Posted on 07/02/2010 11:30:15 AM PDT by Ready4Freddy
Hey Mr, Blonde! Yeah, AC & AS are showing folks who’s-who. Glad AS has Jens, Astana has left AC out to dry.
Jens no longer able to help :<(
To be fair to Astana, there is apparently only one other guy in the whole tour who can keep up with Contador on an HC climb.
Hopefully Andy keeps his nerve through the descent. Still, going to be hard to win without more time separating him from Contador before the time trial.
Ouch for Cadel Evans though.
The breakaway leaders got caught w/ their thumbs up their asses, AS/AC 2” behind them at finish
I think they finished with the same time. Amazing.
Schleck maintained 41” gap over Contador, Cadel is histoire, Levi went form 2’14” to 3’59”
Overall after Stage 9:
1. SCHLECK Andy 11 TEAM SAXO BANK 43h 35’ 41”
2. CONTADOR Alberto 1 ASTANA 43h 36’ 22” + 00’ 41”
3. SANCHEZ Samuel 181 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 43h 38’ 26” + 02’ 45”
4. MENCHOV Denis 191 RABOBANK 43h 38’ 39” + 02’ 58”
5. VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen 101 OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 43h 39’ 12” + 03’ 31”
6. LEIPHEIMER Levi 25 TEAM RADIOSHACK 43h 39’ 40” + 03’ 59”
7. GESINK Robert 195 RABOBANK 43h 40’ 03” + 04’ 22”
8. SANCHEZ Luis-Leon 161 CAISSE D’EPARGNE 43h 40’ 22” + 04’ 41”
9. RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin 77 KATUSHA TEAM 43h 40’ 49” + 05’ 08”
10. BASSO Ivan 41 LIQUIGAS-DOIMO 43h 40’ 50” + 05’ 09”
AS/AC were 2” behind, I think.
WTF happened to Voigt, he was ~41” behind at crest, but should have been able to close on AS/AC on the descent.
Unless Andy has been hiding a newfound ability to time trial, he is going to have to find a way to drop Contador. I don’t think 41” is enough.
Also important, can Levi get the time back he needs to be on the podium?
41” will not be enough, you’re right.
Andy has to have some lead in mind that he’s got to have before the TT, but that’s way in the future. Lotta mountains between now and then.
Big question to me is AC going to suck wheel for the next 8-9 stages? I think we’ll see some epic confrontations in the Pyrenees!
Not sure about Levi, but I do not think so.
From last year it looks to me like Contador’s ego is too big to actually sit back and just stay with Andy through the mountains. At some point he will try to prove he is the best climber. Tactically he could certainly sit on this 41” deficit for the rest of the way and just be confident in his TT skills.
If Andy gets to where he can TT pretty decent this will be an incredible rivalry. I think for Andy’s sake he needs to come under the tutelage of Johan Bruyneel and Lance Armstrong. ;)
It’ll have to be a duel ‘cuz Andy can’t afford not to attack a lot.
I like the idea of Andy coming over to RSH!
Yeah, baby! Go Radio Schleck!
Oops, accidentally pinged R4F instead of you for the above.
Sorry guys. (Man, I’m about as klutzy posting on FR as a Euskatel rider is on a bike!)
*
aka 'bleeding carrots', I read. lol
"Unfortunately, Lance crashed, there were again lots of crashes today," he said post-race. "Euskaltel really needs to learn how to ride bikes. It's just shocking. I don't know whether that's controversial or not, but I don't care. They've probably caused every crash in this race... It's really unfortunate for Lance because he wanted to finish this Tour de France in style, and now..."
LOL, he didn't mince words. And wouldn't ya know it, Euskaltel had yet another huge crash this morning!
"If you see an orange jersey near the front during a sprint finish, you just know [a crash] is coming...It looked like he was trying to crash and finally did on the third or fourth attempt."
(from cyclebanter.com circa 2009)
It would be funny except these guys are taking other riders down to the pavement with them.
Well, since no one else is here at the moment I might as well...
claim 500!
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