OT - Tour de France stage 18

Submitted by jmblue on

It's a grown man's bike race today:

 

Not one, not two, but three hors-catégorie climbs.  Yikes.

Time for everyone to lay it on the line.  Should be fun to watch.

 

.ghost.

July 21st, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^

Brent Bookwalter.  He is a Domestique on team BMC and has proven pretty valuable.  IMO Evans rode himself into yellow come Sunday in today's gutsy performance.

Placentasaurus

July 21st, 2011 at 12:32 AM ^

Really looking forward to seeing what happens, I have a feeling that having a few teammates around until the final climb could pay off for whoever has the strongest team. Sanchez and Contador will attack like mad men on the final climb if there is no separation. Poor Voeckler is going to kill himself to keep Yellow but he cannot do it, can he? 

Adrian

July 21st, 2011 at 12:44 AM ^

Can someone explain how this works? Do riders work as teams? Was lance with a team when he won his races? How come only he is mentioned if he was part of a team? I'm a little confused can someone explain how it works

RioThaN

July 21st, 2011 at 1:17 AM ^

There are 18 teams, each one has 9 riders, every team picks a "capitan" or 2 who will be their bet at winning the whole tour and everybody else is there to help them acomplish that, some teams will try to get another goals though, like HTC Highroad which is trying to get the green jersey (as they have the best sprinter in the tour), there are teams like Leopard Trek that has 2 capitans (Schlek brothers) and teams like Saxobank which only has Contador as it's strong card and everybody else in the team is there to help him and nothing more, so there are teams that seek stage victories, others seek the Tour itself, Point championship (green jersey) etc.

 

EDIT

To go further, some of this riders job is to help their capitains, set the pace, organize the pursuit, slow down some other riders (If they are in a get away for example), cut the wind, hand their wheels (or the whole bike for that matter) etc.. There are also stages like a Team Time Trial in which the average time of the team counts towards each ones personal time, and there´s a Team championship also.

 

Paolo Salvodelli, George Hincapié, Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, Yaroslav Popovych among others were Lance's teammates

RioThaN

July 21st, 2011 at 1:55 AM ^

I thought Europcar was a pro tour team, has almost the same riders as bouygues telecom had (unless they were a continental team also)  thanks, it's really hard to keep the track of all those teams

Bluestreak

July 21st, 2011 at 2:15 AM ^

Considering they aren't the best time trialists - today is their make or break day.

I think this will be Frank's year. Andy should just pace him through today

Needs

July 21st, 2011 at 7:57 AM ^

Man, it's hard to fathom the shape these guys are in, doping or no. I climbed Alpe d'Huez about 10 years ago. At the time, I was racing Cat 4 (strong enough not to be dropped, but nowhere near the lead). It took every bit of will I had to get up that awful mountain (the switchbacks are just indescribably hard on both legs and head). I slept 14 hours that nite, could barely walk the next day and couldn't get on the bike for like 4 days afterward. To do three of those climbs the same ride, then race the next day...

bikethedistance

July 21st, 2011 at 8:22 AM ^

I think the Schleks must attack the second mountain. After watching yesterday, if Contador/Sanchez is with them at the second summit, they will ride away on the descent and go into full attack mode on the 3rd mountain.

Going into the 3rd mountain I think all the favorites will be even with each other and this race will break wide open with attack after attack and someone will crack and someone will set themselves apart from the rest.

Here is to hoping Cav and the other sprinters make it through this hellish day, Paris would be quite boring without the main sprinters in the end.

Needs

July 21st, 2011 at 10:50 AM ^

Monfort is really providing incredible service to Schleck. He's gotten him an extra 30 seconds on the chase group. 3.40 lead now is going to be tough to make up unless schleck cracks (and ths headwind might just do that).

jmblue

July 21st, 2011 at 11:02 AM ^

Voeckler's not looking like he's going to win the Tour, but Versus could at least include him in the "virtual leaderboard."   He is in second place, not Evans.

Pierre Rolland is once again at his side.  He's doing monster work. 

