Pereirro surprisingly good

wicklow200 said:

Quite surprised to see Pereirro so high up on GC. If he wasnt waiting for Valverde on the last stage he could well be in 9th position.

Just shows how badly Valverde has been these last few days

Same with Popo. He is higher up than I expected considering he has been working like the proverbial horse all tour for Levi and Conti.

Very good points, W200.

Pereiro's been riding really well - he stayed with Valverde yesterday throughout the stage.
If you recall there was a lot of speculation as to whether or not the Valverde/Pereiro partnership would work.
On the face of it, Pereiro's being fully supportive of Valverde.

Ditto : Popo.
He rode really well yesterday.
OK the tactics he was told to employ ultimately helped Ras - but as for his ride, Popo rode really strongly.

Both riders of course, could be higher on GC if they were allowed to ride for themselves - they've both ridden really well.

limerickman said:

Very good points, W200.

Pereiro's been riding really well - he stayed with Valverde yesterday throughout the stage.
If you recall there was a lot of speculation as to whether or not the Valverde/Pereiro partnership would work.
On the face of it, Pereiro's being fully supportive of Valverde.

Ditto : Popo.
He rode really well yesterday.
OK the tactics he was told to employ ultimately helped Ras - but as for his ride, Popo rode really strongly.

Both riders of course, could be higher on GC if they were allowed to ride for themselves - they've both ridden really well.

Thanks ...but dont understand the Ras comment...

Do you think they should have employed a slower pace to allow continuous attacks on Ras?

That should work, but... Ras seems too strong to crack. So was it not better, as they did, for Disco to weaken the rest of the GC contenders like Klodi, Kasch, even Evans.

wicklow200 said:

Thanks ...but dont understand the Ras comment...

Do you think they should have employed a slower pace to allow continuous attacks on Ras?

That should work, but... Ras seems too strong to crack. So was it not better, as they did, for Disco to weaken the rest of the GC contenders like Klodi, Kasch, even Evans.

I do think that Popo should have slowed because Ras benefitted from the quicker pace up the final climb, in my opinion.

My reading of the Popo ride was that he burnt Leiphemer and didn't burn Ras.

OK - one could argue that Popo was working for Contador too.
And in respect of Contador, the Popo attacked worked because he (Popo) burnt off Kloden, Kash, Evans.
However, Popo's ride hurt Leipy in that he couldn't stay with Popo.

limerickman said:

I do think that Popo should have slowed because Ras benefitted from the quicker pace up the final climb, in my opinion.

My reading of the Popo ride was that he burnt Leiphemer and didn't burn Ras.

OK - one could argue that Popo was working for Contador too.
And in respect of Contador, the Popo attacked worked because he (Popo) burnt off Kloden, Kash, Evans.
However, Popo's ride hurt Leipy in that he couldn't stay with Popo.

I think he did stay with Popo -- he only fell off the pace for good when the attacks came after Popo fell off. Seems to me Popo's ride was the only way Leipheimer had a chance to win. Leipheimer is a little bit like Jan Ullrich, in that he cannot downshift and fly up the mountain - he is more of a steady, relentless climber. If Popo had not set the pace the way he did, I think a lot more riders would have been a lot more fresh at the top, including Evans and Kloden. If you recall, Leipheimer tried one half-hearted surge about a third of the way up the climb, and immediately realized he had no chance.

The way it unfolded, Contador and Rasmussen were obviously the class of the field, and I think Leipheimer realized it and chose not to try to stay with them -- Evans paid for that mistake, while Leipheimer just motored at his own pace up the climb and finished very well, moving up to 4th on GC.

IH8LANCE said:

I think he did stay with Popo -- he only fell off the pace for good when the attacks came after Popo fell off. Seems to me Popo's ride was the only way Leipheimer had a chance to win. Leipheimer is a little bit like Jan Ullrich, in that he cannot downshift and fly up the mountain - he is more of a steady, relentless climber. If Popo had not set the pace the way he did, I think a lot more riders would have been a lot more fresh at the top, including Evans and Kloden. If you recall, Leipheimer tried one half-hearted surge about a third of the way up the climb, and immediately realized he had no chance.

The way it unfolded, Contador and Rasmussen were obviously the class of the field, and I think Leipheimer realized it and chose not to try to stay with them -- Evans paid for that mistake, while Leipheimer just motored at his own pace up the climb and finished very well, moving up to 4th on GC.

I agree with you to the extent that Leipheimer correctly calculated that he (leipy) couldn't have stayed with Ras and Cont : as you correctly point out Evans miscalculated by trying to stay with Ras and Cont.

Pereiro's not doing so good now. He just got dropped.

Can Rass really do this quick pace every day though? Disco has some great climbers maybe their plan is to attack like this every day and wear him down.

Pereiro is a good rider. His performance last year elevated him to a potential contender in the eyes of most people. However, when compared to the real GC contenders, Pereiro does not fare well. I think the guy is made for breakaways. Remember two years ago when he won a stage and barely lost a second to a wheelsucking Hincapie. The guy has tremendous amout of class. However, he gets a bad wrap as a GC contender. Same with Popo.

I agree that Discovery ultimately helped the Chicken. They had three guys on the final climb. They should have attacked him over and over again until they cracked him. I can only think that they looking for a stage win instead of the GC....which is confusing in itself. I also couldn't figure out why Hincapie was riding tempo. It was Rabobank's job to defend the jersey. They should have let Boogerd do the work in the valley. Then again, I am not a genius like Bruyneel. I'm sure he knows better than me. But, it looks like Bruyneel is a one trick pony....Ride the Blue Train and then have your GC guy attack.