Tour de Suisse 16:00

[Lizard]

Seriously, no one opens that topic? Pfff... well, I do now. Lizard going for all classements and stages.

[Robyklebt]

If you insist...

Very open IMO.

That Schleck will gain around 3' in the TT, so obviously he is one of the favorites. Especially since none of the climbers has a teammate as a helper. So what often happens can happen, everybody prefers not to do the extrakm, since it will just hurt him againt the others. Who are all roughly the same strength in the mountains too. Now 49" back already, more than I thought actually. Yes, possible to give him much more, but again, that would need a siebkm by one of the 85/86, I certainly wasn't going to do that, none of the others either.. mmh, Girlpower then did after the Bellattack. So already 49" back

Lennox-Eickendreyer-Fahrny with a bit more TT than the others. But all with weaknesses, 1: The teams, Lennox the sprint, yes, by being the strongest sprinter he will make it hard for others to collaborate, why should Fahrny for example? Just to be beaten in the sprint? Eickendreyer 85 mountain "only" and not a very good team either, Fahrny the reg obviously and not a very good team too.

Then come Armstrong, Discovery, don't know him.
Ekholm+Rodriguez. The 2 best teams. Paris XXX though even though having a strong team on top doesn't really qualify as more of a favorite than the other climbers, Bells Downhill weakness too big, Saramago interesting but probably too young still, to weak in the mountains (and a horrible 80-70 planned it seems) Plus less TT than Lennox and co. Ekholm with 86 mountain and a strong 70-80 team might even have better chances for the win...
Schuller, a women, no chance at all.

So GC completely open, Schleck still there, but weakened... 3 more obvious days to take more time, today the most obvious actually. The other jerseys, don't really care anyway.

The ape team here: TdF Team. Conti wants to win in Tobel, so he's here, and that's actually the main goal of the Tour.. Secondary goal would be Fahrny stage win, tertiary goal Uchigasaki stage win. foursomething... Fahrny GC. TdF team... problem is Urganov who now is writing me sms from Kazakhstan.. Basically told him after the Giro, Shamshi, good man, you can go to Kazakhstan or Tahiti, wherever you want, won't need you before october, do what you want... now this guy is training.... we'll see.

Now... Conti in Tobel, no help expected, but can kill the team that day, so ok, all as expected.
Fahrny stage, doesn't look easy...
Uchigasaki because of bad Wookie (MOB him) and no Van Amstel looks almost impossible
Fahrny GC on the other hand looks better than I planned. Very happy with the first stage, was critical, Reg, reg.. actually with the flat before the last ramp very critical... if it's a wild race, I'm out of the GC today..Now Fahrny is there, a bit behind Lennox-Eickendreyer, but that's ok. Win a few seconds maybe some day, or luck in the final TT, all ok.

[Lizard]

All in all fairly the same thoughts on the race as Roby, so going right to today's stage. Could be chaos, I don't know if I'm there, possibly not, sitter not found yet. So who rides in the peloton, hm? And who is candidate? Paris can at least force the tempo at the last uphill early to disconnect Leopard, might be an option. How much time will Leopard lose today? - since he certainly will lose some. I don't know, could be like tomorrow, maybe even more. Probably more if the climbers ride closer together, yes. Lennox again in for the win, Eickendreyer might be the one aswell, then there's Rodriguez and Ekholm. One of those I'd say.

[Aixteam]

Good day for me, but not as good as it could have been .. I did a nice sektrict during Eddy's attack, but I did not have the time to go out of the wheel .. so it didn't work. I could have gained time on everybody BUT with my team, I think it's not really bad I didn't

[Robyklebt]

I'm an iiiiiiiiiiiiiidiot!

1) Sieb with Fahrny at the last 6. Wookie tells me that I probably siebed Dreizehn away, and yep, Olof didn't even get into tempo... weakling. Fahrny started at 900, up to 940 at one point. Thought he would slow down Olof if anything.. anybody else in tempo then... because I wanted to keep Dreizehn there, my only chance to win today... Wookie and Dreizehn following each other great Osamu going early and winning or something. But ok, in Wookies place then I would have followed Uchi anyway... +2 more mountain, so stronger than that other guy.. and rather let the helper win than the parasite ape.. but bah... the idiot Ape siebed Dreizehn, when that was the opposite of what he wanted to do. Hope there was another guy in tempo so it was him and not me.

2 Brillant sprint, to make sure Lennox gets no boni, he on me, he then nr 3, ha, I go on him! Bah.. he's on Quist, he still gets 3rd, ok, so Uchi second, good for money, bad for the general..

Tomorrow the team has to be fit and ready.. .most important day of the whole tour!

[Wookie]

Olof had 740 before the sieb. So it wasn´t him who siebed.
And of course i wouldn´t were in 13s wheel.

[Robyklebt]

Fabulous!!!!

Ok, everything but fabulous todays win... First Discovery helps.. then Wookie wants to get the intermediate sprints, but fails both times... I of course didn't want them, ok would have sprinted with Conti at the second one, to give less potential seconds to Aix... anyway, then Wookie rides, came over the 5 with 8 riders, that's 1 more than I had planned... then had the 3 fit ones plus 3 usable ones to control the last 30 km.. no problem.. .2 km from the end had the stupid idea of keeping Bakhtiyar out again.... Roy goes, bah.. stupid ape... Wookie who wanted the sprint too got him then... Basically had the win already there and tried to give it away... but ok, a win is a win, after Paris-Nice, Catalunya now TdS, good, Fabulous likes high cat wins.

