Tour de France 2015 thread **Please use spoiler tags before midnight**

D9Male

I heard it was unlikely Kiriyenka would ride. but I won't believe the team is final until I see them on the start ramp in Utrecht.

Arequipa

Alberto Contador

Was watching gcn earlier & according to them Contador was evenly matched by Quintana in the Route de Sud & only gained time on the decent..

Berti was saying he still hadnt fully recovered from the Giro...

Saying that there's all sorts of bluffing before a big Tour...

Lusk_Doyle

Arequipa wrote: »

Was watching gcn earlier & according to them Contador was evenly matched by Quintana in the Route de Sud & only gained time on the decent..

Berti was saying he still hadnt fully recovered from the Giro...

Saying that there's all sorts of bluffing before a big Tour...

Being evenly matched when neither were flat out ascending is of no consequence in the grand (tour) scheme of things.

Brian?

Nairo Quintana

Arequipa wrote: »

Was watching gcn earlier & according to them Contador was evenly matched by Quintana in the Route de Sud & only gained time on the decent..

Berti was saying he still hadnt fully recovered from the Giro...

Saying that there's all sorts of bluffing before a big Tour...

It's probably best to simply believe the opposite of what Contador says before a race.

Arequipa

Alberto Contador

Berti & Quintana!

happytramp

Hype levels building enormously! Probably the most excited I've been for the Tour (granted this is only my 6th or 7th)

Never seen so many top guys racing and capable of winning.
Never seen so many capable of making the podium, top 5 and top 10.
Amazing battle potentially on the cards for the Green jersey with Sagan, Kristoff, Cav, Kittel, Matthews, Degenklob.
Dan Martin going for stages wins and GC
Sam Bennett as team leader
Roche (possibly Deignan) in the mix at the sharp end of the MTF's

Can't flippin wait.

neris

happytramp wrote: »

Can't flippin wait.

wish theyd hurry up, im getting withdrawl symptoms here after the last few weeks of cycling everyday (even if there was no commentary on eurosport)

Darkglasses

Alberto Contador

Kittel has pulled out, unsurprisingly. He's so far off form, it wouldn't have made a difference if he did go. All about Degenkolb now

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1063/Tour-de-France/article/detail/4088232/2015/06/25/Kittel-niet-mee-naar-Tour-de-France.dhtml

velo.2010

Picked up the Procycling guide yesterday - I usually do every year. Its handy to have and easy to just flick to the day's stage.

I didn't look into the route profile in much detail until now. Blimey, there is not one 'boring' stage, maybe a couple of transition stages which could still be affected by wind or heat. Good to see the stage to Gap is back. Always provides a spectacle on the final climb and descent. Bar the climb to Plateau de Beille, I can't see the Pyrennes doing much to shake up the GC - the first week will do that! I think Froome will go 'mad on Mende'. A similar effort to La Planche de Belles Filles, I can see team Sky going full tilt on this one.

I couldn't even guess what will happen by the time whoever's left reaches the Alps. Looking forward to it!

lennymc

Alberto Contador

Arequipa wrote: »

Was watching gcn earlier & according to them Contador was evenly matched by Quintana in the Route de Sud & only gained time on the decent..

Rule 93

Weepsie

No Galibier, Back up Croix de Fer

MPFG

I would like Kiriyenka to ride for SKY as I think he is very strong in all areas not just climbing...and he is dependable over 3 weeks

Pity about Kittel ...I was hoping he would Cav a good duel....wonder what the problem is as he was such a giant last year

First week will be mega and I honestly think Dan martin has a chance of yellow with stage 3 , Stage 6 and Stage 8 and not losing too much time on TT and the bonus points
I don't think he will get as big a chance again ....see Valverde , Allaphillipe & maybe Purito as challengers...maybe Kwait but was not great at Suisse but that could have been just not yet ready ....(good job he is not at SKY yet or there would be calls for his exclusion )


But it all depends on Cannondale Garmin supporting Dan fully ?

MPFG

Hard to know with Quintana ...great poker face ....but I thought Contador looked stronger on the climb in Route de Sud

Velocast guy was saying and I agree with him that Contador is probably still flying after the Giro and will tire in third week

and I think Quintana could be flying in 3rd week

The Tour could eb like 2 different races ....First 10 stages one group totallyto the fore
Next 11 Stages another group to the fore

Bring it on

neris

cycling podcast were saying they think Quintana's descending skills arent as good as before and that he looks nervous going down descents and may have a bit of fear in him after coming off the bike last year

Dr. Bre

Alpe d'huez replacing the galibier. stg 19 and 20 they go up the de fer

Kavrocks

Thibaut Pinot

Dr. Bre wrote: »

Alpe d'huez replacing the galibier. stg 19 and 20 they go up the de fer

Just to be clear. Alpe d'Huez was always the finish of Stage 20. The col de la Croix de Fer attacked from a different side to that of Stage 19 replaces the col du Galibier. Stage 19 is unchanged.

