Tour de France 2012
Since a really big piece of news came out today about the grand boucle, I thought I'd start the '12 TdF thread!
velonews.competitor.com/2012/06/new...eer_223674
I won't be playing the virtual league that others play, but feel free to talk about it here as well, in addition to all things Tour de Frenchy!!
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I feel bad for Schleck. He has not had a good Spring though, and may not have even been in contention anyway. Hope he recovers well.
Looks like its going to be a battle between Cadel Evans and Bradley Wiggins!
Ladies ... have you seen how cute and cuddly Peter Sagan looks, with his impish half smile while being kissed in stereo by the podium girls? Surely there's room for a new boy on your team?
@Al - Am I seeing a bit of a man crush?
Good for Frank! I hope he takes his opportunity to shine and runs with it. He is strong rider and often unfairly eclipsed by his brother. I think he also sacrifices a lot to support Andy. Should be cool to see Frank out in front.
@ Dino - Sure ... the same as I have for any other high performing athlete. I've been a fan of his since I saw him win two stages @ the '10 ToC, one uphill, and one flat.
Watch this you tube of the last 2 minutes/2 km of Stage 6 this year's Tour de Suisse. He's the one with the white jersey and lime green pants, dodging in and out of traffic to always be in the right spot. During the entirety of the final km, Sagan is isolated, but manages during this tortouous finish to consistently demonstrate the bike handling skills, tactical savvy, and sheer pedaling strength to go with his growing hunger to win to pull out what is really an impossible victory.
He literally can decide to become any kind of a bike racer he wishes - Sprinter, Classics, single stage winner, stage race GC (he'd have to lose weight like Lance or Wiggins), whatever he wants. The World Championship this fall could well fall to him, just as it did 20 years ago to another young phenom who went on to have quite a career.
Fred Velo had what he thought was a good team for the Giro, and finished about 1994 in the world. But I think the team was using the Giro to round into form for le Tour. It's going to be fun seeing new guys come forward and win some stages.
So the important (and borderline sexist) question is, which grand tour has the best podium girls? Giro or TdF? Take your time.......
Nemo,
See here the next Andy Schleck. Our local boy Joe Dombrowski just won the Giro Bio, the "Baby Giro". This is Joe dropping (in a big way) a Russian kid who was leading in the GC and who then came back to lead the GC again (very tough rider) before Joe then took it back in the mountains.
Skin tight neon lame´ vs. polka dot tutus? No contest.
For those that were keeping their fingers crossed, Chris Horner got the call-up:
http://www.radioshacknissantrek.com...nce-roster
Unfortunately cutie Jakob Fuglsang did not
Maxime and Yaroslave aren't too hard on the eyes though and of course we still have Fabian, Frank, and Jens.
I wonder how the team will do without Johan shouting over the radio into their ears.
Sagan is the shit! Two incredible wins in TdSwiss this past week: one after comming unclipped at about 500m out and another after brushing the barricades at less than 100m out!
Sagan vs Cavendish will be awesome this year!
I think the Tour is Cadel's to lose, with the 100k+ of TT's. Frank (continues to) has no answer for the time trials and I don't think Horner or Levi can climb with Cadel when he goes.
Coach, no love for Wiggins? He's eating everyone alive on TT courses this year ... in the rain, against Tony Martin, Cadel, whatever, whoever. He'e the man to beat. And ya gotta love his sideburns
For the sprints, I see more of a Cav vs Greipel with Sagan in the mix. Both Sky & Lotto have strong lead-out trains, Leaky-gas not so much.
Cav will be tough to bet against. Is Farrar due? Or done?
Agree, it should be Wiggo and Cadel for GC.
Guys who are riding well: Duggan, Danielson, Martins- Tony and Daniel, Sammy Sanchez, Oscar Friere, Valverde
(Duggan could be my next favorite workhorse rider type once JV hangs it up. Co. kid on Leaky Gas)
Are Wiggens and Tony Martin going to the Olympics as well? I can't recall. And yes, Patrick, a very tall Hobbit- exactly!!! Oh, and don't forget, they are called Podium Hostesses! HA!
Cav...yes, he's good, but he's always had a great leadout train / man to set it up for him. Sagan's team seems to not be able to assert as much control in the last 2-3k of the race, though I admit I haven't seen Cav race this year so don't know if circumstances have changed for him. I just know that Sagan has won from sooooo many whack positions in the pack!
Nemo, you should tell your story of your conversations with the hostesses in Tahoe
I don't know Rich, they were highly intellectual discussions. It might just go over your head
Seriously, it's a tough job! You have to keep smiling even if you break a nail while zipping up the winners jersey.
I kinda liked the Tour de De Suisse ladies - some of them wore blue jeans or khaki shorts and white shirts - very practical, looking like Swiss farm girls. Maybe there was a respectability revolt?
I just thought the different perceptions of chicks vs doodes in a situation like that was pretty funny. While the chicks were commenting how the hostesses were as sharp as a bag of hammers the guys were like "I'm sorry, were they even talking? I didn't notice."
I'm just now catching up on Tour de Suisse videos and I'd agree with Al- seems the Swiss ladies must have a strong union or something because there are no funny umbrella dresses going on there.
And speaking of Tour de Suisse, I know I'm late to the party- but it really was great to see Frank attack and try to take the stage. I knew how it ended while I was watching but still yelled at him through the TV to keep digging. I hope we see more of that action at TDF- even if its just for stage wins. Who knows, maybe with Cadel and Wiggo marking each others moves they will will write off Radioshack and those guys will get away every now and then.
Dark horse? Menchov fell off his bike during the Giro final TT got back on and went on to win the gc. When he's good he's very good.
Some stats for you nerdy types!
www.cyclingnews.com/features/histor...by-numbers
Renshaw is riding for Rabobank this year, Cavendish is on Team Sky with Bradley Wiggins. They got split up when Columbia-Highroad folded last year. Cavendish won a couple stages in the Giro with Bernie Eisel as his leadout. Over on Training peaks they routinely post some of the power files. During Cav's stage 5 win, Eiselook the last pull averaging 620 watts for 1 minute at 62kph launching Cavendish to the win. I think he'll be in good shape but it'll be fun to watch.
http://home.trainingpeaks.com/races/team-sky-races/2012-giro-ditalia/stage-5.aspx
http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/06/news/bmc-racing-announces-tour-squad-built-around-evans_224924
Evans..Obviously a favorite, but hasn't look that strong so far this year.. Also, with Schleck not in the game, I thing the other contenders will attach a lot more on the climbs, and Evans will not be able to respond to these..i.e. he will lose time on at least three climbs... He will have to fight to win this year..
My guess is that Nibaly will win it this year.. He has a decent time trial, is a good climber and an excellent decender
Valverde is back... and while he has yet to prove himself over a three week tour, he has the explosivity to break away on both the climbs and the straights...and when he is at his best, his time trial isn't to shabby
Samuel Sanchez... We cannot ignore this guy... A good allrounder, who will be very difficult to drop in the mountains... Definately a guy who is aiming for the podium
I've created an Endurance Nation league on the fantasy cycling site, velogames.com.
Join the fun - design your team of nine riders, and join our league; the code is:
22183943
League name: Endurance Nation