Stage 11 TDF :Courchevel - Briancon Spoiler

limerickman

Stage 11 takes in Col du Galibier, Col de la Madelaine and Col du Telegraphe :
173 kms of pain : two hor category climbs.

Is this the stage where LA cements his 7th TDF title ?
Is there any way back for Mobile ?
What about Iles Balears & CSC ?

nonameboy

if valverde doesnt crack tomorrow he will win again.
i would like to see t-mobile trying something.

jhuskey

T-Mobile just seems to not have it this year. If Ullrich could pull himself together and pull out a miracle stage,TM might keep some hope alive. Considering his injury he seems to be their best bet,although not a good one. Hopefully he will feel better Wednesday.
I am disappointed in Basso and would like to think he had a bad day and will make a better showing in stage 11. This should be his type of climb.
Discovery looked great but it is not just up Lance to pull the weight.
The entire team,or a good portion, will have to make a recovery before tommorrow if they are to repeat todays performance.
I repeat from an earlier post "if DC repeats their ride in stage 11 I can't foresee too much stopping Lance from a win outside of the unpredictable.
It is conceiveable they can hold the tempo the rest of the race.

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Sobriety is over rated!

limerickman

I think LA and DC will put the shutters up tomorrow and try to defend their lead without having to attack.
This makes this stage even tougher for his prospective opponents, given the
parcours of this stage.

I agree with JH : the only real chance to gain time on LA is for his opponents to attack him.
Do they have the ability/energy to do so ?

tcklyde

It doesn't seem to me that Discovery is at the strength they had in 2002 or 2004. Azevedo is having a bad Tour. Rubiera and Beltran have been good but not stellar. Popo and Hincapie have been very good though.

In any case, it will be interesting to see if they have hold the peloton together tomorrow. Kloden is obviously much stronger than anyone thought (looked to me like he paced Ullrich all the way to the finish). Illes Balears are much stronger than anyone thought. Rasmussen is clearly in top form. Yes, LA may be winning again, but there is a lot of other exciting things going on in the race.

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Harry

Eldrack

Have to agree there, Ace is not looking that good. Popo on the other hand is doing very well and Hincapie seems to have learnt how to climb in the last year, lost some weight perhaps?

How much energy did DC use to blow away the field today, can they do it again tommorrow?
And remember its not over until the fat lady (sheryl crow) sings, i.e the finish line in Paris.

sonicman

I agree with you. And looking to the GC and to what we saw today if I was T-Mobile I´d help Kloden. He´s only 15 seconds behing Ullrich and more than 2 minutes ahead Vino. And I also think he paced Ullrich all the way to the finish.

Balleares has 2 GC threats now, Mancebo and Valverde did a great job, but Karpets disappeared in the end and is now 4th in the white jersey classification.

Rassmussen really surprised me.

Maybe we´ll see someone like Vino attacking in the Galibier´s descent tomorrow, trying to recover some time, but if the Discovery Train makes this kind of damage again maybe we´ll see the same guys deciding the stage again.

sopas

Rasmussen was incredible today. After winning the stage the other day, I never thought he would be up there with the best. He is only 36 seconds behind LA in the GC. Had his team done a better ITT he would be in yellow today!!! I look forward to this guy tomorrow and I hope he doesn't crack.

Valverde was also outstanding. One question: Did Armstrong let Valverde win like he did with Basso last year? or Did Valverde beat Armstrong in the final sprint? What do you think?

limerickman

Valverde I thought beat LA, fair and square.
AV has a much better sprint than LA.

homeycheese

it's fun to see some "new" names in the mix and surprises like Rasmussen. look at CSC's overall team lead and the disfunction in TMO and it makes for great theatre...i haven't seen the video yet, but was LA really toying with some of the others and testing their resolve as suggested in the webcasts? i'm not sure i see anyone with resolve, other than Rasmussen, to attack and he may have shot his wad today...

homeycheese

the webcasts read that Valverde sat on Mancebo for a long time while LA did a lot of long pulls...Valverde has the sprint speed and 9 years youth on LA...LA's comments afterward indicated some dissapointment in not winning the stage..

cheapie

exactly. LA did not give the stage away. and who else here thinks he'll print a huge poster of the pic of him winning a mtn stage over LA? i certainly would. and then to have the "grand patron" of the race congratulate you and shake your hand after you beat him. that's gotta be pretty sweet for the young rider.

jhuskey

Yes it is a shame that you are in the lead and are still forced to"Eat Crowe".

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Sobriety is over rated!

limerickman

No gifts - where did I hear this before ?

Why it was in the TDF last year : Monsieur Armstrong to Monsieur Hinault after the stage when LA beat Kloden.

Valverde beat LA, fair and square.