Comments on: Can Cadel still win the Tour de France?

By: James

James — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:35:08 +0000

“James,

How were the Schleck brothers slowing Cadel down? The way I see it, their only role was supporting their lead man.”

Exactly! And they ‘supported’ their lead man BY slowing him down. They were the 2 people ‘mostly’ controlling the pace of the chase group. As the commentators pointed out, they kept ‘attacking’ and then slowing. This takes a lot of effort for the rest of the group to stay in touch with, therefore limiting their ability to attack.

Also, the best way to catch people ahead seems to be to get into a groove and ride at a steady pace. Use each other as leaders and slowly work your way to those ahead. But with the Schleck brothers continually mounting min attacks (with no intention of them actually working) they stopped the chasing group getting into a grouve and making up the time deficit. It was VERY well done by team CSC. Cadel (or Menchov, or Kohl) needed a team mate or 3 in that front group so THEY could set the pace and not be dictated by team CSC whose only goal was to help Sastre up front.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:22:08 +0000

Personally, I do hope Cadel wins. Though I am from Singapore, I think Australia has done so much in Triathlon and Cycling, the country deserves the Tour 2008. But there is really no telling what might happen given the fact that Spain’s sport has been on a roll this year. First you see Spain taking the Euro Title, and then Nadal taking the Wimbledon. Sastre might just top it off with a hat trick for Spain.

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:40:40 +0000

James,

How were the Schleck brothers slowing Cadel down? The way I see it, their only role was supporting their lead man.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:17:48 +0000

Well what a waste of money popovych has turned out to be for silence lotto.
When he has been needed he has been found wanting. If only Cadel had the opportunity to of had a rider capable of helping him until the final km’s of the mountain stages then im sure the gap wou;d be far less. Looking back on last years final time trial stage which was a similar distance of 55kms Cadel took almost 3mins off Sastre so the opportunity is still available for him to win this years tour.
Lets all keep our fingers crossed that he has the time trial of his life on saturday and become Australia’s first winner of the tour de france. He will more than deserve it givin that his team has turned up missing on most stages.

By: James

James — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:56:37 +0000

Well that makes sense then!

If Cadel was to lose this year, but get close, I guess they may try and make some changes to the team to give it a read hot go next year?

Andy Schleck could be a real threat in the coming years too!