Vuelta talk - spoilers allowed

**Possegal** · 09-07-2010, 08:14 AM

So apparently Saxo Bank sent Andy Schleck and Stuart O'Grady home from the Vuelta for breaking the 'no alcohol' rule. Andy just doesn't seem like a rule-breaker to me.

**Bike Chick** · 09-07-2010, 10:43 AM

According to the team boss, they were both out late having a beer

Wonder what Schleck and O'Grady's story is???

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/...99grady_139158

**Eden** · 09-07-2010, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by Bike Chick

According to the team boss, they were both out late having a beer

The HORRORS.... good grief, they are cyclists not monks....

ok, sure rules are rules, still seems like shooting the team in the foot to me.

**Possegal** · 09-07-2010, 10:50 AM

The article I saw quoted Andy as saying - it's true, I had a drink.

He also said he thought the punishment was extreme but that Riis was the boss and what he says goes. The story also pointed out that both O'Grady and Schleck are leaving the team, which I thought was sort of tossing out there a possible connection? Though maybe that was just me looking for a more sinister explanation.

**redrhodie** · 09-07-2010, 01:57 PM

I thought that too (their leaving was a big part of this). The thing I thought was funny is that they are allowed to drink with dinner, but not after. Craziness. Almost sounds like a blue law.

**TrekTheKaty** · 09-07-2010, 03:29 PM

No Alberto. No Radio Shack. Now they've sent Andy home? Oh, well. We don't get that channel here anyway.

**pll** · 09-08-2010, 05:36 AM

Re Schleck and O'Grady, I think there is a delicate balance within a team that is disbanding. First, while cyclists are not monks, during a major tour, they are at work and their physical performance is essential -- it's the reason they get paid to ride. Going out for a drink showed there was no serious commitment to the rest of the team, in particular to help Frank Schleck. Second, breaking the team rules was clearly a challenge to Riis.

Overall, it's interesting to see other riders and teams take the lead in a tour. It's my first time watching the Vuelta, so I'm enjoying the landscape as well. I'm happy that the Nike machine that marks the roads is absent (I hate seeing those mechanical marks) -- let the people who made the trip to be there paint the road. The TV camera work seems a bit amateur, especially in sprint finishes, and the motorcycles and cars are sometimes dangerously close to the riders.

**malkin** · 09-09-2010, 06:40 PM

I've lost interest in watching since the Saxo silliness.
I still follow, but I don't have to watch anymore.

**pll** · 09-11-2010, 07:23 AM

It's becoming a really exciting race! Today's stage has me on the edge of my sofa....

**pll** · 09-18-2010, 07:29 AM

Today's stage at the Bola del Mundo climb was incredible, worth watching again. Loved the Vuelta routes and the fact that it has more 'mixed' stages, that are neither pure mountain or pure flat. Anyone else has been following it?

**malkin** · 09-18-2010, 08:51 AM

Still following. That climb today was really somthing!

**ny biker** · 09-18-2010, 10:09 AM

I recorded it to watch later. It's been an interesting race so far, but with guys who are not so famous.

**channlluv** · 09-18-2010, 01:46 PM

I thought today's finish was really exciting -- a 20% grade, really? -- but why did Fabian leave yesterday?

Roxy

**malkin** · 09-18-2010, 01:57 PM

I think he was just done.
Is he going to the World's?

**channlluv** · 09-18-2010, 02:04 PM

That's what DH said, that he's done and he may be concerned about coming in third in the time trial -- if something's wrong, he'd want to go work on with only two weeks to train for the World competition. That makes sense, but the announcers were saying he just left without talking to anyone, including the team director, which doesn't make sense to me.

I really like watching him ride.

Roxy

Thread: Vuelta talk - spoilers allowed

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