Did AS wait for AC when AC's wheel was defective? How time did Saxo get that day? 40secs or so?

The interview in French (at least what I read in l'Equipe) was hmmm....well, he was pissed ;-)

He said that this was going to give him extra motivation in the coming days.

Well, as Hesjedal said in his post-race interview, "it's a bike race".



I'll make a prediction: LA will say it showed no class....

It was probably the last 2K available to attack in the entire race, and Schleck was already gifted 6 minutes on stage 2. It looked to me like Contador got off the gas when he saw Schleck off of his bike. And ultimately, it's not his fault that Schleck mis-shifted.

By the way, how many times did Cancellara wait for Chavanel when Chavanel flatted on the cobbles and Cance took the yellow jersey back?? None. Saxo didn't say anything then.

You mean when Frank "Human Roadblock" Schleck threw himself on the ground and slowed up Contador? That's totally different, since Cancellara said they were allowed to race that day....

Noticing a break pad rubbing the wheel is not as easily noticed as a dropped chain.

What happened today just shows that Alberto was very insecure about winning this year's Tour. Andy now knows that Alberto fears him.

Sergio

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Note: English is not my first language. Please read this translated post considering that.

Good, I've become a huge Andy fan as of today. It should add to the drama of the Tour and overall be great for cycling for awhile.

I find all this talk about fair play interesting considering all the GC guys are drug cheats.

How exactly are you perfectly sure of that?

Sergio

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Note: English is not my first language. Please read this translated post considering that.

I find all this talk about fair play interesting considering all the GC guys are drug cheats.

You could easily argue that that makes it fair.

We'll never know because AC made the decision, himself, to keep riding the wheel rather than stop for assistance. I have no idea when AC knew his wheel was broken or if and when AC was ever aware. There's also a big difference between waiting in stage 3 of a wide open race and waiting in stage 15 of a two horse race.

If everyone on ST knows nothing about cycling (because they ONLY started following it 1999 or 2000), if all we do is regurgitate Sherwin and Liggettisms (even though your beloved Sean Kelly said the same thing), if , as you say, you predicted this laughably naive thread would appear long before I posted it...then why do you bother?

Why don't you just get uli and Carl's email addresses and have your own little party?

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"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

It wasn't a brake pad rubbing. It was a broken spoke and the wheel becoming more out of true as he raced.

From my perspective... AC DID SIT UP. But Menchov and Sanchez didn't... so he had no choice but to follow.

Or very unfair to the rider now in the 10th position.

Sergio

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Cn

When the spoke broke the wheel got out of true and "started to rub against the brake". Contador's own words.

Sergio

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I already have their email addresses...


AC answers: http://www.lequipe.fr/...e-ne-savais-pas.html

Let me see if I have this straight. Are you saying Frank Schleck crashed intentionally to slow Contador?

Hmmm...I guess you've never lost time going down a dead straight descent just because you couldn't close the gap to a group just prior to the descent, huh?

I have, and it's not like I'm totally "unaero" on my road bike or anything...

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It always happens to me. I guess it has to do with my braking all the time, because images of tires flatting and forks snapping arrive constantly as soon as the speed reaches 50mph.

"What happened today just shows that Alberto was very insecure about winning this year's Tour. Andy now knows that Alberto fears him."

This is my take as well. Lance, for example, never waited for a yellow jersey wearer OR contender while the race was still in doubt. Not in 1999, nor in 2004. He didn't even wait for Ullrich in 2001 after the race was decided. The only reason people say he did is because they believe what Lance tells them, anyone who watches the video would see him go with Beloki and Kivilev when they went by. But enough about Lance, the point is that the "rules" are not hard and fast, they are usually a matter of perspective and always open to interpretation.

In a way, this is justice because I don't really agree with the way Andy gained all this time on stage 3 after his brother blocked the favorites only to have Cancellara pull him to the finish, one stage after all the favorites waited for him.

An angry Schleck and a nervous Contador is great for us-and remember this is the Tour de France, ultimately the strongest rider is going to win.

Or very unfair to the rider now in the 10th position.

I agree on principle. My statement was based on the previous statement being true, that all of the GC guys are drugged. I guess if you go far enough down the line someone is getting screwed.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Brake pad rubbing - wrong. Broken wheel. Pretty hard not to notice a broken wheel.

AC said days ago the only man her feared was AS. Nothing today changed that.

AC has been riding like the race leader since the first mountain stage, as he should be. He is the leader of the race. All he needs to do is sit on AS's wheel and he wins. Every once in a while he test AS, but for the most part he's riding safe and smart. Schlek is riding like the race leader, and he'll lose the tour because of it. They go up today's final climb at a pace slower than Voekler, yet Schlek waits until the last 2 miles to go. Can ANYONE explain the logic of that. He isn't going to get much, if any time in such a short distance, and if he does gap AC, then AC will take him back on the descent. Schlek needed to go from way down. This is his type of climb. It shows that it's actually Andy Schlek who has the most fear. Not AC. AC is just riding smart. On the wheel all the time, looking for an opportunity to go if there is one, but not doing anything stupid. Great riding by him this year. He shouldn't have gone today, and he gunned the first 5 downhill km so I don't buy that he was really sitting up just following Sanchez, but I don't think he was obligated to. There's a difference between taking advantage of someone's misfortune and someone's mistake. You have every right to exploit a mistake. AS made a mistake today - bad shift followed by the lamest attempt to put on a chain that I've ever seen. Much different than a crash in a peloton where most who go down have down nothing wrong. LA had no obligation really to wait for Ullrich a few years ago - Ulrich crashed because he made a mistake. It was a classy, but unnecessary move.

That's your self-preservation gene expressing itself. That gene expression tends to increase the older you get ;-)

Now then...what I was referrring to above was no braking at all. It's pretty disheartening to see the group pull away as you're in a full-on aero tuck and going faster than it would be practical to pedal.

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Dead straight descent??? I guess I was watching a different race. You don't think AC is good enough to gap Schlek on the downhill? Maybe you need to watch more than just the TDF each year.

I guesss I wasn't clear. The point I was making was that a group of riders will pull away from a single rider (which Schleck effectively was) even on a dead straight downhill. It's not so much about bike handling ability, it's about group aerodynamics.

You stated that AS can't descend and used today's stage as an example of it. I'm just saying that the gap from the Contador group to Schleck increasing on the downhill wasn't all about bike handling/descending skill...got it?

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Here's what Barry Petchesky at deadspin.com had to say about today's stage:

http://deadspin.com/...manship-expectations

I haven't seen today's stage and was trying to avoid any seeing any results until I saw this headline screaming at me when made my once-every-two-months visit over to deadspin. So I read what Barry said then read through most of this post. I have no problem with AC dropping the hammer. The biggest bike race of the year is on the line. When it's time to go, you go.