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

Liamo08

Contador nowhere near what he was last year, losing almost 6 minutes in the time trial would have seemed impossible based on his form last year. Lot of talk on Eurosport about how much Schleck has improved his TT but I think it's just a case of Contador has gone backwards dramatically.

FrankGrimes

Fair play Schleck for making a real battle out of it. Contador looked pretty human, which for me is encouraging both as it suggests next year is wide open and also aligns with the general trend of lower (more believable) overall performance in this year's tour. That is an incredible time by Cancellera, likewise Martin, impressive stuff.

Delighted for Roche that he kept his very well-earned 15th spot to meet his goal for the tour - all bodes very well for the future. Had to laugh at our old buddy Gadret finishing Paddy-last at almost 12 minutes down. He's extremely lucky to not have dropped several places with a performance like that.

niceonetom

Least convincing GC win evar!

Esroh

niceonetom wrote: »

Least convincing GC win evar!

Begs the question is it a level playing field and therefore one of the most convincing;)

AstraMonti

buffalo wrote: »

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

So a whole tour was decided upon a slipped chain?

RobFowl

In my memory thats the worst GC winners TT ever. It does look more and more like a cleaner race these days.

That said I wouldn't be surprised if it emerges that Contador has been ill or carrying an injury and just keeping it quiet.

Scleck didn't tt well but Contador really was way off past performance.

RichTea

RobFowl wrote: »

In my memory thats the worst GC winners TT ever. It does look more and more like a cleaner race these days.

That said I wouldn't be surprised if it emerges that Contador has been ill or carrying an injury and just keeping it quiet.

Scleck didn't tt well but Contador really was way off past performance.

Contador looked very uneasy alright. Do we expect him to be back to his best next year?

BryanL

Contador and Schlek both put in good climbers TT's.
It was never believable for me when Contador was doing similar times to Cancelara in previous years.
I don't think Contador is ever going to regain his previous "Form" and i think thats a good sign for cycling.
Bryan

TheBlaaMan

The Big Easy wrote: »

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.

Not really an issue though...........Astana would have picked a different squad for the tour if there was going to be a TTT....?

Murph100

Thankfully Contador managed to effectively neutralise the 'chain' incident, would have been a very controversial victory otherwise, but yeah, he's not the same guy we saw last year by any stretch of the imagination.

He had real problems with sliding off the saddle though, every 4 - 5 secs pushing himself back on the saddle, cant have helped at all.

TinyExplosions

Murph100 wrote: »

Thankfully Contador managed to effectively neutralise the 'chain' incident, would have been a very controversial victory otherwise, but yeah, he's not the same guy we saw last year by any stretch of the imagination.

Neutralise, or win by the exact margin he put into Andy? 39secs will go down in history

AstraMonti

I 'll ask a stupid question as my history in TdF is limited. Has anyone won or tried to win on the last stage through a breakaway or something? Would ever a GC contender go for a breakaway on the last stage?

mloc123

AstraMonti wrote: »

I 'll ask a stupid question as my history in TdF is limited. Has anyone won or tried to win on the last stage through a breakaway or something? Would ever a GC contender go for a breakaway on the last stage?

Didn't Roche try/do it once?

leftism

ednwireland wrote: »

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

I'm pretty sure "mojo" is on WADA's banned substance list

RobFowl

AstraMonti wrote: »

I 'll ask a stupid question as my history in TdF is limited. Has anyone won or tried to win on the last stage through a breakaway or something? Would ever a GC contender go for a breakaway on the last stage?

Both tours won on the last day AFAIK were when the last stage was a TT. Jan Jansen in 68 and Greg Lemond in 89.

I don think anyone has tried to win on the last day during a road stage.

The green jersy has changed hands on the last day though. Most noteably when a mediocre sprinter called Frank Hoste took green of Sean Kelly in the 1984 tour.

ednwireland

hinault broke away in 1979 with the 2nd placed rider and won

he also won in yellow in 1982 on the champs

furiousox

Ok then....let's consider whats happened since 'chaingate'?
Contador gained an 8 second advantage on Monday, Schleck said he had revenge in his belly and we sat back and waited for the fireworks.

So Tuesday...no attack from Schlek
Wednesday...day off
Thursday...the big one!!..er, not quite.
An enthralling stage but no time gained by Schleck.
Friday...sprinters stage
Saturday...lost more time (and the tour) to Contador

So basically he had two mountain stages to gain 9 seconds on AC which would have put him in yellow for today and possibly (possibly) given him an extra impetus and advantage to beat AC's TT time as he would still be out when AC was finished.
I don't think the tour was won (or lost) on the chain slip.
Schleck wasn't aggressive enough, Contador wasn't as strong as he was last year but he was always in control especially since he took the yellow.

