2011 Tour de France/Tour Tracker (threads merged)

What a great stage!..An incredible gutsy early attack....tough gritty rides by several contenders and the yellow Jersey...one contender who turned into a pretender...this was one for the books!

+1 on Danielson...wow where did he come from?

 

After today, there is a clear definition of what the final podium will probably look like. Unless someone does something tomorrow, there are three guys (yes, I'm discounting the yellow jersey right now) that have a couple minutes over anyone else.

 

Good point, but after today, compared to yesterday, who knows? What if there's an early attack tomorrow? A dark horse could still steal it...

And who amongst the three will do the best tomorrow and in the time trial on Saturday? One of the three guys is a great time trialer, the others not so much...

I'm going to be watching tomorrow night and Saturday with some good Belgian beer and will be thinking about the stages / riders when I ride tomorrow / Saturday, although those will likely be on the dirt...

It's been a good tour, despite the crashes--which are / were a bummer. Imagine how crazy it would be right now with 5 more contenders battling it out...

 

Simply

Fantastic!

 

This whole thing is falling right into Cadel's lap.
I suspect he was trying to ride conservatively today, but had to go hard at the end.
Frank did ride conservatively today until the end.
Andy had to dig deep all day.

We could see a one-two punch tomorrow with Frank going on the attack. But, I suspect Cadel will take off the gloves tomorrow and then sweep up any loose ends during the time trial.

 

Interesting, yesterday I praised Contador but it seems that without that Spanish Beef he's not as punchy.

Andy has been critisized for not riding like a champion.... Not after today. This was the ride of a Champion.

Voeckler still remains my favorite because of how he fights and how humble he always is. If he doesn;t win this year watch out for 2012!!!

I'm also thinking tomorrow will be a 1-2 punch from the Schleck brothers. The stage tomorrow is very much shorter than the stage today so most of the contenders will probably come into the Alp de Huez fresh and ready to attack. After today I can see Frank Schleck attacking, putting in the pain while Andy sits back and marks Cadel Evans' wheel until the final couple of kilometers where he can break away like Frank did today, to gain an additional 10-20 seconds on Evans. That may give him enough to survive the TT on Saturday.

Another alternative maybe that Contador attacks at the base of Alp de Huez, going only for the stage win, in order to at least redeem himself a little. If this is the case, whichever GC guy can then grab his wheel will win the Tour.

 

Exhausted Contador concedes Tour de France defeat

"Victory is impossible now. I had a bad day," the Spaniard said.
"My legs did not respond and I suffered an incredible collapse. It was a very hard day from the start."

 

Great stage today. Hats off to Andy for having the balls to go that far from the finish. As I was watching the stage, I suspected that Contador was struggling, as he was climbing too far back in the peloton. Great job by Cadel. He took the responsibility on the chase and cut Andy's lead in half. Amazing resilience by Voeckler. I found myself cheering for him as he was getting closer to the finish.
I think tomorrow's stage is going to be exciting, and IMO totally unpredictable. Both Andy and Cadel spent a lot of energy today. Let's see how they recover. Frank did not do as much work today, and he needs massive time to compensate for his poor TT ability. I think he will attack early. Contador may want to go out as the champion that he is and may look for stage glory, but I think that simply he does not have it this year. I can't hardly wait until tomorrow...

 

Pretty amazing day. Today was really hard on Andy; how well will he recover for tomorrow? For Saturday's Time Trial, not his specialty? Regardless of whether he wins the Tour or not, today was an historic win.

I remember some criticizing Leopard-Trek and their tactics. Today was a gutsy move, very risky and executed with perfection with Andy's teammates in the early breakaways, etc. Just as they'd deserve the blame if it failed, they deserve tremendous respect and credit for the success.

Voeckler is an inspiration. Being French, I thought he would've given up days ago... Just kidding, truly even more inspiring than when he was in yellow in 2004...

Contador is Probably out, but I wouldn't count on it. It's possible he has a good day tomorrow and Sat and the others who did more work today (i.e. Cadel, Andy) can't keep up with him, but I doubt it.

Frank won AlpeD'Huez before; he was strong today and didn't have to do as much work since Andy was up ahead. I say Frank takes it tomorrow--although I suppose that would make the tactics wrong, as an attack by him would force Cadel, Voeckler, etc. to chase, which would make Andy work harder so who knows...

But out of the favorites, I would say Cadel does the best in the time trial--he probably won't win the time trial, but he'll probably gain enough on the other GC contenders to win the Tour if he doesn't lose more time tomorrow.

I think Andy and Frank need more time on Cadel in order to win. They will have to attack him tomorrow, but probably can't gain as much time as today. Voeckler's got to be done tomorrow, but I would've thought he would be out of yellow a couple days ago. I don't think there's a chance he'll hold it by 16 seconds--I suspect the other 3 will leapfrog over him tomorrow / Sat.

