Valverde slams Evans as "weak"



Powerful Pete said:
In all fairness, from the interview it does not appear that Valverde 'slammed' Evans. He said something true - Silence Lotto is a weaker team than CSC and even Rabobank, and it showed yesterday.

I do not see what the big issue is...


Completely agree - but what pisses me off, is with a display of strength from Evans on Stage 10, some Internet ********** decided to take further editorial licence and say that Valverde slams "Evans" not "Evans Team".

Good one ****-knuckle... crawl back under your rock just like the other sensationalists flying by the seat of their pants.
 
parawolf said:
Completely agree - but what pisses me off, is with a display of strength from Evans on Stage 10, some Internet ********** decided to take further editorial licence and say that Valverde slams "Evans" not "Evans Team".

Good one ****-knuckle... crawl back under your rock just like the other sensationalists flying by the seat of their pants.


Thanks Thornbury. Not get a root off your sister this morning ? Try mum instead. She puts out more often.

So do you think Evans can win this bike race around France ?
 
I think the OP got it all wrong. What Valverde really said was Evans is a "chupar rueda coño"
 
You can have the strongest team in the world and still loose, Valverde has proven that. Sastre has a strong supporting cast, and CSC will put more than one person in the top 10 I think but none of them are strong enough to win.

Evans might not have the strongest team but I think his team is strong enough. Provided Popo is with him most of the way through the alps I think he's pretty much sorted for team support, he can just let CSC do the job of riding everyone else's team mates out the back, keep close enough to the climbers and then ***** slap them all in the last TT. He is after all extremely consistent. It'll be a boring win but I still think he'll do it.
 
Eldrack said:
You can have the strongest team in the world and still loose, Valverde has proven that. Sastre has a strong supporting cast, and CSC will put more than one person in the top 10 I think but none of them are strong enough to win.

Evans might not have the strongest team but I think his team is strong enough. Provided Popo is with him most of the way through the alps I think he's pretty much sorted for team support, he can just let CSC do the job of riding everyone else's team mates out the back, keep close enough to the climbers and then ***** slap them all in the last TT. He is after all extremely consistent. It'll be a boring win but I still think he'll do it.
I would have thought that could make for an exciting race though? People pulling out time on Evans and Evans having to get it back in the last TT?
 
Powerful Pete said:
In all fairness, from the interview it does not appear that Valverde 'slammed' Evans. He said something true - Silence Lotto is a weaker team than CSC and even Rabobank, and it showed yesterday.

I do not see what the big issue is...
well said.
 
wicklow200 said:
I dont know. Ricco is AWFULLY strong. Reason he didnt take another minute out of Evans yesterday was that his two team mates were up the road. He just cruised home with Evans and Menchov.

I really believe he came to get a few stages and maybe a top 10. So he didnt kill himself in the first time trial.

So if Ricco had say 2-3 minutes on Evans going into the final ITT, considering Ricco would really put 100% into it, who would you fancy for the Tour?
I agree with this. Ricco got firmly told to stay put. I think he might look back post tour and learn a valuable lesson. When you DS is talking **** in your ear - pull out the ear peice and follow your instincts.

Ricco should have attacked Evans/Menchov/Sastre, rode across to his teammates and taken 2 mins on all of them. He wouldnt have dragged anyone across because none of them can go with his explosiveness. He looked positively bored shitless riding at Evans tempo. He should have tried. If someone got his wheel then back off.

Neither of Riccos teammates up the road could win the tour. Ricco can if he takes enough time in the mountains. If he was a year older and wiser he would of dropped a bomb on Evans yesterday and completely ignored team orders. I would of.

This years tour appears to be a battle of the fragile minds. That is why I believe Evans will get the win. Sastre (weak mind/ lacks belief) Menchov (can I do it? Trying something new this year) Schlek (This is all very new to me) Valverde (cocky enough but lacks heart muscle) Ricco (got the arrogance but too young to push his team around).

Any Frenchies here? I wonder what the French public want. ASO would have to be happy with an Evans win. He strategically cried upon getting yellow. Public relations genius from Evans.
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Geoff Vadar said:
I agree with this. Ricco got firmly told to stay put. I think he might look back post tour and learn a valuable lesson. When you DS is talking **** in your ear - pull out the ear peice and follow your instincts.

