Is Le Tour finished now **SPOILER**

[wbmkk]

Commentators on TV have been praising Cadel Evans as the new winner of Le Tour.

There's a stage tomorrow, but doesn't this count ?

I remember being overseas and watching the 1989 race, when the winner was determined on the last day, with Greg Lemond beating Lauren Fignon by a handful of seconds.

Since when has the final stage become a 'fun ride'

Is there no way that Cadel can lose now, except for falling off his bike and not being able to continue.

thanks

 

[zimzum42]

The final stage in 1989 was an ITT - there's no way anyone else will win it unless Evans falls off and breaks himself in half. He's won, and he deserves it. Schleck isn't a good enough all round rider

 

[Norm]

I think that tomorrow's stage is largely ceremonial but also, with a 90+ second advantage, (and I'll quickly confess that many of the details of the scoring are a mystery to me) there's little that can be done on a normal stage to make up that sort of difference.

I've added a spoiler warning for those who don't want to open a thread before watching.

 

[raindog]

Evans has won, short of being run over by a Tour vehicle or attacked by a swarm of hornets.

 

[gaz]

No one attacks before the peleton gets to Paris. Just the way it is. And from there it is very much a sprinters stage and any attack has very little chance of making it.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

when they were discussing the 'what if it's only 5 seconds' scenario on eurosport, at no time was the fact that the sprinters' teams were unlikely to let any breakaway succeed mentioned. the only way first would lose time to second would be if there was a crash and the field was split. with a gap of 90+ seconds, evans will not be attacked.

well done cuddles…

 

[Scoosh]

They have also been saying that Cav will win the Green jersey.

AFAIK, there are still Sprint points up for grabs - the Intermediate and the Finish.

Am I missing something ?

 

[Matthames]

I think any attacks tomorrow would come from mostly the main green jersey contenders. I would expect to see plenty of HTC, Movistar and Omega Pharma Lotto riders up front to try and help their men take the green jersey.

 

[montage]

Too easy to shut down any attacks tomorrow.

Just wondering...did Evans actually make any attacks for the whole TDF?

The real hero was Tommy Voekler, and I enjoyed watching Contador attempt to take the fight to the leaders despite being written off by many fairly on. Well done to Evans, he worked hard for that win, just a shame it wasn't won by one of the heroic attacks

 

[raindog]

Evans won a superb uphill finish stage and dragged a dead weight of about 8 riders up the Galibier which is more than Big Mig ever did for any of his wins.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

I think any attacks tomorrow would come from mostly the main green jersey contenders. I would expect to see plenty of HTC, Movistar and Omega Pharma Lotto riders up front to try and help their men take the green jersey.

With only a total of 65 points up for grab tomorrow and Gilbert 80 points behind, only Rojas has a meaningful chance for green, therefore I doubt Omega Pharma-Lotto would be doing anything until the very end, when Griepel makes his attempt to win the stage.

Regarding Movistar, with the whole htc train intact and so much stronger as demonstrated by the results of Martin, Velits, Pate and Bak today, bar accident I think logic says it is going to be another stunning, high speed, public demonstrations by htc on how to win a flat stage.

 

[aJohnson]

Too easy to shut down any attacks tomorrow.

Just wondering...did Evans actually make any attacks for the whole TDF?

The real hero was Tommy Voekler, and I enjoyed watching Contador attempt to take the fight to the leaders despite being written off by many fairly on. Well done to Evans, he worked hard for that win, just a shame it wasn't won by one of the heroic attacks

AFAIK he didn't actually make any successful attacks (Evans), he did chase and follow attacks alot though. It's the reason I wanted to see Andy win, because he was actually attacking quite alot.

And I agree with TV being the hero, he did a great race and shocked alot of people.

 

[Bayerd]

Evans won a superb uphill finish stage and dragged a dead weight of about 8 riders up the Galibier which is more than Big Mig ever did for any of his wins.

I'm with you, in the Alps Evans made the effort, and on his own as well, he deserves it.

 

[zimzum42]

It's difficult to consider an amazing TT performance an attack, but Evans' ride yesterday was stunning - it may not have been as exciting as someone haring off up a mountain, but in the purest terms it was just as exciting, incredible and devastating in effect

 

[Fiona N]

It's difficult to consider an amazing TT performance an attack, but Evans' ride yesterday was stunning - it may not have been as exciting as someone haring off up a mountain, but in the purest terms it was just as exciting, incredible and devastating in effect

Totally agree - I think Evans has learnt to bide his time and ride to his strengths, which doesn't include a strong acceleration. He's much better with a fast maintained pace and doesn't seem to feel happy with sudden changes of pace. That's the difference from Contador, say, who on a good day can accelerate off the front on the steepest slopes. Schleck, Andy especially, can also do that but seems not to have learnt yet how to pace himself. The always interesting 'Science in Sport' blog has an analysis of Contador's performance on the Alpe d'Huez climb showing that he basically used the less steep middle section to recover from his strenuous efforts over the first steep 3.8km - which he rode at a faster pace than the middle section. Unfortunately it didn't give him quite enough to respond on the last (again steeper) 5 km when Rolland and Sanchez came up.