Tour de France - stage 20 - Cérilly Saint-Amand-Montrond 53 km Spoiler

well done, good sir. well done

5 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 3.12

gotcha, schleck was busted shortly after my post, the should have thrown the cuffs on him and dragged him into the kangaroo court

Schleck (andy? frank?) tested positive?

... Brad

Schleck (andy? frank?) tested positive?

... Brad

No, he's talking about F. Schleck drafting behind Sastre in the last 10km of the TT.

No, he's talking about F. Schleck drafting behind Sastre in the last 10km of the TT.

Oh .... gottcha! :thumb:

... Brad

Am I the only person who immediately thinks "Conehead" whenever I see Schumacher?

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/files/images/schu.jpg

Well, that "conehead" has two TT TdF stage wins to his name, so I guess looks or head size weren't a criterion.

Schumi: Biggest head of them all, two stage wins.

Evans: Exceptionally large melon, 2nd overall.

Valverde: Tiny Spanish-sized head, got rolled up.

From this we can infer that bigger heads = faster.

Schumi: Biggest head of them all, two stage wins.

Evans: Exceptionally large melon, 2nd overall.

Valverde: Tiny Spanish-sized head, got rolled up.

From this we can infer that bigger heads = faster.

barry bonds has big noggin too,, hmm makes you wonder

Schleck (andy? frank?) tested positive?

... Brad

sorry about the confusion, there was back and forth about drafting being allowed in a tt which it isnt and then shortly after all that frank schleck got a visit on the course by officials about drafting sastre and i think he actually got a time penalty for doing it, schleck was probably so tired at that point he didnt even know he was in a time trial...csc really took it to the field this year, they were real beasts especially cancerella the other day with the tempo riding up the alps

I was on the edge of my seat all morning, what a great stage!

I could imagine team tactics being involved in the Sastre / Schleck deal. Maybe the manager telling Schleck to "ride steady until Sastre gets to within a minute or less, then ride harder to act as a carrot." More likely it was just a matter of Evans not having it. He needed to be up in Cancellara territory to have a shot at it and it just wasn't there for him. I'm sure he's going to second guess his strategy on L'Alpe d'Huez....or at least everyone in Australia will.

I think Sastre totally bluffed the first TT to keep him off Lotto's radar. Not that Lotto could do anything about it with no support on climbs, but knowing someone can TT would motivate one to cover mountain attacks better.

Fantastic management by Riis, selfless execution of the plan by the team and courageous efforts, at the Alpe and today, by Sastre.

A great result for CSC and a great Tour for the organisers.

Wow! that was the best TT by a pure climber wearing the yellow jersey since- Michael Rasmussen :D

Schleck's performance today proves that he doesn't dope. He was **** tired after the mountain stages.

Wow! that was the best TT by a pure climber wearing the yellow jersey since- Michael Rasmussen :D

I still wish Rasmussen had won. As far as I know, he didn't test positive for anything. And I bet his team knew his where abouts, but once it came public, they started pointing fingers...

I love seeing riders attack in the mountains and ride others off their wheels. I think that looks so much more powerful than a sprint. I love those mountain attacks the most, and sprint finishes the second.

Oh well.

Good for Sastre.

Glad Evans failed.

Evans never rode like he wanted it. The way Sastre attacked D'Huez, he deserved to win.

I think Sastre totally bluffed the first TT to keep him off Lotto's radar. Not that Lotto could do anything about it with no support on climbs, but knowing someone can TT would motivate one to cover mountain attacks better.

No way. You don't purposefully lose time in a TT, hoping to make it up later. Sastre may not have totally buried himself in the first TT knowing that its a 3 week race, and it didn't make sense to kill himself in an event that didn't play to his strength, but he didn't purposefully lose time.

Difference between the first TT and today was 1) Sastre was fresher, and Evans was worn out and didn't have it, 2) Sastre had the motivation of the Yellow Jersey and the incentive to hold absolutely nothing back.

Evans never rode like he wanted it. The way Sastre attacked D'Huez, he deserved to win.

I agree that Sastre earned the win but I disagree about Evans. I think he wanted it but just didn't have the legs (or whatever) to pull it off. He looked like he was suffering more than anyone.

^^ I kind of agree. I was impressed with the way that Cadel managed to hold on to the CSC train through the mountains, but I'm guessing that all that effort took its toll.

Some days you just don't have the legs. You just have to hope it doesn't happen on a day like today. Simple as that.

Wow! that was the best TT by a pure climber wearing the yellow jersey since- Michael Rasmussen :D

Not really. Contador rode one after him. :)

I've got to think that if you are going to lose, doing it by 1:05 is better than :23, not much, but mentally, I could accept it more.

I've got to think that if you are going to lose, doing it by 1:05 is better than :23, not much, but mentally, I could accept it more.


...or by :08 :innocent:

http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1571203.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19390335F8FA9CA92A6F05CBE99CAE5EA239930FDCFC4C15FBB

I still wish Rasmussen had won. As far as I know, he didn't test positive for anything. And I bet his team knew his where abouts, but once it came public, they started pointing fingers...

I love seeing riders attack in the mountains and ride others off their wheels. I think that looks so much more powerful than a sprint. I love those mountain attacks the most, and sprint finishes the second.

Oh well.

Are we talking about lance? if so I totally agree

barry bonds has big noggin too,, hmm makes you wonder

Hey .... he's NEVER TESTED POSITIVE, so he's clean ............................. right? :roflmao2:

... Brad

I think Sastre totally bluffed the first TT to keep him off Lotto's radar.

Give the leaders time, so that you can suprise them and take it back in the final TT?

/didn't happen