Not that anyone needs it, but it is cathartic for me and stops me from buggin co-workers, so here it is:
It was an awesome stage. There were a couple of things that surprised me. First, if anyone here ever even considered the chance that Thor Hushovd would have a 6 minute lead on EVERYBODY else after to cat 1 climbs, please raise your hand, as BYU71 needs a new market prognosticator. As I watched that unfold on the screen I was AMAZED. It was like Mr. Ed leading the Kentucky Derby by 20 lengths on the backstretch. Even thought you knew he wouldn’t win, what was he even doing there at all?!? Imagine if on the stage into Paris Andy Schleck wins by attacking off the front. That is almost as absurd. Thor's grasp on the green jersey may be insurmountable.
A point of information: the green jersey is commonly referred to as the sprinter's jersey, but that is not what it is really called. It is actually called the “points’ jersey and is awarded to the rider that collects the most points. Because the most points are awarded at the end of stages, the jersey is almost always won by a sprinter, hence the popular name. Today, however, Hushovd showed that you can also put yourself in position to win it by doing well on the intermediate sprints. It was an impressive ride by the big Norwegian.
There has been much talk about teammates lately: Will Lance ride as a teammate for Contador? Will he put his own interests in second position? I was skeptical that LA could begin himself to do this. He has never been a good teammate. Even when he won his world championship in his 20s he did so by ignoring the strategy he had been coached to follow. As a rider on the posties, he was a team leader, but NEVER the team follower. Today, however, he played his role well. On the final climbs (the Col de Somme and the Col de COlombiere essentially meld together into one climb) he found himself gapped by Contador, the Schlecks and Andreas Kloden. He also saw that he was with Wiggins. Wiggins is an excellent time trialist and so it is important for Contador to put as much time as possible into Wiggins in order to get past the ITT tomorrow. As a result, the Team move was for LA to stay with Wiggins and not to attack, which would allow Wiggins to use LA to pace himself back to Contador. To my mild surprise, LA did just that. He would periodically dance on the pedals, and pull alongside Wiggins, to show, I think, that he COULD have attacked, but he didn’t attack until near the end of the Colombiere after Wiggins had dropped VandeVelde and when it was clear that Wiggins had cracked. So was LA the good teammate? I have a cynical view of the guy, to be honest. I think he decided that there was no way he was going to be in yellow this year and so he determined he would ride as a teammate, which then gives him the excuse not the be in yellow and makes him look like a pretty swell guy.
Contador, OTOH, showed he is not a good teammate. On the Colombiere he and Kloeden were riding with the Schlecks. All Contador has to do is stay with the Schlecks and the game is pretty much over. Moreover, as some of you may recall, in 2005 Kloeden’s chance at victory on Colombiere was stolen by LA at the line (LA was annoyed that Kloeden had dropped Landis, who LA wanted to win that day so, in a move by the then “Patron”, LA caught Kloeden and pipped him at the line). So Kloeden was a sentimental favorite for this stage and most of us thought that, if they could, Astana would put Kloeden across the line in first. Contador ignores all these facts however, and decided to attack, on his own. His attack looked impressive for about 500 meters, but it was then reeled in by the Schlecks. Sadly, Kloeden could not cover the acceleration and was dropped. SO all Contador did was drop Kloeden and put more time into LA, perhaps keeping both of them off the podium. Thanks, Al, you’re a helluva guy.
There is no love lost between Contador and Astana in general. Levi tweeted during the race, when watching Contador attack, in sequence, as follows:
LeviLeipheimerWell, that wasn't a good move!!
LeviLeipheimerNow Alberto is isolated AND Andreas is dropped!
LeviLeipheimerI guess it's not meant to be for Andreas, what was a near sure victory will now be difficult
Lance also tweeted right after the race that: “Getting lots of question why AC attacked and dropped Kloden. I still haven't figured it out either. Oh well.”
It is a good question why Albert attacked. I think it is just like Crowton, he wanted to win by 9 and not 2. But he ends up just looking bad. It is probably even more galling to the Astana team to see Alberto’s attitude when they realize that he is only so far in Yellow because of the excellent Team Time trial Astana performed. You can never know how things might have unfolded in alternate scenarios, but there is no doubt Contador benefitted greatly from his very strong team earlier in the race.
It is hard to be climber. Most of those guys are like starving children from Asia from the belly buttons up. All upper body mass is pretty much dead weight on a bike and, unless you need the upper body to generate force in a sprint, you try to lose it. Thus we can count every one of Andy Schleck’s ribs when he is riding with his jersey unzipped. Not pretty. This brings me to one of the amazing things about LA. At the end of the stage, as LA was driving to the line with Vincenzo Nibali just in front of him, the camera took a long shot of the two approaching the finish. LA is behind Nibali and his silhouette is about 40% larger than Nibali’s, even though they are right next to each other. It looks, from that long shot, like a linebacker chasing a 10 year old boy. Nibali is a stick, and LA has cut arms and a V-torso. LA does not look like the typical bike rider. He is carrying about 5-10 pounds more than you might expect him to carry, I would guess. For someone of his build and age to climb as well as he has climbed is absolutely amazing. Whatever you think about him, you have to admire his heart and strength of will and his physical abilities. The guy is amazing.
Finally, someone mentioned the other day that drugs had been a non-issue. We can hope that will continue. It was reported that Danilo DiLuca tested positive in the Giro for CERA, the new form of synthetic EPO. Hopefully such positive values will not arise in the Tour.
