Tour de France 2014 Start List

[Jagartrott]

Teams are so used to travelling within Europe that they forget how difficult it is to get visa's for other countries. It's just the same for places like Australia, China & Japan but because Britain is in Europe they think they can just waltz across borders. Yes European riders don't have problems but teams with non European riders should be more organised and prepared.

Yes, because professional cyclists are bound to disappear into the illegal worker circuit in Britain. 'Waltz across borders'

 

[Arnout]

Teams are so used to travelling within Europe that they forget how difficult it is to get visa's for other countries. It's just the same for places like Australia, China & Japan but because Britain is in Europe they think they can just waltz across borders. Yes European riders don't have problems but teams with non European riders should be more organised and prepared.

So you think its normal that the British embassy in Rome took weeks to prepare visa for team Colombia, during which time they couldn't use their passports (and thus missed the Tour of Turkey)?

 

[yespatterns]

Anyone heard about Kwiatkowski's form? i know he was undergoing tests before the grand depart....

 

[Arnout]

Anyone heard about Kwiatkowski's form? i know he was undergoing tests before the grand depart....

I doubt they will find anything. He's just overtrained and overraced, I predicted than in April but Lefevere is an idiot who thinks climbers and GC men can do as many races as sprinters.

 

[hfer07]

Darwin Atapuma won't start due to visa problems... It's once again Great Britain that's causing the problems.

What the fvck? Last time I checked he was training in Italy with team mates to prepare for Le Tour...

What's wrong with the British authorities there? Or is it just about "Colombians" what is causing the visa delays lately?

 

[ILovecycling]

Are you ****ing serious?This is not normal!Only with colombians!
I dont want to be a xenophobe but british people do probably everything to me to hate them...freakin british bureaucrats lol

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Since he's supposed to be working for Tejay, maybe the American government could strategically bomb Yorkshire. Y'know, to protect our international interests.

The damage could run into hundreds of pounds.

 

[pastronef]

Mikkel Condé v2.0 @mrconde · 2 h

Visa sorted for Atapuma! Unfortunately it's still in Colombia. Someone have to bring it to him in Italy ASAP. (via @mundociclistico) #TDF

 

[Arnout]

Mikkel Condé v2.0 @mrconde · 2 h

Visa sorted for Atapuma! Unfortunately it's still in Colombia. Someone have to bring it to him in Italy ASAP. (via @mundociclistico) #TDF

Wouldn't it be great if someone were to invent a network that would allow instant world wide conversation and perhaps even data transfer?

Good news though.

 

[ILovecycling]

Lets compare teams of 4 best contenders Nibali,Froome,Valverde and Contador h2h (ordered from mountainous to most rouleur)

Froome / Porte / Nieve / Lopez / Thomas / Kiryienka / Eisel / Zandio / Pate
Nibali / Fuglsang /Scarponi/ Kangert /Vanotti / Westra / Iglinskyi /Grivko /Gruzdev
Valverde / Izaguirre /Intxausti /Herrada /Plaza / Gadret / Visconti /Rojas / Erviti
Contador /Majka / Rogers / Roche / Jesus / Paulinho/ Bennati / Tosatto/ Morkov

Best 1st man: Porte
Best 2nd man: Rogers
Best cobble man: Thomas
Best rouler(flat st protection):Westra/Morkov
Weakest man: Pate/Gruzdev

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Lets compare teams of 4 best contenders Nibali,Froome,Valverde and Contador h2h (ordered from mountainous to most rouleur)

Froome / Porte / Nieve / Lopez / Thomas / Kiryienka / Eisel / Zandio / Pate
Nibali / Fuglsang /Scarponi/ Kangert /Vanotti / Westra / Iglinskyi /Grivko /Gruzdev
Valverde / Izaguirre /Intxausti /Herrada /Plaza / Gadret / Visconti /Rojas / Erviti
Contador /Majka / Rogers / Roche / Jesus / Paulinho/ Bennati / Tosatto/ Morkov

Best 1st man: Porte
Best 2nd man: Rogers
Best cobble man: Thomas
Best rouler(flat st protection):Westra/Morkov
Weakest man: Pate/Gruzdev

Grudzev is one hell af a weakest link. easily top 20 tter in the world if ig goes over 30km and flat. will be nice to have in the crosswinds

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Lets compare teams of 4 best contenders Nibali,Froome,Valverde and Contador h2h (ordered from mountainous to most rouleur)

Froome / Porte / Nieve / Lopez / Thomas / Kiryienka / Eisel / Zandio / Pate
Nibali / Fuglsang /Scarponi/ Kangert /Vanotti / Westra / Iglinskyi /Grivko /Gruzdev
Valverde / Izaguirre /Intxausti /Herrada /Plaza / Gadret / Visconti /Rojas / Erviti
Contador /Majka / Rogers / Roche / Jesus / Paulinho/ Bennati / Tosatto/ Morkov

Best 1st man: Porte
Best 2nd man: Rogers
Best cobble man: Thomas
Best rouler(flat st protection):Westra/Morkov
Weakest man: Pate/Gruzdev

Pate will ride more km on the front of the race leader group than anyone else on that list, likely by a large factor.

