2009 Prediction thread

iainf72

Please add your own.

- Someone from Columbia will win the TdU
- Levi will win the Tour of California. Again
- Boonen will win Milan-San Remo
- It'll be a muddy Roubaix won by someone unexpected
- Basso will destroy everyone in the Giro
- Cadel will win the Dauphine with panache
- Bertie and baby Schleck will fight out the Tour.
- Tom Danielson will fall off and ruin his season
- Cavendish will win whenever he sprints and it's a straight line
- An Italian will win the Worlds
- Passport will nab some people, will be vicious fight in courts about it. Pro Conti's will not really be tested for it anymore
- 3 or more teams will get under due to economic climate

LangerDan

- Cadel will declare "2009 will be MY year"
- Bob Stapleton will send a team to every club race in Europe. A win's a win.
- Lance will remember he's left the sprinklers on and have to rush home.
- Oil will hit $25 / barrel and the preseident of Kazakhstan will realise he's spending 15% of his GDP on a cycling team.
- White saddles will be sooo last year, dahlings, as will €8,000 red and white Pinarellos
- Patrick Lefevre will threaten to sue someone.
- Poor Bradley will be unhappy at yet another team.
- Campags new 18 speed cassette will be declared illegal as it projects half a metre out the side of the bike
- Aurelio and DennisN will start a torrid affair over the 'net
- Lance and Don Catlin finally meet at the Astana Christmas party
- Cadel declares "2010? My year. Definitely. Now get off my dog."

afx237vi

- British Eurosport will show about 30 minutes of Paris-Roubaix before all the cobbles start, then cut away for the crucial deciding moments of the World Chess-Boxing Championships, before rejoining the race for Tommeke's victory lap around the velodrome.

- Graeme Brown will cause a big crash. Well, duh...

steve2021

Everyone will realise that Bertie has got a bit lucky so far and isn't that good after all.

Valverde will quit a race in disgust at the gaudiness of his own bike.

calvjones

iainf72 wrote:

Please add your own.

- Someone from Columbia will win the TdU §Shocker
- Levi will win the Tour of California. Again §Ditto
- Boonen will win Milan-San Remo §No, he won't.
- It'll be a muddy Roubaix won by someone unexpected §Van Amerent (sp?)
- Basso will destroy everyone in the Giro §[sigh] Yup
- Cadel will win the Dauphine with panache §Is that his new dog?
- Bertie and baby Schleck will fight out the Tour. §Until the first ITT, maybe...
- Tom Danielson will fall off and ruin his season §Ruin? Implies it was ever good.
- Cavendish will win whenever he sprints and it's a straight line §Easy one
- An Italian will win the Worlds §Ooh, dunno, I see fireworks.
- Passport will nab some people, will be vicious fight in courts about it. Pro Conti's will not really be tested for it anymore §[more sighs] Yep
- 3 or more teams will get under due to economic climate §At least

moray_gub

iainf72 wrote:

Please add your own.

Paul Sherwen will say the following during the TDF

the heads of state
at the back end of the bike race
fighting with his machine

MSR will be won by an attack on the Poggio (i wish)
Cancellara takes Roubaix
Sastre rides a stonking Giro but misses out to Di Luca
Bertie wins TDF in canter
Levi wins Vuelta
Worlds is won by a 100-1 outsider

MG

blazing_saddles

L'Equipe will break the order gagging them, on printing non-sanctioned doping stories.
http://www.lesdessousdusport.fr/l-equip ... opage-2829
(In case you haven't heard. BKP of Micron )
Frank Schleck crashes on a downhill.
The TDU will have more cases of sunburn, than climbs.
Levi Leipheimer takes the Tour of California prologue, but is injured in the press crush to snap a quickie of his team mate. The organisers neutralise the remainder of the race. :roll:
Paris-Nice to be the stage race of the year........once again.
Contador to open his season in the re-established Tour of Sardinia.
Contador signs for Saxo, on stage 10 of the Tour.
More Spanish races to crash and burn.
The ASO and UCI have a fall out! :shock:
The Tour of Qatar in new drugs for oil scandal.
Frank Schleck crashes on another downhill.
Astana sign Tyler Hamilton, as domestique for Vino's Vuelta bid
Cycling news sites and tv commentaries to hit new lows in biased reporting.
Lots and lots of new forum threads on........
.......Oh and Frank Schleck crashes on another downhill.

RichN95.

Cav wins 5+ stages and the Green Jersey at the Tour and similar at the Vuelta, plus Ghent-Wevelgem, but still gets ignored by the UK public in general

The Tour is Contador v A.Schlek. Evans comes third.

An Armstrong/Contadaor stand-off like LeMond/Hinault.

Armstrong's Grand Tour form is at a Kim Kirchen level

Someone from the Fuji team gets busted for doping

A well known Italian gets busted for doping (I'm going to have a guess at Nibali*)

A Belgian wins Het Volk (and the sun will come up tomorrow)

Garmin win every major TTT

Boonen wins no major races (by major I mean classics or Tour stages)

Van Avermaet or Maaskant to win at Flanders

Hincapie to win in Roubaix (yes really - I'd love to see it)

Nicole Cooke to retain her rainbow jersey.

Jason Kenny beats Chris Hoy in the sprint WCs

Vicky Pendleton wins everything on the track and again fails to fall in love with me..


*Nibali is just a name I picked at (almost)random as he's on the questionable Liquigas team. I really have no feelings as to whether he's doping or not.

finchy

Cavendish to win Het Volk, M-SR, Flanders, P-R, G-W, Tour, Giro, Vuelta, Paris-Nice and Daupine Libere points jerseys and all flat stages, San Sebastian P-T. And if he doesn't do all of this I think we should all show our disgust by lynching him.

nick hanson

steve2021 wrote:

Everyone will realise that Bertie has got a bit lucky so far and isn't that good after all.

