Tour de France: Prologue - Rotterdam - 8.9km

[cyclingmad]

surprised more people arent tipping contador for top 2.
2nd to canc in last years opening tt. 3rd or 4th in paris nice prologue. Beat Cancellara in tt last year. 1st in dauphine prologue last month. Always up there in short tts.

And he has a new tt bike.
+ he is peaking for this unlike cancellara.

Agree re Contador who will definitely be top 5. His best TTs are the prologues.
TT is very similar to London 2007. Bit longer than Vuelta 2009. Results in the prologues outside Grand Tours can mislead because of riders not peaking

Cancellera will win quite easily 2-5th will be out of the following
Hushovd who is in some lists but no-one picking for a win good bet for top5.
It is one of EBH best chance for a stage win also and will do well again top5
Wiggins will be pretty good in this too pretty certain top 5
Contador most probable top 5

Others that might go top 5 but probably just miss out
Lars Boom at home but often home favourites dont quite do it
Tony Martin is better at longer TTs
Menchov is more solid than a stage winner
Kloden is good on this sort of course but probably a year too old
Rogers no-one is mentioning but will be top 10 and outside bet for top 5
Tyler Farrar is good in a prologue especially a very flat one
Kreuseger like Contador is better in a prologue than longer TT still hard to see ahead of the top 5 above though.

Armstrong has done nothing in TTs or prologues on return and will not feature. He seemed similar level to Frank Schleck in Tour De Suisse which isn't great. In Tour De France last year he was simlar to Andy Schleck but the TTs were longer so no chance of a top 10

 

[sublimit]

Rogers no-one is mentioning but will be top 10 and outside bet for top 5


Armstrong has done nothing in TTs or prologues on return and will not feature. He seemed similar level to Frank Schleck in Tour De Suisse which isn't great. In Tour De France last year he was simlar to Andy Schleck but the TTs were longer so no chance of a top 10

Well i mentioned Rogers for a top 10.

Texstrong will get a top 20, Brajkcovic will be the best Radioshack rider but I'm not totaly certain what he can do in a prologue, possibly 14th or something.

 

[Anonymous]

Cancellara to win
EbH Second
Contador Third
Wiggins 4th
Lance 7th
Geraint to come in the top ten
Dave Millar to dissapoint again and finish about 12

I dont think sky need the curse of the leaders jersey again in this tour.

 

[eljimberino]

Who are we kidding: Spartacus.

 

[Climbing]

Cancellara it's the first choice indeed.
How much do you think the non TT specialist GC contenders would lose?
I bet at most around 30 seconds.

 

[hfer07]

Cancellara
T Martin
Wiggins
Contador

 

[Grzdylu]

1. Cancellara
2. Martin
3. Wiggins
4. Contador
5. Boasson Hagen
6. Boom
7. Millar
8. Zabriskie
9. Brajkovic
10. Hushovd

 

[luckyboy]

They wanted cancellara to guide schlecks through the paris roubaix stage. But if hes in yellow, they are not going to ask the maillot jaune to domestique work.

Don't see why they'd give up a prologue win and a few days in yellow for that.

Cance for the prologue, Martin close behind. The rest etc..

 

[Publicus]

1. Cancellara
2. Martin
3. Wiggins
4. Contador
5. Boasson Hagen
6. Boom
7. Millar
8. Zabriskie
9. Brajkovic
10. Hushovd

I'm not sure about DZ, but your list sounds very plausible.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Don't see why they'd give up a prologue win and a few days in yellow for that.

Cance for the prologue, Martin close behind. The rest etc..

Especially not when they have Breschel to do the shepherding job and Fabian can still try to defend...

 

[Old&slow]

I see a lot of people picking EBH to do well. I look through the seasons results on short time trials and I don't see where EBH has done well enough to justify that optimism. Am I missing something?

 

[theyoungest]

I see a lot of people picking EBH to do well. I look through the seasons results on short time trials and I don't see where EBH has done well enough to justify that optimism. Am I missing something?

Maybe not this season (he was injured most of it anyway). Take a look at the previous years.

