I'm nearly certain that Deignan signed a two year deal with cervelo at the start of this year. Tbh if I was a top class cyclist Cervelo and Garmin are exactly the two teams I'd be looking to get signed by.
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I'm nearly certain that Deignan signed a two year deal with cervelo at the start of this year. Tbh if I was a top class cyclist Cervelo and Garmin are exactly the two teams I'd be looking to get signed by.
Were I a fifth class cyclist, they's still be the two teams I'd be looking to get signed by...Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
Joking aside, they seem to be really about building a team of equals, and everyone seems to have their chances in races. At CTT, Deignan had a few shots in that Spanish race earlier in the season, Haussler was encouraged to become an equal to Hushovd, rather than a train; Martin is being carefully coached at Garmin, Farrar is now a "name", Vandevelde is a tour leader, and by the looks of things, Wiggins is given his chance to show.
I am thinking at Sky it will be a very "follow the leader" style organisation, largely towards the benefit of the better British cyclist, or the big name: fair enough, they pay the wages, but not where you'd go if you have ambition to win, or develop, I am thinking.
Levi Leipheimer becomes the first big casualty of the tour. He broke his wrist in a crash towards the end of yesterday's stage and won't start today
I'm hopeful (rather than expectant) that today's stage shakes things up a bit. A couple of decent climbs but, again, without the mountian finish, its hard to see too much changing between the real GC contendors.
Ag2R have been working unbelievable hard all week so this might be the day that they let the yellow jersey go
One less leader in Astana anyway, will probably help them!Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
Nah, Leipheimer was definitely a Lance man
Might help Contador so!
Of those remaining, I reckon Popovych would lean to Armstrong, seeing as he knows who the boss is from before. Paulinho was cited as being Contador's domestique by Horner when he wasn't called up for the tour.
Kloden of course is still a contender, and likely to be still there when Contador sets up with Alonso's new team, and the Armstrong bloc sets up Livestrong Nike, so he may have aspirations of his own.
You'd think that Dmitriy Muravyev and Rast would pair in their allegances as they are with the team around the same length and are likely to be in the new old Vino Astana. If Kloden doesn't decide to go for it himself, I'd expect all three of them to row in behind Contador. Zubeldia could swing either way.
Hopefully, the lot of them will be blown out of it today and someone outside of Astana comes along and shuffles the deck completely!
Roche away in a break... 13 riders at about 4 minutes.
Come on Nicolas!
Ivanov wins, blew the rest away.
Roche second, great ride.
Hope he gets a stage win under his belt in this Tour.
Felt sorry for Roche I think he had enough to beat Ivanov but team orders meant he couldn't try to chase him down. It worked too with Nocetini retaining the yellow, the way Roche comfortably held off the rest for second suggests to me he would have won it if allowed to chase him.
Roche didn't have team orders not to chase him. Ivanov attacked just as the group caught a Roche attack. He was unlucky at the timing of Ivanov's break, thats all
Obviously he wasn't allowed move until the 10k mark, and the team are going to be extremely happy with him, and the way theday turned out
Fun and games over Hincapie missing yellow. He blamed astana. Astana blame garmin. Squabbling like babies. Its pro bike racing and if hancapie buried himself for the last 5k he'd be in yellow
stephen roche seems to rate him failry highly if his comments on eurosport are anything to go by....great result....was a bit of a weird one tactically with so may in the breakaway and they all seemed to be keepin an eye on roche as well...tomorrow should see an attack of some sort from the big guys..
Oh and for those who missed it, more info was released on the Tour of Ireland
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cork...our-of-ireland
I'm not so sure, Roche was in a good position to counter Ivanov, I thought his own little attack was half hearted and just an attempt to take some of the legs out of the others for the closing stages, when he saw Ivavnov have a genuine go he just let him off. Then again you probably know a lot more about cycling than I do. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
Roche's take
Its possible he could've chased but if you look at the video Ivanov attacks the exact moment Roche is caught, so he was probably expecting someone else to chase, and then get on the back of that chase (if that makes sense)
Yes and no. Like Dodge says, Ivanov's attack was a counter to a Roche attack. But also team orders allowed Roche (quite legitmately) to do bugger all in the break to get that point freshest.Quote:
Originally Posted by passinginterest
I'd also agree that Hincapie could've driven the break on more instead of getting involved in the fun and games over attacks and counters in the last 10km. He could've been shot, but I can't see how he wouldn't have got more time out of it.
After yesterday, Contador looks like he has it sown up. Another amazing ride by Wiggins. He's always been so anti-doping, and the team he's riding for too, that it is great to see him right up there going for the podium.
Yeah, fabulous last 15km or so yesterday. Contador is a truly exceptional climber.
Great rides too by the Schlecks and Wiggins. I'd expect Wiggins to finish on podium now.
I hope he does tbh, he's a great rider. Such a shame Dan Martin isn't there. At worst he'd be Wiggins "chaperon" in the hills.
Do people think Cavendish's stage DQ was justified? I think he kept his line, but he knew that the fencing was narrowing and knew full well he was cutting up Hushovt. Totally unnecessary as he had the beating of him easily. Harsh lesson, but one he needed to be taught.
I think only a crash or illness can stop Contador. He's a cut above everyone in the hills and a quality TTist too.
Great ride by Roche. Where is he now in the GC?
Roche is in the 35-38 region on GC now
I thought Cav's DQ was harsh until I read Robbie McEwan's view of it. He basically said that he wasn't disqalified for moving off the line, but rather for turning around and "lining up" Hushovd. Made a bit more sense to me.
