Posted on 07/04/2009 8:09:14 AM PDT by Mom MD
LA:
St 17 done. Tough day! Got caught out on some attacks on the col de romme but managed ok from behind. Had some cramps @ the end. No fun!!
LA:
Getting lots of question why AC attacked and dropped Kloden. I still haven't figured it out either. Oh well.
W_Pahlkletzer:
@lancearmstrong: I see you are upset because of the attack of AC. But I don't think you waited for Heras or Landis back in the days...
LA:
@W_Pahlkletzer No but I always followed team orders. Always
W_Pahlkletzer:
@Lancearmstrong: I understand. Good luck tomorrow and the Ventoux, I do have lots of respect for you!
Further tension building in Astana camp?
By:Gregor Brown Published: July 22, 20:04, Updated: July 22, 21:53
The Tour de France drama inside the Astana team camp was supposed to have ended when Spaniard Alberto Contador assumed the team leadership and the maillot jaune in Verbier on Sunday, but he may have caused more friction with his attack near the top of the Colombière today.
While Contador looked to distance himself from Saxo Bank brothers Fränk and Andy Schleck, he not only succeeded in dropping teammate Andreas Klöden, who was third overall behind at the start of the day, the eventual split pushed the German further away from hopes of a podium finish in Paris.
"I spoke about attacking the Schleck brothers with [team director] Johan Bruyneel, the goal was to gain minutes. I also spoke with Klöden on the climb, and he told me to go for it," Contador said.
...snip...
"I told [Contador], 'you don't have to attack today to win the Tour de France.' The difference was already there to Bradley Wiggins, who we were most worried about," said Bruyneel.
Article about attack.
And his little dog, too. ;>)
I was thinking of the brother angle while watching them work together, thinking how proud of Andy Frank must be.
This from Andy's twitter:
andy_schleck - After a bad day like yesterday with jens we hat super day today frank win I m so happy for him! He s the best brother an Friend you can have
about 3 hours ago from UberTwitter
I really wonder how much this dumb move hurt AC.
He was unable to shake off the Schleck brothers, and according to the Swedish Eurosport commentators (experienced riders, both of them), AC looked very worried on the rest of the climb. They thought it would have been v..e..r..y interesting to see if he would have managed to hang on if the brothers had counter-attacked. Also, he looked really tired a the end of the stage.
So will he be able to recuperate physically and mentally for tomorrows TT? Probably, but I wonder what Johan B told him after the race?
“It’s a bit of a pity that Andreas couldn’t hang on, because I think we could have been first, second and third on GC, and instead, we are first, fourth and fifth.”
Bruyneel said Contador’s punch played into the hands of the Schleck brothers, upping the tempo and leaving Klöden isolated for the final two kilometers to the summit.
“I had advice not to do. He didn’t need to go,” Bruyneel said. “It was clear that the Schleck brothers would go full gas to the summit.
Honestly, at lunch just now I was trying to think what would have made AC pull a stunt like that. After all, it was a pretty risky strategy for his own podium prospects to put himself up there alone & unprotected with the Schleck bros, not to mention the fact that his high-powered acceleration today could threaten his performance level in tomorrow's ITT - all without much real benefit to him personally, it would seem.
And the only thing I can think of is that he's just flat-out paranoid Johann & Lance are conspiring to betray him on Ventoux & snatch that top spot from him at the last minute. He evidently doesn't trust them at all, and he was just looking in investing in a little insurance policy for himself on the side, maybe?
Otherwise I'm mystified & poor Kloden got screwed for nothing.Also from Andrew Hood's article:
Klöden was immediately gapped by 20 seconds as the Schleck brothers chased down Contador. Realizing that Klöden was on the ropes, the Schlecks went even harder. At the summit, Klöden was 1:15 back and lost even more time on the descent.
Klöden, who rarely speaks with reporters, did not have anything to say at the finish line, so it’s hard to gauge his reaction. He was able to stay with the Schlecks until Contador attacked, but he was also clearly struggling on the upper reaches of the climb and the 15km descent.
After the dust settled, the Schlecks took the psychological advantage of slotting into second and third, at 2:26 and 3:25 back, respectively, while Klöden, who started fourth at 2:17, drifted back to fifth at 4:44 back.
And hey listen, Tyler could do worse for himself. I hear the Lanterne Rouges make quite a lot of money in post-tour appearance fees and they evidently enjoy a year-long reign of intense chick-magnethood too.
Superior climbing strength enabled the Schleck brothers to move up to the second and third places on Wednesday, but they are not great time trialists. That’s why Armstrong, Klöden and Wiggins all have hopes of displacing one or both of the Schlecks.
Armstrong, who has won more Tour time trials than any other current racer, has the best chance of succeeding. He has to make up 30 seconds on Fränk Schleck, and perhaps put another minute into him, to make sure that he can hang on to a podium spot on the Ventoux. It will be more difficult for him to make up the 1:30 he needs to move back ahead of Andy Schleck into second place.
Klöden (who is 49 seconds behind Armstrong) and Wiggins (58 seconds back of the Texan) have an even tougher task to make it to the Paris podium. They are both superior time trialists, but Thursday’s time trial is coming after 2,910km and 17 days of racing. All the riders are feeling the burden of another fast Tour.
