Paris Nice stage 1 Houdan - Houdan 154.5 km The Season Starts Here

[flicker]

Cycling ended when' MY Lance' retired.

 

[The Sheep]

Countdown to the season

Who's the Garmin? VDV?

Love the little details like Evans spilling milk

 

[The Hitch]

Who's the Garmin? VDV?

Yep.

Together with Menchov and Jesus, its the most accurate drawing.

Though i dont get why Levi is playing Peter. Surely that should have been Vino. didnt need 3 liquis.

 

[The Hitch]

I absolutely love it when they rate the favourites for a race out of 5 stars.

Lequip i think do it for GTs. They are usually wrong.

Well here are, according to cycling weekly are the favourites for the season opener


http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/517753/paris-nice-2011-who-will-win.html

5 stars

Frank Schleck (Luxembourg) Leopard-Trek
Runner-up in 2009, Schleck could win this race if he wants to. Instead, the Luxemburger may opt to get some good racing miles in his legs at this early stage of the year, Also, with brother Andy riding the Tirreno-Adriatico, Frank could well look like a lost sheep.

Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spain) Rabobank
The 2009 winner has not finished outside the top five in Paris- Nice since 2006. With a certain other Spaniard running scared from non-Spanish races, Sanchez has a great opportunity to triumph once again.


4 stars

Samuel Sanchez (Spain) Euskatel-Euskadi
Like a fine wine, the other Sanchez to boast a good record in Paris-Nice is getting better with age. However, with his performances against the watch remaining distinctly average, the Euskatel rider may have to settle for a top ten finish at best.

Sylvain Chavanel (France) Quick Step
Coming off the back of a disappointing weekend in the Belgian semi-classics, Chavanel will want to make amends on home soil. Several of the stages scream out as being ideal for the all-rounder, although overall ambitions will - like many others - be hampered by the curveball time trial.

3 stars

Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) Astana
Everyone's favourite Kazakh is back riding the Paris- Nice for the first time since 2005. Whether or not the 2002 and 2003 winner has the legs or the form to triumph again remains to be seen, but you'll probably see him having a dig or two throughout the week.

Nicolas Roche (Ireland) Ag2r-La Mondiale
A solid tenth place here last year, along with top 15 placings in the Tour and Vuelta show that the 26-year-old is rapidly coming of age. Maybe not one of the big favourites for the race, but the Irishman is capable of a top five finish.

2 stars

Richie Porte (Australian) Saxo Bank-Sungard
Having already raced in the Tour Down Under, Porte may well have the form to take a stage win.

1 star

Levi Leipheimer (USA) RadioShack
Third overall at the Vuelta a Andalucia at the end of February shows the veteran American has some good form for a top ten finish here.

Also watch out for...
Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank), Roman Kreuziger (Astana), Rein Taaramae (Cofidis), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Xavier Tondo (Movistar), Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo)

A bit biased to Anglophone riders though, Roche with the same chance as Vino

Your avin a laugh

Also like the way Frank Schleck is favourite and" could win this race if he wants to", but Samu Sanchez is "weak against the clock" Yeah, he couldnt beat Menchov with a ***** broken wrist at the tour so he cant tt full stopl.

How on earth are these english speaking riders getting above VDB.

Roman Kreuziger should be above Richie Porte, or if they are basing it on the time trial, he should be above Roche. Probably above both.

And Simon Spillack should get a mention.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Samuel Sánchez is a better climber AND time trialler at this point in time than Fränk Schleck. Fränk Schleck is like Simon Fourcade or Asier Olaizola, very good in his own right but sometimes overrated by association with his brother.

Also I'm not so sure why Sylvain Chavanel will be thrown for a loop by the TT but Fränk won't, since Chavanel is a MUCH better time triallist than Fränk - top 10 in the 2008 Worlds, 2nd in a 43km TT at the 2008 Vuelta, a winner in Eneco in 2009, 5th in the Tour de Suisse 2009...

 

[Lanark]

I absolutely love it when they rate the favourites for a race out of 5 stars.

Lequip i think do it for GTs. They are usually wrong.

Well here are, according to cycling weekly are the favourites for the season opener


http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/517753/paris-nice-2011-who-will-win.html



A bit biased to Anglophone riders though, Roche with the same chance as Vino

Your avin a laugh

Also like the way Frank Schleck is favourite and" could win this race if he wants to", but Samu Sanchez is "weak against the clock" Yeah, he couldnt beat Menchov with a ***** broken wrist at the tour so he cant tt full stopl.

How on earth are these english speaking riders getting above VDB.

