Three Cheers for the Tour de France

[xrayvision]

Kreuziger
Schleck
Quintana

I like Kreuziger, calm and relaxed and just a nice guy, and then he´s young, would like to see him up there despite the his role.

I want to see Andy back in same shape and form as before, the sport needs it.

Quintana...Just an amazing rider, the man for the future.

 

[Bushman]

Movistar - Mostly Quintana but I also hope Valverde will be in the mix and Costs get his chances.

Contador - Hope to see a terrific battle between him and froome. And will be rooting for Saxo in general.

Sagan - I hope he will go into a lot of breakaways and chase every opportunity there is to take stages and points from Cav, Kittel and Greipel. He seems to have lost a bit of his top speed and I with this route the green jersey will be very difficult. But I hope he won't give up.

Fuglsang - Would really like to see him prove his haters wrong. He climbed very well in Dauphine. I believe he can achieve a good result if he avoid stupid time losses and crashes.

Furthermore I hope to see Schleck back in good shape and I will also be rooting for Kwiatkowski. Really like the guy

 

[ThirdWorld]

Alberto
Contador
Velasco

 

[cycladianpirate]

Could I tweak it a bit and choose 3 things I would like to see?

1. Dan Martin to win a stage
2. Cuddles to podium (unlikely, I know)
3. The battle for Green to be decided on the Champs Elysees

Oh, and in fantasy land......

Nibali to turn up on the roster.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Alberto
Contador
Velasco

Lol nice

 

[ILovecycling]

Alberto&Andy
Quintana
Sagan

And special ones - Voigt,Martinez,Fedrigo

 

[slosada]

- Quintana: More because of the flag, as well as any other Colombian rider (Serpa and possibly one more)
- Spanish climbers (Contador, Valverde, Purito,...) Just to make it really hard for the skytrain.
- Andy Schleck: For the same reason as above.
I prefer to see attacks and counter attacks in any hill, than having a paced climb with every leader in the group to get the race to be defined at TT.

 

[Carlo Algatrensig]

Tejay van Garderen - My 5 pound e/w bet for the GC has gone on him.

Dan Martin - He's Irish but also a Brummie so I'll be cheering on a local rider.

Joaquim Rodriguez - I can't see him winning the race but I think he can help make the mountain stages more interesting

 

[Le Baroudeur]

If they get picked... The thread is a week early.

Michael Mørkøv

He personfies what I admire in a rider, haveing an acute racing sense and the ability to more often than not catch the successful break of the day. In the last edition he held the Polka Dots for 6 days and was only just pipped for the Brandt Combative Rider Prise by a rider with medical trauma. Hoping his escapades finaly deliver him a deserved and overdue first win.

Chris Anker Sørensen

The 'Oxen from Hammel', winner of the 2012 Brandt Combative Rider Prise, his grit and determination are an inspiration. Who can forget the sceens of him chasing a stage win in bandages, or riding for survival covered in blood with his fingertips chopped off.

Alberto Contador

Because he is the focus of effort for the Two riders above, and will be flying the trade colours for the team against the media darlings on team "Journeymen 'R' Us-Abhorrent Empire-Black Socks 'R' So Late Nineties"

Plus

Any other rider team that gangs up against, humiliates, or denies "Team Murdoch" attention. Sorry guys you all have a choice of who you choose to ride for.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Quintana - Because of sheer awesomeness. Plus I liked him before it was cool!
Mollema - Well duh
Gesink - Deserves a break in the form of a nice stage win.

 

[jaylew]

If I can only pick three riders to cheer for:

Contador
Quintana
Talansky

Three other, more general thngs I'm hoping to see:

Movistar's performance overall - I'd love to see Nairo, Costa, and Valverde all get a stage

Quintana, Valverde, Schleck, Purito, Contador (and everyone else) all showing up in top form to hopefully derail the Skytrain

Greipel, Kittel, and Kristoff to disrupt Cav's and Sagan's battle for Green - of all of those guys, I guess I prefer Greipel with Cav being my last choice.

 

[airstream]

Wow, 2 people for Tour #1 favorite! I thought it would be way worse lol .

 

[Afrank]

1. Schleck- I want to see him show some signs of the 2011 Schleck and his epic ride. Signs of a 2010 Schleck would be even better.

2. Nairito- Got so much potential, would just be awesome to see him make good on it in his first Tour. Partly for CQ reasons as well.

