[Burkni]

It just struck me that barring illness, mechanical or crash, Andy Schleck will ensure himself a 3rd straight 2nd place finish in the world's biggest bike race.
He will thus match Poulidor and only need one more to go level with Ulle. Not bad company eh!

[shag]

Burkni, on 22 July 2011 - 08:03 PM, said:

It just struck me that barring illness, mechanical or crash, Andy Schleck will ensure himself a 3rd straight 2nd place finish in the world's biggest bike race.
He will thus match Poulidor and only need one more to go level with Ulle. Not bad company eh!

But seriously, I can't believe you are so dismissive of Schlekey's chances tomorrow. Cadel is not the world's greatest against the clock, and it's not like Schleck is Purito or something. Cadel is good but not great; Schleck is mediocre but not horrible. I think this one is absolutely impossible to call. Might be closer than the famous eight seconds.

[wildeone]

agree with shag but, oh, you made me laugh! merci, Burkni!

This post has been edited by wildeone: 22 July 2011 - 08:13 PM

[Burkni]

Dismissive? What chances?
To stand a chance in a normal year the TT would have to be under 30k. This year Evans is in the shape of his life and Andy just flogged his guts (to steal someone's wonderful colloquialism ) over two Alpine stages for insufficient gains. Go figure.

[VdB]

He'll need a few more years to match Zoetemelk's 6 TdF silver medals though!

[bodomaniac]

VdB, on 22 July 2011 - 08:56 PM, said:

He'll need a few more years to match Zoetemelk's 6 TdF silver medals though!

Gotta give Joop credit for consistency. Too bad he was up against two of the biggest legends in the sport during his time (Merckx and Hinault), as he could have been the first with 7 victories.

[Leafcake]

shag, on 22 July 2011 - 08:09 PM, said:

But seriously, I can't believe you are so dismissive of Schlekey's chances tomorrow. Cadel is not the world's greatest against the clock, and it's not like Schleck is Purito or something. Cadel is good but not great; Schleck is mediocre but not horrible. I think this one is absolutely impossible to call. Might be closer than the famous eight seconds.

think positive

[Burkni]

ZOETEMELK is the name I was missing, thanks VdB. Here I was saying to myself that I was sure Pou-pou had more 2nd places

Don't underestimate AS in this aspect though ... I doubt Evans will win more Tours as he is getting on a bit, UNLESS Contador's ban is upheld by CAS. In that case, he should nab it next year too. If not, AS has a string of 2nd places ahead of him, as I doubt Contador will try the Giro-Tour double (let alone the monstrous feat of 3 GTs in a season) anytime soon.
To back up this claim I find it highly unlikely that ASO can get away with yet more TT km reductions, so Andy's chance has passed him by.

[Burkni]

Just read up on ol' Pou-pou, particularly his rivalry with Anquetil and its social significance:
http://en.m.wikipedi...aymond_Poulidor
Even though it doesn't stress (enough, in my opinion) how Anquetil represented the new, modern, industrialised France to Poupou's old, it had me close to tears, reading yet another account of how our favourite sport so often mirrors and microcosms (sp?) society.

[Leafcake]

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This post has been edited by Leafcake: 23 July 2011 - 06:17 PM

[Strategy]

Ah. Should probably have posted this here, but forgot the thread and instead started a new one. My bad.