Tour de France

[Mick Cliff]

Soon be starting .... with Wiggins as the bookies' favourite.
I don't think he'll do it (but I hope he does!)
Top 10 - yes
Top 3 - maybe, if he stays upright!
No 1 - no
Discuss

[bjmullan]

Mick if he stays on his bike he is diffo top five. He has a good enough team for top three but I think the winner will be one of the Schleck's. Here's hoping that Nicolas Roche gets a stage victory and I look forward to some more Cavendish victories.

Can't wait to see them flying pass me on stage 4

[Mick Cliff]

...I think the winner will be one of the Schleck's...

Isn't one of the Schleck's hors de combat? (Andy I think).
AND I think I read that their team has been 'pulled' from Le Tour due to financial problems - apparently they were not paying their riders

[sng45]

Based on his results this year ( Paris-Nice, Tour of Romandy, Dauphine) Wiggins is without doubt the best stage race rider in the world at the moment - incredible performance in the Dauphine TT where he almost caught Evans off two minutes ( another kilometre and he'd have done it) - I was reading an article yesterday about the work he's done with Tim Kerrison and Shane Sutton and the planning is meticulous, apparently he'll have done 100,000 metres of mountain climbing by the time the Tour starts ! In the last few years Wiggins has gone from 80kg to 68kg so he can climb with the best - and there's probably only half a dozen guys in the world who can ride in the high mountains ( Evans, Frank Schlek , - Andy who's not riding- Nibali ?, Van den Broek, Gesink ?,Frome )
The performance by Sky in the Dauphine was incredible and the team work on the Joux Plane was the best I've ever seen ( Boasen-Hagen, Porte, Rogers, Frome) they dominated the climb - the strength in depth Sky have is fantastic - in addition to those mentioned they also have Uran, Heineo, Flecha and of course Eisel and Cavendish for the sprints.
As you said - if he doesn't fall off and break anything I think he can do it - I hope he can do it. ( but just to be on the safe side I've got a hundred quid on Van den Broek and Gesink!)

and Peter Sagan to win the green jersey !

[Mick Cliff]

One more for Cav
Lead out by Sky distinctly lacking though....

[middlefour1]

Always look foward to watching the 'toasted whippets'!! Cav did well today.

[neilbardsley]

I've been following the tour for many years and I have to admit Bradley might win it. Don't count out Mr Evans yet. Andy S isn't here and Frank already lost 30 (or was it 50) second in a 7k TT and this year there is more TTing than normal. Someone else will be a contender too. We need to want for the mountains to see who.

Cav is really impressive. Nice finish today. Although I must admit I really want Fabian to win in London.

I've sure I've mentioned it many times before ... I tell you about the time I biked with Big Mig in Pyrenees!

[silver911]

Cav should be the winner.. currently the best all-rounder on the bike.
Staying on the bike is the key... he needs to do that!.

[neilbardsley]

I can't disagree that Cav is amazing but the not the best all rounder by a long shot!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/brailsf ... t-sprinter

He starting to lay claim to be being the greatest sprinter ever!

[Mick Cliff]

Cadel Evans is looking strong...
Wiggins lucky to be within the 3km rule and given the same time as Evans despite 'losing' almost 50 secs
IMHO the 3km rule is wrong. With modern day transducers and timing gear then it's easy to time individual riders. Then only the 'hard' men will win, rather than backing off and staying out of trouble in the last 3km. With this rule it's quite possible to for the TdF winner to have lost many minutes in the 3 weeks of the tour, yet still be first overall. if an individual does not want to take the risk then he doesn't deserve the same time as the winner.
IIRC there have been several arguments in races where individual riders who had been 'delayed' by the actions of others claimed to be within the 3km...

[Tosh]

Micov has put in a massive shift the past couple of days - but when his legs went today, they went!

[neilbardsley]

Cadel Evans is looking strong...
Wiggins lucky to be within the 3km rule and given the same time as Evans despite 'losing' almost 50 secs
IMHO the 3km rule is wrong. With modern day transducers and timing gear then it's easy to time individual riders. Then only the 'hard' men will win, rather than backing off and staying out of trouble in the last 3km. With this rule it's quite possible to for the TdF winner to have lost many minutes in the 3 weeks of the tour, yet still be first overall. if an individual does not want to take the risk then he doesn't deserve the same time as the winner.
IIRC there have been several arguments in races where individual riders who had been 'delayed' by the actions of others claimed to be within the 3km...

I have to disagree the 3k rule, to me, makes a lot of sense. Long gone are the days where GC riders got involved in stage sprints. Generally the crashes at the front end of the peleton are caused by some OTT sprinter crossing in front of another rider, losing his pedal or over cooking a corner. This shouldn't affect the GC contenders who don't have the top end speed to be at the front. PS everybody in the tour is pretty 'hard'!

[silver911]

Cav should be the winner.. currently the best all-rounder on the bike.
Staying on the bike is the key... he needs to do that!.

My mind is EPO'd..

Cav... should be Brad..

Mind you Cav should get a few stages....

[sng45]

First day in the mountains tomorrow - now things start to get interesting !

Pity about Schlek, Hysendal, Gesink crashing today - will they be able to stay with the top guys at altitude ?

Can't wait !

[abm914]

So Bradley now in yellow, followed by Cadel. More climbs tomorrow, we'll see if Wiggins can keep it up.