Thread: Tour de France
View Single Post
Old 02-07-2011, 22:11   #45
RowerB RowerB is offline
Участник
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,485

Sorry for quadruple posting.

2011 tour is upon us and it looks like being another showdown between Contador and Schleck. There are no silly cobble stages this year so all the main contenders have a fair chance.

Gilbert won stage one and takes the yellow jersey. Contador and Samuel Sanchez were delayed by a crash and lost 1min 20secs. Kreuziger lost 1min 55secs due to the same crash.

My prediction for Paris:
1. Contador
2. Schleck
3. Wiggins

Tomorrow sees the stupid team time trial stage. Hopefully no one will gain or lose much time.


Edit 03/07/11
The team time trial was not too bad for most of the overall contenders, but Samuel Sanchez’s Euskaltel – Euskadi team finished last and he is now over three minutes behind Schelck. Contador’s Saxo Banks lost just 24 seconds to the Leopard-Treks of Schleck.

Edit 08/07/11
Bad crash in the main pack today eliminated Wiggins and cost Kreuziger 3mins 6secs.
There are a few climbs on the stage tomorrow, so we may see a bit of action from Contador and Schleck as a foretaste of what is to come when the tour reaches the high mountains.


Edit 09/07/11
Contador put in a couple of token digs in the last kilometre of today’s final climb (category three), but he was easily matched by Schleck, so they abandoned hostilities for now and rode in with the pack.

Kreuziger, hurting from yesterday’s crash, lost over 20 minutes.

Edit 10/07/11
Several riders eliminated by crashes today including Van Den Broeck, Vinokourov and Txurruka.

Edit 14/07/11
Three major climbs finishing at Luz-Ardiden ski station guaranteed action between the main contenders today. While Schleck and Contador were marking each other, it was Frank Schelck who gained most. Though he failed to catch Samuel Sanchez for the stage victory, he took 20 seconds out of Evans, Basso and brother Andy, and 33 seconds from a struggling Contador.

Frank Schleck is now second overall with Contador seventh 2 minutes 21 seconds behind him. More importantly Andy Schleck has 1minute 43 secs on Contador.

The tour remains in the Pyrenees for the next two days.

Edit 19/07/11
Little happened in the general classification standings in the Pyrenean stages, but as the race headed towards the Alps today Contador attacked. A breakaway filled the first ten places on the stage, but Contador and Sanchez survived the wet technical descent into Gap, finishing just three seconds behind Evans and taking one minute three seconds out of Andy Schleck.

Tomorrow’s stage again finishes with a technical descent. Andy Schleck said today he thought this kind of stage finish should not be used in the tour. I agree with him. I do not like seeing the overall contenders taking majors risks to keep in contact with the nutcase descenders.

Edit 21/07/11
A big mountain stage today. Andy Schleck attacked on the second climb, 60km from the finish. With a bit of help from a couple of team mates who had been in an earlier breakaway, but mostly on his own, he got a lead up to 4 minutes over the group of favourites, before Evans took up the chase on the final climb of the day. The rest of the contenders followed Evans, but first Samuel Sanchez, then Contador cracked. Evans finished the stage just 2 minutes 15 seconds behind Schleck.
With another major mountain stage tomorrow, Andy Schleck is 15 seconds off yellow and leads Evans by 57 seconds. Contador and Sanchez are too far back to be a threat.

Edit 24/07/11
Andy Schleck took the yellow jersey in the last alpine stage, but there was no real change among the main contenders. However, a blistering time trial yesterday catapulted Evans comfortably into yellow and he stood a top the victory rostrum today in Paris, flanked by Andy and Frank Schleck.

Cavendish won on the Champs-Élysées for the third year in a row. It was his fifth stage win of this year’s tour and he held on to the green jersey.

It was a fairly entertaining tour, but the early crashes eliminated too many of the favourites and troubled Contador.

The joke of the race for me was the staggering form of Voeckler who got the yellow jersey when his breakaway succeeded on stage nine, and he magically transformed into this tour contender who could climb the high mountains with the favourites, eventually finishing forth overall just 3 minutes 20 seconds down on Evans. Having to wear a yellow jersey before he is prepared to push himself makes him a poser in my book. Not the hero the stupid commentators would have us believe.

The tour always has stunning French scenery and now I have to wait a year for my next fix.

Last edited by RowerB; 24-07-2011 at 23:39. Reason: Adding info
  Reply With Quote