Le Tour 2013

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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.

Come on Jens, one last hurrah

Quintana. What a climber that kid is. Jeez it's gonna be tough to stop him in the future.

Fascinating race/event and I do enjoy it - I can't be the only one though whose enjoyment is slightly tainted by wondering how many of the competitors are "clean". Bit nauseating today hearing ITV commentary team talking about the "prolific winner Valverde"!

Very good stage to finish what has actually been an excellent tour - the only thing lacking was a real competition for the GC but that just reflects how dominant Froome has been.

Happy for Quintana, and also for Rodriguez - the latter giving up on his stage victory chances to ensure a podium spot. Quintana certainly looks a formidable natural climber, who should challenge for future GT wins.

I feel a bit sorry for Rolland, who has done a lot of crazy attacks without getting anything to show for it. Overall the French have had a disappointing tour, with the only bright spots being Riblon's fantastic stage win, and the emergence of Peraud and 22 year-old Bardet (who has climbed very well).

Contador disappointed - it must be harder without blood transfusions.

Regarding the doping concerns, of course there are there. Analysis on this year's tour is somewhat contradictory - on the one hand the times produced by Froome on some of the climbs are suspicious, but on the other the general race outlook and the time gaps have been far closer to the 2010/11 editions (which were probably as clean as any - with regards to the GC anyway) than previous ones. Even today when Froome kicked up, he couldn't sustain his sprint up the hill for long in the manner of an Armstrong or Pantani and Quintana and Rodriguez rode back to him fairly comfortably.

Some of Froome's rides have looked uncomfortably good, and sky's dominance has at times raised eyebrows. It is a real shame and perhaps the most damning consequence of cycling's history with doping that each time we see an extraordinary performance we wonder "too good to be clean?" - this is not a new phenomenon because I remember most of us being very sceptical of Landis's ride up the mountain (although to be fair, nothing Froome has done has come close to that). ON the other hand, both Froome and sky have shown enough weakness to allay some of my fears: either they are playing a very subtle and well acted game (it should be noted that a few newspapers, including some serious ones, believe this to be the case), or whatever they are on works in a discontinuous manner, or they are actually clean.

Time will tell.

Egg chaser crossing boards so apologies if repeating previous but have the awards people set a precedent, will they now have to make Frome a Sir, was SBW knighted before the Olympics?

I think SBW was knighted after the Olympics Bedford, his was a combo of the TDF/his multiple gold medals in cycling over time.

Can't see Froome getting knighted.

As for the doping allegations, seriously don't think Sky or Froome are. Cycling will always have this stigma attached to it, because of the history, but I would bet lots of money on it now being one of the cleaner sports out there.

Also well done to Quintana, what a Tour for him. Can't wait for the Worlds this year, with the Columbian team including Quintana, Uran, Henao and Betancur. Gonna see some serious fireworks in that race!!!

Rodriguez worked his way into 3rd well as well. Contador is the major disappointment of the Tour for sure

Froome looked suspiciously good at times, but part of that is probably the lack of opposition. Contador has lost his edge, Schleck seems to have had a mental breakdown, Evans is finished, Valverde was never that good, Mollema got dropped by the leaders on pretty much every climb, and still spent a week in second place.

Lowlandbrit wrote:Froome looked suspiciously good at times, but part of that is probably the lack of opposition. Contador has lost his edge, Schleck seems to have had a mental breakdown, Evans is finished, Valverde was never that good, Mollema got dropped by the leaders on pretty much every climb, and still spent a week in second place.

To be honest it was a bit of a relief to see Froome looking a bit more human this last week. A couple of monumental efforts to establish the lead, followed by a drained man looking to hold on to that lead is obviously very different to the way various riders of the recent and not so recent past would put in those monumental shifts again and again and again.

Despite the hefty winning margin for Froome it has been a great tour, with some superb battles for the lower podium places and possibly the best flat stage I can remember!

Been some brilliant racing this Tour for sure Big, some great stages!

And to top it all off tonight there is the Champs-Elysees, at night! Should be beautiful, lets hope Cav can make it 5(?) in a row!!

Sagan sporting a green goatee tonight. What a hero that guy is

Wow what a win for Kittel. Best sprinter in this Tour, no doubt. A great final stage, to cap off a great 100th edition of the Tour.

