Printable View
A great result, given who he was up with. Top 10 on a stage like that is some achievement. I had been a bit disappointed to see him in and around the bus, but I guess that's more to do with my expectations not with managing his career!Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
Mechanical doping. Discuss.
http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2010...tor-power.html
Plenty of media references too.
Spectacular crash at end of today's Tour of Switzerland, Cavendish deviating offline in a sprint and getting taken out at high speed.
Any Irish been racing recently?
Update on Roche in this Indo interview:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/co...e-2220696.html
He was totally at fault. No doubt British cycling media will come to his aid again...Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
martin taking time off since Giro. Roche and Deignan both doing tour de suisse on the back of injuries. Roche was 9/th or 10h on a hilly stage yesterday and made a bold bid to win it. Deignan's form has been poor and although he was named in Cervelo's final 12 for the Tour, he thinks he won't make it with this form.Quote:
Any Irish been racing recently?
Great to see Roche pre-selected (as he was last selected last year)
Unreal crash yesterday not a cycling fan but seen the crash on SSN and it was spectacular
Martin isn't doing the Tour, unless Garmin are desperate. Disappointing to hear that about Diegnan. It'll be interesting to see Roche does - he's talking alot about the GC (not necessarily the Tour GC) these days.
Le Tour starts today- interesting piece by Roche here: http://www.independent.ie/sport/othe...s-2244773.html
Roche in 11th. So far so good although he's had a few spills. He's doing a daily piece in the Indo, which is cool.
Sounds lie the stages have been mental to date.
He's doing well given how mental the race has been so far. Is he a contender for the best young rider category, or is he too old?
Cycled the ring of Kerry last weekend, 176kms - have a whole lot more respect for these lads watching them this week after doing that!
Anyone think Roche has the potential to actually win the tour at some stage in the future. He seems to be getting better every year.
White jersey is for u-26, Roche was 26 last week I think , so he is not eleigible afaik.
He's too old (and wouldn't be a contendor anyway as Andy Schleck is still eligible). A bit too much was made of that one stage where every crashed too. The other was basically a classics type day (which they dion't normally have in the Grand Tours).
Roche is saying he's aiming for a high GC (Top 15). Decent start but this weekend will tell a lot
He seems to be up for testing himself anyway. It'll be certainly interesting to see how far he can go with the leaders in the high mountains, and then it may be a question of his preparation in the future.Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
The problems are the Contador is of similar age and Schleck is younger and both are significantly ahead of him at the moment.
If he got the position of being in top 10 in a few GTs then he might focus on the Vuelta or Giro to avoid that pair
What did people think of the Belgian stages,maybe the cobbles were a bit too dangerous but it certainly livened it up a bit.Interesting to see how Stephen Roche handles it on Eurosport if his son does well.
I loved it tbh. The stage Hushovd won was a cracker. I'd like to see more classic type stages like this in the TDF. The Giro hada a smilir one (no cobbles this time) this year when Evans had a great stage win. Probably the stage into Barcelona last year was the closest in recent times with a very tough uphill finish
I thought they were great - more please! GC in a grand tour should be about more than climbing and time trialling imo. Pity the oil on the second stage spoiled that one. Only thing would be maybe a couple of more stages in, so the peleton would be thinned out a bit more. I think my favourite stages of the last few years was this years Pavé and last years one in the south of France with the crosswinds, and was it '07 when Astana killed Moreau again with the med crosswinds?Quote:
Originally Posted by the 12 th man
Actually, in normal conditions, stage 1 would've had the crosswinds too - it would've been really mental start then, but I guess that would've thinned things out for the second and third stages...
Great stage yesterday, the last 30 kms were pulsating,Armstrong like a shadow of his former self,pity Roche lost some time though as I thought he was looking good for a finish in that group he fell off the back of.
I'd love to see him get back in the top 10 tommorow:)
He collapsed at the end of the stage apparently. Still in 16th overall which is decent. Some long hard days ahead though
He looked absolutely shattered when the camera's zoomed in on him as he lost touch with the main peloton with about 5kms to go.
Id say top ten is a longshot now for him. Top 20 should be the aim.
Yesterday's stage was compelling viewing imo. Lots of subplots with all the crashes, Armstrongs poor day, probably signaling the end of his career as a top competitive cyclist, and then the contenders up front. It could be genuinely very very close come the end this year between Schleck, Contador and Evans. It may come down to the time trial, but there's a hell of a long way to go yet before that.
