[Closed] TdF Stage 19 [Possible Spoiler Content]

CaptainFlashheart - Member
**** me! It's all going on!

Awesome!

Time for an ITV ad break then.

Is Sanchez joining Saxo Bank?

Schleck seems to be sticking with Cadel without too much problem. Not sure he could get away from him but he seems to be in better shape than the same time yesterday

Rolland
Sanchez @ 12s
Contador @ 22s
Evans @ 56s
Schleck @ 57s

ish

well that was exciting 🙂 hope cavendish won't be outside time limit.

From Bobby Julich 2006 blog

Now, that was a bike race!

[s]Floyd Landis'[/s]Bertie's Stage [s]17[/s]19 ride on [s]Thursday[/s]Friday was the most amazing ride I have ever seen in my life and will go down as one of the best rides of all time, and [s]Landis [/s]Bertie will go down as one of cycling's gutsiest riders.

For him to bounce back like he did, after such a devastating blow to his confidence, it's nothing short of amazing, (a) to just have the mind-set to give it a shot at all, and (b) to maintain his advantage over the [s]200.5[/s]whatever-kilometer stage and the brutal last climb (12 kilometers on an 8.5 percent gradient).

Over the past few weeks, I was talking about how we were waiting for [s]Landis [/s]Bertie to put the hammer down and deliver that death blow to the field. The French newspapers were even questioning whether [s]Landis [/s]Bertie had that [s]American [/s]pharmacist warrior-like spirit in him. Thursday, the [s]American [/s] beefy one delivered it.

Rolland is a legend.

Cadel for yellow, been saying it for weeks.

RealMan agree with you 😉

And breath, what a race. Any news on Cav

AS has 57s over Evans as it stands.

And breath, what a race. Any news on Cav

Give it 20 minutes or so.

Shall we turn this thread towards Cav now? Does anyone care about anything else..?

AS has 57s over Evans as it stands.

not sure its enough, Schleck will start after Evans so will know all the timechecks etc and have the yellow jersey on his back. You've just seen the extra umph that gave little Tommy.

Sanchez in KOM?

57 seconds sounds like a lot to make up.

Bet cavendish is hurting at the mo.

well done to cadel- brave ride but I suspect AShl will turn himself inside out and keep yellow on the TT.

21 ish minutes for the cut off according to ITV.

25"08 according to eurosport.

My bad, mistyped.

18 minutes already passed I think.

yossarian - Member
57 seconds sounds like a lot to make up

I'm not sure - top 10 on the TT at the dolphiny (this will make sense if you listen to the real peloton podcast) was:

1 MARTIN, Tony (HTC-HIGHROAD) 55' 27"
2 WIGGINS, Bradley (SKY) + 00' 11"
3 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (SKY) + 00' 43"
4 ZABRISKIE, David (GARMIN-CERVELO) + 00' 58"
5 BRAJKOVIC, Janez (RADIOSHACK) + 01' 17"
6 EVANS, Cadel (BMC RACING) + 01' 20"
7 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 01' 36"
8 RIBLON, Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 01' 37"
9 TAARAMAE, Rein (COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE) + 01' 56"
10 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (MOVISTAR) + 02' 00"

Big range of times there - i think it could be another 1989 finish!

1. SCHLECK Andy 82h 48' 43"
2. SCHLECK Frank + 00' 53"
3. EVANS Cadel + 00' 57"
4. VOECKLER Thomas + 02' 10"
5. CUNEGO Damiano + 03' 31"
6. CONTADOR Alberto + 03' 55"
7. SANCHEZ Samuel + 04' 22"
8. BASSO Ivan + 04' 40"

KOM:

1. SANCHEZ Samuel 108 pts
2. SCHLECK Andy 98 pts

If there is a couple of seconds in it is it possible they will race for it into Paris? Or will it all be done by this time tomorrow.

come on cav!

Done by this time tomorrow I imagine, not the done thing to attack the yellow on the last day.

Rojas not in either. Time cut off is 25"09, about 22" gone so far.

