2012 Tour De France Spolier Thread

rubertoe

Pictures or it didnt happen...

greg66_tri_v2.0

suzyb wrote:

I'm not the only one that thought that

I think it was actually during last years tour or maybe the year before, Phil and Paul kept saying how Evans would have wind up his engine to follow an attack from Shleck or Contador as he didn't have the same quick acceleration as them.

Exactly. And I remember him being completely beasted by the Schlecks and Sastre the year Sastre won (and Sastre seems to be fairly widely regarded as a clean rider).

rick_chasey

Greg66 wrote:

suzyb wrote:

I'm not the only one that thought that

I think it was actually during last years tour or maybe the year before, Phil and Paul kept saying how Evans would have wind up his engine to follow an attack from Shleck or Contador as he didn't have the same quick acceleration as them.

Exactly. And I remember him being completely beasted by the Schlecks and Sastre the year Sastre won (and Sastre seems to be fairly widely regarded as a clean rider).

See my post.

He's good on the steeper hills. He's got the engine to go very quick up them, and he has the ability to measure out his performance over the whole hill. He's not explosive, but the really steep stuff isn't really 'explosive'.

FoldingJoe

rubertoe wrote:

Pictures or it didnt happen...

Froome arriving at hotel after stage win.


Brad in Yellow from yesterday


Good to see the best teams in The Tour still use Wiggle's finest.

iclestu

rubertoe wrote:

Pictures or it didnt happen...

He was clearly DYING for someone to say that!

Nice pics :-)

DonDaddyD

Yep, I concur I agree with this guy:

DDD wrote:

Cadel is looking strong, so is Wiggins. The Canondale guy, Nibali will be 3rd.

DDD on Sagan wrote:

When the road goes properly up, Nibali will be the GC contender for Liquigas

vermin

Great little ride by Pinot. FDJ FTW.

jonginge

vermin wrote:

Great little ride by Pinot. FDJ FTW.

Loved that. Marc Madiot in the team car was brilliant.

tailwindhome

DonDaddyD wrote:

Yep, I concur I agree with this guy:

DDD wrote:

Cadel is looking strong, so is Wiggins. The Canondale guy, Nibali will be 3rd.

DDD on Sagan wrote:

When the road goes properly up, Nibali will be the GC contender for Liquigas

Whoever has the lowest cumulative time after todays stage will be wearing a Yellow Jersey for Wednesday's stage.

vermin

I just spotted a Kingston Wheeler in full kit and a natty yellow cap/shades combo, taking photos of Chavanel at the TT. Anyone?

okgo

Could be any one of 500 people haha!

t4tomo

Conclusion of TT on R5 at the moment. Wiggo well on track to take my prediction of 30 seconds plus out of Evans. Froome going very well too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_five_live_sports_extra

EKE_38BPM

Nice win for Brad. Froome only 7 seconds behind Evans in the GC. Game on!

tailwindhome

If Wiggins stays upright from now to Paris this Tour is over.

spasypaddy

wow that was impressive.

Bradders!!!

EKE_38BPM

With Froome so close to Evans, it could be a Sky 1-2.
Evans will have to make a break in the mountains to take time out of Wiggins and Froome but if they work together, which I'm sure they will, they could break him badly.
If Cav gets a few stage wins Sky will love it and it will set Team GB up nicely, at least psycologically. I'm sure the legs will be a bit sore after 3 weeks of the Tour and only a week off, but as MRS said, "Doing nothing works wonders"

notsoblue

Wait, what? Linda McCartney cycling team?

t4tomo

Question is now will Evans try to attack Brad or settle into his defensive mode as he knows if he attacks and cracks Froome may well nip past him in the GC? Actually Team TT could send Froome past Evans, Sky look stronger than BMC at the moment.

Would love to see Wiggins and Froome (with Porte's help one would assume) just ride away from Cadel on one of the mountain stages.

suzyb

Have to admit, didn't expect him to take that much time out of Evans. Or Froome to do so well.

But then what do I know

tailwindhome

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Wiggins and Froome but if they work together, which I'm sure they will, they could break him badly.

They won't try to break him. I don't think they could anyway. They won't expend one drop of energy doing something they don't have to do.

The plan will be sit on the front for as long as possible on each climb to make it impossible for Evans/Nibali to attack them. It's going to be boring but effective.

jonginge

suzyb wrote:

Have to admit, didn't expect him to take that much time out of Evans. Or Froome to do so well.

But then what do I know

Nor did I. It was a similar difference in the dauphine a few weeks back but I thought it would be closer in the tour

greg66_tri_v2.0

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Nice win for Brad. Froome only 7 seconds behind Evans in the GC. Game on!

14.

For now.

On the basis of today, Froome will sweep past Evans in the last ITT.

But Sky can sit back in the mountains and defend. Let Evans and Nibili attack, and cover the attacks. Froome won't be allowed to attack because it will force Evans to counter and leave Wiggins having to chase Evans with no one to help him if he gets into trouble. More likely Sky will wait: if Evans blows then Froome gets his 14 seconds. If not, then Froome may get the liberty to try to take a crafty few seconds over the last 500m here and there.

