reef58

Now that Vino probably has hopes of winning again do you think he will take over as leader again? Do you think he will hurt Kloden's chances?

Richard

Devil

Yes and maybe.

vic32amg

kloden is like fine china right now, one more fall and he could be waxed. I think vino is prime if he can hang in the moutains. the final TT may be the deciding factor after all.

DrWJODonnell

He will probably take over again as team leader. What do I foresee? I think back to Astana's tactics SEVERAL times in the past few years. Send Kasheshkin (or however you spell it) up the road, and Vino bridges. Then they do a 2 man TTT to make life miserable for tour hopefuls. Kloden gets a free ride. Astana is in a VERY good position right now. Discovery might be able to do something similar with Contidor/leipheimer, but I am not sure that contidor can be expected to TT as well again in the final TT. Kloden, Vino, and Kash all have proven track records in ITTs and considering the distance, I would not be surprised to see Vino take out another few minutes.

Can Evans hang in the coming mountains? More importantly, can he handle the attacks that will be coming from both disco and Astana?

godspiral

Vino won't finish higher than ras, but kloeden might.

Waxbytes

Astana is Vino's team. They ride for Vino as does Kloden.
It's like Postal in the Lance years.

Randomus

The difference is that Lance IIRC never had even a remote chance of a possible team leadership controversy, while Astana could.

Even though Kloden is the higher placed GC rider at the moment I wouldn't be surprised to see him work for Vino the next couple of days.

mcoomer

In another thread, I predicted that Evans or Kloden would win. Vino was 8:00 minutes back then. Now he has won a time trial, has been seemingly gaining strength on the last couple of stages, and the Pyrenees are ahead. If Vino is truly coming back to form he is the man to beat at this point because of his agressiveness in the mountain stages and his ability to time trial. I'm really excited to see if this happens because so far the tour has been pretty bland. Somebody needs to attack someone and that's Vino's game.

dropinloads

If Klonden still works for Vino neither one of them will have a chance of winning. It is clear that Kloden is the man on that team now. I'd like to know how Vino is back in the race now? There is no way he will even podium. Not even close to it. Kloden however has a very good chance.

OrionKhan

Astana sending Kloden back to pull for Vino is really going to cost him. Kloden would be right with Evans if not for that tactical move.

I think its a mistake to have Kloden help Vino. Vino is still 5 min back. Even if Rasmussen has a bad day, there are other good riders (2 of his own teammates, plus Contador and Evans) that Vino still has to jump over. Contador and Evans aren't going to give up much time in the TT and they've been climbing well. Its a real tall order to jump all of those guys. I see his only chance is going out on one of those all out attacks and hoping he get out on a break away. Of course, that's what everyone in the world is expecting. So I don't know how sucessful he'll be. If Vino pulls this off, it will be epic.

Randomus

I'm still not ready to fully write Vino off this year.

A quote after his TT this morning:

biffstephens

Kloden has a job because of Vino....Klodens job is to work for Vino...I think today said that is still the case....

reef58

Kloden would have no trouble finding a job.

Richard

erader

why did kloden leave T mobile? after last year's performance he shouldn't be riding for anyone but himself .

ed rader

fixiechick

I've seen no evidence that Klöden even wants to win...

dynodan22

Vino's in charge of the team, especially after seeing that hand gestured he used like a mob
boss after they sprinted through the feed zone and destroyed moraeu's hopes
I am hoping that levi is playing possum , but seems he more like interested in just placing
top 5 , maybe his agressions is just different than Lance.
I will say this has been an exciting TDAYF to watch , My wife actually watching it with me
now lol that says a lot. Now to just get her on a bike

Dynodan

bac

"No way" he will podium? Come on now. I also doubt that Vino will make the top 3 -although I'm pulling for him to do so. There are just too many variables in any TdF to count for dead any aggressive, class rider that's still technically in the hunt. This is especially true given that the tough part of le Tour still lurks on the horizon.

You know that Vino will attack - he's already stated so. Now, does he have the legs? That question will be answered in the VERY near future.

... Brad

daytonian

Vino will struggle in the Pyrenees. Kloden will not. Vino wears gold chains. Kloden likes the hoop earrings.

El Diablo Rojo

Vino will do his best to spoil Klodens podium hopes. Contador will finish higher than LL. Valverde completely blew his chances today. Evans has the yellow within his grasp, if he can stay with the contenders, and they are down to Vino, Kloden, Rasmussen, and Evans, he will win the tour.

ttopaz

This thread posts show ignorance of what cycling team play means.

BigSean

I wouldnt be suprised to see Contador hurt all of them in the mountians. We already know that Evans cant hang with him. I look for lots of attackt tomorrow, perhaps even Levi leading out Contador.

gear

Astana is Vino"s team unless Vino drops out.

Kloden knew this when he signed on and is acting accordingly.

OrionKhan

After today's stage, the answer is abundantly clear. NO.

dropinloads

Still sure about that...

OrionKhan

I would like to revise my answer from a couple of days ago.

"After today's stage, the answer is abundantly clear. NO he won't take over as team leader and YES he will hurt Kloden's chances."