Tour de France 2013

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SPR
Sep 2013
7:02pm, 29 Sep 2013
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SPR
J-Rod quote: “The situation was perfect for Spain, because I told Alejandro to go on the wheel of whoever chased after me,” Rodriguez said, his voice still raw. “When I saw Rui Costa come across alone, I didn’t understand what had happened, but I knew I was riding for second.”

cyclingnews.com
SPR
Sep 2013
7:06pm, 29 Sep 2013
18,792 posts
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SPR
RD, he even calls himself Purito in the article, lol.

Valverde from the same article: “For sure I would prefer that this medal was gold, but if I didn't win it's only because I couldn't,” Valverde insisted afterwards. “When Rui Costa attacked he was very strong. I simply could do no more.”

Not convinced
Sep 2013
7:08pm, 29 Sep 2013
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runner duck
that's the article i was reading. trouble is i will have forgotten again by next year!

why do you think he wouldn't have helped rodriguez?
SPR
Sep 2013
7:15pm, 29 Sep 2013
18,793 posts
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SPR
I'm not saying he was working against J-Rod, Ihave no reason to think he would, but I don't buy the "could do no more" because I didn't see him even try (all the pics show him on Nibali's wheel). If he had managed to hold Rui Costa's wheel for a few seconds, then Rui Costa may have given up like Nibali did.

I think it's either what Hammer said and he didn't care who won (maybe thinking he couldn't win even though he'd be favourite in the sprint), or he just thought Rui Costa couldn't catch J-Rod, and he had done his job by making Nibali give up.
SPR
Sep 2013
7:20pm, 29 Sep 2013
18,794 posts
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SPR
Nibali confirms Valverde didn't chase Rui Costa: "I thought Valverde would go after him (Rui Costa) but he didn’t."

cyclingnews.com
Sep 2013
10:17pm, 29 Sep 2013
3,733 posts
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Dai Bank
Valverde would never chaase Costa in that situation, Costa will be far more valuable to Valverde in the next 12 months as Costa will realise that he owes that jersey and will work like a dog for Valverde in order to repay him. Same sort of situation as Ulrich had in the Olympics (in Sydney?) when the Team Telekom trade card was played.
Even saying that Kelly always reckons that a Monument win will guarantee a contract for 5 years, On that basis Costa should be OK for another 7-10 should he choose to go on.

More worrying is the Tiernan-Locke situation for Sky, that will produce some headlines.Middle double page spread in the Sunday Times today nearly blew off Cookson's coronation column inches.
Sep 2013
10:35pm, 29 Sep 2013
11,624 posts
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runner duck
spr, just read back and i realised i had a double cross post with you at 6:55 and 7pm!! the trouble with opening another window, reading something, coming back and commenting without refreshing the page! sorry, it all makes much more sense now :)

i can see that it suits valverde to let rodriguez and costa fight it out between them and keep out of it. naughty tho when he was supposed to be on team espana today. was rodriguez the chosen lead rider for spain like froome was for gb?

it's a shame the tiernan-locke thing has been leaked. how long does it take for the uci to do their investigation?
Sep 2013
8:13am, 30 Sep 2013
3,955 posts
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paul the builder
Dai - Rui Costa has signed for Lampre next year. Any help Valverde gets from him will have to be on the subtle side....
Sep 2013
9:00am, 30 Sep 2013
131 posts
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magnumpti
Didn't see all of the race yesterday but considering how good GB are supposed to be we were a bunch of fannies yesterday. Dropping out because it's raining or even worse because they weren't going to win isn't a great message to send out to all of those aspiring cyclists that the Olympics and Tour wins have inspired.

This may be heresy but something tells me that Cavendish aside, individually our cyclists aren't that fantastic and Froome and Wiggins won the Tour because they had the best teams rather than being the best riders. This was probably shown by our lack of victories in the one day races. I'd much rather watch Nibali or Purito than our boring machines.
SPR
Sep 2013
10:01am, 30 Sep 2013
18,795 posts
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SPR
One day races are totally different from Grand Tours (3 weeks). Boonen, Gilbert and Cancellara, the one day kings, are not winning any Grand Tours anytime soon. Froome should win more GTs but may never win a one day race. Also in the TdF Saxobank had the best team, Sky had the best rider, Froome. In 2012, the only question was whether Froome was stronger than Wiggins, everyone else wasn't.

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The 100th Tour de France

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