Valverde ain't starting. Team took him off the tour squad.
Valverde ain't starting. Team took him off the tour squad.
I don't know about the Schlecks, they're good but I don't know if this is their year yet, it won't be long though ...
Sounds like Contador is a good bet, but I'm not going to count out my man Cadel Evans.
Honestly, it won't be surprising to see one or a few of the favorites mentioned to get busted for PEDs, as that's been the case the past few years, so that might ultimately thin out the competition a little bit.
Basso didn't look too bad in the Giro. Certainly not a favorite, but for being as strong as he was ~ 3 years ago, surprised his name not mentioned yet.
Anyone who counts Armstrong out at this point is kidding themselves. I agree, he is the underdog, but he has taken this very seriously and if you see how he races, he is not afraid of any one!!!
Lance. He has the best team, a team that will follow him (not Contador) to the ends of the Earth, knows the race and his body better than anybody, and has the best "poker face" in the business. Nobody has seen more than 75% of his current ability thus far this season.
Ask any rider in the Pro peloton going to the TdF and they will put Lance at the top of their list. Age is not even an issue.
If Contador starts beating him in TTs and up the mtns, the team is not going to ride for Lance.
I do agree that he appeared to be holding back in the Giro, esp. the last week.
I agree with you there.
Basso has not been mentioned because he is not riding the tour. Liquigas will be led by Roman Kreuzinger, Franco Pellizotti, and Nibali.
Lance and Cancellara are too heavy to dominate in the mountains. Both are great time trialers, but Lance is not in Cancellara\'s league at the moment. Cancellara will work for Andy Schleck in the mountains, as will Frank. But will Lance and Levi do the same for Alberto? Even though Contador is the best rider in the world, he\'s going to need the support of the entire Astana team to defeat Saxo Bank. There may end up being two factions on the Astana team in some of the mountain stages.
Team Saxo Bank (aka \"Team CSC\" in 2008) has a far greater sense of team spirit than Astana. These guys actually like each other, they know how to work together, and they are very strong riders. They won last year\'s tour largely on their team tactics in the mountains. I think there\'s a good chance that they\'ll do the same thing in the mountains in this year.
As someone has already pointed out, Andy Schleck is not a great time trialer, but then neither is Alberto. The key to victory will hinge around Andy Schleck\'s team being able to exploit Astana\'s interpersonal conflicts.
By the way, I\'m deeply hurt that no one on this thread has acknowledged that I made a great call on who would win the tour last year:
\"Carlos Sastre. Rides with the strongest team, CSC. Has kept a very low profile so far, but is now 49 seconds behind the overall leader, who is his teammate Frank Schleck. My prediction is that Sastre proves to be dominant over the remaining mountain stages, including l\'Alpe d\'Huez.\"
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2586843&page=0
I think I will still pick Contador. Isnt he owed some payback from Valverde's team.
R.P.M wrote:
I think I will still pick Contador. Isnt he owed some payback from Valverde's team.
I would not be surprised if Caisse d'Epargne lend a fellow spaniard to his cause, since there is no way anyone from that team can win now with Valverde out. Pereiro won't win again either, that was a healthy dose of luck the first time.
Who knows a lot of things can happen, but Contador is still odds on fav.
Contador
Evans
Armstrong
Sastre
F. Schleck
Gesing
A. Schleck
Kloeden
Menchov
Kreuziger
It's LANCE.
The Spaniards will be (typiclly) doped out.
What is the distance of th Tour de France?
Where are you guys getting all of your info from? Like runners get info from LetsRun,Flotrack,Usatf,TrackAndFeildNews. What sites are about cycling like The Tour de France?
Contador, Contador, Contador, Contador.
Velonews and Versus' websites have pretty good Tour pages. Alot of information on the stages, but you kind of have to follow along throughout the season to know about the riders. Most of the squads haven't been finalized yet.
No Calves wrote:
Lance. He has the best team, a team that will follow him (not Contador) to the ends of the Earth, knows the race and his body better than anybody, and has the best "poker face" in the business. Nobody has seen more than 75% of his current ability thus far this season.
Ask any rider in the Pro peloton going to the TdF and they will put Lance at the top of their list. Age is not even an issue.
Have you asked them? Lance will not win. He is going to be a domestique for Contador, and Contador will win.
I want one of the Schleck's to win, but it ain't happening yet.
Next Stage wrote:
Velonews and Versus' websites have pretty good Tour pages. Alot of information on the stages, but you kind of have to follow along throughout the season to know about the riders. Most of the squads haven't been finalized yet.
Versus' page for the Giro didn't have the bonus time checkpoints or finishes listed for stages until they were the next stage.
Is there a list of all the bonus time, sprint point, and mountain point checkpoints for the TdF?
Try thi:
It's the official site. It has some more detailed info. I haven't seen anything yet about specific time bonuses or anything of that nature.
the tour abolished time bonuses a year or two ago...as far as I know that's still the case