Procycling thread

[myshkin]

hoy is dole scum, the same as all the rest of the of the taxpayer funded 'elite' athletes. the government spends millions so the country can get a wee hard on every four years when we win at some sports that the majority of the world doesn't care about or can't afford to do. team sky has shown british olympic excellence to be a load of shite, in the summer of 2008 you couldn't open a paper without reading about how much of a genius dave brailsford is and how great his techniques are, unsuprisingly when he's put in a even competition (protour events) it's all shown to be bullshit.

if the market won't support an athlete to be professional then they should then it should be a past time/hobby. there are hundreds of pro cyclists out working hard 10 months a year yet guys like hoy are lauded for living it large on taxpayers money and competing once every four years. get a real job!

Indeed. They were clever in cornering the track cycling niche but it's no more than that.

Good riders go the continent and make their own career. Lesser ones ride round in circles, literally.

For a minute looked like Menchov may ride himself into contention.

Not sure if Contador is just playing with Schleck or is really worried.

It's a strangely quite race Menchov has ridden so far. All form points to him blowing up in the next couple of stages but you never know...

I think Contador is just playing with Schleck to be honest. No point attacking him when he knows he will make 2-3 minutes up in the time trial.

[T_S_A_R]

sky said they wouldn't sign david millar due to his doping past so i doubt very much they'd sign vino (or that he would ever leave astana)

the difference between the alps/pyrenees is that the alps tend to be longer and quite as steep. different climbers prefer different types of climbs and you tend get more selections in whatever range comes last. last year there was only one selection in the pyrenees. i think the number of climbs has more to do with creating selections than difficulty, ventoux is a great climb but with a flat run in last year mediocre climbers like armstrong and wiggins were able to cling on.

[Desert Nomad]

What a disaster for Schleck, his chain coming off just as he was attacking! Gonna have to descend like a madman to keep yellow!

[myshkin]

Little Tommy Voeckler gets a chapeau today.

Worth the admission price alone.

[Steve McQueen]

I think Contador should not have attacked at that pint & allowed Schleck to regain his place in the group.

To claim he didn't know is a blatent lie & the crowd let him know what they thought of him.

[Desert Nomad]

I think Contador should not have attacked at that pint & allowed Schleck to regain his place in the group.

To claim he didn't know is a blatent lie & the crowd let him know what they thought of him.

It`s a difficult one for me. The fact Schlecks chain came off could be blamed on the rider himself for not having a chainring or even an error shifting gears, however Contador clearly knew something was up with Andy`s bike & decided to attack him.

Sanchez collaberated with fellow Spaniard AC on the descent, while Menchov could not be blamed for following. There are two sides to the argument as Schleck didn`t wait for AC over the cobbles, but AC & everyone else waited for Schleck after his day 2 crash.

Having said that Contador has previous. He attacked against team orders on Armstrong & Kloeden last year & also took a stage win away from his own teammate, Vino, on this tour.

It does show a lack of class, but in modern day sport that seems to be accepted. The pistol-shot salute on the podium was uncalled for, total lack of class from the man.

[Gnash]

I really don't like all this 'sportsman' pish in cycling. A true sportsman will do everything in his power (within the rules) to win, and I don't see why it should be any different in cycling. Besides, it's totally arbitrary what gets stopped for and what doesn't - what if Contador had crashed on the descent - should Schleck have waited for him? What if Sanchez and Menchov didn't wait - should Schleck still be a 'sportsman'? If I was Schleck I'd be raging - at my bad luck but not at Contador.

I also hate the way they don't contest sprints or climbs out of 'respect'. It's cheating the public and the sooner it stops the better.

[Musketeer Gripweed]

Why did we not attack yesterday??????

[Desert Nomad]

I really don't like all this 'sportsman' pish in cycling. A true sportsman will do everything in his power (within the rules) to win, and I don't see why it should be any different in cycling. Besides, it's totally arbitrary what gets stopped for and what doesn't - what if Contador had crashed on the descent - should Schleck have waited for him? What if Sanchez and Menchov didn't wait - should Schleck still be a 'sportsman'? If I was Schleck I'd be raging - at my bad luck but not at Contador.

I also hate the way they don't contest sprints or climbs out of 'respect'. It's cheating the public and the sooner it stops the better.

The problem is Contador lied about it in his post stage comments. He clearly knew that Schleck was having problems with his bike & decided to take advantage.

