Another reason to root for the guy. How can you not root for him to win the tour after watching him crash once per mile during that TT?
Me, I was a fan after watching his 65 mph descent that year . . .
Um, ok, i’ll take the bait and ask what the heck you’re talking about?
Bob
Discovery will have to attack Rasmussen really early to have any hope of getting yellow by Sunday. Disco will probably try and use a tactic they employed in the TdG a couple years ago on a stage to Brasstown Bald.
LA was a minute and a half down on Landis, so he attacked a long way out. Landis had to respond so he chased Armstrong and dragged Danielson with him. Landis worked too hard for too long chasing down attacks once he was isolated Danielson got away for the stage win and the TdG win.
I think they’ll have to play a similar game on Wednesday. Try and send Levi up the road early and hope Rasmussen has to chase him down himself. Evans needs time to and he won’t let Levi go, but I would think they’d cooperate for a little while.
I think that the attacks of Leiphemer will season the Chicken and Contador will put him on a spit and roast him. The seasoning will be salt and pepper. I don’t think Levi’s got any cajun seasoning in him.
I’m 50/50 on Disco trying this. They may just let Contador try and beat Rasmussen one-on-one and let Levi try and dump Evans to get his podium spot.
Either way it should be fun.
“he looked like a monkey humping a football on his bike.”
LOL
.
Not sure what the game plan will be, but Johann is the master tactician.
From Ronan Pensic:
"The fact I have really noticed today and that I wanted to share with you is that there is pretty much nobody in the Tour who wants to see Rasmussen win the yellow jersey in Paris. It’s like even all the journalists and so on want to see him down so we can stop talking about this whole drug problem. I saw Rasmussen at breakfast this morning and this guy is so obsessed by his weight that he is even replacing milk in his cereal with water so there is less fat. He seems to be a bit on the edge, if you know what I mean.
Is that the kind of leader you want to see or identify yourself with? Not sure…"
Are you saying there won’t be any calendars featuring Skeleton Man?
Thank you- the voice of reason.
I wouldn;t cancel the remaining stages and give the chicken his cheque yet. His drumsticks are mighty fried after the TT, yesterday and today. By the time the chicken gets to the foot of the climbs tomorrow, everyone in the rest of the field will start looking a little more like Colonel Sanders.
OK, I’ll admit it - I am missing something. Please explain to me why Levi is out of this thing. I see Contador pushing the hell out of Rasmussen and Levi biding his time and staying in the hunt.
Rasmussen was already vulernable today… why couldn’t Disco finish him with one big push on Wednesday and put Levi in a position where he can win it in the final TT?
I have been following the results but haven’t been able to watch the last couple of stages so be gentle.
B
This is going to be nuts. We don’t even know what Disco is really planning. Contador could go really hard and try to crack Rasmussen to put Levi back into position to take it back in the final TT, or Levi could do the same thing. So no matter what Discovery does, Rasmussen has to counter. Personally, I think Contador and Rasmussen will get off their bikes on the last climb and have a fist fight.
Not sure if this has been posted yet, but found it on Velonews (quote from Contador):
“I attacked Rasmussen to try to challenge him,” said Contador. “I saw that he was a little worse than yesterday, but he was able to follow me. On Wednesday, I am going to play for it all. Second place doesn’t matter. I am going to risk all to win. If I end up in sixth, it doesn’t matter.”
I think this is the next logical progression of programming that Tom Demerly is seeking:
Rasmussen was already vulernable today… why couldn’t Disco finish him with one big push on Wednesday and put Levi in a position where he can win it in the final TT? \
Two words, Cadel Evans…And saying you will finish off the chicken and his team, is different than having the cajones to do it…
Wed: Disco drives hard all day and counters any attacks. Contador, Levi, Popo and George attack at Col de Marie Blanque… Levi continues to sit back and suck wheels until Col d’Aubisque and then puts a minute and change into a cracked Rasmussen.
Sat: Starting about a minute down on Rasmussen, Levi goes all out on the TT and puts another 2:30 into Rasmussen and rides the yellow jersey back into Paris.
Or not…
They way you describe it, you would think it was a dual meet. I think some of the other teams will have something to say in what happens Wed… There will be early breaks of non contenders again, they will be controlled by Rabobank again, and the same two guys will be riding to the top together, maybe for the win, maybe not. Depends on how much they give the break of non contenders…
Let me get this straight
Levi gets 1 min on Wed and 2:30 in the TT for a total of 3:30 and takes the lead. Where did the other 2 minutes go?
Where did the other 2 minutes go
LOL… I thought Levi was about 2:40 down, not the 5:25 that he actually is. Never mind my previous post… Levi’s nowhere near the top step of the podium.
I still don’t think Rasmussen is strong enough to carry the yellow jersey all the way to Paris but, fresh legs or not, barring a miracle there is no way Levi will put that much time into Rasmussen.
Are you saying there won’t be any calendars featuring Skeleton Man?
All of a sudden I feel like Arnie and I only wiegh 69kg
“Funny” thing is that on dutch television there is now a rapport of Contador being one of the key names in the Fuentes case, and that he’s given a free pass because he was a crown witness and ratted everybody out. He being the AC connected to the JJ (JOrg Jacksche) both of the Liberty Seguros team.
How do you like dem apples,Paulo?
Link for those who can read german:
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,tt2m15/sport/weitere/artikel/939/124756/
It’s like I said before, none of these riders would like the microscope put on them, and their history. Are they clean now, I don’t know, I hope so. But go back a bit, and there is stuff sticking to just about everyone of them. Poor Contador, he just got slipped onto the microscope slide…
“Funny” thing is that on dutch television there is now a rapport of Contador being one of the key names in the Fuentes case, and that he’s given a free pass because he was a crown witness and ratted everybody out. He being the AC connected to the JJ (JOrg Jacksche) both of the Liberty Seguros team.
How do you like dem apples,Paulo?
Link for those who can read german:
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,tt2m15/sport/weitere/artikel/939/124756/
WTF??? Why did you edit your post to add my name?