Ricco should have attacked Evans/Menchov/Sastre, rode across to his teammates and taken 2 mins on all of them. He wouldnt have dragged anyone across because none of them can go with his explosiveness. He looked positively bored shitless riding at Evans tempo. He should have tried. If someone got his wheel then back off.

Neither of Riccos teammates up the road could win the tour. Ricco can if he takes enough time in the mountains. If he was a year older and wiser he would of dropped a bomb on Evans yesterday and completely ignored team orders. I would of.

This years tour appears to be a battle of the fragile minds. That is why I believe Evans will get the win. Sastre (weak mind/ lacks belief) Menchov (can I do it? Trying something new this year) Schlek (This is all very new to me) Valverde (cocky enough but lacks heart muscle) Ricco (got the arrogance but too young to push his team around).

Any Frenchies here? I wonder what the French public want. ASO would have to be happy with an Evans win. He strategically cried upon getting yellow. Public relations genius from Evans.
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brilliant analysis. especially the bolded part! although, i still dont think cadel will hold on for the win.
 
Geoff Vadar said:
I agree with this. Ricco got firmly told to stay put. I think he might look back post tour and learn a valuable lesson. When you DS is talking **** in your ear - pull out the ear peice and follow your instincts.

Ricco should have attacked Evans/Menchov/Sastre, rode across to his teammates and taken 2 mins on all of them. He wouldnt have dragged anyone across because none of them can go with his explosiveness. He looked positively bored shitless riding at Evans tempo. He should have tried. If someone got his wheel then back off.

Neither of Riccos teammates up the road could win the tour. Ricco can if he takes enough time in the mountains. If he was a year older and wiser he would of dropped a bomb on Evans yesterday and completely ignored team orders. I would of.

This years tour appears to be a battle of the fragile minds. That is why I believe Evans will get the win. Sastre (weak mind/ lacks belief) Menchov (can I do it? Trying something new this year) Schlek (This is all very new to me) Valverde (cocky enough but lacks heart muscle) Ricco (got the arrogance but too young to push his team around).

Any Frenchies here? I wonder what the French public want. ASO would have to be happy with an Evans win. He strategically cried upon getting yellow. Public relations genius from Evans.
biggrin.gif
+1

Ricco could have ended up 30 secs behind Evans on GC if would have simply ridden in with Cobo and Piepoli. Maybe he could have gained even more if he were willing to drop them. That would have changed everything going into the Alps. There would have been a possibility of him gaining enough time to survive the final ITT. Now that will be quite hard. He needs at least five and a half minutes, maybe six instead of three to three and a half.
 
Geoff Vadar said:
I agree with this. Ricco got firmly told to stay put. I think he might look back post tour and learn a valuable lesson. When you DS is talking **** in your ear - pull out the ear peice and follow your instincts.

Ricco should have attacked Evans/Menchov/Sastre, rode across to his teammates and taken 2 mins on all of them. He wouldnt have dragged anyone across because none of them can go with his explosiveness. He looked positively bored shitless riding at Evans tempo. He should have tried. If someone got his wheel then back off.

Neither of Riccos teammates up the road could win the tour. Ricco can if he takes enough time in the mountains. If he was a year older and wiser he would of dropped a bomb on Evans yesterday and completely ignored team orders. I would of.

This years tour appears to be a battle of the fragile minds. That is why I believe Evans will get the win. Sastre (weak mind/ lacks belief) Menchov (can I do it? Trying something new this year) Schlek (This is all very new to me) Valverde (cocky enough but lacks heart muscle) Ricco (got the arrogance but too young to push his team around).

Any Frenchies here? I wonder what the French public want. ASO would have to be happy with an Evans win. He strategically cried upon getting yellow. Public relations genius from Evans.
biggrin.gif

QFT.

IIRC Ricco attacked once early after Cobo and Piepoli were already gone but then never again. He did look bored. Earpieces should be banned.
 
FFS, Ricco could have won the stage by 15 minutes if he'd attacked at the bottom of the Tourmalet. :rolleyes:
 
I would love to see all of the GC contenders blow up at some point in the race. It would mean they are human.
 
classic1 said:
FFS, Ricco could have won the stage by 15 minutes if he'd attacked at the bottom of the Tourmalet. :rolleyes:
Ricco is not going to be allowed anymore breaks, his only chance to "win more stages" is going to be by attacking the yellow jersey. I think Saunier Duval should rethink the team strategy. I think Ricco will look back at this years Tour with deep regret if he does not go after the Maillot Jaunne.