Looked like he totally went over - probably would've saved time if he'd gone his own pace a bit earlier, but then you have to learn when that's coming too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
As for the contenders, surprised at Contador not looking so good whatever about the spin he put it on yesterday. Evans could probably take a chance on marking Contador given Shlecks past time trial record, although he probably thought he had enough time going into the final time trial against Sastre a couple of years ago.
Today is going to be interesting. The first HC climb and a long, long day but no mountain top finish. For anyone to get away they're probably going to have to attack early. If they leave it to last climb there's too long a decent for them to survive IMO
Roche 25th today, 17th overall now.
Disapointing day for Roche - but still not in bad shape.
But what about Jens Voight! nearly 40 years of age, and he leading his man out nearly to the top of the Col de Madeline. What a hero!
Yesterdays yellow jersey one place behind him.Looks like a 2 horse race now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A
I was pleastantly surprised at where he came. He came in with a group that contained riders that had solely focused on the GC at the Tour, and most of them ahead were pure climbers or GC riders! His other GC rides have been the result of getting in breaks - if he can stay around where he is now without a break bonus it'll be progress imo.Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
Spot on Macy. Anywhere in the top 20 is still a decent result, considering the cream of the crop is in this race.
He's also far enough back now that he might be able to get in a good quality break
Roche took back 80 seconds with a late attack today. He's up to 13th in the GC.
Yeah, that was incredibly cheeky (and clever). I mean he might lose a bit of time in the TT but he can easily recover the energy expended today in the ext couple of days as the sprinters take over
Fair played to Roche - great to bounce back after losing time yesterday. Maybe top ten back on the agenda after today.
Mark Renshaw kicked out of the tour for trying to headbutt New Zealand's Julian Dean when leading out Cavendish on today's sprint. Just saw it and it looked ridiculous - didn't see did Dean do anything to provoke him - probably irrelevant anyway. Good decision - looked very dangerous.
Any lingering chance Cavendish had of winning the maillot vert has gone now - it will be interesting to see if he can win with an inferior lead off guy.
No, as far as I could see he didn't do anything to provoke him. Renshaw was just doing whatever he could to ensure Cavendish got a clear passage. Whatever about doing it once, he did it 3 or 4 times (cant remeber) and the last was a right dig.Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
Eisel's OKQuote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
I too thought it was the correct decision. Dean did stick his elbows out a little but nothing that isn't normal in sprinting. Even after the headbutts, Renshaw looked back and decided to swerve into Farrar. i think it was a combination fo the two that got him DQ'd
COuldn't just give him the "normal" sanction of putting him at back of pack as it didn't matter whether he was 7th, 10th or last
Dean was leaning in if you look from the overhead, so the first two headbutt's/ head pushes were ok with me. However, the final one did look like a head butt and he was definately dangerous blocking Farrar. So overall probably just about justified, taking the two together. HTC are probably lucky Cav wasn't penalised?
Between Cav's reaction and Renshaws behavior, two days running a pair of tits in HTC jerseys at the finish line... They probably have a point though in comparing Renshaw with the two guys fighting the other day only getting a small fine. One of them came flying in with a wheel, never mind a head!
I don't think its comparable at all tbh. The two lads swinging digs were stopped and no one involved but themselves.Quote:
Originally Posted by Macy
If Renshaw knocks Dean down (which at 40mph is easy enough to do) there'd be carnage. I know he didn't but its still a far more dangerous incident.
I think Contador could and should have waited before attacking back and I think he knows as much himself as he stated that he didn't think Schleck had a problem when he went by ,which is very hard to believe.
Don't see anything wronf with what Contador did. He basically just followed the others, then pushed on.
Nicolas Roche puntured on the climb asnd had to use a nuetral bike for a while. he was fuming at his team mate gadret who chose this moment to attack the leaders group
He tweeted as much last night but its since been deleted.
[QUOTE=Dodge;1378121]Don't see anything wronf with what Contador did. He basically just followed the others, then pushed on.
QUOTE]
Really - from what I saw on the highlights last night - Contador was the first to attack. Schleck was bitterly upset. He was almost in tears talking to the media. Not nice from Contador imo but it will hardly decide the tour.
It's fair to say Roche is not a happy bunny http://www.independent.ie/sport/othe...m-2264978.html
I hope Gadret crashes out after that, treating the team leader that way when he's in a very strong overall position in the race is not on.
I'm sure he was but these things happen. Contador has said he didn't realise Schleck had a mechanical when he attacked (my mistake there, I only saw it briefly at the time). Up to yourself if you believe himQuote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
Roche article is incredible.