wrap it up today?

 

[rettucs]

I wonder how Leopard Trek will play it today. Do they calculate that Andy's got enough time over Evans to survive Saturday, take over the peloton, set a high pace for the leader group and try to wear him down? Or will Andy attack again, try to crack his rivals and wrap it up today?

I think today has to be about Frank. Hes way too close to Cadel to have any realistic chance in the TT. But it will depend on a couple of things. Firstly, how good do they both feel after yesterday. Frank will undoubtedly be the fresher of the 2, but I'm sure Andy has some super-recovery techniques that we won't go into here. Andy will possibly feel like he has enough or at least that he doesn't need that much more, hence limiting the extent of his attacks to late ones on the alpe d'huez. Frank won a stage here before so will undoubtedly feel up for it. And I'm sure it'll be fresh in the minds of both Schleck boys that Carlos Sastre took the tour off them when they were supposedly joint team leaders with CSC back in 2008.

It'll be a strange stage. They climb Galibier from the other side, and descend the side they climbed yesterday. Then more or less straight onto the alpe d'huez, which isn't so steep but is long and windy. I think the stage will be won in a break (I'd have bet on Garate if he didn't crash out). Maybe Robert Gesink. The Dutch seem to have a special affinity to this mountain.

Andy Schleck should be able to take yellow today. I expect (and hope) he'll lose it tomorrow.

 

[Cormcolash]

well turned out there was about 60 in that group so I suppose they couldn't kick them all out

They could have taken 50 points off Prickendish, to make it a proper penalty for finishing outside the time. In other words, FUCK HTC

 

[rettucs]

all kickin off already. Poor Tommy hasn't a hope

 

[oh shit]

tommy's properly dropped. evans missed the jump. contador v schleck... epic stuff

 

[rettucs]

idiotic stuff. He hasn't dropped Andy so unless that outside of a podium means that much to him he should sit up. Hes handing the tour to Andy this way and has killed poor Tommy and Cadel.

 

[oh shit]

tommy's fighting back like a champ, but he's going to burn out. you don't think Andy's ride yesterday means he deserves to win the tour? he gambled and it paid off, and it was perfectly executed team work. if he wins it I think it's fair enough. Evans hasn't showed anything particularly special, he's been riding with an eye on the TT.

 

[oh shit]

evans attacks!

 

[rettucs]

tommy's fighting back like a champ, but he's going to burn out. you don't think Andy's ride yesterday means he deserves to win the tour? he gambled and it paid off, and it was perfectly executed team work. if he wins it I think it's fair enough. Evans hasn't showed anything particularly special, he's been riding with an eye on the TT.

he does deserve it. But hes an asshole so I hope he doesn't win

 

[rettucs]

between 1.5 and 3 minutes I'd say.

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The biggest unknown in the TT is Contador. Hes definitely not time-trialling as well as he was last year, but will still be good to take 1.5 mins out of the Schlecks.

oh look

 

[Cormcolash]

Waaaaayyy, well done Evans, deserves the win as he has been the most consistent of the big riders for the whole 3 weeks. Too bad about Voeckler, but I had to get one right too, Alpe D'Huez was too much for him, ha! I'm glad the Schleks didn't win, they are boring pricks.

 

[Cormcolash]

I can't imagine Voeckler staying in touch up Alpe D'Huez. If he does, then he'll be a total legend and fully deserve to win the Tour outright.
I'm gonna back yer man Sanchez for the craic. He's been on good form, and isn't one of the usual suspects, plus he's in ETA

Voeckler couldn't handle the Alpe, and Sanchez won the King of the Mountains. Haha I got lucky with that post anyway!

 

[rettucs]

cycling is a poxy hard sport to predict the outcome of.

Nico Roche better win the tour of spain now. He has about 5 weeks to get his hole in gear for that.

 

[rettucs]

YESSSSSS GO ON DAN MARTIN

takes the race lead in the tour of Poland (the race he won overall last year) with one day to go. And wins the stage to boot. Amazing stage just finished there.

and Cormcolash ; you wouldn't believe the amount of brits he beat too

 

[Cormcolash]

Hahaha, got a link anywhere? How come Dan Martin hasn't been in the Tour? He seems like a good rider like.

 

[rettucs]

Hahaha, got a link anywhere? How come Dan Martin hasn't been in the Tour? He seems like a good rider like.

hes deadly. Thats his problem. They didn't put him in the tour cos he'd only have been riding it to help out other riders and they reckon him too good for that. He should be their team leader for the tour of spain in a couple of weeks time.

www.cyclingfans.com. Check the links for stage 6 of the tour of poland. Amazing finish. Not sure if he'll hold onto the jersey today cos yer man sagan might take bonus seconds in sprints. If Danny's team do their job right he should be ok.

 

[IFF]

hes deadly. Thats his problem. They didn't put him in the tour cos he'd only have been riding it to help out other riders and they reckon him too good for that. He should be their team leader for the tour of spain in a couple of weeks time.

www.cyclingfans.com. Check the links for stage 6 of the tour of poland. Amazing finish. Not sure if he'll hold onto the jersey today cos yer man sagan might take bonus seconds in sprints. If Danny's team do their job right he should be ok.

and then also Marco Marcato of the Vacansoleil-DCM-Energiser Bunny team (they just keep going and going and going. they might win something one day if they used with some strategy) is another threat, also at 3 seconds. put him in feillu's wheel for the sprint and he could take 3rd

Hopefully Sagan is tired after yesterday.

 

[Cormcolash]

Hmmph, tried to watch that stage 6 finish, but it wants me to download some stupid app and I can't be arsed.