2010 Tour de France

[Folanator]

Given his standing, and if wouldn't compromise Levi's chances, would you see Lance going for a stage win? That would be fun to watch.

I could see it for sure. I could also see the guys letting him have the win and not chase him down. He's not going to win or place in the overall, so let him go.

It would be great to see him win and considering his amazing exploits It for sure could happen. He has the respect of everyone in the group, it would be a fitting way to go out and for the peleton to show their respect for the greatist rider in TDF history.

But I know Lance will put the team first. So if he can help win it for Levi, he will put his personal asperations second.

 

[BB73]

Quite an interesting climb up Col de la Madeleine. Evans bonked, and is losing several minutes. Astana and Saxo teams both led for a while, breaking up the leading climbers. About halfway up, Contador and Schleck took turns attacking each other, and when they quickly realized that neither one of them was going to be able to pull away, they decided to work together to claim time on the other contenders. They pulled a minute of two ahead of almost all of the other top contenders, and then they caught Jens Voigt, a Saxo rider that was dropping back from the lead breakaway.

Voigt, a great team rider and a human locomotive, led those guys for a couple of kilometers, during which they gained a full minute on the breakaway group. About 1K from the top, he pulled off and could barely turn his pedals, but his job was done. Whatever Saxo is paying him, he's earned it.

They're on the very long final descent now, but it's looking like Contador and Schleck have turned it into a 2-man race. 4 days in the Pyrenees, especially the last one, stage 17 ending at the top of le Tourmelet; along with the individual time trial on the next-to-last day, should decide it between Contador and Schleck.

 

[ScriptOhio]

They're on the very long final descent now, but it's looking like Contador and Schleck have turned it into a 2-man race. 4 days in the Pyrenees, especially the last one, stage 17 ending at the top of le Tourmelet; along with the individual time trial on the next-to-last day, should decide it between Contador and Schleck.

What hapened to the team time trial?

P.S. Watching the race on VS is like watching a 3 hour montage of commercials with a few short breaks for a race update.

 

[BB73]

With Evans bonking after the rest day, it looks like a classic 2-man battle.

Here are the latest standings. I've only listed the riders close to the lead and those that I consider to be serious contenders to win the overall race.

Time....Time
after...after
Stage9..Stage8..Cyclist...........Team
00:00...00:20...Schleck, A........Saxo
00:41...01:01...Contador, A.......Astana
02:45...02:15...Sanchez, S........Euskaltel
02:58...01:10...Menchov, D........Rabobank
03:31...01:03...Van Den Broeck,J..Lotto
03:59...02:14...Leipheimer, L.....Radioshack
05:09...02:41...Basso, I..........LiquiGas

07:47...00:00...Evans, C..........BMC
15:54...13:26...Armstrong, L......RadioShack

 

[BB73]

What hapened to the team time trial?

P.S. Watching the race on VS is like watching a 3 hour montage of commercials with a few short breaks for a race update.

There's no team time trial this year, it's a sometimes thing. I think that's a bad break for Schleck, since Saxo would do that very well with Cancellara and Voigt.

Versus does a half hour commercial free on the last big climb on mountain days.

 

[Oh8ch]

Worth watching the spring on today's stage for anyone who hasn't.

Cavendish gets the win and his lead out man gets DQ'd.

 

[BB73]

Worth watching the spring on today's stage for anyone who hasn't.

Cavendish gets the win and his lead out man gets DQ'd.

It was a wild sprint finish. The two teams battling for the stage win have had an intense rivalry over the last couple of years, and don't like each other much.

Renshaw was in front of Cavendish (both Columbia riders), and Julian Dean was trying to lead out Farrar (both Garmin riders). Dean got next to Renshaw with less than 500m left, and then angled slightly toward Renshaw. While leading the pack at about 40 mph, Renshaw responded by using his head to repeatedly bash Dean's shoulder, since he knew that Cavendish would need room on the opposite side to pass him. Renshaw retained the lead, and right after that Cavendish shot past his teammate for the final sprint toward the line. Farrar was then accelerating, following Cavendish in an attempt to win. But Renshaw, whose job was now done, slowed down and moved his bike a few feet to the left, blatantly blocking Farrar and almost forcing him into the roadside barricades. Farrar had to slow down and put his hand on Renshaw to then have room to get by him. Cavendish won and Farrar finished third. By rule, guys are supposed to ride in a straight line after they slow down, they're not allowed to swerve to block other riders.

