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lofter

i expect contador to open the whoopp ass tommorow , but im rooting for LA. im off tomorrow so ill be watching. more drama , love it. if LA hangs tough on friday that probably really messes with contadors mind. as for hinault hes starting to sound a little like lemond now , bitter. no offense nicolas Wink

Wisey

Wisey

Have to agree re: LA. He's certainly showing himself to be the smartest guy in the race so far. I think he will go all out to deliver a psycological blow to Contador today. I'm wondering if LA was being prophetic a few months ago when he claimed that Astana could go 1-2-3 on the podium at the Tour. It just might happen! At least he had the good grace to admit that that wouldn't be good for the'show'. I'll be happy as long as Contador doesn't win. I'm kind of hoping that Evans will do a deal with LA. Help him win the Tour now, in return for a job on a new LA/JB team next year. Cadel should have changed teams 2 years ago.....

sandranian · Site Admin

I can't believe Cadel still can't find a team to support him. What the heck will it take for that guy? I guess he has to WIN the tour before anyone will build a team to help him!

Contador will probably ask Bruyneel if he can attack tomorrow. That would be an interesting conversation to hear, wouldn't it? I'll bet LA does everything in his power to stay with Contador so that he is still the "leader".

All he has to do is take the yellow jersey tomorrow, and Contador is screwed.

Wisey

I agree. I think that if Contador wants to win, he will have to break team orders and attack LA. As far as Cadel is concerned, your guess is as good as mine. Lotto is a good team, but they are not a Grand Tour team. I cannot believe that CE wasn't getting offers 2 years ago when his contract was up with Lotto. Can you imagine if he was on the Columbia team last year?

sandranian · Site Admin

Stage 7 underway....

On today's stage: Bruyneel just said that he didn't think it would be "decisive", because it wasn't that tough of a finish. Didn't think there would be big time differences....

That bodes well for Lance Armstrong....

sandranian · Site Admin

Contador is too good. Unless he has a really bad day, he is looking unbeatable.

scozim

sandranian · Site Admin

Wow. Look at you go.

Contador blew the race apart. I would imagine that had anyone been able to catch him, Lance would have been right there, and Contador's tour would have been pretty much over. But no one was able to match that acceleration.

Have to give kudos to Cadel Evans for trying an attack even if it didn't work. More than anyone else did today. To come to think of it, it was more than Cadel Evans has ever attacked during a tour!

Also cool that Christian Van de Velde was able to hang on in the lead group. I hope he has a chance at a stage win or something. For a bit of trivia...did you know that his dad John was one of the "Italian (Cinzano) Team" riders in the movie "Breaking Away"?

Fun link to pictures of the Cinzano bike race part of the movie...
http://picasaweb.google.com/DiabloScottsBikeBlog/BreakingAwayCinzanoRoadRace#

nicolas · Last edited by nicolas on Fri Jul 10, 2009 1:16 pm; edited 1 time in total

Very impressive move from Contador...Sastre was nowhere to be seen, Andy Shleck tried but did not quite succeeded in catching him...I'm just amazed everyone waited until the last 2km before attacking.

Evans must be pissed...after he was chased by Contador helping Valverde, this time he was caught by a Caisse d'Epargne rider (Sanchez ?).

Anyway : check out tomorrow's stage. Finish is in St Girons where we go twice a year on vacation. Col d'Agnes is my favorite climb of the area. If the weather is fine, we should have a beautiful scenery on the lakeside.

...And just in case you were wandering : I'm not there because 1/I just started a new job and 2/ U2 is in Paris this week end !

sandranian · Site Admin

CONTADOR'S ATTACK NOT PART OF ASTANA PLAN
from www.cyclingnews.com

Armstrong not surprised, however

Though they both race in the colours of Astana, Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador continue to be more convincing as rivals than teammates.

As he recovered at the summit finish to Friday's seventh stage, Armstrong dropped another hint or 10 that he and Alberto Contador, who attacked his group with 2 kilometres remaining, are racing to different agendas.

Asked if Contador's move had been pre-arranged, Armstrong said, "That wasn't really to the plan, but I didn't expect him to go by the plan, so [it was] no surprise."

Astana was prominent as stage seven saw the Tour enter the mountains, assuming responsibility for chasing down the break, with Armstrong sitting comfortably close to the front, Contador on his wheel. The order from team director Johan Bruyneel, said Armstrong, had been to "chill out a bit, slow down," as they climbed to the finish at Andorre Arcalis, even though Armstrong - or indeed Contador - had a good chance of taking the yellow jersey.

As it turned out, Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R La Mondiale) claimed the lead by just six seconds, with Contador moving up to second, Armstrong to third, just two more seconds behind his teammate. Missing out on the jersey was no bad thing, suggested Armstrong, since it was "better to preserve the team a little.

"Like I said, I wasn't surprised [by Contador's attack, but] it was windy, so it was hard to be alone in the wind," continued Armstrong.

"When you've got a guy away, like I've said all along, my obligation is to the team. You've got to stay on the wheels. [Andy] Schleck put in some good moves, Cadel [Evans] put in some good moves, Wiggo [Bradley Wiggins] at the end put in a good move."

Armstrong confirmed that he is climbing better than he was at the recent Giro d'Italia. "I have a lot better legs than at the Giro, that was to be expected." But the climb - and the headwind - may have been a factor in keeping the main group largely intact. "It's not a very steep climb, so the speed is high, and there were constant rhythm changes as it changed from headwind to tailwind, headwind to tailwind.

"It's maybe not my speciality, but not bad considering," said Armstrong of the climb. "I didn't expect [to give] a demonstration like some of the other years on the first mountain day. The wind wasn't conducive to that. You saw a big group there [at the finish], but there are plenty of days at the end of this Tour when there are only [going to be] a couple of guys together."

Who the couple of guys might be, he didn't say.

sandranian · Site Admin

Nicolas: According to Lance, the wind might have had a hand in preventing attacks until the end. Also, these guys are saying that it wasn't that steep....

Looked plenty steep to me!

scozim

Not a big surprise with thse comments. I didn't get the feeling that the move by Contador was planned today - caught too many by surprise. Evans definitely impressed me.

By the way, the climbing for me is done - 30 km total ride (18.7 miles), 13.7km (9 miles) of climbing (half of that was at 6-7%) on my TdF. 59 minutes total so I'm feeling pretty good today even if the legs are a little tired.

I'm eagerly awaiting tomorrow's stage.

nicolas

Apparently the last 3 km where "only" 5-6% but it looked harder...you're right about that wind factor.

Wisey

Contador might be a bit immature on the bike but he was smart enough to set up some alliances before the Tour started. Hence closing the gaps for Valverde in the Dauphine. Now the Caisse team will ride for him in the Tour. He's still a dumb ass though. He could have kept up the pretence for another week and had Astana working for him with Caisse as back up. Now that he has 'broken ranks' the Astana riders will side with LA. He has that enigmatic personality that engenders loyalty. Contador's move will be seen within the team as a betrayal. He just shot himself in the foot. But hey, that makes it more exciting for us to watch. I think LA will get better and better as this Tour goes on.