Stage 17 dissapoints once again

[El Angliru]

Oh dear, yet another let down - although not as bad as last year's 'climax' on Mt Vontoux. I guess ultimately Schleck and Contador were just too evenly matched, but I mean with that amazing weather as a backdrop I was really hoping for Sanchez or Menchov to take the bull by the horns and attack, going off the radar only to suddenly appear in the distance (similar to Stephen Roche's epic come back in '87). Ah well...

Also I'm quite disappointed that Schleck didn't mix it up a little more; hanging back and trying to jump Contador. In the end he seemed resigned to the stalemate, and to a second place on the podium.

 

[roadhouse]

for a brief second it looked like contador was gonna drop schleck and dare i say it, contador looked as if at almost any given time he could just that, smooth cadence and almost effortless acceleration but you are right, dissapointing overall, nothing spectacular comparatively to the days of and yes i must say it, Lance and Ullrich and Pantani and the likes where blood would practically drip from their pedals with their efforts, if that is what you meant by disappointing.

Schleck could not drop Contador, that's without a doubt, unfortunately for us all too.

 

[gtm]

for a brief second it looked like contador was gonna drop schleck and dare i say it, contador looked as if at almost any given time he could just that, smooth cadence and almost effortless acceleration but you are right, dissapointing overall, nothing spectacular comparatively to the days of and yes i must say it, Lance and Ullrich and Pantani and the likes where blood would practically drip from their pedals with their efforts, if that is what you meant by disappointing.

Schleck could not drop Contador, that's without a doubt, unfortunately for us all too.

Ok so there wasn't the epic solo effort to resolve the issue of the MJ one way or the other but it was a massive stage. AS & AC were riding at the edge & were evenly matched. The foggy setting was seriously spectcular (from an aesthetic perspective) & we have the makings for a 'Polidour / Anquetil' style rivalry but AC & AS are more closely matched & to all intents & purposes seem to like each other. This is good for cycling & should be applauded.

Schleck & Contador are professionals & have heavy responsibilities (especially Contador) - they don't (& shouldn't) give a toss what the average fan thinks. As far as they're concerned today was about 'business' & they both acquited themselves well.

If you want 'wacky races' watch the Giro or the Vuelta

 

[leanman]

been watching the tours for years, and like always, 90% of the all the stages in all the tours are boring. harder than hell i imagine, but boring..
watching a belgiun 1 day race in march, and not even a big named race either is 100% exciting.
like chris carmichael says, every turn every small hill every windy section its life or death.. no tomorrow 100% flat out racing.
tomorrow, i'll bet a group og riders will go, then get caught 5-10k from the line, then the sprinters teams will get in gear and a sprinter will win.
very predictable.
just like a mountain stage. the best 15 nguys left, the 1 attack, then its down to 5-6 then the last 100 meters they sprint..
very predictable..
come on world championship road race..
come on het volk
come on 1 day races in belgium

 

[roadhouse]

Ok so there wasn't the epic solo effort to resolve the issue of the MJ one way or the other but it was a massive stage. AS & AC were riding at the edge & were evenly matched. The foggy setting was seriously spectcular (from an aesthetic perspective) & we have the makings for a 'Polidour / Anquetil' style rivalry but AC & AS are more closely matched & to all intents & purposes seem to like each other. This is good for cycling & should be applauded.

Schleck & Contador are professionals & have heavy responsibilities (especially Contador) - they don't (& shouldn't) give a toss what the average fan thinks. As far as they're concerned today was about 'business' & they both acquited themselves well.

If you want 'wacky races' watch the Giro or the Vuelta

i don't get what you mean by they shouldn't give a toss what the average fan thinks, that is part of cycling as a whole's responsibility and even Contador seems to acknowledge that or he wouldn't have apologized about his actions the other day.

and i don't want whacky races, i want heart and soul , life and death in each and every stage. the Giro just had the most of that going on this year and comparatively should be appauded whereas this Tour De France should be dismissed as class 'A' ametuer racing, predictable as leanman just said and nothing brilliant to speak of, team or individual wise. wrecks that took out Lance are the most interesting thing that has happened and was more than whacky in itself and then after that, sub par professional ethics and 'racing'.

i've already forgotten about most of this years Tour and it's not even over.

