Dauphine Libere starts on Saturday!

[hfer07]

As mention before, not a great lineup for this dauphine, but nevertheless will be entertained by AC-Soler-SSanchez-Tondo & possibly Paulinho/horner attacks in the Alpe d'Huez stage. I'm deeply interested in Soler's progress heading to the tour

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Just checked his website - it says Tour de Suisse

both him and gesink riding suisse i think.

 

[maltiv]

What happened on him? Any crash? Or his form was still bad? When I saw the results of BR, I was very surprised.

He isn't allowed to sprint or do any hard training, in fear of bringing back the injury. So he was just chilling there. Obviously his form is bad as well, he has been almost completely off the bike for 2 months.

 

[lucybears]

Forget my Luisle pick. Velonation has these guys listed as riding the Tour de Suisse, not the Dauphine.

fever are working on the Tour de Suisse startlist too
http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MTk2NDc=

 

[superconfex]

My fav one-week race..Luis Leon Sanchez for me now he's top dog at Caisse
Hoping Russel Downing has a good week, he deserves it.
Hope old man Horner has a stinker

 

[kjetilraknerud]

I think Van Garderen is racing for HTC, will be interesting to see him on some big climbs.

 

[ericthesportsman6]

As mention before, not a great lineup for this dauphine, but nevertheless will be entertained by AC-Soler-SSanchez-Tondo & possibly Paulinho/horner attacks in the Alpe d'Huez stage. I'm deeply interested in Soler's progress heading to the tour

Don't forget about Juan Jose Cobo, on form he can hang with a lot of the best climbers.

 

[python]

both him and gesink riding suisse i think.

dont know about gesink..
http://www.rabosport.nl/nieuws/wielrennen/wielernieuws

Volgens de ploegleiding staat de opgave van Menchov een start van de Rus in de Dauphiné Libéré op zondag 6 juni niet in de weg.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Menchov will ride Dauphine and Gesink Suisse, that was the plan at the start of the season and that's still the plan now

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

Definitely not a lot of big names on the provisional list. I'll root for Contador, but my money (lying about having money) would be on Luis Leon Sanchez for the win.

I don't think Contador will go for the win here. He'll come in third, like last year, or perhaps second. And yes, LLS has my money as well. He could perhaps save Caisse now that Valverde is down by winning the Dauphine. Let's hope for such a miracle

 

[taiwan]

I don't entirely trust the Cyclingfever startlist, although those on that site are usually really good. Apart from anythng else, it still has Valverde on there. If the following guys are riding, I'll be looking out for them: Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Xavier Tondo, Tommy D, Jean-Christophe Peraud, Janez Brajkovic. I'd like to see Wegmann take the final stage, but I can't remember if he has some health issue or not: he retired from the Giro. Paul Martens another good one for stage 7, among others.
I wonder who Liquigas will be supporting in the race. It isn't that obvious.

 

[ratatata]

Previsional starting list

http://www.letour.fr/2010/CDD/RIDERS/us/engages.html

 

[Kusanagi]

The Dauphine has a really nice parcours this year !

I don't think Contador will go for the win here. He'll come in third, like last year, or perhaps second. And yes, LLS has my money as well. He could perhaps save Caisse now that Valverde is down by winning the Dauphine. Let's hope for such a miracle

I hope for stage wins. But I fear that for the GC, the stage of Alpe d'Huez will be too difficult

I'm curious to see what some young riders such as Sicard (it's supposed to be the goal of his season) or Valls can do (if all the "big ones" are training for the Tdf or in Suisse )...

 

[theyoungest]

I don't think Contador will go for the win here. He'll come in third, like last year, or perhaps second. And yes, LLS has my money as well. He could perhaps save Caisse now that Valverde is down by winning the Dauphine. Let's hope for such a miracle

Why is L.L. Sanchez a favourite, when there's a mountain top finish on the Alpe d'Huez?

 

[taiwan]

Previsional starting list

http://www.letour.fr/2010/CDD/RIDERS/us/engages.html

Thanks. No LLS on that one, and Vladimir Gusev in the Katusha lineup for the first (?) time.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Long shot... David Miller.

Depends what shape he's in, but with 50 odd Kms of time trialing and limited motivation amongst the top climbers, I can easily see him coming in within a minute of the leading GC man on the Alpe, provided Contador doesn't go for it seriously, and having a good go at making that up on the time trial.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

Actually it starts on Sunday, the 6th of June.

Dauphiné. The website has an error that says that the Prologue was on the 6th of May. Must have been the mother of all prologues to require an entire month's worth of rest days to recover.

That would be epic. I wonder what that would be like.

 

[ScottyMuser]

Thanks. No LLS on that one, and Vladimir Gusev in the Katusha lineup for the first (?) time.

dammit I put him in my fantasy teamas I thought he would do okay in this!

 

[cyclopeon]

Forget my Luisle pick. Velonation has these guys listed as riding the Tour de Suisse, not the Dauphine.

The field in Switzerland will also include the defending champion Fabian Cancellara, who took a break after winning the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, then built form by taking part in the Tour of California. He will join the Schleck brothers and Matti Breschel on the Saxo Bank team.

Other notable names are Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne), Kim Kirchen, Sergei Ivanov and Robbie McEwen (Katusha), George Hincapie and Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team), Thor Hushovd (Cervélo Test Team), Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas), Simon Spilak (Lampre), Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack), Tom Boonen and Stijn Devolder (Quick Step), Mark Cavendish and Tony Martin (HTC Columbia), Dave Zabriskie and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin Transitions), Nicolas Roche and Martin Elmiger (Ag2r La Mondiale), Gerald Ciolek and Linus Gerdemann (Team Milram), Simon Gerrans (Team Sky)and Brice and Roman Feillu (Vacansoleil).

Man! Does nobody want to race against Contador before the Big Event (Tour)?!!

 

[issoisso]

Man! Does nobody want to race against Contador before the Big Event (Tour)?!!

Some years one has a better field, some years the other has a better field. It's only natural with two equally big races. It's like Tirreno and Paris-Nice.

 

[The Sheep]

I will be watching Michel Kreder on this one

 

[delgado]

Nibali caught short by the Giro/Pelizzotti emergency, the way he's ridden this Giro there is no way his TdF preparation is still on. So for this year, best he can do is spend all that post-Giro momentum (ahem) on a Dauphiné walk-over. He is shielded from the would-be's by the layout of the queen stage (Glandon/Huez in succession). Samuel Sanchez second, AC podiums just for laughs.

 

[ferryman]

Nibali caught short by the Giro/Pelizzotti emergency, the way he's ridden this Giro there is no way his TdF preparation is still on. So for this year, best he can do is spend all that post-Giro momentum (ahem) on a Dauphiné walk-over. He is shielded from the would-be's by the layout of the queen stage (Glandon/Huez in succession). Samuel Sanchez second, AC podiums just for laughs.

Yup, not much to argue with here.

 

[search]

I think Moreau could target the yellow jersey

 

[Sasquatch]

I want to see how Soler goes up the Alpe.

Sivtsov is my underdog. Columbia expected big things from him this year. Though, I think he had a few months off with injury?

Le Mevel, Tondo, Horner. - Would love to see how Tondo goes.

I agree with what someone said about Nibali. He may as well go all out.

Tarramae is another good outsider.

Samuel Sanchez?

Anyway, on a betting perspective, this is hard to look at. The good thing with Contador racing is the books will have him a $1.70-$2 favourite. Guys like Nibali will be at longer odds.

The second person on the betting market could be at $5.