Short break from the (seemingly endless) study of law. Yeah, I can upload a pic in about three minutes for ya there, chief. Just hold on and don’t get your panties in a bunch.
Evans. Class. Could be his year.
Image source: http://fuckyeahcycling.tumblr.com/post/7278626840/tour-de-france-2011-stage-4-via-le-tour-de. Full size image here: http://drunkcyclist.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Evans_Stage_4_TDF_2011.jpg.
More cool stuff: http://fuckyeahcycling.tumblr.com/.
Full write up (by guys who 1) have the time for such things, and 2) actually get paid do to it) here: http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/07/news/cadel-evans-wins-stage-4-of-the-2011-tour-de-france-hushovd-retains-overall-lead_181771.
“This is the first time that I won a road stage at the Tour de France,” the Australian said. “I am very content. I am still in second place, but the impressions are good right now. We had good preparation for the Tour this year and the team is very motivated to help me, so everything is going very good right now.” Id.
This has been good fun so far.
Look at that pic. That’s what fooking amazes me about these races.
107 mile race and the winner wins by a dick hair.
Unbelievable.
Pretty cool is right! Not too long ago, Cadel was out there winning MTB races on the Comp Loops at McDowell! I would like to see the guy pull it off this year!
PROPS CADEL , Contador wasted his time , no stage win makes up no time on Evans
This just in, Cadel Evans…wait for it…THE MOST EXCITING RACER AT THE TOUR!
…always ambivalent about young mr evans talents through years of mtb racing…never heard a bad word against him but i just wasn’t a fan…even heard good things but, hey, whatever…
…the little aussie out of cairns hits the pro road circuit & after a period, actually starts to get results…whatever…still not a fan – don’t like his style of racing…
…dude wins a world championship & wow, does it in convincing style…hmmm, interesting…i’m seeing this guy come into his own, racing with an aggression & a panache i didn’t believe he possessed…
…dude spends a season in the rainbow stripes & dammit, win or lose, the man rides & carries himself like a true champion…nice…
…i’m fucking convinced, mr evans…i’m a believer & a fan & while i do have other favorites, i will be cheering you all the way through paris…
Barring disaster, I think Mr. Evans is the favorite at this point. No freaking way Contador or Schleck can beat him by 1:40 in a TT, and I don’t see Cadel losing more than a handful of seconds on each mountain top finish. The doping controls are TIGHT this year, and Alberto is under a giant spotlight, so he won’t be able to pharmaceutically enhance his performance.
All things being equal, I figure come Paris, Cadel Evans is in yellow by a good solid 30 seconds. For kicks and grins, I’m picking Contador for second, and Schleck for third.
Oh yeah… Cavendish… love him or hate him… will be in Green at the end. He’s got the most talent, and he’s pissed.
Props to Thor!!!
“THERE WAS A MOMENT ON THE STEEPEST PART JUST BEFORE IT GOT FLAT THAT I STARTED TO LOSE A FEW METRES BUT I JUST DID IT MY RHYTHM, HIT ‘EM BIG RING, AND SPRINTED UP AND CLOSED THE GAP”
Big ring indeed.
I wonder if Cadel’s “boring” style wasn’t a result of being less pharmaceutically enhanced as the other top riders?
…why is carlos sastre willing to suck on alberto contador’s pistol, one more time ???…
…i know the spaniards seem to stick up for each other more than most but sastre is like a professional apologist for contador…
…you decide – http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sastre-theres-a-lack-of-respect-for-contador …
…he’s defended contador previously, whether asked to or not & at this point my respect for sastre just plummeted into ditch faster than michael rasmussen on a tt-bike…
…@bearded wonder…could be…
…yet when i look at cadel’s face, especially in comparison to his early day’s, i honestly wonder if he was using human growth hormone at some point, which tends to leave one’s facial features looking ‘heavier’…& not in a normal ‘aging’ manner…
…but i’m still a fan of the ‘newer’ style cadel evans…
…damn, i just watched that sprint again & it really was a impressive job by cadel evans…
…at one point near the finish, van den broeck was leading his teammate phillipe gilbert at the front but evans waited as he marked only contador & when the spaniard attacked & came around the lead duo, evans patiently followed & then countered with his own long attack which he held to the line…
…contador must be off the juice these days…i’ve never seen him grimace in pain or discomfort like he did today…he threw it down hard…& got beat by the little aussie…
…props…serious fucking props to evans…
please pardon the interruption of BGW’s monologue, but I wonder if Sven Schoutteten is smiling quietly somewhere, knowing his “part time work” has made an impact?