Needs

July 21st, 2011 at 10:58 AM ^

Schleck's breakaway down to 3 rider. Schleck still looks strong and pushing the pace. I don't like him but this has been an amazing ride.

Needs

July 21st, 2011 at 11:04 AM ^

Contador's moving up to lead the chase. All the domestiques in this chase really fell short in not closing Schleck's lead. Contador's got no choice but to try to go himself if he wants to win the tour.

Needs

July 21st, 2011 at 11:07 AM ^

Evans pissed at the lack of effort riders, especially voelker are putting into this. Voelker looks content to wheel-suck and just try for the final podium.

BlueintheLou

July 21st, 2011 at 11:08 AM ^

WHAT IS GOING ON!? WHY IS NO ONE FROM THE MAILLOT JAUNE GROUP HELPING TO CHASE!? They need to man up or Schleck is stamping this one as his own. He has put in a monster attack, that very well may silence his competitors. He is on form today.

Needs

July 21st, 2011 at 11:12 AM ^

Schleck now climbing out of the saddle. Can he keep this up? And can this chase get their act together? He's got 4 minutes on the others.

Needs

July 21st, 2011 at 11:17 AM ^

Damn. Schleck just drops Iglickski without seemingly any effort at all. Just kicks the pace up and ... goodbye. All alone now.

Needs

July 21st, 2011 at 11:24 AM ^

Loosing a lot of respect for Contador, he's not showing any signs of attacking. Or even really helping the chase. Evans is really impressive right now, doing all the work. Going to be a painful and lonely next couple miles for Schleck.

jmblue

July 21st, 2011 at 11:30 AM ^

Voeckler's quietly having a terrific ride.  If he's got anything in the tank, with an attack he just might snatch back the jersey.  If only he hadn't gone off the road yesterday during the descent.

.ghost.

July 21st, 2011 at 5:33 PM ^

I was thinking that the GC guys would all end together, obvs not the entire peloton (if there even is a recognizable peloton at the end of the stage).  Although it does look more and more like Frank may just have a go at it and put Evans in a lurch.

MGoShoe

July 21st, 2011 at 8:29 PM ^

...was anything approaching a bunch finish was 1999, Interestingly, there were close finishes in 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1991with groups of 2, 3 and 4 riders.

The results of the last several finishes on that particular summit:.

  • 2008: Carlos Sastre wins by 2:08
  • 2006: Frank Schleck wins by 0:11, 3rd is +1:10
  • 2004: Lance Armstrong wins by 1:01
  • 2003: Iban Mayo wins by 1:45
  • 2001: Lance Armstrong wins by 1:59
  • 1999: Giuseppe Guerini wins by 0:21, 6 riders are +0:25
  • 1997: Marco Pantani wins by 0:47, 3rd is +1:27
  • 1995: Marco Pantani wins by 1:24 (two riders w/ same time), 4th is +1:26
  • 1994: Roberto Conti wins by 2:02
  • 1992: Andy Hamptsen wins by 1:17
  • 1991: Gianni Bugno wins by 0:01, 3rd is +0:02
  • 1990: Gianni Bugno and Greg LeMond finish with the same time, 2nd is +0:01, 3rd is +0:04, 4th is +0:06
  • 1989: Gert-Jan Theunise wins by 1:09 over two finishers
  • 1988: Steven Rooks wins by 0:17 over two finishers, 4th is +0:23
  • 1987: Federico Echave wins by 1:32
  • 1986: Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond finish with the same time, 3rd is +5:15

I stopped there and didn't look at 1952, 1976-79, 1981-84.

 

Needs

July 21st, 2011 at 12:21 PM ^

Given how drained they all looked at the end today, you maY be right. That said, it's hard to keep a group together on that final climb, especially if someone's pushing the pace. Seconds are really at a premium now, so I wouldn't be surprised to see an attacks at the end and either evans or schleck pick up 20 seconds that could make all the difference. There's no way we'll see the kind of 60 km break we saw today, though (even though the stage sets up for it with the initial hors catagorie climb).