After all it is the tour of France, and there is always a strong competition between the French riders.
Who is it going to be?
A shortlist.
Christophe Moreau
David Moncoutié
Amaël Moinard
Sandy Casar
Stephane Goubert
Cyril Dessel
Christophe Le Mevel
Pierrick Fedrigo
Jérôme Pineau
Moreau is riding his last tour, and no doubt want to show something. But he says that every year. Last year he pulled out after stage 6 for no apparent reason, he did that again in the Dauphiné, or was it Suisse? Anyway, I think he will target the polka dot.
Same for Moncoutié. He will loose some time during the first stages, get some freedom to go for a long breakaway when there are many points at stake. These stages come rather late though (making the polka dot more unpredictable).
Moinard and Casar were the highest ranked last year, 15 and 14 respectively. Moinard may be up to something, he has had a promising pre-season. Casar? I doubt it, but he will do all he can to get in the break on Bastille day.
Goubert is 38 but is still going strong. Since 2001 his ranking have been 31, 17, 31, 20, 34, 36, 26 (highest), 19. He is not going to abandon, but can he still be in the top 20?
Dessel's year was 2006, where he wore the yellow jersey, and then in incredible fashion defended his GC position finishing 6th. Moreau was 7th that year. He is captain at AG2R, but I doubt he will be in the top 20? He was 25th last year.
I have listed Christophe Le Mevel, Pierrick Fedrigo, Jérôme Pineau, Thomas Voeckler as they are likely to go for long breaks, and who knows what might happen. Voeckler finished 18th in 2004, he got 12minutes in a break on stage 5, and held on to it for 10 days!
Right, might have forgotten some riders, bear with me. My guess is Moinard is going to finish around the 15th mark again, with no other French rider beating him.
Who is it going to be?
A shortlist.
Christophe Moreau
David Moncoutié
Amaël Moinard
Sandy Casar
Stephane Goubert
Cyril Dessel
Christophe Le Mevel
Pierrick Fedrigo
Jérôme Pineau
Moreau is riding his last tour, and no doubt want to show something. But he says that every year. Last year he pulled out after stage 6 for no apparent reason, he did that again in the Dauphiné, or was it Suisse? Anyway, I think he will target the polka dot.
Same for Moncoutié. He will loose some time during the first stages, get some freedom to go for a long breakaway when there are many points at stake. These stages come rather late though (making the polka dot more unpredictable).
Moinard and Casar were the highest ranked last year, 15 and 14 respectively. Moinard may be up to something, he has had a promising pre-season. Casar? I doubt it, but he will do all he can to get in the break on Bastille day.
Goubert is 38 but is still going strong. Since 2001 his ranking have been 31, 17, 31, 20, 34, 36, 26 (highest), 19. He is not going to abandon, but can he still be in the top 20?
Dessel's year was 2006, where he wore the yellow jersey, and then in incredible fashion defended his GC position finishing 6th. Moreau was 7th that year. He is captain at AG2R, but I doubt he will be in the top 20? He was 25th last year.
I have listed Christophe Le Mevel, Pierrick Fedrigo, Jérôme Pineau, Thomas Voeckler as they are likely to go for long breaks, and who knows what might happen. Voeckler finished 18th in 2004, he got 12minutes in a break on stage 5, and held on to it for 10 days!
Right, might have forgotten some riders, bear with me. My guess is Moinard is going to finish around the 15th mark again, with no other French rider beating him.
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