SO after riding like a cat 4 rider today, what is going on with this guy, the last great French hope? IF he was not sick, injured, or completely fed up with the tour and the French press, I think he may have made a genius move today… Look what happened, he lost enough time that he will no longer be marked tomorrow, and he burned no matches at all today. After that stupid split he missed on the flats, his GC days were over, and the only glory left is a stage win. Tomorrow is a mountain top finish with lots of climbing, and he was climbing well before, just marked at every attack. He will be allowed in early breaks tomorrow, and hardly anyone that could challenge him on the last climb will not be let go. I say that he makes his move tomorrow for a stage victory, finishes out the tour, and retires with some dignity…
:)) -that may actually be a good prediction!
Valverde tried to make the same move, but didn’t go slow enough, though he was close!
Several commentators suggested before Moreau started that this would be indeed a good tactic. If you can’t anticipate a ‘bordure’, then pretend you are not dangerous. Actuall easy when it’s a fact!
I agree that is probably his strategy. But me thinks the Astana boys are going lay down some smack tomorrow and spoil the Frenchmans party.
I am not predicting any winners, but I am predicting tommorrow will be THE stage of the year.
I’ve been saying for the last few years that he needs to go for the King of the Mountains instead of the GC.
The fireworks on tomorrow’s stage will be great. Monty, I think guys like Moreau will be some lattitude to go several minutes ahread. Meanwhile the yellow jersey group will have Atsana in it. No way Rasmussen, Menchov and Boogard will let the Atsana boys go anywhere. If Vino and Kloden wants some time back they’ll have to go ballistic on the final climb, but how is anyone going to be dropping the Chicken. The boy is on fire!
I thought Moreau represented the French perfectly during that stage…
I thought Moreau represented the French perfectly during that stage…
Serious question, Rasmussen certainly can climb, but he’s always won his KOM by a huge breakaway day where there favorites didn’t mark him.
The days he didn’t break away and the contenders started fighting for it, did he usually figure into those finishes? I don’t remember if he was in the groups when Armstrong and Ullrich fought in 2005 up the mountains. IF not, then personally am not convinced he could not be dropped over the next 3 stages. If he did figure into those groups in 2005, then please scratch my comment.
I think there have been times when Ras finished with the main group in mountains in past. However, his goal perviously was the KOM. That’s a different race. If you strike out on your own to sweep up points before the main group, then you likely will concede the final KOM points in the last climb because you have been riding 100+ km out by yourself.
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Putting the days of Amrstrong/Ullrich aside, I think that today, the Chicken can mark any attack from the GC group, except for (“perhaps”) Contrador. He’s gotta be worrying about putting some time into Cadel Evans. To some extent, the Atsana boys may be his allies…if they can put the big time hurt on, I bet Atsana+Chicken+Menchov-Boogaard can distance themselves from Evans who seems to have minimal teammate support (relatively speaking)
The interesting thing is that Predictor-Lotto is third in the team standings behind Astana and Disco. Horner and Hoste both had solid TT (hope they didn’t spend themselves).
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