2008 Tour de France Stage 20 - Sat July 26: Cerilly-St. Amand-Montrond (ITT), 53 km

[limerickman]

Very good ride by Vandevelde too who I think is just realizing that he's a better rider than he thought - is it too late?
.

Agreed.

Vandevelde had a great ITT and a great TDF I think.

 

[Crankyfeet]

Kohl did fall when he tried to get on to the start ramp.

I know... but as I said... it was deliberate. I bet ya Schumacher "fell" as well... but they didn't capture it on TV.

 

[Crankyfeet]

Those 'mineral water' bottles are not what you think. A little too convenient having a mineral water sponsor with all those bottles lying around. They are actually filled with plasma products and EPO..

Good pick up classic. That's where your experience comes in. I always thought EPO came in tablets.

 

[Crankyfeet]

BTW - Does anyone know what VdV had stuffed down the back of his jersey which made him look like Quasimodo?...

 

[classic1]

Good pick up classic. That's where your experience comes in. I always thought EPO came in tablets.

Forget the 3rd generation stuff. These boys aren't just in front of the testers, they are in front of the manufacterers. They have invented their own special epo.

 

[earth_dweller]

BTW - Does anyone know what VdV had stuffed down the back of his jersey which made him look like Quasimodo?...

I think it was a camelbak (water supply)

 

[classic1]

BTW - Does anyone know what VdV had stuffed down the back of his jersey which made him look like Quasimodo?...

It was his medical kit. Doper.

In truth it was a radio He uses it to call for his dope.

 

[hawkeye87]

Lets not start the "Cadel lost because everyone else dopes" excuse train. He had every opportunity to win the race in the mountains, and he didn't take the initiative to do so. He didn't win.

He should have tried to chase Sastre. Carlos was always more of a threat than Schleck since Frank cannot TT worth ****.

 

[hawkeye87]

Sastre pulls out an amazing time trial performance ala Leipheimer and Contador.

Sastre's ITT did not stand out compared to those two examples. Carlos isn't that great at it but he's not incredibly lousy at it either. He has pulled in decent ITTs before (compared to regular guys, not TT specialists).

 

[Denia]

Don't count on him getting busted. They SHOULD be more sophistocated than that, or they wouldn't have let him take the stage.

Has there been any real case against Sastre to base these type of coments on -other than he is Spanish? Sastre rode a decent tour as he has done before, only this time there were no supermen to beat. His TT today was about what would be expected of him and similar to his performances in recent years.

He has always been good over three weeks without being exceptional, or exceptional enough to beat those that have been doping. I think a victory for Sastre or Evans was a victory for clean riding.

 

[hawkeye87]

Rogers is the Tommy D of Australia.

LOL! He's that bad?!

At least he won the World ITT twice. That's more than TD can boast.

 

[Dermo]

Sastre's time trialling in the similar time trial length over the past five years in TDF.

Montrond 2008 – 53km 1h 06' 19" (+2.34 from winner)
Albi 2007 – 54km 1h 10’ 35” (+ 04.01 from winner)
Montceau Les Mines 2006 – 57km 1h 12’ 27” (+4.42 from winner)
St Etienne 2005 – 55.5km 1h 14’ 56” (+ 3.10 from winner)
Besancon 2004 - 55 km 1h 11’ 45” (+4.56 from winner)

Today is a significantly better result than ever achieved by him. Behind Schumacher who is blatant. St Etienne 2005 must have been a bit hilly.

Make of it what you will.

 

[ad9898]

Sastre's time trialling in the similar time trial length over the past five years in TDF.

Montrond 2008 – 53km 1h 06' 19" (+2.34 from winner)
Albi 2007 – 54km 1h 10’ 35” (+ 04.01 from winner)
Montceau Les Mines 2006 – 57km 1h 12’ 27” (+4.42 from winner)
St Etienne 2005 – 55.5km 1h 14’ 56” (+ 3.10 from winner)
Besancon 2004 - 55 km 1h 11’ 45” (+4.56 from winner)

Today is a significantly better result than ever achieved by him. Behind Schumacher who is blatant. St Etienne 2005 must have been a bit hilly.

Make of it what you will.

I don't see anything standout from these results, especially when you consider today he had the yellow jersey. Sastre did nothing extraordinary today, Evans was fair amount below par though

I think Evans was down about a minute today on his "best form", which would still have lost him the tour

Or to put it another way if Evans had have pipped Sastre today, nobody would be talking about Sastres' TT. Schumacher and Kohl though..... well they are a little odd, but I still wouldn't accuse them.... proof is needed.

If people can't believe that extraordinary things can happen without dope, then there is little reward in watching something as difficult and hard as the TDF

 

[jhuskey]

Cilmbers rule!

 

[serpico7]

If people can't believe that extraordinary things can happen without dope, then there is little reward in watching something as difficult and hard as the TDF

That is a non sequitur.

 

[thebluetrain]

The main difference was Sastre had CSC all around him, while Cadel's only company from the team was his team car, and some days, I thought that the car was stuck in the gruppetto.

I definately see Evans leaving, just to where is the question. People keep saying Slipstream Chipolte, but I am thinking that you could see him find his way to Team Columbia, because I dont think they ever expect Rogers to be what he is, and Kirchen would be an excellent helper. I have nothing to base this on, just kind of a gut feeling.

Maybe he'll go to Astana. He would make a great domestique for Contador.

 

[Crankyfeet]

What was with Frank Schleck drafting behind Sastre? He must have known 50 million people would be watching the yellow jersey at that point? Did he get a time penalty? It looked like dumbarse stuff... for what reason?

 

[Crankyfeet]

So Spain has won the last three TdF's. That's a pretty good achievement.

 

[C'dale Girl]

So Spain has won the last three TdF's. That's a pretty good achievement.

Maybe that comment belongs in wicklow's "biggest tour surprises thread", followed with a "hhhmmm . . . .".

 

[mitosis]

I don't see anything standout from these results, especially when you consider today he had the yellow jersey. Sastre did nothing extraordinary today, Evans was fair amount below par though

I think Evans was down about a minute today on his "best form", which would still have lost him the tour

Or to put it another way if Evans had have pipped Sastre today, nobody would be talking about Sastres' TT. Schumacher and Kohl though..... well they are a little odd, but I still wouldn't accuse them.... proof is needed.

If people can't believe that extraordinary things can happen without dope, then there is little reward in watching something as difficult and hard as the TDF

If Evans was below par then so was Menchov. Evans rode a strong time trial, 10 seconds outside of Menchov who was supposed to reel in Evans and 30 odd seconds outside Millar a time trial specialist.

On that basis Evans rode ok, Sastre rode above himself.

Sastre won it on alp du huez.

Its been the closest and most exciting t de f in years, so we have to be thankful for that.