.

dave_1

I foresee more problems for boonen...mainly off the bike

Armstrong dropped badly in some Giro mountain stages and a domestique at the TDF and falling out with JB and co...

Another Vandevelde on the GC podium..25 years on

TDF won by.....Evans

redddraggon

Dave_1 wrote:

TDF won by.....Evans

Lol

jimycooper

armstrong will struggle in the tour mountains and pull out rather than the embaresment of loosing.
(not that i dont like the guy, just that i don't think he's can be that good again.)

blazing_saddles

jimycooper wrote:

armstrong will struggle in the tour mountains and pull out rather than the embaresment of loosing.

A more likely Giro scenario, I think.........he's got the "I'm Contador's domestique", to fall back on, should things go wrong at the Tour.

suspectdevice

On the penultimate stage of the Tour, Armstrong is knocked of his bike by a mysterious english fan on his first visit to the race, thus adding even more kudos to the Ventoux as a Tour stage

Grimone

Cavendish to win Paris-Tours.

Gilbert to win something where he is 20-1+ outsider.

Armstrong to win le tour.

victorponf

nick hanson wrote:

steve2021 wrote:

Everyone will realise that Bertie has got a bit lucky so far and isn't that good after all.

.

Is R.Millar (the British
cyclist god) better than Contador? (for example)

If he Bertie is no good, what´s Evans then?

My predicition for 2009:

Giro: Basso (Amstrong don´t finish it)
Tour:Contador, with Cancellara leader until Alpes and Lance in the top ten.
Vuelta: Basso vs Contador (Contador wins)

WC:Valverde

secretsqirrel

Giro - Basso
Tour - Contador
Vuelta - health and the ghosts of Freiburg permitting - Kloeden (I think he might have earned sufiicient Brownie points for Astana to give him a shot at that one)

Arkibal

Giro: Lance (assuming he will race it)
Tour: Contador
Vuelta: Levi/Kloden
Worlds: Valverde

Classics: Boonen, Cancellara, Valverde, Devolder, Rebellin, Ballan. or Hoste.

Best sprinter: Cav
Bast climber: Contador
Best TT: Cancellara

nothing new in -09, well, except Lance.

FJS

Vansevenant to finish last in all three GTs

Popo to suddenly refind his magic getting a top-5 finish in a GT; Thomas Dekker to change teams again for 2010.

Astana to get all three podium positions in a general classement somewhere at some point.

Three maillot blanc contenders in the top-10 of the TdF

Menchov to lose 47 seconds during the descent in the Monaco prologue TT

Van Avermaet to win Het Volk

Hoste to finish second in De Ronde

Evans to finish second the TdF

Lance to finish second in a stage in the Tour of Ireland

A former track sprinter to wear the Amarillo jersey in the Vuelta

Vos, Kenny and Cancellara to become World Champion

Vinokourov to win the Japan Cup

takethehighroad

Silence-Lotto will win Flanders (I prefer Quick Step but after last year they will be peeved, and they've got a star in Van Averamet (sp))

Contador will "boss" the Tour (pun intended)

Cav will get a huge win (either Milan San Remo, Ghent Wevelgem or the green jersey)

Valverde will show his potential (intentionally vague, meaning he'll either win a GT or the Worlds)

Armstrong will end his year quietly at the back end of the Tour on the Ventoux as it all catches up with him.

Cunego will win 3 out of LBL, FW, AGR, Lombardy and San Sebastian but still say he really wants to win the Giro, even though he's five minutes down after the long time trial

Ballan for Roubaix

Armstrong vs Basso in the Giro

My love life will be fantastic!

finchy

Gesink to take Paris-Nice.

Gilbert Het Volk again.

M-SR Hushovd

Flanders Boonen

G-W Cavendish

P-R Ballan

Basque Country S. Sanchez

Amstel Kirchen

FW Evans

LBL Valverde

Romandy Evans

Giro Basso

Catalunya De la Fuente

Dauphine/Switzerland. Big Schleck to win one, Vandevelde the other

TdF Little Schleck

San Sebastian S. Sanchez

Vuelta Contador as a consolation prize, without really trying

Poland who cares?

Britain Cummings

Worlds Wiggins (TT) and Menchov

P-T Cavendish

Lombardia Cunego makes it four

Positive dope tests. To avoid being sued I'll say 3 Spaniards, 2 Italians, a Dutchman and an American.

afx237vi

People posting their Lombardia PTP choices 10 months in advance... now that's what I call forward thinking.

RVsrb

All the GTs will be won be complete outsiders, as WADA finally grow a pair of b*****ks and ban half the peleton for doping :-)

Giro & Vuelta to change their title sponsorship to Roche

On second thoughts, what is most likely that whoever wins any major race will be doping suspect and several teams & races will go to the wall :-([/img]

Yellow Peril

My prediction (really I mean worry) is that Cav won't do as well as he should.

In '08 he put other sprinters to the sword because he was head and shoulders faster than the rest. However, is it not fair to say that a lot of that speed was as a result of his track racing background an interest in which he kept up until the Bejing debacle?

I understand that he won't be doing anymore track, do forumites think that this will take away some of his edge in the sprint?

Other than that I predict Cipo to re-emerge as the next Pope

nick hanson

I would hope that Cav is experienced enough to do sprint specific training,and am sure he won't need guidance from the likes of us as to how to be in the best possible shape for the road sprints

takethehighroad

So...How did we all do??? I think this one post shows how FJS is so good at PTP!!!

finchy

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

So...How did we all do??? I think this one post shows how FJS is so good at PTP!!!

Hmmm, I did terribly. Not a single correct prediction. I resign from this forum in a ball of self-loathing.

Kléber

iainf72's predictions are very good too.