Did Astana pay CSF ?

Originally Posted by Runitout

Contador deserved to win. He rode faster than the others. The posters here are not bagging him so much, but rather the Astana PR-machine - with its assorted rubbish assertions of training at the beach and broken elbows - and the glassy-eyed orgasmic fandom that unquestioningly follow the word of Dear Leader.

Most fans would prefer a di Luca or Ricco to have won - someone who attacked and gave the race some excitement. For the same reason, people were cheering Soler and Contador last Tour instead of Evans and Leipheimer - because they attacked and made the race interesting, rather than followed wheels for three weeks.

As pointed out by other posters, there's also a reaction against the Discatana fans' assertions that it is all done clean - the wilful suspension of reality that has characterised their understanding of pro cycling since 1999 and continues to this day. As long as this syndrome exists, there will always be other cycling fans who jump harder on Bruyneel's teams than, for example, Liquigas, Lotto, or Quickstep. The harder one side proclaims its innocence, the harder the backlash will be. It's only natural.

I don't think anybody has illusions about di Luca - oil for drugs is as implicating as Contador's name on the Puerto documents - and to think otherwise is to live in a parallel fantasy-land.

The problem for cycling fans is whether to cheer for a rider who just might be clean now, but almost certainly wasn't a year or more ago. Sometimes it's safer to assume the worst.

Originally Posted by musette

Some of Bruyneel's insights are below:

"Q: How far has Contador come in his progression as a rider?

JB: For me, starting last year when Alberto was at the point of winning the Tour, I said were witnessing the birth of a great rider. We were just beginning to work together. Now you can say we’re in front a new phenomenon like Lance Armstrong. I don’t like to compare riders, but I’ve seen in him things I’ve only seen in Lance, especially what he can do in the mountains.
Alberto has improved a lot in the time trial, too. He’s the best climber in the world and he’s the best time trial trialists among the climbers. That’s an ideal formula to win big tours. If luck stays with him, he can go very far. If he won the Giro at 80 percent, I don’t want to think what he can do at 100 percent. I see a big future, especially when you consider he’s only 25 and Lance won his first Tour at 27."

In many Tours he participated in, LA was the best climber and the best time trialist (period, not among the climbers, just the best ITTist). AC has room for improvement on ITTing, but he does have a certain explosiveness and ability to change pace rapidly in his climbing rythmn that is quite captivating at times (albeit not in this Giro). On Stage 21 of the Giro, AC's cadence looked downright like LA's!

"Q: Contador likes to attack, but he was unable to in the Giro, what does that say about his character?

JB: Alberto definitely is very strong in his head, he’s proved that already. He was not able to attack because he was not in top shape. We raced in a different manner.... Now he was able to take advantage of the gaps from the time trials and all he had to do was follow the attacks. It was a different style of racing. It was good for his evolution as a rider. Cycling is very unpredictable and you have to be able to react to a lot of different scenarios. That’s part of a way a champion is built. You really have to get familiar with different strategies. I think that Alberto has proven that he’s a very mature rider for his age. He’s able to make decisions without much steering from the car."

http://www.velonews.com/article/770...great-champion-

Originally Posted by whiteboytrash

Ricco believes so.... maybe this is the Hog's new method... rather than dope his own team he provides dope to a lowly team so that they will help his ?
____

Asked whether he would repeat yesterday's comments to the effect that Sella and his CSF team-mate Domenico Pozzovivo had conspired with Giro leader Alberto Contador and against him, Riccò didn't hesitate. "[What I'd say now would be] even worse," snapped 'The Cobra" after signing on for the day's stage in Rovetta.

"Anyone who understands cycling can work out what happened," he'd said earlier. "People who defended Sella are ignorant."

Riccò's quotes in Saturday morning's Gazzetta dello Sport had already banished any doubts about exactly what the Saunier-Duval rider was insinuating when he criticized Sella last night.

"Sella tried to be cute," he told La Gazzetta. "I hope that Contador at least paid him for it..."

Originally Posted by Jeff Vader

Oh man. That is so smart of Johann and the boys to try to conserve energy. Its usually the smartest director that wins. After two decades behind the wheel, Johan is in a league of his own.

Originally Posted by thoughtforfood

Jeff Fuckin' Vader Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by kennf

Indeed. This new strategy of using your head and conserving energy when needed will no doubt soon be copied by other riders, as was the case with the revolutionary fast cadence previously invented under JB's stewardship.