djbowen1

Has anyone seen these clips?

Evans headbutting a camera man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrpL6BA6PBQ
Evans threatning someone who gets too close to his dog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fe79...eature=related
Dont touch his shoulder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fikzg...eature=related

FightingPanther

hes a funny man also bat **** crazy

G. Ike

The "I cut your head off" made me laugh way too hard.

FightingPanther

the way he laughed as he walked away was just awesome

"i cut your head off" - u know he picked that up from an English speaking rider sometime in a race

VosBike

I couldn't feel threatened by him.

His handlers though, look like tough belgians.

kudude

^^ me too

patentcad

I think Cadel needs a team that doesn't suck. That would be more relaxing. For a guy who was totally isolated on every major climb, I think he rode great. Good enough to win the Tour. But not without more support. ANY support.

daytonian

Evans failing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhIMVHen0WA

tubescreamerx

what a loser. he wants attention but then freaks out about it.

daytonian

he screwed the pooch in final TT by himself. don't mess with Molly

king-tony

Who says Evans never attacks

FightingPanther

hes an extraordinary rider without a team, he needs the attention to bring in the fans and the money for a better team and the more standoffish he is about the media the more people hear and find him interesting...

short story is the media is good and his attitude = more media

NomadVW 

I think he needs to put himself in a light that would make people want to ride for him.

I was really looking forward to watching him race and possibly win this year. But the longer the race went on and behavior like the video clips - and now the post tour crit issues - I've seen a total lack of class that makes me wonder if he could even get a team hired around him that would ride for him.

I really think that at this point, his ability is a non-issue. He's proven he's strong enough - he hasn't proven he can get others to bury themselves for him. When your other big-name teammate (ie. Robbie) tells the interviewer at the last stage, "The best man won" and the winner wasn't you, that speaks volumes.

patentcad

I disagree. He rode OK in the TT. He got screwed via his utter isolation and destruction by pre-meditated tactics brilliantly employed on L'Alp D'Huez by CSC's Sastre and the Schleck boys. That's where Cadel lost the Tour. He rode faster than Sastre in the TT. But by then he was so fried from fighting through the mountains alone he never would have had the snot to ride fast enough.

daytonian

Would Evans take Molly to China, with the smog and all..

daytonian

help or no help, Evans didn't have the legs to go with Sastre. Didn't have them last year with Contador. Won't have them next year with Basso and Contador...

SpongeDad

While I generally tune Carmichael out, he did make a good point the other day. Yes, CSC put the hammer down, but Sastre had to be fit enough to keep up with it. Put differently - Cadel and Sastre both got the same punishment from keeping up with the CSC drive - neither one was taking pulls. If Sastre came out of the meat grinder with stronger legs them's the breaks.

Cadel did suffer on Alpe d'Huez from lack of teammates, but part of that was 1) a decision to cover the attacks from the Schlecks to not simply ride his own pace, and 2) let Sastre get as much time as he did (hell, I thought it wasn't enough).

About the only way I could see more support helping Cadel win is if his team could have out pulled CSC and put Sastre into the red on the flats. Not sure that could've happened.

FightingPanther

How many times can you recall lance being tucked in behind postal or trek while they pulled

How many times can u remember seeing Sastre and the Schleks behind the csc train

does Evans have teammates other than McEwen?

SpongeDad

And Cadel was tucked in behind somebody (often a Schleck) in the same peleton, all moving at the same speed. Everybody was getting an aero advantage off the boys on the front (said boys not including Sastre or Cadel, or Menchov or Vandevelde).

Of course, Sastre did benefit from CSC's strength in the team time trial just a Lance did with Postal. Oh wait ... the TTT wasn't included in this year's tour.

patentcad

If you really doubt Evans' lack of a strong team wasn't a KEY factor in his loss by ONE MINUTE to Sastre, who benefited from the STRONGEST team at the Tour (they won the Team competition among other clues), then you simply don't understand modern pro bicycle stage racing. Was it the biggest factor in Sastre's win? I think so, but that is arguable. We'll never really know for sure, but I think that's very evident.

I'm quite puzzled as to what a pro with the potential of Evans to win the Tour was doing on a team that was so incapable of supporting him. It comes down to JUDGEMENT. I think Evans' conduct in public demonstrates how lacking he is in that dept, and that's why he didn't win the Tour. Lance was a MUCH smarter and better tactical and strategic rider, from preparation to team selection to how he rode the race each year.

Duke of Kent

^^^Great points.

I've never understood how having teammates, or not having teammates, affects you when you're 5km from a summit finish, and only going 10mph.

Really, the only thing CSC did was set a hard tempo to burn people off the back, and catch the leaders up the road. The former mainly serving to do what was inevitable and boot the non-contenders just a little earlier than they'd like, and the latter catching other non-contenders going for the glory of a stage win.

If you were a top-10 guy, you just had to sit in and survive. Everyone was getting the same draft on the lower slopes and lesser gradients. When Sastre went up the road, Evans didn't have the w/kg to pull him back. The Schlecks could attack him all the wanted to, but Evans had to realize that HIS race was up the road with Sastre, and that the Schlecks weren't going to pull him up to Sastre.

patentcad

Even at my level of amateur racing, Master's 35+, team tactics factor into most races in a big way. A strong team allows the work of covering attacks to be shared and relieves the team's strongest riders of some of that responsibility, helps set them up for sprints, prevents other fast riders from launching attacks, and strings the pack out on he last couple of laps to prevent the 1000 meter attack specialist dudes from launching so it stays together for a pack sprint. Our team won the NY City 35+ Spring Series (10 races in March and April) employing plenty of team tactics. When you participate on it on the hack amateur level and see how effective it can be, it makes you realize how critical it is in a race like the Tour. The team leader still wins the race, but I can assure you that some of those results wouldn't necessarily be possible without the team's assistance, and the real talent on our team are the first to hand out the attaboys after the races.

I'd agree that Evans let Sastre get clear, but the problem for Evans is that there was NOBODY else to cover the attacks. When Sastre went early, Evans had to decide if that was the real attack or a decoy. For all Cadel knew, covering that attack could have set him up to be completely shelled by a counter attack by somebody else on CSC farther up the climb. Armstrong would have had a Hamilton, Livingston, Landis or Beltan to sacrifice themselves towing him back up to Sastre's wheel. Evens had no help at all. There's the difference.

bdcheung

CSC had a better team. The atronger team of csc was able to shell Cadel's teammates

patentcad

Fixed.

chinotex

Who carries around their dog like that, I mean really? He just finished a stage and the first thing he does is pick up his dog as he's walking back to his trailer/car/whatever? Dude needs a hot girlfriend, but, after watching these clips, that's doubtful.