Author Topic: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers (Read 80776 times)

David Martin · « **Reply #525 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:06:53 pm »

And now we wait to see if Cav will make it to the top in time.

It is going to be close tomorrow. I'd put money on evans to take 57" out of Andy Schleck when there is a yellow jersey up for grabs.

..d

peliroja · « **Reply #526 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:12:15 pm »

France 2 saying time limit is 25 mins 9 seconds and apparently Cav was 23 minutes behind at the bottom of Alpe d'Huez...

Riggers · « **Reply #527 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:14:03 pm »

I missed the last few Kms due to work getting in the way, and I'm deliberately not looking at people's comments so as not to spoil m'watching the highlights at 7!!!

spesh · « **Reply #528 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:16:54 pm »

Quote from: peliroja on 22 July, 2011, 05:12:15 pm

France 2 saying time limit is 25 mins 9 seconds and apparently Cav was 23 minutes behind at the bottom of Alpe d'Huez...

Gilbert has made it, but he's too far behind in the points to worry about. No sign that Rojas has finished yet...

citoyen · « **Reply #529 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:22:05 pm »

Cav and Rojas finished in a big group together, 17 seconds outside the time limit. Cav will arrive in Paris in green! Hurrah!

~~(Assuming they don't throw the ~60 riders in that group out...)~~ Edit: He's just been presented the green jersey.

d.

citoyen · « **Reply #530 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:24:50 pm »

Quote from: Honest John on 22 July, 2011, 05:06:03 pm

The fans on Alpe d'Huez seemed even more barking than usual.

Did you see the chap in medical get-up bothering Contador? He did not like that!

d.

Honest John · « **Reply #531 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:25:32 pm »

Quote from: spesh on 22 July, 2011, 05:16:54 pm

Quote from: peliroja on 22 July, 2011, 05:12:15 pm
France 2 saying time limit is 25 mins 9 seconds and apparently Cav was 23 minutes behind at the bottom of Alpe d'Huez...

Gilbert has made it, but he's too far behind in the points to worry about. No sign that Rojas has finished yet...

Rojas and Cav finished a few seconds outside the limit, in a big group with Hushovd and Greipel, to name but a few out of about 50. No news on the TdF site about elimination/points-docking.

Edit ^^^ Wot citoyen said.

(I'm watching on video with 20mins time-delay.)

David Martin · « **Reply #532 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:26:30 pm »

Phew. I cannow get on with life. Money on Cuddles for the yellow tomorrow.

spesh · « **Reply #533 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:28:38 pm »

Quote from: citoyen on 22 July, 2011, 05:22:05 pm

Cav and Rojas finished in a big group together, 17 seconds outside the time limit. Cav will arrive in Paris in green! Hurrah!

~~(Assuming they don't throw the ~60 riders in that group out...)~~ Edit: He's just been presented the green jersey.

d.

Cav's just been presented with the green jersey, and it doesn't look as though points have been docked (due to the closeness of missing the cut?) so the status quo is preserved until Sunday. The grupetto was 85-167th position, which is definitely >20% of the start list.

EDIT - points were deducted (Letour.com a bit tardy with the update), but no biggie, Cav still has a cushion over Rojas.

Honest John · « **Reply #534 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:28:38 pm »

Quote from: citoyen on 22 July, 2011, 05:24:50 pm

Quote from: Honest John on 22 July, 2011, 05:06:03 pm
The fans on Alpe d'Huez seemed even more barking than usual.

Did you see the chap in medical get-up bothering Contador? He did not like that!

d.

Particularly nasty. These guys are trying to make a living when they're riding up the Alpe.

But what bothers me more is the possibility of some pisshead elbowing a leading rider off the piste (as someone did to Guiseppe Guerini a few years ago).

I was really pissed off to see that some of the "fans" were more interested in getting their ugly mugs onto TV than encouraging/discouraging/barracking the riders.

spesh · « **Reply #535 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:36:28 pm »

Quote from: Honest John on 22 July, 2011, 05:06:03 pm

That was amazing. A proper bike race.

At last a Frenchman has won something. Sad that Voeckler cracked, though. What was that wobbly he was throwing just before the Galibier tunnel?

Perhaps he'd just realised that trying to bridge the gap to the Contador group wasn't the best thing to have done. Once the race hit the Alpe, Voeckler paid for expending so much energy on the Galibier.

By way of a contrast, Evans didn't panic, he steadily worked his way back to the lead group over the course of the stage, just like yesterday.

Quote

The fans on Alpe d'Huez seemed even more barking than usual.

And that's saying something...

citoyen · « **Reply #536 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:42:42 pm »

Quote from: Honest John on 22 July, 2011, 05:28:38 pm

Particularly nasty. These guys are trying to make a living when they're riding up the Alpe.

Aye. It's funny up to a point, but it does make you think there ought to be stricter crowd control on the mountains.

Just hope it doesn't take an "incident" to make the organisers do something about it... Given how unpopular Contador is among certain sections of the crowd, it's amazing no-one has tried anything on him already.

d.

Honest John · « **Reply #537 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:50:34 pm »

Quote from: citoyen on 22 July, 2011, 05:42:42 pm

Quote from: Honest John on 22 July, 2011, 05:28:38 pm
Particularly nasty. These guys are trying to make a living when they're riding up the Alpe.

