Le Tour de France

[Wim]

Bye bye Cadell Evans as well, leaving only Schleck and Contador for the yellow in Paris. The top of The Madeleine is 2.000 m high and for a lot of riders this is just too high to perform well. In the weekend and next week The Tour is in the Pyrenees. On Thursday the 22th of July is the mother of all stages : the climb + arrival on the top of the Tourmalet.

[Caroline]

I am hoping for a steady and strong performance from Armstrong from now on, as he has been sticking there yesterday. Hope he can rise in the standings and see what the best result he can achieve if not on the podium under such circumstances. I believe he got himself well prepared before the tour, and to be honest he did quite well in the prologue and also the cobbles even with some bad luck. In fact I feel a bit wierd that he gave up so quickly and conceeded 12 minutes immediately in Sunday's difficult climb. This is something not familiar at all from the ever determined 7 times winner. Anyway the real test of the race still lies in front in the Pirénées. The race is far from over for all and everybody.

[Odrl]

I am hoping for a steady and strong performance from Armstrong from now on, as he has been sticking there yesterday. Hope he can rise in the standings and see what the best result he can achieve if not on the podium under such circumstances. I believe he got himself well prepared before the tour, and to be honest he did quite well in the prologue and also the cobbles even with some bad luck. In fact I feel a bit wierd that he gave up so quickly and conceeded 12 minutes immediately in Sunday's difficult climb. This is something not familiar at all from the ever determined 7 times winner. Anyway the real test of the race still lies in front in the Pirénées. The race is far from over for all and everybody.

Well, Armstrong lost some more time today, and to be honest, it's not really surprising. At the end of a career, is it really worth competing for something like 12th place in the general classification? Especially since the team still has Leipheimer in contention...

Armstrong's comeback has been mostly about publicity for his business, so the best thing he could do now is to try and get a stage victory. But to be able to get in a breakaway group, he could do with losing some more time in the coming days. I expect he'll have a go towards the end of the race, the same way Gilberto Simoni had one last attempt in the penultimate stage of the Giro this year.

[Wim]

Today Armstrong is more than 17 minutes behind Andy Schleck in the overall standings. However I think Bruyneel is right when he says that Lance 31th position doesn't reflect his actual strength.

But for sure winning the Tour at the age of 39 and including the fact he had to compete with topfit and younger men is a battle he simply could not win. Nothing to be ashamed of, it s called aging. His time to go is there and of course he can be very proud of what he has achieved.

I expect him to lose much more time in the Pyrenees and winning a stage will be extremely difficult : there are simply no presents in The Tour.

[João]

there are simply no presents in The Tour.

Very true. This is why I'm happy for Sérgio Paulinho's victory today. It's a shame that he always had to work for the team leaders during his career (Vinokourov, Contador and now Armstrong/Leipheimer) because he's a great all-rounder cyclist.

When given the freedom he can do some nice things as his palmarès show: Silver medal in the 2004 Olympics only behind the all time classic specialist Paolo Bettini, one stage in the Vuelta and one stage in the Tour.

[Wim]

I do agree Renshaw is kikcked out of the Tour but I don't agree that Julian Dean (Garmin) - the one who started the agression - is still there and unpunished. Because it was quite obvious what Dean wanted : pushing Renshaw to the side so that Cavendish could find no further way out and so losing even without being able to sprint.

[gem]

I do agree Renshaw is kikcked out of the Tour but I don't agree that Julian Dean (Garmin) - the one who started the agression - is still there and unpunished. Because it was quite obvious what Dean wanted : pushing Renshaw to the side so that Cavendish could find no further way out and so losing even without being able to sprint.

I wouldn't have kicked out Renshaw. What he did in retaliation was a bit severe but I think the officials just like having a go at Cavendish either directly, like last years joke punishment for the barriers moving in then out, and today where he will be hindered by losing Renshaw. Some punishment was due but no way did it merit being removed from the race.

As far as Armstrong goes I think he would have had the strength to finish on the podium this year but would have toiled to beat Andy and Contador on the biggest climbs.
He was better than Contador and Schleck in the time trial and was doing fine on the cobbles before his puncture. The other day he was broken by more bad luck with the falls and whilst I don't think he would have kept up with the top two I feel he could have been in the mix for a podium place.
Since the bad day in the climbs he has known a top 3 place is not on and if he wants a stage victory he would have to be well down on time or the leaders would not let him go without following. I think he has a lot more form than people think.

[Wim]

Alberto Contador showed again today why he is called El Pistolero : accelerating violently at the end of the climb and leaving Andy Schleck behind.
More important than the 10sec win is the psychological advantage he takes from this : leaving Schleck behind with some questions just before the crucial days of The Tour.

[Odrl]

Big day today, with Schleck losing the jersey after a problem with his bike. He looked as angry as it gets at the finish, so I would expect some fireworks tomorrow and especially on Thursday.

[Wim]

Yes, Andy was very angry today, but he can't blame Contador for his bad luck. The fact is that Contador doesn't look unbeatable and Schleck just knows that. I think Andy is the best climber this year but I' m afraid for him - also taking into consideration the stage on Saturday - that Contador will win the Tour.

[gem]

I think the way Contador atacked after Schleck had the problem said a lot about both the mindset of Alberto and his actual fitness. He is obviously not as good as Schleck this year and knows it.
Schleck pulled back around 20-25 seconds after his restart so I feel he could have gained at least half this on the climb over Contador
Todays stage might not suit Schleck because of the long decent but you neve know as he has good form and is angry.

[Wim]

Armstrong did his very best - and with success - to show he is still capable to compete at a high level. I take my hat off for him.
I still can't understand why Contador apologized after what happened to Schleck as he had nothing to do with it. I can feel some opportunism from Contador there more than some kind of fair-play.

Anyway time for some action myself ! Leaving this afternoon with a couple of friends to the Tourmalet in order to witness live the batlle for the yellow tomorrow. And still I can't imagine Contador losing the Tour.

[Odrl]

Armstrong did his very best - and with success - to show he is still capable to compete at a high level. I take my hat off for him.
I still can't understand why Contador apologized after what happened to Schleck as he had nothing to do with it. I can feel some opportunism from Contador there more than some kind of fair-play.

Anyway time for some action myself ! Leaving this afternoon with a couple of friends to the Tourmalet in order to witness live the batlle for the yellow tomorrow. And still I can't imagine Contador losing the Tour.

Have a good day tomorrow.

We're a bit lucky with the way the race has turned out, so there should be plenty of action on the Tourmalet. Unlike the Mont Ventoux last year.

As for Contador, I think he was just trying to win over the outraged fans again, although he did seem pretty sincere in the video. But I wouldn't have apologized myself either.

[gem]

I agree that I still think Contador will win this year as he can TT far better than Schleck but I do feel he atacked when he saw Andy have problems because he knows Schleck is more able than him on the longer climbs this year.
Should be good on Thursday.
Andy to take around 1 minute out of Contador? Won't be enough though.
It has been a far better tour than the last few.

[Odrl]

Well, the big stage is over...

I suppose we did see fireworks, with Schleck attacking quite early and sticking with it, but it turned out Contador was his equal, so the best Schleck could do was to win the stage.

I think Contador is quite happy with this position now, eight seconds ahead of an opponent who is not on his level in TTs, and almost four minutes ahead of the dangerous Menchov. On paper, he has this Tour won, but he will still need to do the job on the road.

If I'm honest, it's been closer than I expected, which is always good. Another thing to look out for now is the fight for the green jersey.