I actually think the parcours is pretty nice and balance. But we won't get to see aggressive racing from the tdf favourites.
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Moviefan1203 said:I'm hoping for a good result for Van Garderen, maybe another podium position in this race!
He'll be looking fine until the Joux Plane.
Jurgen Van den Broeck has no idea where he is conditionally. Has trained as much as last year, but less intensive. So he might come up short during the Dauphiné. His ambition is top 10 in the tour, podium would be nice but is realistic with the amount of ITT km's. Has never trained as much on his ITT as now, but will never become a specialist.
He's a pretty good descender though (I think?) so in that case he'd be able to limit a lot of the damage. Particularly if it's Wiggins descending in the front...Mellow Velo said:He'll be looking fine until the Joux Plane.
maltiv said:
not gonna happen
sky will do on joux-plane what they did on allevard last year.there won't be many guys left at the top,tejay will lose at least 3 minutes if they go again that fast.and they will.
I think van den Broeck in theory has good potential to do well in TTes. So when he says he trained a lot on his TT bike, i think he could show some real improvement. If so he's areal thread for the Tour podium.
The last time they did the Joux-Plane in the Dauphiné the top-5 climbers finished within 8 seconds. This isn't the end of a three week Tour, I wouldn't expect big differences on that climb alone.
Lanark said:
Except TVG continues to show us that he isn't quite a top 5 climber.
When he blows, it's usually significantly.
I would say he could easily cover any potential losses, with the uber-long ITT, but he is also up against climbers who are better trialists.
Plus, he'll be Cadel's main mountain man.
He'll have to do his job and see how well he hangs in, afterwards.
All things considered, I can't see him in the top 5, let alone podium.
Hopefully they'll save EBH so he can hold Wiggins' hand in the descendjens_attacks said:
I remember on the final stage last year EBH was dropped after working a lot when the TV coverage started in the middle of the ascent of Glandon yet he somehow caught up with the peloton on the descend, must have taken 2-3 minutes...I don't think he has that form this year though, he's been sick after Tour of Norway. But I guess Wiggins has a lot better mountain domestiques this year anyway.
Where did this myth about Wiggins being a poor descender come from?
He's no Nibali but he's no Andy either.
He's no Nibali but he's no Andy either.
He did some truly horrible descends in the Vuelta last year, and those descends were really easy as well. He couldn't have looked more uncomfortable. I think he was even dropped on the small descend before Angliru...But I'm pretty sure he has improved since then.will10 said:
will10 said:
He was awful in the Vuelta, and admitted to being nervous about falling due to his collarbone. Whether he's over it or not I'm not sure, but it's definitely something the likes of Nibali should test out given the chance. He's a very good bike handler, so it shouldn't be an issue, unless it has become a mental thing.
Havetts said:
We saw that from a heli shot though, didn't we? Very hard to tell what was going on.
When he got 3d in the Dauphine, he limited his losses on the Alpe d'Huez pretty well... actually, that course was pretty similar to this year, with only one really decisive climb, and a crazy long TT. This is the type of race where he should shine, when there's multiple real climbing stages he's in trouble.Mellow Velo said:
dlwssonic said:
It seems the real imbalance with the Dauphine is the high level of the field with the low level of the competition.
Lanark said:
That could just be the ascent and descent of the starting platform to show Schleck what he will be dealing with.
Bavarianrider said:It's interesting that it actually starts with a little climb right away.
:facepalm:
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