Geraint Thomas, the next british hope

[Gung Ho Gun]

Didn't Chris Comical say to a young Wonderboy that he would win the Tour one day?

Armstrong himself said Michael Barry and Stijn Devolder could win the Tour. Popovych too I guess.

 

[Saint Unix]

Don't forget Tom Danielson.

 

[Cookster15]

It is the strength of Thomas at this Tour which is most suspect. At 32 he has risen to be not simply competitive but untouchable in the mountains - it is way beyond Wiggins in 2012. Has he had even a mediocre day? No climber has laid a glove on him and if he doesn't win tomorrow's very hilly TT he will go close.

 

[Billie]

Didn't Chris Comical say to a young Wonderboy that he would win the Tour one day?

Armstrong himself said Michael Barry and Stijn Devolder could win the Tour. Popovych too I guess.

Don't forget George Hincapie

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

It is the strength of Thomas at this Tour which is most suspect. At 32 he has risen to be not simply competitive but untouchable in the mountains - it is way beyond Wiggins in 2012. Has he had even a mediocre day? No climber has laid a glove on him and if he doesn't win tomorrow's very hilly TT he will go close.

He isn't as greedy as Froome who always wanted to prove how superior he is to everyone and tried to crush people whenever he had the chance, Thomas was just following wheels and outsprinting his opponents after he had a decent lead, I wouldn't compare him to Froome or Wiggins, he raced like prime Menchov (2009 Giro).

 

[gmedina]

I think the days of the mountain goats (e.g. Bardet, Landa, Quintana etc) are over at the TdF. We are in the "new clean era" in which 65kg+ riders dominate every terrain with their "TT" skills (just look at the top 5 right now). Tomorrow, I expect a spectacular performance from GT to seal the deal!

 

[Angliru]

So when exactly did this new clean era begin where mountain goats don't have a chance? I see Bardet and Quintana with 4 Tour podiums between them in the past few years. Does that mean that those years were dirty years? It seems quite convenient that coinciding with a certain team's success in the grand tours we have their supporters spouting that the racing is clean now as a way to legitimize their heroes victories.

 

[Escarabajo]

Sarcasm watch!

 

[The Hitch]

Re:

So when exactly did this new clean era begin where mountain goats don't have a chance? I see Bardet and Quintana with 4 Tour podiums between them in the past few years. Does that mean that those years were dirty years? It seems quite convenient that coinciding with a certain team's success in the grand tours we have their supporters spouting that the racing is clean now as a way to legitimize their heroes victories.

I think these days the fans know it stinks. But they still cling to the technicality that they haven't been caught, because all those years we were telling them they were wrong they came to hate us. And they can't forgive that so even though they don't actually defend sky or put forward any arguments why they believe they still deflect bait and annoy to the max in attempts to get back at those they hope never get "proven" right

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

So when exactly did this new clean era begin where mountain goats don't have a chance? I see Bardet and Quintana with 4 Tour podiums between them in the past few years. Does that mean that those years were dirty years? It seems quite convenient that coinciding with a certain team's success in the grand tours we have their supporters spouting that the racing is clean now as a way to legitimize their heroes victories.

I think these days the fans know it stinks. But they still cling to the technicality that they haven't been caught, because all those years we were telling them they were wrong they came to hate us. And they can't forgive that so even though they don't actually defend sky or put forward any arguments why they believe they still deflect bait and annoy to the max in attempts to get back at those they hope never get "proven" right

Think you're onto something

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

It is the strength of Thomas at this Tour which is most suspect. At 32 he has risen to be not simply competitive but untouchable in the mountains - it is way beyond Wiggins in 2012. Has he had even a mediocre day? No climber has laid a glove on him and if he doesn't win tomorrow's very hilly TT he will go close.

Yeah it's quite something else. 2012 Wiggins basically only won ITTs and rode the Sky train on easy as hell climbs, and he actually got pushed by pre Astana Nibali at some point.