I think Schleck lost the tour on Tuesday/Thursday by not gaining any time on AC, and Contador would have taken the yellow on Tuesday/Thursday anyway even if chaingate hadn't happened.

ednwireland

furiousox wrote: »

Ok then....let's consider whats happened since 'chaingate'?
Contador gained an 8 second advantage on Monday, Schleck said he had revenge in his belly and we sat back and waited for the fireworks.

So Tuesday...no attack from Schlek
Wednesday...day off
Thursday...the big one!!..er, not quite.
An enthralling stage but no time gained by Schleck.
Friday...sprinters stage
Saturday...lost more time (and the tour) to Contador

So basically he had two mountain stages to gain 9 seconds on AC which would have put him in yellow for today and possibly (possibly) given him an extra impetus and advantage to beat AC's TT time as he would still be out when AC was finished.
I don't think the tour was won (or lost) on the chain slip.
Schleck wasn't aggressive enough, Contador wasn't as strong as he was last year but he was always in control especially since he took the yellow.

I think Schleck lost the tour on Tuesday/Thursday by not gaining any time on AC, and Contador would have taken the yellow on Tuesday/Thursday anyway even if chaingate hadn't happened.

+1 totally agree, dont forget same in the alps (and contador atacked in mende)
and saxo burning out all their team on the lower slopes of climbs

ROK ON

The peleton waited for Schleck twice, no other rider however was granted that when they crashed.
Contador broke spokes on the cobbles, but the race was on then.
Schleck lost 40seconds to Contador in the prologue.

The best man won.
End of story.

Whens the next race on?

jwshooter

was contador not suffering with a bout of flu just before the tour .

ednwireland

ROK ON wrote: »

Whens the next race on?

im gonna watch this when i;m in france http://www.tourdelain.com/

RobFowl

ednwireland wrote: »

hinault broke away in 1979 with the 2nd placed rider and won

he also won in yellow in 1982 on the champs

But he was in the lead already on both those occasions...

ednwireland

RobFowl wrote: »

But he was in the lead already on both those occasions...

thats wha i meant

ust didnt say it very well

TinyExplosions

furiousox wrote: »

Ok then....let's consider whats happened since 'chaingate'?
Contador gained an 8 second advantage on Monday, Schleck said he had revenge in his belly and we sat back and waited for the fireworks.

He gained 39 seconds though (was 31 behind before chaingate). If we wipe that out, they were totally level pegging on time, so Andy basically lost the tour on that one slip up/mechanical. I really feel for him

furiousox

I was rooting for Schleck, but going on what we've seen since Monday AC would have gained those 31/39 seconds on the mountains and in the TT anyway, chain slip or no chain slip.
If he needed to gain time on Schleck he would have but the onus was on Schleck to gain time on Contador prior to the TT which he failed to do.

Did you read Schleck's tweet this evening?
Sounds more 'ho-hum' than devastated..


"looks like I finish again 2! well I'm pretty happy with my tour thanks4 all the support I got last weeks was amazing I be back4yellow!"

blorg

furiousox wrote: »

Did you read Schleck's tweet this evening?

"looks like I finish again 2! well I'm pretty happy with my tour thanks4 all the support I got last weeks was amazing I be back4yellow!"

He accepts he is second this year but will be back next year to win, hardly that cryptic. Interesting that #1 and #2 are on the same bike sponsor, has that happened before?

Schleck was much better and Contador much worse than could have possibly been expected in that TT... make of that what you will.

Chips Lovell

blorg wrote: »

Interesting that #1 and #2 are on the same bike sponsor, has that happened before?

1996 was the last time. Riis and Ullrich, but they were on the same team.

DirkVoodoo

blorg wrote: »

He accepts he is second this year but will be back next year to win, hardly that cryptic. Interesting that #1 and #2 are on the same bike sponsor, has that happened before?

Schleck was much better and Contador much worse than could have possibly been expected in that TT... make of that what you will.

Could be an interesting marketing campaign year, the bike and groupset that both won and lost the tour de france.

I enjoyed this years tour, I don't agree with a lot of eurosports negativity. Coming from the world cup this was sport at its best: real character, suffering and plenty of action.

IM0

chapeau Andy, you were much closer than most expected or thought you would be and gave us a thrilling finale to the tour

Pherekydes

The Big Easy wrote: »

Looks like he's riding clean.

That's unfair on Schleck. He's probably riding clean now, too.