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Discovery Channel - TdF 2011
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| Squire |
Posted on 28-05-2011 16:51
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@FreitasPCM: If Andy performs like this in the final TT as well, it doesn't really matter what he does in the mountains 
@lluuiiggii: I expect Contador to take time in both remaining MTFs and the TT, so it's all about limiting losses for Leipheimer.
Bonascre coming up soon! |
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| Squire |
Posted on 29-05-2011 00:07
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 18.07.2011: Tour de France
Stage 14
Toulouse - Ax 3 Domaines: 199.0km
Tactics meeting
The deadly 1st category combo of Port de Pailheres and Plateau de Bonascre awaits just one day after the time trial. Alberto Contador rode a stellar time trial, and looks to be back to his best now, after a weak start to the Tour. We still have Levi Leipheimer in the Maillot Jaune, and today we have to limit our losses well if we want to carry it to Paris.
Gasparotto, Nieve and Seeldraeyers aren't names that sends shivers down the spines of the overall favourites, and their weak breakaway attempt was brought back before the Port de Pailheres.
The peloton rode hard on the penultimate climb. Just before the top, only the best climbers were left in front. We had Leipheimer and Kreuziger here. Rabobank only had Reus, which meant Evans was on one of his bad days again. 3rd overall after the TT, Tony Martin, was also gone. This was a good chance for us to regain the lead in the team classification.
Austrian climber Gerhard Trampusch, who was second on the stage that Van den Broeck won a few days ago, took maximum points on the Pailheres. Last year's Tour of Austria winner is having an excellent first Tour de France.
A couple of riders rejoined the favourite group on the descent, but it was still very small when it started the final climb. Leipheimer was the only contender who had a teammate with him, so we were in a good situation.
That situation suddenly became more difficult when the rejuvenated Alberto Contador attacked with 6km remaining to the summit.
The other great climber of the Tour, Andy Schleck, tried to latch on to Contador's wheel.
The group was blown apart. Levi was digging deep to defend his advantage in the general classification, but he just didn't have a great day. Contador and Schleck were riding off ahead of him!
Contador even rode away from Schleck, and celebrated the win on top of the Plateau de Bonascre! He looks like the good old Alberto again, which can only be bad news for us.
Schleck was put into trouble towards the end, and finished a whole minute down on Contador. White jersey leader Gesink followed close behind the Saxobank captain.
Reus was once again strong and got 4th, while Levi Leipheimer's group was led home by the truly impressive Gerhard Trampusch of Vorarlberg. Levi lost 2 minutes to Contador today, which means the Astana rider is just 23 seconds away from the yellow jersey.
Today's winner
Results
| 1. | Alberto Contador | Astana | 5h39'31 | | 2. | Andy Schleck  | Saxo Bank | + 1'01 | | 3. | Robert Gesink  | Quick-Step | + 1'15 | | 4. | Kai Reus | Rabobank | + 1'39 | | 5. | Gerhard Trampusch | Vorarlberg - Corratec | + 2'05 | | 6. | Levi Leipheimer  | Discovery Channel | s.t. | | 7. | Juanjo Cobo | Saunier Duval | s.t. | | 8. | Vladimir Karpets | Katusha | + 2'43 | | 9. | Roman Kreuziger | Discovery Channel | s.t. | | 10. | Vladimir Efimkin | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. |
GC
| 1. | Levi Leipheimer | Discovery Channel | 55h36'21 | | 2. | Alberto Contador | Astana | + 23 | | 3. | Andy Schleck | Saxo Bank | + 2'34 | | 4. | Robert Gesink | Quick-Step | + 2'41 | | 5. | Roman Kreuziger | Discovery Channel | + 4'42 | | 6. | Kai Reus | Rabobank | s.t. | | 7. | Michael Rogers | T-Mobile | + 4'47 | | 8. | Juanjo Cobo | Saunier Duval | + 6'01 | | 9. | Vladimir Karpets | Katusha | + 6'42 | | 10. | Tony Martin | T-Mobile | + 7'33 |
Points ranking
| 1. | Fabian Cancellara  | Liquigas | 147 | | 2. | Andy Schleck | Saxo Bank | 144 | | 3. | Heinrich Haussler | Saxo Bank | 135 |
Mountain ranking
| 1. | Andy Schleck | Saxo Bank | 95 | | 2. | Rémy Di Gregorio | Discovery Channel | 90 | | 3. | Alberto Contador | Astana | 78 |
Youth ranking
| 1. | Robert Gesink | Quick-Step | 55h39'02 | | 2. | Roman Kreuziger | Discovery Channel | + 2'01 | | 3. | Bauke Mollema | Rabobank | + 16'51 |
Team classification
| 1. | Discovery Channel | 164h01'52 | | 2. | T-Mobile | + 4'17 | | 3. | Rabobank | + 6'13 |
I think the Tour winner has been decided. With a mountain top finish and a time trial left, I can see no stopping Alberto Contador. The Spaniard won comfortably today, and is breathing down Levi's neck in the GC. Schleck takes back time on the TT specialists, and is now 3rd overall. The Schlecklet also takes over the KoM jersey from Discovery's Di Gregorio.
