2012 Tdf king of the mountains jersey....

[bucko007]

Who are the leading contenders ? Chris Anker SORENSEN,david MONCOUTIE ?

 

[Richeypen]

Dan Martin maybe.

 

[Fetisoff]

/Glancing over at a calendar in shock/

Nope. Not July yet. Strange

 

[jsem94]

Is Quintana riding the Tour? He should go for it if he is.

 

[bucko007]

/Glancing over at a calendar in shock/

Nope. Not July yet. Strange

haha.First post on this site,be gentle.looking for some early thoughts.

 

[burning]

Some french guy will take it imo

 

[Froome19]

One of: Robert Gesink, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Samuel Sanchez, Pierre Rolland etc.

Effectively any contender who has loses time due to crashes or the TTs will probably win due to the new points system of last year.
Riders like Moncoutie and Martin will not be able to break away and get enough points for the competition the only way they will be able to win it will be by being there at the end of the few mountain stages, especially if there are more long range attacks as Prudhomme predicts.

 

[Fetisoff]

haha.First post on this site,be gentle.looking for some early thoughts.

Someone was going to post something like that, so I was just first, and I was rather nice.

Anyway, Frank Schleck will take that jersey. Either that, or some Frenchy from Saur with an unpronounceable last name

 

[Gloin22]

Dan Martin or Ryder Hesjedal if gets free role to win this.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Riders like Moncoutie and Martin will not be able to break away and get enough points for the competition the only way they will be able to win it will be by being there at the end of the few mountain stages, especially if there are more long range attacks as Prudhomme predicts.

Why on Earth does Prudhomme think that there are going to be more long range attacks in a race where pretty much all of the main contenders are diesel climbing TT men? And where one team has already signaled its intention to team time trial up the mountains?

I tend to agree that the KoM jersey won't go to some French no-mark who goes in a bunch of breaks. But Moncoutie and Martin, should they target it, aren't that sort of no-mark.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Some Astana guy (Kiserlovski) after the realize Brajkovic is capable of a 10th place nothing more

 

[SafeBet]

Dan Martin is a fair choice.

 

[The Hitch]

Ivan Basso.

My heart tells.me he has a part to play in this season yet
and no, not work for nibs

 

[jobiwan]

I think Dan Martin is a good pick.
However, if the mountains are raced like I hope they are raced (in an effort to crack Wiggins), Gesink might take it, or Sanchez might repeat.

 

[Froome19]

Why on Earth does Prudhomme think that there are going to be more long range attacks in a race where pretty much all of the main contenders are diesel climbing TT men? And where one team has already signaled its intention to team time trial up the mountains?
.

Well this was before Schleck got ruled out and there is still Frank, VDB2, Rolland and guys like Gesink and Sanchez who will still have to recoop their losses to Wiggins even if they do good TT individually.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Dan!!

10 CHAR

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Dan Martin or Jelle Vanendert

 

[Escarabajo]

Moncoutie.

He had dreamed of winning a mountain stage in the Tour de France after watching the Colombian rider, Luis Herrera outride Europeans in the Tour in the 1980s

He likes Herrera, I like him.

 

[Afrank]

Some french guy, maybe voeckler or Rolland if they lose a bunch of time and then get in alot of the early stages breaks, they both would be able to be there in the later mountain stages. Or someone that was a GC favorite but then lost alot of time, like Sanchez last year.

Why on Earth does Prudhomme think that there are going to be more long range attacks in a race where pretty much all of the main contenders are diesel climbing TT men? And where one team has already signaled its intention to team time trial up the mountains?

He probably thought the pure climbers that can't TT as well (VDB, Gesink, Schlecks) would try to repeat what Andy did. And the increased TT Km's would inspire those climbers to attack more.

 

[ElChingon]

I predict it will be a rider who has no chance at a podium spot and will then go on a crazy attack to get the most points even though none of those climbs even factor in the race much. Whereas the best climbers will win on the MTF's and let the lesser riders take the points as in sentence one because the poka dot jersey has become the scraps of le Tour.

 

[Bushman]

Moncoutie will try but fail, and then he will win 1 or 2 stages and the mountains jersey at the vuelta

 

[theyoungest]

One of: Robert Gesink, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Samuel Sanchez, Pierre Rolland etc.

Effectively any contender who has loses time due to crashes or the TTs will probably win due to the new points system of last year.
Riders like Moncoutie and Martin will not be able to break away and get enough points for the competition the only way they will be able to win it will be by being there at the end of the few mountain stages, especially if there are more long range attacks as Prudhomme predicts.

Last year there were double points on the HC finishes, weren't there? This year there aren't any HC finishing climbs, so maybe there's still a chance for an attacker like Hoogerland or Moncoutié.

 

[Froome19]

Last year there were double points on the HC finishes, weren't there? This year there aren't any HC finishing climbs, so maybe there's still a chance for an attacker like Hoogerland or Moncoutié.

Indeed I guess you are right. I believe it depends on when the favorites start racing, in truth the guys like VDB etc should really attack Wiggins early if they want to have a chance of gaining enough time on him and that would mean they get over some of those HC/1 climbs which come in the middle-latter part of the stages first, yet if they dont and they wait till the last climbs of which their are limited amounts and of limited points and difficulty then yes the fact that there are not any HC finishing climbs will favour those types of attackers.

 

[Frosty]

Is there a link anywhere to how the points will be awarded this year? How many for each classification of climb and how much more does the last one get?

Stage 8 looks a good one for people hoping to get the KoM, or at least wear it for a bit. Stage 12 has 2 cat 1 climbs early on so anyone who missed the break on the way to Le Toussuire the previous day could get some fairly large points there.

Also depends how the GC guys climb. If one is fairly dominant on the finishing climbs then they get big points and a very high total, if the top 8 finish in different positions every day then no one GC person will get as big points so its easier for the attackers to end up with more points.

 

[cineteq]

Is Lampre sending Matthew Lloyd?
If so, then I fancy him in polka dot