A little bit of “you read it here first”, but most of all in awe of a gutsy attack by the younger Schleck. My guess is that tomorrow we will see a reverse with Fränk going early on the Galibier while Andy counters all the attacks by … well, by who actually, I guess by Evans who is on his own now against the two brothers. This time though, I see Schleck the Younger attack on l’Alpe d’Huez in order to drop Voeckler and, maybe, Evans. After tomorrow’s stage it will be a Schleck 1-2 at the top of the GC.
Evans’ victory in Paris will depend, apart from on himself, on what allies he can find in the peloton. If I were him, I’d check out the Belgian and Dutch teams for support. I still think Cadel can be within time trial striking distance. In 1976, Belgian climber Lucien van Impe attacked, while his only remaining rival Joop “Paris is still far away” Zoetemelk waited for the others to respond until the gap was well over 3 minutes. He then went himself, but too late … . Did history repeat itself today?
A glorious stage victory for Lucas. Congrats! Pantini extended his lead in the GC and is inching closer to a repeat.
Stage 18 results:
1. Lucas (Pistachios) 44
2. Suchi (Oncles) 42
3. Alan (Oncles) 36
4. Michael (Pistachios) 32
5. Bec (Pistachios), Robin (Oncles) 30
7. Milton (Pistachios) 28
8. Sapna (Oncles) 27
9. Chris & Mandy (Pistachios) 25
10. Rogier (Oncles) 23
11. Cameron, Jon, Paul (Pistachios), Ronnie (Oncles) 19
15. Pantini (Pistachios) 18
16. Matt (Oncles) 15
17. Todd (Pistachios) 14
18. Astrid (Oncles) 13
19. Jeroen (Pistachios) 11
GC after stage 18:
1. Pantini (Pistachios) 598
2. Matt (Oncles) 590
3. Astrid (Oncles) 582
4. Ronnie (Oncles) 579
5. Rogier (Oncles) 563
6. Bec (Pistachios) 560
7. Sapna (Oncles) 559
8. Jeroen (Pistachios) 556
9. Cameron (Pistachios) 546
10. Jon (Pistachios) 536
11. Milton (Pistachios) 524
12. Lucas (Pistachios) 505
13. Todd (Pistachios) 493
14. Paul (Pistachios) 459
15. Suchi (Oncles) 455
16. Michael (Pistachios) 444
17. Robin (Oncles) 443
18. Chris & Mandy (Pistachios) 435
19. Alan (Oncles) 420
The Pistachios have seen their lead shrink to 1 single point.
Robin
Some incredible racing, and even better blog-writing yesterday.
I’m afraid Cadel has become too isolated now. If Frank goes first this time around, there won’t be any other team to support Cadel and he’ll have no choice other than to chase Frank and be destroyed on Alpe d’Huez by Andy.
By the way, the wisdom of the commentators on this blog far exceeds that of the experts of SBS, who insist on pulling out the calculator every five minutes to see if Cadel has limited his losses enough to win the Tour in the time-trial.
If that is Cadel’s strategy we will find that the Homo Pistachius Gargantuas has left the Alps and has moved to Grenoble.
By: Jeroen on July 21, 2011
at 10:05 pm
Epic race. Chapeau to Andy. A valiant solo effort by Cadel. It is clear that there are only 3 people who want to win this race – the Schlecks and Cadel. Voeckler is solely interested in keeping himself on the front pages for another day. Why the hell didn’t any of the other GC contenders chip in do a turn or two? It was their Tour up the road as well.
Yet more heartbreak for the Pistachios. I think your Sandwich Theorem will indeed be proven Robin, with stone-ground bread: Cadel is b/w a rock and a hard place now. I’m sure you’re right that we will see similar tactics from the Schlecks tonight, maybe with roles reversed, but perhaps not. All Cadel can hang onto is that maybe the long solo effort will completely shatter Andy’s legs for the TT. Possible I suppose, but unlikely.
Congrats on the win in the Queen Stage Lucas and, Pants, your tipping continues to amaze. I can only now dream of the Pinnacle you are ascending. It is a sign of the times that last night’s blog was in fact modelled upon a recent speech by Her Majesty…
By: Fiddygig on July 22, 2011
at 12:03 am
How ironic that my first stage victory comes on a day when my hero has probably lost almost any chance of neutralising the Schlecks. FARK!
I predict Frank to win the Tour – he will be fresh tonight and can TT better than Andy, whilst Andy might take a few seconds tonight but will suffer for his efforts on the Galibier and fade in the ITT. So I predict a Paris podium of Frank, Cadel and Andy – I don’t think I can bear to watch tonight – deja vu from 2008.
Please prove me wrong Cadel!
By: Lucas on July 22, 2011
at 1:52 am
Well, the kitchen sink was certainly thrown down the side of the mountain last night. I went through a whole range of emotions watching the stage. First laughing at Andy at his audacity, then screaming at Cadel to have a go and then doing some air pedaling as the man from Barwon Heads started to eat into the deficit albeit at the 11th hour and 59th minute.
I agree with everyone that says the kitchen, bathroom, laundry and brick shoot house sinks will be thrown by the Shlecks tonight. All of them at Cadel too. But as we have just witnessed, when Evansgelical puts the Cadel to the Metal, there is buggar all between himself and Andy on the slopes.
So for mind, forget team support, and all that other crap, when Duez starts rising up, it’ll just be Cadence against the Schlecks and time to go by himself.
If Caddyshack can then just go at the same pace as last nights climb, I can only see him losing 20-30 seconds to the Schlecks. Will 1:15 be enough for the Siamese twins come TT or will Cadmium be able to close the gap?
Fascinating.
Pantyhose
By: pantini on July 22, 2011
at 2:01 am