Recent content by xanadu

With the departure of Quintana this years Vuelta threatened to become a re run of 2012. The presence of Aru has been a welcome distraction from this years re run of the 4 Amigos. Whilst he cannot quite manage to hold the likes of Valverde and Purito he has proved himself a fighter and a mighty...

If Horner podiums after riding le Tour my love affair wirth this sport will cease and you will find me on the tiddlywinks forum

The problem with heralding the dawn of as new era is that they were all comprehensively beaten by the third string of the old guard. What ever his tour credentials Nibali is yet to prove himself equal to a fully fit Skybot vroom and Alberto where it reeally matters. Dont get me wrong , Tejay...

The skybots did everything right exceot win, they played their cards well but so too did Saxo-Tinkoff grabbing 3 stage wins and the polka dots but then again Majika and Rodgers are class acts.

Well there is no doubting that Nibali is in the form of his life and is still going strong and will have the benefit of going last. Martin on the other hand is a proven act at the TT discipline but has been active in several breakaways and may be tired. For me Nibali might just have the edge.

Before today's stage i would have nominated Tejay for a place on the podium and Chris Broadman was of a similar opinion noting that the American was getting stronger. Do any Tejay watchers here know if he habitualy has a problem after a rest day.

Pinot seems to have overcome his fear of decsending so thats a big plus for the youngster and a podium place would do his confidence no harm at all. Of course he still needs to prove himself in the time trials if he ever to wear the maillot jaune in Paris.

All this talk of Skybot 1, Nibbles, and 'berto is all very well, but the youngsters have been strutting their stuff on the steeps this year to good effect. If they return for the 2015 tour a year older and a year better then it could well be game on. Pinot, Bardet,Tejay and Quitana could yet...

Voeckler dates back to the LA era and arrived at the Tour with a bang. Whilst other tour newbies are content to strut their stuff for a couole of days before fading into anonimity the man from Martinique became the envy of the pro peloton by grabbing the yellow bib and courageously holding it...

The usual suspects will be chasing KOM points. As for the podium contenders, they may jump aroind a bit but as long as everyone remains upright i cant see leaderboard being disturbed too much.

In the past Froome and Contador have both proved themselves a notch or two above Nibbles but there is no doubting that the Italian has looked nothing short of majestic in this years tour. The only climb of note where the 3 riders slugged it out on this years tour was the ascent of Jenkins road...

Epic ride from Nibbles, his team seem to have struggled a bit today but Nibali hung on well. Absolutely wonderful to see Pinot, Tejay and Bardet strutting their stuff. Absolutely wonderful.

Wheres 'Berto when we need him, the notion of following Nibali and sprinting for the win may well happen, but the newly crowned Italian Champ is unlikely to be concerned. He can afford a handful of seconds every day. What we need is more of Contador`s gung ho insanitry. He may have been...

The problem seems to be that a great many sprinters do not want to come out and play. Sure enough there is a massive charge for the line at the end of the stage, but only limited interest in the intermediate sprints. There does indeed appear to be a Sagan factor, he is the sprinter most likely...

The total dominance of Peter Sagan has turned the battle for the points jersey from a competition into a virtual formality.