When your form is there, you have to take advantage. Ricco is in great form, conisdering the high difficulty of this years Alps stages, he could likely put 4-5 munutes into Evans. Evans can be isolated and SD has very strong mountain stage team, they could throw ferocious attacks on Evans.

Vande Velde looked very strong at the top of Hautacam. He can time trial. I think he will take several shots at Evans. Evans does not have the respect of the peleton, nobody fears him.

If isolated, Evans will not be able to hold on. That is the point Valverde was making.
 
ahh yes valverde...now where's he on GC?...ohh yeah, nowhere, another TDF, another spectacular demise. I don't know why anyone cares what valverde thinks, it's as irrelevant in this race as he is. FWIW, Evans doesn't have a team to support him on the big climbs...but then 18 other teams have the same problem, only CSC & Suanier will have multiple threats....& given none of the 'sauniers' can TT worth a zac, they'll have to have 10 mins up their sleeves after the alpes to be worth worrrying about. CSC are the danger to Evans, Menchev & vandevelde...we could see some interesting 'alliances of the needy' in the alpes!
 
Hitchy said:
...we could see some interesting 'alliances of the needy' in the alpes!
I agree. CSC and SD are the only teams that are really showing any teamwork at the moment (and SD is kind of mixed up on its priorities). In such a state of disarray, it comes down to the individuals.
Ricco was holding back yesterday - when he did move, he left the others standing, then promptly settled back down and allowed them back on. Looks like his focus on him / his team winning another stage has overshadowed any thought of his GC capabilities - Pulling out the earpiece would be a performance enhancer.
 
EoinC said:
I agree. CSC and SD are the only teams that are really showing any teamwork at the moment (and SD is kind of mixed up on its priorities). In such a state of disarray, it comes down to the individuals.
Ricco was holding back yesterday - when he did move, he left the others standing, then promptly settled back down and allowed them back on. Looks like his focus on him / his team winning another stage has overshadowed any thought of his GC capabilities - Pulling out the earpiece would be a performance enhancer.
There is a big difference between exploding off the front and staying out there. Quite frankly, some of the assertions - sorry, speculation - made in this thread about how much time Ricco could have put into the Evans group is ridiculous. They weren't even really chasing Piepoli, Schleck etc.

When Ricco won the other night his attack was very impressive, but its not like the main group chased him that hard on the climb. They were friggin wall to wall across the road at times.
 
stilesiii said:
Ricco is not going to be allowed anymore breaks, his only chance to "win more stages" is going to be by attacking the yellow jersey. I think Saunier Duval should rethink the team strategy. I think Ricco will look back at this years Tour with deep regret if he does not go after the Maillot Jaunne.

When your form is there, you have to take advantage. Ricco is in great form, conisdering the high difficulty of this years Alps stages, he could likely put 4-5 munutes into Evans. Evans can be isolated and SD has very strong mountain stage team, they could throw ferocious attacks on Evans.

Vande Velde looked very strong at the top of Hautacam. He can time trial. I think he will take several shots at Evans. Evans does not have the respect of the peleton, nobody fears him.

If isolated, Evans will not be able to hold on. That is the point Valverde was making.

Some comments:

1) IMHO Ricco has not been 'allowed' on a break so far. He attacked and no one seemed to be able to follow. So, if his form remains that great, who would haul him back?

2) On the other hand, I looked at his first TT result and it sucked. Big time. +3 min on Cadel. Did he sit up or is he always that bad? I would assume he'd need a 6 min advantage on Cadel coming out of the Alps in order to win in Paris. So, he has to get more than 8 min on Cadel from where he is right now. That's a lot. It doesn't seem likely.

3) I looked at the footage from stage 9. Ricco was riding for the GC. If he just thought about the stage win, he could have sat up on the finishing straight. But he pedaled all the way through.

4) I really wonder what he could have done on stage 10. A shame we'll never know.
 
Hitchy said:
CSC are the danger to Evans, Menchev & vandevelde...we could see some interesting 'alliances of the needy' in the alpes!
From the brief highlights i saw, it looked as though Menchov was doing quite a lot of work with Evans on stage 10?
 
Bro Deal said:
They need some sort of alliance..
The question for me is how much Popo could be potentially getting as a backhander to soft pedal. There can't have been many race favorites in the TdF where you could bribe one domestique and effectively take out 75-100% of the his climbing support.

Crankyfeet Conspiracy Theory # 1,649
 

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