Le Tour 2015

[Baz]

EDIT: Do not open this thread if you don't want to be "spoiled" as posts will be made at will!


It's that time of year again......

[Baz]

Some of this year's contenders.....

[look 171]

Love to see the little guy do something special, but he can't time trial. TJ is another one I love to see win the darn thing or at least get on the podium, but he can't climb with the best so their rival team mates will do him in on the mts. Deep down inside, I love to see another Belgian win but that aint gonna to happen. Heck, I don't even think they will get a stage win.

[Baz]

You know I'm happy to see the American riders stay in the top 10 or even top 20 throughout the event. If we win, that's obviously fantastic but just being in contention makes my day. Going to be a hell of a competition this year. I hope there are not as many injuries as lest year!

Teams - The riders, videos, photos - Tour de France 2015

[Baz]

Sagan and Cancellara....lol....

[greglepore]

Nibali has been under the radar until recently, but any win at this point is clouded in my mind by Astana's clear flaunting of being on a "program". I don't hold any illusions about the other folks, but the Giro performance of Astana was over the top.

TJ isn't a threat. Agree that Quintana is exciting but too light to tt. The showdown between Froome, Contador and Nibali has the potential to be epic if everyone stays healthy.

And whatever Tinkoff tweets is bound to be amusing.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Baz

Sagan and Cancellara....lol....

I never liked Sagan, but after that pinching thing, I have lost respect for him. So what he can do a little bit of everything well.

[jyl]

Very little TT this year. The course was basically designed for a French GC contender, and they are all climbers (think Pinot).

Just quickly scanning the stages, I see:
- Flat bunch sprints (4): stage 2 7 15 21. These seem for the pure sprinters. Unless they get caught out by cross-winds. And breaks have been succeeding more often this year, it seems.
- Cobbles (1):stage 4.
- Lumpy breakaways or climby sprints (7): stage 3 5 6 8 13 16 18. I didn't study closely enough to guess which is which.
- Climbers showdowns (7): stage 10 11 12 14 17 19 20. Most of all of these are MTFs.
- TT (2): stage 1 9. The ITT is only 14 km. The TTT is only 28 km. Not sure how much time a good ITTer or a good TTT team can gain over mediocre ones?

Quintana is a decent TTer. He will lose time but less than he could take on a couple mountain stages.

[Baz]

We are underway........

[jyl]

Quintana is 1:01 down on the leader, Dennis. The best GC contender's time, so far, is Pinot who is 0:42 down. Looks like Quintana will lose at most a minute, and more likely 30-40 sec, to the best of the other GC guys.

[bkreigsr]

What's that little black handle attached to the seat post of their tt bikes?
I'm thinking it's a grab bar for the support crew and the starting box officials.
It must be important or mandated, as it's just additional weight.
Could it also be housing the receivers/transmitters - I see a lot of them are 'connected' this year.
Bill K

[Ferraripete]

Originally Posted by Baz

Sagan and Cancellara....lol....

nice pic of peter!!!!

yes...it is that time again. vive le tour!!!!

[jyl]

That was a great ITT for Quintana. He loses only about 10 sec to Contador and Froome, about about 20 sec to Nibali and Pinot and TvG. I'm blown away that Pinot beat every other serious GC contender, had no idea he had a TT in him. Dennis must be over the moon, and Martin and Cancellara are certainly wishing the ITT had been longer.

[Texlexic]

LOL Curbs = "traffic furniture". I missed Phil and Paul. But especially Roll.

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by Texlexic

LOL Curbs = "traffic furniture". I missed Phil and Paul. But especially Roll.

Wait...what??? I have not tuned inyet, but No Phil Paul or Roll this year??? That can't be!

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

Wait...what??? I have not tuned in yet, but No Phil Paul or Roll this year??? That can't be!

Relax......they are in full force again this year.

[jyl]

Ouchy for Quintana and Nibali. Winds bite.

[Baz]

Tony Martin wasn't very happy at the end of today's stage....wow Cav.....

[jyl]

Cavs sprint was eff'd up. His train is in the lead, over to the right, Martin and Kwiatowski and someone else. But Renshaw and Cav are following Lotto Soudal's train instead. Then around 450 meters Renshaw starts his move, takes Cav up the left side, to the front, and drops him off at . . . 300 meters? So Cav gets to lead out Griepel and Sagan from 300 meters, not a recipe for success. I don't know if that was planned, if Renshaw went too early or ran out of gas too soon, or what. I think Griepel must have been delighted to have Cav breaking wind for 250 meters. I do think Cav could have tried harder to take third and put Martin in yellow. At least he could have kept his legs rotating and thrown his bike, just for show

[Baz]

^^ agree 100% John - good analysis

Hats off to Peter Sagan for his effort today!

Well I will enjoy seeing Spartacus (one of my fav. riders) wear the Maillot jaune tomorrow and after that - who knows?