Roman Kreuziger should be above Richie Porte, or if they are basing it on the time trial, he should be above Roche. Probably above both.

And Simon Spillack should get a mention.

They don't even mention Tony Martin, but they do mention Haussler

 

[theyoungest]

...

Who is this Nick Bull who wrote this piece of crap? Samuel Sanchez remains decidely average against the clock, WTF... And Fränk Schleck can win this race if he wants to, because... what? Because he is spectacular against the clock?

Fränk Schleck has a history of never being quite good enough to win this race, although he tried. But sure, Nick Bull, he could have won it if he wanted to.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Wow, cycling editors around the world keep amazing us with their crap sometimes

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

VDB will certainly take a stage.
And why not the whole GC?

He's very eager to win something for the first time in his career with the pro's...

 

[sublimit]

Wow, cycling editors around the world keep amazing us with their crap sometimes

Yes, plenty of editors and writers on internet sites around the globe know jack shit about cycle racing. Sad but true.

 

[Ryaguas]

From where they took that list?? from the PCM???

Just imagine the laughs of the DS from the teams when they read that...
the thing that I find most stupid is putting FS over Vino, Lulu is a perfect pick for 5 stars but FS??? WTF? Vino has won this race 2 times FFS! and still have enough class and form to win it again!

 

[thirteen]

From where they took that list?? from the PCM???

Just imagine the laughs of the DS from the teams when they read that...
the thing that I find most stupid is putting FS over Vino, Lulu is a perfect pick for 5 stars but FS??? WTF? Vino has won this race 2 times FFS! and still have enough class and form to win it again!

Vino will win just because of that

 

[Boeing]

I hate to say it but I like Shack's line up for this race

 

[El Pistolero]

Sporza already airing from 13:30

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Sporza already airing from 13:30

But why? It's probably the most boring stage in the whole week.

 

[El Pistolero]

But why? It's probably the most boring stage in the whole week.

All stages will probably start at the same hour.

And the commentators are good enough to listen to, to make boring stages worthwhile

 

[thirteen]

But why? It's probably the most boring stage in the whole week.

it's a Sunday.

 

[The Hitch]

All stages will probably start at the same hour.

And the commentators are good enough to listen to, to make boring stages worthwhile

Your lucky. The eurosport guys are not fun to listen to. It could be so much fun, there are so many possibilities. Talk about great races from years past. Ask quiz questions of the audience. Give us interesting facts about the riders. But nah. Id rather here Duffy talk about what he had for dinner than Harmonn and Kelly.

 

[search]

But why? It's probably the most boring stage in the whole week.

according to the roadbook the fastest predicted finish time is 14:36 - last year we had hours of Eneco Tour, so one hour of Paris-Nice will be fine

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Double lies, season started at the Omloop. Will be better than stage 1 of Paris-Nice

this.
omloop is not a warm up race, it's amazing

anyway stage 1 looks quite dull.
goss v Haussler?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

VDB will certainly take a stage.
And why not the whole GC?

He's very eager to win something for the first time in his career with the pro's...

Exactly, the guy still has 0 pro wins. So, it's never a certainty for him to win a stage. He's THE anti-winner of all the top tour contenders. You can't claim he'll certainly win a stage

Probably will manage to end 2nd, 4th and 5th in the stages and 3rd in the gc or something

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

VDB will certainly take a stage.
And why not the whole GC?

He's very eager to win something for the first time in his career with the pro's...

He's taking off his invisibility cloak before the tour ?

But yes hopefully he gives it a go, would be nice to see him pick up a win I guess.

That ratings article hitch provided is insane.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Your lucky. The eurosport guys are not fun to listen to. It could be so much fun, there are so many possibilities. Talk about great races from years past. Ask quiz questions of the audience. Give us interesting facts about the riders. But nah. Id rather here Duffy talk about what he had for dinner than Harmonn and Kelly.

If Paulo Martins says "Robert Jesinquingue" one more time he will probably be lynched. Harmon and Kelly aren't that bad in comparison, though they can often miss something of importance happening because Kelly has started an 837-part run-on sentence about something tangentially related to what's going on.

But we were talking about the Sporza guys. Those are fun.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I really don't mind harmon and kelly.
Compared to phil and paul they are good.

Magnus Bäckstedt is quite good.

 

[canyonball]

If Paulo Martins says "Robert Jesinquingue" one more time he will probably be lynched.

About that...the eurosport portuguese site states there will only be a replay of the first stage at 17.00 (portuguese time) . European indoor athletics championship live filling the gap.

It's stream for me then...