Top 10 Tour de France

[xanadu]

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.

Hes getting on a bit, at that sort of age where your performance starts to decline.

 

[MellowJohnny]

Heart over head

1. Froome
2. Porte
3. J-Rod
4. TVG
5. Contador
6. Van Den Broek
7. Rui Costa
8. Rolland
9. Zubelidia
10. De Gendt

Actually maybe I will take Zubelidia out and put in Fredrik Kessiakoff in instead, was also thinking of Dan Martin also.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

1. Froome
2. Contador
3. Porte
4. Rodriguez
5. Schleck
6. Quintana
7. Pinot
8. Valverde
9. Mollema
10. Talansky

 

[PedalCastro]

1-Contador
2-Froome
3-J Rod
4-Pinot
5-TGBM
6-Quintana
7- Dan Martin
8-Valverde
9-TJVG
10-Nieve

 

[LaFlorecita]

Copied straight from The Forum That Shall Not Be Named

1 Contador
2 Froome
3 Van Garderen
4 Purito
5 Quintana
6 Valverde
7 Pinot
8 VDB
9 Fuglsang
10 Evans

Froome will crack at some point. I think.

 

[toolittle]

1. Contador
(I think Froome is slightly stronger but Contador's racing tactic make the different)
2. Froome
(Sky is the focus of rival teams after last year success. I hope he could be success after reading Kinjah interview. But afriad it is not so good if too success. He is the dream of Kenya cyclist.)
3. Rodriguez
(3rd after the best 2)
4. Porte
(Work for Froome and handle lots of attacks. 4th is very strong already)
5. TJ Van Garden
(I think he has improved from last year. Good in Tour of CA. Average in Tour de Swiss. Expect to peak in Tour)
6. Valverde
(Movistar leader. But past his best day)
7. Rolland
(French must have a guy in top 10)
8. FUGLSANG Jakob
(Astana team is strong and easy to be overlooked. Fuglsang good in Dauphine)
9. Talansky
(Garmin always could do something in big party. Martin, Danielson, Hesjedal have the kick for stage. Talansky is the person for GC.)
10. Evans
(Giro cost him some energy. But Evans never too bad. If Evans hasn't peak in Giro, he could peak there)

 

[Angliru]

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.

Andy's motivations are different from Rolland and JVdB. He could be there to measure himself against the rest of the gc contenders and when or if found lacking, may shut it down and chase a stage win. Rolland and JVdB will likely be trying to finish as high in the gc as possible, although with Rolland he could end up in the same boat as Andy as IMO his climbing isn't consistent over the course of a grand tour. They (he and Andy) may intentionally, after getting dropped and falling out of the possibility of a top ten gc, give up major minutes to allow themselves the freedom to get in breaks to pursue a stage win.

 

[Afrank]

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.

I like your optimism Nick, but a 3 week GT is much different to races like Cali or Suisse, especially when that GT is the Tour de France. A top 10 would be great but I think we could see him lose time in the early part and end up focusing more on stages. Which I don't think would necessarily be too bad a thing if he could manage to win a stage somewhere. I still think the Alpe du Huez stage presents him with a great opportunity. I put him in my own top 10 more out of hope and optimism then anything, but I don't really see him as a GC contender this year (more a stage hunter).

But, here's hoping I'm wrong.

 

[Ruudz0r]

1. Froome
2. Contador
3. JRod
4. Porte
5. Valverde
6. VDB
7. Quintana
8. Pinot
9. Mollema
10. TJVG

 

[Miburo]

Too many posters whose opinion i respect take froome as nr.1

Oh well luckely the forum is wrong a lot of times

 

[thehog]

Too many posters whose opinion i respect take froome as nr.1

Oh well luckely the forum is wrong a lot of times

1. Contador on tactics alone
2. TVG doesn't actually know how good he is.
3. Pinot in a clean Tour he has every chance.
4. Porte probably should win but will waste energy supporting Froome.
5. Everyone else.

 

[DenisMenchov]

1. VDB/ Schleck (if he finishes)
2. Contador
3. Froome
4. Rodrigues
5. Pinot
6. Mollema
7. Porte
8. Valverde
9. TJVG
10. Rolland

 

[The Hitch]

I remember general public opinion prior the Tours very well, because Ive actively read other English speaking forums back then, plus followed my national terrain internet cycling community surely. Favorites in decreasing order were Evans-Valverde-Sastre-Menchov-Cunego-F.Schleck

General public opinion is very different from this forum.

General public opinion didnt know who Nairo Q was before he won Pais Vasco in April 2013.

This forum has been hyping him at increasing levels since its inception.

 

[DenisMenchov]

Delete this post

 

[Miburo]

General public opinion is very different from this forum.

General public opinion didnt know who Nairo Q was before he won Pais Vasco in April 2013.

This forum has been hyping him at increasing levels since its inception.

You've to ask the question though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2660DUHobM

 

[The Hitch]

1) Rui Costa
2) Froome
3) Moreno
4) Contador
5) Kreuziger
6) Rodriguez
7) Porte
8) Voeckler
9) Valverde
10) Mollema

 

[karlboss]

1) Rui Costa
2) Froome
3) Moreno
4) Contador
5) Kreuziger
6) Rodriguez
7) Porte
8) Voeckler
9) Valverde
10) Mollema

If nothing else this would be a great tour to watch.

 

[gjb483]

1.Froome
2.Contador
3.Evans
4.Hesjedal
5.Porte
6.Martin
7.Valverde
8.Quintana
9.Tommy V
10.Kreuzinger

 

[movingtarget]

Hes getting on a bit, at that sort of age where your performance starts to decline.

No one expects him to be as strong as 2011 and yes most people have taken the age into account as they do with TJVG and the younger riders re possibly winning the race. His performances have already declined which is natural at 36. But his ride at the Giro shows he still has something to offer.

 

[Jason_Mercier]

1) rui costa
2) froome
3) moreno
4) contador
5) kreuziger
6) rodriguez
7) porte
8) voeckler
9) valverde
10) mollema

.........

 

[nick101]

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.

we'll wait and see about evans. He's not the sort of fragile rider quickly loses form with age. guys like horner and voigt are amazing for their age. horner was even out climbing guys like nibali a few seasons back, when he was older than evans. I can see a similar situation happening with cuddles

 

[barmaher]

There have been over forty riders named so far. What a Tour.

Froome
Hesjedal
Rodriguez
Contador
Pinot
Valverde
Vdb2
TJ
Tommy V or Rolland

 

[Parel van het Zuiden]

1. Froome
2. Contador
3. Rodriguez
4. Valverde
5. Porte
6. Quintana
7. Pinot
8. Van den Broeck
9. Moreno
10. Anton

 

[Netserk]

1) Contador
2) Klöden
3) Cunego

 

[movingtarget]

1) Contador
2) Klöden
3) Cunego

Nice selection for a parallel universe.