Is Tony Martin THE dark horse for 2012 TdF?

Tootler

Have you seen how skinny he looks?
On the recent press shots I have seen he looks to have lost some weight. Given the amount of TT km's in this years TdF I think it might be worth having a few quid on him to win this year.

LeicesterLad

Tootler wrote:

Have you seen how skinny he looks?
On the recent press shots I have seen he looks to have lost some weight. Given the amount of TT km's in this years TdF I think it might be worth having a few quid on him to win this year.

I read an article yesterday on Cyclingnews and his aims for 2012 were Gold at the Olympics, but first and foremost Yellow at the Tour, he did only say he wanted to wear yellow, not win overall, but did say he felt like a good GC placing was on the cards this year. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/martin-going-for-yellow-and-gold

I'd have money on him winning all of the TTs, he was a cut above last year, beating the best in the game by minutes not seconds. If he can stay with it in the mountains, then he deffinately has a chance of finishing top 5. IMHO.

nferrar

Yeah I think he could do well to, certainly wouldn't surprise me if he finished higher up on the GC than Wiggo

rick_chasey

Sceptical.

avoidingmyphd

his "best" climbing performance (and the only time he actually really raced up a mountain?) was ventoux in 2009 when he lost 4 minutes to the gc group.
in this year's final TT he put 7 seconds into evans.

rick_chasey

Quick-Step would be better off helping Phil Gil in Belgium, before letting him off the leash come week two and hoping Martin will bag a TT win.

Boonen can crash and make some headlines, and you guys can all enjoy the wails of a fan as he does.

RichN95.

Rick Chasey wrote:

Quick-Step would be better off helping Phil Gil in Belgium,

Isn't that BMC's job?

rick_chasey

RichN95 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Quick-Step would be better off helping Phil Gil in Belgium,

Isn't that BMC's job?

rick_chasey

avoidingmyphd wrote:

his "best" climbing performance (and the only time he actually really raced up a mountain?) was ventoux in 2009 when he lost 4 minutes to the gc group.
in this year's final TT he put 7 seconds into evans.

Garate, let's face it, a good climber but a 2nd rate climber none the less, ruined him too.



http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com ... 1_1280.jpg

Anyone know how to shrink pictures on the forum?

Ron Stuart

I think Tony like Wiggo and as they already have proved are capable of winning a lumpy one week tour but alsa I believe a Grand Tour win is a bit out of their scope, they would need the assitance of a lot going wrong with the top climber/decent TT men who really are the main contenders. A very dark horse but still a fantastic rider in his own right especailly if he were spared now a lot of lead out work for a sprinter.



Photo I took of Tony just winning the Volta ao Algarve 2011 which he could well do again. Note shirt sleeves in Feb!

cal_stewart

No!

Yellow Peril

I think he'd be better off concentrating on bagging all of the TT stages to swell his TdF stage win palmares. Pushing harder in the mountains must be detrimental to TT'ing. I know there are noteable exceptions but they have usually been exceptionally talented at both.

I know there is a kit string on the go but I have to say I do like the look of TM's national champs kit he is wearing in that picture. It's probably because of its banding which is a little bit WC.

takethehighroad

Cal_Stewart wrote:

No!

This

zippypablo

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Cal_Stewart wrote:

No!

This

And another vote for no.
I like him as a rider but he won't win the Tour.

ddraver

Another vote for No - it's not like he looses touch in the last few kms, he's usually out of the lead group by the second switchback. I know he won't be pulling breaks back all Tour this year, but I don't think that ll make enough difference to turn him into a genuine contender.

rebs

Really looking forward to the tour this year. More then the last one. Think the pure climbers are going to put on a real show in the mountains which will make watching the stronger TT'ers hold on for dear life. Don't think Martin has lost much weight personally. Will be in with a shout to wear yellow don't think he will come close to contest the gc.

This tour I think will be much more entertaining without the accountant also.

OffTheBackAdam

Unless the Tour's "tuned" to favour a power/TT rider, rather than the climber/TT rider, it ain't going to happen.

nweststeyn

I won't be putting my dosh on him.

Crankbrother

If Wiggins is considered a favourite then why not, but not for another 3 or 4 years ...

arnuf

If he really wanted to he wouldnt have signed with Lefevre. I believe he has more potential than Wiggins, though.

Cumulonimbus

Think his best plan would be to cling on on stages 7 and 8 to allow him to take yellow on stage 9. After that, just try and hang on and see what happens. Even climbing at his best he will lose enough time to allow at least the GCers who can tt to overtake him and quite possibly quite a few more than that. Could see him finishing between 10th and 20th.

Ron Stuart

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

Unless the Tour's "tuned" to favour a power/TT rider, rather than the climber/TT rider, it ain't going to happen.

That I can't see happening unless there is a French contender that it may suit. There has been speculation in the past when the likes of Anquetil raced that there was long individual TT's put into the Tour an Anquetil speciallity where he would put big time into everyone, then much to the distain of others fans was accused of 'Wheel Sucking' around the rest of the parcours and of course Bahamontes his big danger was a pure climber and not a TT man.

EKIMIKE

He needs a Wiggins style weight loss. He might scrape top ten this year if he's started going down that route but he needs a few years to become top 5 material.

symo

Good TT ride yes, TdF contender well odds are better on Wiggins in terms of actual potential to win.