Cycling: Grand Tours, Classics, UCI ProTour, etc

[Tale]

Sad to see Cancellara have a bad end to the stage - he kept up with the climbers almost the whole way despite two punctures, then dropped off at the end and lost a whole 5 minutes. Other than that, I think the main rivals were just feeling each other out. Contador seems to have a lot in reserve - I think he could have accelerated much earlier. Poor bloody Cadel Evans rode well, fought hard, gained 10 places or so, but still lost time to Contador.

[lac]

It's great to see Cancellara buckle. It means he is for real and no cheater. He's just the best rider at what he does but he met his limit on a terrain that wasn't his. He simply doesn't have the physique to finish a stage like this with the top riders, especially not after all the work he put in this week.
Same thing with Cadel, when he attacks you don't see a rocket depart, you see a trained athlete upping the tempo, giving it all he's got. It isn't spectacular, it's a genuine effort only top riders can follow.

I can only hope that the blood samples collected today don't show, ten years from now, that honest riders like these two were robbed.

[Tale]

So Cadel breaks away, other riders tag onto his wheel, they get a minute on the peloton and suddenly the other riders are yelling "we don't want you in our breakaway, Cadel, they'll chase us down". Bit rough when it was his breakaway in the first place!

Meanwhile Nocentini is Astana's yellow puppet. Keep him 6 seconds ahead and the pressure stays off Astana.

[lamaros]

Lots of whinging about the radio-less days. Wonder if we'll see anything interesting on them.

[lac]

Looks like the team leaders have agreed to make this stage as boring as humanly possible. Guess they didn't like getting their arm twisted like that.

[Tale]

Yeah, it's so dull. Pleeeease give them the radios back!

[Tale]

[Tale]

Two riders shot at Tour de France

http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2009/news/article/13237/Air-gunman-hits-Tour-riders-Dean-and-Freire

[lac]

Unconfirmed rumours have Contador yelling 'This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps' towards Armstrong as he was taking off yesterday. In retort, Armstrong would have mumbled something which sounded vaguely like 'the dude abides' but sources differ on that one.

Anyway, with Armstrong looking vulnerable like that yesterday, the hunt for places two and three should be open. Let's hope for an entertaining last week.

[lamaros]

If Contador doesn't crack he's got it I'd say.

[Tale]

Sastre is still the dark horse for my money. In the Tour of Italy he climbed well enough to challenge Contador (who wasn't there).

[lamaros]

I wonder if anyone can pull something out of the hat. I would like to see Schleck, Sastre, or Evans do something, hell even Armstrong. But I don't know...

Schleck would have to do something astounding, considering he'll probably lose mroe time in the TT, but I've certainly seen him climb better than he did on Sunday.

Cadel supposedly struggled on Sunday but can bounce back, and unlike last year he doesn't seem to be carrying injuries, so maybe he'll perform better in the final week than others.

Sastre is probably about the same as Cadel for me, he can do something be he needs to start soon.

Tonight and tomorrow strike me as the times when they have to get time back though, I can't see anyone picking up enough from Contador on stage 20 unless they're already really close, so they need to hit him hard now. Very interested to see how tonight plays out.

[lac]

That was a fun little stage. If Saxo bank shakes the tree tomorrow the same way they've done these last two stages in the Alps we might see more casualties in the top ten.

[Tale]

Amazing to see Lance climbing like the Lance of old.

[lac]

It sure was. I wonder why he waited until they had 30secs on him to make the jump. Did he wait for a less steep bit, was he a bit winded when Schleck went or was his first instinct to conserve energy for the big stage tomorrow?

[lamaros]

It sure was. I wonder why he waited until they had 30secs on him to make the jump. Did he wait for a less steep bit, was he a bit winded when Schleck went or was his first instinct to conserve energy for the big stage tomorrow?

He also didn't want to carry Sastre or Cadel over the gap. But once it became clear they were blown...

