Tour de France - 2011 *Congratulations to Cadel Evans- 2011 Tour De France Champion*

[Bornadog]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

My prediction last night was off the mark. Thought Alberto and Sanchez had more in the tank and would show dominace in the rarefied air. Got to give it to Leopard Trek last night, their strategy paid big dividends. Thought Cadel's ride was brilliant. If only he had the burst last night to breakaway. Voeckler's yellow has been saved off the back of the free ride Cadel gave him. If not for Cadel, the Tour would've been over on completion of last night's stage.

Voeckler is a bloody sponge and doesn't deserve the yellow jersey in the traditional sense.

The yellow jersey should be sharing some of the lead but no Voeckler just hangs off the back of Cadel.

If Cadel can hang in around the one minute off the lead, he can come home in the time trial which the Schlecks are not renown for.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

It just demonstrates how much this thing is a team game. Armstrong would not have won as many as he did without a dominant US Postal team, and now the LeOpard guys are just dominating overall. If Cadel had a decent team around him he would already have a Tour win and this one in the bag -- he's the team's best flat rider, best climber, and also the best descender. BMC are not very well balanced this year, with flat specialists and spring classic type riders. If Cadel had a climbing specialist beside him the way Armstrong had Heras, he would have blown the field away yesterday.

[Greystache]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

Voeckler is a bloody sponge and doesn't deserve the yellow jersey in the traditional sense.

The yellow jersey should be sharing some of the lead but no Voeckler just hangs off the back of Cadel.

Cadel can hang in around the one minute off the lead, he can come home in the time trial which the Schlecks are not renown for.

We said that 2 years ago and unfortunately Cadel imploded. He's a more mature rider this time around, and has the expectation he'll win, so I'm confident if he can hang in there tonight he'll get it done. I just hope he doesn't get leeched off again and loses his punch for the TT.

[Mantis]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

We said that 2 years ago and unfortunately Cadel imploded. He's a more mature rider this time around, and has the expectation he'll win, so I'm confident if he can hang in there tonight he'll get it done. I just hope he doesn't get leeched off again and loses his punch for the TT.

Of course he will.

Unless Contador has had a grease & oil change (it wouldn't be the first time) only 3 people can realistically win the tour... Cadel & the 2 Schleck's. The 2 Schleck's will give him both barrels tonight knowing that they are weaker on the TT, all the rest will be hanging off Cadel's wheel hoping he cracks such that they can put some time on him to try and get a podium finish.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

Of course he will.

Unless Contador has had a grease & oil change (it wouldn't be the first time) only 3 people can realistically win the tour... Cadel & the 2 Schleck's. The 2 Schleck's will give him both barrels tonight knowing that they are weaker on the TT, all the rest will be hanging off Cadel's wheel hoping he cracks such that they can put some time on him to try and get a podium finish.

What will be fascinating tonight is to see how Cadel handles the two Schlenks. The pair of them will try to work Cadel over so does Cadel bite the bullett and just cover Andy when Frank goes?

Frank could end up winning the bloody thing.

[Mantis]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

What will be fascinating tonight is to see how Cadel handles the two Schlenks. The pair of them will try to work Cadel over so does Cadel bite the bullett and just cover Andy when Frank goes?

Frank could end up winning the bloody thing.

If the Schleck's gang up on Cadel (as I expect them to do) he won't be able to cover all the moves. Much depend on how the likes of Basso, Contador & Rolland go tonight as they should be able to help.

Agree that Cadel just covers Andy's wheel, if Frank goes it will be a case of just limiting your loss to less than 1 min.

[Bornadog]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

If the Schleck's gang up on Cadel (as I expect them to do) he won't be able to cover all the moves. Much depend on how the likes of Basso, Contador & Rolland go tonight as they should be able to help.

Agree that Cadel just covers Andy's wheel, if Frank goes it will be a case of just limiting your loss to less than 1 min.

Watching last night you can forget Contador, he is gawn.

I was also surprised by the non performance of Sanchez.

Go Cadel

[LostDoggy]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

Really?

The likes of Contador, Basso & Sanchez should have been up the front trying to limit their losses to AS too.

