Tour de France Prologue *spoiler*

13

Comments

  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    Wow. Didn't see Armstrong beating Contador in the cards.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    I watched some of the ITV coverage. P&P make me feel sick.

    Good ride by Armstrong - must've trained for 2 days.

    Chinny ace as ever
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • morstar
    morstar Posts: 6,190
    Fabian has the batteries in his skin suit. There is no other explanation!

    Brad has some work to do already.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Had to watch on ITV4 (at work). P+P are ridiculous. It's just the Lance Armstrong show featuring the Tour de France...
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    He is sucking up air time as we type.
    Ferrari has hit form just at the right time.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • emadden
    emadden Posts: 2,431
    I got a mention from Carlton Kirby :lol:
    **************************************************
    www.dotcycling.com
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  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    Is WIggins out of it already?
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Wonderful ride by Tony Martin given he had the rain and Cancellara had dryish roads. Would the rain cause a 10sec deficit....maybe but then Millar said that it didn't slow him down, so probably not.

    Cancellara's helmet was super and his legs are :shock: as always.

    Good ride by Contador and Evans. Suprised by Armstrong.

    It is totally ridiculous that Lance gets more tv coverage than the defending champion and more importantly the Olympic and World TT Champion. The sooner he leaves the Tour the better.

    Furthermore he is an eyesore with that black, bland lid, black glasses, black shoes and grey socks, not to mention the horrible kit of the Whack Shack.

    Contador looking stylish as usual.

    Agree that Brailsford made a mistake - marginal gain sand minutiae type stuff doesn't quite work I'm afraid.

    Agree also that ITV4 adverts are too long and frequent and that the commentators are rubbish and Lance's Lions.

    Rotterdam is a pretty ugly place to start the Tour.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Pokerface wrote:
    Is WIggins out of it already?

    Just noticed that he was beaten by Sastre :shock:

    Surely he can't blame it all on the weather...

    Contador has 42 seconds on Andy Schleck already.
  • bipedal
    bipedal Posts: 466
    Thomas in cracking form by the looks of it... Maybe Wiggo will end up riding for him!
  • Cleat Eastwood
    Cleat Eastwood Posts: 7,508
    afx237vi wrote:
    Cor, T Mart's girlfriend is alright. We need more cycling WAGs.

    Saddle Bags? :D
    The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns
    momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Contador took 43seconds out of Andy on Verbier. That is a lot of time to take back in a mountain attack.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    afx237vi wrote:

    Just noticed that he was beaten by Sastre :shock:

    Surely he can't blame it all on the weather...

    Contador has 42 seconds on Andy Schleck already.

    Just spoke to a friend in Rotterdam and he reckons Wiggins rode during the heaviest rain of the day.

    A gamble which failed, much like my PTP pick. :oops:
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    edited October 2012
    Forgot to say that Wiggin's skinsuit, helmet/visor and bike are pretty damn cool. I hope he gets on the right side of a split in the next few days and takes a minute out of all the GC favourites.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    edited October 2012
    dupe
    Contador is the Greatest
  • squired
    squired Posts: 1,153
    So, Millar said that the rain would have made no difference to times, meaning Bradley can't use that as an excuse. Given that fact, what was the point in going out early? Even if there was a potential difference, surely it is better to suffer the same conditions as all the other GC guys than to gamble on the predicted weather working in your favour?

    Bradley has talked all year about the Tour and I don't think he could have got a worse result today. Lets see where he is after Monday, which will either be carnage or totally over hyped and have little impact on the race.

    Great ride by Thomas though. Maybe he will have a good race.
  • NJK
    NJK Posts: 194
    Bit of a Brailford cock up IMO. He tried to be clever and got burned! He should of just stuck Wiggins where most of the other GC riders were. I think it sends the wrong signals out when your main GC rider starts not around the main riders.
  • reppohkcor
    reppohkcor Posts: 111
    WIggins is either playing mind games (unlikely) or he has a very well timed training program where he peaks during the vital last week (again unlikely as peaking for such a short period is a huge gamble - this is also assuming the 'others' have peaked slightly too early). Rain would affect the time, but I would only give 10secs over 8km for that due to the high speed corners (apart from one or two)

    The more probable explanation is that he has concentrated on training for the 30-60 min efforts of the mountain top finishes/longer TT at the end plus the fact that he is looking lighter than last year. Even with this I think he will struggle for top 5.

    Lance Armstrong knows how to peak for this, whether he's doped to the gills or not, he has timed it perfectly it seems, beating Contador over 8km is good, but he will lose time in the mountains (5 mins?) so he needs an incident in the early stages, possibly attacking over the cobbles?

