The Lanterne Rouge Thread

Tusher

It's that time of year again, my friends! The greatest feat of athleticism, the skill and mental strength that we can only aspire to.........

I'm away from home just now, down south in the green and pleasant land of Englandshire, so I may not have consistent internet access over the next few days, but I will try and post daily.

No_Ta_Doctor

Good to have you back in charge, Ma'am. We tried our best in your absence last year, but it wasn't the same.

Our worthy winner has padded his palmares nicely since picking up his 2013 lanterne. Pink Jersey and 1st stage in the Giro, double Canadian champion, including a 100km solo break in the road race.... I don't think Tufty Swine is in the running this year.

RichN95.

My tip is Svein Tuft to retain his title. Just beaten into second at the Giro - he's clearly the best Lantern Rouge rider since the glory days of Vansevenant.

Wildcard choice - Cheng Ji.

No_Ta_Doctor

RichN95 wrote:

My tip is Svein Tuft to retain his title. Just beaten into second at the Giro - he's clearly the best Lantern Rouge rider since the glory days of Vansevenant.

Wildcard choice - Cheng Ji.

Tufty will be too easy to spot hiding in the bushes in his new Canadian Champs jersey.

Cheng Ji - no chance. I don't think a billion Chinese would understand it. If he wins it will be by luck alone.

Lanterne_Rogue

It's a good parcours for the Lanterne this year - the second stage should ensure that there's an early selection and the true contenders can gain time early on, rather than having the whole field trying to fight their way to the back of the field by bunching up and creating crashes.

Macaloon

This year's GC sideshow is likely to be more distracting than usual. It's time for a big personality to step up to the plate, stick their hand right up, and put the rogue in rouge. The likes of your Adam Hansens. Failing that Marcel has to be in with a shout of a historic* LR/Green Jersey double.

*No idea

joelsim

G after falling off in the neutral zone on stage 1, decapitating his head and limping through the rest of the race with it stitched back on.

RichN95.

Joelsim wrote:

G after falling off in the neutral zone on stage 1, decapitating his head and limping through the rest of the race with it stitched back on.

Pah! Even without his head he'll come no lower than 90th.

joelsim

RichN95 wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

G after falling off in the neutral zone on stage 1, decapitating his head and limping through the rest of the race with it stitched back on.

Pah! Even without his head he'll come no lower than 90th.

Probably. He'd just sit on the back of the train.

Lanterne_Rogue

Macaloon wrote:

This year's GC sideshow is likely to be more distracting than usual. It's time for a big personality to step up to the plate, stick their hand right up, and put the rogue in rouge. The likes of your Adam Hansens. Failing that Marcel has to be in with a shout of a historic* LR/Green Jersey double.

*No idea

Hansen's probably going to be too giddy with his ninth consecutive GT to challenge. My big-name outside tip is Bernie Eisel - he's clearly recently been working on his ability to sit up, coast in and gain loads of time.

specialgueststar

William Bonnet FdJ - he's going to be tired and old enough to know what to do

Coach H

Danny Pate for big name outside bet

He is going to be on the front for the first 4 hours of every stage waiting for that other sky fella, with all vowels and consonant's in the wrong order, to come through for a turn. I can see him then doing a MAMILesque foot down, head elbows on bars recovery stint until the cars have all gone through before a potter to the line in front of the broom wagon.

joelsim

Kittel?

Without trying to come last.

takethehighroad

Marcel Sieberg is my tip (if he's riding)

The key to a good LR campaign (save for crashing on a flat stage) is to be first man in a sprinters lead out train, which means you can peel off about 3-4k to go and lose 2 minutes a stage

above_the_cows

This is a tough one. I still think Tufty Swine might want to try and go for the win two years on the trotters.

Baring any awful spurt of climbing ability from our Canadian friend I'm going to go with a Sky man, and sticking with the porcine theme I'll go for Pate.

nevman

My favourite thread of the year but disagree-Sammy Dumoulin is three feet tall and will be inconspicuous enough to hide in bus shelters for the first three stages

Macaloon

nevman wrote:

My favourite thread of the year but disagree-Sammy Dumoulin is three feet tall and will be inconspicuous enough to hide in bus shelters for the first three stages

Top contenders could easily find themselves stranded up the GC if unfortunate to be the right side of inevitable stage 2 splits. Treacherous start. Strong teammates a definite disadvantage.

BelgianBeerGeek

This is really tough. What struck me about the team presentations is how some of the "weaker" teams have some good riders in there.

So I will go for a rider in a good team who may fall on hard times but not quit. I am going for Laurens Ten Dam.

ridgerider

Tankink for me please.

above_the_cows

Ridgerider wrote:

Tankink for me please.

I'm noticing a distinctly Dutch (or Nederlands speaking) theme in your picks for all things Tour related Ridgerider.

RichN95.

Joelsim wrote:

Kittel?

Without trying to come last.

No chance. You've got to lose time on the flat stages as well as the mountains (where he will be in the autobus with many on the same time). Vansevenant used to be able to lose a good five minutes on the flatest of stages.

joelsim

He wasn't far off last year

RichN95.

Joelsim wrote:

He wasn't far off last year

11 minutes off the podium. 17 off the win. I can't see where he makes up that sort of time.

Lanterne_Rogue

RichN95 wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

He wasn't far off last year

11 minutes off the podium. 17 off the win. I can't see where he makes up that sort of time.

And this year he'll have the problem that he's already shown his potential. His rivals will make doubly sure to attack him where he's weakest, on the flat, just to make sure.

No_Ta_Doctor

I'm going for a cheeky pick of Lars Bak. Just because ThomThom needs some return on his emotional investment.
It'll be tricky for him as he's got Greipel to look after so will need to be near the front quite a lot, and he risks getting in a break that stays away. But a couple of heroic days of pedalling backwards and he could be in the running.

ridgerider

Above The Cows wrote:

Ridgerider wrote:

Tankink for me please.

I'm noticing a distinctly Dutch (or Nederlands speaking) theme in your picks for all things Tour related Ridgerider.

Sentimental reasons, have spent many summer holidays in Zandvoort

nevman

Looks like Petacchi played a blinder today in a number of ways 8)

Macaloon

Unlucky for Hansen to find himself driving the Lotto train 7km from home.

No_Ta_Doctor

Either Petacchi is seriously going for it, or he's going home from London.

Some huge chunks of time up for grabs today. The early front-runners not likely to last the three weeks.
A handy 10th place on the stage for last years challenger Ned Veelers gets him 10th on GC. One to watch.

Lanterne_Rogue

My tip Eisel did pretty well today, using an ultra-selective parcours and all his experience to make the vital split and move into the top twenty. He's gained a massive amount of time after a frankly shoddy opening day, in which he disappointingly chose to roll in with the pack instead of chancing his arm with the big boys.

Bo Duke

Clever stuff from Giant-Shimano putting Cheng Ji on the front all day, lesser riders will become complacent.