The biggest winners/losers in the 2011 Tour de France?



Originally Posted by swampy1970 .




He's proven he's got the legs but does he have the head to deal with the added pressure of being a team leader?

I'd put Andy Schleck down as a loser this Tour. His single goal was to win the Tour - he didn't and as great as finishing second is, it isn't first. He did put in some great performances and if he'd had the legs he'd have won it. If he hadn't of cracked 5km from the end of the mountain top finish on the Galibier and lost close to 2 minutes of his lead he'd have won the Tour but his legs turned to jelly just like they'd done in the Tour of California on Mt Baldy. A brave effort and a great stage win - but he knew what needed to be done before the final TT and he didn't do it.
It's hard to call one of the best, if not the best, pure climbers in the world a loser... but maybe fitting here. Andy said the Tour would be decided in the Alps, he was half right, If he was going to win he had to do it in the Alps. Going in to the TT I don't know how big a lead he thought he would need to hold onto yellow but he had to have known on his best day a minute would be suspect. Andy is not a great time trialist, and with the efforts he was PLANNING to make in the Alps he must have known his tt would suffer further.

That said, Cadel was amazing. He raced the Tour as if he had already won it. He didn't blow up Alpe D'Huez or Galibier (sp?) like Armstrong did in his day but the calculated precision, always where he needed to be, an early stage win so that his victory would be respected (because anyone who wins a tour without a stage victory is just way less... something), I just wish he'd beaten Tony Martin in the final TT to really stamp his authority on the race.
 
Originally Posted by swampy1970 .
He's proven he's got the legs but does he have the head to deal with the added pressure of being a team leader?

I'd put Andy Schleck down as a loser this Tour. His single goal was to win the Tour - he didn't and as great as finishing second is, it isn't first. He did put in some great performances and if he'd had the legs he'd have won it. If he hadn't of cracked 5km from the end of the mountain top finish on the Galibier and lost close to 2 minutes of his lead he'd have won the Tour but his legs turned to jelly just like they'd done in the Tour of California on Mt Baldy. A brave effort and a great stage win - but he knew what needed to be done before the final TT and he didn't do it.
bit harsh on making a s a loser for having ridden to second step. simply put, i'm glad cuddles won on gc but andy didn't just hand it to him. if pressed, i would say that his d.s. let him down by not having him make the attacks in the pyrenees and cementing the victory in the alps. but leopard raced the entire tour timidly when they really had the horses to have controlled the tour from start to finish. frankly, the biggest disappointment for leopard was fabu. never seemed to have the legs to win as he has in years past. just that view of him in the finish in paris summed up how things have gone for him this tour.
 
Winners, somebody said Rolland, but also Vanendert. I like to see domestiques do well in the big mountain stages like these two did!

Losers, Vino his career is over, also Wiggins, ok he won the Dauphine but really his season was built around the Tour. How would he have fared? I reckon 4th place again at best....
 
I thought the last Alps stage when Andy Schleck was pimping Cadel to help him chase down Contador was pathetic but almost funny- I like the brothers Schleck but it was obvious throughout the mountain stages that they were leaving Cadel out to do all the work alone - and for the most part he did- Schleck grousing about it after that last stage was bad form. I thought the comeuppance of Contador was just a bit of frosting on the cake- his remarkable comeback on the final Alp stage reminded me of Landis- right before he tested positive for PEDs
 
I think those who came out of the TDF with enhanced reputations are Evans, Voeckler, Danielson (he did a very solid TDF), Cunego (for the same reason as Danielson), Rolland (won the white jersey)

Those who'll be disappointed with the TDF would be Gesink (poor performance for a guy of his ability), Vino (career is finished due to the crash), Kolobnev (doping), Nicholas Roche (didn't do as well as he did in the last 2 years).
 
Those IZOD TV Ads were in the running for biggest losers.

Although, the McDonalds' Ads were pretty bad too.

Let's have our studio audience decide for us, shall we?

[loud applause]

Quote:
Originally Posted by steve .

Who do you think were the biggest winners/losers in the 2011 Tour de France?
 
Originally Posted by limerickman . Vino (career is finished due to the crash)
Hmmm, see, I find this sort of interesting - because even though Vino had some slight redemption, I think most still regarded him as "doper and/or douchebag." Not as bad as Ricardo Ricco, but he still had that black mark.

I think that going out the way he did gave everyone but the most ardent critics a feeling of "okay, even a reformed doper/unreformed douchebag deserves better than that"
 
When I heard the degree of Vino's injury I knew he was done. He will be 38 this year. The training hours needed to compete on that level are difficult for a young healthy cyclist but to try and make a comeback at his age would be improbable.
Since the Astana team was basically organized for him it will be interesting to see what happens to it.
 
Originally Posted by Chavez .




Hmmm, see, I find this sort of interesting - because even though Vino had some slight redemption, I think most still regarded him as "doper and/or douchebag." Not as bad as Ricardo Ricco, but he still had that black mark.

I think that going out the way he did gave everyone but the most ardent critics a feeling of "okay, even a reformed doper/unreformed douchebag deserves better than that"
Well, I suppose he is ethically/morally a douchebag.

I always like his way of racing (even if it was brainless at times)
 

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