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jakedatc
Jun 29, 2011, 8:14 PM
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Starts Saturday. I'm hoping that Andy can get it done this year. Hopefully AC is still wiped out from the Giro and will show some cracks. Smart thing would be for a few teams to work together to attack him
(This post was edited by jakedatc on Jul 4, 2011, 4:04 PM)
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Toast_in_the_Machine
Jun 29, 2011, 8:27 PM
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jakedatc wrote: Starts Saturday. I'm hoping that Andy can get it done this year. Hopefully AC is still wiped out from the Giro and will show some cracks. Smart thing would be for a few teams to work together to attack him AC's drugs are a good as his lawyers. Get used to hearing "one of the all time greats" thrown about. The tour is setup this year so that there isn't a 2nd TT so it will be even more of a climber's year. However, the early TTT means that the defender of the yellow jersey in the P's will be interesting.
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jakedatc
Jun 29, 2011, 8:49 PM
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Toast_in_the_Machine wrote: jakedatc wrote: Starts Saturday. I'm hoping that Andy can get it done this year. Hopefully AC is still wiped out from the Giro and will show some cracks. Smart thing would be for a few teams to work together to attack him AC's drugs are a good as his lawyers. Get used to hearing "one of the all time greats" thrown about. The tour is setup this year so that there isn't a 2nd TT so it will be even more of a climber's year. However, the early TTT means that the defender of the yellow jersey in the P's will be interesting. Yea.. but i don't see Saxo bank being a dominant team in the TTT so he'll have to make up some time.. but probably nothing out of his reach. I dunno if he'll have the team support once they get to the 2nd half like up Galbier twice 2 days in a row then the 3rd day up L'alpe d'huez. I think a lot of the Versus talk will be on the "if he clears his court case etc" so i'll be avoiding it :) I wonder if Cav will even ride a TT bike the day before the Champs ;) he'll be soft pedalling that like a weekend coffee ride.
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macherry
Jun 29, 2011, 10:06 PM
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i still have a soft spot for cadel evans. but andy is a favorite too.
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jakedatc
Jun 29, 2011, 10:31 PM
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macherry wrote: i still have a soft spot for cadel evans. but andy is a favorite too. Cadel doesn't have a prayer hehe big george used up all his towing power destroying the peleton for lance. Andy just needs to keep his chain on the rings and have jens, fabian and frank tow him around until he can attack for time. AC only beat him by the time he lost due to the chain incident last year.
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kachoong
Jun 29, 2011, 10:38 PM
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Bring back the BIFF!!!! Can't wait!
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macherry
Jun 30, 2011, 1:16 AM
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jakedatc wrote: macherry wrote: i still have a soft spot for cadel evans. but andy is a favorite too. Cadel doesn't have a prayer hehe big george used up all his towing power destroying the peleton for lance. Andy just needs to keep his chain on the rings and have jens, fabian and frank tow him around until he can attack for time. AC only beat him by the time he lost due to the chain incident last year. not the testosterone beef?
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traddad
Jun 30, 2011, 3:24 AM
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I'm rooting for Sean Kelly!
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jakedatc
Jun 30, 2011, 3:52 AM
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he's a bit old for that now... though he'd probably kick all of our asses still
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traddad
Jun 30, 2011, 4:03 AM
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A bit? He was the very definition of "the hard man".
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jakedatc
Jun 30, 2011, 4:14 AM
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yep.. he's fun to listen to on eurosport's coverage.
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troutboy
Jun 30, 2011, 2:57 PM
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Andy has not looked in top form this year. I think his brother has actually finished ahead of him in the major pre-tour stage races this year. Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner, OTOH, are looking in top form. TS
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saint_john
Jun 30, 2011, 3:05 PM
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3 of the last 5 stages are brutal mountain finishes. If Andy Schleck ever had a chance, this is his year. of course, the second to last stage is a TT so we could be in store for some drama. I'd love to see Horner or Levi contend but I don't tihnk it's going to happen. It's going to come down to Schleck and AC...again.
