Nibali to win white?

[Spanky]

Still only 25secs back on Andy and seems to be able to hold his wheel with relative ease. Should have a good chance of taking the 25secs back in the TT. Any thoughts?

 

[TRDean]

Still only 25secs back on Andy and seems to be able to hold his wheel with relative ease. Should have a good chance of taking the 25secs back in the TT. Any thoughts?

I don't know if I would say he holds the wheel with relative ease...lets see after today. I still think Andy for white.

 

[ericthesportsman6]

He's also a much better descender, not so sure how he will do on the Ventoux though.

 

[Buninyong Bunny]

I am surprised this thread isn't getting more action considering that the White Jersey is the last seriously competitive battle.

To say that Nibali is going to keep up with Andy because he could do it on one low tempo day is a bit false, and I personally think that as soon as the accelerations start he will struggle, in the same way that Armstrong and VdV seem to do. That being said, Schleck will still have to gain at least a minute to stay in front after the ITT, so he certainly has work to do today if he wants this jersey. One thing that will work in Nibali's favour is that Saxo Bank certainly won't be focused on him, so he has a chance of getting away to an extent if the pace slows at any point (which is surely will).

However the main point surely has to be that no-one has all the answers, which makes it all the more interesting.

 

[mr. tibbs]

I think that Schleck's gains on Ventoux will offset his losses in the ITT.

But I'm still excited as hell about Nibali's performance so far this year!

 

[Jasper]

Nah, with todays stage and the Ventoux coming up, I think Nibali will lose between 1 or 2 minutes on Andy. And the TT is too short to make up that kind of difference.

But I do agree the battle for white is very interesting this year, with Martin holding on much longer than anticipated, and the struggle between Andy and Nibali. I had expected Kreuziger to be in there as well, but unfortunately he seems to be still a tad too young to be there with the big guns. It's very promising as well to see that the contenders for the white jersey are also contenders for the yellow jersey. It's not just a second line battle between riders that are ranked 15th to 20th overall, but a tough battle between guys that are also eyeing a podium spot overall. That promises a lot for the coming years.

 

[Buninyong Bunny]

Nah, with todays stage and the Ventoux coming up, I think Nibali will lose between 1 or 2 minutes on Andy. And the TT is too short to make up that kind of difference.

But I do agree the battle for white is very interesting this year, with Martin holding on much longer than anticipated, and the struggle between Andy and Nibali. I had expected Kreuziger to be in there as well, but unfortunately he seems to be still a tad too young to be there with the big guns. It's very promising as well to see that the contenders for the white jersey are also contenders for the yellow jersey. It's not just a second line battle between riders that are ranked 15th to 20th overall, but a tough battle between guys that are also eyeing a podium spot overall. That promises a lot for the coming years.

Ulrich and Condator have both won both the White and Yellow jerseys so that sort of thing is hardly a rare event - it is still promising for the medium though, but I think that Condator is just going to launch a new era of dominance now and that the transistion era is over.

 

[luckyboy]

Nibali 3rd overall & white jersey

 

[Jayarbie]

Nibali may be able to grab the jersey for a day after the ITT, but I think Ventoux is going to be an epic battle between Contador and Schleck with the others minutes behind by the end.

 

[nesmito]

I had expected Kreuziger to be in there as well, but unfortunately he seems to be still a tad too young to be there with the big guns.

kreuziger spent the better part of last week battling a rather nasty intestinal virus. with that in mind, i'd say that he's performed remarkably well.

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sport.cz%2Fostatni%2Fcyklistika%2F153466-kreuziger-muj-vykon-poznamenaly-strevni-potize.html&sl=cs&tl=en&history_state0=

 

[Escarabajo]

The distance between Andy Schleck and Nibali now is 2':43". Very hard to get it now.

 

[Jasper]

kreuziger spent the better part of last week battling a rather nasty intestinal virus. with that in mind, i'd say that he's performed remarkably well.

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sport.cz%2Fostatni%2Fcyklistika%2F153466-kreuziger-muj-vykon-poznamenaly-strevni-potize.html&sl=cs&tl=en&history_state0=

I did not know that. Thanks for the clarification