Stage 14 - Sunday, July 22: Mazamet - Plateau-de-Beille, 197km

[whiteboytrash]

Contador was never named in any Fuentes files. That is why he was cleared almost immediately by the Spanish courts, the Spanish cycling body and the UCI. There is, in fact, no evidence against him at all. As usual, white trash's mind seems to be in a state of disarray.

Hang on he was named... and was banned... however Fuentes spoke publicly and said he wasn't involved.... he was later cleared by the UCI and the Spanish federation (along with Beloki, Mancebo et al.).... so get your facts right Contador was named........

 

[whiteboytrash]

Evans got shafted and deservedly so... once dropped by Contador and Ras Evans was caught by Levi/Sastre they made him chase and then they both attacked him ! Evans the waited for Kloden and followed him the the finish... thats the problems with Evans he can't ride alone or in front.... he will never win the Tour..... he has no friends in the peleton.....

feel sorry for Vino, but at least Kloden can actually ride his own race now

as for Evans... i thnink it's basically impossible for him to actually win now... he still has a slight chance of taking Ras in the final TT, but he cannot beat Contator by a minute and a half (probably more after the remaining mtn stages).. unless a few well placed crashes of flat tires happen... which is possible

i still give Kloden a chance but only a slight chance... he could possibly take 2minutes out of Contador in a flat TT as long as he doesn't lose any more time in the mountains

that final TT is going to be interesting... a montain top finish mtn stage the day before... how will people ride? play their cards on the mtn stage or follow wheels and take it as easy as possible, even lose a little time and wait for the TT?

i'd say Ras needs about 5 mins of padding going into the TT to win... maybe 6min just to be sure... any of the top guys should be able to take 5min out of him... Kloden maybe 6... but the mtn stage the day before might changes things and adds a lot of uncertainty

Levi rode a really smart race today, but of course that coming from a position of weakness though... but he seems to be getting better.. not enough to leap frog Contador, but better..

 

[saluki]

so get your facts right Contador was named........

Yeah, so were you. Your statement was that he was named in the Fuentes files. But there are no files of any kind belonging to Fuentes that contain either a name or a reference of any kind that points to Contador. He was simply swept up because he rode for Liberty and because he was Spanish. It was purely a "by association" accusation. Namely, the same kind of association that you can make for Kloden. There is no evidence of any kind, anywhere against Contador. So your assertion that he is as bad as Rassmussen is pure BS.

 

[saluki]

[size=-1]there's a lot of bags of blood that still haven't been matched with riders yet.[/size]

That problem covers the entire peloton. Shleck might be guilty because there are unmatched bags. The lantern rouge might be guilty because there are unmatched bags.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Yeah, so were you. Your statement was that he was named in the Fuentes files. But there are no files of any kind belonging to Fuentes that contain either a name or a reference of any kind that points to Contador. He was simply swept up because he rode for Liberty and because he was Spanish. It was purely a "by association" accusation. Namely, the same kind of association that you can make for Kloden. There is no evidence of any kind, anywhere against Contador. So your assertion that he is as bad as Rassmussen is pure BS.

Calm down.... I'm not calling Contador a doper I'm just saying that if you want to throw mud as Rassmussen then included Contador in the mud throwing... I mean come on... what has he done in a GT prior to this ? What has he done at all ? Paris-Nice this year.... thats its... I saw him 2 years ago in the Tour of the Basque County and he was good but couldn't time trial for ****... now look at him..... so put away you're Lance Armstrong styled denials....... if Contador rode for a Spanish team and not Disco you'd be sticking the knife in.... I don't think he dopes but you can't have it both ways..... he is as bad as Rassmussen end of story.

 

[jhuskey]

I have been wrong many times but don't give the win to anyone as yet .
Big climbs ahead and some untested talent to be challenged.

 

[whiteboytrash]

That problem covers the entire peloton. Shleck might be guilty because there are unmatched bags. The lantern rouge might be guilty because there are unmatched bags.

as well as Contador who knows Fuentes. Was mentioned by Fuentes in the phonecalls. Don't remember Schlek's name ever being mentioned.....

 

[limerickman]

There is a weeks racing left in the TDF - and I agree with JH, the race is undecided as of now.

 

[whiteboytrash]

I have been wrong many times but don't give the win to anyone as yet .
Big climbs ahead and some untested talent to be challenged.

I agree and we've seen what happened to Moreau and Vino after putting in big efforts..... BOOM !

 

[saluki]

as well as Contador who knows Fuentes. Was mentioned by Fuentes in the phonecalls.

Did you pull that info out of your butt or are you hoping that if you tell a big enough lie someone will buy it?

 

[saluki]

What has he done at all ? Paris-Nice this year.... thats its... I don't think he dopes but you can't have it both ways..... he is as bad as Rassmussen end of story.

Actually, he's won two stage races this year, (Paris-Nice and Castilla y Leon) and came close to winning two more. Last year he came in second in the Tour of Romandie, beating Valverde in both the climbs and the ITT and only loosing it to Evans by a small margin. He has been giving indications of his potential for a long time. Maybe you would have followed him better if he were on some team in disarray, like T_Mobile.

Rassmussen has missed four doping tests and is accused by someone saying that Ras tried to use him as a mule. How, in your warped mind, does that make Contador equal to him when there is no evidence at all against Contador.

