Rest day 1 *spoiler*

frenchfighter

iainf72 wrote:

Bert told that he can't ride for c 6 weeks

No Vuelta, will be doing the late season in Ibiza with Wiggins instead

Source please?

“If I don’t undergo surgery, the Vuelta is 100-percent ruled out,” Contador said. “And if I do undergo surgery, we’ll have to analyze it carefully, because it’s not just about getting to the Vuelta, but about getting there in the right condition to fight for victory.”

“The recovery time is between five or six weeks and three in the best case scenario,” he said.
“I’m not ruling it out (riding the Vuelta) it depends on how I progress.”

salsiccia1

No tA Doctor wrote:

Salsiccia1 wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

The main issue with the GC is that only one team has two riders in the top ten, and neither look to be anything like a genuine threat to Nibali. It doesn't even look like there's much scope for some cross team pact to try and take him down.

Everyone is going to be marking each other out of the race in the hunt for a podium place, waiting for Porte or Valverde to slip up. Hopefully one of the French riders will take the chance to put a Frenchman on the podium for the first time in yonks (God knows - stattos?) and Porte can go with him. But the French have settled for mediocrity for far too long for that to be much of a hope.

Virenque? 1998?

Virenque was unable to complete the Tour in 1998, due to unforseen Police raids....

Oh yes :oops:

The_Boy wrote:

3rd '96, 2nd '97.

Just took those placings from wiki so not sure if they are affected by DQs post event.

Don't think they were ever 'updated'...

above_the_cows

Team Tora Bora extracting steam without the need for a hood.

symo

coriordan wrote:

Drugs raid?

While since we last had one of those.

RichN95.

So Brian Cookson had a press conference to promote the Women's La Course race and all the media wanted ask about was why they weren't spoon fed a doping story about a retired cyclist.

So I had an idea. In future all doping announcements should be made to journalists at Women's Races - that may be the incentive the media need to turn up and give Women's cycling some coverage.

adr82

Dippydog2 wrote:

What does the thread title mean?

How can you spoil a rest day?

People asking stupid questions usually does it.

above_the_cows

RichN95 wrote:

So Brian Cookson had a press conference to promote the Women's La Course race and all the media wanted ask about was why they weren't spoon fed a doping story about a retired cyclist.

So I had an idea. In future all doping announcements should be made to journalists at Women's Races - that may be the incentive the media need to turn up and give Women's cycling some coverage.

Sometimes I despair of this sport!

above_the_cows

tom3 wrote:

I like it when Richie Porte either masks or enjoys the pain with a massive grin on his face. The boy will at least relish the battle and give it everything he has.

The Smiling Assassin was what I called him last year.

tailwindhome

Above The Cows wrote:

tom3 wrote:

I like it when Richie Porte either masks or enjoys the pain with a massive grin on his face. The boy will at least relish the battle and give it everything he has.

The Smiling Assassin was what I called him last year.

Hmm. Smiling usually indicates doping.

Anonymous

As does assassinating

frenchfighter

RichN95 wrote:

So Brian Cookson had a press conference to promote the Women's La Course race and all the media wanted ask about was why they weren't spoon fed a doping story about a retired cyclist.

So I had an idea. In future all doping announcements should be made to journalists at Women's Races - that may be the incentive the media need to turn up and give Women's cycling some coverage.

Journos are often douche bags - just there to make a buck. Which is why I pay their opinions little heed.

As an aside it is a new UCI policy not to put out a press release about doping cases unless it is a big star. It will be included in a little report with no fanfare. This pretty much goes against what Cookson said when he joined.

Re women's race - they were at the start yesterday to promote it:

DeadCalm

Nibali looks to have this sewn up for sure and on the evidence of yesterday that would probably have been the case even without the accidents to Contador and Froome. He certainly looks head and shoulders above the remaining field. I do find his transformation, since joining Astana, from someone who was competitive in GCs to someone capable of absolutely dominating them a touch disquieting though and would be very happy to see him show some weakness at some point.

Of the French podium hopes, Peraud would almost certainly be on a similar time to Porte and Valverde at the moment if he hadn't had a mechanical on stage 5 whilst in the Talansky group. He's also probably the strongest TTer in the top 10 and would expect to take time out of all of them in the normal run of events. He'd definitely be a good bet for a podium but that time lost on stage 5 may prove to be costly. He's not a naturally attacking rider and I see him relying on the TT and other riders losing touch before him in order to climb up the rankings.

Bardet is also capable of making the podium and is better placed than Peraud. He's also more inclined to attack but his TT will almost certainly be worse than most except for Pinot. I also think he may be distracted by the battle for white.

