Whos gonna win Le Tour 06?

Bullensroad

I think Val Verde has a good chance with the other guys now out of the race.
Who do you guys think will win it now?

Oh i guess Mark Scanlon isnt in the race this year i saw him last week out training in North Roscommon beside Keadue someone else in the Ag2r gear was with him taller maybe Deignan and my dad saw someone fitting that description cycling in Arigna on the hills on Saturday. Theres some great climbs there but no cyclists ever seem to cycle on them. Hopefully some day well have someone to win a tour stage.

crashoveroid

im going to give a longshot and say G hincappe

milod

Hushvod seems undaunted by that arm injury... and he's very consistent - he might just make it on the averages...

Also, Armstrong has tipped Valverde but unless he's saving his dodgy knee for the 'shteep hills' he's not showing too much form...

da_deadman

Poor Hushovd. He totally surprised everyone by winning the prologue, then gets badly cut in a freak accident at the stage finish for stage one, and on stage two when he was in a great position (and could have threatened McEwen for the win) his foot comes out the pedal and he did brilliantly to hang on for third place and not lose a couple of places or fall off. His aggresive start to the Tour has given him a good start for the green jersey.

As for yellow... I'm sticking with my original pick: Ullrich

I hope it's Valverde in the end. I think he has possibly the best team around him. Maybe the Discovery Channel is a stronger team but they do not have any one single leader to unite behind (Hincapie or Popvych or Savoldelli or Azevedo?), whereas Valverde has all his team riding for him.

I just hope there are fireworks in the mountains. This is a Tour that should be a free-for-all, starting today with that final climb (Cauberg) to the finish line...

bobk

some junky no doubt...

kincsem

Sio

onesoma

no idea who's going to win - which is the best thing about it this year. more drug scandals please.

anyone in no-tv-land or bored-in-work-land can recommend me some sites to follow the tour? cyclingnews is my only source- some clips would be nice though.

Pherekydes

Valverde is out. Wide open this year. Up for grabs.

Jnealon

Impossible to predict although I'd like to see big George do well.
Kloden might be in with a chance
I rekon casper or Bradley Wiggins may come last

da_deadman

Poor Valverde took a terrible fall yesterday but Erik Dekker must have landed directly on his face. There is a picture of him after the crash in the Independent Sport section - looks very nasty.

Right so, now who do I support? I'm hoping Andreas Kloeden and Oscar Perreiro Sio can both do a good ride but the likes of Landis, Leipheimer, Evans, Hincaipie and Popvych are looking good now. Even Garzelli could be a contender for a top five finish yet.

Onesoma - the eurosport website also has live updates and I think you can log into the tv feed and listen to the commentary (I could do that last year anyway). But I find the cyclingnews website is pretty good for the live coverage. Or the official website www.letour.fr.

kincsem

kincsem wrote:

Sio

Its not true. I didn't push Valverde.

But I have a small bet on Sio at 180/1.

milod

onesoma wrote:

no idea who's going to win - which is the best thing about it this year. more drug scandals please.

anyone in no-tv-land or bored-in-work-land can recommend me some sites to follow the tour? cyclingnews is my only source- some clips would be nice though.

some good stuff here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/default.stm

still hopeful for hushvod...

sabiki2

I think Kloden is a serious contender and someone who has kept a low profile in the first week so we still don't really know what shape he's in. I hope we'll see him come to the fore in the mountains this week.

Just looked at the odds at paddy power, Kloden is second favourite at 5-1, Floyd Landis is the favourite, but G. Hincapie represents good odds at 18-1.

da_deadman

Yeah I agree that Kloeden is in a good position - he is only 50 seconds down on Floyd and is ahead of most of the other favourites and his team is clearly in great shape.

Also Oscar Perreiro Sio has kept an even quieter profile but is not too far off the pace. He made his debut in 2004 at the Tour, rode conservatively and finished 10th, then last year he was really aggressive and attacked all over the place and finished 10th overall again (including a win and a second place on two of the Pyrenean stages). Right now he is in 18th place - 2:57 behind Honchar. If he finds the right mix of aggression and conserving energy then he could be a serious podium contender.

But only Leipheimer has lost a lot of time so far. Even the climbers like Simoni, Mayo, Zubeldia, Rujano are all within possible striking range.

It's great that there is such anticipation leading into the mountains - there hasn't been such an open Tour since .... who knows? Here's hoping for some real fireworks in the Pyrenees and Alps

liamo333

What happend to Basso?

cerebus

liamo333 wrote:

What happend to Basso?

Ivan may (or may not!) have been a very naughty boy.

sabiki2

da_deadman wrote:

Here's hoping for some real fireworks in the Pyrenees and Alps

Well wasn't today a teriffic stage! One of the most interesting and exciting stages in quite a while. Looking forward to Phil Ligget's "Suil Siar" summary tonight on TG4.

da_deadman wrote:

Also Oscar Perreiro Sio has kept an even quieter profile but is not too far off the pace. If he finds the right mix of aggression and conserving energy then he could be a serious podium contender.

You picked out the right man there. Do you think he'll maintain his advantage?

da_deadman

Yeah Sabiki, I was keeping an eye on Perreiro Sio; I thought that he rode brilliantly last year. I'd love to have seen Valverde attacking the Tour this year but I'm glad Perreiro is taking his chance.

As for holding on into Paris - I don't know. There is another tough day today and a long time trial on Saturday. If he doesn't lose time to Sastre, Kloeden and Evans today then he has a great chance.

But I'm sure there are some people really hoping that he manages to hold on, right kincsem?

kincsem wrote:

Its not true. I didn't push Valverde.

But I have a small bet on Sio at 180/1.

ednwireland

wtf is happening the best tour in years landis gains back the 8 mins he lost yesterday absolutely unbeleivable ride (i'm just hoping he tests clean - its so depressing to sya that) just a thought if this is post epo tour racing bring it on - cant wait for the next two stages

fobster

By the way they were talking on eurosport about landis, he doesn't strike me as the kind of sportsman to use drugs.

They were saying on Eurosport that when he was younger he used to sneak out at night and cycle up to 100km and the parents only found out when his dad followed him one night, obviously thinking he was up to something anti-social and the like, but no he was cycling. Now that's determination.

But yeah he was just so determined to claw back the time he lost yesterdayand the other thing, when he actually broke away from his main rivals, kloden et al, after 50km they didn't seem too worried, but yeah what a turnaround.

And now he's third, 30 seconds behind Perreiro in first and with Landis being a good time-trialist it is too close to call.

Aoibheann

Hats off to Landis, I wasn't at all surprised that he attacked though because he is just one of those characters that will not give up. Ever. Absolutely brilliant though still to take so much time back after so visibly suffering yesterday. Looked so comfortable, climbed well, descends beautifully, he got down the final climb to the finish in no time. And that pumped fist at the line said it all.. the guy is so determined, and with the time trial still to come, Perreiro is bound to be worried. Allez Landis!

Davey Devil

I have Landis at 14/1 since before the big two were taken out. He's given me unbelievable value for my bet, it's been such a rollercoaster. I wasn't a great fan of cycling before but this year I'm hooked. Fingers crossed he still has enough in the tank after what I think one of the greatest sporting comebacks of all time today.