Cancellara was driving the front group on the approach to Hautacam because he had been in an early attack and was caught/waited for the lead group (which did include Voigt). When did Cancellara drop Cunego? I didnt think Sastre's TT was that out of the ordinary. He had been reasonably quiet and had to defend the yellow jersey.RdBiker said:Oh you see that too In the classics you rarely have to ride +1h up a +9% gradient mountain. I've never thought of Voigt as that good a climber, a good one for sure, but more of a breakaway kinda guy than a pulling-the peloton-up-a-mountain-at-a-hell-of-a-pace. And this is the first time (after Hincapie at least) when I see a man the size of Cancellara dropping a specialist climber such as Cunego. And I didn't see the entire stage to Hautacam but I read that Valverde and Cunego were dropped at the first climb there but Cancellara was still driving the front group before Hautacam. And don't even get me started on Arvesen, A.Schleck and Sastre's TT.
Similar thing happened in this tourwicklow200 said:Interesting that bit about the collision with Big George. Forgotten about that.
It was Voigt who was driving on the actual climb. He even joked in the post stage interviews about being like Eddy Merckx dropping the big names on the climbs. Of course he only lasted a few KMs then blew up and dropped off.Anticyclone said:Cancellara was driving the front group on the approach to Hautacam because he had been in an early attack and was caught/waited for the lead group (which did include Voigt). When did Cancellara drop Cunego? I didnt think Sastre's TT was that out of the ordinary. He had been reasonably quiet and had to defend the yellow jersey.
Voigt drove up the Tourmalet but was able to stay with the group all the way to the top. To be fair, Voigt hadn't done much up until that point. Voigt and Cancellara were then able to put in a big effort on the way to Hautacam but didnt last long on the climb before falling back. The gap to Valverde was 40 seconds at the top of the Tourmalet, 1.35 with 20km to go and i think it got quite a bit bigger even before the climbRolfrae said:It was Voigt who was driving on the actual climb. He even joked in the post stage interviews about being like Eddy Merckx dropping the big names on the climbs. Of course he only lasted a few KMs then blew up and dropped off.
Yeah, i try to look for the genuine reason why they could have been so good but it does seem a bit suspicious. Have they got a bigger budget than other teams so they can get better riders? One of the surprises this year was vandevelde - and he used to ride for CSC. Not sure exactly what this means though - maybe everyone else has got slower this year for various reasons while CSC have stood still from last year?Rolfrae said:I still don't believe what I see and trust CSC about as far as I can spit (probably around two metres - I'll measure later). Cunego was at this Tour clean, seeing for the first time how he'd cope with three weeks without assistance and the truth hurt as much as that crash into the concrete barrier Valverde must have been clean too, otherwise he needs a refund.
Which of the climbs do you specially mean? I think Alpe D'Huez was the hardest of all and according to Wikipedia it is 7,8% average gradient. Croix de Fer where Cancellara had his most "surprising" pull until last couple of km is average of 5,5% (approach from the northeast from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. source wikipedia)RdBiker said:Oh you see that too In the classics you rarely have to ride +1h up a +9% gradient mountain. I've never thought of Voigt as that good a climber, a good one for sure, but more of a breakaway kinda guy than a pulling-the peloton-up-a-mountain-at-a-hell-of-a-pace.
Ever heard of that spanish guy... what was his name again? Oh yes, Miguel IndurainRdBiker said:And this is the first time (after Hincapie at least) when I see a man the size of Cancellara dropping a specialist climber such as Cunego.
Cancellara didn't drop Cunego nor Valverde. They were dropped while Voigt pulling after punishing pace to the root of the climb, which was a tactics mastered by UPSP/Discovery to kill the "underweight" climbers before the actual climb even begins.RdBiker said:And I didn't see the entire stage to Hautacam but I read that Valverde and Cunego were dropped at the first climb there but Cancellara was still driving the front group before Hautacam.
I can see Sastre pulling his hair, all those years in the shadow losing time on TT's why oh why I didn't get the blood changed earlier...RdBiker said:And don't even get me started on Arvesen, A.Schleck and Sastre's TT.
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