My guess for the final podium:

1. Cadel Evans
2. Andy Scheck (again!)
3. Frank Schleck

 

Really is a tough one to call for tomorrow. I think Cadel is in the driver seat but what happens tomorrow will detiremen the winner. I suspect Frank will go out early taking Cadel with him but only work hard enough to make Cadel pick up some of the slack all the while Andy will be sitting back in the peloton taking it easier. At some point Frank will pull back and Andy will move forward chasing Cadel. Cadel's legs will be spent but not so much as to crack just enough where he won't be able to hang and Andy will put more time into him. I guess it comes down to if anybody on BMC can go with Cadel. If he gets some help from George he could stop their plans if this is the case.

 

I don't think Andy has it in him to go again tomorrow. He was toast at the finish today and Cadel was gaining on him at the end of the hill.

Andy and Frank both need 2+ minutes on Cadel going into the time trial (which is long) to have any chance of winning.

Watching AC get dropped on a mountain stage was awesome!

 

Is it just me or have Phil and Paul retired expressions like "he's turned himself inside out!" and "he has cracked/he has popped"?
Gutsy solo lead-out by Andy today. He almost cracked in the last mile but hung-on. Even more gutsy come-back by Cadel and Voeckler to close the gap. Contador is not the same rider without dope (and neither are most). top 5 might be out of his reach, at this point.

 

Contador would have to "dig deep into his suitcase of courage" in order to get into the top 5 after today...:lol: He's really in a "spot of bother"...

 

Thanks for writing my new forum signature.

 

Now that I don't have to worry about being the spoiler -- I've been outwardly critical of Leopards tactics all season. I'll eat some crow and say they got it right today. BMC has done a good job of forcing the pace to (sometimes at) the bottom of the climb, but they do need to use the Bjarne Riis (now Leopard) tactic of getting a couple guys in the break and up the road to help out when really needed. Cadel needs to come up with an explosive attack because they've been playing into Voeckler's hands (he is a tough little dude), though I doubt he'll be able to do it after the effort today. Cadel is marked by Voeckler and unable to ride him off his wheel. I do think Voeckler is done and will not be able to hang tomorrow nor put in a decent TT. I ruled Contador out of the podium chase earlier today, but he could still put in some time tomorrow and the TT to get on the the podium.

 

Cadel did the most to drag Andy back. He's on his best ever Tour form.
Cadel will win the tour.

 

Voeckler's expression as he crossed the line got me a bit choked up. I love seeing him fight! Incredible mental strength! Can you imagine how his legs felt 50 yards from the line?
Keeping in mind that tomorrow's stage is a whopping 68 miles, I think the attacks will come fast and furious at the base of the Alpe. I do think (Little) Tommy V. will concede the jersey tomorrow which is a damn shame! I would love to see him win. Hopefully he can TT better than one of the Shreks and still get on the Podium.

 

We all love Thomas Voeckler not because of his fighting, but because he looks so much like Robin Williams!!!!!

 

They did well the past couple days, but check this out before you eat any more crow:

From Cyclingnews: Schleck, whose last race before the Tour was the Tour de Suisse, conceded that he had never ridden the Grenoble course and only knew it from television footage. "But I know a little bit what it's like from talking to the guys who did it in the Dauphine," he said. "Everybody tells me it's a course that suits me well, so I believe them... and I hope to show a great performance tomorrow."

Good Plan...

What did Cadel do?

He rode the exact same course One month ago in the Dauphine Libere and came in Sixth... The only guys who beat him? Time trial specialists like Wiggins, Zabriskie, Martin, etc.

The closest climbers (like Andy) that I know of (I don't know all the riders...) were Matt Busche and Robert Gesink; they were 1:26 back. Andy will be REALLY motivated by the Yellow Jersey...but...so will Cadel...so I say that's a wash and the better rider will prevail... It's going to be close--a real nail biter.

I predict Andy falling off of his bike into a heap at the finish line like Laurent Fignon when Greg Lemond beat him, and Cuddles (Cadel) weeping violently like a little schoolgirl... It's going to be EPIC!!!!

I'd be happy with either winning, actually. They both have demonstrated that they're the two best riders this year. Cadel's been most consistent, but Andy made an historic, gutsy attack the other day.

I'm just glad it wasn't Contador. Having said that, I give Contador props for going out swinging and not laying down--he had more class than I thought...to a certain extent.

It's too bad he couldn't eat his meat again this year and give us a show...

 

One more day to go and we still don't know who is going to win. How sweet is that?

Maybe they should race clean.