Tour de France: Prologue - Rotterdam - 8.9km

[hrotha]

Martin to win because saying Cancellara would be dull.
Samuel Sánchez in the top 5.
Armstrong around 11th. Contador 7-12.

 

[Pharazon]

i wouldn't be surprised if it isn't someone unexpected..

there are some sprinters and leadouts who are exceptionally good over these flat, short distance time trials, i guess 9km is a bit long for them though

i honestly wouldn't rule anyone out at this point

 

[Dedelou]

No big surprise

I will repeat what so many have said above: F. Cancellara or Martin battling for first.
For prestige reasons I can imagine Lance and Contador placing as high as they can , 2 or 3 each wanting to make a statement for the others.,

 

[Sophistic]

Cancellara wins, Wiggins the fastest of the gc favourites, Evans just in front of Contador(both top 10), Armstrong ~15-20th, Schlecks 25th-30th.

 

[Tom T.]

1. Martin (as someone said, picking Cance is boring)
2. Cance
3. Contador
4. EBH
5. Wiggins
6. S. Sanchez
7. Vino
8. Kreuziger
9. Bottle
10. Cuddles

Armstrong in 15-20, losing about 15-20 sec. to AC.

 

[Zaschrona]

1. Cancellara
2. Contador
then rest

 

[auscyclefan94]

I would be surprised if he is top 10, as he has not had any racing in about 5 weeks, along with a bit of mountain re-con not the best warm-up for a prologue. He definitely doesn't want to burn too much energy early on.

I wonder how Basso will handle the descents in the prologue they look a little tricky.

Or Gesink handling a corner as they look a little tight?

Cadel's zebra bike is not attractive Puffy! Though it is the colours of my football team!

Guys, Bottle won't be doing much in the prologue. He never does a good ride in prologues. A technical tt'er like sanchez won't be up there either as the course is quite straight and the corners are not too hard to overcome to make a difference.

 

[Barrus]

To be quite honest I hope Evans does not fo too well at the prologue.




Before I get ACF starts to scorn me, here is my reasoning
I hope his peak form will now be more in the final two weeks, rather than at the giro, where his form peak was in the first two weeks, which was a real shame for him.


I myself tip the Canc for the win, oh wait, they'll scan the bikes Still he'll probably win. Although it would be nice for Boom to win, would like to see a Dutchie in yellow again, but probably won't happen, especially if you look at his NK performance

 

[auscyclefan94]

To be quite honest I hope Evans does not fo too well at the prologue.




Before I get ACF starts to scorn me, here is my reasoning
I hope his peak form will now be more in the final two weeks, rather than at the giro, where his form peak was in the first two weeks, which was a real shame for him.


I myself tip the Canc for the win, oh wait, they'll scan the bikes Still he'll probably win. Although it would be nice for Boom to win, would like to see a Dutchie in yellow again, but probably won't happen, especially if you look at his NK performance

I understand, God needs to peak from station des Rousses to paris.

 

[Ferminal]

Lars Boom!!!

 

[icefire]

I expected some KOM points awarded to the best times at the summit of Erasmusbrug

 

[auscyclefan94]

My tips for prologue

 

[The Hitch]

My tips for prologue

very nice.

 

[nvpacchi]

My tips for prologue

Fumiyuki Beppu for third place

 

[The Hitch]

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.

 

[theyoungest]

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.

The difference being that all those TTs you mention now had a climb in them.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

+ he is peaking for this unlike cancellara.

eh? Cancellara not peaking for this? Cancellara always wants to get into yellow in the first TT...

 

[Publicus]

The difference being that all those TTs you mention now had a climb in them.

+1 He should do well, but I don't expect him to be in the top 3 like last year.

 

[icefire]

The difference being that all those TTs you mention now had a climb in them.

There are two in this one. The Erasmusbrug has a steep gradient

 

[auscyclefan94]

eh? Cancellara not peaking for this? Cancellara always wants to get into yellow in the first TT...

Is Cancellara winning the prologue or opening tt detrimental to Saxo's gc chances as they will be riding on the front for the 1st handful of days at least?

 

[The Hitch]

eh? Cancellara not peaking for this? Cancellara always wants to get into yellow in the first TT...

He peaked for the cobbled classics. He will want to peak for worlds and lombardy.
How many times can a guy peak in the space of 8 months.

 

[theyoungest]

Is Cancellara winning the prologue or opening tt detrimental to Saxo's gc chances as they will be riding on the front for the 1st handful of days at least?

Uhm... it didn't hurt them last year.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Uhm... it didn't hurt them last year.

Yes but we don't know if they would of been better without him winning it. His team would of worked pretty hard for the first week for Cancellara when he isn't there main gc hope.

 

[The Hitch]

Uhm... it didn't hurt them last year.

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.

 

[sublimit]

Slightly biased towards British riders (3 in the top 10) but i think they can get up there, so i go for-

Martin
Cancellara
Hagen
Contador
Vino
Wiggins
Millar
Rogers
Larsson
Thomas