Looks like Wiggins can't even react to a Chrstoph Kern attack he's really going to be screwed once the real guys start attacking.
Meh re Wiggins lets just wait and see what the Tour brings. There is inevitably some doubt before anyone wins their first GT on the road.
Wiggins has yet to prove he can win a GT, yet I am unconvinced by the proclomations that he will necessarily falter in the thrid week-
He has contested four GT for GC-
Tour 2009 - He rode pretty consistently in the mountains, struggled slightly on the final two mountain stages and was sixth in the final TT 40s behind.
Tour 2010 - He didn't have the legs in the first week let alone the third.
Tour 2011 - He crashed, who knows what his form would have been like?
Vuelta 2012 - Podiumed. Almost all of the GC stages were in the second week. The one climb in the final week he struggled, but it was the type of climb you'd expect him to struggle on i.e. a short very steep climb. Additionally, although the Vuelta field was weaker, Wiggins cannot have been said to have been in maximum form as he had only recently recovered from his collarbone break.
Evans was the strongest last year and rode a tactically astute race. He has however cracked in several past tours (admittedly he was facing Contador in some of those). He is therefore not averse to having a bad day.
I have already bet on Menchov for the Tour @ 50/1 they really were ridiculous odds.
I think the Top 4 places will be distributed between Evans, Menchov, Schleck, Wiggins. Which order I suspect will depend on the manner the race is ridden. An agressive race favours Schleck and Evans and will intorduce the likes of Nibali, Gesink/Mollema, VDB2 and Rolland whereas a tempo race will favour Wiggins and Menchov and introduce the likes of Klöden and Leipheimer into the frame.
Wiggins has yet to prove he can win a GT, yet I am unconvinced by the proclomations that he will necessarily falter in the thrid week-
He has contested four GT for GC-
Tour 2009 - He rode pretty consistently in the mountains, struggled slightly on the final two mountain stages and was sixth in the final TT 40s behind.
Tour 2010 - He didn't have the legs in the first week let alone the third.
Tour 2011 - He crashed, who knows what his form would have been like?
Vuelta 2012 - Podiumed. Almost all of the GC stages were in the second week. The one climb in the final week he struggled, but it was the type of climb you'd expect him to struggle on i.e. a short very steep climb. Additionally, although the Vuelta field was weaker, Wiggins cannot have been said to have been in maximum form as he had only recently recovered from his collarbone break.
Evans was the strongest last year and rode a tactically astute race. He has however cracked in several past tours (admittedly he was facing Contador in some of those). He is therefore not averse to having a bad day.
I have already bet on Menchov for the Tour @ 50/1 they really were ridiculous odds.
I think the Top 4 places will be distributed between Evans, Menchov, Schleck, Wiggins. Which order I suspect will depend on the manner the race is ridden. An agressive race favours Schleck and Evans and will intorduce the likes of Nibali, Gesink/Mollema, VDB2 and Rolland whereas a tempo race will favour Wiggins and Menchov and introduce the likes of Klöden and Leipheimer into the frame.
theyoungest said:
I'm no Wiggins fan.
I'm having trouble with the "thou shalt not doubt Evans" attitude.
To me, everyone is in doubt until the final July Sunday.
It's just more double standard, standard CN hypocrisy.
Just trying to redress the balance a little, with some common sense.
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Mellow Velo said:
Evans has won the Tour and two second places as well. Wiggins' best GT place is third in a weak Vuelta.
Not that I don't doubt Evans, I'm actually quite impartial to both Wiggins and Evans, but it's only natural that people doubt Wiggins more than they doubt Evans.
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hughmoore said:Are those cows dropping Andy on the climb.
Hugh
Second post on todays thread and the Andy abuse starts.
Very Funny
"only 50 riders left in the bunch" Suggests it was ridden reasonably hard, or could too many people just not be bothered? I think the break will be caught.
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What are u watching? On my stream Machado has already won the stage
I can't wait for tomorrow, should be a lot of fun.
So what everybody thinks - will Wiggins and Froome both be on the poudium in Paris or will Sky fully sacrificed Froome?
So Brajkovič did well last year considering he suffered from the same thing and he didn't even know it.
I can't wait for tomorrow, should be a lot of fun.
So what everybody thinks - will Wiggins and Froome both be on the poudium in Paris or will Sky fully sacrificed Froome?
Dekker_Tifosi said:
So Brajkovič did well last year considering he suffered from the same thing and he didn't even know it.
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But Evans won the Tour last year with a similar Dauphiné performance. There is really no reason to doubt he can get in form for the Tour, based on yesterdays TT. (Of course him actually winning it depends on so many factors other than just his form.) Wiggins doesn't have Evans' GT track record, and we don't know how his Dauphiné form is compared to his Tour form, so he's more uncertain. There's indeed a double standard, but that is because they're different riders with different build ups.Mellow Velo said:
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jens_attacks said:
??? Because he is in a long attack? So far he has been dropped on a tiny hill and had a very bad ITT (note he is french ITT champion crushing chavanel and co last year....)
He is nowhere near his 2011 level
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