2008 Tour de France Stage 20 - Sat July 26: Cerilly-St. Amand-Montrond (ITT), 53 km - Page 2

Anything can happen, even in a TT and especially in this Tour of all Tours. Look at Ras' awful TT when he crashed his way off the podium. Look at Millar's last TT of the Tour last year when both his Mavic wheels fell apart. Or Ulle crashing in the rain-soaked final TT of 2003. Evans could be about to finish 30 seconds up on Sastre and then puncture or misjudge a turn. Sastre might sit up and start waving to the crowds - anything can happen in Le Tour 2008!

True, and it also depends on how much each of the top riders has been able to recover in the last few days.

Which is good if you are with a woman, but ain't no good at a TT.
Sorry just trying to break the tension.

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Dope,when training and talent just aren't enough.

No, no... Keep the tension. Lack of tension won't do you any good.
At least when you are with wet woman.

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"Soldiers! Heroes!

The supreme command has erased our regiment from its records. Our regiment has been sacrificed for the honor of Belgrade and the Fatherland. Therefore, you no longer have to worry for your lives - they do not exist anymore.
So, forward to glory! For King and country! Long live the king! Long live Belgrade! "

There was an interview with Bruyneel here on SBS (Aust).
He didn't rate Evans in the TT and said Sastre will have a strong enough TT to keep the yellow jersey.

Never liked Bruyneel anyway.

lol and bruyneel picked Evans on versus here.

I agree with you on Bruyneel what a tool. But still cheering for Sastre.

Bruyneel's selective memory at work again.

How can he rate Sastre over Evans?
Sastre died in the 2006 ITT - so much so that Sastre moved from 2nd on GC, before the stage, to 4th on GC after that ITT, and missed out on the podium in Paris in 2006.
Sastre lost an awful lot of time that day.

Bruyneel appears to also forget that Evans was about the only rider who put up a challenge in the ITT in 2007 Tour de France to Leipheimer.
(Leipy's first ever win in a Tour de France - quelle surprise).

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

As I posted in stage 19 thread I am thinking Cancellera has hung around to try and take the stage win on Saturday otherwise he should be getting ready for Bejing and already out of the tour.
Pulling all day on Alp D Huez had to be exhausting and he has nothing else to give to the team effort except points in a stage win, but we will see.

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Dope,when training and talent just aren't enough.

That's funny.

If he does another interview elsewhere he might say Menchov will TT stronger and get up for the yellow jersey.

He worked hard on some of those mountains. It's also a long TT. Not sure about Cancellara.

Today's news regarding Riis/Fuentes cannot be good for Sastre's mental preparation going into the TT. Plus, if he used a little extra "preparation", he might have to tank the TT in order to avoid being tested.

Well we might be in for a surprise ride from Sastre tomorrow à la Rasmussen 06...
The CSC team taking the first six places might be a bit too obvious, though.

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It never gets easier, you just go faster
Oton ATK Sandisk Mp3-soittimet ja Koss kuulokkeet

Today's time trial. I've had a look at past time trials on the second last day.
1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 1.02.44 (53.068 km/h)
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 0.51
3 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 1.56
4 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.01
5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.18
6 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.27
7 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.33
8 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.36
9 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor - Lotto 2.48
10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 2.50
11 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 2.55
12 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC
13 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 3.00
14 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 3.17
15 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner
16 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 3.24
17 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3.37
18 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 3.46
19 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team CSC 3.58

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Here are the 2006 results

1 Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) T-Mobile 1.07.45 (50.48 km/h)
2 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile 0.41
3 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 1.11
4 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 2.40
5 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 3.18
6 David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC 3.35
7 Viatscheslav Ekimov (Rus) Discovery Channel 3.41
8 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto
9 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak 3.43
10 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 3.44
11 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval 4.01
12 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 4.03
13 Marcus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 4.15
14 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 4.16
15 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Francaise Des Jeux 4.21
16 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 4.32
17 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 4.33
18 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 4.35
19 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile
20 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 4.42

Top 10.

1. S Lang
2. S Schumacher
3. K Kirchen
4. C Evans
5. C Vandevelde
6. D Menchov
7. C Sastre
8. G Hincapie
9. F Cancellara
10. T Lovkvist

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It's hard to go past the Gerolsteiner riders today.

Sastre keeps the yellow jersey by 5 - 15 seconds.

Lang powers home and makes a Gerolsteiner quinella.

Kirchen again finishes in the top 3.

Evans fails to win a time trial again at the tour.

Screw it. It wouldn't be the grater way we have come to see if I don't alter some places.

1. Kirchen
2. Lang
3. Schumacher

He won the Albi Stage 13 ITT last year. He just didn't get to stand on the top of the podium because there was a homologous transfuser up there taking all the credit.

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