Tour de France starts today

[Pete]

Tour de France starts today.

Watch it on NBC Sports this morning at 0800.

http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html

Velonews run down on the GC contenders.

"Rating the Tour de France favorites, from W(iggins) to Z"

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/06/news/rating-the-tour-de-france-favorites-from-wiggins-to-z_225068

The money appears to be on Evans or Wiggins. We shall see. Lots of surprises out on the road.

[Abu Jack]

Things I'm watching:

Peter Sagan vs Mark Cavendish. After Sagan's domination in the Tour of California will he be able take some wins against Cav in the sprints?

Garmin Sharp - Although they are a US team I was never a big fan because they didn't seem to have GC threats. After Ryder's win in the Giro that's changed.

Also watching the other Americans - Chris Horner (Radio Shack), Levi Leipheimer (OPQS), Christian Vandevelde (Garmin) Tom Danielson (Garmin) and Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing)

[twistedsquid]

Over 100k of time trialing and not as hilly this year so the climbers are not favored...Sagan is a beast and would love to see him work Cavendish over...Ryder and Wiggins may podium but i think Cadel repeats...And Big George sets the record for most tours...Leipheimer will crash at least once...ahh...Le Tour

[Abu Jack]

Sagan gets his first win!. Was pulling for Spartucus but, knew he couldn't hold off Sagan.

Can't wait to see Sagan go up against Cav. Maybe tomorrow.

[twistedsquid]

Sagan get his second win! What a beast! and he's only 22....so its Sagan 2...Cav 1...hmmm...this young man is STRONG!

[twistedsquid]

Sagan again! The new eddy Merckx? powerful young man

[Abu Jack]

I hated to see the beating Garmin took yesterday. I was hoping they would do well in the GC. Waiting to see how things shake out with Radio Shack. Maybe they will rally around Chris Horner and support him in the GC.

It'll be interesting to see how Sagan does in the mountains.

[twistedsquid]

great stage today....team sky killed it ...i had nibali for the win and menchov to take yellow...wrong on both but decent enough rides...leipheimer got dropped on the final climb as well as young yank tj van gaarderen...sagan got dropped...cadel threw it at wiggins with little effect and both finished together...chapeau to froom for the stage...that stork's got a kick!....sky owned everybody today...wiggins in yellow

[Abu Jack]

Sky (Wiggins and Froome) are looking harder and hardet to beat. Especially after the dominant performance yesterday in the ITT. We'll see if they can maintain the good luck and performance over the next two weeks. Wiggins keep saying the he is the GC leader for Sky. I wonder if that will change at all if Froome pushes him a little?

[Pete]

......... Wiggins keep saying the he is the GC leader for Sky. I wonder if that will change at all if Froome pushes him a little?

Froome is there for Wiggins in the Mountains.

The other GC riders have to put time on Wiggins in the Mountains. Those guys have to stay with Wiggins and make alternating attacks to try and crack him.

But I can see a case where after a number of attacks Wiggins might be about to crack and Sky lets Froome off the leash to fly up the hill and put a number of minutes into everyone else. After all, the goal is to win the TdF. The other GC contenders have to watch both Froome and Wiggins. They will have to match attacks from both.

There appears to be a great crop of young riders coming up this year. Names that will be as famous in a few years as the ones we are used to now.

[Pete]

Tacks on the road at the top of the final climb on Stage 14.

Number of punctures to include Evans, the winner from last year.

The Peloton under the direction of Wiggins and Team Sky sit up and free wheel waiting for the Evans group to catch up and then all finish together.

Of course during all that the Peloton did have to chase down the one guy who didn't get the word.

Any other pro sport that shows such acts of gentlemanship?

[Guymullins]

There seem to be a surprising amount of bicycle race fans here, so I think you all may enjoy a historical photograph of this great race. Here , for your delectation, is a picture of the Tour de France 1944.

[twistedsquid]

Tacks on the road at the top of the final climb on Stage 14.

Number of punctures to include Evans, the winner from last year.

The Peloton under the direction of Wiggins and Team Sky sit up and free wheel waiting for the Evans group to catch up and then all finish together.

Of course during all that the Peloton did have to chase down the one guy who didn't get the word.

Any other pro sport that shows such acts of gentlemanship?

This was a great stage to watch, despite the tacks being thrown...Sanchez jumped hard from the breakaway and soloed in...the best way to win a stage IMO...and the act of Team Sky slowing the peleton speaks volumes of the sport...the peleton has certain "Entente Cordials" and one is that no rider takes advantage of a crash or misfortune of another...Wiggins did the right thing and Rolland (the frenchman who disregarded the protocol and attacked on the descent) was notified by race radio and went off anyway...Rollands move threatened the podium and forced teams to finally chase, making it difficult to observe the gentleman's agreement and making it difficult for Evans to get back on...a douchy move by the frenchman which made him no friends in the peleton im sure...but he's French, and thats for another thread

[Pete]

Pierre Rolland says he’s sorry for attacking as flats plague peloton

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/07/news/pierre-rolland-says-hes-sorry-for-attacking-as-flats-plague-peloton_229908

"FOIX, France (VN) — One just doesn’t break The Rules.

A breach of the unwritten, hallowed rules of cycling has earned Pierre Rolland scorn from the second that he attacked a field reeling from punctures caused by tacks thrown into the road.

Rolland said he was sorry for attacking on the descent of the Péguère, claiming he didn’t know what had transpired behind him....................."

[twistedsquid]

Pierre Rolland says he’s sorry for attacking as flats plague peloton

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/07/news/pierre-rolland-says-hes-sorry-for-attacking-as-flats-plague-peloton_229908

"FOIX, France (VN) — One just doesn’t break The Rules.

A breach of the unwritten, hallowed rules of cycling has earned Pierre Rolland scorn from the second that he attacked a field reeling from punctures caused by tacks thrown into the road.

Rolland said he was sorry for attacking on the descent of the Péguère, claiming he didn’t know what had transpired behind him....................."

Yes I read that as well...like Wiggins suggests, only Rolland knows the truth...hmmmm...seems only Rolland didnt know what had happened in the peleton...and he was caught once and attacked again...hmmmm...oh well give him the benefit of the doubt...more to come I'm sure

[Abu Jack]

Well, I've been travelling a little and didn't get to watch as much of the tour as I'd like. I did see yesterday's (18) and today's stages (19):

1. Saw the dog incident yesterday. I can understand Gilbert being pissed but to come out and acutually say he wanted to hit that little girl and her parents? I thought that was a little bit over the top.

2. Wiggin's lead out of Cavendish was of one the classiest moves I have seen in cycling. To hear it from Cav, Cav had to almost beg his Director to be allowed to sprint. When he asked to be able to sprint, Wiggins was the first to say yeah, I'll support you. Chapeau Wiggo!

3. The speed that Cav generated to win the stage was unbelievable. He has to be the favorite for Olympic gold, if the race comes down to a bunch sprint.

4. Wiggin's ITT win was impressive. In my view all the time Froome spent in the wind protecting Wiggins really set Wiggins up for success. It'll be interesting to see what happens on Sky going forward.

[Abu Jack]

I heard a quote where Cadel Evans said that Wiggins "didn't have much of a history in 3 week races".....He does now.