 

[maltiv]

I see a lot of people picking EBH to do well. I look through the seasons results on short time trials and I don't see where EBH has done well enough to justify that optimism. Am I missing something?

well as an example he was 5th in the prologue at Tour of California in 2008 when he was 20 years old, and then went on to win the 8.8 km time trial in criterium international the same year.

This year he has only done 1 short time trial which was in Dauphine, where he was deliberately taking it easy as he just returned from injury. Personally I don't think he'll do so well though, I'm kinda worried about his form after the Norwegian championships.

 

[theyoungest]

well as an example he was 5th in the prologue at Tour of California in 2008 when he was 20 years old, and then went on to win the 8.8 km time trial in criterium international the same year.

This year he has only done 1 short time trial which was in Dauphine, where he was deliberately taking it easy as he just returned from injury. Personally I don't think he'll do so well though, I'm kinda worried about his form after the Norwegian championships.

What was the course like? Maybe a little too hilly for EBH?

 

[maltiv]

What was the course like? Maybe a little too hilly for EBH?

He got dropped on a hill by Thor Hushovd. Sure, EBH had just done an attack while Hushovd followed, but still...he shouldn't be dropped by hushovd uphill. perhaps his form peaked at the dauphine already where he was climbing really great on the last stage, and now his form has declined again. We'll see.

 

[theyoungest]

He got dropped on a hill by Thor Hushovd. Sure, EBH had just done an attack while Hushovd followed, but still...he shouldn't be dropped by hushovd uphill. perhaps his form peaked at the dauphine already where he was climbing really great on the last stage, and now his form has declined again. We'll see.

It's no shame to be dropped by Hushovd on a hill. For now at least, he's the stronger climber of the two. No reason to assume otherwise.

 

[Publicus]

I'm picking Armstrong to win the prologue. He's apparently in the best form since 1999-2002 (or close to that form), and he used to demolish courses like this. At least according to him (regarding his form). Hard to bet against the 7 time Tour de France champion even if he is 38+ years old and has not shown much to date to support his claim.

 

[theyoungest]

I'm picking Armstrong to win the prologue. He's apparently in the best form since 1999-2002 (or close to that form), and he used to demolish courses like this. At least according to him (regarding his form). Hard to bet against the 7 time Tour de France champion even if he is 38+ years old and has not shown much to date to support his claim.

No way. Spartacus will eat him for breakfast.

 

[Publicus]

No way. Spartacus will eat him for breakfast.

Says you. A prime 1999-2002 Armstrong kills Spartacus.


Ok, I can't even keep a straight face typing this.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Didnt EBH beat Cancellara in a time trial in Oman?

 

[offbyone]

It would be interesting to see how team sky responds to the responsibility that early on if Wiggins wins

I have to assume spartacus will win

 

[nvpacchi]

Didnt EBH beat Cancellara in a time trial in Oman?

He did, however everyone was riding regular road bikes. Too windy or something like that for TT bikes.

 

[tgsgirl]

Didnt EBH beat Cancellara in a time trial in Oman?

Yeah. A week earlier Canc got dropped during a team time trial though (dropped!), so suffice to say he wasn't in prime shape at the time.

He did, however everyone was riding regular road bikes. Too windy or something like that for TT bikes.

More a case of too expensive I seem to remember. Not worth shipping bike all the way to the Middle East, just to win a time trial in Qatar or Oman. With all due respect.

 

[Barrus]

More a case of too expensive I seem to remember. Not worth shipping bike all the way to the Middle East, just to win a time trial in Qatar or Oman. With all due respect.

I thought it was the case that this and perhaps the tour of Turkye put rules in place that no TT-bikes are allowed so that the costs aren't too large for the smaller teams to compete, or that they are the only ones without tt-bikes. This is especially for teams such as Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator and CCC Polska

 

[kukiniloa]

Tour live online coverage

So...I just found out that cycling.tv wont have tour coverage. I instantly thought that maybe they should change their name, but then I thought, maybe that's just my reductionist American proclivity, and the Tour de France really isn't that big a deal.

But then I though, "How will I watch the Tour live?"

Having no television, that is...

Can you help me?