This year’s tour is pretty much a repeat performance of most of Lance Armstrong wins to date and its following the Team Discovery script perfectly.
Open a couple of minutes on the big rivals on the TTs, keep that lead to the mountains, take another couple there, coast into Paris with a bottle of champagne in the bottle cage.
Why have none of the other teams made an effort to throw a spanner in the works?? T-Mobile seemed to have Lance isolated at the front a couple of days ago when Kloden attacked but Ullrich didn’t go with? Does Ullrich think he can sit on Lance’s wheel and either blow him away in one mountain stage? or worse in the final TT?
These guys seem to think that Lance will somehow give them the Maillot Jaune rather than having a plan to come and take it. The only guy with any sort of plan plan to attack Discovery thus far has been Bjarne Riis when he ran Popyvich off the road in his team car.
These guys all seem to be sitting back and waiting to see what happens…and we all know whats gonna happen! Nobody wants to roll the dice and make a big challenge because that might threaten their 4th or 7th place in the GC.
The only guy with any sort of plan plan to attack Discovery thus far has been Bjarne Riis when he ran Popyvich off the road in his team car.
I thought it was Popo’s own DS, Johan Brunheel, who ran him off the road with a team car?
It’s like they’re all scared to attack. They’re all think “jeez, we can barely hang on to his wheel now…if someone pisses him off he’s likely to embarass us all and make us ride alone…we better just sit here and ride with him for a while.”
Rasmussen has it down to 38 seconds for the moment. T-Mobile can’tfigure out who their leader is. CSC was the most intriging but then Disco put the hammer down yesterday that left only room for survival rather than tactics.
I agree except you gotta admit, seeing Lance attack, even if it’s just once in the entire race, is something to see. Admit it, it gets your blood pumping.
Next year is going to be wild. Valverde vs. Basso vs. Kloden vs. Popo vs. ?
Yes, barring a musette wielding fan, this race is over but for 2nd and 3rd place.
I’m not sure where you expect the other contenders to attack, granted Lance was isolated in that one stage, but that was an anomoly and I can’t see it happening again.
Take a look at today’s stage, of the final 15 over the Galibier, I believe 6 were Discovery riders, and Discovery didn’t even ride hard up the final climb. If some one who mattered attacked, Disco would have turned up the pace, brought them back and all it would have done is cause Vino and Botero to be caught and drop a couple more guys out the back of the leading group.
Maybe the best way to attack Discovery would have been be to do it from Day 1 on the flat stages and hope the sprinters teams don’t come to the rescue. Maybe then they could have tired out some of the Disco climbers before the race got to the mountains and eliminate the escort that Lance always get on the climbs. This is a strategy no one has tried yet and it probably wouldn’t work anyway. But since Lance won’t be back next year we will never know.
Saturday T-Mobile attacks repeatedly with two riders to set up a counter attack by the third. It didn’t play out but Kloden gets away and makes up a fair amount of time. Today Vinokourov attacks early to either make up the time he lost yesterday or tire Discovery out to set up counter attacks. It didn’t work according to plan as Discovery were able to hold Vino to 2-3 minutes, but again they get something for the effort. So while T-Mobile’s tactics might not be succeeding the way you wish they were, the only way you can say they’re sitting back waiting to see what happens is if you aren’t looking.
Why have none of the other teams made an effort to throw a spanner in the works?? T-Mobile seemed to have Lance isolated at the front a couple of days ago when Kloden attacked but Ullrich didn’t go with? Does Ullrich think he can sit on Lance’s wheel and either blow him away in one mountain stage? or worse in the final TT?
This is like asking why Poland didn’t hold off Nazi Germany in 1939. I don’t care what plan they had, they didn’t have the firepower and it wasn’t gonna happen. If you think Ullrich, Kloden and Vino weren’t going at their limits on Saturday, you are mistaken. Unless they were just testing to see how strong Armstrong was, in which case they found out.
Saturday T-Mobile attacks repeatedly with two riders to set up a counter attack by the third. It didn’t play out but Kloden gets away and makes up a fair amount of time. Today Vinokourov attacks early to either make up the time he lost yesterday or tire Discovery out to set up counter attacks. It didn’t work according to plan as Discovery were able to hold Vino to 2-3 minutes, but again they get something for the effort. So while T-Mobile’s tactics might not be succeeding the way you wish they were, the only way you can say they’re sitting back waiting to see what happens is if you aren’t looking.
The only problem with Vino’s attack today is that in the eyes of Discovery it was meaningless and made it impossible for either Kloden or Jan to attack since they wouldn’t want to chase down a team mate. This is an example of bad strategy by T-Mobile, handicapping the one rider who probably has a chance to get on the podium (Kloden) by an attack from someone who can’t (Vino). If Discovery thought he had any chance of contending for the yellow jersey they would never have let him ride away. Now if Rassmussen or Basso tried that and were able to get away it would have been a different story.
At least the Poles charged their cavalry right into the middle of the German Panzers and gave it a go.
Seems to me like all the other teams have surrendered to Discovery without any sort of coordinated attack. So far the attacks have all come from guys who would not be termed the team’s #1 rider…individual efforts. Vino went for it today…but was it an effort to open up time on Lance or just a try for the stage win. He took that descent pretty easy, Botero took nearly a minute out of him in the first 10K…granted Botero is a great descender, but if Vino was serious about winning the tour he would have been riding on the edge the whole way down
You don’t get many chances to dethrone a great champion and Ullrich had one the other day and did nothing. He is riding for 2nd place as usual.
The only problem with Vino’s attack today is that in the eyes of Discovery it was meaningless …
The attack wasn’t meaningless. Discovery neutralized it so it had no effect. Had Vino been able to open a 7-9 minute gap and Discovery worn themselves out, it would have opened the door for Kloden or Ullrich or given Vino the lead or a much higher placing. I’m not arguing it succeeded, but the fact that the tactic wasn’t successful or wasn’t even the best possible tactic only proves the point that T-Mobile were out there trying something.
"…, but just once I’d like to see T-Mobile race as a team up the mountain and put such a high tempo that DSC can’t match it. In all the mountain stages in 7 years you would think that would happen at least once. "
It did. The year Armstrong faked being in trouble only to come around and attack up Alpe d’Huez.
They do make it look easy and we all know it’s not but just once I’d like to see T-Mobile race as a team up the mountain and put such a high tempo that DSC can’t match it. In all the mountain stages in 7 years you would think that would happen at least once. At least it would make things interesting.
They need to take the pace to DSC, what have they got to lose?
You remember The Look on Alpe d’Huez? Telekom attempted to do just what you are suggesting on the penultimate climb, when Armstrong was “yo-yo-ing” off the back in simulated difficulty. All it succeeded in doing was fry the Telekom riders and give the Postal boys the day off. When they got to the Alpe, Rubiera and Armstrong finished them all off.
What team leaders attacked today? and how many teammates did they have with them for the push?
There hasn’t been a single coordinated attack on Armstrong by a serious contender yet this year. Basso, Ullrich, Landis, leipheimer et al have been sitting back and watching while the #2 and #3 guys have launched solo attacks but there hasn’t yet been a team attack on Lance. Perhaps theres a strategy in there somewhere, but from where I’m sitting it looks pretty much like the strategy they’ve used the past 6 years with so much success.
