TDF GC - Time to talk

[peloton]

Contador may have something to say about this....besides, there are already rumors that Contador is leaving and going to an American team in 2010....he has nothing to lose.

Contador has a contract with JB at the end of 2010.

If (or when) he will change teams, it will be a Spanish one, not American.

1. Armstrong
2. Menchov
3. Contador
4. Evans
5. Leipheimer
6. Kreutziger
7. Sastre
8. Vandevelde
9. Klöden
10. A Schleck

 

[MKirilenko]

Heck, If LA wins this, it will mean the level of cycling these days is really, really poor. IMO Lance has no chance of winning it, but when I read some of ur picks I got confused. Can he pull this off? 8th? COME ON!

1. Contador
2. Evans
3. Menchov
4. Sastre
5. Kreuziger
6. A. Schleck
7. L. L. Sanchez (is he going?)
8. Levi
9. LA
10. Gesink

 

[39*23t]

1 contador
2 schleck .a
3 evans
4 menchov
5 sastre
6 gesink
7 schleck .f (knee depending)
8 kirchen
9 kruzinger/nibali
10 armstrong


if armstrong wins then we might see big mig making a comeback next year. also feel there will be a mystery rider who will get in a long break and might hold out for a top ten (maybe moncoutie ?)

 

[nobody]

Heck, If LA wins this, it will mean the level of cycling these days is really, really poor. IMO Lance has no chance of winning it, but when I read some of ur picks I got confused. Can he pull this off? 8th? COME ON!

If Lance wins that would be terrible for cycling and the biopassport! A major failure.

 

[hulkgogan]

Everybody's got Menchov high. You don't think he blew his wad in the Giro?

 

[VeloGirl]

1) Contador
2) Menchov
3) Leipheimer
4) Evans
5) Sastre
6) A Schleck
7) Vande Velde
8) Kreuziger
9) Armstrong
10) Gesink

Maillot Vert:
Hushovd - early season success, but not over doing it. Boonen is out of the picture and McKewen is past his prime. He won't win most of the sprint stages, but his team will easily control the sprint points out on the course and let them go to non-threats. Cav will probably win more stages - but I have a feeling that although Cav says he is going to finish the Tour - he won't.


Maillot à pois rouges:
mmm...hopefully a young, up and comer. Maybe a future tour winner. Someone with the passion of a Tommy Voekler, but the climbing skills of a mountain goat.

Maillot Blanc:
A Schleck will take it by at least 15:00.

Team:
Astana
CSC
Cervelo

Edit: opener goes to Cance by at least 9 seconds. He hasn't done anything and needs success. This will be it for Spartacus.

 

[Jasper]

Edit: opener goes to Cance by at least 9 seconds. He hasn't done anything and needs success.

Except winning the Tour de Suisse of course, most likely with 2 stage wins as well

 

[VeloGirl]

Except winning the Tour de Suisse of course, most likely with 2 stage wins as well

Touche!

(However, winning his hometown race 5 months into the season is, in general, a bit light for him )

 

[sportzchick]

1st AC
2nd Cadel
3rd Sastre
4th A schleck
5th LA

Being an aussie I obviously want cadel to win, but i think contador has the edge on him (just judging the dauphine) and with the amount of TT decreaing (and AC improvement in the discipline) i don't think cadell will win. However his team is stringer then last year, so i predict that he will remain in 2nd (again). Sastre won't win, he will come into good form, but won't have the same team wich allowed him to win last year. Probably 3rd. Andy schleck should come in 4th, needs alittle more time before hes on top (maybe next year even?) Lance got alot stronger as the giro went on, and he does know how to ride the tour (least he used to)

others to watch-
leipheimer, but he went to hard to early
menchov-peaked about 2 months to early
rogers-won't win, but will shake it up. coming back from two real bad seasons (crash in 07 & epstein bar last year) and has some potential(i'm not biased at all though)
all the italian GC riders-haven't set the world on fire so far this year
CVV-crashed too recently
KK- somewhere around 6 or 7, just don't think hes good enough

Agree about Cadel - Im worried that he will have to go it alone AGAIN this this year

His Lotto team mates need to start doing the job they were paid to do and not act like pettulent brats when Cadel says it like it is!

 

[laurentiu46]

Maillot à pois rouges:
mmm...hopefully a young, up and comer. Maybe a future tour winner. Someone with the passion of a Tommy Voekler, but the climbing skills of a mountain goat.

Maillot Blanc:
A Schleck will take it by at least 15:00.