…@barry…so why don’t you tell us what you ‘know’ ???…
…& if you care to contribute more, there’s plenty of room, ya ???…
BGW, I have a spare minute at work, so here it goes…
i don’t know anything, but there is this:
http://www.bmc-racing.com/ch-de/team/team/jim-ochowicz.html
which can not be disentangled from this:
http://www.spoke.com/info/pYyuRuV/JimOchowicz
and this:
http://www.businessinsider.com/thomas-weisel-lance-armstrong-blood-doping-2011-5
Ochowicz has a dicey history, an employee get caught with a load of EPO who it turns out works for the team much more than the manager wants to admit (see the article on the inner ring), and the elder statesman of the team (Hincapie) who supposedly just went on record confessing past sins. Add to the mix, the Mantova investigation and all of a sudden, you have to question why would Evans join this mess. I think the pieces are there for it to go all Festina and as a seasoned pro he had to know how they roll.
i agree it was a great finish, but i am not sure that Evans’ ability to get a result is a signal that the peloton is any cleaner. Maybe he just has better “preparation” now?
lastly, a belated happy Canada day from one displaced canuck to another.
Memo: It was day 4 and that was not a mountain stage
carry on
Thing is, I wasn’t a really big fan of Cadel before he won his World Championship. Since he won that thing though, he seems a little transformed. He’s a little more aggressive. He rides hard. Takes chances. Wins races.
He might be my favorite rider at le Tour this year.
Evans is class. 2002 Giro. He looked damn good in pink:
http://photos.grahamwatson.com/Print-Gallery/Cadel-Evans/11352947_Ui3LV/2/916105678_HCS3g#916105678_HCS3g-M-LB.
Cadel Evans’ Giro d’Italia Diary 2002:
http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2002/giro02/?id=cadel/default.
…@barry – back at ya, bud…
…i fully understand your concerns as regards the implications of the och/weisel combination…i’ don’t know the extent of their involvement but one way or another, they’ve had a hand the direction of the evolving junior ranks through usa-cycling…
…i happen to know there have been ‘summit meetings’ in the past, here in marin (weisel’s home area) involving usa-cycling & while och & weisel & who ever else is part of their brain trust may not appear on the usa-cycling masthead, they have been involved…
…[[[ personal aside – i have a nit-picky issue with weisel simply because i’d see the guy out on his bike, which i’ll applaud anybody for but he’s never been gracious enough to even return a nod or a “wha’sup” in passing…despite all the personal funds he’s dumped into the sport (perhaps tax write offs (???) but hey, he DID invest), i found it in poor taste that he couldn’t acknowledge obviously local riders…
…despite his long involvement, i’ve been here supporting cycling along with my friends well before weisel dumped a penny into the sport…
…i don’t wanna be his pal & i have no need to engage him in conversation but he comes across as pretty fucking self important – but a lotta cyclists are that way, ya ???…we’re both just two older dudes on nice bikes, although my custom made ride is nicer than whatever plastic trek he favors…zinggg… ]]]…
…sorry for the side track…maybe i’m still naive but i guess i figured after hincapie’s grand jury involvement, that guys like he n’ cadel evans would be playing it straight at this point…
…i still DO kinda wonder if the higher paid guys now just have better chemists, paid to stay ahead of the curve…
…but my assumption, ‘cuz i don’t have any facts either, was that a guy like sven schouttteten was dicking around with drugs on the side to supplement a meager part-time pay check & that his sales would be to the junior &/or amateur ranks…
…& despite my new found respect for cadel, i doubt he’s really been drug free throughout the years…again, an assumption…
…either way, when any of us left to wonder, the sport of cycling hasn’t reached where it needs to be…
Oh my Gawd !!!!!
bgw has added “[[[” and “]]]” to his “…”
That’s it. I’m punting. Sorry bgw but I could not read that.