2012 Tour de France: Stage 13: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux → Le Cap d'Agde (217 km)

[mapei81]

Really, this is the way most Tours have gone since I have been paying attention - Indurain, then Armstrong, etc. Not realistic to expect otherwise.

 

[Warhawk]

What I think is so funny is the fact that all those guys on French TV keep on talking since the first day that the Tour is not over and not decided and such crap. this is ridicolous considering that he was already such a large pre-race favourite and sent the clear message already in the prologue.

Well, it's the media, it's not like they have much of an incentive to tell the viewers that the race is basically over and they should go knit some sweaters instead or something.

All you'd end up with is crap TV ratings and a lot more warm & comfortable Frenchmen.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

This is the worst tour I have ever watched

This is a garbage tour, I agree. The Sky fans like it though, understandably.

 

[Warhawk]

This is a garbage tour, I agree. The Sky fans like it though, understandably.

Well, obviously. I thought Super Bowl XLI was fantastic, but that's cause I'm a Colts fan. Objectively speaking the game was **** on a stick.

 

[movingtarget]

This is a garbage tour, I agree. The Sky fans like it though, understandably.

The Sky strategy is dull but effective. They supposedly rode every stage during the year as a team. Worked out in advance. Similar to Postal tactics but Armstrong always attacked when the front group thinned out. It will come back to bite Sky though because other teams will have their eyes on riders like Froome and Porte who won't want to continue playing domestique for Wiggins. Rogers will probably finish his career at Sky unless he wants to do as O'Grady has done and finish his career at GreenEdge.

 

[blaxland]

Well done Andre...Lets hope Orica/Greenedge learn to not bother chasing anymore?Goss will not win a sprint stage at this TDF?Not while Sagan,Cav and Greipel are their?I hope Simon Gerrans can salvage a stage win?otherwise this TDF has been an epic fail for Orica/Greenedge..

 

[auscyclefan94]

+1 A very unpredictable route. Works for me.

Unpredictable route with a very predicatable race. The route can be brilliant but the riders make the race.

To be fair, that's no different for Van den Broeck and Nibali. And far better than all the other so called contenders combined. But this TDF shows Cadel really is over the hill. He placed ONE attack (i'm not counting his 50 meter sprints before the finishline) in two weeks and already had to suffer the consequences later on. Nibali attacked a couple of times and hasn't paid a price for it yet. Van den Broeck has been most active and also hasn't paid a price for it yet, in the contrary. He got half a minute and his and Nibali's attack made Cadel crack. If he hadn't lost those two minutes after his mechanical, he would be on the heels of Nibali and well in front of Cadel already.

But as far as attacking the Sky team goes, nobody really got any further than a small gap of 15-30 seconds.

Cadel is over the Hill? I think that is a little bit over the top and on that logic Van den Broeck put one minor attack on the Col de la Croix and an attack on La Tousuirre which was never going to get a time gap. Cadel took a chance to get back the time on that stage. It was bold and brave move by Cadel but he just wasn't on a good day. Vandenbroeck's attacks haven't been well thought out imo whereas Cadel's attack on the Croix de Fer was a lot more logical and thought out with Moinard and Tejay up the road. Might I add that Vandenbroeck wasn't that far off the lead peloton when they hit the final climb on the stage to La Planche des Belles Filles and he still lost a fair bit of time. I wouldn't be so sure that he would have been with the leaders on that finish. Let's see how they both go in the Pyrenees and the final time trial before we make such sweeping comments.

 

[auscyclefan94]

It's British TV, get over yourself!

He is asking Greipel about a totally unrelated topic which is to do with his own fantasies and love of Wiggins.

No, the interviews aren't part of the official coverage. France 2 provide the official coverage, but all the interviews that they show are clearly additional to that, and they only show interviews by their reporters. Eurosport may use the interviews for their broadcasts in several different countries, though.

That is the English interview provided for all the English speaking networks. The guy is a shocker.