 

[gtm]

i don't get what you mean by they shouldn't give a toss what the average fan thinks, that is part of cycling as a whole's responsibility and even Contador seems to acknowledge that or he wouldn't have apologized about his actions the other day.

and i don't want whacky races, i want heart and soul , life and death in each and every stage. the Giro just had the most of that going on this year and comparatively should be appauded whereas this Tour De France should be dismissed as class 'A' ametuer racing, predictable as leanman just said and nothing brilliant to speak of, team or individual wise. wrecks that took out Lance are the most interesting thing that has happened and was more than whacky in itself and then after that, sub par professional ethics and 'racing'.

i've already forgotten about most of this years Tour and it's not even over.

You're a 'Lance' fan rather than a Cycling fan. That's fine but as of sunday you're always going to be disappointed bt the Tour de France . All is not lost - you can cheer your hero on as he attempts to 'crack' Agent Novitsky & the DA

Schleck & and Contador were two professional cyclists doing their jobs pretty well. If you're incapable of appreciating that might I suggest WWF wrestling as an alternative?

 

[roadhouse]

You're a 'Lance' fan rather than a Cycling fan. That's fine but as of sunday you're always going to be disappointed bt the Tour de France . All is not lost - you can cheer your hero on as he attempts to 'crack' Agent Novitsky & the DA

Schleck & and Contador were two professional cyclists doing their jobs pretty well. If you're incapable of appreciating that might I suggest WWF wrestling as an alternative?

i am a very big Lance fan and you are right, nothing and no one seems to compare to his dominance to me which is where i guess i am stuck but i'm ten steps ahead of you, wwf is to today's cycling as mma is to Lance's era.

that's Mixed Martial Arts, the octagon, life and death, broken bones, blood sweat and tears. beats today's cycling by far and it's another sport i love.

 

[64Paramount]

Ok so there wasn't the epic solo effort to resolve the issue of the MJ one way or the other but it was a massive stage. AS & AC were riding at the edge & were evenly matched. The foggy setting was seriously spectcular (from an aesthetic perspective) & we have the makings for a 'Polidour / Anquetil' style rivalry but AC & AS are more closely matched & to all intents & purposes seem to like each other. This is good for cycling & should be applauded.

Schleck & Contador are professionals & have heavy responsibilities (especially Contador) - they don't (& shouldn't) give a toss what the average fan thinks. As far as they're concerned today was about 'business' & they both acquited themselves well.

If you want 'wacky races' watch the Giro or the Vuelta

Yes indeed!

That was some great cycling we saw today. And if the weather and the difficulty of the course weren't already enough, the cyclists had the fans jumping in front of them and acting like idiots along the way.

I thought they did a wonderful job and I really enjoyed watching them ride today!

 

[K'Ching]

i am a very big Lance fan and you are right, nothing and no one seems to compare to his dominance to me which is where i guess i am stuck but i'm ten steps ahead of you, wwf is to today's cycling as mma is to Lance's era.

that's Mixed Martial Arts, the octagon, life and death, broken bones, blood sweat and tears. beats today's cycling by far and it's another sport i love.

I think 99-05 were probably the seven most boring tours I've watched. You knew exactly what was gonna happen every mountain stage and every time trial. No excitement whatsoever.

Lance was absolutely superhuman during those years, and even though it was fascinating in a way, it completely killed the race.

 

[Andrija]

Yes indeed!

That was some great cycling we saw today. And if the weather and the difficulty of the course weren't already enough, the cyclists had the fans jumping in front of them and acting like idiots along the way.

I thought they did a wonderful job and I really enjoyed watching them ride today!

Great stage, indeed. Only fans of Schleck can be disappointed he didn't gain any time on Contador. But he did everything he could. So disappointment is unjustified.
Epic stage. Climbs in mist, riders struggling and fighting, spectators in trans.
Maybe Schleck didn't make an epic attack and rode off Contador, but Samuel Sanchez had incredible stage. Recovered from fall he had and gained time on Menchov. Hats off to him.
Only those who watch cycling because of their idols and their opponents can be disappointed due to let down expectations.
I was really afraid of possibility we won't see the action on Tourmalet because of bad weather and broadcasting problems. That would be disappointing, but at the end everything was just fine.

 

[thebluetrain]

I sure hope AS learns to TT in the offseason otherwise all we are going to get from Contador in the next few years is the Indurain formula for winning tours.
Indurain formula = Hang with the climbers and win the TT

 

[64Paramount]

Great stage, indeed. Only fans of Schleck can be disappointed he didn't gain any time on Contador. But he did everything he could. So disappointment is unjustified.
Epic stage. Climbs in mist, riders struggling and fighting, spectators in trans.
Maybe Schleck didn't make an epic attack and rode off Contador, but Samuel Sanchez had incredible stage. Recovered from fall he had and gained time on Menchov. Hats off to him.
Only those who watch cycling because of their idols and their opponents can be disappointed due to let down expectations.
I was really afraid of possibility we won't see the action on Tourmalet because of bad weather and broadcasting problems. That would be disappointing, but at the end everything was just fine.

