Contador vs Schleck....game on!

[karlchilders.sixpack]

Despite the Contador stigma, I'm pulling for Andy.

Will be plenty of action on this tomorrow, Andy will push it, the cat and mouse game is over.</p>

 

[majors42]

Andy is pretty pissed, he's going balls to the wall for the rest of the race. the next two should be pretty action packed and I hope Andy kicks his ***

 

[elsid76]

don't understand why some folks are whining about Contador going ahead. Sorry, this is professional cycling and
it very quickly was obvious that Sanchez and Menchov were both going and at only 2 minutes back, with as much
climbing as there is left it would not have been a good idea for Contador to sit up and wait for Schleck. I understand
that Schleck is mad and he should use that energy on the next couple of stages (Tues and Thurs). Of course it is always
fun to try and create controversy so asking Schleck what he thought about it...he started off fine saying that it was up
to someone else to decide if it was "fair" then said that he "would not have raced that way". Sort of easy to say when
he is in his shoes but in the heat of battle, who really knows. My question is this, how many stages should the others
stop racing for him? Did anyone else stop to help Nicholas Roche back on when he flatted? How many helped Lance
when he flatted on the cobblestones? If you are alone, late in a mtn stage a mechanical is not reason to stop racing.

just one former bicycle racer's opinion

fyi, I like Schleck and Contador so really don't care which one of them wins. It is a great tour and I am quite happy
for Paul and Phil to have something to talk about besides Lance.

 

[seshomoru]

Had to be out of town today, but just got caught up.

No problem with the attack. It was Schleck's error on dropping the chain. Big problem with the pistolero on the podium. Schleck is going to be relentless the rest of the way. Should be great.

 

[BriantheDawg]

Contador for attacking after Schleck's chain fell off, but it still sucks for Andy and he has every right to be pissed as hell about the circumstances. He was attacking himself when all of this went down and then all of a sudden, due to some very bad luck, his shot at winning this thing may have gone up in smoke. I was really hoping he'd keep his 30 second lead going into the ITT the next to last day of The Tour. I was really hoping he could bust it on that and pull the upset, but now it looks like a mere formality that Contador will win. The next 2 days should be very entertaining for sure, but I just don't see any chance that Contador lets this get away from him now. Of what little I know about cycling and the TdF, I think the race pretty much ended today, which is why I hate what happened. That's some MState type luck Mr. Schleck had today.

 

[NapoleonDynamite]

I knew there was some gray area about when to stop for another rider, but Robbie Hunter said a lot of riders thought Contador should have waited. He explained the difference between the cobblestones and today was that Schleck was wearing the yellow jersey at this point whereas Contador and others were not when the troubles happened on the cobblestones. He said the 'gentlemen's rule' is to NOT take advantage of the wearer of the yellow jersey due to a mechanical or 'nature break' issue. So, he thought Contador should have waited - and said the rest of the peloton would have as well if Contador had.<div>
</div><div>I'm not a big Contador fan, but was 50/50 on whether it was the right thing to do. However, when Contador claimed, post-race, he had already made a charge and didn't know Schleck had had a chain problem, he's just flat out lying. He was still behind Schleck at that point. In fact, he appeared to start his charge when he realized Schleck was having problems and looked back numerous times. He knew exactly what he was doing. I think he's the kind that does what he wants to win.</div><div>
</div><div>Tomorrow should be fun. Hope Schleck makes a good race of it and there's more headbutting! I wouldn't be surprised to see a WWF style "Unholy Alliance" between Armstrong, Schleck and others for the rest of the Tour to get back at Contador.</div>

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

Taking an uneducated stance, because I've learned more about TdF over the last two weeks than I thought I knew.(learned a lot, have enjoyed it, have not had Versusuntill recently).

I agree with the Flat out lying that AC did not know what had happened. I don't know if it mattered, but he knew.

At the award ceremony for Contador, half of the crowd BOOED. Their opinion is greater than mine(in this case).

 

[elsid76]

one key distinction is that Schleck started the attack and Contador was responding when the issue happened.
having done serious attacks on a climb, and coming out of a group it is possible that AC did not know right
at first what happened but he was aware that something had happened for Schleck to be slowing as much
as he was. If they had been riding together and AS had the issue, then AC attacks, to me that is different
and would have been extremely poor sportsmanship. While I am fine with him not waiting I agree with most
that it was not a great thing to do, at least from a PR standpoint and really I don't think it was necessary as AC
is a much better TT rider than Schleck and could likely take 1.5 to 2 minutes out of him on Saturday. With the
rest day Wed and a pure mtn top finish Thursday....that will be the day to watch and then see what happens
in the TT. Agree with it or disagree I think the boos are a bit tacky.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

I personally don 't know enough to contest what you are saying,

I'll just saydue to what has gone on, ...it's going to be interesting,

Looks like AC is in the drivers seat, but AS still has a good chance.

I'm still pulling for AS.

 

[elsid76]

What is interesting is that evidently they are good friends and both made positive comments yesterday so
Thursday will be a very interesting stage ending with a monster climb. No way to hide on this one. Then
the TT on Saturday where Contador has the edge. Overall a great tour and the race for 3rd is very good too,
with a 13 second split between Sanchez and Menchov. Getting on the podium in Paris is a serious achievement
so they will be after each other as much as Contador and Schleck. Again, the edge there will likely go to the
best in the TT on Saturday, although Sanchez did drop off for a bit on one of the climbs Tuesday. I personally
am fine with Schleck or Contador winning. Schleck will win it at some point, just maybe not this year, if he can
continue to work on his time trials.