Spoiler Stage 16

[McQueen]

So how does Lance beat out the other 6 riders (assuming Horner is going to work for Lance)??

Does he try to set up a sprint finish with Horner leading out, or does he attack the group before the finish and solo in?

What would you do?

[avalonracing]

I would go for a Horner lead out but that might be tough. We'll see shortly.

[William]

3.07pm: The main bunch makes it way towards the summit of Col d'Aubisque, where a herd of cattle and some horses are living together in one of the adjacent fields, putting on a show of agrarian harmony and bliss. "Scrolling my mouse around that god damned Mercedes ad is tricky a bit like negotiating those hair pin bends coming off the Tourmalet," writes Nick Hand, whose pain I feel. "Darn it, just set the blighter off again trying to scroll down to find out how to spell 'Tourmalet'."


I like the is guy from the Guardian update. :)

William

[ergott]

Lance should bury himself to get Horner higher up in the GC. As it is he's looking at the inside of the top 10 after today. Wait, that would be asking Lance to work for someone else.

[dancinkozmo]

So how does Lance beat out the other 6 riders (assuming Horner is going to work for Lance)??

Does he try to set up a sprint finish with Horner leading out, or does he attack the group before the finish and solo in?

What would you do?

i'd offer everyone in the break who "bonks near the finish" a free "nissan leaf" with a case of michelob ultra in the trunk !! :banana: :banana:

[McQueen]

I think I see Lance skipping pulls now..

Somethings up soon..

[BillG]

Bike racing is cruel. Poor Barredo!

[avalonracing]

This is not inspiring me to live the Ultra Life™. :beer: Woo-HOO!

[William]

This is not inspiring me to live the Ultra Life™. :beer: Woo-HOO!


But it is just like a visit to Radio Shack. ;)




William

[johnnymossville]

They looked sapped so it went to the sprinter, I thought the only chance they had was for either Lance or Horner to attack with 3 K to go and the other sit on and counter attack when the first was caught (still a long way out, beyond sprinters range).

[William]

4.13pm: Barredo is in all sorts of bother as he approaches the 1km to go kite. He's going to be caught - it's official, James Cavell is a fraud who has no idea what he's talking about. Christophe Moreau leads the chasing bunch under the kite. It's wide open.

4.14pm: It finishes in a sprint and Pierreck Fedrigo takes the stage for BBox Bouygues Telecom from Sandy Casar. Plaqza was third, followed by Cunego, Horner and Armstrong. That's France's sixth stage win in this year's Tour.

4.18pm: "Yet again the tour organisers have got it wrong," writes Guy Hornsby. "Putting the Tourmalet mountain finish after a rest day (rather than before) and a big descent after this one means that Schleck would have to make up all his time on Thursday, removing much of the tension they could've generated. The only HC finish is the last day in the Pyrenees. Madness. After yesterday's fiasco there's only one winner really now isn't there? Contador may lose time on Thursday, but unless he loses over two minutes I can't see him blowing it. So, all excitement is sapped, in favour of a stage that's a tribute to Merckx. Wonderful rider, but in terms of the GC, he'd have been bored watching today."

4.20pm: Sorry, I'd forgotten about the rest of the riders. The yellow jersey bunch hits the 1km to go banner, 5min 52sec after Fedrigo breasted the tape. Thor Hushovd eventually wins the sprint, which is bad news for his green jersey rival Mark Cavendish, who should be crossing the line any hour now.

Last word today goes to James Cavell, even though he's still in disgrace: "While we are on the subject of what is official, I'd like to state that Christophe Moreau is officially a muppet," he writes. "Why was he reeling in Barredo on behalf of renowned slow finisher Ruben Plaza? He made it really easy for Ferrigo and Cunego there. And Lance's 'sprint' wasn't even enough to get past Horner, who tried to lead him out. The embarrassment continues."

Actually scrap that, last word today goes to Neil Whyte. "In light of Contador's apology, how about a hair jersey for the best act of public contrition?" he says. "Might give the ever humble M-Cav something else to aim for."

Or possibly Michael Horn."I was quite appalled by the story about Chris Horner 'dinking' a fellow rider, as 'dink' in Denmark is slang for gently slapping something or someone with your male reproductive organ! That is until I read Sean Boiling's explanation (2.23pm) explanation. No skip that, thinking about it now I cannot escape the gruesome mental image!" A bit rich coming from a man named Horn, surely? Anyway, thanks for all your time and your emails. To see today's stage result and the overall standings, click here. We'kll be back with coverage of what promises to be the stage of the Tour on Thursday.

[dnades]

They looked sapped so it went to the sprinter, I thought the only chance they had was for either Lance or Horner to attack with 3 K to go and the other sit on and counter attack when the first was caught (still a long way out, beyond sprinters range).


20/20 hindsight and all but that is kind of what I figured they would do. No way are they going to beat those other guys in a sprint w/out tiring them out more and that is if they have the legs for it after all that climbing. I'm not sure if Lance doesn't have the legs any more or if he was conserving for later stages. He sure seemed to run out of gas at the end of that sprint but he is very canny. He handled the climbs very well. Maybe with Contador or Schleck next to him he'd look not so good but...I had high hopes for Lance on this stage. Got kinda hooked and didn't do a lick of work.

