Top 10 Tour de France

[notrolfsorensen]

Taxus4a puts Tony Martin as a bigger GC hope than Mikel Nieve

I think he's speaking of Dan Martin?

Nieve will most definitely have spot no 10

 

[UselessToo]

1.Froome
2.Valverde
3.Contador
4.Porte
5.Quintana
6.Talansky
7.Pinot
8.Van Garderen
9.Rolland
10.Moreno

 

[TANK91]

Yes that's what I fear most Crashes, I just hope Froome Contador have no incident. One things for sure if Froome crashes out the winner will be lame, cant be helped but its true guys. I obviously hope no one has a crash but we know for a fact 1 of the best 5 on paper will be going home early, either Froome, Contador, Rodriguez, Valverde or JVDB

 

[all_in]

Yes that's what I fear most Crashes, I just hope Froome Contador have no incident. One things for sure if Froome crashes out the winner will be lame, cant be helped but its true guys. I obviously hope no one has a crash but we know for a fact 1 of the best 5 on paper will be going home early, either Froome, Contador, Rodriguez, Valverde or JVDB

Really I can't see VDB in the same league with Froome,Contador,Purito and Valverde.

 

[TANK91]

cant believe JVDB is so low I mean he is a better GT rider than TJV friggin Garderen and Andrew Talansky. Porte wont top 5 it will be all for Froome, JVDB will not win a stage we know but he is far more consistent than most he is better than the Americans better than Cadel(Giro in his legs). He will top 5. And was that sarcasm putting Nieve in top 10, puh lease. TGBM will get 8th I think

 

[TANK91]

Really I can't see VDB in the same league with Froome,Contador,Purito and Valverde.

I know that lol but he is 8th downwards on most lists which is absurd and seriously Valverde is overrated on the Vuelta watch him crack hard. He is better cyclist but JVDB is a more consistent Tour rider.

 

[Tornado Tom]

1 Froome
2 Contador
3 Rodriguez
4 Valverde
5 Pinot
6 Porte
7 Evans
8 Mollema
9 Fuglsang
10 Talansky

 

[Pentacycle]

I know that lol but he is 8th downwards on most lists which is absurd and seriously Valverde is overrated on the Vuelta watch him crack hard. He is better cyclist but JVDB is a more consistent Tour rider.

He was ill in the Dauphiné, so it's most likely a big setback in his preparation. The Belgian RR on sunday will be an interesting one to watch with the TdF in mind.

 

[movingtarget]

I know that lol but he is 8th downwards on most lists which is absurd and seriously Valverde is overrated on the Vuelta watch him crack hard. He is better cyclist but JVDB is a more consistent Tour rider.

I agree about Valverde but with VDB it's hard to judge as he only performs in the Tour, in that way he is a bit like Schleck who I could not include in the top 10 this year. VDB will make the top 10 but where, is the hard part to figure out. I can't see him making the podium unless some of the favourites have bad luck or illness.

 

[nick101]

TGBM will get 8th I think

Who is TGBM ?? Cadel could do top ten, im not sure yet tho. 2010 he raced an even tougher giro, came into the tour, got yellow but crashed and fractured his wrist. Was looking good up til that point with top 3 possible, but the crashed stuffed his chances. Just depends on his age and how the weather/giro affected him.
with nieve, his strategy is to get into breaks and gain enough time to get top ten. Sky definitely won't allow him to get in any breaks, and would chase him down. rule him out of top ten imo as he can't climb or tt well enough without his usual strategy to make top ten. he'll most likely be in a supporting role for anton who can climb better than him

 

[Cimber]

Who is TGBM ??

The Great Bauke Mollema

 

[nick101]

oh right would've realised without the TG part. dunno about him imo. another top ten possibility, but I can't see him in top 5 unless half the contenders crash out (which I hope doesn't happen)

 

[taiwan]

I agree about Valverde but with VDB it's hard to judge as he only performs in the Tour, in that way he is a bit like Schleck who I could not include in the top 10 this year. VDB will make the top 10 but where, is the hard part to figure out. I can't see him making the podium unless some of the favourites have bad luck or illness.