As I`ve already said morals in sport have gone completely out of the window in this day & age. For Tour riders to take advantage of a chain slipping off is small-fry compared with all the doping cheating that has gone on in the sport.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Pretty pathetic for Contador to take advantage of that and proves that he is indeed shiteing himself from Schleck. Does he seriously expect us to believe that he didn't know what had happened? He took a look down at Schlecks chain has he passed him. Are we supposed to believe that from the point where it happened, all the way to the finish, that he wasn't told what had happened to Schleck over the team radio? I'm not saying that the sportsmanship stuff should be there, but everyone else abides by it, why shouldn't Contador here. I'm sorry, but no matter what excuses get wheeled out, that was bullshit today. If Contador wins the tour by any less than 40 seconds then I or one won't particularly view him as the winner.

In saying all that, what it does give us is a great few days racing now as Schleck has no option but to come out and attack.

[myshkin]

What a load of nonsense. I don't see anyone complaining that Chris Sorensen and Andy Schleck didn't ease off when Nicky Roche punctured earlier on the climb.

It wasn't Contador's fault that Schleck couldn't change his gears properly. If he had been knocked off his bike then fair enough but the problem he had came about because he was trying to attack and messed it up.

[Gogs Grog]

As someone who doesn't particulary like Contador it would be easy to lay into him about his actions attacking Schlek after his chain problems. Him saying he didn't know about it is a lie though. He even was in 2 minds for a very short period when still going up the climb as to attack or not. However, Andy rode very well to limit the losses, and its certainly going to liven up the next 2 days. If today was a mountain top finish, Andy would be all out attacking, but there is around 60km after the top to the finish. So I'm not sure if there will be a real big dig from Andy today.

I think he can make time on Contador as he's looked really good going up hill (and the descent yesterday), whilst I think AC may just crack if the real pressure comes on when on big day tomorrow.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

What a load of nonsense. I don't see anyone complaining that Chris Sorensen and Andy Schleck didn't ease off when Nicky Roche punctured earlier on the climb.

It wasn't Contador's fault that Schleck couldn't change his gears properly. If he had been knocked off his bike then fair enough but the problem he had came about because he was trying to attack and messed it up.

So if Contador wins the tour by any less than 40 seconds you think he'll have deserved it?

[Desert Nomad]

Contador offers an apology on youtube late last night...

[Shuggie_Murray7]

It's all this "Andy had a mechanical AS I WAS ATTCKING" bullshit that I don't buy. Correct me if I'm wrong but Schleck was the one attacking and Contador was defending, trying to get onto Schlecks wheel. No?

[Desert Nomad]

It's all this "Andy had a mechanical AS I WAS ATTCKING" bullshit that I don't buy. Correct me if I'm wrong but Schleck was the one attacking and Contador was defending, trying to get onto Schlecks wheel. No?

I suppose it comes down to whether you blame Schleck in any way for not being able to shift correctly? As previously stated cheating has unfortunately become an integral part of almost every sport.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

I suppose it comes down to whether you blame Schleck in any way for not being able to shift correctly? As previously stated cheating has unfortunately become an integral part of almost every sport.

When it happened though I'd say it was the exact opposite of what Contador claims. It didn't happen when HE was attacking. It happened when Schleck was attacking and Contador was struggling to keep his wheel.

[jojo]

contador is a lying, cheating scum bag. Hes such a suck up, he wants everyone to love him. Theres no doubt that schleck is the better cyclist. HE had attacked and got a few seconds when just at the perfect timing for contador his chain broke. The whole tour will probably be decided on that. Its just condadors luck that annoys me and he tries to say he attacked, he didnt know schleck had broken his chain, basically tries to say "schleck started it" . He said he didnt want to apologize so why did he?

By attacking like what contador did he's just saying schleck, your a better cyclist so i'll just cheat a bit when your bike has broke.

it was halarious though when contador was standing up on the stage thing and everyone was booing him.

Edited July 20, 2010 by jojo

[Desert Nomad]

contador is a lying, cheating scum bag.

Interesting that ITV did a quick poll of riders & they seemed to be coming out in favour of Contador(and others have done on Twitter), whereas the fans are definately on the side of Schleck. I wonder what would be the view of the fans had the roles been reversed?

edit: reconcilliation on French TV after todays stage into Pau

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-and-schleck-make-up-on-french-tv

Edited July 20, 2010 by Desert Nomad

[Ignoramus]

I don't think Contador should have done what he did but tbh, I don't see this rather unnecessary clamour to condemn Contador for his actions because as Boardman said on ITV4, this is a brutal competition and anything that can gain you an advantage in the overall competition is perfectly understandable, despite the obvious break in etiquette.

This Tour is Contador's already in my view simply becuase there is no longer a shock factor in the attacks from Schleck and Contador can use the rest day to prepare for the attacks of Schleck and ensuring that he doesn't lose enough time that he cannot claw back in the TT. While I'm aware that today's stage had a long finish but Schleck could have tried to attack Contador in the major climbs ie. Aubisque to try and separate himself sufficiently to make any further gains on Thursday more damaging for Contador.