Uncle Monty Posted 6 July 2010 Posted 6 July 2010 Looks like Frank's out then,. Broken collarbone they are saying - he did go down hard. Be interesting to see how Andy gets on now without his brother. They were good to watch last year mind you so were so many other riders i just hope Wigginns does well in the mountain stages. Hats off to Thomas today dissapointed not to see him wearing the yellow, the commentators kept saying he would, did they forget about Cancellara or something - idiots got me very excited! Anyway lets hope that the manx missile wins tomorrow as i bloody hate that thor husveld guy mind you i was glad he won ahead of "Don't touch me" Cadel Evans.
CosbehFox Posted 6 July 2010 Posted 6 July 2010 Great start to tour so far. Hopefully Wiggins did himself a favour today and he can get up the table. Expecting a few quiet stages now until the weekend. Thomas is proving himself to be a handy little rider and SKY to their credit have done really well mixing it up with the established teams. Cavendish has been a daft bleeder...1 point so far.... Seriously doubt he'll be on the Tour much longer this term out. I think he needs a fresh start somewhere as it's going to be hard at Columbia after the accident on Monday. Happy for Contador esp. with the picture which has came out today and I have never been his biggest fan.
Uncle Monty Posted 6 July 2010 Posted 6 July 2010 Great start to tour so far. Hopefully Wiggins did himself a favour today and he can get up the table. Expecting a few quiet stages now until the weekend. Thomas is proving himself to be a handy little rider and SKY to their credit have done really well mixing it up with the established teams. Cavendish has been a daft bleeder...1 point so far.... Seriously doubt he'll be on the Tour much longer this term out. I think he needs a fresh start somewhere as it's going to be hard at Columbia after the accident on Monday. Happy for Contador esp. with the picture which has came out today and I have never been his biggest fan. What's this?
dandannieldanok Posted 7 July 2010 Posted 7 July 2010 Was Amstrongs puncture directly related to the cobbles? Yes it was......as far as I know. Looks like Frank's out then,. Broken collarbone they are saying - he did go down hard. Be interesting to see how Andy gets on now without his brother. They were good to watch last year mind you so were so many other riders i just hope Wigginns does well in the mountain stages. Hats off to Thomas today dissapointed not to see him wearing the yellow, the commentators kept saying he would, did they forget about Cancellara or something - idiots got me very excited! Anyway lets hope that the manx missile wins tomorrow as i bloody hate that thor husveld guy mind you i was glad he won ahead of "Don't touch me" Cadel Evans. Losing Frank is a disaster for Andy in my opinion. If Andy were to attack in the mountains, he could really have done with Frank either helping him attack or disrupting a chase group, like when the Schlecks helped Sastre win up Alpe d'Huez in 2008 by disrupting the chase group. And yes it took the commentators far too long to realise Cancellara was destined for yellow, was shouting at the screen . Love this Great start to tour so far. Hopefully Wiggins did himself a favour today and he can get up the table. Expecting a few quiet stages now until the weekend. Thomas is proving himself to be a handy little rider and SKY to their credit have done really well mixing it up with the established teams. Cavendish has been a daft bleeder...1 point so far.... Seriously doubt he'll be on the Tour much longer this term out. I think he needs a fresh start somewhere as it's going to be hard at Columbia after the accident on Monday. Happy for Contador esp. with the picture which has came out today and I have never been his biggest fan. Yea Sky are doing well and Thomas is flourishing. Although Wiggins had a good ride yesterday, he's still not ideally placed in the overall classification if he's aiming for the podium, but still 2 and half weeks to go. I think Cav's been a tad unlucky, he's only had one real opportunity and he couldn't contest that due to a crash. Today will be the first opportunity to really assess his form.
