Professional Cycling For the Fans - Stage 17: Wednesday, July 20 179 km Gap → Pinerolo (IT)

Profile:

http://www.letour.fr/PHOTOS/TDF/2011/1700/PROFIL.gif

Map:

http://www.letour.fr/PHOTOS/TDF/2011/1700/CARTE.gif

great descents on this one. going with cadel here.

Philippe Gilbert for this one.

After today's stage I'm really looking forward to this one. Could we see more of the same?

Another long descent on the back. Is Thor up to it again?

Go Voeckler! One more day!

Conego is only 4:01 down right behind Basso. Any chance he could slip off in a break early? Or is he a marked man?

Profile of the final climb: http://www.climbbybike.com/profile.asp?Climbprofile=Colle-Pra-Martino&MountainID=1942

If that profile is accurate, it looks rather bizarre... with some *very* steep sections.
Then the descent looks like 8km at negative 6.7% gradient. Though it's more like, very steep first 5km, then just a slight decline over the last 3km. Looks quite twisting on a map.
So no real section for a group of riders to draft to chase back an attacker, if they have a gap over the summit.
Should be plenty of action!

Definitely Vino.

oh? he is? never mind.

Going way out on a limb here - Simon Gerrans.

Contador, evans and sanchez will drop the bros in the sastriere. Again they will lose more time going down hill. TV will crack tomorrow but who knows.

Contador, evans and sanchez will drop the bros in the sastriere. Again they will lose more time going down hill. TV will crack tomorrow but who knows.

I think TV will hang. But he'll finish close to AC, Evans, and Sanchez. I wonder if the Schlecks will try to attack hard early on or make the mistake of letting Contador go first. Now their in the position of having to go hard after Evans.

Yesterday, may have been the start to a very exciting final week.

They cant let anybody go tomorrow, thats the problem they have. Even basso that im expecting to be with them can be a big headache for them. It will be simple for AC tomorrow, just wait... one punch... wait again while maybe sanchez punch the second blow... the schlecks have to catch, wait again.... bam! contador again and taking evans and TV for sure for second day in a row.

Leopard as a team is tired, BMC will set the tempo but in the climbs I dont see more than 3 punches and the schlecks are going to be dead meat.

The Spaniards doing the "Schleck 1-2" to drop the Schlecks... I like it.

How is Cavendish climbing better than Farrar? That doesn't happen often.

great descents on this one.
you aint kidding

jeez

How is Cavendish climbing better than Farrar? That doesn't happen often.
Hes proving a point to the big baby Farrar.

How is Cavendish climbing better than Farrar? That doesn't happen often.

It does, actually. Yesterday Cavendish stayed close to the front until very late in the stage to cover any possible moves by Gilbert or Rojas. This stuff about him being unable to climb is a myth. He just doesn't waste energy on the climbs unnecessarily.

I fancy Boasson Hagen in the finish today. He'll need to stay with Chavanel, though.

decent is brutal

Boasson Hagen. Nice to be right once in a while, he looks in great form. Another terrific stage today, Contador must be disappointed not to stay away after that tremendous descent.

Whoever finally takes the jersey from Voeckler will have truly earned it. That guy amazes me. Talk about guts.

Was surprised not to see Armstrong in the Schleck/Evans group. Is he really that old?

Contador is not that far down. I think he can definitely make up 3 minutes in 2 days and beat Evans in the ITT.

Watch those turns!!!

If AC is a better ITT-er than Schleck, how in the world did AS pull AC and Sanchez back on the final Kms?

If AC is a better ITT-er than Schleck, how in the world did AS pull AC and Sanchez back on the final Kms?

Contador only had Sanchez with him to help pull once they hit the flatter section, while the Schlecks had Cadel, Peraud, Taaramae, Cunego, and Vanendert in their group.

they were in a larger group containing evans, basso, cunego, etc...

The Spaniards doing the "Schleck 1-2" to drop the Schlecks... I like it.


Second day they end up together. I think those two are in cahoots together. It's like " Hey Sammy. Stick to my wheel and you'll end up in second as long as I get first. You just have to pull when it's your turn."

If AC is a better ITT-er than Schleck, how in the world did AS pull AC and Sanchez back on the final Kms?

he sucked wheels of strong riders.

Funny... every time i watch Bernard Hinault on the podium shaking the riders' hands, he has this look of "If I was still riding, I would tear you a new A, boy."

