Pre Tour de France-thread

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With all the drama & controversy aside, if everyone gets to the TDF healthy the GC race would be amazing!!
GC guys:
Sky: Froome, Thomas & even Bernal
Movistar: Valv, Quintana, Landa
Bahrain: Nibali & Pozzo
BMC: Porte & TJ
Ag2R: Bardet
EF: Uran
Michelton: A Yates
QS: Jungels
UAE: Martin
NL Jumbo: Kruiswijk & Roglic
Trek: Molema
Fortuneo: Barguil
Katusha: Zakarin
Bora: Majka
Sunweb: Dumoulin & Kelderman

Also regarding teams, Sky's lineup will be pretty close to this: Froome, Bernal, Thomas, Kwiatko, Moscon, Castro, Rowe & Poels.
& Michelton aren't bringing any riders from the Giro. So A Yates, will be left mostly to his own devices as he'll split the team with Ewan.
 
Oliwright said:
With all the drama & controversy aside, if everyone gets to the TDF healthy the GC race would be amazing!!
GC guys:
Sky: Froome, Thomas & even Bernal
Movistar: Valv, Quintana, Landa
Bahrain: Nibali & Pozzo
BMC: Porte & TJ
Ag2R: Bardet
EF: Uran
Michelton: A Yates
QS: Jungels
UAE: Martin
NL Jumbo: Kruiswijk & Roglic
Trek: Molema
Fortuneo: Barguil
Katusha: Zakarin

Also regarding teams, Sky's lineup will be pretty close to this: Froome, Bernal, Thomas, Kwiatko, Moscon, Castro, Rowe & Poels.
& Michelton aren't bringing any riders from the Giro. So A Yates, will be left mostly to his own devices as he'll split the team with Ewan.
Pozzo aint riding the GC. TJ is a mess, aint a factor either. Barguil will probably hunt KOM and stages. The rest should feature in the GC.

Yeah, Majka, Fuglsang and Kelderman are top-10 riders as well. Dumoulin is a x-factor. FDJ wont have anyone.
 
Fuglsang hasn't finished in the top 10 in the GC since 2013.
He's a real longshot for a top 10.
Forgot about Majka & Kelderman, they could be dark horses for the Top 5.
 
Jun 30, 2014
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Oliwright said:
Fuglsang hasn't finished in the top 10 in the GC since 2013.
He's a real longshot for a top 10.
Forgot about Majka & Kelderman, they could be dark horses for the Top 5.
Yes, but Fuglsang durning the last 12 months looks like a changed man, if everything goes his way he can finish top 5.
 
Sep 6, 2016
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My hope for this tour is that movistar and Bardet lose significant time to Nibali on the cobbles and go berserk to get it back. If they ride hard, Movistar could blow this race apart.

Prediction:
1. Nibali
2. Quintana
3. Porte
 
Re: Re:

Gigs_98 said:
Nirvana said:
I remember an interview for Diario Vasco a couple of months ago where they said that at the Tour Nibali will be GC leader and them will go for stages whereas at the Vuelta will be the opposite.
Maybe they could help him in some occasion if needed but I highly doubt will be full domestiques, that will be the role of Pozzovivo and Pellizotti in the mountains.
If someone really said that it was media nonsense. You can't just go to the tour as one of the top favorites while basically only having a six men team. Meanwhile it wouldn't surprise me if Nibali has a free role at the vuelta. After all the two izagirres are 29 and a 30 year old whose best gc placements in a gt have been 27th and 28th.
Probably it's a team decision to not put all eggs in Nibali basket considering that there is also Colbrelly that want to ride for himself and that means at least one between Haussler and Koren working for him, and even Pozzovivo yesterday posted an interview where he said he hope to win a stage at the Tour.
 
