Contador sacks up

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Or, he attempts to. We’ll see. My own take is this: There are no gifts.

That said, it is a damn shitty way to take the GC. Especially as he may well hold it through till Paris. I’m sure he would have much rather just rode his adversaries clean off his wheel like a champion should. But, seriously, what the hell could he have done in that situation? Fucking stand there next to his bike while Schleck took a crash course in bike mechanics? Don’t run big-big. If you do, bolt on a chain watcher (or minder or whatever). They weigh about as much as a fucking bottle cap and it would have saved your ass.

There are men behind Contador in the GC as well. Several very talented cyclists who you had better believe want to win this thing. And those men were also there when Schleck ham-fisted his gear selection. And those men were not stopping for anything short of cannon fire and tanks. It was on. And Contador did what damn near anyone else in the race would have done. He rode up the hill and he didn’t look back.

The sad part, to me anyway, is that this will be a stain on his accomplishment as people will always place an asterisk aside his name in the books saying, “what if…”

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About big jonny

The man, the legend. The guy who started it all back in the Year of Our Lord Beer, 2000, with a couple of pages worth of idiotic ranting hardcoded on some random porn site that would host anything you uploaded, a book called HTML for Dummies (which was completely appropriate), a bad attitude (which hasn’t much changed), and a Dell desktop running Win95 with 64 mgs of ram and a six gig hard drive. Those were the days. Then he went to law school. Go figure. Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

58 Replies to “Contador sacks up”

  1. This idea of chivalry should be saved for the women. Contador did fine.

    Felicitaciones.

  2. …uhhh, ya, sure, okay…

    …but he forgot to mention what was up whenever he looked back over his shoulder down the road & then he’d put his head down, lean into the pedals & bury it, over & over again…

    …word had to filter back through race radio or the motos of what was up…

    …he wasn’t looking at sanchez or menchov…you could see he was looking back for schleck & burying it on this, a pivotal stage…

    …sorry but that is a hollow apology…lotta justification from a man safe in yellow…

    …poor way to “take” the jersey…

  3. … has nothing to do with chivalry. I would have waited. It is a stain on the yellow jersey that Contador cannot wash off. If he waited, the sense of honesty and fairness would have been more important than taking GC.

  4. well, maybe he didn’t need to wait, because menchov and/or sanchez probably wouldn’t have waited, even if ac had asked them to.

    but he could have at least not worked, and just sat in with those guys, and even asked them to slow it down.

    instead he worked his ass off all the way to the finish.

    lame.

  5. I think that asterisk is gonna end up pretty small.
    It was almost worth it to see Andy have to giver on the descent like that. It’s about personality? Schleck is the man people are gonna be all sorry and shit for.” Oh poor Andy, he was wronged by that mean old Contador, how could he do that, i’m taking him off my Christmas card list!”
    Maybe he needs to get a job in a flower shop.
    It’s a fucking race, yes their is a lot of pressure, part of the pressure is learning how to not fuck up when the pressure is on. Learn how to shift your bike, and learn how to get the chain on! If he had reacted right away instead of freezing like a deer in the headlights he could of just gotten on with it.
    Long way of saying i’m with Gnome on this.

  6. “This idea of chivalry should be saved for the women.”…nothing wrong w/ that but this “has nothing to do with chivalry.”…agreed…

    …cuntador has show his true colors both this year & last & they’re not the colors of astana, they’re the colors of ‘team pistolero’

    …what he sez & what he does always seem to be two different things…

    …dude is not ‘senor tranquillo’…dude is afraid of the shadows…

  7. …btw…believe it or not, ‘ballsgonewild’ is my actual ex-marine cousin in so-cal…

    …warned him he was gonna be a “lance-pal” if he keeps that shit up…after the next family picnic he’ll be able to post simply as “ballgone”

    …guy rides like a girl…i taught him everything he knows…

    …luv ya, motherfucker !!!…

  8. Andy needs to buy a pretty pink party dress.

    It’s a bike race.

    Contador “apologizing” is pathetic.

    He gets paid € 4 million a year to win.