If Nibili's and Evans' teams decide to work together things might get a lot more interesting.

DonDaddyD

TailWindHome wrote:

If Wiggins stays upright from now to Paris this Tour is over.

No it isn't. While Cadel isn't necessarily explosive he can, and has in the past as it has been done to him, chip away at the race leader. In the high mountains Cadel will attack, attack and attack (or as Cadel put it last year "ride into the wind"). He has nothing to lose.

For every stage win Cadel now goes for Bradley will have to keep him in check and stay with him. Bradley (and Cadel) also needs to keep an eye Nibali and make sure that Chris Froome doesn't dick Bradley over again, like he did at the Vuelta.

It wouldn't surprise me if Froome, who may still be up there by Thursday, starts thinking "If I go for this stage win...." If Bradley even hints at weakness it wouldn't surprise me if Froome spends a couple days in yellow (possibly in Paris).

And I'm saying this so that if it comes to reality I can repost it... (and shut you lot up after you've shouted me down)

The one thing that irks me about Wiggins, which is what saw his team mate beat him at last years Veluta, is that he never goes for the kill and kills off his opponent (TT not withstanding but its a different kind of race). Wiggins will play it safe and probably never break Cadel and that'll open the race for Nibali and, surprisingly, Froome - who is hungry and arsehole enough (like Cav) to go on leave his Captain and win.

Specialized Needs

t4tomo wrote:

Question is now will Evans try to attack Brad or settle into his defensive mode as he knows if he attacks and cracks Froome may well nip past him in the GC? Actually Team TT could send Froome past Evans, Sky look stronger than BMC at the moment.

Would love to see Wiggins and Froome (with Porte's help one would assume) just ride away from Cadel on one of the mountain stages.

I didn't think there was a team TT this year? Mind, after that performance, Froome looks likely to take quite some time out of Evans on a 53.5km time trial.

okgo

You do talk a lot of utter bollocks.

EKE_38BPM

Greg66 wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Nice win for Brad. Froome only 7 seconds behind Evans in the GC. Game on!

14.

For now.

On the basis of today, Froome will sweep past Evans in the last ITT.

But Sky can sit back in the mountains and defend. Let Evans and Nibili attack, and cover the attacks. Froome won't be allowed to attack because it will force Evans to counter and leave Wiggins having to chase Evans with no one to help him if he gets into trouble. More likely Sky will wait: if Evans blows then Froome gets his 14 seconds. If not, then Froome may get the liberty to try to take a crafty few seconds over the last 500m here and there.

If Nibili's and Evans' teams decide to work together things might get a lot more interesting.

Yeah, my bad.

Evans is nearly 2 minutes behind Brad, with all of the lead coming in TTs (the Prologue and today's stage) and there is another TT the day before Paris. As TTs are more up Brad's alley than Cadel's, Evans will have to try to take at least three minutes out of Brad in the mountains and I can't see that happening.

It looks like Sky have all bases covered.

I'm getting all excited for a Wiggins win.

rick_chasey

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I'm getting all excited for a Wiggins win.

S'a good job.

Shaping up to be a Tour de Bore unless Froome can start putting some heavy time into Wiggins.

This is turning out very similarly to the Vuelta - only without the competition.

Specialized Needs

okgo wrote:

You do talk a lot of utter bollocks.

Is that just a general comment, or is it aimed at anyone in particular?

tailwindhome

DonDaddyD wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

If Wiggins stays upright from now to Paris this Tour is over.

No it isn't. While Cadel isn't necessarily explosive he can, and has in the past as it has been done to him, chip away at the race leader. In the high mountains Cadel will attack, attack and attack (or as Cadel put it last year "ride into the wind"). He has nothing to lose. .

'cept there aren't enough mountains to gain back 2 mins plus the 2 mins he'll need for the next TT which is longer than the last TT.


Nope it's over. I wish it weren't so. But it is.


As for Froome V Wiggins you would need to think that team orders will be respected. If Froome wants the yellow he'll have to take it during the last TT.

And I'm saying this

I'm not sure what you are actually saying

But yes. Froome, Evans, Nibali or Wiggins will win.

DonDaddyD

okgo wrote:

You do talk a lot of utter bollocks.

If Wiggins even slips I bet you Froome won't be there waiting to tow him back to the front of the group. Froome is there as insurance. If anything happens to Wiggins, he is the next viable option for British Tour De France winner. Brailsford isn't stupid he isn't going to risk the overall goal of that, the original remit of Team Sky.

Wiggins may as well start seeing Froome as much as a threat as Cadel and Nibali.

So Wiggins has a target on his back. Attacks from Nibali, Cadel and potentially Froome, who will no doubt stick to him like glue (duh, Vuelta...). Wiggins would do himself some favors by riding off into the Sunset and win a stage putting more time into the above. He won't though, he'll play it safe and that makes him prey to the others.

I hope not, I like Wiggins, I do. I guess we'll find out in 2 weeks.