Cofidis have pulled out of the tour now.
Cofidis have pulled out of the tour now.
Biopace chainring wrote:
First, Contador has shown himself to be the best, not second-best in the race. Rasmussen has ridden great, but he has a 3:10 lead over Contador right now for one main reason. No one considered him a threat and let him get away on stage 8, figuring he was just going for polka dots again. If the first time trial had come before this stage he would not have been allowed to escape. He put 3:31 on Contador that day, and you'll notice that without that he would be behind the youngster. Today was the first day he was demonstrably stronger. Contador put 40 seconds into him in the first time trial. I'd say he's a stronger overall rider this year than Rasmussen, but Rasmussen will have certainly earned his victory. Nothing cheap about it.
Second, you've got to get off your anti-American blathering. I don't know how many attacks we've all heard about how dirty Lance was, now it turns out you favor the doping. With Rasmussen in yellow, it's all just part of the sport you love and everyone should chill? You show your colors again by ripping into Levi. "Levi is done". He is clearly the 3rd strongest rider in this tour. Not a "pure" climber, Levi is still a top all arounder, and would be in the hunt if everyone hadn't thought that the Chicken would pull another choke job on the time trial like his previous 6-fall escapade to drop off the podium.
I've got to say that this is the best analysis I've seen so far. If the three guys behind Rasmussen hadn't underestimated him early on, this race would be very much up for grabs (as far as I'm concerned, it still is). Rasmussen is strong as hell in the mountains, but some tactical errors were committed early on that allowed for him to be a player.
As long as Razzy stays upright he'll win the tour. They won't gain that much time on him during the TT and that's really the only stage that's going to change the GC. I don't think anyone really underestimated him. You should always keep a strong climber in your sights. He just blew them away. He simply outclimbed everyone and that's good enough to win the Tour this year.
Alan
Better pace yourself with the Razzy's alan or you'll dirty your screen.
Runningart2004 wrote:
As long as Razzy stays upright he'll win the tour. They won't gain that much time on him during the TT and that's really the only stage that's going to change the GC. I don't think anyone really underestimated him. You should always keep a strong climber in your sights. He just blew them away. He simply outclimbed everyone and that's good enough to win the Tour this year.
Alan
What I meant was that, barring some totally unforeseen collapse by Rasmussen or another drug indictment, the second two podium spots are very much up for grab, and Leipheimer can still get there. No question that it is risky to ever let a solid climber get away, but I believe the strategy in the early going was such that they always believed Rasmussen would ultimately be reeled in. With the exception of Marco Pantani a decade ago, a pure climber very rarely factors in the race for the overall win. Definite tactical blunder.
Runningart2004 wrote:
I don't think anyone really underestimated him.
You must not have watched Stage 8 if you think that nobody underestimated Rasmussen. The supposed GC contenders were busy playing cat-and-mouse on the last climb while Rasmussen was five minutes up the road.
If they underestimated the King of the Mountains from the last two years, then they're more stupid than you're allowed to be.
my own worst enema wrote:
If they underestimated the King of the Mountains from the last two years, then they're more stupid than you're allowed to be.
It didn't necessarily seem so stupid at the time. As mentioned above, Pantani was the last "pure climber" to win the Tour. Rasmussen had never previously shown signs of being able to do an adequate time trial.
In retrospect, of course, the decision to let Rasmussen go looks pretty stupid.
Yes, it's part of the sport and yes, Lance was dirty. What's your point? I dislike Lance for his holier-than-thou attitude and using his illness as an argument that he would never dope - and for his strong indictment of competitors.
Rasmussen is dirty too, of that I'm convinced. Same for Contador. I'd much rather just acknowledge that than have my passion for the sport hinge on some fairytale.
Anti-American? Is that what you call people who don't root for your favorite American rider or a Spaniard on an American team? I guess that makes you anti-French, anti-German, anti-Danish, anti-Australian, etc.
Rasmussen gone from tour. Pulled by Rabobank. Very strange indeed.
What's up with the "Razzy"s? Are you trying to irritate people, or are you that big of a dork?
If it is the former, good job. But I tend to believe it's the latter.
Thank you.
Wow Ras is gone.Quicker link
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/tour07/news/?id=/news/2007/jul07/jul26news
That means a likely victory by Contador unless he gets caught as well...
At this rate their won't be any riders left by Sunday for the ride into Paris.
man, this is just silly. After Vino, I said to myself "what's next?" , and now...wow. Today was a really exciting stage too. It's kind of deflating to have this happen now. I kind of felt like Rasmussen deserved to win after today's performance. Ah well.
I definitely see the merit in making a hemocrit only rule but I don't think it can be anything goes or we'll just have unhealthy mutants. IF (basically impossible)we could see a 100% clean tour, I'd rather that route. I don't see why some would hate to see a 3:47 mile, 10 flat 100, 45 homer season etc. Human competition interests me. I follow chess even though computers are stronger than humans now. If you want pure speed watch some motorsports. If you just want entertainment watch WWE or the circus or catch a play. We'll always be weak, inefficient beings but it's still interesting to see who can do something the best, without breaking the rules.
hypnotoad wrote:
Anti-American? Is that what you call people who don't root for your favorite American rider or a Spaniard on an American team? I guess that makes you anti-French, anti-German, anti-Danish, anti-Australian, etc.
No, I don't refer to your choosing not to root for an American, but to your constant remarks against, specifically, American athletes. Actually, my guess is not that you dislike athletes that are American, but that your beef is with all the Americans who post here and you attack the American athletes as a way to bitterly take a piss against them. You appear very confrontational.
Every single cyclist denies doping. To hate Lance for denying it means you'd need to hate the whole stinking lot of them.
Me? I've followed cycling long enough to have been a fan of cyclists from every country at one time or another. Dutch, Danish, Irish, Belgian, Spanish, Italian, Russian...Actually, I'm coming up empty for a French cyclist. Maybe I'm anti-French.
Sagarin wrote:
What I meant was that, barring some totally unforeseen collapse by Rasmussen or another drug indictment,
If it's true about Rasmussen, unbelievable. Maybe you are right Alan. Maybe they didn't underestimate him. Maybe they simply didn't think he was drugged to the gills to pull off the time trial that he did.
TDF is now a complete joke. Maybe it's the same in track and field but they don't test that well, I wouldn't be surprised.. Luckily for me I know that my competitors don't dope, I'm not good enough.
feww wrote:
TDF is now a complete joke. Maybe it's the same in track and field but they don't test that well, I wouldn't be surprised.. Luckily for me I know that my competitors don't dope, I'm not good enough.
Remember that overweight guy with tube socks up to his knees and a Nike Just Do It head band that passed you in the final stretch of the Po Dunk 5k? That was me and I was full of PE's! Hahahahahahahahahahhahahahahaha
Wouldn't it be something if Leipheimer could pull off a surprise in the final stages and become the 9th straight American victor, and the only clean one at that, if, indeed, he is even clean. That would not be so humorous for the French, but I think it would be friggin awesome.