Polka dot...i think a couple of french riders will go for it: Moncoutie,Dessel,Le Mevel,or Fedrigo. Among the foreign,maybe the likes of Wegmann,Anton and why not,Rigoberto Uran,if he's riding.

I think the gap between the top 3 in the white jersey classification,presumably Schlecklet,Gesink and Kreuziger will depend on how much Rabo will protect RG. Still,15 mins seems too much,i should say under 10:00.

 

[Nikoloz]

1) Contador
2) Evans 0-1m
3) Sastre 0-1m
4) Menchov 1-2.5m
5) Vandevelde (?) 2.5-3.5m
6) Kloden 2.5-3.5m
7) Schleck A. 3-4m
8) Rogers >7m
9) Gesink >7m
10) Armstrong >7m

Mind you, almost all my predictions are miles off

ntu...ntu... ntu...

1) kloden
2) pelezo
3) sastre

:myblindfaith:

 

[laurentiu46]

Pellizotti will likely go for a stage win. I don't know if he's able to ride 2 GT's in a row at his top,at least never did it until now.
Is somebody else sharing the idea that no Liquigas will finish in the top 10?
I know Nibali and Kreuziger showed good form at Dauphine and Suisse but ...

 

[Ibanez]

I think Kreuziger will make the top ten, although he is very very young still. Nibali is not at that level. And I think Pellizotti will lose enough time to be able to hunt for stage wins. He could go for KOM, would come with more prestige then an anonymous top ten and he is easily stronger then Moncoutie.

 

[Anonymous]

i think contador will get stitched.. not that i care.. i dont particularly like the bloke...

LA and Levi are just too tight.. they train together, no doubt they will room together.. if anyone is going to know LA's tactics it will be levi, if anyone knows levis tactics it will be LA...

Astana on paper look unbeatable.. three genuine GC contenders, which makes me wonder.. if you think back to days of postal, lance always had a train helping him along, driving for him, wearing out the other teams.. with 1/3 of the team effectively targeting the GC, who is going to drive the train, who is going to be getting the bidons, and doing the work for them.. Does anyteam have the domestiques to support 3 GC contenders..

It is scary though to think, just how much damage, the three of them could do if they decided to work together, imagine if those three are in a group with sastre and evans how tough it is going to be for the others..

more than anything i think menchov, and sastre and evans, and schleck maybe need to have a sit down together before the tour and come to some sort of agreement over wether or not they will work together..

My 1-6

Contador/Lance - DEpending on which way the politics go
Schleck
Evans
Levi
Vdv
Contador/Lance - the one that loses the political battle..

 

[BigBoat]

i think contador will get stitched.. not that i care.. i dont particularly like the bloke...

LA and Levi are just too tight.. they train together, no doubt they will room together.. if anyone is going to know LA's tactics it will be levi, if anyone knows levis tactics it will be LA...

Astana on paper look unbeatable.. three genuine GC contenders, which makes me wonder.. if you think back to days of postal, lance always had a train helping him along, driving for him, wearing out the other teams.. with 1/3 of the team effectively targeting the GC, who is going to drive the train, who is going to be getting the bidons, and doing the work for them.. Does anyteam have the domestiques to support 3 GC contenders..

It is scary though to think, just how much damage, the three of them could do if they decided to work together, imagine if those three are in a group with sastre and evans how tough it is going to be for the others..

more than anything i think menchov, and sastre and evans, and schleck maybe need to have a sit down together before the tour and come to some sort of agreement over wether or not they will work together..

My 1-6

Contador/Lance - DEpending on which way the politics go
Schleck
Evans
Levi
Vdv
Contador/Lance - the one that loses the political battle..

Duh! Lance owns poor conta... Contadope should have transfered to Caisse...then again he couldnt if he wants Lances top drugs. LOL

 

[Anonymous]

Duh! Lance owns poor conta... Contadope should have transfered to Caisse...then again he couldnt if he wants Lances top drugs. LOL

and that contributed exactly WHAT to the discussion?

 

[patswana]

i think contador will get stitched.. not that i care.. i dont particularly like the bloke...

<snip>

My 1-6

Contador/Lance - Depending on which way the politics go
Schleck
Evans
Levi
Vdv
Contador/Lance - the one that loses the political battle..

I think that is about the same as my guess. I think Contador will lose the political battle.

 

[BikeCentric]

Yellow:
1. Alberto Contador
2. Cadel Evans
3. Denis Menchov
4. Andy Schleck
5. Carlos Sastre
6. Michael Rogers
7. Roman Kreuziger
8. Kim Kirchen
9. Christian Vande Velde
10. Linus Gerdemann

I don't think any kind of internal Astana team bickering will be enough to stop Contador from a TDF win this year; I simply don't think either Lance or Levi will have the legs to do anything but play domestique for this rider.