Aye. It's funny up to a point, but it does make you think there ought to be stricter crowd control on the mountains.

They already use 4km of barriers up there! They could fence off the whole 13km, but there'd be a balance to be struck between tradition (the TdF is free to watch and coming to a road near you), advertising/PR (yes, we want you to watch and see all the nice logos) and safety.

Quote

Just hope it doesn't take an "incident" to make the organisers do something about it... Given how unpopular Contador is among certain sections of the crowd, it's amazing no one has tried anything on him already.

d.

The worst I've seen yet was the guy dangling a steak on a stick in front of Bertie on the Zoncalan. And he does seem to be a bit more popular now after the alleged knee trouble and his patchy performance.

Justin(e) · « **Reply #538 on:** 22 July, 2011, 05:59:06 pm »

Wow, the last couple of days racing have been magnificent.

C'mon Cadel.

I think his guts and determinantion have been admirable this time. The 'squeaky voiced one' has showed real maturity in the way that he has raced this year.

Another night glued to the tele tomorrow.

gonzo · « **Reply #539 on:** 22 July, 2011, 06:31:27 pm »

I quite liked the comment that we should have this course every year!

jogler · « **Reply #540 on:** 22 July, 2011, 06:44:42 pm »

Quote from: gonzo on 22 July, 2011, 06:31:27 pm

I quite liked the comment that we should have this course every year!

It's not likely but I hope they do not re-introduce the prologue time trial.It's the lack of this feature which set the Tour up to be a race this year instead of a procession as in recent years

citoyen · « **Reply #541 on:** 22 July, 2011, 07:13:52 pm »

Wiggo would have won this Tour, you know.

d.

citoyen · « **Reply #542 on:** 22 July, 2011, 07:17:10 pm »

Quote from: jogler on 22 July, 2011, 06:44:42 pm

Quote from: gonzo on 22 July, 2011, 06:31:27 pm
I quite liked the comment that we should have this course every year!

It's not likely but I hope they do not re-introduce the prologue time trial.It's the lack of this feature which set the Tour up to be a race this year instead of a procession as in recent years

Not sure a short prologue would have made as much difference as Contador losing all that time on the first stage. Would have been a very different race if that hadn't happened. And if Wiggo hadn't crashed out...

So many variables to consider.

d.

Martin · « **Reply #543 on:** 22 July, 2011, 08:51:30 pm »

Quote from: citoyen on 22 July, 2011, 05:22:05 pm

Cav and Rojas finished in a big group together, 17 seconds outside the time limit. Cav will arrive in Paris in green!

assuming no sprints tomorrow how many points are up for grabs on Sunday?

Karla · « **Reply #544 on:** 22 July, 2011, 08:58:35 pm »

As this has become decidedly topical, here are Schlandy and Cuddles' previous TdF ITT times.

Year 2010 2009 2008 2007
ITT distance (km) 52 40.5 53 55.5
Cadel Evans 01:11:54 00:49:45 01:05:55 01:03:35
Andy Schleck 01:07:10 00:50:15 01:07:52 --

Cuddles' lead -0:4:44 0:0:30 00:01:57 --

I can't remember what happened to Cuddles last year, I wasn't paying attention to him at the time. He'll surely put in a strong ride tomorrow, but so will Mr Schleck. The latter did a storming last year, but what's to say he won't do that again? I'm sticking with Schleck for this one.

[EDIT: No, no points for a TT! Cav will be wearing the green jersey as he enters Paris. As a flat stage, there are the normal 20 then 40 points for intermediate sprint (yes there is one) and the finish.]

Bledlow · « **Reply #545 on:** 22 July, 2011, 09:08:02 pm »

Quote from: Honest John on 22 July, 2011, 05:06:03 pm

That was amazing. A proper bike race.

At last a Frenchman has won something. Sad that Voeckler cracked, though.

+1

Rolland said at the finish that Voeckler had said something like "Forget me, I'm done. Go for it." Nice touch, & it motivated Rolland, as he felt he had to win, to justify it.

Yet another excellent stage in a superb race. The route designers have done a tremendous job, & the cyclists have made the most of it.

citoyen · « **Reply #546 on:** 22 July, 2011, 09:17:01 pm »

Don't forget Cuddles has done this TT course already in the Dauphiné, which should work to his advantage.

d.

Steve Kish · « **Reply #547 on:** 22 July, 2011, 09:58:02 pm »

I recon Cuddles will do it but I'm rooting for ' Heart of a Lion' Tommy V to pull one out of the bag and kick one Schleckie off the big steps after the Paris sprint .... which Cav should do for his hat-trick.

Honest John · « **Reply #548 on:** 22 July, 2011, 10:08:35 pm »

Quote from: Steve Kish on 22 July, 2011, 09:58:02 pm

I recon Cuddles will do it but I'm rooting for ' Heart of a Lion' Tommy V to pull one out of the bag .

+1. But I don't think he will. He looked completely shagged out and demoralised today.

kcass · « **Reply #549 on:** 22 July, 2011, 10:10:40 pm »

Nice story here about Bernard Eisel and David Millar helping one another on today's stage

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/video-eisel-talks-time-limits-at-lalpe-dhuez

Author Topic: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers (Read 80776 times)

gonzo

Martin