Stage 7

T

triplehorn

2,500+ Posts
A monster mountain stage : Barcelona to Andorre Arcalis


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Currently 9 in the lead group with Astana pacing the peloton 11:35 back

The final descent before the 70km climb to the finish is underway.
 
I could be wrong but I think most of the top contenders will stay with the peloton today and play it safe. There are still more mountain climbs to make and I don't think none of them will make their move today even though it is possible that Lance may try to get slightly ahead at the end to try to take the yellow jersey but even that may be unlikely.
 
Johan Bruyneel was just interviewed explaining why this stage today with the mountaintop finish isn't that hard and why some other stages without mountaintop finishes in this tour are harder. Stage 17 Le Grand-Bornand was one example he gave as perhaps being the hardest even though there is no mountaintop finish.
 
The lead group of 9 was up over the peloton by close to 12 minutes just a few moments ago. That lead has quickly dropped to under 10 minutes. Probably too soon to speculate that they will be caught, which didn't seem too likely a few minutes ago.

Lead now under 9 min.
 
Leipheimer involved in a crash in town before the ascent to Arcalis. fook.

Looks to be ok, but Astana likely slowing the pace of the peloton to let him get caught up.
 
computers calculating the lead group will get caught 2km from the finish.

Cancellara hanging on

Lance looks cool and in a rhythm
 
Looks like first time TDF'er Feillu (FRA) is in a great position to take the stage.

Evans attacking Astana !

Lance responds big time

Swallowed right back up by Astana
 
not enough of a lead for Contador over Lance yet. 1 km to go go for him.


crazy.


Contador looks really fresh. finishing strong
 
That was an exciting last 5 minutes. About what I expected. Lance can still beat about 99% of those guys, but nobody else goes uphill faster than Contador. What a beast!

Looks like Nocentini will just barely be in yellow.
 
Lance was also in the position that he couldn't drag Cadel up to the finish so he had to sit back and do no work as Alberto was free to take time.
 
Contador had an impressive burst to close the deal. Lance seemed to struggle giving up almost half a minute to him.
 
Good interview with Lance just now. Explained some factors as to why this did not make for a signature stage for him - first day in the mountains, team approach, not that steep meaning faster climb overall, lots of pace changes and changes in the wind.

He finished the interview making some comments that showed his competitive drive to win it all is right there and that there is a lot of mountain left in the tour. Said something to the effect of "there will be some mountain stages at the end of the tour when there will only be a couple there." The wheels of strategy to win are clearly turning.

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"The team won't be the problem"

Lance had an interesting tone and body language when saying this. Love to know what is going through that cat's head at the moment.
 
I think Lance and the rest of Astana are pissed off at Contador for not riding according to plan. Contador showed he's in it just for himself.

Lance, Levi, and Andreas will become allies, freezing Contador out.

That's my wildass speculation.
 
My take is this....

When you're near the finish in that situation, as a team, and you have dropped the Yellow Jersey and there are no other contenders up front you need to put more time on (or remove time from), you ride to the finish in a pack and hold to the wheel of any contenders (that are outside your team).

You ride on the wheel of any other rider (outside your team) near the front, and keep the same time. Ie., the race ends with no contenders (outside YOUR team) gaining any more advantage than is true with just a few km to go for the day's stage. You ride defensively to the line when you don't have to attack for any of the reasons just stated.

When you have a member of your team of the stature of Lance, with his 7 tour wins, you respect him for that. If he managed to have a 19 sec lead over the rest of your team going into the stage, and even was TIED for the race lead before this stage, you honor that and don't attack right in his face, and in the face of the team who has ridden for 240 of the 244km that day to get to this point with no need for any attacks.

What Contador did was something I thought only other teams did. But not on Johnan's teams.

If you get a chance to gain time over your team members as a result of all-out attacks and counter-attacks near the end of a stage -- in order to defend or gain against rivals -- then fine. But this was flat-out weird.

EDIT... I think I meant 220 vs. 224 km.... not 244 [/edit]
 
I don't know. Contador did what he had to do. He had to establish his presence, he is young enough and strong enough to do so.

Lance is a smart rider, he knows what he is doing.

Check out the thumbs down as Contador reaches the finish
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All the theatrics aside, my favorite part of the race was when Cadel tried to attack and lance caught him with out breaking a sweat.

Very nice.
 
It was pretty apparent from that interview that Lance was a little annoyed by how that played out at the end. I can't really say that I'm surprised by Contador's "demonstration" (as Armstrong referred to it in an unfinished thought in that interview). Contador has had insecurity issues as soon as the "Armstrong to Astana" talk started last year when Lanced announced his return to competitive pro cycling. I think that little display of acceleration was meant as much for Armstrong to witness as any of the rivals on other teams. In a way you can't blame him because he's young, strong, and super talented. He wants to make his statement and create his own great Tour moments. But we'll have to see how that little demonstration plays with the rest of his teammates. When he went, there wasn't anyone up the road who was a threat. I'm sure he wasn't chasing down Evans' teammate Jurgen Van Den Broeck, and Astana had Cadel pretty well neutralized.

It will be compelling to watch this unfold. Lance and Astana will all be choosing their words very carefully when talking to reporters and media. If Lance stays close to Contador through the Pyrenees and Alps, then the stage 18 40KM ITT and stage 20 Mont Ventoux finish are going to be epic.
 
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