2011 Tour de Suisse

[pennstater]

Originally Posted by swampy1970 .
In the grand scheme of things (Tour related) was it really such a great ride? Two weeks from the start of the Tour and what was the guys name that won the stage? Never really heard of him before... LOL. Go back a couple of weeks and see how he was getting shelled out of the back by Radio Shack domestiques.

Either the lad is bluffing really really well and not showing his hand until the Tour or he's just f**ked. Even Cancellara isn't riding the time trials as well as he's done in previous years. Short of breif flashes of good riding from Fabian they've done little to nothing all year. Personally, I think splitting from Riis was a huge mistake and not having a DS and support squad like last year has affected his form in the same way that Condator leaving Bruyneel did the year prior - except Andy isn't at, and probably never will be, at the same level as Alberto.

The guys know they're racing for second in the Tour with the hope that Contador is suspended. Contador just reigned supreme in Italy and despite a savage route he really didn't look massively stressed. I don't see Andy on the podium this year in Paris.

His ride on stage 7 was ok, but considering he was only trailing De Gent by 45-50 seconds with 7k to go, he should have been able to catch the race winner and only made back 15 seconds on De Gent before the finish line. Also, he only put about 15 seconds into some of the other guys in the break-away. If he is hiding his form, he is a decent actor. I actually thought his team did a nice job in the Tour De Suisse. They worked really hard, but their GC men (the Schlecks) couldn't bring it together. Fuglsang had a nice ride and almost made the podium for two straight years, but Frank Schleck was really disapointing. Losing over 3 minutes in a 32k TT isn't good enough for someone who wants to contend for a GT. He lost less than a minute in last years Tour De Suisse final TT to Cancellara, which was a bit shorter, so perhaps it does have something to do with the DS/lack of Riis.

 

[limerickman]

*********** that was some finish to the TdS!

Fair play to Leipheimer he put in a really great ITT and made up 1 min 40sec deficit on Cunego. It was clear that Cunego was struggling in the ITT but even in the last 100m he could have saved
his place on GC. He was dying toward the end.

Nice to see both riders congratulating each other after the finish line though.

Kloden did a great ride I thought.

 

[swampy1970]

Originally Posted by steve .





Is there something special about it? if it broke the rules for the TDF you'd assume it also breaks them for the Tour de Suisse

I was watching the TT stage yesterday and it just looks like a regular Giant Trinity Advanced SL - very similar, if not exactly the same, as the ones for sale to the general public.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/giant-trinity-advanced-sl-0-2011

Limerickman,

Radioshack, not just Kloden, had a few good placings - 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the time trial. Looked as though Cancellara had to dig deep and use his mystical powers of bike handling on the downhill run in to win the TT, just like he did for the opening TT too. Both Kloden and Leipheimer were up on Cancellara at the final time check only to lose time on the downhill. Apart from the hill, the rest of the course was just undulating and normally I would expected Fabian to just smash everyone on a course like that.

 

[limerickman]

Originally Posted by swampy1970 .


Limerickman,

Radioshack, not just Kloden, had a few good placings - 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the time trial. Looked as though Cancellara had to dig deep and use his mystical powers of bike handling on the downhill run in to win the TT, just like he did for the opening TT too. Both Kloden and Leipheimer were up on Cancellara at the final time check only to lose time on the downhill. Apart from the hill, the rest of the course was just undulating and normally I would expected Fabian to just smash everyone on a course like that.

I watched it live on Eurosport yesterday and Brian Smith (Scottish ex-pro) made the point that Canc made up time on the downhill sections of the parcours but was actually slower than Kloden
on the inclines.

FC is struggling in this part of the season I think.

 

[jhuskey]

Kloden is about 36 I think. This could be his last round up and on a given day I could see him being the stongest rider on the RS team. The last time he rode as the GC contender was against Landis and if not for mistakes made by team managers in 2006 Kloden could have won that year.
He has always been inconsistent but in a given year he is very strong. I am sure his role is to support Leipheimer but opportunities sometime arise.

 

[pennstater]

Originally Posted by jhuskey .

Kloden is about 36 I think. This could be his last round up and on a given day I could see him being the stongest rider on the RS team. The last time he rode as the GC contender was against Landis and if not for mistakes made by team managers in 2006 Kloden could have won that year.
He has always been inconsistent but in a given year he is very strong. I am sure his role is to support Leipheimer but opportunities sometime arise.

Kloden is having one of his best seasons in a few years. He is riding really strong in ITTs. Radio Shack overall is having a much better year than they did last year. The old guard (Kloden, Leipheimer and Horner) have been riding really well. I've been a bit surprised that Brajkovic hasn't produced like he did last year. Bruyneel said he doesn't think that any of his riders can contend for the overall in the TDF, and I'm inclined to agree with him, but they have a few riders who can finish in the top ten and perhaps podium. A lot of the favorites for the Tour are looking a bit suspect in regard to their form coming into July. RS should be pretty confident going into the tour.

 

[limerickman]

Kloden's real breakthrough season was 2000 when he won Paris-Nice and the Basque Country races. He was touted as the new Ullrich etc.
His results in the next few years did not deliver on that early strong showing.
2004 2nd in TDF and 2009 6th in the TDF, were great rides.

You never really know what you're going to get with Kloden.
But he's a very good team rider and Radio Shacks leader will get 100% support from him.