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saint_john
Jun 30, 2011, 4:10 PM
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oh yeah... and George Hincape will start his record-tying 16th TdF! Joop Zoetmelk (1980 winner) also has 16 starts.
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theextremist04
Jul 3, 2011, 4:37 AM
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troutboy wrote: Andy has not looked in top form this year. I think his brother has actually finished ahead of him in the major pre-tour stage races this year. Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner, OTOH, are looking in top form. TS I agree...but us Americans are still no match for guys like AC. I would be surprised if anyone managed to top him this year. Unfortunately.
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Toast_in_the_Machine
Jul 3, 2011, 2:14 PM
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jakedatc wrote: Toast_in_the_Machine wrote: jakedatc wrote: Starts Saturday. I'm hoping that Andy can get it done this year. Hopefully AC is still wiped out from the Giro and will show some cracks. Smart thing would be for a few teams to work together to attack him AC's drugs are a good as his lawyers. Get used to hearing "one of the all time greats" thrown about. The tour is setup this year so that there isn't a 2nd TT so it will be even more of a climber's year. However, the early TTT means that the defender of the yellow jersey in the P's will be interesting. Yea.. but i don't see Saxo bank being a dominant team in the TTT so he'll have to make up some time.. but probably nothing out of his reach. I dunno if he'll have the team support once they get to the 2nd half like up Galbier twice 2 days in a row then the 3rd day up L'alpe d'huez. I think a lot of the Versus talk will be on the "if he clears his court case etc" so i'll be avoiding it :) I wonder if Cav will even ride a TT bike the day before the Champs ;) he'll be soft pedalling that like a weekend coffee ride. Taking AC's stupid first day mistake into consideration, I think the setup is going to put a little twist on the first go thru the mountains. Usually the GC contenders font have to worry about climbers who can't ride a TT. Usually climbers like Sammy S kill themselves trying to get over intermediate level mountains first. But because there are so many mountain top finishes and because AC gifted 90 seconds, fewer 'pure' climbers aren't going to foolishly chase points.
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jakedatc
Jul 4, 2011, 12:47 AM
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Toast_in_the_Machine wrote: jakedatc wrote: Toast_in_the_Machine wrote: jakedatc wrote: Starts Saturday. I'm hoping that Andy can get it done this year. Hopefully AC is still wiped out from the Giro and will show some cracks. Smart thing would be for a few teams to work together to attack him AC's drugs are a good as his lawyers. Get used to hearing "one of the all time greats" thrown about. The tour is setup this year so that there isn't a 2nd TT so it will be even more of a climber's year. However, the early TTT means that the defender of the yellow jersey in the P's will be interesting. Yea.. but i don't see Saxo bank being a dominant team in the TTT so he'll have to make up some time.. but probably nothing out of his reach. I dunno if he'll have the team support once they get to the 2nd half like up Galbier twice 2 days in a row then the 3rd day up L'alpe d'huez. I think a lot of the Versus talk will be on the "if he clears his court case etc" so i'll be avoiding it :) I wonder if Cav will even ride a TT bike the day before the Champs ;) he'll be soft pedalling that like a weekend coffee ride. Taking AC's stupid first day mistake into consideration, I think the setup is going to put a little twist on the first go thru the mountains. Usually the GC contenders font have to worry about climbers who can't ride a TT. Usually climbers like Sammy S kill themselves trying to get over intermediate level mountains first. But because there are so many mountain top finishes and because AC gifted 90 seconds, fewer 'pure' climbers aren't going to foolishly chase points. Yea.. he is going to have to work pretty hard to get time back. The GC contenders can sit on his wheel and all wait for him to attack.. Hell Radioshack has 4 guys who can win the thing and can just sit there and take turns chasing him down. both schlecks.. etc .. he is seriously outnumbered. i have no doubt he'll win at least 1 stage in the mountains but i don't know if he'll take enough time doing it. PS you see the fucktard UCI idiots making every rider level their TT saddle today.... 0 warning.. just ohh we decided to actually check this today.. they have never checked saddle level ever because it's a stupid rule. team Directors chewed his ass out big time.
