Vino attacks!!

jsull14 said:

That was a pretty cool move today even if it only lasted about 500 meters.

Not really.......Vino of old would left the QuickStep train for dust...... he didn't have the same potency.... more important was the Astana attack earlier in the day to split up the peleton with the cross wind..... caused chaos......

whiteboytrash said:

Not really.......Vino of old would left the QuickStep train for dust...... he didn't have the same potency.... more important was the Astana attack earlier in the day to split up the peleton with the cross wind..... caused chaos......

It was a statement, it was cool for what it was.

DiabloScott said:

It was a statement, it was cool for what it was.

Diablo, I did Mt. Diablo for the first time about a month ago.(Athenia School start) It was awesome, even if I wasn't. I'm going to do the time trial there in October.

remember this in 2004... held off a pack moving at ~70km/h on the Champs-Elysees... the most prestigious sprinter stage... and succeeded!!

[img]grahamwatson.com15.jpgOpen ↗[/img]

[left][left]yeah that was awesome. He had a great year that year, attacking at every opportunity.
[/left][/left]

I've seen Vino attempt (and frequently succeed at) early break-aways in the past, both on mountain stages or flat sprint stages, e.g., stage 9 of 2003 (the one where Beloki crashed) or stages 11 and 21 of 2005. Also, when he was on T-Mobile, he was Zabel's lead-out man for years and was pretty good at it, so I know he's got knowledge about timing sprint attacks. But I have no clue as to what he was thinking today attacking solo at 4k. What in the world was his motive? He wasn't leading out anyone from Astana, and I don't think he was going for a stage win for himself. IUt was waaay too early, and he didn't make any effort to go faster when he kept looking back to see the peleton closing in on him. Was this just a pointless strategy to get some camera time? Was he trying to make the others hurt for fun? Or was he just testing out his legs and seeing how good he felt?

i have a feeling that he was trying to get some brownie points for anyone who wanted to sprint against quickstep, who had their train in control at that point. now maybe barloworld or AG2R or someone like that might help astana a little when they need it.

jsull14 said:

That was a pretty cool move today even if it only lasted about 500 meters.

I disagree. It only benefits Vino if he can get into a breakaway. The fact that moreau was dropped, and in the manner he was dropped, doesn't bode well. He was with race doctor! So, whatever, that is one bonus for Vino. but at what cost? you max out your team and if he does this continually till the end, it doesn't help the one man astana should be protecting, and that is kloden. burning up so much energy on a flat stage for minimal gains? and this mentality...

"The most important thing in this situation today was that Vino got his morale back. We saw that he's back, but now we have again three strong riders for the GC," Kummer said. Kummer didn't hesitate to talk about the Kazakh's chances for the overall. "Our captain is still Vino but we will give Andreas [Klöden] a free role, with all the support from the team so he has every possibility for the GC. Yet, the man who decides within the team is still Vino."

Vino will not win the TDF. He is too far back. the only thing astana will succeed at is burning up the support team that klodi will need in the pyrenees and the protection of yellow he will very likely get on saturday. the peloton will not let vino breakaway in the later stages. I don't see how dropping moreau equates to getting three gc contenders back. seriously. I saw a lot of bravado from vino today, but his injuries deny him as demonstrated in his feeble solo attack. If kloden wins this tdf, it will be in spite of his team's tactics. b/c vino has control. I don't see him giving up even if it costs the team the gc with andreas. it is frustrating as a hilde fan, and maybe things would be slightly different if he had a loyal commrade in kessler, but as it is he has his work cut out for him. does he have the mental fighting capability? we'll see.

Klodifan said:

I disagree. It only benefits Vino if he can get into a breakaway. The fact that moreau was dropped, and in the manner he was dropped, doesn't bode well. He was with race doctor! So, whatever, that is one bonus for Vino. but at what cost? you max out your team and if he does this continually till the end, it doesn't help the one man astana should be protecting, and that is kloden. burning up so much energy on a flat stage for minimal gains? and this mentality...

"The most important thing in this situation today was that Vino got his morale back. We saw that he's back, but now we have again three strong riders for the GC," Kummer said. Kummer didn't hesitate to talk about the Kazakh's chances for the overall. "Our captain is still Vino but we will give Andreas [Klöden] a free role, with all the support from the team so he has every possibility for the GC. Yet, the man who decides within the team is still Vino."

Vino will not win the TDF. He is too far back. the only thing astana will succeed at is burning up the support team that klodi will need in the pyrenees and the protection of yellow he will very likely get on saturday. the peloton will not let vino breakaway in the later stages. I don't see how dropping moreau equates to getting three gc contenders back. seriously. I saw a lot of bravado from vino today, but his injuries deny him as demonstrated in his feeble solo attack. If kloden wins this tdf, it will be in spite of his team's tactics. b/c vino has control. I don't see him giving up even if it costs the team the gc with andreas. it is frustrating as a hilde fan, and maybe things would be slightly different if he had a loyal commrade in kessler, but as it is he has his work cut out for him. does he have the mental fighting capability? we'll see.

What they tell the media and what actually is the team plan are two very different things.

My guess is that was Vino's farewell (unfortunatley). His knee is going septic and I think he wanted to do something before he had to drop.