Stage 19 - Saturday, July 24 2010, Bordeaux - Pauillac, 51 km

ednwireland

can schleck pull out the ride of his life, can contador win a stage, cancellara .......

AND why the heck is there a feed zone ?

TT of truth or confirmation of a champion?

It's been almost three weeks since we last saw the state-of-the-art time trial machines, but finally we come to a test that should have the TT specialists drooling if they're not running on empty.

The course is majestic, running out of Bordeaux and past some celebrated grand cru vineyards. The rolling terrain should suit TT world champion Fabian Cancellara, but after three weeks of racing today's performance will be as much about who's got some form left as ability against the clock.

dave2pvd

What will happen to Roche's 15th place on GC?

My prediction: he'll be passed by Thomas Lövkvist, but not by Vinokourov. He will not catch anyone. Weakest (ITTer) of the riders in front is Ruben Plaza Molina, but he's got 3 minutes on Roche.

My 2nd scenario would be that he will hold 15th, catching no one and not being caught by TL or AV. Roche tends to do well on week 3, when others have ran out of steam.

corkandproud

Yeah, I'd go with no change for Roche.

Fancy Cancellera, reckon he did nothing today after a great ride yesterday. Should have recovered enough. That would be a good finish too for Saxo Bank.

breadbin

hope roche doesn't get passed by vino, there's a big enough gap for safety i think but wasn't vino a decent timetrialler in his day?

hope cancellara wins but anyone but contador really:)

on_the_nickel

Evans is 80/1 with Victor Chandler. I know he's not in form and suffering, but that's massive. Each way is 1/4 of the odds (top 3 finish).

ColSheehan

Hmm what about Tony Martin tomorrow? I know most will think either Bert or Cancellara but don't forget Martin who may spring a surprise again!

Sure will be interesting anywho ! I can't wait for it

Caroline_ie

This stage starts in my hometown of Bordeaux
I think the course will go outside all the great wine castles of the area.

Drink French Wines!!!

and Cancellara FTW

Lumen

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Drink French Wines!!!

Vino! Vino! Vino!

petethedrummer

Lumen wrote: »

Vino! Vino! Vino!

Can you ban yourself for this and yesterday's donkey post pleease?

Lumen

petethedrummer wrote: »

Can you ban yourself for this and yesterday's donkey post pleease?

"Error: You cannot modify the access rights of a Co-Mod or SMod. Your usergroup: 7"

Anway, I hope Cancellara does something special today. SaxoBank need a bit of glory.

ROK ON

I would love to see DZ or Wiggo do something, but think its probably unlikely. Martin may do ok. What about Rogers?

Pherekydes

ColSheehan wrote: »

Hmm what about Tony Martin tomorrow? I know most will think either Bert or Cancellara but don't forget Martin who may spring a surprise again!

Good call. Cancellara leads by 17 secs from Martin in the clubhouse.

Early days yet, but I can't see anyone topping the Big Swiss Roller.

ednwireland

cavendish 34th at the mo

TheBlaaMan

Contador will want to win this one, surely? It won't do him any good to win the GC without even one stage win - sure, its not necessary and consistency is the name of the game, but he'll want to go for it.

mloc123

Lance *could* do quite well today based on his prologue performace? If only he hadn't that hump back

Pherekydes

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Contador will want to win this one, surely? It won't do him any good to win the GC without even one stage win - sure, its not necessary and consistency is the name of the game, but he'll want to go for it.

Of course he'll want to win it! Who doesn't, apart from guys who have their eyes on points tomorrow.

It's not necessary to win it, per se, but he'll want to put a decent amount of time into Schleck to quiet the naysayers. That's what's necessary.

mloc123

Where is Cunego going with the shallow rims

RobFowl

mloc123 wrote: »

Where is Cunego going with the shallow rims

Nowhere in a hurry :rolleyes:

mloc123

mloc123 wrote: »

Lance *could* do quite well today based on his prologue performace? If only he hadn't that hump back

ugh, he has a wristban on for this one... gotta be worth a couple of seconds over 51km

kmart6

Go on Nico.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ2HcRl4wSk

Gipo3

Roche 40sec down on Vino after 1st inter time

mloc123

Contador has a great looking tuck on his tt bike.

Blowfish

Gipo3 wrote: »

Roche 40sec down on Vino after 1st inter time

59' after 2nd. Could be pretty close.

buffalo

Is there anywhere that lists the time checks, or are you guys just going from the mentions on the TV?

Blowfish

buffalo wrote: »

Is there anywhere that lists the time checks, or are you guys just going from the mentions on the TV?

http://gaps.letour.fr/us.html shows everything.

dastardly00

buffalo wrote: »

Is there anywhere that lists the time checks, or are you guys just going from the mentions on the TV?

http://gaps.letour.fr/us.html

buffalo

Stupidly enough, I've been using that letour.fr page to follow every stage in work, but it didn't occur to me to use it at home today! Thanks!

Stokolan

Looks like its going to be a close finish for first.

Schleck has gained 6 secs

DominoDub

wow only 2 sec in it ! :eek:

DirkVoodoo

Down to 2 seconds in the virtual GC after the 18km mark!

Go Andy!

Esroh

Chaingate may be the big talking point for years:D

Stokolan

What are the chances of them racing tomorrow if its going to be as close as 2 secs of a finish today?

JacksonHeightsOwn

At the first time check Schleck is 5 seconds ahead of Contador

This is gonna be close

corkandproud

Stokolan wrote: »

What are the chances of them racing tomorrow if its going to be as close as 2 secs of a finish today?

None, IMO, today is the day.

BTH

Is Roche home?

Blowfish

Roche 1"10' behind Vino, so he keeps the spot.

6"42' behind overall.

jwshooter

This is epic stuff .go schleck

Morrisseeee

Wow, this is going to be close !! I think they should have a sprint up the Champs Elysee tomorrow, just the 2 of them, to decide this one

Liamo08

Fair play to Schleck he's giving it a real go, but anyone else amazed at how far down Contador is on the stage?

kmart6

Ah it's AC's now!

mloc123

Schleck is cooked now

kmart6

He nearly lost it there!

The Big Easy

Still looks like chain-gate is going to be the deciding factor. Im not a big fan of the team time-trial but imagine the time Saxo would have put into Astana if there was one this year. Chapeau Andy your day is sure to come.:)

kmart6

Good effort by Schleck!

jwshooter

contador will win by more that 33 seconds i hope now .

The Big Easy

Liamo08 wrote: »

Fair play to Schleck he's giving it a real go, but anyone else amazed at how far down Contador is on the stage?

Looks like he's riding clean.

ednwireland

chapeau schleck great ride

chapeau contador did what he had to do

contador definitley not the rider he was last year hes gonna have to get his mojo back to beat andy next year

buffalo

So Contador's overall lead is 39 seconds, *exactly* the amount he gained the day of Schleck's mechanical failure? Controversial!

Morrisseeee

Congrats to Contador, but he didn't have it easy, imagine how close it would have been without that chain incident !!

corkandproud

buffalo wrote: »

So Contador's overall lead is 39 seconds, *exactly* the amount he gained the day of Schleck's mechanical failure? Controversial!

A conspiracy is what it is

Caroline_ie

'Poh'-yak' ... Pauillac FFS!!!!!!!