I wasn't surprised that they DQ'd Renshaw, although some are saying that he could have just been fined and placed last for today's stage. But he wouldn't care about a fine and about losing his 12th place finish today - his job is to set up Cavendish for stage wins. And the way he cut off Farrar was clear cut and total BS, it was actually worse than the head-butting of Dean's shoulder. Although if those guys had gotten tangled and gone down, there could have been a major wreck at full speed that might have knocked a few riders out of the race.

What was surprising was how mild the complaining was from the Garmin guys right after the race. Dean just acted like "that's racing", and Farrar wasn't happy, but didn't bitch too much. The overhead shot (shown near the end of this video) shows Renshaw's cutoff move of Farrar more clearly.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oen6ZcoVOa4"]YouTube - Mark Renshaw Head Butts Julian Dean at 2010 Tour de France[/ame]

No change among the overall leaders over the lasr couple of days. Although it came out that Cadel Evans had a fracture in his elbow, and that's why he lost so much time on Tuesday's climb.

 

[Oh8ch]

What was surprising was how mild the complaining was from the Garmin guys right after the race. Dean just acted like "that's racing", and Farrar wasn't happy, but didn't bitch too much. The overhead shot (shown near the end of this video) shows Renshaw's cutoff move of Farrar more clearly.

Which was the low key PUBLIC response I wish we saw more often. Who knows how it was conveyed privately.

IMO what hurt Renshaw's case was that any infringement by Dean that could have argued for a response was far less than the infringement by Renshaw against Farrar. And as much as I enjoy Liggett and Sherwen they sure are apologists for all conduct on the tour.

 

[BB73]

Contador took 10 seconds out of Schleck's lead with a late attack on a final climb that wasn't extremely long, but was very steep.

Time....Time
after...after
Stage12.Stage11.Cyclist...........Team
00:00...00:00...Schleck, A........Saxo
00:31...00:41...Contador, A.......Astana
02:45...02:45...Sanchez, S........Euskaltel
02:58...02:58...Menchov, D........Rabobank
03:31...03:31...Van Den Broeck,J..Lotto
04:06...03:59...Leipheimer, L.....Radioshack
05:30...05:09...Basso, I..........LiquiGas

21:16...15:54...Armstrong, L......RadioShack

 

[Oh8ch]

I was feeling good about Schleck's chances until today. He had no answer for Contador.

Although Armstrong seems to be fading, he not longer has a reason to hurt himself. He might also be conserving for a stage run of his own.

 

[BB73]

An update of yesterday's standings before talking about today's interesting developments.

Yesterday Contador and Schleck were playing cat-and-mouse on the last climb. They almost stopped at one point, and the other contenders went ahead of them. They then headed back up to the group, but lost 14 seconds to both Menchov and Sammy Sanchez.

Time....Time
after...after
Stage14.Stage13.Cyclist...........Team
00:00...00:00...Schleck, A........Saxo
00:31...00:31...Contador, A.......Astana
02:31...02:45...Sanchez, S........Euskaltel
02:44...02:58...Menchov, D........Rabobank
03:31...03:31...Van Den Broeck,J..Lotto
04:51...04:06...Leipheimer, L.....Radioshack
06:52...05:30...Basso, I..........LiquiGas

39:44...21:16...Armstrong, L......RadioShack

 

[BB73]

Today there was one beyond-category climb near the end of the stage, followed by a long descent to the finish.

Saxo was making the pace for the first half of the climb to split the peloton. Once they were gassed, Schleck started attacking by himself. Contador and the other top-5 contenders were staying with him, and Contador had some teammates around him. Schleck then made a big move and got a few meters ahead, but Contador was reacting to the move when Schleck's chain popped off.

