Stage 9: A Crack At The Top
Barloworld earned their bid today. Actually, Barloworld had already earned their bid by being pretty competitive throughout the first week, and even having Robbie Hunter in green jersey contention. But today was the breakthrough day, as Juan Mauricio Soler held off the field and won Stage 9. That's a big deal.
An even bigger deal is that some GC contenders finally cracked today. Vino, Schleck, Zubeldia, Kashechin, Pereiro, and Menchov are stick-a-fork-in-them done. Vino et al each lost three minutes, while Menchov lost four. With this many GC contenders still in the hunt, that's just too many riders to overcome. We don't even have to wait for the time trial to sort CSC, Rabobank, and Astana out. The Alps did it for us. Sastre, Rasmussen, and Kloden (respectively) are now The Man on their teams.
Look at the top nine, the winner of this year's Tour is likely coming from this group:
1. RASMUSSEN Michael (RAB) ---
2. VALVERDE Alejandro (BAN) +2:35
3. MAYO Iban (SDV) +2:39
4. EVANS Cadel (LOT) +2:41
5. CONTADOR Alberto (DSC) +3:08
6. MOREAU Christophe (A2R) +3:18
7. SASTRE Carlos (CSC) +3:39
8. KLÖDEN Andréas (AST) +3:50
9. LEIPHEIMER Levi (DSC) +3:53
The real question is: how bad of a time trialist is Rasmussen? No one is going to confuse him with the Big Mig, but he does have an awfully big lead. There are still two ITT's left, as well as some big climbs. Do the negatives outweigh the positives? Can a climber win this thing? I'm skeptical, but he can make up for his predicted ITT losses in the Pyrenees.
Also, let's give some credit to Discovery, which ran this stage like the old Posties. They sent out an early break, cracked the field, and had their GC contenders reel everyone in on the chase up the final climb. Leipheimer didn't rise to the final chase, Contador did, and his teammate tried to carry him to the line. It was like watching the tactics of Lance without the power of Lance to just blow everyone off the course. But it did put two guys in the top ten. Contador looks like a budding star. This might not be his moment, but he looks stronger than Leipheimer right now.
Oh, on a final note. How bad T-Mobile's Tour is going summed up in one picture (courtesy of Velonews):
That's Marcus Burghardt crashing into a stray dog. I don't even know what to say about that.
An even bigger deal is that some GC contenders finally cracked today. Vino, Schleck, Zubeldia, Kashechin, Pereiro, and Menchov are stick-a-fork-in-them done. Vino et al each lost three minutes, while Menchov lost four. With this many GC contenders still in the hunt, that's just too many riders to overcome. We don't even have to wait for the time trial to sort CSC, Rabobank, and Astana out. The Alps did it for us. Sastre, Rasmussen, and Kloden (respectively) are now The Man on their teams.
Look at the top nine, the winner of this year's Tour is likely coming from this group:
1. RASMUSSEN Michael (RAB) ---
2. VALVERDE Alejandro (BAN) +2:35
3. MAYO Iban (SDV) +2:39
4. EVANS Cadel (LOT) +2:41
5. CONTADOR Alberto (DSC) +3:08
6. MOREAU Christophe (A2R) +3:18
7. SASTRE Carlos (CSC) +3:39
8. KLÖDEN Andréas (AST) +3:50
9. LEIPHEIMER Levi (DSC) +3:53
The real question is: how bad of a time trialist is Rasmussen? No one is going to confuse him with the Big Mig, but he does have an awfully big lead. There are still two ITT's left, as well as some big climbs. Do the negatives outweigh the positives? Can a climber win this thing? I'm skeptical, but he can make up for his predicted ITT losses in the Pyrenees.
Also, let's give some credit to Discovery, which ran this stage like the old Posties. They sent out an early break, cracked the field, and had their GC contenders reel everyone in on the chase up the final climb. Leipheimer didn't rise to the final chase, Contador did, and his teammate tried to carry him to the line. It was like watching the tactics of Lance without the power of Lance to just blow everyone off the course. But it did put two guys in the top ten. Contador looks like a budding star. This might not be his moment, but he looks stronger than Leipheimer right now.
Oh, on a final note. How bad T-Mobile's Tour is going summed up in one picture (courtesy of Velonews):
That's Marcus Burghardt crashing into a stray dog. I don't even know what to say about that.
posted by Poseur at 12:46 PM
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