 

[doctorSpoc]

That problem covers the entire peloton. Shleck might be guilty because there are unmatched bags. The lantern rouge might be guilty because there are unmatched bags.

we know he was on a team that had team sponsored systemic doping program... where the DS was caugh with a bag full of money and blood bags... 3/4 of the team are puerto riders... that doesn't make him a puerto rider but that makes him a little bit more suspisious than other riders in the peleton

 

[saluki]

we know he was on a team that had team sponsored systemic doping program... where the DS was caugh with a bag full of money and blood bags... 3/4 of the team are puerto riders... that doesn't make him a puerto rider but that makes him a little bit more suspisious than other riders in the peleton

Same reason to have suspicions of Kloden and Vino. Oops, I forgot, Vino disappeared just before a test in the Vuelta and was indirectly implicated by Jakshe. Okay, same reasons as Kloden then.

 

[doctorSpoc]

Same reason to have suspicions of Kloden and Vino. Oops, I forgot, Vino disappeared just before a test in the Vuelta and was indirectly implicated by Jakshe. Okay, same reasons as Kloden then.

we're talking about puerto riders or potentail puerto riders here... need to stay focused.

but yes... don't know if you've left the planet for the last year or something but both Vino and Kloden are being looked at funny for the last little while but they are still riding... are you making my point?

you were saying that because a rider is cleared to ride that means he's not a Puerto rider but this is not true... riders who currently do not have an open investigation are cleared to ride.. not the TdF but basically everything else..

 

[classic1]

Evans got shafted and deservedly so... once dropped by Contador and Ras Evans was caught by Levi/Sastre they made him chase and then they both attacked him ! Evans the waited for Kloden and followed him the the finish... thats the problems with Evans he can't ride alone or in front.... he will never win the Tour..... he has no friends in the peleton.....

Evans is perfectly capable of riding alone or in front. The problem was he was on a bad day and smashed himself to hang on to Contador and Rasmussen, which wasn't real smart. It was a brave all or nothing effort when he wasn't really capable. He shouldn't have put himself into the red zone so much.

I don't think he can win now.

Rasmussen and Contador were very impressive. Liepheimer particularly and to a lesser extent Kloeden rode really smart.

 

[BillC]

Evans is perfectly capable of riding alone or in front. The problem was he was on a bad day and smashed himself to hang on to Contador and Rasmussen, which wasn't real smart. It was a brave all or nothing effort when he wasn't really capable. He shouldn't have put himself into the red zone so much.

I don't think he can win now.

Rasmussen and Contador were very impressive. Liepheimer particularly and to a lesser extent Kloeden rode really smart.

Yes, Evans should have let Contador & Rasmussen go earlier, (before he cracked so badly). Evans had looked at least as good as Satre & Leipheimer earlier in the climb and could probably have ridden in with them if he hadn't gone too far into the red.

Easy to speak with hindsight though.

 

[Klodifan]

feel sorry for Vino, but at least Kloden can actually ride his own race now

as for Evans... i thnink it's basically impossible for him to actually win now... he still has a slight chance of taking Ras in the final TT, but he cannot beat Contator by a minute and a half (probably more after the remaining mtn stages).. unless a few well placed crashes of flat tires happen... which is possible

i still give Kloden a chance but only a slight chance... he could possibly take 2minutes out of Contador in a flat TT as long as he doesn't lose any more time in the mountains

that final TT is going to be interesting... a montain top finish mtn stage the day before... how will people ride? play their cards on the mtn stage or follow wheels and take it as easy as possible, even lose a little time and wait for the TT?

i'd say Ras needs about 5 mins of padding going into the TT to win... maybe 6min just to be sure... any of the top guys should be able to take 5min out of him... Kloden maybe 6... but the mtn stage the day before might changes things and adds a lot of uncertainty

Levi rode a really smart race today, but of course that coming from a position of weakness though... but he seems to be getting better.. not enough to leap frog Contador, but better..

I pretty much agree. The problem I have with Kloden is he seems to be missing the mental toughness. he has always been fragile, both mentally and physically. temperamental. that' one of the reasons I like him. But in the last ITT, he let everything get to him. He looked nervous from the start. didnt have his game face on, so to speak. and then was unnerved b/c of the motorbike and helecopter? he knew he had a great chance at yellow and even though he tried to recover after his second crash, he choked in that time trial. considering he ended up third after all of that is just a tribute to the quality of his riding. will he be able to deliver in the final TT. He did last year, but he has more pressure on him this year. and he will probably ride tentatively to start b/c of his two previous crashes. there are still more mountains, so anything can happen.

 

[Klodifan]

Same reason to have suspicions of Kloden and Vino. Oops, I forgot, Vino disappeared just before a test in the Vuelta and was indirectly implicated by Jakshe. Okay, same reasons as Kloden then.

granted vino did slip away on team bus, but when has kloden evaded testing? you keep mentioning kloden, but with andreas there really is no evidence.

 

[Trajectum]

Great stage. Rabobank looked strong with dekker and boogerd (dissapointed slightly in Menchov for already falling out before he could pull his share). Ras and contador clearly had the edge over the field and definately look like the stronger two at the moment, am curious to see the upcoming two days. Evans was brave though maybe a bit dumb for trying to ride above his (at least today's) ability by refusing to give way to ras and contador in time. Some of the other contenders rode smart, some cracked. All in all the differences were fast seeing how all were made in the final climb and it was a lot of fun to watch. Feel sorry for Vino though, i like the guy.

Anyway the tour is on, the heat is on and its still open even though each day seems to erase a few names from the list.

By the way: Soler rocks

 

[saluki]

we're talking about puerto riders or potentail puerto riders here... need to stay focused.

No, we are talking about Contador looking as guilty as Rassmussen - Trash's brain dead assertion.