It was an awesome stage. There were a couple of things that surprised me. First, if anyone here ever even considered the chance that Thor Hushovd would have a 6 minute lead on EVERYBODY else after to cat 1 climbs, please raise your hand, as BYU71 needs a new market prognosticator. As I watched that unfold on the screen I was AMAZED. It was like Mr. Ed leading the Kentucky Derby by 20 lengths on the backstretch. Even thought you knew he wouldn’t win, what was he even doing there at all?!? Imagine if on the stage into Paris Andy Schleck wins by attacking off the front. That is almost as absurd. Thor's grasp on the green jersey may be insurmountable.
A point of information: the green jersey is commonly referred to as the sprinter's jersey, but that is not what it is really called. It is actually called the “points’ jersey and is awarded to the rider that collects the most points. Because the most points are awarded at the end of stages, the jersey is almost always won by a sprinter, hence the popular name. Today, however, Hushovd showed that you can also put yourself in position to win it by doing well on the intermediate sprints. It was an impressive ride by the big Norwegian.
There has been much talk about teammates lately: Will Lance ride as a teammate for Contador? Will he put his own interests in second position? I was skeptical that LA could begin himself to do this. He has never been a good teammate. Even when he won his world championship in his 20s he did so by ignoring the strategy he had been coached to follow. As a rider on the posties, he was a team leader, but NEVER the team follower. Today, however, he played his role well. On the final climbs (the Col de Somme and the Col de COlombiere essentially meld together into one climb) he found himself gapped by Contador, the Schlecks and Andreas Kloden. He also saw that he was with Wiggins. Wiggins is an excellent time trialist and so it is important for Contador to put as much time as possible into Wiggins in order to get past the ITT tomorrow. As a result, the Team move was for LA to stay with Wiggins and not to attack, which would allow Wiggins to use LA to pace himself back to Contador. To my mild surprise, LA did just that. He would periodically dance on the pedals, and pull alongside Wiggins, to show, I think, that he COULD have attacked, but he didn’t attack until near the end of the Colombiere after Wiggins had dropped VandeVelde and when it was clear that Wiggins had cracked. So was LA the good teammate? I have a cynical view of the guy, to be honest. I think he decided that there was no way he was going to be in yellow this year and so he determined he would ride as a teammate, which then gives him the excuse not the be in yellow and makes him look like a pretty swell guy.
Contador, OTOH, showed he is not a good teammate. On the Colombiere he and Kloeden were riding with the Schlecks. All Contador has to do is stay with the Schlecks and the game is pretty much over. Moreover, as some of you may recall, in 2005 Kloeden’s chance at victory on Colombiere was stolen by LA at the line (LA was annoyed that Kloeden had dropped Landis, who LA wanted to win that day so, in a move by the then “Patron”, LA caught Kloeden and pipped him at the line). So Kloeden was a sentimental favorite for this stage and most of us thought that, if they could, Astana would put Kloeden across the line in first. Contador ignores all these facts however, and decided to attack, on his own. His attack looked impressive for about 500 meters, but it was then reeled in by the Schlecks. Sadly, Kloeden could not cover the acceleration and was dropped. SO all Contador did was drop Kloeden and put more time into LA, perhaps keeping both of them off the podium. Thanks, Al, you’re a helluva guy.
There is no love lost between Contador and Astana in general. Levi tweeted during the race, when watching Contador attack, in sequence, as follows:
LeviLeipheimerWell, that wasn't a good move!!
LeviLeipheimerNow Alberto is isolated AND Andreas is dropped!
LeviLeipheimerI guess it's not meant to be for Andreas, what was a near sure victory will now be difficult
Lance also tweeted right after the race that: “Getting lots of question why AC attacked and dropped Kloden. I still haven't figured it out either. Oh well.”
It is a good question why Albert attacked. I think it is just like Crowton, he wanted to win by 9 and not 2. But he ends up just looking bad. It is probably even more galling to the Astana team to see Alberto’s attitude when they realize that he is only so far in Yellow because of the excellent Team Time trial Astana performed. You can never know how things might have unfolded in alternate scenarios, but there is no doubt Contador benefitted greatly from his very strong team earlier in the race.
It is hard to be climber. Most of those guys are like starving children from Asia from the belly buttons up. All upper body mass is pretty much dead weight on a bike and, unless you need the upper body to generate force in a sprint, you try to lose it. Thus we can count every one of Andy Schleck’s ribs when he is riding with his jersey unzipped. Not pretty. This brings me to one of the amazing things about LA. At the end of the stage, as LA was driving to the line with Vincenzo Nibali just in front of him, the camera took a long shot of the two approaching the finish. LA is behind Nibali and his silhouette is about 40% larger than Nibali’s, even though they are right next to each other. It looks, from that long shot, like a linebacker chasing a 10 year old boy. Nibali is a stick, and LA has cut arms and a V-torso. LA does not look like the typical bike rider. He is carrying about 5-10 pounds more than you might expect him to carry, I would guess. For someone of his build and age to climb as well as he has climbed is absolutely amazing. Whatever you think about him, you have to admire his heart and strength of will and his physical abilities. The guy is amazing.
Finally, someone mentioned the other day that drugs had been a non-issue. We can hope that will continue. It was reported that Danilo DiLuca tested positive in the Giro for CERA, the new form of synthetic EPO. Hopefully such positive values will not arise in the Tour.
Comment