[Karin Kirk]

I've never seen Lance more resigned and deflated than at today's post-race interview. Sounds like he's all done, as he pretty much said. At least he's being honest and genuine - I'm sure it's got to be hard to have to explain his non-superhuman performance day after day after day.

[MattTuck]

I'm not sure if Lance doesn't have the legs any more or if he was conserving for later stages.

If his strategy is conserving for later stages, somebody should let him know that this was his chance and there aren't any left. Thursday will go to a climber, Friday to a sprinter, Saturday to a time trialist (maybe this is his best hope... but even this is a way long shot) and Sunday probably to a sprinter also, or Vino.

[avalonracing]

I'm sure it's got to be hard to have to explain his non-superhuman performance day after day after day.
Yeah, I hate when I have to do that.

[JMerring]

I'm not sure if Lance doesn't have the legs any more or if he was conserving for later stages.

which later stages? this was his last shot. he can't sprint, so that rules out friday and sunday. no way he still has the legs to climb with ac and as, so thursday is out. no way he gonna win the tt on saturday. he's done.



edit:
i was preempted. didn't read all way down to see someone had already covered this. great minds and all.

[soulspinner]

They looked sapped so it went to the sprinter, I thought the only chance they had was for either Lance or Horner to attack with 3 K to go and the other sit on and counter attack when the first was caught (still a long way out, beyond sprinters range).

Thought the same way, they must have been too deep.....

[nomar]

have at least three guys in the break w me and one of those three could lead me out so i could outsprint the others in the final 300 meters. what if there are two legit sprinters in the break? that's what the other two guys on your team are for. they would simply lay down their bikes in front of the two legit sprinters causing them to be out of contention in that stage the same way it was done to lance in this tour when two guys crashed in front of lance on a straight-a-away just before the racing was to begin on that climb knocking lance out of that stage and ending his podium chances for the entire tour.

[SEABREEZE]

Lets get to bones. Last year he did good for not being ready for the TDF.
Because he did so well, he felt if he was really ready this year, he felt he could do better than last year.

I beleive that was the motivating fact, that had him beleiving he still had it in him, and gave it another try.

This years performance in the tour has him realizing , he doesnt have it any more, and is bowing out after the tour.

Thank you for the experience Lance...

[William]

Possibly a Marcus Sommers moment? After the cobbles or the crash, at some point he had it and realized it's time. No disrespect meant, he just doesn't have that killer edge so prevalent in Tours past.




William

[Gothard]

I'm sure it's got to be hard to have to explain his non-superhuman performance day after day after day.

Not for me. I have a list of excuses printed in my handlebar tape. :p

[davidlee]

If LA had had anything left the move would have been to jump across to Barredo with 3 or 4k's to go . Then Horner and other Quickstep team mate would have sat up and the chase possibly would have not caught 'em .

Barredo and Lance then 2 man tt to the line, Barredo was obviously fried , worst he would have gotten was 2nd if it worked.
Oh well, I was yelling for him to jump, guess he didn't hear me.
d

[jbrainin]

Watching Lance in this TdF is like watching Michael Jordan play for the Wizards.

[Avispa]

Watching Lance in this TdF is like watching Michael Jordan play for the Wizards.

Or Muhammad Ali after coming back from retirement.... What a pitty!


...Last year he did good for not being ready for the TDF.
Because he did so well, he felt if he was really ready this year, he felt he could do better than last year....

Last year LA did so well because it was a far more easy Tour than this year AND he was racing with Contador.

If last year's Tour would have been as hard as this year, Lance would had Twitted that 2009 would have been his last Tour.

I just feel bad for the Shack! Have yet to see anyone rushing to go get their batteries because of Lance!

..A..

[jmc22]

Every race is full of would have, could have, should have....what if there was an uphill finish, what if there weren't so many guys in the break, what if I tried to take off at 3km to go, what if it wasn't so long to the finish after the last hill....

Give LA a break, he started what was the winning break and tried today but a sprint finish was never his strong point - I bet you George Hinicape would have also gotten beat in todays sprint if he was there and he use to be a pretty good sprinter in his own right.

The bottom line is there can only be one winner each day and the rest are to left to re-live - would have, could have, should have.

[Climb01742]

let's not forget to give props to thor. for him to get over all those mountains at his size and still be able to win the peleton sprint, well, it ain't chopped liver.

[avalonracing]

[QUOTE=Avispa
I just feel bad for the Shack! Have yet to see anyone rushing to go get their batteries because of Lance!
[/QUOTE]

Hey, I bought a watch battery there last week! I also bought a Road ID. As for Nissan, Mic Ultra, FRS, Trek, Sram ... Sorry maybe later. Oh I did look at some new Oakleys today too. See, sponsorship works.

[Wilkinson4]

I bought a 9 volt last week at the Shack while in SLC on business. I wanted one and the clerk she tried to up sell me a two fer one deal.

I asked her if I could use the other one on my bike:) She didn't get it...

mIKE

[dnades]

If his strategy is conserving for later stages, somebody should let him know that this was his chance and there aren't any left. Thursday will go to a climber, Friday to a sprinter, Saturday to a time trialist (maybe this is his best hope... but even this is a way long shot) and Sunday probably to a sprinter also, or Vino.


I was speaking more for the team rather than the possibility of him personally winning another stage.