There's an unwritten rule that the yellow jersey shouldn't be decided by a fall or a mechanical problem, and often the other contenders will wait for a guy when he has an issue that isn't his fault. Contador and the other contenders rode past him as he struggled for close to 30 seconds before getting back on. He was unable to catch completely up before the top of the climb (13 or 14 seconds back), and on the descent his group wasn't as fast, so he lost 39 seconds and the overall lead to Contador.

Voeckler won the stage with a fine solo climb from the breakaway, but's he's way back in the standings. When Contador received the yellow jersey at the post-race ceremonies, many in the crowd booed because of the way in which he got the time difference today.

It's debatable whether it was poor sportsmanship or not. If Contador had waited, Menchov and Sammy Sanchez could have gone by and threatened the overall lead. But Contador, as a 2-time winner, could have signaled to the other guys that they were waiting for Schleck because of his mechanical issue, and everybody would have held up. Riders contending for the yellow jersey have done that in the past. Contador will probably win the tour for sure now, but he won't be a respected champion this year - especially if he doesn't get an individual stage win either.

Time....Time
after...after
Stage15.Stage14.Cyclist...........Team
00:00...00:31...Contador, A.......Astana
00:08...00:00...Schleck, A........Saxo
02:00...02:31...Sanchez, S........Euskaltel
02:13...02:44...Menchov, D........Rabobank
03:39...03:31...Van Den Broeck,J..Lotto

05:25...04:51...Leipheimer, L.....Radioshack

 

[BB73]

Another competition that doesn't get much coverage is the team competition. Each day, just the top-3 riders for each team have their times added to the team score. Lance's Radioshack team is now trying to win that portion of the event, since they have no real chance at a podium finish in the individual GC (yellow jersey).

Here are the team standings before today's stage:

Time....Time
after...after
Stage14.Stage13.Team
00:00...........Caisse d'Epargne
00:08...........Radioshack
17:13...........Rabobank
18:38...........AG2R
26:32...........Astana
28:35...........Lotto

And after today's stage, Radioshack opened up a nice lead:

Time.....Time
after....after
Stage15..Stage14..Team
00:00....00:08...Radioshack
04:27....00:00...Caisse d'Epargne
17:23....17:13...Rabobank
20:56....18:38...AG2R
29:07....26:32...Astana
31:13....28:35...Lotto

 

[Oh8ch]

Contador was already responding to Schleck's attack when the chain came off, and with 3rd and 4th already on the move I understand why he did not wait initially. Once they were through and found out what had happened they could have slowed and waited. But at that point in the race (and I am not a Contador fan) you could make a case either way. In the end both riders swapped position for fan support. (How can you not be pulling for Schleck at this point?)

A statement by Schleck tomorrow to back up his words of today could make it one of the all time classic stages.

 

[BB73]

Contador was already responding to Schleck's attack when the chain came off, and with 3rd and 4th already on the move I understand why he did not wait initially. Once they were through and found out what had happened they could have slowed and waited. But at that point in the race (and I am not a Contador fan) you could make a case either way. In the end both riders swapped position for fan support. (How can you not be pulling for Schleck at this point?)

A statement by Schleck tomorrow to back up his words of today could make it one of the all time classic stages.

The other factor today was Andy really missing his brother. If Frank had still been in this race, he would have been with the lead group, and he would have been able to bring Andy back to Contador before the top of that last climb. Without him, there were no other Saxo riders left since they'd been setting the tempo as the defenders of the yellow jersey.

The tactics will change now that Astana has Contador in yellow. They'll be obligated to control the breakaways, and they'll do work to push the tempo at the beginning of climbs in order to split the peloton. Now Saxo can have guys like Voigt and Sorenson hang in the lead group longer to protect Schleck.

It will be harder for Astana to protect Contador if guys like Vino and Navarro are used up in setting the pace, rather than being around for the top half of le Tourmalet, which they'll climb tomorrow, and then after the rest day go up it again at the end of Thursday's stage.