Things didn't go our way today. In addition to Levi's time loss, Gesink all but wrapped up the white jersey. Kreuziger doesn't seem to get much better. The only positive to take away from this stage is our regained lead in the team standings. Rabobank's Cadel Evans and T-Mobile's Tony Martin lost loads of time today, which benefits us.
Kai Reus was the surprise of the Alps, and he continues to impress, but it looks like the surprise of the Pyrenées is Vorarlberg's Gerhard Trampusch. The Austrian is a long way down on GC, but he proves to be a very good climber.
Tomorrow brings more climbing, but no mountain top finish. A tough journey across four 1st cats and two 2nd cats brings the Tour to Loudenvielle. |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 29-05-2011 20:30
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Pity that you lost so much time. Lets see what you can do in the next stages.
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| lluuiiggii |
Posted on 30-05-2011 00:31
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Grand Tour Champion
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Damn, damn, damn! Contador is a monster. And indeed, he has now 23 racing days, so he now is in good shape. Also, with so few days, maybe he's planning to do the double with the Vuelta?
Anyway, Leipheimer started the season with 84 TT, Contador has 82, has Levi still got those? If yes then there's still a chance. Good luck for the next stages, they will be crucial.
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| Squire |
Posted on 30-05-2011 17:35
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Don't know about any Vuelta plans, but Contador definitely is on top shape.
Levi is worse at TT on the paper than Contador, as he has declined a bit since the start of the season:
By the way, this story has reached the forum limit for number of views that can be counted. Thanks everybody for contributing to making it one of the most popular stories on the forum (in numbers at least). Keep up the reading!  |
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| RHW |
Posted on 30-05-2011 21:01
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Great story, keep it coming |
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| hellboy |
Posted on 31-05-2011 05:53
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Congratulations on the story milestone, it is one of the best stories in matter of quality aswell,good luck for the rest of the Tour
Go Roman!
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| lukaas |
Posted on 03-06-2011 16:30
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Domestique
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Great story! |
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| EliasKnutsen |
Posted on 08-07-2011 15:36
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Great story, hopefully you will make a new great one in PCM2011!  |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 11:29
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| Squire |
Posted on 03-08-2011 20:35
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19.07.2011: Tour de France
Stage 15
St. Girons - Loudenvielle: 193.0km
Tactics meeting
With four 1st cat. climbs on the menu, this promises to be a long, hard day in the saddle for the riders. The Col du Peyresourde acts as the decisive last climb. Hopefully it won't be too decisive. We will watch Contador like a shadow, even though it probably means just delaying the inevitable.
Remy Di Gregorio made it into today's break, but had a tactical disadvantage as he was accompanied by two Cofidis riders (Brice Feillu & Moinard). Di Gregorio still did well to collect a few mountain points, and will once again ride in the KoM jersey tomorrow!
The Cofidis duo outsmarted Di Gregorio, and by the time the race reached the Peyresourde, Brice Feillu was alone out in front. The Frenchman was only lying 26th overall. The previous Tour de Suisse winner has never got it right in the Tour.
Feillu lost his entire lead of three minutes on the Peyresourde. The GC guys had nearly caught him 5km from the top.
As Feillu was swept up, Robert Gesink made his move! The Dutch climber had an eye on the podium in Paris, and needed time to move up from his current position of 4th overall.
The other contenders were basically just looking at each other on the last climb, but managed to put together a decent chase on the downhill. Gesink had managed an important achievement with his attack: He had gotten rid of Kreuziger, thereby probably fastening his grip on the white jersey.
Led by the top 3 riders overall, Gesink was caught close to the finishing line in Loudenvielle.
A sprint among strictly non-sprinters commenced, and Levi was in the mix! Could he get a win in the yellow jersey?
No, instead it was another leader's jersey who took the win. Andy Schleck proved to be the least sucky sprinter, and came out on top! Levi was 3rd, and comfortably keeps the Maillot Jaune for at least another day.
Roman Kreuziger had been blown away by Gesink's attack on the Peyresourde. The Czech came in with the second group on the road, together with Valverde, whose horrible Tour continues. If the Spaniard had managed to stay with the first group, he would have been a certainty for the stage win.