dandannieldanok Posted 7 July 2010 Posted 7 July 2010 A day to forget for Cav, very disappointing . The guy is clearly lacking confidence and totally out of form, not helped by the Columbia train going a kilometre too early and burning out too soon. Fair play to Petacchi, another strong show. I hope he beats Hushovd to the green jersey as he's proved in a true sprint that he's clearly better. Having said that Hushovd has already proved that the green jersey is not about pure sprinting, it's about getting through tough stages and pinching points wherever you can.
dandannieldanok Posted 8 July 2010 Posted 8 July 2010 Yes!! Cav is back on track, yesterday was worrying but today was electrifying, just like the Cav of last year's tour. Superb lead-out from Renshaw, Garmin did the hard yards in the final 3km and Renshaw pounced in a gap and gave Cav the perfect opportunity to win.
Narborough_fox Posted 8 July 2010 Posted 8 July 2010 Seemed pretty upset, hope this dip has taught him a lot.
dandannieldanok Posted 9 July 2010 Posted 9 July 2010 Didn't see it, nor will I be able to watch the highlights .........but another win for Cav!!
dandannieldanok Posted 10 July 2010 Posted 10 July 2010 Would you believe it, Chavanel has somehow got back into yellow. Great ride from Sylvain, sure to be the toast of France this summer from a sporting perspective after his first-week performance. Turned out to be a tougher stage than many were expecting, plenty of guys were spat out the back of the peloton that were expected to survive comfortably today (Kloden, Martin, Boassen-Hagen...). Shame for Geraint Thomas, just didn't have the legs up the final climb. I fully expect Cadel Evans to be in yellow come the same time tomorrow, but then again Contador could well attack his way into yellow if he fancies it on the final climb. Hopefully if not Contador, someone will be brave enough to try something upto the finish tomorrow.
dandannieldanok Posted 12 July 2010 Posted 12 July 2010 Cadel in yellow as expected, but he looked very tired at the end of that climb so I don't think he'll last the pace and keep it until Paris. No surprise to see Schleck and Contador looking good, although Alberto looked a little big legless in the final km, the time gap was pretty insignificant but Schleck will have been delighted to pull away in that last km. What Schleck won't have been pleased to see is the strength of Contador's Astana team, Navarro in particular was superb. Shame that Wiggins couldn't hang onto the elite group but still a respectable result. People will question Sky's tactics that possible made Wiggins vulnerable but I don't think it made a great deal of difference. And also a shame that Armstrong's last tour is going to go with a whimper. He's had some horrific bad luck but he just simply hasn't looked strong enough to be anywhere near challenging the top GC guys. Looks like he'll have to play domestique for Leipheimer now.
Edmund Posted 12 July 2010 Author Posted 12 July 2010 Got a lot of catching up to do. Missed the last few days. I couldn't help myself though and have checked the standings. Bad news about Wiggins, seems he had to back off a little.
dandannieldanok Posted 13 July 2010 Posted 13 July 2010 Schleck and Contador alone on the slopes, the Tour has come alive!
dandannieldanok Posted 13 July 2010 Posted 13 July 2010 Well that's completely blown the GC competition apart. It was expected all along to be between Contador and Schleck, but I think the decisive nature of their escape and the struggles of most others was not expected until the Pyrenees. Pretty much a disastrous day for everyone at the top of the time sheets, particularly Cadel Evans, he was a goner from a long way out. Fair play to Lance Armstrong, after the last few days you wouldn't have blamed him for not really putting a 100% shift in but he came home ahead of some quality riders, the class is still there even if the legs aren't anymore.
Uncle Monty Posted 13 July 2010 Posted 13 July 2010 Glad to see Cadel Evans nearly in tears at the end of todays race, I'll be sure to watch it again tonight in the highlights!
dandannieldanok Posted 15 July 2010 Posted 15 July 2010 Fantastic sprint from Cav, one of his best in his career I reckon considering he had to go from 400m. @ Mark Renshaw, headbutted Julian Dean about 3 times and then boxed Tyler Farrar in. Disqualification maybe quite harsh but you can see why the decision was made, it seemed a pretty dangerous thing to do. Also glad Petacchi's into green, if Cav can't win it then I'd rather Petacchi got it than Hushovd. I respect Hushovd as a powerful rider immensely, but as a pure sprinter? no.
