Le Tour!

stb222 said:
Contador is only a min 30 down, which is nothing in the mountain. However, contador has had bad luck and has had to ride hardder to catch the peleton on a few occasions, so hopefully that hurts him. Schleck and Horner are the only GC contenders that can stick with Contador when he attacks, so if Schleck can stay with him and even gain time in the mountains, he should be good. Contador is a stupid good climber and so explosive that he could still be up there and I have a feeling he may be the first on to do the Giro / TDF double in like 30 something years.

Anyways, today's sprint should be good. Garmin's lead out is better than HTC's this year, especially with big riders like Thor, who is also in yellow, so they have an advantage there. However, as we saw a few times last year and two days ago, Cavendish is excellent at following wheels and doesn't need his train to win.
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I think Cadel Evans is going to give it the old college try to stay with the climbers too. A lot of people think he may be up for that. I don't know enough but 1:40 seems a lot to be giving up when you know how strong Shleck is. This is the first time I've paid any mind to the Tour at all. So it will be interesting to watch.

It will be boring if this break today doesn't get caught before the first sprint. I want to see which of these guys have the stones to throw down for both. Is Cavendish going to try for both? He seems like that kinda guy.
 
Norm said:
I think Cadel Evans is going to give it the old college try to stay with the climbers too. A lot of people think he may be up for that. I don't know enough but 1:40 seems a lot to be giving up when you know how strong Shleck is. This is the first time I've paid any mind to the Tour at all. So it will be interesting to watch.

It will be boring if this break today doesn't get caught before the first sprint. I want to see which of these guys have the stones to throw down for both. Is Cavendish going to try for both? He seems like that kinda guy.
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Evans always f's up somewhere though, but this is the first year he skipped races to prepare for the the TDF. I did gain some respect for him in the spring races and dude is strong on short uphill finishes. He can't stick the explosive attacks in the mountains, but he always seems keep it steady and stay up there.
 
stb222 said:
shit just hit the fan for some GC riders
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I was explaining to Pearl this morning that this is how you get excitement out of the Tour before it hits the mountains. He jinxed it, the bastard.
 
This Tour is Crazy!

No one seems to be able to keep their bike upright... I hear complaints about tight roads, "road furniture" and tight corners, but all these crashes seem to keep happening on wider sections and straight roads.... Granted, the rain really came down hard yesterday. Radioshack had 4 GC guys (they thought at least) they're down to one now... Every player seems to have lost time, if he can stay safe I think the door is wide open for Andy Schleck.
 
the speeds approaching the climb to the final hill yesterday were approaching 40 mph. That alone could cause trouble, without a roundabout, wet roads and 170 guys riding inches from each other thrown into the mix. I find it amazing that there aren't more crashes.
 
stb222 said:
the speeds approaching the climb to the final hill yesterday were approaching 40 mph. That alone could cause trouble, without a roundabout, wet roads and 170 guys riding inches from each other thrown into the mix. I find it amazing that there aren't more crashes.
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Agreed, the speeds are insane. When Cav won 2 days ago, that lead train was absolutely flying. I don't think you get the proper sense of how fast from the head on camera. When you get the view from up top you see how stupid fast they're going.

Yesterday one of the guys in the back of that peleton going 31 mph was riding with no hands. They're just in another dimension really.
 
stb222 said:
Contador is only a min 30 down, which is nothing in the mountain. However, contador has had bad luck and has had to ride hardder to catch the peleton on a few occasions, so hopefully that hurts him. Schleck and Horner are the only GC contenders that can stick with Contador when he attacks, so if Schleck can stay with him and even gain time in the mountains, he should be good. Contador is a stupid good climber and so explosive that he could still be up there and I have a feeling he may be the first on to do the Giro / TDF double in like 30 something years.
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I don't know what happened today yet, but i agree with this and think the race is still Contador's to lose. Unless the drugs he was on last year were awesome and he's no longer on them (which is entirely possible), he's still the best of the world and should win this thing.

Now I can't wait to watch tonight.
 
I dunno

A minute and a half might not amount to much in the mountains, but Contador didn't have even a minute to spare in Paris at the end of last years Tour. Even after his cowardly attack on Schlecks yellow jersey when he had dropped his chain (yeah, I still haven't gotten over the way Contador got his yellow jersey last year yet). Anyway, while I think even if Contador is in top form this year, I think with his time gap, all Schleck has to do is stay safe, mark him and ride his race. Barring any other super-human riders showing up and doing that, I think it's more Schleck's race to lose.
Just my 2 cents... Really enjoying this years tour so far, but the crashes and drama surrounding them is killing it.
 
Yesterday was a pisser.

I don't think Contador has it in him to make up 30 seconds let alone 1:40. He tried some attacks today that looked feeble. He may be testing the waters. But to me he looked off. He seemed to have a hitch in his pedal stroke when he was attacking. No idea if that's normal or if one of those crashes actually left a mark or what.

Cadel could make it interesting but when it comes down to it, can he really hold up in the toughest stages?

Vino today with a great effort that was so, so close.
 
Norm said:
Yesterday was a pisser.

I don't think Contador has it in him to make up 30 seconds let alone 1:40. He tried some attacks today that looked feeble. He may be testing the waters. But to me he looked off. He seemed to have a hitch in his pedal stroke when he was attacking. No idea if that's normal or if one of those crashes actually left a mark or what.

Cadel could make it interesting but when it comes down to it, can he really hold up in the toughest stages?

Vino today with a great effort that was so, so close.
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Without giving away spoilers from today's stage, I'll admit Contador doesn't look nearly as strong as last year, when he looked unbeatable at times. I'm still not counting him out, but at this point this is anyone's race. Though probably not any American's.
 
Contador is just playing games at this point, but remember he did win the giro this year, which had an insane amount of climbing, so he is probably not fully recovered from that. They don't hit the real mountains until Tuesday and that's when the fireworks may start or they could wait for the alps. In any case, today's stage showed who the top riders are, which wasn't really a surprise. Evans looks like he has excellent form though.
 
Also...

I can't be held responsible for my actions if I have to see one more douchey Izod commercial, whether it be Will Power and his Indy racing in Canada, or a bunch of models pretending they surf, sail or any number of things, all while looking snobbish and wearing brand new Izod gear! Grrrrr!!!!
 
So eventually, adding more teams, more cars, and more motorcycles is going to have negative effects on the overall race.

I know, hindsight is 20/20 but Christ this is absurd.
 
Cheese n Crackers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This race is dangerous enough without the cars and motorcycles getting in on things!!!!!
As for the race... I did NOT foresee this happening in the standings.
 
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