Bravo Chris Froome  

Although looking at that sprint Greipel has mucked that up big time. Had the wheel of Kittel, but reacted way way too slow to Kittel going

Disappointed for Cav but no complaints from him surely... Kittel was just the better man and looks a formidable force.

Boardman thinks they'll change the green jersey rules since Sagan was only the fourth best sprinter.......wouldn't agree with that. It's for the most consistent.


Kittel again, take a bow son.

Allez Froome Dog, far more impressive performance than Wiggo last year, impressive as that was.

Quintana is one to watch, and I wonder if Sagan could now win the Worlds.

As for BMC, a Tour to forget. A Tour too far for Cadel?

Dave. wrote:Boardman thinks they'll change the green jersey rules since Sagan was only the fourth best sprinter.......wouldn't agree with that. It's for the most consistent.


Kittel again, take a bow son.

Allez Froome Dog, far more impressive performance than Wiggo last year, impressive as that was.

Quintana is one to watch, and I wonder if Sagan could now win the Worlds.

As for BMC, a Tour to forget. A Tour too far for Cadel?

On the Sagan/Green point from Boardman, it's a bit to do with the course, this course lacked the usual number of pure sprint stages, thus suited Sagan to a tee. I expect it'll be a lot closer next year

Cadel had a half decent Giro, but as is being shown now it's just not possible to complete the Giro well, and then carry on that form into the Tour anymore. The Giro is far too punishing for that to happen.

Aye, a lot of the Giro riders were nowhere.

And a disaster for Pinot, not so much Pinot Noir, but a bottle of plonk.

And Tommy V....  

3 podiums in successive Grand Tours for Rodriguez is impressive (ones he's ridden), such a shame he can't time trial to save his life.

Onto the Vuelta and Worlds we go. These Columbians are gonna be something tasty at the Worlds this year

Great tour. Well done to froome. And a massive well done to tony martin and geraint thomas to even finish after that first day. Hardest sport in the world with the hardest men in the world

The green jersey hasn't been about the best sprinter for a while - certainly going back to the days of Zabel... Similarly the polka dots has rarely been about the best climber (although this year it was won by the 2nd best certainly).

I think there are a few too many points for intermediate sprints, but I'm not sure that would have changed that much.

Kittel looks strong, although two of his stage wins could/should have been Greipel's; the latter seems to get himself into good positions, and then mess it up. It is good for sprinting that there are now 3 guys at the top who can all win sprints.

In terms of the quality of racing, this tour has been right up there: we've had interesting flat stages, crazy breakaways in the mountains, some good racing amongst the GC contenders, and fiercely contested sprints. Apart from the lack of competition for the GC (which doesn't IMO detract from the individual stages) I'm not sure what else you could want.

Kudos to the organisers also for coming up with an interesting route. The 'short hard stage' we had on Saturday should be repeated.

spencerclarke wrote:Great tour. Well done to froome. And a massive well done to tony martin and geraint thomas to even finish after that first day. Hardest sport in the world with the hardest men in the world

It isn't. I admire them greatly, heck I cycle myself so know just how hard it is, but it certainly isn't the hardest.

Mike Selig wrote:The green jersey hasn't been about the best sprinter for a while - certainly going back to the days of Zabel... Similarly the polka dots has rarely been about the best climber (although this year it was won by the 2nd best certainly).

I think there are a few too many points for intermediate sprints, but I'm not sure that would have changed that much.

Kittel looks strong, although two of his stage wins could/should have been Greipel's; the latter seems to get himself into good positions, and then mess it up. It is good for sprinting that there are now 3 guys at the top who can all win sprints.

In terms of the quality of racing, this tour has been right up there: we've had interesting flat stages, crazy breakaways in the mountains, some good racing amongst the GC contenders, and fiercely contested sprints. Apart from the lack of competition for the GC (which doesn't IMO detract from the individual stages) I'm not sure what else you could want.

Kudos to the organisers also for coming up with an interesting route. The 'short hard stage' we had on Saturday should be repeated.

Very much agree with you there. Love cheering Cav on when he wins, but also good to have some genuine competition and for those wins to be a bit more meaningful. If by next year we can get another all round sprinter to take on Sagan for the green jersey then so much the better.