3. Tejay or Talansky- Would like to see them make good on their promise. Either one works, their both American. Part of the reason I want to see them do well.

Also would like to see Sagan, Pinot, Bardet, Moser, Kwiatkowski, Costa, Veilleux, Voeckler, and Kadri do well. But those 3 are the main ones.

 

[webbie146]

My A-team:

Andy Schleck
Alberto Contador
Rodriguez
Valverde

Will be cheering for those 4 this tdf, if any of them win I'm happy haha

 

[Viking]

Joaquim "Purito" Rodríguez
Rodríguez seems to be an all-around good guy. I really appreciate the humility he showed last season when he could (maybe even should) have won the Giro and/or Vuelta. I like that he's going for the Tour when he'd likely have been better at the Vuelta (not so much the Giro) this year. I'll be cheering for him to win, though I'd say it's a longshot. A podium finish would be awesome, giving him a podium in all three grand tours.

Andrew Talansky
Talansky also seems like a good guy, and an up-and-coming talent on a team with a philosophy I like. I don't know if he's going to be riding for himself or working for Hesjedal or Martin, but either way I'd like to see him do well - nice GC finish or a stage win. Actually, I don't even know if he's going to be riding.

Any sprinter who can challenge Cav
I'm not a Cavendish hater. I've actually grown to like the guy. But it gets a little boring when he's on form and his team is working full-out to get him a win - he's somewhere around 99% successful then. As long as some other sprinter(s) make the bunch sprints competitive and exciting, I'll be happy.

 

[cycladianpirate]

Wow, 2 people for Tour #1 favorite! I thought it would be way worse lol .

Just because you support (a), that doesn't make you anti (b)....

 

[armchairclimber]

So far Quintana leading the way with Schleck and Contador hot on his heels. Good support for Dan Martin and Purito. Tommy V fading after a promising breakaway.

 

[rghysens]

Quintana
Pinot
Van Garderen (I know he won't do much more than hanging on for dear life, but somehow I like the guy)

 

[Siriuscat]

Alberto
Contador
Velasco

This...... I like this train of thought

 

[Inquitus]

Dan Martin - Great rider, great guy, form is coming good after the classics as shown in the Tour de Swiss
Cav - I like him, and he's a true great, and my Oakley Jawbones make me 4.3% faster in a sprint.
Porte - Having a great season, and a genuinely likeable guy, even if he's a Skyborg

 

[webbie146]

Quintana - Because of sheer awesomeness. Plus I liked him before it was cool!
Mollema - Well duh
Gesink - Deserves a break in the form of a nice stage win.

Delahaije will make that happen for Gesink I'm sure. He's probably doing some altitude training with him right now

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Three riders in the Tour is an interesting pair of limitations. Although in the absence of final squads it does mean that there's a bit of uncertainty.

In no particular order:
Dan Martin
TGBM
Blel Kadri

There are loads of potential nominees, riders who i really like but who won't be at the Tour (eg Betancur), or will probably be domestiquing for a rider I really don't like (eg Quintana) or who are just so reliably successful that choosing them over other riders I like seems pointless (eg Cavendish). So the three is by no means a top three ranking of the riders I always cheer for, just the three I'll be cheering for the loudest at this particular Tour.

 

[Siriuscat]

Alberto Contador - Because he will attack, he will attack everywhere he has the chance to attack because that's the only way he knows how. He is the only one who can put that final nail in the Sky coffin, because he's still the best rider of this generation and he'll be back where he belongs on the top step of that podium.

Cav - He gave the finger to the Skyborgs who shafted him last year and is back where he should be as the best and most exciting Sprinter road racing has had for many many years, Green Jersey.

Thomas Voeckler - He took advantage of the Skyborgs last year to win the maillot a pois and that has to be good but he is just the most surprising and enterprising rider on the tour year after year. I'm having him for mountains classification again this year.

Honourable mentions....anyone who works with Alberto and the rest of the GC boys to eliminate the Skyborgs. Hope Andy Schleck finds some way back to form and to learn how to attack, make me like you Andy!!!

 

[vcampbell]

Contador - Because he is my 2nd favorite rider in the peloton (favorite if I expect some results).

Dan Martin - I guess Hesjedal will not be there and I like Garmin and Martin also, so it was easy to pick him.

Van den Broeck - I watch cycling and GT's generally for the climbers. I like him also and I think he could reach the podium, and I want to see him reach the podium.

 

[caricas]

Rui Costa
Quintana
Europcar