When Schleck was on top he would only perform at the Tour, but he still be a major favourite. It's hard to put him in the top 10 this year because he's a different rider. JVDB hasn't had any setbacks of that type.

 

[Miburo]

Don't talk about the crashes

But yea if we only get 3 potential GT-contenders out of competition in the first week it'll be good.

It'll probably be way more

 

[nick101]

When Schleck was on top he would only perform at the Tour, but he still be a major favourite. It's hard to put him in the top 10 this year because he's a different rider. JVDB hasn't had any setbacks of that type.

i'm not so sure about ruling schleck out completely. I'd estimate him to be about 5 minutes down after the first two mountain stages and I think finishing +10 minutes sounds reasonable; that'd probably put him in top ten. Schleck is actually similar form to vdb and Rolland based on the tds. recently all three have featured heavily in breaks but schleck finished higher up at the finish of each stage. He's been massively improving recently and given his past abilities I just couldn't leave him out of my top ten. I actually think come ventoux and after 14 stages, we may even see an on form schleck if he keeps improving at the rate he has been.

 

[cineteq]

When Schleck was on top he would only perform at the Tour, but he still be a major favourite.

Can't believe people are so blind. He will DNF, it's not that I want him to though.

Woops, 2nd porte should've been valverde

Not Gesink, are you sure?

 

[Pricey_sky]

1. Froome
2. Contador
3. Purito
4. Porte
5. Quintana
6. Pinot
7. Valverde
8. TVG
9. VDB
10.Evans

 

[xanadu]

No love for ? Not even one top 10?

I was just skipping through everyones top ten with a a view to making the self same point. Poor old Janez Brajkovic, no one loves the forgotten man.

 

[cineteq]

I was just skipping through everyones top ten with a a view to making the self same point. Poor old Janez Brajkovic, no one loves the forgotten man.

He should do better than Schleck, I'd give you that.

 

[gustienordic]

with nieve, his strategy is to get into breaks and gain enough time to get top ten. Sky definitely won't allow him to get in any breaks, and would chase him down. rule him out of top ten imo as he can't climb or tt well enough without his usual strategy to make top ten. he'll most likely be in a supporting role for anton who can climb better than him

Do you think Sky cares if Nieve gets in breaks to get top 10 when he will be 10-12 minutes behind Contador & Froome?

 

[Miburo]

Difficult to put a top ten, so for me, the favourites are in this groups:

***** Froome
****Evans, Contador, Valverde, Purito, Hesjedal

***Mollema, Andy, JVdB, Porte, Fulgsang (anyway he was injured recently)

**Quintana, Pinot, Rui Costa, TVG, Dan Martin

* Talansky, Kiatlowski, Kloden, Zubeldia, Tony Martin, Igor Anton, Kreuziger, Rogers, Braijkovic, Amador,...

Old man of 36 years who has riden the giro, and podium'd it, ok

 

[taiwan]

Everyones been writing his obituary for years. Oh look another GT podium.

 

[Miburo]

Everyones been writing his obituary for years. Oh look another GT podium.

He only got podium cause the last week was reduced to pretty much nothing in the giro.

Besides the point anyways. A guy who has riden the giro full will never go that well in the tour and it seems clear to me he's not the same guy anymore.

 

[movingtarget]

He only got podium cause the last week was reduced to pretty much nothing in the giro.

Besides the point anyways. A guy who has riden the giro full will never go that well in the tour and it seems clear to me he's not the same guy anymore.

But he didn't ride a full Giro. Stages were shortened and he had a slow start to the year after cutting last season short because of illness. Take out a horrible TT in the Giro and his race was good. Contador had a similar TT result in the Dauphine but people have tended to overlook that re the Tour. I would be surprised if he had a horrible race. Apart from Contador and Froome the rest of the top 10 positions are up for grabs by many riders including Evans.

 

[Arnout]

1. Froome
2. Quintana
3. Pinot
4. Contador
5. Rodriguez
6. Evans
7. Anton
8. Jurgen vd Broeck
9. Mollema
10. Nieve