Done by this time tomorrow I imagine, not the done thing to attack the yellow on the last day.

Well duh

but if it does come down to seconds tomorrow - can it be won on sunday..?

Here he comes, just outside with a big bunch

Jeez 10 seconds OUT of cut off!!!

Does anyone know how Frank Schleck time trial performances compare to Andy's? Could he make up 53 seconds and beat his brother?

Cav outside of time limit by ~20 seconds, with Rojas and Hushovd I think.

Rolland in white jersey as well.

As for TTing, I think it goes Andy<Frank<Cadel.

Well duh

Not a statement, answering a question.

Dur! 😉

either way cav has to win in paris to guarantee green, here's hoping he can

So what's the order of start tomorrow (no idea how these things work!)...

Cav still in green!!!

😀

So what's the order of start tomorrow (no idea how these things work!)...

Reverse time order, so Andy will be last. Like DH, from qualifying times.

So what's the order of start tomorrow (no idea how these things work!)...

Last to first I think.

no chance of it coming to the line in paris - they'd never keep up with the sprinters to stay away and will be too marked to make a long break.

order of start for tt is reverse GC so A Schleck last, evans will start 2 mins before him.

Interesting stat on Twitter on the time it has taken people to get up Alpe D'Huez in recent years:

Rolland needs 41:52 - 2011, F. Schleck 40:46 - 2006, Landis 38:34 - 2006, Armstrong 37:36 - 2004, Ullrich 38:37 - 2004 #TdF

So what's the order of start tomorrow (no idea how these things work!)...

Reverse of GC, so andy is off last, frank before him and cadel before him.

Cadel is the best TTer of the 3, then Andy, Frank is the worst.

then Andy, Frank is the worst.

I thought Frank was better then Andy.

Apparently there's a penalty for Cav et al, don't know for sure yet.

20 points.

1. CAVENDISH Mark 280 pts
2. ROJAS Jose Joaquin 265 pts
3. GILBERT Philippe 230 pts

Doesn't really change much.

So Cadel needs to blitz it, all to win for him tomorrow... c'mon Aussie, c'mon!! 😀

20 points, Rojas will also take the penalty.

if the gc result is close,why not race on the final stage?have they always let the rider in yellow automatically win (even if the time gap isn't that big).i know that lemond v's fignon (r.i.p) was 7 seconds (admittedly the final stage was a tt/but what a final stage 😀

Rolland needs 41:52 - 2011, F. Schleck 40:46 - 2006, Landis 38:34 - 2006, Armstrong 37:36 - 2004, Ullrich 38:37 - 2004 #TdF

Slightly misleading as the 2004 results are from the individual TT they had up the Alpe that year i.e. they started from "relatively" fresh at the bottom and were pacing for ideal power output rather working around the actions of others.

I thought Frank was better then Andy.

Nope. Neither is brilliant, but Frank the worst of the two.

For example: Annecy TT in 2009, Andy beat Frank by 49 seconds (FWIW, Evans beat Andy by 31 seconds in Annecy TT)

There is no way anyone can ever get away on the final stage as teams pull it back together because it has always been seen as "the sprinters" race like their biggest won to win, like say AdH was for the climbers. Cav won on the champs elysees the last 2 years and he's phenomenal, look how much he won by in 2009!!!

But can you explain this?

[img] [/img]

looked at the profile of the annecy tt and it nothing like the grenoble course so i wouldn't use it to make predictions

looked at the profile of the annecy tt and it nothing like the grenoble course so i wouldn't use it to make predictions

Cadel 1/2 with the bookies, Andy 1.7/1. Don't understand that mesel - CE odds on to take a minute off AS? Seems a wide disparity (between the two odds), maybe the money reckons AS is hammered from the last two stages.

Fantastic interview with Rolland, along the lines of 'I've been Voeckler's lieutenant for 10 days now, and today he said 'I'm done for, you go for yourself' so I new it was my time and I had to win' 8)

Felt like standing up and saluting, certainly impressed my non-cycling flat mate who was watching with me.

Unlike f*****g Schleck who still looked like he was sucking a lemon even though he'd won the stage.