Yes, Sanchez was tough today riding through that early fall. They mentioned that it might have had something to do with the team cars, but I never did hear exactly what caused him to fall. He gave an awesome performance today.

 

[roadhouse]

I think 99-05 were probably the seven most boring tours I've watched. You knew exactly what was gonna happen every mountain stage and every time trial. No excitement whatsoever.

Lance was absolutely superhuman during those years, and even though it was fascinating in a way, it completely killed the race.

that's one way of looking at it, K'Ching, and quite the adverse of how see it. you can't really blame Lance for not having good enough competition for seven years, now can you? as long as Big Lance was on a bike and out front, i could care less to pay attention to the fight for second and third and anyone else but what i want to know is why hasn't anyone else stepped up and even try to come close to his kind of all around dominating cycling skills since? fast as a bullet in most tt's but gets dropped on the climbs, Cancellara can't put it together. Schleck can climb but not dominantly and everyone is saying he can't tt so he's out of the pic. i'm thinking Contador is a maybe who lost this opening tt to Lance who is out of contention now but Contador might kinda could come close eventually but he won't win seven tours and he definitely won't do it like Lance did, heroically and with heart and grace, he'll do it taking advantage of chains being dropped and will always be considered an asshat i'm guessing. so who then? where is the excitement gonna come from now?

i guess i'm just a breakaway kind of person, i enjoy complete and utter domination.

for myself, next best thing is Chrissie Wellington in the woman's triathlon.

 

[Andrija]

I sure hope AS learns to TT in the offseason otherwise all we are going to get from Contador in the next few years is the Indurain formula for winning tours.
Indurain formula = Hang with the climbers and win the TT

I think he'll do a good TT on Saturday. He's already improved in discipline.
Some proven time trialists will be behind him altough it's torturing one for power riders.
He'll get better and better. He's aware of his handicap and already dedicated to improvement.

I think Contador won't apply Indurain's formula. He'll gain time in mountains on riders he can and on others in time trials. He's already pretty much shaped up rider, while Schleck has space to improve.

 

[pearl-drum-man]

I enjoyed it. I was hoping to see Schleck make some time which would really make the TT interesting, but even in a stalemate it was great to see two phenomenal riders have at it. No one else in the field is even close to these two, especially when they work together.

 

[pearl-drum-man]

Also I'm quite disappointed that Schleck didn't mix it up a little more; hanging back and trying to jump Contador. In the end he seemed resigned to the stalemate, and to a second place on the podium.

Schleck said even though it might not have been apparent on TV, he accelerated 15 times during the climb, so he was definitely making the efforts. Contador simply was able to match him pedal stroke for pedal stroke.

{EDIT} As for hanging back, he was trying to get him to lead some, but Contador wouldn't have any of it. The hanging back stalemating they have done on and off is the only reason that Sanchez and Menchov are as close as they are (even though both have had commendable Tours).

 

[No_Positives]

Props to Andy Dreck for the effort today. He rode well (How do you not go for a drink of water in 15k?!?!) Alberto Wheelsuck-ador is a bore.

 

[EoinC]

Props to Andy Dreck for the effort today. He rode well (How do you not go for a drink of water in 15k?!?!) Alberto Wheelsuck-ador is a bore.

They both rode well and were evenly matched, and the pace was high enough to put them well off the front.
Marking on a climb is not exactly wheel-sucking. Contador, like Schleck, is in the business of winning bike races. His ride on Stage 17 was exactly as it should have been. He wasn't able to put distance into Schleck when he did attack, and Schleck wasn't able to drop him. What else do you want?

 

[SDMichael]

Epic stage... this is a rivalry that will reach across the next few Tours. Both men are approaching the peak of their careers and will duke it out probably through Le Tour 2017. Today's Tourmalet stage was only a battle in the war.

 

[hpearson]

Personally I dont like the love fest between the two top competitors in any sports. The only time I thought Andy had a chance is when he wanted AC head on a platter. I dont think there needs to be disdain but Andy needs to find something and it is probably his TT form.

A little off topic but if Cantador was really sorry and felt he was wrong all he had to do was pull up short of the finish line yesterday and wait 45 seconds and then ride across. Issue neutralized, now lets race. That would have been honorable and made for great headlines not unlike Brian Davis did with everything on the line. That is are real hero!

Apologies mean nothing when you have the ability to make it right and choose not to.