Funny... every time i watch Bernard Hinault on the podium shaking the riders' hands, he has this look of "If I was still riding, I would tear you a new A, boy."

truth.

Contador and Sanchez aren't trying to keep it a secret. Neither of them have any teammates with the ability to be there when they're needed apparently, so they might as well help each other out. Although if it had been Leopard-Trek, they would have had Perez drop back to help Sanchez.

Contador is basically riding solo, meanwhile, the fact that the Schlecks have the best team in the world around them just makes their mediocrity more pathetic.

Exciting stuff today. Love them or hate them, you have to give the Schlecks credit for not losing time there. I'm surprised Evans wasn't up there with Sanchez and Contador. Evans could have helped on those flat final 3k and it wouldn't have hurt him to have a little more time on the Schlecks.

They showed an interview with Contador and he's looking confident going into the next 2 stages.

Yeah, we know Sanchez and Contador have a partnership going on, but take that away and it would still make perfect sense for them to help each other out there. They're both better descenders than the Schlecks and they both need time on GC. They're pretty close in time and Sanchez has been looking strong, so he's not not just helping Contador, he's helping himself.

Boasson Hagen. Nice to be right once in a while, he looks in great form. Another terrific stage today, Contador must be disappointed not to stay away after that tremendous descent.

Yes, he won me a t-shirt today! I was afraid to write his name down after writing him down yesterday and being wrong.


Yeah, we know Sanchez and Contador have a partnership going on, but take that away and it would still make perfect sense for them to help each other out there. They're both better descenders than the Schlecks and they both need time on GC. They're pretty close in time and Sanchez has been looking strong, so he's not not just helping Contador, he's helping himself.

+1. It seems like when the GC favorites look around and see someone is missing, it should be game on. Like yesterday when Contador attacked, and there were 6. Basso didn't make the jump, so I thought they would all work together to drop him. 1 down 5 to go. The Spaniards are working together, but any two GC guys in that position are smart to work together.

Terrible day for Voeckler. He is now vulnerable to Evans in the TT. Evans is the man to beat in the Alps. Everyone, including Voeckler, needs to attack him.

Gutsy win for Eddy Boason Hagen. He can climb pretty darn well for someone that has a good sprint.

Pretty sad work on the cameras to not show the Evans group pull back Contador and Sanchez. Had to have been Evans and Basso doing most of the work to pull things back.

Fun stage, and I know there was a lot going on as Contador/Sanchez came into the final km, but total TV fail not to show *any* of the Evans/Schleck chase group until they were suddenly crossing the line at the same time. Contador and Sanchez were going hard, I thought the chase was 30 seconds back. The chase must have been seriously busting ass.

[edit] heh USAZorro, synchronicity.

BTW I am liking Sammy Sanchez more each day. I would pick him for a podium spot at 11/4 (current odds).

Random slightly humorous thing I found while looking for some video of the chase that caught contador/sanchez: Stage 17 Tommy V. "interview" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoR_e-IhSdw)

Im tired of this Voekler "I cant win, I have zero chance" hes trying to bury himself while yet staying under the radar. I aint stupid. Go cadel (since andys fallen so far back)

So now tonight when Cadel goes nighty night he has to be thinking, uh-oh AC looks strong. This could cause him to ride a touch tight and then when AC starts putting the attacks him cause him to push into the red and lose a bigger amount of time.

Also...seems the BMC boys have taken control of the Peleton when it counts. Leopard Trek may have riden themselves to hard to early in this TdF only to realize they dont have the strongest GC contenders.

also i would say the Podium wil be AC/Cadel in 1/2 or 2/1 and Sanchez will grab 3rd Voeckler 5th and FS 5th(maybe)

My all time favorite tour stage was in 1992 when Chiappuci won at Sestrieres. To this day it's the most people I've ever seen at a TDF stage.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqoH6R-99N0

Im tired of this Voekler "I cant win, I have zero chance" hes trying to bury himself while yet staying under the radar. I aint stupid. Go cadel (since andys fallen so far back)

Yeah, Tommy keeps throwing out the "I'm not even thinking about the podium" card. He is climbing surprisingly well. Every time there is a big attack, he always seems to be covering it fairly well. He may go into the ITT with a diminished lead and lose it there.

Awesome fun viewing today! Great contrast between the wide open valley road and the little country lane. Agree that it is regrettable that the cameras missed Cadel and the Schlecks chasing down Contador and Sanchez. I have no idea who will win this thing but it should really be fun to watch!