As usual Evans was the best interview, I do love an odd ball. Going to be very close, I reckon before hand Andy S would have wanted 2mins going into the tt to be sure whilst cadel would have wanted it to be not much more than 30 seconds

if the gc result is close,why not race on the final stage?

i saw that interview, am sad for voeckler, but telling his team mate to go for it is amazing, how many of the others would have done that if they were in yellow.

How is tommy at tt? How amazing would it be if he could take some time back and make it onto the podium

stands a chance but I suspect his legs are shot.

For you Tommy, the tour is over...

As usual Evans was the best interview, I do love an odd ball.

That wasn't an interview, that was Matt Rendell chasing after him while he rode off and whined!

I'm still amazed at the amount of Schleck haters there is. Yesterady he rode near 60km by himself on what was one of the best moves of the tour, yet that wasn't enough. Today he could have told Contador to stuff himself but he chose to ride with him, up and down the other side when he prob knew he could of stayed in the leading peleton and get an easy ride to AdH. Then on Alps when it is in fact Evans who needs to be doing the attacking he rode most of the pacesetting, knowing those in front weren't much of an issue, and then when Evans gunned it he tracked him.
Personally he's ridden a terrific tour, he's yellow on penultimate day, and o.k. he did do 1 bad interview but rest he's been pretty open about, pretty cheerful and honest.
Look at other contendors
Contador - very poor tour, makes you wonder if now he has to be clean that before he wasn't. He made the hills look tough

Evans - Think he's ridden fantastically well but he's always been reactive instead of proactive. Always had to chase down instead of doing the breakaway. A good positive is though he can climb and chase down, just needs the acceleration of AS and AC

TV - Will go down as his tour and i doubt he will ever better this TDF but 2 weeks of yellow finally caught up with him. Think he rode an amazing tour but was never gonna win it

Basso - been very disappointing really, never did anything that stood out

F Schleck - Think he has had a good tour, was never really a contendor but lies 2nd with TT to go, you cant knock a rider for that. Never been in the headlines but mainly cos of his brother. Never looked like he had the power on the climbs to get away substantially

Wiggins - Actually think he will be kicking himself knowing what he could of done. Cav said he's been in the best form he's ever seen him, i can only imagine what the mountains would of been like if he was still involved giving the strength of the Sky team

Evans - Think he's ridden fantastically well but he's always been reactive instead of proactive. Always had to chase down instead of doing the breakaway. A good positive is though he can climb and chase down, just needs the acceleration of AS and AC

Cadel is more of a rounded rider. Why does he have to beat AS/AC on the climbs when he can gain the time on the TT, he 'only' has to match them which he hasnt quite done this year. Will he have enough to peg back the jersey?

I think FS's TT will be interesting. He looks to have a little more weight than his brother so although his power/weight may be down can he do something on a 'undulating' TT.

Raddogair, sure he's good, but knowing you're good, being good, but then complaining at the end anyway doesn't really endear you to anyone.

Its definitely been more than one bad interview, today he managed the double of whiney AND smug, which deserves some recognition at least, whereas the other day he was complaining about the precise shape of the stages not suiting him, as if the ability to handle a bike downhill was somehow of no importance in a bike race.

Bit harsh to judge the man on a combined total of 90 seconds of interview but hey, thats what being an armchair sportsperson is all about! 8)

I think Armstrong will win it. 😀

I think Armstrong will win it.

He'll probably find a way of doing it without getting caught.

thanks crikey! big laugh!

Contador - very poor tour, makes you wonder if now he has to be clean that before he wasn't. He made the hills look tough

You didn't watch the Giro then? It takes a very special talent at the peak of his talents to do a tour/ Giro double, Contador took too much out of himself in the giro.

AS did sound like a **** today, although it can be hard to get the nuances with Germanic accented English. Maybe he was trying to be funny. Ironically, I find Cadel's Aspergers approach to interviewing comes across more warmly.
Want to see Cadel gut it out, but can't complain if AS wins - he's ridden a great race.

