Contador - into the breach

Come on Andy my son [;)][;)]

I love the fact that everyone is relying on Evans to have a shocking climb one of these days, I for one don't think he will and am therefore on Team Evans for Yellow in Paris!!

Evans try as he might just cant do the real big Alp climbs , he can climb but not at the level of shlecks,basso,contador .

Voeckler wont go up the big climbs ,and will also lose time on the Dauphine tt .

As much as id like to see (ante post bet) Basso doing well I can see him taking time on anyone ,He can follow but not attack and he needs to make some .

Contador , Ijust think its to hard to do both Giro and tour this year .

Leaves me with Andy Schleck (the fav) not really a fan (no reason really) but think they will all fall away from him

Ironic thing is , Wiggins could just of won the thing this year

I think your all writing Frank Schleck off too early, I dont think he was at it on saturday, It didnt seem that any of the GC was trying to make any time, Schlecks didnt put any real pressure on, why didnt Andy S try to attack more, or are they just confident they can make the time this week, tomorrow will let us know hopefully, on Frank at 65 opn bf for plenty, freerolloing at present but would love him to win.

Contador wins this race if he's near his form of previous years - but he's given no indication that he is.

Well I layed Contador at around 3 and A Schleck at around 2.7, have traded them both out for even profit all round but am considering adjusting it to favour a couple of riders...trouble is I can't decide. There are numerous posts spread across various threads saying Evans always goes pop at some point but I'm starting to wonder what if he doesn't? He certainly hasn't looked troubled yet and it's possible there is a year when he simply survives. Admittedly I was thinking the same as everyone else at the start and nearly layed him at 34's at the beginning, glad I didn't now.

Basso has a slim chance if Szmyd can help him, he missed him on the plateau de beille, he did set a decent pace initially on Luz Ardiden to prevent the early attacks which really would have hammered his team leader. It meant there was a very strange period on saturday when none of the GC guys had team help so early into a long climb and Vandevelde ended up setting the pace, don't recall seeing that before.

I noticed someone else was asking about Sanchez as an outside bet...well to my mind he'd need at least a couple of mins on rivals before the ITT to have a chance which is asking a lot imo.

Climbing in the Alps is much tougher than Pyrenees - Evans will pop big time on Thurs or Fri or prob both

i may be very naive but i have a theory that evans is drug free and always has been and in the past has been blown away on the mountains by druggies. seems to me this tour is the cleanest for a long time and clean guys just cant put minutes into their rivals on the mountains like they used to

Sir Denis Eton-Hogg..i think this could be close to the truth to

Jan Ullrich,Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo, Alexander Vinokourov ban on speculation of having doped

With you there Denis and I hope it's true. We could have another list of suspects to those that have been officially banned with Contador and Frank Schleck topping it. The latter was suspended by his team and had the cloud of suspicion over him after strong mountain performances in the past with evidence of a payment made to Tour 'assister' Dr. Fuentes, though like Contador his country cleared him whatever that's worth.

Bye bye the Schlecks. Straight fight between Contador and Evans now.

Into the breach Alberto, Into the breach

Into the Angus steakhouse more like.

as much as I like cycling and watching the Tour and other races, I doubt that there ever will be a situation when the majority of the top riders is clean

If the Galibier isn't cancelled Contador can close the gap on Evans big time  & then beat him in the time trial.

Serves them all right for not having the bottle to attack last week whilst Contador was struggling.

the recurring theme from this tour is everyone (including myself) reading too much into individual stages

a. schleck has looked poor at times as has contador and frank, if andy doesnt suffer again tomorrow 9 looks big imo, hes not out of this and there'll be more twists and turns in the alps

evans is the only one who has been solid all the way through so is a rightful favourite

i dont think jumping on the contador bangwaggon yet is appropriate, was an odd stage today, we'll see if he really is picking up come the end of the week

Think Andy suits the big mountain stages. He seems to struggle with the short power climbs such as today. Check out the profile for Thursday as thats the day the Schleks would have been planning all year (big day for Evans Thurday). Not suggesting take 9-1 the win but a stage win for the Schlecks on Thursday!!??

yeah andy is more of a grinder than a power climber

Not sure what to make of Andy Scleck's ride - would not want to rule him out on the basis of today

what a day...only now seen the reply

as good as Contador was today in attacking, Evans was just as good..Contador has to attack, and he attack today spit the pack apart, but it was Evans who finshed it today, it was Evans who took the lead all the way to the finish line , once he saw the gap between him and Scleck's

what is the general opinion to how much time contador will put into a.schleck in the time trial?

assuming they finish together in the next two alps stages (unlikely i guess) how much would contador probably take out of him in the tt?

cont bt scleck by 31 secs last year in a 51km TT

exciting next few days, cant wait

think contador and schleck will distance evans on at least one of those 2 stages but to what extent who knows

should certainly come down to the tt anyway

the evidence of the last 2 weeks is that Evans can comfortably handle the schlecks and contador on the hills. never looked in any bother really. think the cool conds probably suit

Difference is the Schleks will give it everything next 2 days,something they have not done yet,thats when Evans will struggle imo

One down,one to go.

I wonder how much it cost Contador to buy the help of the Euskaltel-Euskadi team?
Too much with hindsight as he still hadn't got the legs yesterday.