The Official 98th Tour de France, thread, 2011.

[Stat Brother]

Most of them looked half dead. Voeckler looked completely knackered. I am not sure they will recover enough for tomorrow ??

No problem for tomorrow, even though he looked like he couldn't even take his feet out of his pedals, nuff respect.
He'll be massaged to within an inch of his life, full of amino acid recovery stuff, and if all else fails, muscle memory and the yellow jersey will get him through.

I tip Fränk Schleck for the Alpe d'Huez stage.

Can't really see past that bit of NSC logic, he did have the easiest day today

I would not rule out Contador like everybody seems to. He looked like he was making sure he was not completely burned out.

I would, him and Sanchez obviously put too many eggs in their baskets yesterday.
After that Giro only a steak supper will save his tour.

 

[Statto]

Absolutley brilliant stage today, And it still remains unpredictable. Has to be said a great ride by schleck, and Voeckler to hang on. Its a straight fight between Andy Schleck and Evans, with the latter possibly triumphing as Schleck doesnt have enough time on him, Evans is the better at time trials. Whatever happens we are in for a fantastic stage tomorrow!

 

[perseus]

Cavendish finished outside the time, however he was with 88 other riders so obviously to many to disqualify. Been docked 20 points for the Green Jersey though, not sure how they have penalised the other 87 riders who were with him though ffs. By the end of tomorrows stage Rojas could be in Green by default.

This site did not have this information, so it is not that good!

Live Report Tour de France - Stage 18 | Cyclingnews.com

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

This was on the Guardian clips round-up - enjoy!

 

[Stat Brother]

I'm loving that helicopter shot of the final part of the climb.

Plus Andy's shades, that's a cracking pair of Oakley's.

 

[Southern Toon]

This was on the Guardian clips round-up - enjoy!

Great video how times have changed.

 

[1066familyman]

What a day !

Respect to Andy Schleck for having the balls to gamble like that today...he deserved for it to pay off the way it did. Master tactics it would seem from Leopard Trek, so fair play to the them.

Loving that dug in expression of Evans pulling AS back on his own and dragging my hero for the day ( again ! ) with him............................

...... Thomas Voeckler !!!

and let's not forget the super domestique efforts again of Pierre Rolland

Biggest surprise today, aside from discovering AS can actually man up after all, is to see Sammy Sanchez get dropped.


Agree with the NSC wisdom that it should be a Schleck 1,2 move allowing Frank to take the stage tomorrow. Big question is just how much time the Schlecks will have over Evans going into Saturday's TT. I'm not so sure they'll get enough.

What a fantastic Tour this is ! :yahoo:

 

[1066familyman]

This was on the Guardian clips round-up - enjoy!

Lovely stuff , thanks.

This answers something I was thinking about today. I was pretty certain that since I've been watching (mid 80's) the musettes haven't always been team specific. Now I know for sure that they used to be the same for every rider, anyone know what year musette's did become team specific ?

 

[rcf0712]

I'm missing out on seeing Glasvegas tonight for which we have tickets because we can't get a babysitter, my wife's going with a mate instead of me now. On the upside, it means I can watch the whole of the penultimate competitve stage tonight instead of the last 90 minutes which is what I've been doing all tour, and what a stage it promises to be. Schleck junior or Cadel? After tonight we'll have a pretty good idea who's gonna win this year...

 

[Stoichkov]

...... Thomas Voeckler !!!

Yesterday, his ride was probably one of the best I've ever seen at the Tour.

I think I'll need Contador to get into the last km in Paris before I stop believing he's bluffing!

I'm hoping Andy Schleck has enough in the tank to put some more time into Cadel making saturdays TT very interesting

 

[Stat Brother]

I'll probably get shot down for this, as it's early and I've not thought it through.

But I can't remember the yellow jersey and potential yellow jersey suffering that much, putting themselves so far into the red, for years. Especially not late into the 3rd week.

Contador, didn't, Lance or Big Mig certainly didn't.
Sastre won on Alp du Heuz.
The less said about Floyd the better

I reckon you've got to go back to Greg LeMond/Fignon, et al, to see that high a quality of balls out, leave everything on the road, racing.

Well done fellas, even though Andy, you've made me look a berk with my predictions!

 

[teaboy]

What a race! I'm now fully in the Tommy camp. Doubt he'll hold on, but I really hope he does it.

Cav's points deduction was as the rules state - finishers outside the time limit lose the points earned bu the winner at the finish (20 on this occasion) even if it means they end with a negative score. As it was more than 20% of the race outside the cut-off then they aren't eliminated. He should be ok today, and take the jersey in Paris.

Both Schlecks can't TT, Evans can, Tommy will die for the MJ. It's only 42.5km, so 45-50minutes of sheer pain. I don't think anyone will gain more than 2 minutes over such a short time trial. If Contador can gain a minute or two on AdH then don't write him off either.

WHAT A RACE!!!

 

[rcf0712]

OMG, top 5 have burst away from the get go, game on.......

 

[teaboy]

Get to a TV NOW!!! Contador's been at the steak again!

 

[Pantani]

This is some crazy stuff from Contador. He has destroyed his own team and the whole field with more than 90km to go. Also Barredo, have a word with yourself mate. You are not on Contador's team so you do not have to help keep the pace high for him. There is too much of this nonsense from Spanish riders these days.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

C'mon Cadel, don't do an ounce of work and sit on their arses all the way to the line.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Cadel, that looked like you couldnt hack it and are going to use a non existant bike problem as an excuse

 

[Pantani]

Cadel, that looked like you couldnt hack it and are going to use a non existant bike problem as an excuse

Very much this. Your brake wasn't rubbing Cadel, you just did not have the legs.

Voeckler popped too. He needs to sit up and wait for the peloton and hope he can recover. I think he will lose loads of time today, probably ten minutes plus.

 

[rcf0712]

it was a bit odd

 

[black & white seagull]

This stage is immense already and it's barely started!