Saturday, July 9, 2011

Tour de France 2011. C'est compliqué. But today gave some visibility over the complicated Schleck-Contador battle.


C'est compliqué! It's complicated! This is an expression used and abused by one of the French commentators of the Tour on TV 5. That's why I prefer Versus. It is less complicated.

It's complicated in this case means anything: it's difficult, unknown, unforeseen, cold, slippery, fast, slow, warm, steep, left turn, right turn, break away, win the jersey, lose it, the Château on the river, Clenbuterol, the Church steeple of Issy-les-Moulineaux ,substance abuse, fall, get up, and actually complicated. I never knew it was so complicated.

Today, I had an uncomplicated day watching the 8th stage arriving at Super Besse. The last climb was giving me the first hint for some believable predictions: indeed, Schleck placed a banderillo on Contador. All things happened in a plausible sequence. Contador by now has to go on the offensive every time that the circumstances, such as terrain, demand it. He has to try again and again to inflict damage and seconds on Schleck. Here are the bad news for Contador as of today: there isn't just one Schleck to beat, but two, he has lost precious time which forces him into the offensive, his style of dancing on his pedals, which usually is the hallmark of a great climber, was far less elegant than usual and he was straining. Most importantly, he couldn't get rid of the two Schlecks. Believe it, this was a brutal test of everyone's limits. Short but brutal. In one word: compliqué.

Andy Schleck seemed calm, concentrated and uncomplicated. He didn't seem operating at the outer edges of his possibilities. Bjarne Riis, Contador's new and Schleck's former director must have noticed. It is getting compliqué. Tonight Contador has to wonder how complicated this has become.

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