Christy Anderson was going on like she knew something about how Savoldelli' legs were shot from the Giro.
He was still the last DSC rider with Armstrong.
Quoted message said:
But perhaps it was a tactical decision to save strength for the Discovery train in the real mountains.
We are all (including T-mobile) lulled into a false sense of possibility.
Armstrong's investment on the 2001 Alpe d'Huez stage again pays off. Remembering that faked bad day, nobody is sure what to make of it when Armstrong doesn't dominate. Is he weak or is he just calculating?
When Kloden went away today, at first it looked serious - and Armstrong didn't respond. Was he (correctly) figuring Kloden couldn't gain much time, or was he tired from covering Vino's attacks? Armstrong's rivals have to deal with the doubt that he's just biding his time, and that the domination could begin at any moment.
Armstrong is very good on tactics, but a master of psychological warfare.
Mark
I'm pretty sure no one will fall for that 'gimp act' after the Alpe- he could be bleeding from his ears and I think no one would take it seriously. He' d have to keel over for anyone to think, okay he's not faking.
On Sat, 09 Jul 2005 16:39:26 +0000, [email hidden] wrote:
>Christy Anderson was going on like she knew something about how >Savoldelli' legs were shot from the Giro.
He was still the last DSC rider with Armstrong.
>But perhaps it was a tactical decision to save strength for the >Discovery train in the real mountains.
We are all (including T-mobile) lulled into a false sense of possibility.
Armstrong's investment on the 2001 Alpe d'Huez stage again pays off. Remembering that faked bad day, nobody is sure what to make of it when Armstrong doesn't dominate. Is he weak or is he just calculating?
When Kloden went away today, at first it looked serious - and Armstrong didn't respond. Was he (correctly) figuring Kloden couldn't gain much time, or was he tired from covering Vino's attacks? Armstrong's rivals have to deal with the doubt that he's just biding his time, and that the domination could begin at any moment.
Armstrong is very good on tactics, but a master of psychological warfare.
Mark
I'm pretty sure no one will fall for that 'gimp act' after the Alpe- he could be bleeding from his ears and I think no one would take it seriously. He' d have to keel over for anyone to think, okay he's not faking.
Kloden lost 2 minutes to Armstrong in the opening TT which was only 19 km. There's a 55 km TT still to come. He's not giving up time willingly, but it's far from panic time.
Dude, You are still missing the point. It's not about ONE challenger from TMO, it's about the combination of Ullrich, Vino and Kloden that makes it unpredictable. If they don't stuff it up.
??? Your scenario, would be a disadvantage for the three teams, not for Armstrong - each team would have to attack and possibly tow LA up the mountain. The advantage TMO has in this scenario is that they can decide whether the second rider attacks or not. And you saw today what can happen. One rider goes up, and the others just test with short accelerations if LA can follow or not, if he can, they stop, if not, they are away. Did you notice how often Vino looked back when attacking? And JU did the same at one point.
Really? Because I'm thinking 3 good GC contenders with their own support crew is better than 3 GC contenders all on the same team.
I'm not saying that the way things are set up now isn't dangerous for DSC et. al. but when Ullrich and Vino have to set back to let Kloden gain time it's not to their advantage.
On Sat, 09 Jul 2005 19:36:38 +0200, Ernst Noch <[email hidden]> wrote:
Quoted message said:
Really? Because I'm thinking 3 good GC contenders with their own support crew is better than 3 GC contenders all on the same team.
I'm not saying that the way things are set up now isn't dangerous for DSC et. al. but when Ullrich and Vino have to set back to let Kloden gain time it's not to their advantage.
I don't think there a much situations where they'd have to do this. All this will happen on steep roads, where drafting is not an advantage. If one of the three will drop Lance on a hill, that will mean Lance is shot, otherwise he'd never let that happen. And they all know this! So, they then can try to drop him also, or wait for him to react - he will not need being towed uphill if he is still able to give something. The advantage is, one team alone has three weapons on their discretion.
Btw. I still think LA will crush them all on the next occasion.
I agree Armstrong and Discovery didn't look so good TODAY. My point is that his HISTORY of playing possum in past tours leaves that little bit of doubt in the rival's minds.
Bob Schwartz said:
There is no doubt. DSC sucked today. Why do people have so much trouble believing that?
Something to do with the Liggett commentary perhaps. I reckon I'll be able to compress the audio component of the tour avi files by 80% quite easily.
I'm sure that there's nothing wrong with Lance. There's absolutely no doubt that he will once again demonstrate for all "better racing through chemistry" and win a seventh tour. No question. No one else has ever come close to this, and I cannot believe it is only training, so I'm sure that whatever it is will see Lance to another win. Talking about him being isolated is silly. He did fine, even without teammates. His time gap is completely insignificant. Most riders might need a team around them, but he doesn't.
Donald Munro said:
Mark Janeba said:
Quoted message said:
I agree Armstrong and Discovery didn't look so good TODAY. My point is that his HISTORY of playing possum in past tours leaves that little bit of doubt in the rival's minds.
Bob Schwartz said:
There is no doubt. DSC sucked today. Why do people have so much trouble believing that?
Something to do with the Liggett commentary perhaps. I reckon I'll be able to compress the audio component of the tour avi files by 80% quite easily.
I'm sure that there's nothing wrong with Lance. There's absolutely no doubt that he will once again demonstrate for all "better racing through chemistry" and win a seventh tour. No question. No one else has ever come close to this, and I cannot believe it is only training, so I'm sure that whatever it is will see Lance to another win. Talking about him being isolated is silly. He did fine, even without teammates. His time gap is completely insignificant. Most riders might need a team around them, but he doesn't.
By your rationale he is stil the best then. As surely you don't think all of the other riders are clean and he is the only one?
You can't prove a negative but passing umpteen hundred drug tests is about the best we're going to do for now.
