Surprise Rider of the Tour

[DenisMenchov]

I'll wait for the starting list to make my prediction about this particular subject.

 

[greenedge]

Re: Re:

How much Valverde failed to not get on the podium.
When Pinot went ballistic and dropped the whole peleton including Nibali.

fixed that for you
(I know it was only metres , but he was dropped)

Yep thanks for the reminder I remember how excited I was by it at the time thinking that he'd force Nibali to chase on the descent

 

[Tonton]

At least one of the French sprinters (Demare, Coquart, Bouhani) will shine. Between the three of them, two stage wins.

 

[Anderis]

If Talansky survives the Tour without any crash, illness or mental breakdown, I think people will be surprised by how good he is in 3rd week. A bit like Hesjedal in last Giro.

 

[whittashau]

Re: Re:

How much Valverde failed to not get on the podium.
When Pinot went ballistic and dropped the whole peleton including Nibali.

fixed that for you
(I know it was only metres , but he was dropped)

To me it was the equivalent of in a triathlon a specialist runner allowing a cyclist to get a small lead before the running leg. Why should Nibs go deep to follow a guy when a descent was about to start? And it's Pinot descending in front of him?

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

Simon Yates doing very good in the gc. Orica is protecting these Yates brothers a lot. I don't even know if White would let Simon try. I hope he does. I'd love to see him going for gc. Really curious to see what he could do at his young age (or see if he could even last 3 weeks.)

White seems to be good at encouraging young talent without over pressuring them. Matthews, Durbridge, Chavez and the Yates brothers look like evidence of this.

Orica will probably let the Yates work together for a good GC spot, then help them chase stages if/when they fall off the pace. Between the Yates, Gerrans, Matthews, Clarke and Meyer they should get at least a stage win somewhere.

I'd hold back Gerrans back for the Vuelta - Too many injuries, not enough race days and lack of form conspire against Gerrans.

I found it interesting that Albasini was doing lots of work in the Tour of Suisse - Like he was in training for the TDF.

True, and if OGE are going purely for stage hunting then Albasini and/or Impey will be good additions.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I don't know if it will really be a surprise - perhaps in a field like this - but I think that Degenkolb will have a very good Tour.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Re: Re:

Simon Yates doing very good in the gc. Orica is protecting these Yates brothers a lot. I don't even know if White would let Simon try. I hope he does. I'd love to see him going for gc. Really curious to see what he could do at his young age (or see if he could even last 3 weeks.)

Im really curious how they will do. Adam was bad at the dauphine, while Simon showed his best performances until now on longer climbs.

I want to pick one for my tdf poule since both are cheap, but I find it hard to predict who will do better since Adam normally is the better climber.

I appreciate I'm rather late but had to correct this. Adam was not remotely bad at the Dauphine.

He finished 20th whilst riding as a domestique for his brother as it was his first race back with a climb since being a victim of Basque stupidity. Prior to that his only other race this year involved dropping Nibali and matching Contador.

His Dauphine ride was a very reassuring sign that the talent has not gone away.