 

[TheSpud]

Re: Re:

It is the strength of Thomas at this Tour which is most suspect. At 32 he has risen to be not simply competitive but untouchable in the mountains - it is way beyond Wiggins in 2012. Has he had even a mediocre day? No climber has laid a glove on him and if he doesn't win tomorrow's very hilly TT he will go close.

Yeah it's quite something else. 2012 Wiggins basically only won ITTs and rode the Sky train on easy as hell climbs, and he actually got pushed by pre Astana Nibali at some point.

Didn't follow the first 10 days but aware there were some crashes - has GT made time on DuMoulin, Froome, etc. because of that?

 

[MartinGT]

Re:

I think the days of the mountain goats (e.g. Bardet, Landa, Quintana etc) are over at the TdF. We are in the "new clean era" in which 65kg+ riders dominate every terrain with their "TT" skills (just look at the top 5 right now). Tomorrow, I expect a spectacular performance from GT to seal the deal!

Wasn't LA a similar weight to. Dumo?

 

[Saint Unix]

Re: Re:

Didn't follow the first 10 days but aware there were some crashes - has GT made time on DuMoulin, Froome, etc. because of that?

Dumoulin dropped 50 seconds on Mur-de-Bretagne after a puncture and got a 20 second time penalty for drafting, and then dropped another 20 on the first MTF.

Other than that it's mostly bonus seconds and the TTT that's added to the lead.

 

[Barney]

Is there a rule that the Brits have to have *** stupid Oasis hair circa 1997?

 

[Lequack]

Re:

Is there a rule that the Brits have to have **** stupid Oasis hair circa 1997?

It is a rule actually.

 

[gmedina]

Re: Re:

I think the days of the mountain goats (e.g. Bardet, Landa, Quintana etc) are over at the TdF. We are in the "new clean era" in which 65kg+ riders dominate every terrain with their "TT" skills (just look at the top 5 right now). Tomorrow, I expect a spectacular performance from GT to seal the deal!

Wasn't LA a similar weight to. Dumo?

Yep, and we know how that story ended. I think we need to stop pretending that teams like Sky and Sunweb are clean... They are onto something that Noone else has their hands on. (for instance look at Barguil... Left sunweb and nowhere near the form he showed...)

 

[hrotha]

If Sunweb had the Sky formula, I'd expect Geschke to make the top 10.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Didn't Chris Comical say to a young Wonderboy that he would win the Tour one day?

Armstrong himself said Michael Barry and Stijn Devolder could win the Tour. Popovych too I guess.

Don't forget George Hincapie

Wonderboy didn't anoint Landis though

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Re: Re:

Has he had even a mediocre day? No climber has laid a glove on him and if he doesn't win tomorrow's very hilly TT he will go close.

This is a French journalist's photo of what actually happened on the Col de Portet.
Funny that the spectator is wearing an Ag2R jersey

If I was SKY I'd pull out
in protest.

 

[SafeBet]

Apart from Horner and Wiggo how many riders were older than GT when they won their first Grand Tour?

 

[Saint Unix]

Re:

Apart from Horner and Wiggo how many riders were older than GT when they won their first Grand Tour?

Cuddles was 34, but he had a long history of contending the GC, and bettered Thomas' previous best GC result in his very first year as a road cyclist by finishing 14th at the Giro. This is GT's first top 10 ever, with his previous best being 15th in the Tour twice. I don't think any other rider has been older or had more attempts at a GT before getting their first top 10. The fact that Thomas didn't just break into the top 10 for the first time, but won the whole race tells you all you need to know about how incredibly out of the ordinary this is.

 

[Merckx index]

Sastre was 33 when he won the Tour, but like Evans, had a long previous history of contending in GTs, with podiums in the Tour and Vuelta. And btw, after winning the Tour in 2008, he podiumed in the Vuelta.

 

[roundabout]

Contending? He did not have a single top 5 before getting his first podium at age 30.

 

[hrotha]

Re:

Contending? He did not have a single top 5 before getting his first podium at age 30.

He said before winning his first Tour, not before turning 30.

Before that first podium, he had a long history of top 10 placings, the first one achieved at 25. Regardless of what you think of Sastre, he's very obviously not comparable to Thomas.