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jakedatc
Jul 4, 2011, 4:08 PM
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Problem with "easy" stages.. too many fresh legs at the end and a lot of craziness. It's nuts how hard guys can crash and just get up and keep going.. Confidis guy did a full flip and just got up and rolled in. good win for USA on 4th of July.. and a nice tribute to WW from his best friend. yellow jersey and world champion lead out.. can't ask for more haha.
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kachoong
Jul 4, 2011, 6:59 PM
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That was a pretty crazy finish. Can't believe HTC Highroad just lost it in the last K. They had like seven of them up there. Pity those two from the original breakaway got caught so close to the end. They tried.
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jakedatc
Jul 4, 2011, 7:08 PM
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kachoong wrote: That was a pretty crazy finish. Can't believe HTC Highroad just lost it in the last K. They had like seven of them up there. Pity those two from the original breakaway got caught so close to the end. They tried. yea... you should get used to that. The peleton basically sat up for 20km since they had them caught but if you catch too early then another breakaway will go again.. it gets annoying. so they just sit there 30 sec- 1min behind and wait until the very end then catch them. The break knows it. but the sponsors get on TV and that makes them happy.
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Toast_in_the_Machine
Jul 5, 2011, 5:04 AM
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jakedatc wrote: Problem with "easy" stages.. too many fresh legs at the end and a lot of craziness. It's nuts how hard guys can crash and just get up and keep going.. Confidis guy did a full flip and just got up and rolled in. good win for USA on 4th of July.. and a nice tribute to WW from his best friend. yellow jersey and world champion lead out.. can't ask for more haha. Good thing the guy was a n00b, or he wouldn't have his helmet on. He had the helmet = suck power going. HTC went too soon, they should get it right next time. Gotta admit, the middle sprint is a nice add. I'll be curious to see how it continues to work out.
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jakedatc
Jul 5, 2011, 12:15 PM
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Toast_in_the_Machine wrote: jakedatc wrote: Problem with "easy" stages.. too many fresh legs at the end and a lot of craziness. It's nuts how hard guys can crash and just get up and keep going.. Confidis guy did a full flip and just got up and rolled in. good win for USA on 4th of July.. and a nice tribute to WW from his best friend. yellow jersey and world champion lead out.. can't ask for more haha. Good thing the guy was a n00b, or he wouldn't have his helmet on. He had the helmet = suck power going. HTC went too soon, they should get it right next time. Gotta admit, the middle sprint is a nice add. I'll be curious to see how it continues to work out. who was a noob? all riders are required to wear a helmet 100% of the time.... HTC have gone that far back before.. they had plenty of riders to do it but they got a bit tangled up and Cav got shuffled out. apparently he had a little shoving battle with Thor too.. raining today... might cause a bit of trouble
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Toast_in_the_Machine
Jul 5, 2011, 1:26 PM
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jakedatc wrote: Toast_in_the_Machine wrote: jakedatc wrote: Problem with "easy" stages.. too many fresh legs at the end and a lot of craziness. It's nuts how hard guys can crash and just get up and keep going.. Confidis guy did a full flip and just got up and rolled in. good win for USA on 4th of July.. and a nice tribute to WW from his best friend. yellow jersey and world champion lead out.. can't ask for more haha. Good thing the guy was a n00b, or he wouldn't have his helmet on. He had the helmet = suck power going. HTC went too soon, they should get it right next time. Gotta admit, the middle sprint is a nice add. I'll be curious to see how it continues to work out. who was a noob? all riders are required to wear a helmet 100% of the time.... HTC have gone that far back before.. they had plenty of riders to do it but they got a bit tangled up and Cav got shuffled out. apparently he had a little shoving battle with Thor too.. raining today... might cause a bit of trouble I was riffing on the "helmet/suck" thread.
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jakedatc
Jul 5, 2011, 3:40 PM
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There you go Marge.. a win for your square faced aussie ;)
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