As Andy Schleck said after stage 17 in Le Grand Bornand, “Everybody is tired. I felt tired for the first few hours of today’s stage, and I told the team I didn’t feel great. But I was also thinking that on Ventoux people will be even more tired. That could be good for Fränk and me because we both recover well.”
His big brother used similar thinking to assess his chance of staying on the podium till Paris. “We know we’re not the best at time trials — especially me — but whatever we lose tomorrow I hope we can take back on Ventoux.”
The only other individual time trial in this Tour was on day one in Monaco. Over 15.5km, compared with the 40.5km they will race on Thursday, Contador was the best of the current top six. Wiggins was next best (at one second); then came Klöden (at five seconds), Armstrong (at 22 seconds), Andy Schleck (at 42 seconds) and Fränk Schleck (at 1:18).
If those times are extrapolated to 40.5km, the elder Schleck would lose 2:31 to Armstrong, and his younger brother would concede just 52 seconds. If that becomes reality then Armstrong would likely claim third pace on the final podium, leaving Andy Schleck in second.
The danger with that theory is that Armstrong was not at his best in Monaco; he’s much stronger now, and will likely challenge Contador for the stage win in Annecy. Although there’s a Cat. 3 climb in the TT loop around the stunningly beautiful Lake of Annecy, the Côte de Bluffy is less than 4km long, climbs through 730 vertical feet, and has an average grade of 6 percent.
The climb is preceded by 25km of complete flat roads while the final 12km from the summit is nearly all downhill. Such terrain would seem to favor Armstrong over Contador and the Schlecks. In the best possible circumstances for the Texan, he will move back into second place after the TT — and he’ll then have to get the support of Klöden and Contador on Mont Ventoux to hold that position into Paris on Sunday.
Another element that should favor Armstrong is the forecast weather conditions. The lightly built Contador and Schleck brothers will have a harder time fighting the forecast 40-kph head and crosswinds over the opening 19km, as well as on the descent of the Bluffy hill. Also predicted for the late starters (including all the contenders) are thunderstorms, when sudden downpours and swirling winds could hinder the smaller riders even more.
If the conditions are better for the early starters then look for a stage-winning performance from world TT champion Bert Grabsch of Columbia-HTC (who starts at 11:54 a.m. local time) or Olympic champ Fabian Cancellara of Saxo Bank (1:42 p.m. start). But the true interest in this time trial will come three hours later, when the battle for the podium will be in full swing.
-----------------------------------
THE CONTENDERS
Starting times of the top eight riders on GC
Christian Vande Velde — 4:26 p.m. (10:26 EST)
Vincenzo Nibali — 4:29 p.m. (10:29 EST)
Bradley Wiggins — 4:32 p.m. (10:32 EST)
Andreas Klöden — 4:35 p.m. (10:35 EST)
Lance Armstrong — 4:38 p.m. (10:38 EST)
Fränk Schleck — 4:41 p.m. (10:41 EST)
Andy Schleck — 4:44 p.m. (10:44 EST)
Alberto Contador — 4:47 p.m. (10:47 EST)
Getting lots of question why AC attacked and dropped Kloden. I still haven't figured it out either. Oh well.
I always followed team orders. Always
This tells me one thing - Lance is pissed, and I would lay money he is going to attack early Saturday and is going to try and lay waste to Ventoux.
If you know what I mean. ;>)
Thanks for the start order, leilani.
Hey, just wondering (everyone can chime in) - between Andy & Frank, which Schleck brother do you think is smarter?
How pissed? This pissed?:
"I got a threshold, Jules. I got a threshold for the abuse that I will take. Now, right now, I'm a f@#$%n' race car, right, and you got me the red. And I'm just sayin', I'm just sayin' that it's f@#$%n' dangerous to have a race car in the f@#$%n' red. That's all. I could blow."
Or this pissed?:
Well, I'm a mushroom-cloud-layin' motherf@#$%r, motherf@#$%r! Every time my fingers touch brain, I'm Superfly T.N.T., I'm the Guns of the Navarone!
If Lance were on a different team I would guess he would be planning to go after Contador with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch, but who knows, he still might be. Metaphorically speaking of course.
I was under the impression that Nike had already been announced. But if that isn’t official I guess that will be the announcement tomorrow. I know some on the thread (or maybe one of the now deleted threads) said they don’t know about someone who stands to financially benefit from the sponsorship beyond just goodwill being the sponsor, but I don’t have a problem with it. It is what it is. As long as they don’t interfere with the way Lance and Bruyneel run the team I think it is pretty benign.
I’m still holding out hope that Apple is a sponsor, I’m an unabashed fanboy. Someone on Twitter said they thought Lance was an HP guy and he responsed “Apple guy...” Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it would be a pretty cool sponsor.
I meant to reply to your other post about Apple, Mr. Blonde. Apple would be a great choice, I think. A win-win from both sides.
Chump change for them, too. I’d just like to see someone step up and continue once Lance really does back away from racing; it would help American cycling so much.
MOre along the lines of :
“Now I am going to get Medieval on yo a$$”
lol Glad to see we have more PF fans on the thread! ;)
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