 

[Pricey_sky]

What Sky have done is take apart every little detail needed to win a tour. They have a rider in Wiggins who was never going to charge off into the distance with attack after attack but could ride consistantly for long periods. They calculated that at a tempo of 450w they could control any big attack from GC rivals and also make alot of their rivals suffer too.

They were laughed at for a long time by most people in the world of pro cycling but Dave B has assembled a team of climbers that could stick to 450w uphill and make riders lose alot of time Whilt then using Wiggins strength in the TT's to gain the time he needed.

I expect other teams to follow Sky in doing this.

 

[auscyclefan94]

What Sky have done is take apart every little detail needed to win a tour. They have a rider in Wiggins who was never going to charge off into the distance with attack after attack but could ride consistantly for long periods. They calculated that at a tempo of 450w they could control any big attack from GC rivals and also make alot of their rivals suffer too.

They were laughed at for a long time by most people in the world of pro cycling but Dave B has assembled a team of climbers that could stick to 450w uphill and make riders lose alot of time Whilt then using Wiggins strength in the TT's to gain the time he needed.

I expect other teams to follow Sky in doing this.

Because Sky are revolutionising the sport!

 

[Cimber]

What Sky have done is take apart every little detail needed to win a tour. They have a rider in Wiggins who was never going to charge off into the distance with attack after attack but could ride consistantly for long periods. They calculated that at a tempo of 450w they could control any big attack from GC rivals and also make alot of their rivals suffer too.

They were laughed at for a long time by most people in the world of pro cycling but Dave B has assembled a team of climbers that could stick to 450w uphill and make riders lose alot of time Whilt then using Wiggins strength in the TT's to gain the time he needed.

I expect other teams to follow Sky in doing this.

No, other teams wont copy that tactic unless they have a rider like wiggins who cant change pace and who cant attack but just needs to survive the montains and crush everyone ón the TTs.

And Sky's tactic will fall short next year with the likes of AS and AC back

 

[movingtarget]

No, other teams wont copy that tactic unless they have a rider like wiggins who cant change pace and who cant attack but just needs to survive the montains and crush everyone ón the TTs.

And Sky's tactic will fall short next year with the likes of AS and AC back

It will be a relief to get some of the mountain goats back next year on what is rumoured to be a very mountainous route.

 

[mscaviy2601]

What Sky have done is take apart every little detail needed to win a tour. They have a rider in Wiggins who was never going to charge off into the distance with attack after attack but could ride consistantly for long periods. They calculated that at a tempo of 450w they could control any big attack from GC rivals and also make alot of their rivals suffer too.

They were laughed at for a long time by most people in the world of pro cycling but Dave B has assembled a team of climbers that could stick to 450w uphill and make riders lose alot of time Whilt then using Wiggins strength in the TT's to gain the time he needed.

I expect other teams to follow Sky in doing this.

This is a very good point but I'm going to take a slightly pedantic exception to the bolded part. I think Sky have deliberately targeted time triallers who can climb rather than climbers per se which lends itself better to the tempo part of your post. The reason for pointing out the distinction is that Liquigas tried something similar in the Giro but their train was made of riders more thought of as climbers than TTers and were much less successful than Sky have been. I think Sky correctly identified that having six quality TTers who can get over a bump is the most effective way of dropping normally quality climbers and thus winning the TDF.

 

[Morbius]

The difference between Sky here and Liquigas at the Giro is the difference between Wiggins and Basso. At the Giro the train had to go at the speed of Basso who was clearly not in good enough shape, so very few contenders were put under pressure.

Regarding Evans, he has had bad days on the two ciritical stages ( La Tousuirre and the ITT) and not yet had a good enough day to put anyone under pressure. If he had raced last year on the form he has shown this year, I doubt he would have finished ahead of Contador.

 

[cesko_jr]

Brajkovic after the final climb yesterday stops because of the flat and Kiserlovski tryin to help him change the front tyre and them Levi L. crash into Kiserlovski.

That are the words of Brajkovic

http://www.bicikel.com/novice/7487/j...avi_kaos_.html

Kiserlovski post this photo to his Facebook profile:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/534878_412515658789667_1330838247_n.jpg