Le Tour 2013

It's nearly time for the 100th edition of the Tour de France so where is everyones money for the biggest race of the lot?

Yellow - Chris Froome. If he can stay upright then I only really see Contador as the real competition.

Green - Sagan. Would love to back Cav, but Sagan is a freak.

White - Teejay. Not really sure on this one, was a toss up between him and Quintana.

Polka dot - Rodriguez. Total guess. Could be anyone.

Team - I'll go with Sky but with no real confidence.

Yellow - Has to be Froome really, Contador doesn't look on top form and hasnt all year.

Green - All depends on the intermediate sprints. Sagan can obviously compete on the hilly stages where Cav cant, but there is no doubt Cav is the quicker sprinter. Gonna go Cav.

Polka Dot - Quintana. Hell of a young Columbian rider, a good bet for a Top 5 I reckon.

Young riders - Quite fancy Van Garderen but going to go for Thibaut Pinot

Team - Sky.

What an absolute farce of a stage

Well that was... something.

Well done bus driver  

Wasn't really the driver's fault though.

Nice to see Kittel in yellow though, good guy.

How wasn't it the drivers fault? Not really sure what happened but the whole thing was a shambles, feel sorry or Cav having the opportunity to wear yellow taken from him.

What was more worrying was that they planned to have a sprint finish at 3k out, with a kink in the road a mere few metres after the finish.

Shambles.

Lumbering_Jack wrote:How wasn't it the drivers fault? Not really sure what happened but the whole thing was a shambles, feel sorry or Cav having the opportunity to wear yellow taken from him.

What was more worrying was that they planned to have a sprint finish at 3k out, with a kink in the road a mere few metres after the finish.

Shambles.

Yes truly pathetic and you can also mention the falls that it generated in a confused peloton.

The driver was meant to stop before the arch so that it could be elevated or something like that.

Well a casualty from today was Tony Martin, who has been having really rotten luck the past few years. Bad for Cav in that he loses a great teammate but good for Wiggins in that it will hamper Martin's build up to the World ITT

Tomorrow looks perfect for Sagan. But he looked fairly banged up as well. Would expect Quintana/Rodriguez/Valverde to try something cheeky tomorrow

Seems like Tony Martin will race today somehow!!

Cav making a good point on twitter as to why only the time was neutralised from yesterday's race but not the points as well. Saying was it only GC riders affected

One stage in and we've already had a Cav whine. The TDF has truly started.

Let's go Sagan.

Its a whine but its more than valid DJ whether you like him or not.

Yesterday was not the greatest day for the race organisers. Stage should have been neutralised at 15km to go with the bus under the finish

Why not just award the stage to Cav?

Haha should be Sagan's stage today mate, so you'll get your wish there unless someone fancies a real break for it

Wow what a stage and victory by Bakelandts.

Hopefully Millar might get yellow

Geraint Thomas has a small fracture in his pelvis, took people to help him on his bike today, what a warrior

Geraint Thomas is really struggling. If he can get through this first week and make it to the rest day and end up contributing to help Froome he is a bloody hero.

Stage 3 today, tips?

Sagan was struggling, not sure about him, gone for someone like chavanal or albasini attacking

God knows John after the Bakelants win yesterday

Still fancy Sagan but maybe Boasson Hagen could pick up a stage today

Sagan outsprinted by Simon Gerrans  

Liggett messed up that one. Declared Sagan had won when it was clear to see it was close and if anything Gerrans had it.

Been watching the past few days - does he normally make that many mistakes (granted the Bakelandts one was all over)

surprising. very surprising...

I see that Mr. D. Millar was in his standard interview mode yesterday.

Out of interest does anyone know what happened to Hushovd? I had it in my head that he was riding the Tour this year. Was I mistaken or has he had to pull out? I'd been looking forward to seeing him up against Sagan.

He just missed out on the team Big. Is leading BMC at the Tour of Austria instead

Guess BMC wanted to fully support Evans/Van Garderen

Great win for OGE.
Apaz fastest ttt time of all time!
Suspicious as ever I am, but well done, some big scalps taken there.