  9. He’s not safe. Schleck is pissed. Tourmalet #2 is going to be insane.

    Menchov is playing this year smart. Let Contador and Schleck fight it out. He can out time-trial both of them. As long as he can stay close, or even get in a get a little time on them tomorrow…

    I’m conflicted. It’s racing and they were pegged. Shit happens. However, it was poor form and he knows it. This isn’t football, or even mountain biking. He’ll pay for it later in his career in how his competitors trust him.

  10. He was booed when he put on the yellow, I would have booed too.
    Andy attacked and gapped conty, the chain dropped before conty ‘attacked’, he was behind. All he had to do was to soft pedal for 30 sec (not wait at the side of the road as suggested) and they would have been even.

    Conty sure wasn’t worried about sanchez and menchov yesterday when the practically came to a stop on the climb.

    There are no gifts, but we’re watching and booing. Go ahead and attack when someone has a mechanical, and we’ll go ahead and boo.

  11. …Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) – eighth on stage, third overall @ 2:00: sez “in the race, at 200 beats a minute, with thousands of screaming fans on the road… The instinct is telling you to go with the big move and mark the man.”

    …who was the man making the big move…contador…as kg sez “Conty sure wasn’t worried about sanchez and menchov yesterday…”

    …if contador was a real peleton boss, he would have had sanchez & menchov soft pedaling along side him…as i said…dude is afraid of the shadows…

  12. Did you see the big gap andy had on conty before the chain drop? Was conty sleeping?

    Interesting tour this year, there are more mountains to come.

  13. It’s a bike race not a bike ride.
    AC will most likely smoke AS like a tight little joint in the final TT. Sure AS gapped AC on the climb today but AC was coming back and at any rate he only took 13 seconds out of AS at the top. So If no mechanical, AC would have caught him in the decent. Seeing how he gained 20+ seconds on the decent.
    This race will end up decided by minutes not seconds. This just makes Thursday that much more exciting,

  14. It’s about time we had a tour worth watching… BTW not a peep about Mr. Livewrong!!

  15. …i’d like to offer ‘berto contador a formal “thank you”

    …his weak move which showed such an inspired lack of confidence has proved to have created a certain cathartic regrouping here @ d.c….

    …fuck me but i’m actually in agreement w/ littlejar & kg on a subject…how many times has that shit happened…

    …so thanks again, ‘berto…hope you get your ass handed to you fairly & righteously on the up coming climbs…

    …that may not happen but hey, we all have our tour dreams, right ???…

  16. My take?

    This is professional sport with sponsors & big bucks involved, so issues like sportsmanship, chivalry etc bit the dust.

    If this was still an amateur sport, yes, we could be having these debates.

    Hi BGW, I’m Back.

  17. I don’t like Contador BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT:

    Andy did not have a mechanical in the true sense of the word, he did not “drop” a chain: he shifted up from the small to the big ring while flooring it. Automatic reaction: the chain instead of going up, got stuck between the small and big ring. Fucking junior mistake.

    It happened to my GF when she went up the Kopenberg the first time (she shifted up instead of down) but I don’t expect professionals to do the same…

    Anyway, I hope for blood on the dancefloor – Mont Ventoux edition – now.

    G

  18. …good, hurben…you oughta be here…

    …but i gotta say, that one of the cool aspects of this sport, big bucks or no is the fact that there are constant displays of gentlemanly good behavior…

    …but literally as i type this post, i once again watch on tv contador’s move as schleck drops his chain…

    …you could see the fucking gears in contador’s head “vaya, vaya, vaya…schleck is helpless…now is the time to take advantage, tengo que ir”

    …weak & pathetic…

  19. Thanks BGW,

    When my heros were amateur I expected them to display atributes like Honour, sportsmanship, humility & to be role models.

    In this day & age, I no longer support rugby, soccer, MotoGP or Motocross due to the clinical attitude to winning & I accept that we are talking people’s income here & huge sponsorship dollars.

    I may head back towards running although my knees are pretty shot, it seems to be the one sport that has avoided this, please note, distance running, not short track, yes I know, Marion..

