Armstrong is done

Simone wrote:

Forgive my amateur knowledge, but with only one TT stage, can Schleck be poor enough to lose his advantage gained from every other stage? Surely he can't have such an atrocious TT considering his stage performances.

Yes, he is a bad enough time trialist that his current small lead on Contador (a great time trialist) is not enough. He lost 40" to Contador on the prologue which was only 9km compared to 52km for the final time trial. Worse still for Schleck, he is BEHIND Cadel Evans who is a great TT'er as well. Andy will not be comfortable unless he has >2 minutes going into the final time trial.

Your winner will either be Contador, Evans, Schleck or Menchov. I still think Contador will do it even though he didn't look great today. There is still a long way to go, but the GC win is out of the question for Levi, Wiggins, Rogers, Basso, Sastre. They've lost too much time to too many great riders.

Sad to see Armstrong's struggles today. During his reign he was very lucky avoiding accidents, sicknesses, ill-timed mechanicals. It seems like his luck has totally turned around. His crash today and flat on the cobble stage couldn't have been worse timed. Pity because his form seemed to be good. I think he will work for Levi.

Tired of being tired?

Drug up like me! Try it now! >>

I wonder if Armstrong regrets coming back. His return seems to have done nothing but stirred the impetus for landis to express his allegations (allegedly from being denied a spot on the current team?), further leading to what seems to be an investigation that I'm quite sure will take some highly placed "names" in the sport (team managers, etc). I bet he wishes he had just continued to sit on his porch with a lone star, watching his kids play in the yard. He's got bucketloads of cash, as well as armies of followers with blind adulation...I guess his farvesque inability to fade fro

the spotlight was just too much. Of course, this is just one man's opinion...

Part of me wishes that Lance would blow off Levi and make a last ditch effort in the TT and mountain stages to try and get back in the top 5

Evans flew backwards with each acceleration today. He could have been trying to conserve, but it looked to me like he's going to get dropped repeatedly when the going gets really tough. The battle for third will be interesting.

No, not so much.

I agree to some extent, but I would say he only looked suspect in the last couple km's when the attacks started. Otherwise, he rode right up at the front and never yo-yo'd off the rear of the peloton. I don't think he was trying to conserve, I think he simply didn't have it. But don't forget that Evans had a nasty wreck in today's stage within the first 10km. That must have slowed him a little. With the rest day tomorrow, I think he will be one of the strongest through the rest of the Tour.

simeoni blackballed wrote:

I liked Lance's GTFO to the German rider (I think in '04) after LA was spit upon by German fans... Lance out-sprinted the German rider on a mountain stage, just to let him know he didn't appreciate loogies in his face. To be clear, the rider didn't spit on Lance, fans did, but beating the German was LA's way of getting revenge.

That was one of my favorite Lance moments, when he was at the absolute peak of his dominance. Ironically, that German rider was Andreas Kloeden, who has been Lance's teammate the past couple of seasons.

Gomer wrote:

There is a LOT of speculation that he is just playing possum. This is not that big a deficit for man with his talent to make up. He will probably wait a few stages, then catch up, then later blow them away in the mountains.

Unlike you folks, I actually RACE a bike, so I know what I am talking about.

Source please. No one I am aware of who knows anything about the sport is participating in that speculation, basically because it makes zero sense. Maybe "playing possum" is what they're doing in Cat 5 races these days, but giving up 12 minutes to guys who a) he can't take it back from, and b) won't let him get it back on a breakaway, isn't exactly a winning strategy.

Actually Lance won that stage because typically when a guy like Landis does all the work they are rewarded with a stage win. Klodi and Ullrich tried to ruin it. Landis was already shot with 6 hours out front so couldn't sprint. No reason to give the East Germans the victory at that point. It wasn't so much about Lance but rather not allowing a injustice to occur.

TdF is so scripted. Between that and all the doping, it's pro rasslin on two wheels.

Lance will support Levi and go for a couple of stage wins in the Alps.

Yep they just pretend to race and pretend to crash, the wounds are fake too, it's all done with make-up. The mountains stages aren't even hard.

Gomer wrote:

There is a LOT of speculation that he is just playing possum. This is not that big a deficit for man with his talent to make up. He will probably wait a few stages, then catch up, then later blow them away in the mountains.

Unlike you folks, I actually RACE a bike, so I know what I am talking about.

Very well done sir! Excellent! 8/10

The funny part is, there are a lot of people here who will actually believe you do race a bike. Or in the least that you know what you are talking about.

Seriously, good job. You struck just the right tone to set these idiots off.

Suitcase of Courage wrote:

Yes, he is a bad enough time trialist that his current small lead on Contador (a great time trialist) is not enough. He lost 40" to Contador on the prologue which was only 9km compared to 52km for the final time trial. Worse still for Schleck, he is BEHIND Cadel Evans who is a great TT'er as well. Andy will not be comfortable unless he has >2 minutes going into the final time trial.

Your winner will either be Contador, Evans, Schleck or Menchov. I still think Contador will do it even though he didn't look great today. There is still a long way to go, but the GC win is out of the question for Levi, Wiggins, Rogers, Basso, Sastre. They've lost too much time to too many great riders.

That brings up an interesting point. Of course Schleck knows he will lose gobs of time to Contador in the Time Trials. Therefore his only hope is to go for it in the mountain stages. No, I don't think he has much of a chance with that strategy either but it really is his only hope so he HAS to do it.

That could make for some exciting mountain stages.

Now supposed that when that is happening, Levi has fallen out of contention. Armstrong won't have to ride for him anymore. And there he could be, well rested (due to not worrying about GC anymore) at the end of a mountain stage with Schleck and Contador. Schleck trying to put time on Contador and Evans, Contador and Evans just trying to stay with them, Armstrong going for the only thing he has left - a stage win.

If it actually happened it could make for some very exciting climbing.

Yeah, it was pure coincidence that Armstrong has crashed so much this year. I'm sure a lot of the hits hurt in pro rasslin, but that doesn't mean it's not scripted.

0/10. You're trying too hard. Your life must suck lol.

Eventually we are all done (athletically).

If you go on beyond that point you are doing it for another reason.

you forget Levi

Suitcase of Courage wrote:

Your winner will either be Contador, Evans, Schleck or Menchov. I still think Contador will do it even though he didn't look great today. There is still a long way to go, but the GC win is out of the question for Levi, Wiggins, Rogers, Basso, Sastre. They've lost too much time to too many great riders.

Sad to see Armstrong's struggles today. During his reign he was very lucky avoiding accidents, sicknesses, ill-timed mechanicals. It seems like his luck has totally turned around. His crash today and flat on the cobble stage couldn't have been worse timed. Pity because his form seemed to be good. I think he will work for Levi.