 

[ILovecycling]

Grudzev is one hell af a weakest link. easily top 20 tter in the world if ig goes over 30km and flat. will be nice to have in the crosswinds

Pate will ride more km on the front of the race leader group than anyone else on that list, likely by a large factor.

thanks for your disagreement,but you could point out who is the weakest part then

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

thanks for your disagreement,but you could point out who is the weakest part then

I highly doubt Iglinsky will show much. Was supposed to do giro, but passport issues prevented him. now he is here probably just because he is the biggest kazakh cycling name, just like last year. Still able to do a decent job in the hills though

 

[Warhawk]

By the way, just a stat for y'all, since Contador's 2010 win was stripped, the Tour de France winner hasn't come from the same country as the World Cup winner since Gino Bartali, Italy, 1938. And with Spain, Italy, England (UK for the purposes of this comparison), Portugal, Australia, and the US already out, it seems unlikely to happen this year. JVDB would be the best shot at the Tour, but Belgium isn't exactly a favorite in Brazil. Mollema/Netherlands probably is the best combined bet, but it's still not great odds.

 

[del1962]

By the way, just a stat for y'all, since Contador's 2010 win was stripped, the Tour de France winner hasn't come from the same country as the World Cup winner since Gino Bartali, Italy, 1938. And with Spain, Italy, England (UK for the purposes of this comparison), Portugal, Australia, and the US already out, it seems unlikely to happen this year. JVDB would be the best shot at the Tour, but Belgium isn't exactly a favorite in Brazil. Mollema/Netherlands probably is the best combined bet, but it's still not great odds.

Pinot to win the tour, France the world cup,

 

[Warhawk]

Pinot to win the tour, France the world cup,

I think Paris would spontaneously combust on July 27th.

 

[karlboss]

Lets compare teams of 4 best contenders Nibali,Froome,Valverde and Contador h2h (ordered from mountainous to most rouleur)

Froome / Porte / Nieve / Lopez / Thomas / Kiryienka / Eisel / Zandio / Pate
Nibali / Fuglsang /Scarponi/ Kangert /Vanotti / Westra / Iglinskyi /Grivko /Gruzdev
Valverde / Izaguirre /Intxausti /Herrada /Plaza / Gadret / Visconti /Rojas / Erviti
Contador /Majka / Rogers / Roche / Jesus / Paulinho/ Bennati / Tosatto/ Morkov

Best 1st man: Porte
Best 2nd man: Rogers
Best cobble man: Thomas
Best rouler(flat st protection):Westra/Morkov
Weakest man: Pate/Gruzdev

Very even looking teams. Not sure I'd put Porte there on form, and I think Eisel will be the most valuable cobbles rider I rate experience over being 27 seconds up. On "queen" stages (possibly 2, 13, 18 definitely 9, 10, 14, 17) I think it would be crazy not to make this a race between about 30-40 riders as soon as possible, but i guess we'll see who wants to win and who's racing for second, or just waiting to see.

 

[greenedge]

Hermans, Bookwalter or Kohler likely to take his spot imo.

Terrible that Atapuma can't start

I'd choose Hermans, he can ride well on all terrain and should be invaluable on stage 2.

 

[Afrank]

Things not going to well for Orica, first they lose Impey and now Matthews maybe out.

Michael Matthews' Tour de France debut is in doubt following a training crash which required six stiches in the palm of his hand. A decision on the 23-year-old's participation will be made at the last minute by his Orica-GreenEdge team as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/crash-puts-matthews-tour-debut-in-doubt

 

[ther00kie16]

Lets compare teams of 4 best contenders Nibali,Froome,Valverde and Contador h2h (ordered from mountainous to most rouleur)

Froome / Porte / Nieve / Lopez / Thomas / Kiryienka / Eisel / Zandio / Pate
Nibali / Fuglsang /Scarponi/ Kangert /Vanotti / Westra / Iglinskyi /Grivko /Gruzdev
Valverde / Izaguirre /Intxausti /Herrada /Plaza / Gadret / Visconti /Rojas / Erviti
Contador /Majka / Rogers / Roche / Jesus / Paulinho/ Bennati / Tosatto/ Morkov

Best 1st man: Porte
Best 2nd man: Rogers
Best cobble man: Thomas
Best rouler(flat st protection):Westra/Morkov
Weakest man: Pate/Gruzdev

I'd rate Thomas above Lopez as he's been doing monster turns for captains on mountains in stage races.

Shouldn't Intxuasti be ahead of Izaguirre in the climbing department? Also, Gadret and Visconti should be superior climbers than Plaza, possibly even Herrada.

Roche is also superior to Rogers and possibly Majka if he's tired from the Giro. Loss of Kreuziger was huge as he basically towed Contador up multiple mountain stages last year.

Froome and Nibali have equal teams in mountains if Fuglsang is in shape and Scarponi recovered. Will be interesting to see how Valverde uses his deep team that doesn't have a super domestique like the others.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Things not going to well for Orica, first they lose Impey and now Matthews maybe out.



http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/crash-puts-matthews-tour-debut-in-doubt

John MacLeary ‏@JohnMacLeary · 11m
Michael Matthews' TdF debut in doubt after training crash. Needed six stiches in palm of his hand. (Pic: @nygaardbn)

 

[Eclipse]

Things not going to well for Orica, first they lose Impey and now Matthews maybe out.



http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/crash-puts-matthews-tour-debut-in-doubt

If he's not able to make it Christian Meier will take his place.

---

Matthews looks pretty beat up.

 

[Ricco']

I know Goss hasn't delivered anything lately, but he seemed to be getting some shape lately with California and Suisse, where he showed that he can put himself on the mix in some sprints and is a more close substitute to Matthews than Meier. Is there something with him or are Orica and Goss just parting ways?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

If he's not able to make it Christian Meier will take his place.

---

Matthews looks pretty beat up.

Damn, looks like Orica's two pronged approach will need to be scrapped.

Stitches in the hand doesn't go well with bunch related sprints.