  20. Fuck, can some of you comment, like once, each? Or at least hide behind another name if you feel the need to beat your dead-horse point.

    I smell a couple homophobes here thinking it’s somehow girly to wait. It doesn’t make you a fag to admit there is beauty to our sport. Part of that beauty is exactly the opposite of what happened today. This isn’t MMA, you dumb fucks.

  21. Now, how many of you actually believe conty didn’t realize Andy had a problem?

    “I didn’t realize….”

    If conty were to really sack up he should say, “Yeah, the boy dropped a chain and I dropped the hammer… tough!”

  22. …dear “me”

    …i’d compliment you on your second statement as regards the beauty of our sport but, well gosh, i wouldn’t want to encourage to post a second time on the same subject…

    …too bad…

    …just sayin’…

  23. either or with schleck and contador…but if menchov can keep his wheels on the ground up the next few stages…he is damn near there!

  24. my take: I was getting tired of Schleck not knowing what to do with the yellow. Now he seems to know what to do (IF) he were to get it back. That being said Contador proved (once again) just how much of a douche he is. He attacks his own teammates, he steals stages from them, he attacks the yellow on a mechanical, how many nore time do you need him to prove to you just how much of a douche he is…
    jimmy

  25. They should just play fair…you know…like Armstrong and Ullrich did.

    Hahahahahahahahaahahaha!

  26. As much as I don’t like Contador, from the videos I’m not sure he had any reason to know it was a mechanical. Andy jumped, opened up a gap, then slowed down. He kept pedaling at least five full turns after the chain dropped. To anyone sitting in Alberto’s place, that’s going to look like a failed attack. You don’t bridge up slowly to see if the guy is doing alright in that situation. Not 3k from the top of one of the most decisive climbs in the race. You go all in and try to smack him down as hard as possible.

    The real asshole of the day was Vino. He saw the chain drop, eased up a little himself, but did nothing to communicate to the other riders.

  27. Contador needs more time on Schleck so maybe Andy’s riser will snap and maybe Menchov’s pedals will fall off today. Dare to dream, Alberto! Instead of the stupid pistolero podium gesture, Contador can develop a “wrench and hex tool” gesture.

  28. Poulidor was on belgian TV, resume of interview:

    “If riders have to wait for punctures, falls, pipi breaks or Andy’s nail varnish to dry, it’s not racing anymore. In my days I was attacked when I had a mechanical.”

  29. Its not just abike race, it is a grand tour. Steeped in traditions of harness and fairness. The pride of the yellow jersey is knowing you beat the previous wearer through better riding, not their misfortune.
    AC should look at fabian for a few tips on exercising influence on the other riders.

    As if the doping aint enough, now sportsmanship and tradition have blackened the greatest of the grand tours in 2010.

  30. The Tour is steeped in traditions: mechanical cheating, physical cheating, and doing whatever you can to beat the other riders. It’s a race. Yesterday’s stage has nothing on the stage to Spa where a motorcycle accident affected the entire peloton (save Chavanel). Soft pedaling is for recovery days, not races.

  31. I think AC did realize what was happening when he passed Schleck. My theory is that despite being possibly the best climber in the world, he’s genuinely terrified by Andy Schleck’s ability. Andy seems to be getting better every year, and this year he’s been doing great despite the fact that his brother/important team-mate has been out since day 3 or 4. If Andy loses the tour because of chaingate or because of his weak TT skills, I won’t be disappointed. If he continues to get stronger and better, he will likely dominate next year.

  32. I forgot to mention that because I think AC is intimidated by Andy’s ability, I think he consciously took that attack as he probably feels that he needs anything he can get on Andy.

  33. Learn how to shift ! We all know you cant power shift to the big dog when your to far up in the cluster ! rookie mistake he will take to his grave . He lost 13 seconds on the climb and a whole bunch more on the decent because he is a total pussie on the downhills . Drama but andy knows he fucked up !

  34. Bob Cesca, I like your idea. The “Pistol” will now be the “Crescent Wrench.” Anyone want to photoshop that one up?

  35. Another point, is that Andy lost a his time on the descent. Only down less than 20 seconds on the crest. dumb luck.

  36. A true apology is just that, no reasoning or giving the reasons why you could be right.

    this was not a true apology, frankly was not needed.