I also like Nibali and Pellizotti for a chance at placings 5-10 but since they are on the same team as Kreuziger I thought it more realistic that only one of them crack the top ten and of the three I think that Kreuziger may be the strongest right now. Pellizotti is likely going to be tired from the Giro.

Denis Menchov is also going to be in the "tired from the Giro" category, but I still think he'll push hard for the podium even with the post Giro fatigue - he's a very smart and consistent stage racer and is having a great year.

Andy Schleck and Carlos Sastre will climb well but won't be able to TT with the best and therefore won't stand on the podium.

Green Jersey:
Danielle Bennati. Yes Cav is a better pure sprinter than Bennati and will win more stages but Bennati is more versatile and consistent. Cav may not make it over the mountains and if he does I think they'll take a lot of him. This all presumes Bennati can stay healthy and off the floor for once.

Polka Dots:
Andy Schleck. I think Andy will win a mountain-top finish. Ventoux? Perhaps - Sastre and Contador want it badly as well I'm sure.

 

[Seth Bullock]

Green Jersey:
Danielle Bennati. Yes Cav is a better pure sprinter than Bennati and will win more stages but Bennati is more versatile and consistent. Cav may not make it over the mountains and if he does I think they'll take a lot of him. This all presumes Bennati can stay healthy and off the floor for once.
[/quote]

Freire? Consistent, can get over the climbs.....

 

[BikeCentric]

Green Jersey:
Danielle Bennati. Yes Cav is a better pure sprinter than Bennati and will win more stages but Bennati is more versatile and consistent. Cav may not make it over the mountains and if he does I think they'll take a lot of him. This all presumes Bennati can stay healthy and off the floor for once.

Freire? Consistent, can get over the climbs.....[/QUOTE]

You are correct Sir.

 

[BroDeal]

Freire? Consistent, can get over the climbs.....

You are correct Sir.[/QUOTE]

I am still betting on Cav. He is a half step above everyone else this year.

 

[karlboss]

The TTT will set things up for Astana. Leipheimer will play dutiful domestique. Contador will be allowed to attack when he likes and Lance allowed to chase down anyone who goes after him. This will leave those two at the top as Lance will catch everyone he chases. This might change if they are close and lance TT's well enough to put AC behind him. Then i think it'll be best of the rest.

 

[Anonymous]

I just watched Mr Armstrong destroy the field in Nevada City. "So what?" you say. He, Levi, and Ben Jaques Mayne lapped the field twice.....and then with six laps left he dropped everyone up the 120 feet of climbing like he had a motor on his bike. It didn't even look hard. Still you say "So what?" He is thin and strong and will certainly not be in the mood to ride for anyone in 2 weeks. Poor ole Contador is going to get the shaft, and get it hard. No lube. Oh well, he should have chosen more wisely last year and read the writing on the wall everyone else saw. I will post pictures and a couple of funny stories about the race later.

 

[Bala Verde]

It is scary though to think, just how much damage, the three of them could do if they decided to work together, imagine if those three are in a group with sastre and evans how tough it is going to be for the others..

I seriously doubt that either Leipheimer or Armstrong can drop Evans, Sastre or Menchov. Leipheimer already showed serious signs of weaknesses in the mountains in the Giro, so to count him in as a TdF contender, is probably going out on a limp. Armstrong never really demonstrated to have that explosivity 'a la Sastre' to create a substantial gap and have a serious attempt at a stage win. (Astana, then, without victories in the Giro, he would have if he could have). If anything, those two could perhaps take some time in the TTs. Contador is the only one IMO who can actually attack in the mountains, when others have to pass...

But hey, we might have to wait till the Nevada City classic to see what their form is...

and then I read TFF report on the classic...

 

[Anonymous]

I just watched Mr Armstrong destroy the field in Nevada City. "So what?" you say. He, Levi, and Ben Jaques Mayne lapped the field twice.....and then with six laps left he dropped everyone up the 120 feet of climbing like he had a motor on his bike. It didn't even look hard. Still you say "So what?" He is thin and strong and will certainly not be in the mood to ride for anyone in 2 weeks. Poor ole Contador is going to get the shaft, and get it hard. No lube. Oh well, he should have chosen more wisely last year and read the writing on the wall everyone else saw. I will post pictures and a couple of funny stories about the race later.

tell us about his competition.