Stage 15 **SPOILER**

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rich p

ridiculous old lush
Location
Brighton
beancounter said:
He's second in the GC ffs.

bc

Of course, but his arse still got whipped in the stage to Verbier. Losing that amount of time on one stage is a whipping in GC terms. He's there to win not to be a super domestique IMO and second is first loser as they say in Texas!
 
I just wish i'd placed some money on a Wiggins podium finish from day one... !

My forecast is Contador to win, Armstrong to concede 2nd to Schleck due to finally surrendering to Contador's leadership and helping him take 1st, and to end up fighting Wiggins for 3rd, which I think he will take on Ventoux.

My hope is that Armstrong lights up the Ventoux and shows Contador how small a 1'37 gap is... but I highly doubt he will, whether he can will be irrelevant.
 

yello

Guest
SimonRoberts0204 said:
My hope is that Armstrong lights up the Ventoux and shows Contador how small a 1'37 gap is... but I highly doubt he will, whether he can will be irrelevant.

Could you explain that bit please because I don't understand it. I would have thought "whether he can" was extremely relevant... so I figure that I must be missing what you're saying.

I can only figure you're suggesting Armstrong won't attack only because of team orders. He's already acknowledged Contador as the stronger rider - something that is, imho, glaringly obvious.
 
Thats what I'm saying. It wont come down to whether he's got it in him, since he's accepted Contador as his team leader, he wont even try.

Im not suggesting he can, just that since he wont, there will still be room for people to say he could have done :bravo:. - As with all of Contadors unchased attacks so far.

If he still had aspirations of winning, he would surely have tried to go with contador yesterday.
 
SimonRoberts0204 said:
If he still had aspirations of winning, he would surely have tried to go with contador yesterday.
Except that he couldn't. He was dropped by the whole of the bunch and only scraped in when he did because he had Kloden towing him. Aspirations are one thing, physical ability is another.
 

yello

Guest
To be honest, I genuinely don't think Armstrong will even be on the podium. I HOPE Wiggins will be but I'm not convinced of it; fingers crossed though.

No, I reckon (hope?) we'll see riders liberated and having a piece of Armstrong on Ventoux. I want to be wrong about Wiggins but I do think it'll be a bridge mountain too far for him.
 

Jonathan M

New Member
Location
Merseyside
yello said:
I do love this fall back option! Oh, Armstrong didn't want to win, it's about cancer awareness.... livestrong....he's 37 (38,whatever it is) and that's fantastic....yadder yadder yadder

Face it Lancefans, your boy got his arse whipped!! :smile::smile:;)

... or should that be ass whupped???

I'm certainly no Lancefan, in fact I think that stage 15 has proven that if it wasn't for past palmares no team in creation would have taken him on. Look back a page & you'll see that I feel LA has eaten humble pie today, the issue of team leader (51 or 52) has been resolved, and Johann, or whoever chose Contador to be 51, got the decision right.

Yello, chill out a bit, we know you don't like LA, but please don't assume that any post mentioning his name is @rse licking. As someone with cancer then I would like to have just a smidgeon of his fitness with which to carry on enjoying cycling, sadlyat the moment I just don;t have any fitness with which to enjoy the sport.
 

rich p

ridiculous old lush
Location
Brighton
Jonathan M said:
I'm certainly no Lancefan, in fact I think that stage 15 has proven that if it wasn't for past palmares no team in creation would have taken him on. Look back a page & you'll see that I feel LA has eaten humble pie today, the issue of team leader (51 or 52) has been resolved, and Johann, or whoever chose Contador to be 51, got the decision right.

Yello, chill out a bit, we know you don't like LA, but please don't assume that any post mentioning his name is @rse licking. As someone with cancer then I would like to have just a smidgeon of his fitness with which to carry on enjoying cycling, sadlyat the moment I just don;t have any fitness with which to enjoy the sport.


I'm really sorry to hear of your condition, Jonathan, and the very best of luck with it.

Yello isn't having a go at LA having had cancer - it's just a bit of good old banter with the fanboys.
 
It's a strange thing this sport.
I have never been appreciative of the surly attitude of Lance Armstrong and there are endless tales passim...but.
I would really like him to fight and challenge allcomers - let's say climbing Ventoux - to illustrate what qualities he has and, ultimately what shortcomings.

I felt the same way about the Australian batsmen yesterday. Application and effort on a fantastic scale. Of course I want the best man / team to win but, considering Armstrong has been 'off the Tour' for two years, it seems a pretty impressive effort. (Yes, yes - I acknowledge all the stories etc...)
 

jpembroke

New Member
Location
Cheltenham
I think LA has accepted that he's not going to win and maybe/hopefully will relax into the roll of helping Contador. Watching ITV4 earlier he seemed genuine about that.

From the start I've thought that LAs focus would be on the one that got away: The Ventoux. I really don't think he cares about the GC now, it's le Géant de Provence that matters. Unfinished business. I don't think he'll win it but he may go full out trying.
 

yello

Guest
Jonathan M said:
Yello, chill out a bit, we know you don't like LA, but please don't assume that any post mentioning his name is @rse licking.

rich p said:
Yello isn't having a go at LA having had cancer - it's just a bit of good old banter with the fanboys.

Indeed Rich. I'm not doing anything other than quite deliberately & cheekily winding up the lancefans... as this ---> :evil: and this ----> ;) was meant to indicate.

And, Jonathon, please don't use "we" when you mean "I". Sounds like your trying to gang up on me! ;)

And please don't assume that every time I mention Armstrong that's it's motivated by dislike. Truth told, whilst I am no great fan, I can be objective. The situation at Astana and the way Contador has been treated are the things that anger me, not Armstrong. I don't really care about him, but I do see him as responsible for the shabby treatment of Contador - the best GT rider around at the moment. With that situation now seemingly resolved, I don't care about Armstrong. I do think he'll fall down the GC but that's a cycling opinion. I think Wiggins will too sadly.
 
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