Edmund Posted 15 July 2010 Author Posted 15 July 2010 Fantastic sprint from Cav, one of his best in his career I reckon considering he had to go from 400m. @ Mark Renshaw, headbutted Julian Dean about 3 times and then boxed Tyler Farrar in. Disqualification maybe quite harsh but you can see why the decision was made, it seemed a pretty dangerous thing to do. Also glad Petacchi's into green, if Cav can't win it then I'd rather Petacchi got it than Hushovd. I respect Hushovd as a powerful rider immensely, but as a pure sprinter? no. just seen it, never seen anything like it. Disqualification is fair in my opinion. Could've easily caused a big pile up if Dean came off. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oen6ZcoVOa4
dandannieldanok Posted 16 July 2010 Posted 16 July 2010 I didn't realise at the time of posting that Dean was actually leaning into Renshaw quite a fair bit, so for me personally the decision to DQ Renshaw can only be justified if they give Dean a fine and a strong warning. It's quite clear through their tactics the jealously in the Garmin camp that they cannot compete with Cav, and even Petacchi, in these sprints.
dandannieldanok Posted 16 July 2010 Posted 16 July 2010 Schleck loses 10 seconds to Contador, the last thing he needed. Just seemed to be half asleep when Contador made his move. And then pretty strange that Contador was cat and mouse with Rodriguez in the final km, needless thing to do, putting time into Schleck is more important than the stage win but I'm sure he knows what he's doing.
Jonezy Posted 16 July 2010 Posted 16 July 2010 Lets hope for Contador, that his team owner is not to pissed about losing a clear stage win for 10 seconds. Contador is still the strongest, but he does have an ability to make hasty decisions, which turn out sour for his team. Last year he attacked in mountains and I think it was Klöden or Armstrong, who blew up, causing the Schleck brothers to gain valuable time, as they were the only ones able to follow him.
dandannieldanok Posted 17 July 2010 Posted 17 July 2010 Fair play to Vinokourov, not everyone's favourite (including me) but you can't deny his aggression and desire to get a stage win, he's certainly come back into the sport hungry for success. Nice to see Cav win the bunch sprint for 2nd, shows that Renshaw's absence will not have too much effect on proceedings, Cav is still the best...........and Petacchi back in green.
Jonezy Posted 17 July 2010 Posted 17 July 2010 Fair play to Vino for that one. I was hoping Astana might implode a bit after the little hiccup yesterday and then Vino does that..... Big battle tomorrow and I am afraid that Contador will be too strong for Schleck, but I'm sure we are going to see some serious racing tomorrow - exciting.
dandannieldanok Posted 18 July 2010 Posted 18 July 2010 Well that was gripping, as well as strange in my opinion. Not sure why Schleck was so adamant to stay behind Contador when they practically came to a halt. Obviously he was very vigilant to follow Contador's attacks but after that, not sure why he didn't just go with the flow so to speak. This cat and mouse game is all very well but it could blow up in their faces if Sanchez or Menchov were to quietly make a move a bit further out next time. Perhaps this isn't a two-horse race if Contador and Schleck are going to play silly beggars, Menchov looks strong and has a very able teammate in Gesink. Great win for Christophe Riblon, the Tour really does spark some special rides from Frenchmen.
Jonezy Posted 19 July 2010 Posted 19 July 2010 Yeah, that was a bit odd that. Schleck apparently thought, that yesterdays climb was a perfect fit for Contador and decided to just keep his wheel no matter what. Giving Menchov a mental boost and 15 seconds might turn out to be a bad idea as well, but I still believe it is between Contador and Schleck and that Contador is too strong.
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