Huez
Well, Jason is off on a cross-country voyage, leaving me to run the blog, but I had this whole work thing prevented a prompt update.
After spending a good portion of this year’s tour being very, very wrong, I’m feeling like I was right yesterday. Cadel Evans had a hug ride on Stage 16, which put time into his fellow time trialists, but he stayed even with the climbers, who needed to put in time. It meant everybody had to attack today except Evans, which pretty much plays into his hands. Evans may not be an aggressive rider, and I may think he’s boring as hell, but he’s a tough man to shake. He just had to stay in contact today.
So, everyone reached Huez today and proceeded to attack the crap out of each other, and Cadel hung on for dear life. We’ll get to Sastre and Team CSC in just a second, but I have to lead with Cadel again. He didn’t let anyone else breakway, he even put a little bit of time into Menchov, and he did it entirely on his own. Evans finally attacked when Sastre’s break reached two minutes, just to minimize the damage. And no one helped him. Why should they? Sastre is a far superior climber, but Evans held the gap over the last few kilometers, dragging the yellow jersey group up the mountain. He was able to do that today because of his ride yesterday. If he wins the Yellow Jersey, it’ll be because of his great Stage 16 and minimizing the damage here on Huez. Just two absolutely brilliant days from Evans. And that hurts for me to say.
So let’s say great things about Sastre and CSC.
Sastre has a 1:34 lead on Evans. It’s an open question whether he can stay within 1:34 of Evans on the ITT, but it is within the realm of possibility. He’s got a shot if he rides the best ITT of his career. No pressure, Carlos. And don’t worry about those other guys still within striking distance as well. But if he wins the Yellow Jersey, it will be because of his work today. Or namely, CSC’s work.
They were awesome today. Just like they have been all Tour. CSC blew apart the peloton, and then guided their GC man to the top. Andy Schleck especially has been a workhorse, and he’ll probably be rewarded with a White Jersey. He looks like a future champion, and given his earlier low placement, it begs the question: is CSC just lucky he was so far back and was able to set such a pace because he wasn’t a GC threat or was his low placement an intentional tactic? Either CSC is great at making lemonade out of lemons or they are friggin’ geniuses.
And how about sending Sastre back to go get water? Was that the feint to make everyone think they were riding for Frank Schleck? Or were they actually riding for Schleck and Sastre’s attack just happened to be the one that worked. Who knows? But once again, either CSC is good at taking advantage of whatever comes their way or they are tactical geniuses. Probably somewhere in between. But CSC has made their own luck. They have dominated this race, and they deserve to win it.
But life isn’t fair. Sastre still needs to have the time trial of his life. Or else all of that work was just delaying the coronation of Cadel Evans.
After spending a good portion of this year’s tour being very, very wrong, I’m feeling like I was right yesterday. Cadel Evans had a hug ride on Stage 16, which put time into his fellow time trialists, but he stayed even with the climbers, who needed to put in time. It meant everybody had to attack today except Evans, which pretty much plays into his hands. Evans may not be an aggressive rider, and I may think he’s boring as hell, but he’s a tough man to shake. He just had to stay in contact today.
So, everyone reached Huez today and proceeded to attack the crap out of each other, and Cadel hung on for dear life. We’ll get to Sastre and Team CSC in just a second, but I have to lead with Cadel again. He didn’t let anyone else breakway, he even put a little bit of time into Menchov, and he did it entirely on his own. Evans finally attacked when Sastre’s break reached two minutes, just to minimize the damage. And no one helped him. Why should they? Sastre is a far superior climber, but Evans held the gap over the last few kilometers, dragging the yellow jersey group up the mountain. He was able to do that today because of his ride yesterday. If he wins the Yellow Jersey, it’ll be because of his great Stage 16 and minimizing the damage here on Huez. Just two absolutely brilliant days from Evans. And that hurts for me to say.
So let’s say great things about Sastre and CSC.
Sastre has a 1:34 lead on Evans. It’s an open question whether he can stay within 1:34 of Evans on the ITT, but it is within the realm of possibility. He’s got a shot if he rides the best ITT of his career. No pressure, Carlos. And don’t worry about those other guys still within striking distance as well. But if he wins the Yellow Jersey, it will be because of his work today. Or namely, CSC’s work.
They were awesome today. Just like they have been all Tour. CSC blew apart the peloton, and then guided their GC man to the top. Andy Schleck especially has been a workhorse, and he’ll probably be rewarded with a White Jersey. He looks like a future champion, and given his earlier low placement, it begs the question: is CSC just lucky he was so far back and was able to set such a pace because he wasn’t a GC threat or was his low placement an intentional tactic? Either CSC is great at making lemonade out of lemons or they are friggin’ geniuses.
And how about sending Sastre back to go get water? Was that the feint to make everyone think they were riding for Frank Schleck? Or were they actually riding for Schleck and Sastre’s attack just happened to be the one that worked. Who knows? But once again, either CSC is good at taking advantage of whatever comes their way or they are tactical geniuses. Probably somewhere in between. But CSC has made their own luck. They have dominated this race, and they deserve to win it.
But life isn’t fair. Sastre still needs to have the time trial of his life. Or else all of that work was just delaying the coronation of Cadel Evans.
posted by Poseur at 4:42 PM
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