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…”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdOJLuePexs[/youtube]
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fwah! Coosshh! BIff, Boom, Bash. Erlibysumussss. Flapdillydack-on.
..just sayin’
…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…
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.
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.
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
Ryder said it best ,” In the heat of the battle , if you draw your sword and you drop it , you die!”
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.
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.