Today's winner
Results
| 1. | Andy Schleck | Saxo Bank | 5h22'24 | | 2. | Robert Gesink | Quick-Step | s.t. | | 3. | Levi Leipheimer | Discovery Channel | s.t. | | 4. | Alberto Contador | Astana | s.t. | | 5. | Jurgen Van den Broeck | Silence – Lotto | s.t. | | 6. | Gerhard Trampusch | Vorarlberg – Corratec | s.t. | | 7. | Kai Reus | Rabobank | s.t. | | 8. | Juanjo Cobo | Saunier Duval | s.t. | | 9. | Christophe Le Mével | Française des Jeux | s.t. | | 10. | Vladimir Efimkin | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. |
GC
| 1. | Levi Leipheimer | Discovery Channel | 60h58'45 | | 2. | Alberto Contador | Astana | + 23 | | 3. | Andy Schleck | Saxo Bank | + 2'34 | | 4. | Robert Gesink | Quick-Step | + 2'41 | | 5. | Kai Reus | Rabobank | + 4'42 | | 6. | Roman Kreuziger | Discovery Channel | + 5'55 | | 7. | Juanjo Cobo | Saunier Duval | + 6'01 | | 8. | Michael Rogers | T-Mobile | + 6'30 | | 9. | Vladimir Karpets | Katusha | + 6'42 | | 10. | Jurgen Van den Broeck | Silence – Lotto | + 9'59 |
Points ranking
| 1. | Andy Schleck | Saxo Bank | 179 | | 2. | Fabian Cancellara | Liquigas | 150 | | 3. | Heinrich Haussler | Saxo Bank | 135 |
Mountain ranking
| 1. | Rémy Di Gregorio | Discovery Channel | 138 | | 2. | Gerhard Trampusch | Vorarlberg - Corratec | 121 | | 3. | Robert Gesink | Quick-Step | 110 |
Youth ranking
| 1. | Robert Gesink | Quick-Step | 61h01'26 | | 2. | Roman Kreuziger | Discovery Channel | + 3'14 | | 3. | Bauke Mollema | Rabobank | + 19'23 |
Team classification
| 1. | Discovery Channel | 180h12'49 | | 2. | T-Mobile | + 7'19 | | 3. | Rabobank | + 7'32 |
As I had hoped, the second Pyrenee stage didn't become very decisive. Andy Schleck collected stage win number two, and with it the points jersey. Nothing special happened overall, apart from our white jersey hope Roman Kreuziger losing more time and being overtaken by Kai Reus in the GC. Considering Gesink's strong showing, Kreuziger can just give up on the white jersey.
Publicity-wise, this was a good day for us. Di Gregorio retakes the polkadot jersey by being in the breakaway. He will probably lose it tomorrow though: The peloton climbs up to Luz Ardiden. It's a big opportunity for Contador to seize the yellow jersey. |
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| poiup11 |
Posted on 03-08-2011 20:42
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Great! This is just the best story! Respect for you still are writting this story |
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| Squire |
Posted on 03-08-2011 20:48
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Thanks! I will at least finish the Tour, and hopefully the season, before (or at the same time as) I work on a 2011 story.
Also thanks to the other compliments I haven't responded to on this page. It's appreciated. |
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| pcm2009fan |
Posted on 03-08-2011 20:56
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Cool, I'll be really looking forward to the 2011 story
And at least this one is going down with dignity |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 03-08-2011 21:10
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pcm2009fan wrote:
Cool, I'll be really looking forward to the 2011 story
And at least this one is going down with dignity
+1
Are you already willing to tell us what kind of story you're going to do for PCM11?
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| Squire |
Posted on 03-08-2011 21:13
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cunego59 wrote:
Are you already willing to tell us what kind of story you're going to do for PCM11?
Not really
It'll be something very different. I won't start it yet, though. First I will enjoy playing a non-story carreer or two with the PCM.daily DB. And this story is not finished yet. |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 03-08-2011 21:16
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Sounds promising
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 03-08-2011 23:04
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Nice to see this one back again! This has been one long and incredible story with one of the best teams in cycling. |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 03-08-2011 23:18
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World Champion
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Yeah I love this story, and I love the style of the reports.
I'm looking forward to whatever you decide to write in the future.
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| dienblad |
Posted on 04-08-2011 12:27
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Ah, great to see the story continues. 23 sec to Contador is almost impossible when tou have the final ITT left (for me, I can't manage to win even with 1-2 minuts leading......).
Good luck! |
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| rorzcp |
Posted on 28-08-2011 07:16
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Domestique
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OMG, I READ THIS THING START TO FINISH AND I GET HERE AND ITS A CLIFF HANGER. omgomgomg |
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