I'm hoping (probably in vain) that he and Peraud can work together to conjure something up for one or the other. Teamwork is not a strength at AG2R usually but Bardet and Peraud have worked well together in the past with Bardet tweeting recently his thanks to Peraud for the amazing work Peraud did for him at the Dauphiné.

And talking of teamwork, AG2R have potentially a decent team for the mountains too but tend to give freedom to their support riders to do their own thing. I'm hoping the likes of Riblon and Kadri can be persuaded to put their own ambitions on hold for the sake of the team's aspirations in the GC and white.

Thibaut seems to be racing with a new found maturity and belief so far this tour but I still fear that he will crack on at least one stage. There is also the fact that he has a poor TT. Would love to see him make the podium but realistically think he's going to be fighting for top 10 and the white jersey.

The battle for white which looks to be between the two young Frenchmen and possibly Kwiatkowski could in fact be the only interesting competition for a jersey with yellow and green already looking decided and Purito probably on his way to dominating polka.

frenchfighter

I agree with your analysis of the French side of things. There will be a lot of pride in being the top Frenchman in the GC. AG2R continue to thoroughly impress...a remarkable change from only a couple of years ago.

DeadCalm wrote:

I do find his transformation, since joining Astana, from someone who was competitive in GCs to someone capable of absolutely dominating them a touch disquieting though and would be very happy to see him show some weakness at some point.

I think this is particularly unfair. If anything he has plateaued and so far this year had underperfomed.
Check out his palmares prior to 2013. Most rider's can only dream of having that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Nibali#Palmares

pottssteve

In case you were not aware it's Cheng Ji's birthday today on the rest day:
From the Giant-Shimano Twitter feed:
"Join us with an RT in wishing 'The Breakaway Killer' a.k.a @jicheng369 a very happy birthday, and a good rest day at the #TDF!"

If you are on Twitter please consider sending him a message of support.

GO CHENG!!!!

OPQS

frenchfighter wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

So Brian Cookson had a press conference to promote the Women's La Course race and all the media wanted ask about was why they weren't spoon fed a doping story about a retired cyclist.

So I had an idea. In future all doping announcements should be made to journalists at Women's Races - that may be the incentive the media need to turn up and give Women's cycling some coverage.

Journos are often douche bags - just there to make a buck. Which is why I pay their opinions little heed.

As an aside it is a new UCI policy not to put out a press release about doping cases unless it is a big star. It will be included in a little report with no fanfare. This pretty much goes against what Cookson said when he joined.

Re women's race - they were at the start yesterday to promote it:

Why do they have to call it something different? Why can't it just be the Tour de France?

ic.

Fabian has pulled out. Resting for the Worlds

above_the_cows

I just popped back to find out if there were any Cheng updates and yay there are.

Happy birthday CHENG!

The_Boy

Nibali positive?

RichN95.

The_Boy wrote:

Nibali positive?

I would have thought so. Two and a half minute lead with a strong team and inexperienced challengers. Plenty to be positive about.

pottssteve

The_Boy wrote:

Nibali positive?

Troublemaker!

The_Boy

RichN95 wrote:

The_Boy wrote:

Nibali positive?

I would have thought so. Two and a half minute lead with a strong team and inexperienced challengers. Plenty to be positive about.

Was worth a try. *whistles innocently*

Incidentally, it's a shame today is a rest day. I've got soooo much work I need to do but buggered if I can be bothered, and it's not like I need to avoid the internet for fear of spoilers.

rick_chasey

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Salsiccia1 wrote:

sjmclean wrote:

Fabian has withdrawn on the race, wants to focus on other season objectives. Translation, I was only in it for yellow on stage 2, or the cobbles and failed. F-off if you think I'm doing the mountains.

Anyone else think this is a bit poor? I mean Schleck and Zubeldia are still in with a shout of top 10.

Was always planned.

Mmmm...

I suppose it's a bit of a juxtaposition to someone like Ted King who's gutted to have to pull out after giving and still wanting to give everything to his team. It doesn't sit that easily with me, I'm afraid.

Ted King needs to be a better rider and stop crashing then.

dsoutar

IC. wrote:

Fabian has pulled out. Resting for the Worlds

"I am going home to recharge my batteries," said Spartacus. "The season has been long for me. I have 59 days of competition in the legs. Now, I want to focus for the World Championships which is the goal of my season, it's no secret to anyone. I want to be in my best shape and it is therefore important to take a little rest. "

RideOnTime

OPQS wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

So Brian Cookson had a press conference to promote the Women's La Course race and all the media wanted ask about was why they weren't spoon fed a doping story about a retired cyclist.

So I had an idea. In future all doping announcements should be made to journalists at Women's Races - that may be the incentive the media need to turn up and give Women's cycling some coverage.