Goals for the rest of the Tour now... See what's possible with Fahrny in the GC. Then try to catch Wookie in Schaffhausen. Won't be easy, after today Wookie earned himself Mori for the first part of the stage to help control, wouldn't have done that otherwise. Anyway, Fahrny GC and Conti maybe Schaffhausen the goals, but basically I'm satisfied already, if more comes, good, if not, got the win I wanted.

[Robyklebt]

Down to 4 i think... forget capital letters btw. it's uncool.
lennox
eickendreyer
fahrny
schleck

olof and rodriguez out probably, they would have had to gain time today, olof probably on lennox for red, rodriguez got the worst km to attack, do it at the last one or when nobody is in tempo, or just eickendreyer after being caught.

with less tt those 2 now out, or very very very unlikely.

schleck and eickendreyer should have been out too... but lennoxs job i decided... not fahrnys. 13'' back, now only 12''. and 1 point advantage in the tt... if it's completely flat and 30 km plus same form, i can expect to gain 9''. but it's hilly, downhill advantage for that damn lennox, so a bit less. ok, chance, pure chance can make the difference too, risk etc. and of course aix tt tactics, unbeatable. next reason, with his awesome sprint capability, that lennox can still hope to gain a second or so here and there... third reason, pff, i fear a form advantage for lennox.. so, to make it short, imo lennoxs job to get rid of the rest, not mine. not hanging at first, hanging on lennox later, do nothing and wait my brillant tactic today. eickendreyer and schleck still there, couldn't get rid of fahrny today, got the chance to get rid of the 2 others for good, let it pass. but if we went into the tt like that actually my guess is that it would be enough for lennox. aix tt... schleck 3'03'', 30 flat he would gain 3' it's 32 so 3'12'', but again, hilly, could just be enough for aix. plus he has the chance to get rid of him tomorrow again...

good deal today for wookie with the points jersey, 3 points back, tomorrow.... has to try to keep his loss at a minimum... don't think quist can score tomorrow at the end.. so either zws again or hope a group goes through and gets most points.

[Lizard]

You could've really written more on Eddy's excellent aggressive riding today! Two nice attacks against Lennox, without he probably loses 30-40secs when the climbers attack, had to ride like this to stay in the race. Still nothing lost, but very unlikely Eddy comes back now nevertheless.

[Robyklebt]

The second attack was nice... the first one IMO was hopeless, perfect for me, so Lennox
(new thing with my keyboard, cool, no not 00 anymore with left shift but ctr+v it seems... mmh...
) had to ride.
But IMO was clear that you would be caught back after the first attack.
But you have reg, why not try. the second one on the other hand was very nice.

[gaurain rx]

The second attack was nice... the first one IMO was hopeless, perfect for me, so Lennox
(new thing with my keyboard, cool, no not 00 anymore with left shift but ctr+v it seems... mmh...
) had to ride.
But IMO was clear that you would be caught back after the first attack.
But you have reg, why not try. the second one on the other hand was very nice.

Second one... I dunno... Easy to block normally... Saw it anyway... But ok, seems nobody wanted the stage!

[Robyklebt]

yeah, easy to block.. but by then
Eddy had nothing to lose, only something to win... which he did, he stayed in the race.

[Wookie]

olof probably on lennox for red

yep, after the attack from girl it was my only goal to be before lennox.

[Aixteam]

Yesterday was a good day ! Thanks to Kitovras and Gaurain. Only 1" lost on Farnhy, Olof and Rodriguez almost out .. Schleck in a very bad position too. Eddy and Omar are still dangerous because I don't really know how the TT is going on .. Today will be an important stage, which can change everything !

[Lizard]

Lennox seems to be in top shape, so I'm not sure yellow can be stolen anymore.. if Aix doesn't make mistakes I guess he's through.

[Wookie]

Olof was already before the stage out of the gc-race

[Robyklebt]

00Nothing happened today finally, as expected really.
Too obvious for
Bell, he got his win, good. Ok, we could have tried to keep him away, only 15' gained in the end, early siebs, go, maybe... but too many with no interest for that. Me, what for, won't win the stage anyway with my sprint. 00Olof, protecting
Quist. 00Lennox, having
Bell controlling from the back probably ok too.
Eddy maybe with interest, don't know, but too many had none, so then was a rather slow ascent, that was it.
A bit surprised
Aix didn't sieb at the 11, get rid of
Schleck for good.
did it later, gained another 17'', IMO that should be enough for him, but ok, with the chance factor more is always better to have more, 3'20'', should be enough. 12
"
Fahrny and
Eickendreyer, again, should be enough, but with the chance, more is better.
Formtheory says 00Lennox will have good form... so 00I don't see that many chances... and really not any places to gain time before that, maybe on the
Grosse
Scheidegg, but 00I was bored.. since then not really... and if my formtheory is wrong, then my chances in the
TT become better again, so ok too.

Anyway, my guess, 1 00Lennox, 2 open between
Eickendreyer,
Fahrny and
Schleck

[Aixteam]

My form is .. not bad .