Re: Re:

Nirvana said:
Gigs_98 said:
Nirvana said:
I remember an interview for Diario Vasco a couple of months ago where they said that at the Tour Nibali will be GC leader and them will go for stages whereas at the Vuelta will be the opposite.
Maybe they could help him in some occasion if needed but I highly doubt will be full domestiques, that will be the role of Pozzovivo and Pellizotti in the mountains.
If someone really said that it was media nonsense. You can't just go to the tour as one of the top favorites while basically only having a six men team. Meanwhile it wouldn't surprise me if Nibali has a free role at the vuelta. After all the two izagirres are 29 and a 30 year old whose best gc placements in a gt have been 27th and 28th.
Probably it's a team decision to not put all eggs in Nibali basket considering that there is also Colbrelly that want to ride for himself and that means at least one between Haussler and Koren working for him, and even Pozzovivo yesterday posted an interview where he said he hope to win a stage at the Tour.
So 4 riders don't have to work for Nibali, and two even shall work for Colbrelli, who has no chance to win a stage? This would only leave Pelizotti for Nibali... That sounds...rather unlikely to me (not questioning your sources, but common sense would suggest it's all in for Nibali.)
 
For this reason some days ago I said that taking Colbrelli to France is a non sense and if I were the team I'd pick every time Gasparotto over him.

Anyway I don't think that Nibali really need a full train, on the flat is one that like to position himself alone and on the mountain he'll probably need to defend considering that he'll likely suffer the short stages. And if he wants to attack somewhere having one Izagirre or Pozzovivo in the break could be an advantage.
 
Re:

Bot. Sky_Bot said:
Prediction:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Ex-Sky Porte
3. Ex-Sky Landa
But yes, I'm afraid non-Sky Nibali might be at podium.
Pathetic attention seeking post. If you want be a true Contrarian do try harder. Plenty of others over in the Clinic doing it far more subtle than you are.
 
I just don't know what to predict with Froome. My head says look at how hard the Giro was, that HAS to set him back for the Tour. On the other hand, he is the best GC rider in the sport, so there is no way I can rule him out of a podium, or even winning again. I just don't know....

What if Tommy D comes too?? How does that impact things? Sunweb is a strong TTT team, so he has more TT kms to do damage with. He was done at the end of the Giro though, so I'm not sure he has it in him to mount any serious challenge for Podium.

The TT's will ruin Bardet again, but top 5 is pretty likely, he's consistent!

Nibs will be strong, I'm sure of that. It'll be a question of how he can limit loses in the hardest of Mountian stages to the very top climbers and pinch time here and there when he can.

Movistar is fascinating. My gut feeling is Landa will come out on top there. Valverde is amazing, but I don't see it for him in this race (in terms of GC). Quintana's star appears to be fading, after looking like he'd be the only threat to Froome a couple of years back. I have no expectations for him this time. If his new approach doesn't work, I wonder what he'll go back to next year?

Richie is a probably my favorite to win it this year. Of course...he has to make it through without a serious crash and that is going to be a 50/50 proposition. Without the crash last year, I believe he was the only one that could have made it difficult for Froome.

Dark Horse - Roglic. Showing all the signs of being a big GC contender.

2nd Dark Horse - Fuglsang. Needs things to go his way, but I think could play a role in this race.
 
Re: Re:

Gigs_98 said:
Bot. Sky_Bot said:
Prediction:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Ex-Sky Porte
3. Ex-Sky Landa
But yes, I'm afraid non-Sky Nibali might be at podium.
Is the only reason why you like or dislike a rider whether he has ever ridden for sky? If yes I find that quite sad
To be honest, if CF can compete in TdF I have no doubts, he will win it quite easily, with less effort than in Giro.
Podium? - Porte is one of the greatest climber, without bad luck he is at podium. The same with Landa, probably with no such huge problems at 9th stage as Quintana and above 2000m asl as Valverde.
Who else? - only Nibali. And you are absolutely right, if I have to choose.. I hope Nibali will not be at podium, he is no ex-Sky and that's enough.
EDIT - and I must admit, some of pure haters of the Dark Knight are Nibali's fans, unfortuntely, yes.
 
