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le Tour about to climb the first HC

seshomoru

seshomoru

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Apr 24, 2006
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The la Madeleine is looming next in today's stage. Lance crashed three times on Stage 8 and is out of the running for the general classification. Levi Leipheimer is still ninth, and he may end up with Lance as a super domestique. Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck, and Alberto Contador will more than likely be the battle for yellow in Paris. There are quite a few quality riders within three minutes, but those three would be my bets. Well, Contador would be my bet above everyone else. I'm just rooting for Evans or Schleck.

Anyway, if you've never seen le Tour mountain stage, tune into Versus and give it a shot. The fans are insane and you can almost feel the pain the riders are in. It's a pretty cool event. No summit finish today, which are classic, but it'll be good times to the top of la Madeleine.
 
karlchilders.sixpack

karlchilders.sixpack

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With about 190 riders, "packed in", motorcycles, support cars, and the CrazyAssed crowds...this stuff is superdangerous.

Been interesting.
 
seshomoru

seshomoru

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Apr 24, 2006
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karlchilders said:
With about 190 riders, "packed in", motorcycles, support cars, and the CrazyAssed crowds...this stuff is superdangerous.

Been interesting.
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It's definitely an hell of an event. I'm still pissed Versus is charging for online streaming this year. I've got to go fight the soap ladies in the break room to watch sprint stage finishes. Think I'll just follow the tour tracker on the website and watch the mountain stages at home later.
 
karlchilders.sixpack

karlchilders.sixpack

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Contador and Schleck have been gluded together,

Evans has struggled. Looks tired.

Todays round will be done soon.</p>
 
seshomoru

seshomoru

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Apr 24, 2006
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karlchilders said:
Contador and Schleck have been gluded together,

Evans has struggled. Looks tired.

Todays round will be done soon.</p>
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Yeah. Cadel cracked badly. Schleck and Contador just showed everyone that this is a two man race. Andy is gonna have to get time on him somewhere in the mountains if he wants to hold him off on the time trial. Contador just never cracks, so I don't see it happening.
 
P

patdog

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May 28, 2007
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Contador is going to be unstoppable. He'd probably be over half way to Lance's record by the end of this Tour if he hadn't had to sit out the 2008 Tour. I wouldn't bet against him matching the record.
 
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BriantheDawg

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May 24, 2006
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to say about that. Contador just doesn't look as strong as he did last year, to me anyways. Of course I am pretty much talking out of my *** since this is only my 2nd year to tune in to Le Tour.

Sesh - how big of a lead do you think Schleck will need to have to hold off Contador in the time trial? You obviously don't think his 41" that he currently has is enough?
 
seshomoru

seshomoru

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Apr 24, 2006
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In a 40.5km ITT on Stage 18 last year, Contador won with Schleck 1:45 out. That's losing about 2.6 seconds/km. This year, the only remaining time trial is the day before Paris and it's 52km. Based on last year's result, Schleck would need at minimum a 2:15 lead. I have no doubt Schleck has improved his time trialing. Problem is, so has Contador, and he was already one of the best in the world at it.

Andy has looked great through these first mountain stages, and it's clear he'll be holding nothing back in an attempt to drop Contador in the mountains. It's really his only hope. As for the other top GC contenders? The only way any one besides Schleck or Contador wins is if they both wipe out on a descent and break their legs.
 
seshomoru

seshomoru

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Apr 24, 2006
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It wasn't so much Evans that cracked. It was his elbow. After the stage today, his team revealed that he had cracked his elbow in a Stage 8 crash. They hid it because they didn't want teams attacking on lesser mountains. They're hope was that he could just find a way to hang on up the la Madeleine. He obviously couldn't.

//I don't think I'd be able to type this post with a cracked elbow.
 
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weblow

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Mar 3, 2008
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He just absolutely fell off the pace and that is not like him.

On a side note, it was nice to see someone challenging Contador today. For some reason, I really do not like that guy.
 
seshomoru

seshomoru

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Apr 24, 2006
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weblow said:
He just absolutely fell off the pace and that is not like him.

On a side note, it was nice to see someone challenging Contador today. For some reason, I really do not like that guy.
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It's the ego/confidence of being the best, and Contador's rivals Armstrong's. It's very aggravating to lot's of people.

It's also that stupid pistolero crap he does when he wins a stage.
 
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