Professional Cycling For the Fans - Contador Quote From Andy Schleck

They could have caught him, but was a tactical choice not to chase given the short distance and having Lance on their wheel. They would put in lots more effort, and with Lance hanging with them, they gain nothing.

Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket :roflmao2:

Fanmen to you. :p

Sorry sir!

the chicken was handily beating everyone because the other teams inconceivably let him get 5+ minutes
up the road. remember how angry christophe moreau was that day as he constantly tried to get everyone
to chase? moreau seemed to be the only rider smart enough to consider rasmussen dangerous. that old dog
knew that rasmussen was potentially winning the tour right then and no one would help him minimize the
damage. the other contenders were primarily wheelsucking a majority of the last climb. rasmussen essentially
pulled a 1998 pantani col de galibier move on everyone. the rest of the field finally figured out what moreau
already knew-the tour was over when they saw the chicken putting in a top 15 time trial.

i think contador
would have won the 07 tour anyway if the other teams hadn't wildly overestimated their ability to
control rasmussen downroad (much of the thinking was that he would give away most/all of his mountain gains in the tt's).
surprising that they blew it so badly given the facts that rasmussen was a known quantity and we had
just seen the pereiro (previous top ten) & landis breakaways which defined the 06 race. hindsight is 20/20
but still, you don't give away significant time to anyone, much less someone as accomplished as
rasmussen, pereiro or landis. it's a receipe for game over.


with armstrong back in the peleton, it's less likely for
a similar scenario to unfold. watching the 2006-2008 races, which had some really boneheaded tactical
manuevers/mistakes by most teams, undoubtedly gave lance fuel for the fire. no wonder he thinks he can
win. i don't blame him. if i had his form, experience and team, i'd feel the same way.

I agree, the other teams made a huge tactical blunder. They must have believed Chicken would fall of his time trial bike 5 or 6 times during the final time trial:roflmao2:

"Contador is not unbeatable," said Schleck.

"It will not be the same story in the Alps, which will be different from the Pyrenees.

"The stages there are tougher and I don't think Contador can make big differences in the Alps."

Wow everyone's picking on AC. Schleck says or insinuates Armstrong is going to win #8. Quote from Velonews article.

Richard

I think Andy is saying that he, Andy Schleck, will be opening a can of whoopass in the Alps.

Well said.

Why did people say he is not a team player? Attacking at that time might cause his teammates time, but they chose not to follow, either they could not, or they believed there were still 2 weeks left. But why would anyone give away 20 sec when you had the chance, especially when you are widely regarded as the leader, and you are gaining 20 sec against other contenders from other teams?

If it were Lance attacking, everyone would just shut up and praise: at the age of 37 and 4 years out of the sport, Lance is showing his colors once again.

True!


levi and lance could not go with contador.

i think AC's move was meant to regain time on armstrong who declared "all bets off" on stage three. i was glad to see contador regain the time and on spanish soil.

if contador cracks i hope lance steps up and wins the tour. i will root for him. yes, i'd rather see lance crushed and humiliated than win the tour by intimidation and deception.

I was beginning to think I was the only one seeing the obvious here. His attack or move on Arcalis was not meant to wain time on others, but rather to re-emphasize his place in the team and aspirations with respect to Lance. Imagine he had not done so. Lance would have been a few seconds from yellow. So now he becomes a supporter unless Lance cracks big time. Even then, if he was to go and get ahead he would be looked at as a traitor for not staying back and pulling Lance up a mountain.

People that are so in love with Lance seem to fade away reality here. Alberto has been the captain AND lead man for the grand tours in that team for at least 2 years. He is paid as such as well. The team has been organized around that function also. Now, all of the sudden, Lance says I am coming back and he is supposed to simply move aside and break wind for him simply because Lance said so? Foq that!!

Personally, the bigger issue in this problem has been JB. Lance coming back and coming back to this team should not have been allowed. If anything, I would have told him he was welcomed as a leader only and so long as he was racing races Alberto did not want to do. Simple as that.

And to clarify it as if it was not clear enough. Yes, I do like Contador. And yes, I dislike Lance and JB.

I think Andy is saying that he, Andy Schleck, will be opening a can of whoopass in the Alps.

Let's hope - anything to have something to talk about in this tour, besides LA vs. AC, and who's Cav going to beat today.