2007 tour de france

[ledders07]

how do people think the downhill finish will affect it all tomorrow? it doesn't suit rasmussen for sure.

rasmussen was great today along with contador. evans got what he deserved in my opinion - shame he hitched a ride with kloden for the last 2k.

[Kevin Browne]

I don't think the downhill will effect the riders so much. It is only 12km.

I think Rasmussen keeping the yellow jersey and cracking evans was the best result for this stage. If Evans didnt fallback at all in the Pyrenes he was going to win the tour........evans and levi just seem too much like followers for me. Neither can attack on the Mountains against these guys.

I haven;t followed Cycling too long. Does Rasmussen have any history of cracking??? I guess hes never been under this kind of pressure, and in the past when you win 1 stage and yr not in the GC standings you can relax on some stages. He just looks so strong right now

[gila]

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I haven;t followed Cycling too long. Does Rasmussen have any history of cracking??? I guess hes never been under this kind of pressure, and in the past when you win 1 stage and yr not in the GC standings you can relax on some stages. He just looks so strong right now

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I have never really seen Rasumussen ride with the other contenders like this. In past years, he has usually either broke away early, or he was pulling for Mechov. A few years back, if I recall, he, besides Basso, stayed closest to Armstrong in a couple of stages. He indeed looks strong.

[brettkc]

Heres a few interesting reads:

http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/new...s/12883.0.html

http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/new...s/12882.0.html

[cbloom]

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Heres a few interesting reads:

http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/new...s/12883.0.html


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Meh, this is probably just Contador being dumb; it seems unlikely they really made a deal since they can barely speak a language in common. It was probably just hand gestures and nods and a few words and Contador read too much into it. Nobody is going to just give up the stage win there.

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http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/new...s/12882.0.html

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The only thing I really don't like in this article is how they represent Rabobank's opposition to the UCI anti-doping signature thing - pretty much ALL the teams and riders were against that thing because it's really an insult.

[Miamipuck]

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I haven;t followed Cycling too long. Does Rasmussen have any history of cracking??? I guess hes never been under this kind of pressure, and in the past when you win 1 stage and yr not in the GC standings you can relax on some stages. He just looks so strong right now

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The Peleton never really cared to expend the energy to reel him in. I think that was mainly because 1.) Lance could whip in in the ITT and had the team to gas him in the other mountain stages. 2.) Dove tails with #1 in that Rasmussen just was not good enough overall to win it.

Anyway he did crack badly a few years ago under the pressure in an ITT. Other than that he just was not good enough all around, it was not so much because of cracking.

Contador looks really strong, I was really surprised to see him this strong so late in the race. To me it is a 2 horse race, I do not think Evans/Levi/Kloden will win it. I do nto think they have it in them to put 4-5+ minutes on Rasmussen and or Cantador.

[JaredL]

Thing about Rasmussen is that he's gone after the polka-dot jersey every time. The king of the mountains doesn't necessarily go to the best climber - actually it normally isn't because the best guys are fighting for GC. KOM usually goes to a good climber who goes out and attacks.

Take tomorrow's stage. If you look at the stage profile I posted above you can see that if someone gets out early, on either of the first two category 2 climbs, they will be able to pick up a ton of points from the middle 3 climbs if you get out in front so making a break a couple of stages and just holding on otherwise will basically give you the jersey.

Getting into the break like that a few times during the tour will wear you out so the guys challenging for the KOM often do crack the last ITT and even mountain stages. It's hard to say how he'll do when fighting for yellow. His team isn't particularly strong in the mountains but he is one of the best climbers.

It looks like it could come down to him and Contador in the final ITT.

Deals have been a very common practice in cycling for many many years. I do one thing for you and you do one thing for me.
Indurain handed out I dont know how many stage victories for favours during the years he was dominating.
in 1995 those favours saved him too when Jalabert and Once had orchestrated a brilliant attack in the Massif Central and had Jalabert and several others 10 minutes plus ahead of the peloton and Indurain.
That day Banesto just couldn't do it alone and Indurain had to have 4 or 5 different teams assist him. It's well recognized that assist was due to the great generosity shown by Indurain over the years.

I guess the most general rule of these deal makings is that you don't talk about them.
Like in 2000 with Armstrong and Pantani on Mont Ventoux where Armstrong made the mistake of hinting he had let Pantani win on purpose and Pantani the following day went berserk and rode the field and Armstrong to pieces in a kamikaze attack.

A deal or deals that DID work out for Armstrong were the ones with Basso in his last couple of tours. Worked out for both.

It should be noted that these days, even for the yellow jersey, the value of a stage victory it feels like have risen greatly.
Armstrong mostly tried really hard to win the stage where as Indurain rarely bothered.
Bonus seconds plays a part too of course.

I don't know whether a deal was made or broken and that's why Contador spoke out but I don't really see how it was nessecary in that particular situation.
Surely it was in Contador's interest as well creating as much distance as possible to Evans and klöden.

I wouldn't be suprised if it was misunderstanding.

About Rasmussen's missed tests/notifying his whereabouts he is far far from the only rider in the peloton with those warnings, there are six others on Rabobank alone, just like he is most likely far from the only rider still using doping.

[JaredL]

I really don't think that Rasmussen would hand one of his two big challengers a handful of bonus seconds with so much racing to go. Most deals involve people not challenging each other in the same competition.

Yes it doesn't really make sense.

Maybe Contador's original words were in the heat of the moment kind of thing.