Journos are often douche bags - just there to make a buck. Which is why I pay their opinions little heed.

As an aside it is a new UCI policy not to put out a press release about doping cases unless it is a big star. It will be included in a little report with no fanfare. This pretty much goes against what Cookson said when he joined.

Re women's race - they were at the start yesterday to promote it:

Why do they have to call it something different? Why can't it just be the Tour de France?

That will be proper sport ... not like this...

mfin

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/bradley-wiggins-to-stay-with-team-sky-but-return-to-tour-de-france-looks-doubtful-30429173.html

Just mentioned this on another thread, can't see it mentioned anywhere else, and should bring about a bit of discussion for the rest day.

"It's true, I'm thinking about it (the Hour Record)," Wiggins said. "Not this year but I'll try next year. And I'll do it on these bikes because I'm going to stay at Sky.

"My time as a Grand Tour rider is over. I'll still ride them but not to win them. I'll sign up now for this event next year. If Sky doesn't take me to the Tour, I'll be back."

It has been reported that Wiggins will sign a contract until 2016 with Team Sky. He had been linked with a move to either Orica-GreenEdge or Garmin-Sharp if he had moved on.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/bradley-wiggins-target-paris-roubaix-hour-record-130180

mulletmaster

mike6 wrote:

mulletmaster wrote:

1st rest day and no doping scandals....happy days!
If the best thing that Sky can pull from the wreckage of this season is the ToC (from a subsequently unwanted rider), Austria and a TdF podium from their backup, can Dave even pretend it hasn't been an unmitigated disaster of a season?

Yes he can, quite easily. Tour favorit crashes and has to abandon, no one can legislate for that. Two weeks still to go in this Tour, a Sky rider in second place and plenty of the season left to win races. Not a bad season results wise, plenty of other teams would settle for it.

What about Saxo? I dont see you taking a pop at Riis because Bertie is out of the Tour. Sky have two riders in the top 14, where is Saxo's best placed rider?

Not taking a pop at anyone. I don't particularly like the entire slick political Sky spin machine but that's possibly because of my distaste for anything Murdoch related. That being said I wanted Froome to win the tour. Saxo will obviously be light on results this season as well due to misfortune on the part of the TdF but I don't expect Oleg to come out spouting nonsense management double speak, he is more likely to come out and call AC a wuss for not cycling on his broken leg

I just don't like this business of so many eggs being put in a tdf basket, it devalues the rest of the events and leaves you open to your season imploding in the event of bad luck such as what happened to CF. Obviously up to DB to run things how he sees fit, to be fair to him he has done ok thus far. I don't buy in to this whole GC podium being any kind of achievement for Richie porte though. How many genuine GC contenders does he actually have left to beat? He's getting chinned by Nibs who has a fairly weak squad and was getting dropped at will by the big boys as recenty as a month ago. Who else is there as a genuine GC contender to beat? A poor Valverde? Pinot who has only just remembered how to descend? TvG? I doubt Dave will be hiring an open topped bus to celebrate 2nd.

r0bh

mfin wrote:

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/bradley-wiggins-to-stay-with-team-sky-but-return-to-tour-de-france-looks-doubtful-30429173.html

Just mentioned this on another thread, can't see it mentioned anywhere else, and should bring about a bit of discussion for the rest day.

"It's true, I'm thinking about it (the Hour Record)," Wiggins said. "Not this year but I'll try next year. And I'll do it on these bikes because I'm going to stay at Sky.

"My time as a Grand Tour rider is over. I'll still ride them but not to win them. I'll sign up now for this event next year. If Sky doesn't take me to the Tour, I'll be back."

It has been reported that Wiggins will sign a contract until 2016 with Team Sky. He had been linked with a move to either Orica-GreenEdge or Garmin-Sharp if he had moved on.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/bradley-wiggins-target-paris-roubaix-hour-record-130180

See the transfer gossip thread: http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12969845

inseine

a propos of nothing......but nice.
Can be found at http://crayonfireshop.bigcartel.com/products

SCR Pedro

Great news for German cycling today. But what's this from Cyclingnews.com?

It will mark the return of a German title- sponsored German team to the pro peloton for the first time since 2019.

Did I miss something, or just fall asleep for a long time?

Also Kittel has dropped somewhat in my estimation after reading his implicit opinions on Contador in Bild Sport.

Rest day question: which german rider would you most like to have a beer or coffee with? I reckon Greipel could be quite a laugh

frenchfighter

“I train with Chris Froome everyday. I don’t really see him as a Tour winner. He’s more of a mate. Last thing he said to me was ‘you can have these guys, believe that’. He told other guys in the team to get around me, and I appreciate that. He sometimes has more belief in me than I do but he said before the crash that we could both be on the podium.”
-Porte.