Le Tour De France

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:45 pm

I agree with you 4of5. I won't be at all suprsied if Cadel ends today in Yellow. Day off work tomorrow so i can watch the whole thing!

bengatta · Post by **bengatta** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 10:01 pm

fourthof5 wrote:Actually, the ask is good. Contedor is a climber not a time trialest. Cadel is a good time trialist. Its not unusual for cimbers to loose 4 - 10 minutes in the time trials. The first time trial was a bit different in that it was a climbing one which suited the climbers. This one is flat which will suite Cadel.

don't get me wrong, i hope it is a good ask, but contador has not always been a mountain climber... he was a time trialist of some note a few years ago... 1m 50 is not a miniscule gap.... and that damn yellow can do funny things to people... whatever happens in the next 55k's it will 95% in the head, and 5% physical. we will know in a few hours

I have fingers crossed big time... and if he does do this, I hope Australian sport gets behind him and makes him a star.

Scuderia_Alan · Post by **Scuderia_Alan** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 10:14 pm

Big news coming out is that the Tour de France is formally breaking any association it has with the UCI. It's primarily based on the fact that the UCI has not been properly informing Tour organisers of positive tests. In the organisers' words, "the UCI does not want the Tour de France to be clean". I suspect the straw that broke the camel's back is when the UCI criticised the Tour for allowing Rasmussen to compete. They'll basically set out their own rules and criteria for entry, testing etc.

This isn't a precedent, the Vuelta a Espana and a number of the one day classics including Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Nice and Milano-San Remo have done similar things. It's anticipated the Giro d'Italia will follow suit this week.

1:50 really is a big ask but it's not impossible. Contador isn't hopeless at time trials, this track just suits Cadel better. I agree with the comments above that in the right frame of mind Cadel can do it. The yellow can do things to you but when it's your last shot and you don't have to hold anything back it can work in your favour too. We'll see which theory is right in a few hours.

In the mean time here's something made before the Tour I've been meaning to put here but I kept forgetting.

EPO, te quiero (EPO, I love you.)

bengatta · Post by **bengatta** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:08 am

Sadly it ended up not to be "a good ask".... Contador did the biz, well done to him...

My original worry started when I found out Contador had beaten Cadel in a time trial in the tour of spain... That did give some indication that contador whilst maybe being an excellent bump climber, is also no bunny when it came to time trials... To end up the 5th best, beating not only the current world champion, but his own spanish champion also should reduce any doubt in the future also... At 24, Maybe Lance's 7 in a row is in trouble???? Time will tell I guess

I am wondering if the ride from Levi altered Cadel's game plan on the fly... Not even the main media on hte tour thought Levi was a chance, 5 minutes in he almost stole the show and as a consequence Cadel was not so much concerned with winning the thing, but making sure he as a minimum kept second... We will never know really what impact that ride from Levi had I guess, but one thing is for certain. Last night was an incredible event from 3 world class athletes...

Well done to them all....

Nigel · Post by **Nigel** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:52 am

Yep after 3500 miles it came down to three people giving it everything they had. All three rode out of their skins. For Cadel, in hindsight, pushing himself in to the red and losing almost 3 minutes in the Mountains might be what cost him; but lesson learned. For Contador, awesome when you remember this is his first tour. For Levi, staying under the radar for the whole tour to almost snatch victory was a great strategy.

NB. For the french dude that ran over the dog, ripped his arse to shreds and went on to win the stage. Well done. For the Dopers and the crap doping officialdom. You lose. For the tour, loved every minute of it... except the dogs being run over and O'Grady's attempt to break every bone in his body.

pixelboy · Post by **pixelboy** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 4:32 pm

What an amzing time trial that was.. well done Cadel

For me the biggest shame of the tour was Rogers.. the way it panned out he had a real chance of winning this year

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:46 pm

For the first time in 3 weeks i'm going to spend a night in my own bed and not fall asleep on the couch in the wee hours of the morning.

It was a great tour this year. Even with the stuff up's from the UCI. Can't wait for next year already!

bengatta · Post by **bengatta** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:11 pm

Gizmo wrote:For the first time in 3 weeks i'm going to spend a night in my own bed and not fall asleep on the couch in the wee hours of the morning.

It was a great tour this year. Even with the stuff up's from the UCI. Can't wait for next year already!

good call gizmo....

I am also looking forward to a bit of sleep...

next year will come soon enough, right after we find out who wins the 2006 race