Re: Re:

Gigs_98 said:
Bot. Sky_Bot said:
Prediction:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Ex-Sky Porte
3. Ex-Sky Landa
But yes, I'm afraid non-Sky Nibali might be at podium.
Is the only reason why you like or dislike a rider whether he has ever ridden for sky? If yes I find that quite sad
Folk hate riders just because they ride for Sky, do you find that sad? I’ve never heard you say you do!
 
Re: Re:

rick james said:
Gigs_98 said:
Bot. Sky_Bot said:
Prediction:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Ex-Sky Porte
3. Ex-Sky Landa
But yes, I'm afraid non-Sky Nibali might be at podium.
Is the only reason why you like or dislike a rider whether he has ever ridden for sky? If yes I find that quite sad
Folk hate riders just because they ride for Sky, do you find that sad? I’ve never heard you say you do!
I generally find it stupid if you only root for a rider because he rides for a specific team. It's just that this mostly happens with sky.
 
Re: Re:

Gigs_98 said:
rick james said:
Gigs_98 said:
Bot. Sky_Bot said:
Prediction:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Ex-Sky Porte
3. Ex-Sky Landa
But yes, I'm afraid non-Sky Nibali might be at podium.
Is the only reason why you like or dislike a rider whether he has ever ridden for sky? If yes I find that quite sad
Folk hate riders just because they ride for Sky, do you find that sad? I’ve never heard you say you do!
I generally find it stupid if you only root for a rider because he rides for a specific team. It's just that this mostly happens with sky.

I don’t think it’s stupid, but it is more common among fans from non-traditional cycling countries. It is after all normal in the culture of most sports with teams to root for a team.
 
Re:

Son of Amsterhammer said:
I just don't know what to predict with Froome. My head says look at how hard the Giro was, that HAS to set him back for the Tour. On the other hand, he is the best GC rider in the sport, so there is no way I can rule him out of a podium, or even winning again. I just don't know....

What if Tommy D comes too?? How does that impact things? Sunweb is a strong TTT team, so he has more TT kms to do damage with. He was done at the end of the Giro though, so I'm not sure he has it in him to mount any serious challenge for Podium.

The TT's will ruin Bardet again, but top 5 is pretty likely, he's consistent!

Nibs will be strong, I'm sure of that. It'll be a question of how he can limit loses in the hardest of Mountian stages to the very top climbers and pinch time here and there when he can.

Movistar is fascinating. My gut feeling is Landa will come out on top there. Valverde is amazing, but I don't see it for him in this race (in terms of GC). Quintana's star appears to be fading, after looking like he'd be the only threat to Froome a couple of years back. I have no expectations for him this time. If his new approach doesn't work, I wonder what he'll go back to next year?

Richie is a probably my favorite to win it this year. Of course...he has to make it through without a serious crash and that is going to be a 50/50 proposition. Without the crash last year, I believe he was the only one that could have made it difficult for Froome.

Dark Horse - Roglic. Showing all the signs of being a big GC contender.

2nd Dark Horse - Fuglsang. Needs things to go his way, but I think could play a role in this race.
the first 2/3 of your post, spot on IMO.

Ritchie? The dark horses? Meh. Not to say that Porte doesn't have quality for a podium, maybe more, but to me it will be the Ritchie watch...get a flat and lose 2 minutes on the cobbles, well you know. I don't believe in miracles, i.e. Froome, but I kind of believe in curses.

And again, I'll be proven wrong :) .
 
I don't see Roglic as a threat. I think Nibali has a good chance if he can find his best form. Movistar is a bit like Richie. What should happen and could happen probably won't happen.But I hope Richie can finally crack the podium at least. It will be very interesting to see how the smaller climbers handle the cobbles. That stage will be another vital one for Nibali and probably a nightmare for others.
 

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