Cav's mouth is the reason Hincapie didn't get in yellow too. Garmin obviously aren't happy with his constant sniping and worked pretty hard in the last 10k that day. His sprinting speed is the main reason breaks were allowed get away though as the other teams know there's no point in clawing back a break if they can't beat him in a sprint.
But he was disqualified for cutting him up. I thought he could've been done for blocking as well though, as he wasn't really sprinting either, and there was a few of them across the road.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
So my summation is that it was harsh for the reasons given, but ultimately he can't have too many complaints.
That maybe true, but Garmin are getting a hammering over it*. Or were before Wiggins kinda shut up the "whole look what we've done compared to Garmin" stuff that they were coming out with. Fairly below the belt for Stapleton to threaten to call the sponsors to complain though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
*the cyclingnews.com/ bike radar podcast was really going for Garmin. However, yesterdays wasn't through on itunes this morning, or zencast so far to see how the humble pie's going after the slating the day before.
Fair enough on Cav, I had hear it was for "irregular" racing or something similarly vague.
I thought it was hilarious to see columbia/Astana gang up on garmin, and I though Vaughters handled it briliantly to be fair.
I'd have just asked them how come it was OK for Astanta to ride for Columbia but not OK for Garmin to ride for Ag2R. Silence/lotto also rode a little as payback for not allowing Evans to break in the Pyrenees
I guess if you think about it a few of the teams owed them one from that split in the first week, never mind anything else. Columbia have gone down in my estimation the last few days - I mean you expect (fast) sprinters to mouthy hot headed types as Cav is, but the team management shouldn't be so bloody whingy.
Well that’s exactly it. I've no bother with anyone cocky, if thye can back it up like cav but he's no business talking about the race for yellow, and commenting on Garmin going for the TTT etc
He started to grate for me in the Giro and he's worse here.
For the record, Columbia have "World's Greatest Cycling team" painted on the side of their bus, so they're not exactly trying to endear themselves to the peleton.
Odds on Hincapie being on the new Nike/Armstrong team? Pretty short I'd imagine
Roche is having a good ride again today by the sound of things, looks like it could be a thriller of a finish.
Roche came in fourth and now leads the young riders classification.
Having a very impressive tour it must be said.
Is he ahead of Tony Martin? Great stuff. Could have been Dan Martin too :(
I saw before today that AG2R are in third in the team classification. I understand it's the aggregate times of your top 3 riders. Nocentini is obviously one, but is Roche one of the 3?
Cracking first tour for him anyway.
I'm a semi-keen cyclist & think the Irish champ AG2R jersey is cool. Are they available?
I know Contador is a decent TTist, but does Wiggins have any chance to make an impression in Thursday's TT in Annecy?
wrt TV production, 2 points: (1) Gary Imlach is a god and (2) I'd love to see in the bottom right corner the current speed of the rider(s) being shown.
I was in a triathlon last weekend and downhill I peaked at 52kph. I have never ever hit higher than 57kph. These guys go faster than that for decent stretches on the flat.
Andy Schleck is holding best young rider position.
Roche in 30th place, 16 mins back from Contador. Very impressive.
http://www.independent.ie/breaking-n...e-1834216.html
Classic piece of Indo Journalism, spot the error time :D
:eek: Does Stephen know?Quote:
The son of 1980s cycling star Sean Kelly
Stephen won't be happy when he hears that :DQuote:
Originally Posted by endabob1
Voigt is said to have been going 85kph when he crashed yesterday!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Mad stuff today with Hushovd away at front over the first two climbs. There's no way he'll last the stage there but he has a few sprints to pull out his green jersey lead.
Cav's bs about a stained jersey obviously got to him, and he's going to try and make the disqualification irrelevant.Quote:
Originally Posted by Schumi
Di Luca has tested positive for CERA in this years Giro....Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Another top 10 for Roche up to 23rd overall and 5th in the Green jersey race. Could he be a potential winner in the future? He seems to be a decent sprinter and climber, maybe needs to improve his time trialling? What do the cycling experts think?
Nope. He's a terrific talent, but he's only a year behind Contador, and older than Andy SchleckQuote:
Originally Posted by passinginterest
Lets just hope he has a nice career out of it
Super performance by Roche in his first tour. Maybe top 10 potential?
I was really cheering for Wiggins. Is Dan Martin not considered the better climber within Garmin, or is it just that he's got youth on his side?
Great tour all round. No drug stories (not yet anyway - Kohl & Schumacher were busted quite a bit after 2008 TdF finished). Great sub-plots: Contador vs Armstrong & rest of Astana, Cav vs Hushovd etc. Great & really imaginative route - potentially important stages and TTs were dispersed well throughout the race. More breakaway wins than usual, presumably because nobody wanted to help Columbia HTC earn even more stage wins. And a (reasonably) prominent Irish interest. Great stuff, can't wait for 2010.
http://www.itv.com/sport/tourdefranc...l/default.html
The inevitable fallout about to happen. Can't wait for next year's, missed a lot of coverage this year.
make sure you dont watch it on british eurosport.. watched final day into paris and commetators and studio experts nearly wet themselves waffling on about the great cavandish victory he destroyed the field with his power etc... i always thought last day was all about the yellow jersey and this mafnificent achiement... but oh no eurosport seemed to be more worried about final stage win and british winner he's some ridder cavandish as he always wins these stages on his own :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by Pauro 76