Only points for the first 6, and it's kind of hard to see Vanendert or Sanchez making it into first 6 on either of the next couple of hills

Another brilliant ride from Andy Schleck, just need a good day tomorrow, was hoping more funny interviews from Cadel Evans, here some from the past 😆

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrpL6BA6PBQ

Ooh, Betty!

Speaking of interviews, this made me laugh a lot (though it is a bit cruel).

Been away for 2 days so just caught up on Sky+(having avoided this site, twitter etc!)

Brilliant riding and racing. Voeckler's done a cracking job, but even more pleased to see Rolland getting the win after his work over the last week.

I've gone off FrAndy (picking up on the "schleck haters" comment) after Andy's moaning about the descents and weather. That's racing,get over it. Everyone has the same challenge.

This has been one of the best Tours I've seen in the 28 years I've been watching it. Loving it.

Speaking of interviews, this made me laugh a lot (though it is a bit cruel).

PMSL "Where is Frank?..."

1:52 - brilliant, so true

 

13thFM - Think Schleck has proved in past 2 stages that he can handle a bike downhill, he wont be as good as contador or Evans but then AS is 10 feet tall so doesn't help his Centre of gravity.
As for his interviews, i think his accent as well as finding the right words to say in english dont help, christ if i was asked to answer in German i'd sound like a right ****, probably say something which i didn't know i was saying and be scowled on every single forum ( christ, i have a bad enough reputation as it is about having a huge ego without being aired on tv). To be fair to him tho, his interview at beginning of todays stage was fine and came across pretty positive

P.s. may see you at some point tomorrow, we'll prob be whinging about the climbs or lack of feed stations or more likely ' the bloody wind' 🙂

13thFM - Think Schleck has proved in past 2 stages that he can handle a bike downhill

I am of course being a massive hypocrite as I was praising Cavendish for giving interviews completely free of platudinous sportsperson-isms, which I loved, so shouldn't hold it against Schleck just because he's speaking his mind as well, just a shame it comes across badly.

I'll be lurking somewhere in the field tomorrow sporting my new Liquigas team kit, not feeling too positive about it but will probably feel great as soon as I'm in the saddle, have about 10 laps of Arthur's seat to my name in the last month as training, and of course many evenings on the sofa watching le tour with a beer... 😳

AS should have tried a bit harder in the sprint at the end. Had he won the sprint out of his little group he'd have a jersey to pull on in Paris. As it is, I've checked out the most recent available evidence on TT form, by looking at the TTs in the Dauphine (Evans and Voeckler), the Tour de Suisse (Frandy), and given nobody near the top of the results sheet rode both of those, the Tour of California which had both Leipheimer (also TdS) and Zabriskie (Dauphine).

Based on ToC result Leipheimer is very slightly slower than Zabriskie - just about the same amount Evans was slower than him in the Dauphine. Not unreasonable then to suggest Evans TTs about the same as Leipheimer. Now compared with Leipheimer in TdS, AS lost 2:19, FS lost 2:53, over a course only 3/4 as long as the one tomorrow. Not looking good for Andy on that basis. Meanwhile TV lost 1:58 to Evans over the same course as they're riding tomorrow, suggesting he TTs rather better than Frank - on the basis of those figures, TV should take more than the 1:17 he needs to get on the podium. Go Tommy.

(take that with a huge handful of salt - but it's the best guide to recent TT form I could find, and it does appear that all relevant people were trying in those stages which isn't always the case)

Oh yeah, almost forgot - Wiggins whupped Evans in the Dauphine.

It's raining in Grenoble too. That's going to help Cadel

Evans winning friends

I think Wiggins would have had an outside chance of a podium, but if he's able to peak again for the Vuelta crashing in the Tour could be seen as a blessing.

centre pages of Guardian sports section today, good picture of contador landing a right jab in the face of a spectator 😀

Is Evans like Stoner in MotoGP?

Good but nobody likes him?

Interesting theory - I like Stoner and Evans, Aussie bleeders and all that. Strewth and crikey.

Evans for the win, got to back the ex mountain bikers people !!