    Schleck did a dumb attack, compounded it with a worse shift…

    Clearly Cuntador saw what happened, knew what happened behind him too, he just chose to give the killer blow.

    After tormalet and the TT, these seconds won’t mean much.

    Simple math….Schleck and Cuntador are about dead even on the climbs this year, but Schleck can’t TT for shit. Done, next….

  37. I’m not so sure he was shifting when he dropped the chain… is there any video out there analyzing it?

  38. I think he was crossed up in the big-big (or near the upper reach of his rear sprocket) and the chain jumped due to frame flex. It happened just as his left leg came over the top. The power of the right leg on the downstroke would have maxed the outboard flexing of the front chainring away from the inner gears of the rear sprocket, the chain rides up on a tooth, the left leg comes over, the chain drops off off to the inside of the big chain ring and falls onto the inner ring (or into that no-mans-land of neither). The derailleur is still set over the big (53t, 52t, whatever it was) and the chain just grinds a bit on the side of the big ring instead of biting again into either ring. So, the rider must slow and sort it out. That is my best ‘plausible explanation’ of the event.

    And, of course, the others sense blood and pounce immediately.

  39. It all boils down to: Andy is a likable and sweet fella who we’d all like to hang out with. Alberto is nowhere as handsome, has a weird accent, weird grin and never tells any funny jokes.

    It’s the Tour, not a Rapha gentlemans ride, we wanted a race and got it.

  40. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fwah! Coosshh! BIff, Boom, Bash. Erlibysumussss. Flapdillydack-on.

    ..just sayin’

  41. …both those two dudes look like they could use a good meal…or five…

    …& i think ‘redundant p. irrelevant’ is suffering from low blood sugar…

  42. Things I know:
    (1) Schleck’s TT skills are less than ideal.
    (2) The professional consensus is that Andy could lose 60~90 seconds to Contador in the final TT.
    (3) Schleck was 31 seconds ahead of Contador when he threw his chain.
    (4) Vino noticed Schleck had an issue as he zipped by him.
    (5) Contador was behind Schleck when he threw his chain.
    (6) Astana uses radios to communicate with it’s riders.
    (7) There is established “unwritten rule” precedent in the TdF for the maillot jaune soft-pedaling when a rider in the top 3 GC has a problem; likewise, there is precedent for riders soft-pedaling when the maillot jaune has a problem.
    (8) There was (at the end of this stage) a half-dozen stages left in the race.

    From this I conclude Contador knew Schleck had a mechanical, that the time loss or gain would not overly affect GC, that the time loss would LIKELY not affect the outcome in Paris, and that he made a very poor decision where others who have faced suck situations did not. He got (and deserved) his boos and jeers, but if Contador dons the maillot jaune in Paris, with at least a minute to spare, it’s all moot, but has certainly given us all plenty to talk about.

    This is DC, we’ve reamed people for far less.

  43. Tourmalet may sort this all out and make it a moot point. I’d personally like to see Schleck win but got a feeling AC has been sitting in and getting stronger, may make this all irrelevant ultimately.

    It would be funny as shit to see him drop his chain on the final ascent.

  44. I think the make up was all about the tickets they had to swim with dolphins in some exotic location…its a lot of fun to swim and get gang banged by dolphins

  45. Ryder said it best ,” In the heat of the battle , if you draw your sword and you drop it , you die!”

  46. Tour de France bike RACE. I enjoy riding with friends cuz it’s fun and we all get loaded. I enjoy racing on account of it allows me to block, take lines away from timid folks, and we all get loaded.
    Sounds like I’d like to race some of y’all.
    RACE.

  47. A dropped chain due to a missed shift/frame flex/lack of chain watcher isn’t a “mechanical,” it’s an error. Happens sometimes.

    “It’s the Tour, not a Rapha gentlemans ride, we wanted a race and got it.”

    and

    “In the heat of the battle, if you draw your sword and you drop it, you die!”

    There you have it. Race on, men.