limerickman said:
He was strong enough to handle Andy's final attack because he spent 2k out of the final 5 riding Lances wheel. Look at the tape. Not saying it was a bad idea but clearly in that wind at the finish all 4 of them were gassed.
Bravo Alberto Contador!
- Thread starter tonyzackery
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He was strong enough to handle Andy's final attack because he spent 2k out of the final 5 riding Lances wheel. Look at the tape. Not saying it was a bad idea but clearly in that wind at the finish all 4 of them were gassed.
limerickman said:
And then once they saw the had AC isolated they attacked all the way to the finish.
limerickman said:
Which is why it was stupid for AC to attack. There was no need. All he accomplishes was knocking his loyal teammates off the podium.
limerickman said:
Don't know what you are talking about. The Schlecks and AC finished together.
limerickman said:
One of 2 things happend on that finish, neither of which looks good for Alberto.
1. He dropped his teammate, gave the stage win to another team on some stupid agreement and faked a lunge at the end to make it look good. or,
2. He dropped his teammate, was isolated by the Schlecks and was so gassed at the finish he couldn't win the stage even after doing nothing more than sitting on all the way down the mountain and to the finish.
limerickman said:
He was strong enough to handle Andy's final attack because he spent 2k out of the final 5 riding Lances wheel. Look at the tape. Not saying it was a bad idea but clearly in that wind at the finish all 4 of them were gassed.
i agree: congrats to contador on overcoming the entire peloton, including his own team and DS. he was clearly the class of the field. i look forward to seeing him battle against the schlecks in the coming years. could be some epic battles there.
lance showed his true colors when he skipped the team party, IMHO. radioshack and armstrong: 2 self-serving entities well past their prime.
lance showed his true colors when he skipped the team party, IMHO. radioshack and armstrong: 2 self-serving entities well past their prime.
AC is a phenom who has a long way to go to mature. Most likely screwed Klodin out of a podium with his silly attack. He was however completely dominant this year and though I am a Lance fan as well I don't see him beating AC physically. Mentally and with good tactics maybe.
I realize there is still a lot of LA hatred on here, but the guy finished 3rd after a 3 year plus absence. Clearly he was not completely fit, but was still impressive and rode a smart race. You gotta give the guy some credit??
I realize there is still a lot of LA hatred on here, but the guy finished 3rd after a 3 year plus absence. Clearly he was not completely fit, but was still impressive and rode a smart race. You gotta give the guy some credit??
I guess I will jump on in. Only time (like next year) will tell us all who is the Boss. Both Alberto and Lance demostrated strong apptitude. It was obvious Alberto was much stronger this year. Make no mistake, there will be some battles in 2010. In regards to the drama between Alberto and Lance, I fault Brunyeel for not setting Lance straight from the very start. There can only be one captain and that was Alberto since he was the strongest during the year. If Brunyeel had set the pecking order from the gun, instead of waiting to see how the race unfolded, then picking the captain. I suppose the drama was entertaining. Great tour!
no way!
Fhernand's got it right. Bruyneel should have established AC as captain (in LA's mind...everyone else already knew it). I was excited to see LA come back and give it a go...but winning Nevada City doesn't make you captain of a Pro Tour team. And skipping the team party was absolute rubbish. As to next year, get real guys...its not going to be AC versus LA. Kloden or Levi will be stronger than LA on Radioshack. It'll be AC vs the Schlecks and whoever the next up and coming star might be. And that could make for a more exciting Tour than this year's.
strid3r said:
Hear hear. It'll be Alberto vs Andy. I don't expect Armstrong to be much of a factor next year (as much as I would like to see him win another TDF). He might have to battle Wiggins for third again. I think it would be wiser for him to bring in a strong young rider (such as Andy Schleck... or Wiggins), mentor him and bring him to a win.
Contador was the best... he beat everyone despite his team. He stayed quite despite the abhonimem attacks from his teammates.
Finally he towed the old Armstrong on the Ventoux to be sure that he could not twitt on his bad attitude.