As TTTs go in Grand Tours, it was very short, very flat and very untechnical. Little wonder it was the fastest.

The Greenedge team is built for a stage like this too, that's one powerful team for a TTT this flat and fast.

You seen their team? When puncheurs with a good sprint like Gerrans and Albasini are probably your weaker guys, you're going to go well on a stage like this.

djlovesyou wrote:As TTTs go in Grand Tours, it was very short, very flat and very untechnical. Little wonder it was the fastest.

The Greenedge team is built for a stage like this too, that's one powerful team for a TTT this flat and fast.

You seen their team? When puncheurs with a good sprint like Gerrans and Albasini are probably your weaker guys, you're going to go well on a stage like this.

+1
Am actually amazed they didnt win by a bigger margin considering they have the most famous track aussie champs in there (o'grady, meyer and lancaster all are olympic champions ... I think)

I like the fact that contador didnt lose much and that quintana has only lost 20 secs. Might make things a bit more interesting come the pyrennees.

Olly wrote:He just missed out on the team Big. Is leading BMC at the Tour of Austria instead

Guess BMC wanted to fully support Evans/Van Garderen

I can see where they are coming from, but think it's a shame. He remains one of my favourite riders, and I'd love to see him back at the Tour and given free reign to do his thing.

Well done to OGE on the TTT. Irrespective of the composition and course it's a good result for any team to get a stage on their first tour in my opinion. Plus today may go some way to alleviating pressure from OGEs sponsors. I know that sponsors generally like decent airtime, but they can't have been too pleased with the airing they got on Saturday.

Good sprint win from Cav after an excellent lead-out. Left Greipel and Sagan in his dust, and EBH took second by slipstreaming Cav.

Big crash (again) in the peloton in the last couple of hundred metres

Lucky Cav won today.

He would have ripped his poor teammates to shreds after that one had he not.

good win for Cav today. His team got the lead-out spot-on, and when that happens he's all but impossible to beat. Sagan looks nailed on for the Green, will just get too many points on the hillier stages (he could conceivably take it even without winning a stage).

Tomorrow could (should?) see another bunch sprint. I'd like to see Kittel being able to compete in this one, he's probably the closest to Cav in pure speed at the moment. Greipel just seems to make too many mistakes, Boassen-Hagen and Sagan don't really have the straight line speed, Goss hasn't had a particularly bright year either...

Didn't comment on yesterday's stage, but really there's not a lot to say. Well done OGE, great win for them. Sky had a very good day (and for them it's almost certainly a good thing they're not in yellow yet), but with the course the way it was there were no significant time gaps (at least among the GC riders - with the exception of Rolland maybe). I don't think the Tour will be decided by small gaps this year: either Contador will get rid of Froome in the mountains and win by a decent margin, or Froome will stay with him or drop him, in which case Froome will take it comfortably.

Must say Froome looks in very good shape...

Tomorrow is as pretty much a nailed on sprint as you are gonna get this tour I reckon MFC.

Slightly surprised by Sagan's sprinting so far. Beaten by Gerrans and EBH now. Either he hasnt recovered from the crash or he isnt in the best shape. Still think Cav has a shot at getting green from him.

Froome should win I think. Been in the best form all year and looks really really sharp so far. I'd say actually Evans looks the best of the rest so far (although dont expect him to do too much I dont think). Really want to see how Quintana goes in the mountains though. Him/Valverde could cause problems I think.

One thing it wont be is boring like last year. Froome will attack as he wants to win stages not ride wheels. Could see some epics between him and the rest come the Alps

Sagan beaten by Gerrans was a massive surprise, EBH less so IMO. EBH is a pretty good sprinter in his own right, and has come closest to Cav on previous occasions. He also benefitted from getting in Cav's slipstream (though he was barely clinging on). One thing that has struck me is how poor Sagan's tactics have been on both occasions, giving himself way way too much to do. Having said that we tend to forget he's still very young and on a learning curve.

Just looked at tomorrow, would be very surprised if it wasn't a sprint. Cav will want more, hopefully Kittel will get involved, Sagan and Greipel chasing their first wins, OGE will do some work to control the race, think the breakaway has no chance...

