Tour de France

[Lol-x]

It is very disappointing to have your hopes built up and then to have them smashed. I expect Cadel will be feeling a lot of pain.
At this level of sporting competition, little things can mean a lot, I think that Cadel may have suffered for the following reasons:
1. A crash on the stage just at the beginning of the mountains, it was quite a hard fall, and that can have an effect, abrasions, bruising etc.
2. The pressure of being the favorite, this can mess with your mind.
3. CSC had a great team that supported their leader and also worked on Cadel.
4. Silence Lotto did not have any real supporting riders for Cadel in the mountains.
5. Sestre went into the TT stage with the yellow jersey, so he could see all the previous riders times, the weather, and lack of wind suited Sastre gaining 1.34 minutes over 53kms is 2 seconds per kilometer, and that is a very big ask after 3 weeks of intensive racing.
6. Cadel does have a very laboured riding style in the mountains, a low cadence seems to be out of favour with recent climbing champions. Maybe Cadel needs to look as this aspect of his style. I know Lance Armstrong did and it had very positive results on both his climbing and time trialing.
7. Sastre is an awesome rider, he performed to a higher level than Cadel, and well done Sastre deserves to win the TDF.