Maybe I wrote that a bit wrong. Not sure why he even he looked around, knew no one was going to help him. If he wants to win he needs to make the move himself, which he did eventually and disregard those that leached off him

[Doc26]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

Cadel looked around because he was wondering what the heck was going on with Contador and Sanchez. There was an appearance that they where scheming up something. At one moment Contador put in a mini challenge to head off after Andy, next second he fell off the pack. This was a critical moment for Cadel as he no longer had Saxo and Euskaltel to work with BMC to get stuck into the Schleck's.

I'm hoping that tonight Contador might get 'juiced' up to provide support to Cadel. If Contador and Sanchez still have hunger and capability tonight then Cadel is well in the hunt.

Right now, Frank looks as much a concern for Cadel as Andy does as he 'cruised' up last night's Cols yet unlike Voeckler has room to do damage tonight depending how Leopard Trek go about their strategy.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

I'm hoping that tonight Contador might get 'juiced' up to provide support to Cadel. If Contador and Sanchez still have hunger and capability tonight then Cadel is well in the hunt.

Contador and Sanchez needed to team up with Cadel last night to stay in the tour. It won't help them now if they drag Cadel up the hill, in fact, that is the guarantee they won't win the tour as they can't drag 2 minutes off Cadel in the TT (they won't win anyway but they might be clutching at straws).

Do they really care if they lose to Evans rather than Schlenk?

Right now, Frank looks as much a concern for Cadel as Andy does as he 'cruised' up last night's Cols yet unlike Voeckler has room to do damage tonight depending how Saxo go about their strategy.

How many petrol tickets can Andy, Cadel and Voeckler possibly have left?

Frank could do some damage tonight if he tries.

[divvydan]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

Tonight will be the real test for BMC. They can't help Cadel in the ITT and the last stage to Paris is pretty much just a victory stage. Tonight BMC have to turn themselves inside out for Cadel, help set the pace when he needs it, help counter the dual attacking threats of the Schlecks and if Cadel needs time on an early breakaway tonight in the valley floor before L'Alpe d'Huez, they need to reel them in unlike last night when Brookwater tried but couldn't match the speed of the Leopard-Trek rider.

[Greystache]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

Of course he will.

Unless Contador has had a grease & oil change (it wouldn't be the first time) only 3 people can realistically win the tour... Cadel & the 2 Schleck's. The 2 Schleck's will give him both barrels tonight knowing that they are weaker on the TT, all the rest will be hanging off Cadel's wheel hoping he cracks such that they can put some time on him to try and get a podium finish.

Of course they will, I was more referring to losing his punch on the TT tomorrow. He's widely recognised as the best time trialler of the contenders, the Schlek's will probably gang up on Cadel just as much to reduce his advantage in this area as they will to gain time. It seems that the Schlek's don't care who win so long as it's one of them.

[Doc26]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

If Contador and Sanchez still have hunger and capability tonight then Cadel is well in the hunt.

Contador and Sanchez needed to team up with Cadel last night to stay in the tour. It won't help them now if they drag Cadel up the hill, in fact, that is the guarantee they won't win the tour as they can't drag 2 minutes off Cadel in the TT (they won't win anyway but they might be clutching at straws).

Do they really care if they lose to Evans rather than Schlenk?.

I'm not yet convinced that Contador would see his Tour as over. I'm just as interested tonight in seeing Saxo's strategy as I am Leopard Trek. What if Alberto sets himself for a stage win ?

IF, Contador backs himself, then Cadel can benefit from this rather than Leopard Trek (Saxo last year) stuffing it up Cadel which I'm bloody sick of.

Although I've hit the wall now, I can't wait to see how tonight's stage unfolds.

[Bornadog]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

I'm not yet convinced that Contador would see his Tour as over. I'm just as interested tonight in seeing Saxo's strategy as I am Leopard Trek. What if Alberto sets himself for a stage win ?

IF, Contador backs himself, then Cadel can benefit from this rather than Leopard Trek (Saxo last year) stuffing it up Cadel which I'm bloody sick of.

Although I've hit the wall now, I can't wait to see how tonight's stage unfolds.

Saxo have given no help to Contador throughout the whole tour. Even last night when he swapped bikes, there was no one there to help him to catch the pelaton again.

Contador may even try and see if he can at least get a stage win tonight.(if he has it in him)

[EasternWest]

Re: Tour de France - 2011

Wow. What a tour.

I don't love Evans (though I admire him), but the guts he showed after his mechanical issue to claw his way back was supreme.

A good chance now if he can crank out a good TT.