Froome looks great I agree. He will attack (we've seen that already), which will make the race more exciting than last year, though I'm not sure it will make it any less one-sided...

Gotta fancy Cav for tomorrow again really. This is usually the time he picks up although we know Greipel can pull it out the bag at any point!

You're right in that it probably will be the Froome show but there are a lot more viable challengers this year for sure. Especially seeming as the only ITT is hilly as well the real pure climbers like Rodriguez/Valverde shouldnt lose too much time. I dont think it'll be a procession like Wiggins's last year although I think Froome will win by a decent margin

Greipel will have been very disappointed with yesterday's sprint - his positioning was OK at 300m (just behind Cav and to the right, with EBH to the left) but he simply hadn't got the speed to mount even half a challenge. That he finished behind EBH and Sagan (who was out on his own on the right of the road) in a fairly 'pure' sprint (i.e. flat and straight) show a lack of top end.

Yes, I was surprised Greipel didn't do better yesterday. It's a shorter and I think flatter stage today though, so maybe he'll have a bit more of a kick left come the end.

Apparently windy today - tail wind for the first half but then a strong cross wind for the last 50km or so. Might see one of the GC teams try to split some echelons off if one of the big contenders gets too far down the pack.

Still most likely a bunch sprint, and that means more hard work for Cav's lead out guys.

Realistically speaking, what chance does Impey have of winning the whole thing?

kingraf wrote:Realistically speaking, what chance does Impey have of winning the whole thing?  

Below 1% I'd say but wearing yellow for one day is a defining moment for any cyclist. Hope he enjoys that. Well deserved  

True, Ive got a better rapport with Robbie Hunter, but Impey seems a nice enough bloke

I'd say Impey's only chance is if everyone else drops out.

Good win for Greipel today. Cav obviously lost some energy re-joining the bunch, but he never got placed well in the actual sprint and went too early

It's good for Impey in that he's now the first South African to wear the Yellow and not just 'The guy Theo Bos grabbed hold of and nearly killed in a sprint in the Tour of Turkey'. Far better claim to fame.

Looks like Cav teammates got it today. He's got to learn to take the rough with the smooth.

Awful day for Astana, Brajkovic looking badly hurt and taking a packet and Kessiakoff not finishing. Maybe it'll give Mr Birdsong a chance to go for a decent GC, but they still have chances at stage wins.

Is it concievable that Sagan could win the green jersey without winning a stage?!  

Olly wrote:Is it concievable that Sagan could win the green jersey without winning a stage?!  

Happens a lot. Sean Kelly did it 1989, Zabel did it twice in his 6 wins and Hushovds two Green Jerseys have come without him winning a stage.

Ah right didn't know that DJ, thought it would be quite a weird thing if it did happen, obviously not!

He looks pretty nailed on to get it already barring any disasters

Interesting stage profile today - cat 3 and cat 2 climbs inthe middle of the stage then a long descent and a fairly short and sharp cat 3 30km from the end.

Two men (well, one plus the machine that is Jens Voigt) well ahead in the early going. I'd expect a few other puncheur/roleur types to try and spring up to them on the main climbs and for a much bigger group to be off the front in the later stages.

Depends a bit on the composition and size of the group whether they will be allowed to compete the finale - OGE will be looking to keep the yellow, so will have an eye on managing the gap, while Cannondale might fancy Sagan's chances if they can distance the likes of Cav and Greipel on the climbs.

Chances of Impey remaining in yellow today anyone? Is he likely to hold on/get back over those climbs or has EBH got a shot at a day in yellow before the Pyrenees tomorrow? Cheers!

It's about the same difficulty as the Corsican stages, and Impey managed to stay in the lead group for those, so he'd certainly have a chance of defending the jersey if there isn't a big breakaway winner.

Climbs aren't tough enough or close enough to the end of the stage for the GC guys to try anything, especially with true mountains starting tomorrow, so I don't think the pace will be super fast. Actually, the more I think about it the more likely a break will stay away.

Cannondale on the march all the way I reckon. Sagan for stage with sprinters all over the mountains. Hoping EBH can have a crack at the stage later on.