Brian?

Nairo Quintana

happytramp wrote: »

Hype levels building enormously! Probably the most excited I've been for the Tour (granted this is only my 6th or 7th)

Never seen so many top guys racing and capable of winning.
Never seen so many capable of making the podium, top 5 and top 10.
Amazing battle potentially on the cards for the Green jersey with Sagan, Kristoff, Cav, Kittel, Matthews, Degenklob.
Dan Martin going for stages wins and GC
Sam Bennett as team leader
Roche (possibly Deignan) in the mix at the sharp end of the MTF's

Can't flippin wait.

I've been watching Le Tour since the early 80s. I was born in 78 and don't remember a time when we didn't watch the tour. I don't remember a time when so many grand tour winners lined up with a genuine chance of winner the tour. Usually there were rivals to a main contender: Hinault v Lemond, Rominger v Indurain, Ulrich v Armstrong etc. . This year there are 4 guys who you wouldn't be surprised seeing win.

Brian?

Nairo Quintana

neris wrote: »

cycling podcast were saying they think Quintana's descending skills arent as good as before and that he looks nervous going down descents and may have a bit of fear in him after coming off the bike last year

Valverde will guide him down.

Valverde is very capable of hanging onto the lead group over any of the penultimate climbs. He'll look after Quintana.

neris

Froome says he missed a drug test

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jun/24/chris-froome-missed-drug-test-tour-de-france

Roquentin

Vincenzo Nibali

neris wrote: »

Froome says he missed a drug test

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jun/24/chris-froome-missed-drug-test-tour-de-france

wait till paul kimmage hears this

MPFG

Roquentin wrote: »

wait till paul kimmage hears this

Kimmage and Contador fans will have a field day

Arequipa

Alberto Contador

It is hard to know what to think about Froome missing a drugs test, given the history...

Re descending.. I would say Nibali is the most technical & the bravest... Then Contador & then Froome & Quintana...

It is a dangerous game; as all it takes is some melted tar, gravel or a pothole at 100kmph & it is curtains!

http://youtu.be/xPXIdGy1iM0

Leroy42

One missed test is nothing. A simple mistake, that is why they have the 3 strikes rule as even WADA accept that these things happen.

It is a non story, and fair play to Froome for accepting the responsibility (while at the same time blaming the hotel staff!!)

MPFG

Arequipa wrote: »

I
It is a dangerous game; as all it takes is some melted tar, gravel or a pothole at 100kmph & it is curtains!

http://youtu.be/xPXIdGy1iM0

As Brain? said earlier ...another reason to bring Roche ...he is a top descender to have in front of you..... and safer than having Thomas or even Porte imo

velo.2010

I think Roche and Deignan will be co-leaders for the Vuelta from what it seems.

Probable team Sky line-up (Will most likely be wrong!)

Froome
Porte
Wout Poels
Nieve
Thomas
Rowe
Kennaugh
Eisel
Stannard

MPFG

who knows what SKY team will be but

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/other-sports/nicolas-roche-worried-as-tour-de-france-place-in-jeopardy-338914.html

niceonetom

God help me, it's come to the point that I'm actually sort of hoping Roche won't make the Sky team now just because I know it'll annoy the fanboys so much.

happytramp

velo.2010 wrote: »

I think Roche and Deignan will be co-leaders for the Vuelta from what it seems.

How do you figure that? They're unlikely to give Deignan a leadership role if they feel he's not up to getting a place on the Tour team. (I'd love if he was though or maybe given a free role to hunt stages)

Darkglasses

Alberto Contador

Leroy42 wrote: »

One missed test is nothing. A simple mistake, that is why they have the 3 strikes rule as even WADA accept that these things happen.

It is a non story, and fair play to Froome for accepting the responsibility (while at the same time blaming the hotel staff!!)

The fact that he came out and said it himself says it all for me. Wasn't like a UCI statement reprimanding him.

MPFG

niceonetom wrote: »

God help me, it's come to the point that I'm actually sort of hoping Roche won't make the Sky team now just because I know it'll annoy the fanboys so much.

Pretty petty reason to not want an Irish rider to ride a Grand Tour ....guess you would prefer if fans ( I presume like me) were happy at him not riding or at least didn't bother writing about it ....must really annoy you ....considering what a positive contribution you make to the debate

I guess begrudgers are everywhere ..