Have we seen some twitt thanking Contador for the work done for the profit of his elder?
Finally he towed the old Armstrong on the Ventoux to be sure that he could not twitt on his bad attitude.
Have we seen some twitt thanking Contador for the work done for the profit of his elder?
poulidor said:
there will be no tweets about contador's work there because we will soon have the lance fans showing us beyond the shadow of a doubt that lance had his hand on alberto's back from the very bottom of the mt. ventoux and pushed contador over the line.
And consider that Contador was little known only two years/tours ago -- pedaling under the George Hincapie and Levi radar. And then what about in 2004 when he fell off his bike because of a brain bleed?? So he has some good story "cred" behind him. More on him via a blog post by athleticmindedtraveler.com here's the link if you want to read: Athletic-Minded Traveler :: Blog :: Blog Archive » Who is Alberto Contador?
I agree to a point. AC was the best rider this year and deserved to win. However, he has left a very sour taste by having a go at Lance and now saying he never respected him nor will ever.
Like him or not, lance has won tdf 7 times, an AC, 2! As Lance said on his twitter, there is no "I" in team and I think Lance new that AC was riding better and was not going to beat him. To have a dig at him like that after the race show his true selfish, arrogant personality. He has now lost me and I am sure a number of other fans. AC needs to remmeber that no one rider can win tdf on their own, they all need a team, would you want to ride with that sort of a rider in next years TDF?
Like him or not, lance has won tdf 7 times, an AC, 2! As Lance said on his twitter, there is no "I" in team and I think Lance new that AC was riding better and was not going to beat him. To have a dig at him like that after the race show his true selfish, arrogant personality. He has now lost me and I am sure a number of other fans. AC needs to remmeber that no one rider can win tdf on their own, they all need a team, would you want to ride with that sort of a rider in next years TDF?
slovakguy said:
Contador isn't that race smart... he just got away with it by being so damned strong in the mountains. He was lucky that he only last seconds when the peloton split in the crosswinds during the first week, lucky too that Shrek Jr didn't make the front group - not that 41 seconds would have been insurmountable but losing minutes like Zulle did to Lance in 99 (6 minutes when US Postal basically TTT'd for 50 miles and crushed Banesto) would have been crushing. He got lucky that day and he knew it - didn't stray far from the front after that one did he.
... but that said, he put in one hell of a performance and deserved the win.
Sad that Andy didn't try to keep the attacks going on Ventoux though for the sake of himself. Contador was showing a fair few grimaces towards the top.
rapc24 said:
You're right:
Armstrong 37 years old, 7 TDF's
Contador 26 years old, 4 GT's (2 TDF's, 2 more than Lance at that age)
And not a bit of that matters as far as I'm concerned. What matters is what Bruyneel, the DS, stated before the race even started, "... It's hard to find a better stage race rider than Alberto. He has worked very hard, earning the right to represent our team as the leader this July." Armstrong needs to check his humongous ego at the door and listen to his DS. There is no "Lance" in team.
As far as Alberto taking digs at Armstrong, I would say he maintained his civility quite well for having to deal with an egomaniac trying to cornhole him into a support position throughout the entire race. Lance was the 4th strongest rider on the team for crying out loud! Give me a break!
thebluetrain said:
ROTFL. Bats in the belfry. This guy gets crazier every year. On Vontoux Andy Schleck could have dropped LA like overalls at quittin' time. In fact he did repeatedly. He only stopped because his brother was having an off day and could not follow. Andy and Contador were so much stronger than everyone else on Vontoux that it was not even funny.
And this was on a course with no real mountain stages. Literally there were none. Verbier and Arcalis are not steep enough nor long enough for a good climber to benefit much. Even Vontoux was not a good mountain stage because there is nothing before it to soften up the legs; and Vontoux is usually very windy, making it problematic for climbing specialists. The one mountain stage that delivered was the one to Le Grand-Bornand, and that stage ended with a descent.
On a real Tour de France route, Armstrong would be crushed by Contador and A. Schleck.
