Re: Cycling : Sat Jul 17, 2010 10:39 pm  

Well who needs a train, Cav proved (not that it needed to be proved) that he can sprint quite well on his own. Shame that it was just for second though.
Also good point by ITV commentary today, how come Ranshaw was kicked off the tour but the two guys who had a full on fight, were only fined?

Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:47 am  

Bradley Wiggins has labelled his form as ''consistently mediocre.''
''I've got nothing. I just haven't got the form, as I did last year.''

Wish he'd have given us a clue before the start instead of stating he'd had the ''preparation of his life.''
It would have saved me quite a substantial amount of my 'hard-earned' on a top 5 finish.

Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:32 pm  

Alberto has endeared himself to the French.

He's standing on the podium and they're all booing…!

Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:36 pm  

PTB wrote:

Alberto has endured himself to the French.

He's standing on the podium and they're all booing…!

Disastrous turn of events for Schleck. Contador really profited from Sanchez pacing him down the descent.

Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:47 pm  

You're absolutely correct, Contador got lucky being with Sanchez. Contador is a better descender than Schleck, but having Sanchez pick the line helped no end. Schleck was only 10-15 secs down going over the summit. Picture from the Saxo Bank teamcar.

You're absolutely correct, Contador got lucky being with Sanchez. Contador is a better descender than Schleck, but having Sanchez pick the line helped no end. Schleck was only 10-15 secs down going over the summit. Picture from the Saxo Bank teamcar.

Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 19, 2010 4:35 pm  

Cycling etiquette says you dont attack when something like that befalls a fellow rider, bang out of order from Contador that. Here's hoping he gets a puncture or falls off tomorrow or Thursday and Schleck f.offs into the distance.

Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 19, 2010 4:43 pm  

Not really the done thing to launch an attack when somebody has a mechanical. Complete lack of class from Contador.

A few years back Armstrong went down on a climb after snagging his wheel on a fans' bag and one of the Euskaltel riders (Iban Mayo IIRC) neutralised the elite group until he rejoined them.

It's a shame the same sportsmanship wasn't used today.

Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:12 pm  

The thing was, Schleck had just started an attack before his chain fooked up, and although Contador accelerated with him, he couldn't quite get onto Andys wheel. It would have been very interesting but for the malfunction.
Schleck was spitting feathers when he crossed the line.
Think tomorrow could be make or break time, I reckon Schleck is gonna take it to him.

Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 19, 2010 7:55 pm  

Stealth Comic wrote:

Not really the done thing to launch an attack when somebody has a mechanical. Complete lack of class from Contador.

A few years back Armstrong went down on a climb after snagging his wheel on a fans' bag and one of the Euskaltel riders (Iban Mayo IIRC) neutralised the elite group until he rejoined them.

It's a shame the same sportsmanship wasn't used today.

Also Armstrong did it when Ullrich went off his back years ago. Contador might be about to become a 3 time champion but this win will be tinted by his actions today. Even if he didn't know about the problem when he attacked, he will have done at some point between the attack and the end of the stage, had lots of time to slow down.

Re: Cycling : Tue Jul 20, 2010 11:58 am  

Contador was bang out of order yesterday. If he wins this year then he has done so by typical Spanish style poor sportsmanship. He'll win the tour due to a mechanical problem. It appeared to me that Schleck had shot the bolt yesterday. Contador missed the break completely. Only Vino had gone with him.

As much as I hope Schleck hands it to him today I doubt it will happen. He used a massive amount of energy yesterday.