[Tale]

Sastre caught up afterwards - finished in the Armstrong group, didn't lose any time. As for Cadel, I think he's fallen out with his team/sponsor/teammates. Needs a new direction.

[lamaros]

Sastre caught up afterwards - finished in the Armstrong group, didn't lose any time. As for Cadel, I think he's fallen out with his team/sponsor/teammates. Needs a new direction.

Yeah I was surprised at that one, Sastre must have hammered down to catch up as he was only a min (?) ahead of Cadel over the top.

Cadel needs to give in the dream and ride next year in support of someone else. He can't win the tour himself, he missed his chances, and I don't think he has the personality of a leader anyway. He'd be an excellent support rider though given his climbing skill and TT prowess.

[lac]

Next Thursday there should be an announcement about the new Armstrong/Bruneel team for next season. Not Nike but Google is rumoured to be the new sponsor.

edit: The new sponsor is actually Radio Shack

[Nebu]

Amazing to see Lance climbing like the Lance of old.

I hate to say it, but that climb showed Lance's age.  I think that gap close in stage 16 is a sign that Lance realizes he's past his prime. 

If he's not strong today, I think he will resign himself to a support role. 

[Tale]

Amazing to see Lance climbing like the Lance of old.

I hate to say it, but that climb showed Lance's age.  I think that gap close in stage 16 is a sign that Lance realizes he's past his prime. 

If he's not strong today, I think he will resign himself to a support role. 

I still think he was plenty strong enough to go with the Contador/Schleck break today. But it was a Schleck breakaway (no need for Astana to start anything), and it just so happened that Kloden was nearest Contador to help at the time. Lance got stuck with the "block Wiggins" role, which he did quite aggressively by braking in front of him as the others peeled off! So Lance then had to hang back to mark Wiggins, because any move to catch up would have let the Brit tag along. Lance lost 2 minutes taking one for the team. When Wiggins finally got dropped, Lance took off but there wasn't enough hill left to catch up.

[lac]

He did get stuck in the blocking role but I don't believe it was by choice. He is no longer the climber he was in 2001, 2004 or 2005. According to himself his VAM (average climbing speed measuring system as taught by Italian doctor Ferrari) dropped a 100 points from a world class 1800 to something around 1700, still decent but not enough to go head to head with Contador or Andy Schleck on a steep coll.

[ghost]

Lance got stuck with the "block Wiggins" role, which he did quite aggressively by braking in front of him as the others peeled off! So Lance then had to hang back to mark Wiggins, because any move to catch up would have let the Brit tag along. Lance lost 2 minutes taking one for the team. When Wiggins finally got dropped, Lance took off but there wasn't enough hill left to catch up.

Pretty impressive and shows Lance is a team player.  Too bad I hate Contador.  Go Schlecks!

[lamaros]

Some good racing. Wonder if Lance will hang on to a podium.

[Tale]

Astana is really imploding. Apart from Bruyneel and Armstrong confirming they will quit to start their own team, they are now sniping at Contador.

Bruyneel has called Contador "incompatible" with Armstrong and also revealed that in stage 17, Contador disobeyed an order not to attack, resulting in Armstrong and Kloden falling further back and the Schlecks gaining more time.

http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2009/news/article/16971/I-told-him-not-to-go,-says-Bruyneel
http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2009/news/article/15906/Armstrong-and-Contador-%27incompatible%27---Bruyneel

[Trippy]

Hehe. This reminds me of the LeMond - Hinault days.

[lac]

Looks like the Ventoux will be all about the battle for third place. Armstrong will need a very good day to defend his third spot from F. Schleck, Wiggings and even Kloden. Should be good fun to watch.

Armstrong's new team will be Team Radio Shack btw.

