Can Kirchen win this thing?



OAR8 said:
Kitchen who? LMAO

Evans or Valv.

Chipotle and Columbia teams are what they are. Not much more at this time anyhow.
Columbia seems to be very well organized and focused. The effort Big George and Kirchen put in for Cavendish in Stage 5 was impressive. I really think top five is possible.

Big George looks like he lost 20 lbs. Chickenesque.

Could he be prepared for D'huez.

Its great for American cycling to move past Armstrong, and both teams in this years Tour are helping that along.
 
stilesiii said:
Its great for American cycling to move past Armstrong, and both teams in this years Tour are helping that along.
Yeah, and a nice slap in the face for Discatana fanboys and fangirls who aren't watching the Tour because "America's team" has been excluded from racing the Tour. :D Too bad that the likes of musette are hibernating in their caves. :p
 
TheDarkLord said:
Yeah, and a nice slap in the face for Discatana fanboys and fangirls who aren't watching the Tour because "America's team" has been excluded from racing the Tour. :D Too bad that the likes of musette are hibernating in their caves. :p
I've been thinking the same thing...this is a great year for America's teams so far...I don't think anyone watching is missing the Kazakh team...:D
 
Kirchen rides the Alps better than Pyrenees. The Alps suit him better. He is only 1 minute 56 behind. Ahead of him are Sastre 28 seconds, Menchov 59 seconds, Kohl 1 minute 10, Vande Velde, 1 minute 18, Schleck 1 minute 59, Evans 1 minute 56.

Last year Kirchen rode well in the Alps by himself but he will have Siutsou and Lovkvist with him. I don't think Kirchen will win, but I can still see him podium. Kohl won't stay there and I doubt Sastre will in the Alps - he will be riding for Schleck and Kirchen kicked Schleck's **** in Switzerland last month. Menchov is a tough one. Kirchen can time trial better than Mencov and Sastre. Top 3 is still very possible for him. He said that if he can stay with the main favourites in the Pyrenees and not lose too much time, then it will be suited for him more in the Alps.
 
Grater said:
Kirchen kicked Schleck's **** in Switzerland last month.
I like Kirchen very much, and I agree with most of you say, but mind you, in Switzerland Kirchen didn't kick Schleck's ****. It was actually Schleck that kicked himself, when he fell 4 meters off the road while wearing virtual leader jersey in a descent. The following days, Schleck was still hurt with bruises, and even gave up in the last stage in order not to jeopardise his preparation to the Tour.

In the uphill TT, Kirchen again was not in a great day, if you remember, dropping from 1st to 7th in GC (in Switzerland). But I agree, that if he recovers now, and doesn't chase all jerseys available, as he did in the first week, he might stand a chance to follow the best in the Alps.
 
adamastor said:
I like Kirchen very much, and I agree with most of you say, but mind you, in Switzerland Kirchen didn't kick Schleck's ****. It was actually Schleck that kicked himself, when he fell 4 meters off the road while wearing virtual leader jersey in a descent. The following days, Schleck was still hurt with bruises, and even gave up in the last stage in order not to jeopardise his preparation to the Tour.

In the uphill TT, Kirchen again was not in a great day, if you remember, dropping from 1st to 7th in GC (in Switzerland). But I agree, that if he recovers now, and doesn't chase all jerseys available, as he did in the first week, he might stand a chance to follow the best in the Alps.
Yep - he won't chase Green I don't think. I think Cavendish will. I can see Columbia try and dominate Stage 12 and 13 regardless if they are transitional stages. They are after stage wins so will try and bring more glory to Cavendish or Ciolek so Kirchen can kiss green goodbye. He will recover and as he isn't in yellow, he doesn't have the pressure on him so he should be able to stick with them in the Alps. In anycase, I think there are two more mountain top finishes? He will be fresh in the first one and should match them. The next stage, he can get back on the descent if he loses and its a matter of staying with them on Alp D'Huez.

Yesterday was his 'bad day' and he is still within 2 minutes of Cadel. Very good performance by him thus far and if he can recover, he should come third or second. Definately in the top 5 somewhere.
 
Personally Grater I don't think Kirchen is a better TTer than Menchov (I think the opening TTer this tour is the exception). Just my 2 cents.

Top 5 is a strong possibility for Kim. The win and the podium I suspect will be too much.
 
Kirchen has been in the red in both mountain stages. In the first stage, he was clearly hurting, but barely managed to hang on. Yesterday, he was dropped. So, I am very skeptical about whether he will do much better in the Alps, or whether he will podium.
 
TheDarkLord said:
Kirchen has been in the red in both mountain stages. In the first stage, he was clearly hurting, but barely managed to hang on. Yesterday, he was dropped. So, I am very skeptical about whether he will do much better in the Alps, or whether he will podium.
I just don't see it happening at all. I pretty much believe the podium is Menchov, Evans, and between Schleck, Ricco, and Sastre for the other podium. The strength of CSC as a whole, and the climbing abilities of Saunier, these teams will just continue to attack and counterattack. I see it as a very good possibility that all the mountain stages will be won by one of these 2 teams. Strength in numbers, and Kirchens team is a bunch of flatlanders, Sistsou, and Lovkist. Within 2 km of a Cat 1 climb or better, he is down instantly to 3 teammates.

He needs to gain time on the climbs and its hard to single handily chase down 3 or 4 different guys by yourself.
 
On the topic of Kirchen for Green - Freire is now 75 points ahead. The next three mountain stages see the stage winner get 20 points although there are a few sprints on each stage as well. After that there are two rolling stages - Freire should be able to finish with the leaders on that sort of stage unless there is a mental pace set - which is not impossible if one of the leaders cracks. Then there is the TT, then the final stage in Paris. If Kirchen can win the next three stages or finish very high up then he will still be behind. He may get some points in the TT but he will still have to do better than Freire on the other stages to get the final green jersey. So, even in a best case scenario he still loses. His only hope is that freire crashes or loses a lot of form. Could be close for second between Kirchen and Hushovd, Zabel.
 

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