    Alberto Contador will be happy. He knows he can beat Armstrong in the later stages and he has put in a better time than brakovich (who he couldn't drop on alp d'huez).

    Great ride by our Thomas :D
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    He is sucking up air time as we type.
    Ferrari has hit form just at the right time.


    Are we going to get this for the next three weeks ?
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • dcj
    dcj Posts: 395
    relative time losses for overall top 20 contenders

    MILLAR David 0
    ARMSTRONG Lance 2 secs down
    CONTADOR Alberto 7
    LEIPHEIMER Levi 8
    BOASSON HAGEN Edvald 12
    GERDEMANN Linus 15
    BRAJKOVIC Janez 15
    ROGERS Michael 15
    KLÖDEN Andréas 16
    VINOKOUROV Alexandre 18
    KREUZIGER Roman 18
    EVANS Cadel 19
    GESINK Robert 31
    SASTRE Carlos 34
    BASSO Ivan 35
    WIGGINS Bradley 36
    VANDEVELDE Christian 40
    CUNEGO Damiano 53

    Bradleys reaction after his ride - not bothered http://www.teamsky.com/video/0,27287,17549,00.html
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    Yes. Plus the drip, drip, drip of Landis accusations. It's Sunday tomorrow so I'm sure there will be new revelations in the papers.

    Oh, and hand wringing every time Wiggins loses any time by the looks of things.
  • reppohkcor
    reppohkcor Posts: 111
    dcj wrote:
    relative time losses for overall top 20 contenders

    MILLAR David 0
    ARMSTRONG Lance 2 secs down
    CONTADOR Alberto 7
    LEIPHEIMER Levi 8
    BOASSON HAGEN Edvald 12
    GERDEMANN Linus 15
    BRAJKOVIC Janez 15
    ROGERS Michael 15
    KLÖDEN Andréas 16
    VINOKOUROV Alexandre 18
    KREUZIGER Roman 18
    EVANS Cadel 19
    GESINK Robert 31
    SASTRE Carlos 34
    BASSO Ivan 35
    WIGGINS Bradley 36
    VANDEVELDE Christian 40
    CUNEGO Damiano 53

    Bradleys reaction after his ride - not bothered http://www.teamsky.com/video/0,27287,17549,00.html

    schlecks?!
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    Furthermore he is an eyesore with that black, bland lid, black glasses, black shoes and grey socks, not to mention the horrible kit of the Whack Shack.

    Contador looking stylish as usual.

    .

    What is this a bloody fashion show or what ? meanwhile back to the racing the defending champ loses time to an old man...........lightweight !
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    Moray Gub wrote:
    Furthermore he is an eyesore with that black, bland lid, black glasses, black shoes and grey socks, not to mention the horrible kit of the Whack Shack.

    Contador looking stylish as usual.

    .

    What is this a bloody fashion show or what ? meanwhile back to the racing the defending champ loses time to an old man...........lightweight !


    +1. Frenchfighter - you are tiresome to me and it is only day 1 of the Tour. Please limit your comments to the racing at hand and not to personal attacks on the team kit of riders.

    Or is this just a way to gloss over the fact that your hero was beaten in a TT by your arch-nemesis? Sucks to be you.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    There are actually quite a few GC people clumped around Wiggins time. You'd expect him to be better being an ex-prologue specialist. But whatever.

    As we all know from the Giro, tomorrow is a different day and a bit of wind and the insane Dutch roads could really shake things up.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • GroupOfOne MkII
    GroupOfOne MkII Posts: 1,289
    Well at least Graham Watson has got the right angle on things, from twitter:
    What a star Lance is, 4th in Prologue and the best of the overall favourites - and this is just the start!

    Yeah Graham, just the start. It's all downhill from here....
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,436
    Contador looking stylish as usual.

    Did you watch in black & white?
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • dg74
    dg74 Posts: 656
    Bit poor form knocking someone's racing kit.
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    Moray Gub wrote:
    He is sucking up air time as we type.
    Ferrari has hit form just at the right time.


    Are we going to get this for the next three weeks ?

    I bet a few are not happy Armstrong showed he's still got it. Only Armstrong dopes though of course!
  • jerry3571
    jerry3571 Posts: 1,532
    I'm enjoying the coverage of the ITV coverage with the ex pro pundit Mr Stan Boardman saying "well, I'm a bit disappointed with Brad as he should have stoved it into the barriers like I did on a wet Tour de France prologue"

    Great advice Stan!!

    -Jerry
    “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”- Albert Einstein

    "You can't ride the Tour de France on mineral water."
    -Jacques Anquetil