[Tale]

Cadel "oh my throat, oh my leg" FAIL: http://player.sbs.com.au/tdf#/tdf_08/interviews/interviews/playlist/Cadel-discontent/

[lamaros]

Cadel "oh my throat, oh my leg" FAIL: http://player.sbs.com.au/tdf#/tdf_08/interviews/interviews/playlist/Cadel-discontent/

If he wasn't Australian he'd probably piss me off quite a bit eh? Eh, I guess he does anyway.

He's 32. Needs to stop acting like he's 20.

[lac]

He's always been a bit whiny and sulky when things didn't go his way. Remember him headbutting the camera last year.

On top of his performance woes, his team is in talks to attract an extra big sponsor to build the team for next year (Cadel still has a contract for one more season) around both him and Jurgen Van den Broeck. As its a Belgian team, and Van den Broeck looks like he might be the first Belgian GT talent in decades, their focus is shifting more and more towards the young talent.

Van den Broeck lost 6 minutes during the team time trial after a fall early on because Cadel ordered the team not to wait (which made sense at the time but doesn't score him any brownie points with his bosses now). Despite spending energy trying to win a mountain stage by attacking early in three or four stages, Van den Broeck is now ranked 17th on 20 minutes while Cadel is (I think) 30th on 40 minutes.
Cadel's days as the only head honcho of Silence-Lotto seem to be numbered.

Here's the profile of today's climb, the mythical mont Ventoux.

[Tale]

Yawn. It turned into a boring, defensive group ride to the summit. I was wishing someone would do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXPXHK7I1iQ

BTW check out Bradley Wiggins' new body - remember this is a guy who previously had a track sprinter's physique.

[lac]

Today's race was all foreplay no finale. Kudos to Armstrong for that, he was good or at least as good as Frank Schleck and that was all he needed to put a lock on this final stage. Third place for the old man after three years of inactivity, no mean feat indeed. You just have to respect the man's cycling smarts.

As to Wiggins physique, he lost 7 kilo's before the Tour in order to climb better and, well, just did the Tour. I hope he gets himself a good steak, poor soul looks like he can use it.
Still, he never had Cavendish style thighs. This is him a little over a year ago (march 2008), I'd say a good ten kilo's more of a man than today.

[lamaros]

I would have love ot See Andy and Contador really go at it, as they seemed a class above, but they just didn't have any reason to do so and a fair bit of reason to hang back. Alas.

[Tale]

I would have love ot See Andy and Contador really go at it, as they seemed a class above, but they just didn't have any reason to do so and a fair bit of reason to hang back. Alas.

Yeah it seemed like there was a point halfway up, where they realised "Andy wants to bring along Frank, and Contador wants to bring along Armstrong, so what are we doing up here on our own?". They slowed down, let the others catch up, and Ventoux turned into a tactical yawn.

[lac]

It's been the tragedy of the Tour for the last two decades, every year the economic stakes become a little higher and every year riders and team leaders become a little more conservative. The Tour is the only event of the season where a sixth place can make a career. Logically somebody placed sixth won't make a daring move to end up third when there is a chance he'll fail and drop out of the top ten. Not in the most important event of the season. So every year after the first few mountain stages where the picking orders is cautiously established you'll see the teams and riders in the top ten go out of their way to play it as defensively as possible.

This year we saw the first tries of the organiser to spice things up a bit with the addition of the bald killer of the Provence, the Mont Ventoux, on the second to last day and the concession to the French television to do a couple of stages without modern communication. Both attempts failed miserably in creating interesting TV, good drama or world class cycling.

It does get a bit scary when you start going back in history to find those last heroic cycling moments in the Tour, you know the last few times that had everybody hopping on the edge of their couch.
It were the times of Ricoh, Rasmussen or Landis, all so very sexy but all so very wrong.

Still in these days of whereabouts, biological passports and samples preserved and retested for ten or more years, cycling is evolving and so is the format of the races and the mindset of the riders. While I don't see much change coming to the GT's anytime soon, the classics seem to have recovered from the craziness that were the 90's and are attractive to watch.