Don't read this if you don't want to know what happened today I knew it'd get exciting around this stage. I'm even more impressed with Andy Schleck putting the hammer down and no contenders were there to go with him. He dropped AC, and that's saying a lot. He was my pick to win it at the beginning and now if he can get someone from his team to work with him there will be no stopping him. AC seems to have the strongest team and that could be a big problem for Andy. To bad Frank got knocked out. I feel bad for Lance but when you compete at this kind of level you can't take a year off and come back and think you can just pick up where you left off. But it's not all doom and gloom for Team Radio Shack. Levi is the new contender and only 2:14 out of it, in 8th place. Question now is, will Lance work for Levi and finish the race? This would show a lot of class and be a fitting end for such a great career.
He's still racing though, but just stating that he has no chance of winning the Tour now. He'll help his team and Levi and try to go for a stage win, etc...
Was listening to the finish while in the parking lot at the path and on the way over to the ride (versus iphone app is pretty neat). Was real excited to hear Schlek pull away from AC. I'll be happy with the finish as long as he doesn't win. I'd be ecstatic if Levi could place well, and if Armstrong can pick up a stage somewhere. What a great ride today, absolutely brutal
Schlek had a little but of an edge today, but he'll need at least another minute on Contador to survive the final TT.
Mike Mike Mike, he didn't take a year off, he took 4 years off! And lest you forget, he got third in the Tour last year! THIRD!! After a broken collar bone! Let's try to remember that! Now consider this, did he lose time because he was dropped because he's old and tired? No! He lost time because of flat tires on Stage 3. He lost time because of riders going down in front of him today. And he lost time because he crashed. That's the way this champion lost the Tour. The general consensus on RBR is that it's an absolute shame he lost it this way. Most would have liked it if he lost because he just didn't have it! Now we'll never know! Thanks for all the great years Lance!!
Liz, Liz, Liz, I know all that but he doesn't have the same engine he did 4 years ago. You're just a freak of nature as you only get faster as you get older, most of us including Lance, don't. And in his better years he would of been further up in the pack when the second accident happened. I know he's a lot better then this showing and I picked him to be third again this year but lets face it. He's not the Lance of yesteryear. And don't forget we are close friends.
Man, now I get why so many of you are talking about Andy Schleck all the time. That was just bad@ss! In last year's Giro, Lance was working for Levi. Maybe now he will again...
[youtube]wHBftK8okyA[/youtube] Turns out he was close to the front. In front of Andy Schleck who saw him go down. Check out this vid. About 1 second in to it you see Lance barreling ass over tea kettle down the road! Damn that's a disappointment!! He says he clipped a pedal but I don't even see him turning! Unreal!! OK, I see it now. They were going around a roundabout.
Man, that looked nasty. Too bad Lance had to go out this way. We'll see if he saddles up for tuesday. I hope he does. But I wouldn't blame him if he abandoned.
No Respect I just happened to be watching the shit KTLA newscast just now (won't do that again...), and the sports came on. Of course he covered the world cup final (for a sec or two) and then a lot of BS about LeBron and Jordan and Fish and other really important basketball news (WTF??!!!). Then he hit the TDF section and showed a short bit of footage of Lance crashing and said that Lance "...finished a full 12 minutes behind the stage winner... a rider from Luxembourg... somebody..." and left it at that as they showed the finish where Andy Schleck beat Sammy Sanchez by next to nothing. What an a-hole. Could you imagine if they covered b-ball thay way, or baseball, or just about any other sport? "Some guy hit the ball... somebody from Newark" or "Look at that guy... he made a basket!" Total a-hole coverage of our sport. Fark KTLA. - shud P.S. BTW, I made a concerted effort to find out the name of the anchor who did the sports tonight, and he is not listed anywhere on the KTLA site that I could find.
Can't believe he even finished the stage after that crash.. Glad he didn't hit his head on the curb. I hope he can stay in the race, help Levi get on the podium, and win a stage. Andy's looking great, and he's riding for himself and his brother now. Like to see Frank in the team car so they can keep working together.
The media supports its own product - professional basketball, baseball, football. The ultimate disgust is when national media pushes aside real news for something about some clyde going to Miami. In other news. I lost again:
It was just so disrespectful, Doug. Fact is, they did cover the TDF, and then they dissed it as they did so. Once again: "...a rider from Luxembourg... somebody..." Seriously? You know that they know who it is, or they're too stupid to find it out: it is simply not that freakin' hard to find out, and they are supposed to be 'journalists' after all-- just google "tour de france" and click the top link (for letour.com) and Today's Winner is listed at the top right as "A. Schleck". Miserable. - shud
Riots in the streets. Cars overturned. Foot Locker stores looted...any excuse to act like an animal. That was a pretty tough crash for Lance. He is fortunate he didn't slide into that curb.
Damn, that's some crash. I realized that he slid some but didn't realize it was to that extent. I really thought that maybe he just didn't have it in him anymore, but now I feel that his performance had more to do with the crash than his fitness and ability. Tough break.
