Who's watching the Tour de France? How can this happen?

[rodderz]

A good effort by Sastre to win, paticular when his strength is the hills

Evans looked aa bit tired after a race fall in week 1 in which he said was still hurting from, and from doing all the work by himself and no teamates to really help him. Team CSC were that strong, they had 7 top class riders who all controlled most stages of the tour and Evans had to stick to any break aways, which helped Sastre as he was able to relax in the pack till the Alpe- De'Huez stage where he built the gap that he needed. Result was that he was much fresher for the time trial, and had the yellow jersey to help spur him on.

Silence Lotto need to get some better riders to help cadel next year if he is to have a chance, it just goes to show how much teamwork is needed to help the teams best rider be right up near the front yet have enough in reserve to kick at the end

[FTE217]

Originally Posted by MAGPIE

He probably read this thread...http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...light=cyclists

It gives a very good indication of how people here treat/respect cyclists !

Mmm yes I should have known.

rodderz I reckon he should leave Sil/Lotto. In a bike forum I frequent I read his team mates would not be impressed at press interviews saying they are not the best team,CSC has a much bigger budget etcetc.....also his team buing skills are being questioned.
That good commentator Leggit even said Cadel needs to work on improving his PR skills.
That said to me an absolutely gutsy performance by the Aussie ! take my hat off to him, he was dragged/drained along by CSC perfectly and I could tell by his face in the TT they had worn him out !
Its going to be harder next year,Contador comes back and just look at the hot young crop of riders who finished in the top 15.
Taking nothing away from Sastre good luck to him.....

Thankfully Cadel/Gerrans/OGrady put a hell of a lot of Aussie flavour in this years tour.

I say it's time for a TeamOz but what companys here can afford to support this to the end in this day and age ?
Maybe Murdochs/Packers/Lowys/Stokes should be approached so as the exposure would benefit their international business.

[Director]

Shame we came up short, hopefully Astana will not be welcome again next year so Cadel can forget about Contador. Another wish would be for Cadel to join the new Russian super team which might emerge. Im sure lots will change in the next 12 months

[rodderz]

Originally Posted by Bluedriver

Thankfully Cadel/Gerrans/OGrady put a hell of a lot of Aussie flavour in this years tour.

I say it's time for a TeamOz but what companys here can afford to support this to the end in this day and age ?
Maybe Murdochs/Packers/Lowys/Stokes should be approached so as the exposure would benefit their international business.

There was talk about this before this years tour, I think an all-aussie team with the guys you mentioned would go very well. The only thing is the teams have to be invited by the French organisers into the tour, which is why Contador wasn;t there this year to defend it, the team wasnt invited.

This year may of been Cadel's best hope, Sastre will be there next year, plus Andy Shlek will be much better. He hardly raised a sweat in the alps.