TdF, Stage 10 wrap up and Pool update
July 15th, 2008 |The bad:
Kim Kirchen - Fun while it lasted.
Damiano Cunego - Not quite there today.
Alejandro Valverde - Who ever said you were a grand tour contender anyway?
Andy Schleck - No GC for you.
The good:
Frank Schleck - Took advantage of the hard working CSC squad today to haul himself up a few spots in GC.
Juan Jose Cobo Acebo - Now top 10 in GC.
Riccardo Riccò - Climber’s jersey and young rider’s jersey. The new Pantani? Or better?
Bernhard Kohl - If only his team mate had not knocked him down a few days ago.
The golden:
Cadel Evans - Big time come back from his big time crash yesterday.
Christian Vande Velde - Amazing work to stay with the contenders today. Will VdV have a bad day? Hope not! Garmin is really getting their monies worth out of their Slipsteam sponsorship.
Pool is updated. Alex Atherton and Savage Soigner put 5 points on the board with their pick of Cadel Evans to wear the Yellow Jersey on the July 15 rest day.
9 Responses to “TdF, Stage 10 wrap up and Pool update”
As a former Chicagoan, I’m having fun rooting for VdV.
Plus, Garmin and Chipotle are two of my favorite companies.
Ricci Riccardo’s fantastic performance needs an asterisk or two. I’m not talking about suspect blood levels, or dismissing the cobra, I’m just saying he’s not up against the same caliber of climbers from years past. Soler is out with an injury, Contador wasn’t welcome, and dare I mention the chicken? OK, I didn’t.
Valverde is a disappointment.
Sastre is not disappointing, because I never expected him to deliver. CSC has the team and the management, but not the leader. Voigt and Cancellara were played beautifully by Riis, but Sastre wilted in the very moment he was supposed to bloom. I’ve made many bad choices in the pool, but that was one I wasn’t going to repeat.
Nice to see Evans finally attack… even if it is to save his own butt.
VdV is riding the boring Evans plan, but he’s well above where he was supposed to rate, so that’s awesome. For my part, I was born in Evanston and am also a fan of Chipotle and Garmin.
Oh NO YOU DIDN’T talk smack about my boy Alenjandro!!!
VDV=just plain awesome!!
Sastre is not disappointing, because I never expected him to deliver.
Sastre races for a top-10-but-not-the-podium finish. He just doesn’t realize it.
See “Overcoming” for all you need to know about Sastre. Dood’s not a winner, that’s all.
I like Valverde, but I haven’t seen the fire since stage 1. I pegged him to be just off-podium, but even that isn’t going to happen.
Since the ProTour collapsed today, it will be interesting to see who gets invites to next year’s Tour. It won’t have to compete with the Olympics, and will hopefully fix glaring omissions like Soler, Contador, and Boonen. They could stand to lose a certain few teams, but being that they are French, I guess they’ll be in the mix just to take a few fliers and lead breakaways that always get caught before the red kite.
champs, Boonen and Astana (contador) were excluded at the ASO’s behest. What makes you think the collapse of the ProTour would change that?
Also, Soler doesn’t qualify as a ‘glaring omission’. He started the race. His wrist not holding up is beyond the ASO’s control.
Note also that I’m saying there won’t be any shortage of crappy French continental teams invited. That’s a SickBoy guarantee….
The ASO doesn’t find itself bound to the list of ProTour teams, of course, but in excluding just one, you have to figure it’s been at least a guidance, but next year we will see teams jockeying for invites, and there are multiple teams serving as vanity plates for wealthy owners. You never know who might get caught out for being on a mere sponsored team, rather than one with a well-heeled benefactor.
Problem with the Pro-Tour imo is that UCI kinda forced it on the sponsors. It had some nice ideas, but they were going at it with a sledgehammer, vs. diplomacy.
Best example… Who is the Pro Tour leader this year? How about last year? Why is his jersey the same color (iirc) as best young rider?
And could you answer the first two off the top of your head?
Again decent idea, crappy execution on everybody’s part.