OT - Tour de France stage 15
As expected, no changes to the GC. Crazy stat: Thomas Voeckler has now won as many career yellow jerseys (17) as Alberto Contador. Obviously, it's when you win them that matters most but still, that's impressive. I think he has a couple more in him before the second or third Alpine stage finally does him in.
And another stage win (19) for Mark Cavendish. An absolute machine. Barring injury, he's going to be very high in the charts when he's done.
Cadel Evans has to be licking his chops right now. I've got to think Andy Schleck is second-guessing himself for not attacking more in the Pyrenees. I can see him going like a madman in the Alps and taking the maillot jaune . . . and then losing it on the time trial. He's got to stop worrying so much about Contador and his brother and just go.
Final thought: you can't help being impressed with how much obscure historical/geographical knowledge Liggett/Sherwen have. I'm sure they've got media guides and so forth to help them out, but even so, they seem to know the history behind every chateau they see on the hillside. The guys announcing U.S. sports seem like complete meatheads in comparison.
Generally are meatheads haha
It'll be interesting to see what HTC announce tomorrow wrt their future, crazy that they struggle for sponsors given how dominant Cav is in the tour, not to mention Tony Martin, Peter Velits et al.
It's a good job that, given how dull the overall has been, the green jersey competition is the most exciting it's been in years; Cav is cleaning up in the sprints but Gilbert will be a threat for the stage on Wednesday no doubt, Rojas will no doubt get some points also.
Nobody will benefit more from the Schleck/Contador patty cake matches than Evans and Voeckler. I think Voeckler can drag himself over the Alps in fine form. If he can be 1:30 up over the GC favs coming into the final TT, the yellow will give him wings.
If you were looking for the AC/Schleck rivalry in this year's tour, you have to be disappointed. If you want to see a great tour, you are in luck.
I came into this year's Tour really pulling for Andy Schleck to get over the hump (especially after the chain episode last year), but his timidness has turned me off. I'm not too optimistic about Voeckler's chances, but I'm rooting for him. He is a fighter.
You found something people care less about than women's soccer.
this stupid race is even on. They are all dopers anyway.
It was fun to see Voeckler keep the yellow this long, but he doesn't have a chance in the Alps. The climbers will ride away. It's a long tough ITT, Evans could knock a minute off of Schleck, he needs to stick to AC in the Alps.
He held the jersey 10 stages in 2004, and seven so far this year.
Yeah, he's been fortunate in those two breakaways - but he created those opportunities with his attacks. Some of the other riders could use his guts.
"I consider that I have zero percent chance of winning the Tour de France.''
Having said that, I'll continue rooting for him.
I love seeing Voeckler in yellow, he comes off as such a humble guy. I still think Andy and Leopard/Trek still have some cards up their sleeve and I agree with Liggett and Sherwen that he made a statement that he wasn't done at the end of stage 14 by pulling away from Contador and the rest to get a few seconds.
I think it'll come down to Evans and Shleck in the Alps barring any craziness and Voeckler is going to lose a good bit of time in the TT. It's going to be hard for Contador to make back his 4 minutes while holding off the Schlecks and Evans. Karma? I think so.
I, for one, have really enjoyed the tour so far this year with seeing Voeckler staying with the big boys and Hushovd showing what its like to be a veteran cyclist. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this pans out after the rest day tomorrow.
I feel horrible for Farrar, it's clear that just getting beat by Cav again and again is starting to get to him.
and if it does, I don't see Voeckler having a realistic shot of holding on. He's done a superb job through the mountains thus far... but it will be surprising if he's able to hold it through the Alps as well. And he's not a very good time trialist. So if things remain much the same, Evans has the best shot of coming out on top in Paris. That said, I'm excited to watch the Alps in the coming days!
BTW, I have a random question: how do they calculate the time advantage a breakaway has during a stage? Do they have some formula (like "10 meter advantage = 1 second" or whatever), or do they just look at what the riders' times were at certain points in the stage?
They have official timing points like intermediate sprints, but the constantly changing separation is timed by GPS transponders on the vehicles following the group(s). The transponders are usually on an official car (those red cars and motorcycles) since the motor bikes are circulating around for most of the race.
Honestly, it's an incredibly cool event and if you don't like it don't watch or comment here. Anyway, I don't think A. Schlek's 4th place standing is due to playing possum, I thing F. Schlek and Evans have a little more right now. Further, I don't think there is any A Schlek/Contador pattycake going on. Whether it's the Giro, or the absence of dope, or just bad form, Alberto is not gonna win this thing. Looking forward to Tuesday. Thor may win again. If he gets away with the right group.
He has been eternal bridesmaid to Armstrong. Somehow I feel he'll be the one to win the Yellow Jersey this year.
Him or the Schleck brothers.
...people shouldn't count out Voeckler. I think he's climbing well, looks fit -- actually better than Contador this year. He could take the whole thing.
Sadly, RadioShack isn't having a good tour. Shades of the past. Maybe they should change their name to RadioCrash.
Go Thomas Voeckler.
But that guy is an elite climber and rides a pretty good TT. I don't think he gets the respect of the other contenders, and I could see him escaping in the alps to take some more time from the other leaders. He's definitely my darkhorse to spoil the party (if the reigning olympic champion can be considered a dark horse). But overall at this point its Cadel Evan's tour to lose. his form in the mountaints looks good enough, and he should take a lot of time out of the others in the TT.