Tour de France Stage 2 (3/7/11) - Les Essarts 23km TTT

[theyoungest]

The usual suspects (American teams) to get a top-5, Garmin to win probably. Rabo to hopefully limit their losses somewhat and get a top-10.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The usual suspects (American teams) to get a top-5, Garmin to win probably. Rabo to hopefully limit their losses somewhat and get a top-10.

If Rabobank doesn't finish top 10 then it's a total fail.

 

[theyoungest]

If Rabobank doesn't finish top 10 then it's a total fail.

Not really, they're not among the strongest teams on paper. And with an injured Ten Dam they have a guy who hopes he can finish within the time limit, let alone be of any use.

 

[la.margna]

wish it was 30 or 40km, not just 23km...

almost everybody expects SuckersBank to lose time... We'll it remains to be seen... Maybe we underestimate them (including me).

RadioFags
HTC
Garmin
Leo
Sky

 

[Shardi]

1. Radioshack
2. HTC
3. Sky

Saxo to surprise and beat Leopard.

Wintime: 24.26

Klöden in yellow.

 

[UselessToo]

Yellow Jersey for Peter Velits

 

[palmerq]

do saxo bank have a bad team this year ? they are usually strong at these things, I guess cancellara and some others have gone but I think riis is a good manager. I haven't been checking out the ttt results from this season though so I dont know, although I wouldn't be surprised is saxo bank finish ahead of leopard...

 

[Liquigas]

Yellow Jersey for Peter Velits

That would be sweet, but I bet you Htc prefers Martin to get it.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

According to Ag2r's twitter and facebook, no less than six of their riders hit the deck at some point today:

Sébastien Hinault, Maxime Bouet, Nicolas Roche, Jean-Christophe Péraud, Hubert Dupont et Sébastien Minard

Gadret was struggling at the back even before the crashes today, so it looks like his Giro heroics cooked him. 6 guys with cuts and bruises and a seventh who seems to have no form (and who time trials like JRod anyway) isn't exactly an encouraging way to go into a TTT.

 

[Polish]

That would be sweet, but I bet you Htc prefers Martin to get it.

Not so sure about that.

HTC is an American Team and looking for a New Title Sponsor.
TVG may bring better promo?

 

[Liquigas]

Not so sure about that.

HTC is an American Team and looking for a New Title Sponsor.
TVG may bring better promo?

Well, they have many riders to chose, after the Tour have given nearly everyone the same time today.

 

[jsem94]

I wish Velits got the jersey, he is by far a better GT rider than Tony Martin could ever dream of being.

 

[luckyboy]

If HTC win, Tony Martin will be the leader unless he is dropped.

 

[US Patent Exploding Cyclist]

I don't think Saxo is going to lose as much time as people think, about 20" to Leopard.

1. HTC (Velits in Yellow just because)
2. Radioshack
3. Sky
4. BMC
5. Garmin
6. Leopard (The Shlecks holding everyone back)
7. Liquigas
8. Saxo
9. Omega Pharma
10. Rabobank

 

[Midnightfright]

That would be sweet, but I bet you Htc prefers Martin to get it.

It's not by 1st over the line tommorow the 1st decided his where they placed today. So basically that means bavarian rider should have his party hat at the ready

 

[luckyboy]

I don't think Saxo is going to lose as much time as people think, about 20" to Leopard.

I agree that they won't lose much time but I don't understand why Saxo didn't take Larsson really. They have 5 climbers to support AC, and apart from AC there is only Porte who has a very good TT.

I wonder if they will use up the other Spaniards to go for it early on.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

1 HTC
2 Radioshack
3 Garmin-Cervelo
4 Leopard-Trek
5 Rabobank
6 Sky
7 Saxo
8 BMC
9 Omega Pharma
10 Liquigas

 

[spalco]

It's not by 1st over the line tommorow the 1st decided his where they placed today. So basically that means bavarian rider should have his party hat at the ready

Really, you sure?

 

[Lanark]

Yeah, I think Saxo will do okay, they'll probably less than 30 seconds on Leopard. Maybe a little more on HTC and Garmin, but they don't have serious GC men, so that doesn't matter.

I fear for Sammy, he could be quite far back after tomorrow. But he had a bad start at last year's Tour as well, so we'll see.

 

[Sylvester]

I dislike the Euskaltel TTT myths. Granted, often they don't perform well, but take a quick look at these results:

Vuelta 2008 - 2nd
Tour 2009 - 10th
Vuelta 2010 - 13d

They might lose a minute tomorrow, but they will be in the mid table for sure.

 

[Anonymous]

bavarianrider might be unbearable tomorow

 

[Ney the Viking]

I think what is in Saxos favour is that 1) its short, so they can burn their weak climbers in the start and make do with 5 people for the last what 5-8k?
2) Vandborg and Nicky isnt exactly bad at leading a train
3) Riis got an obscession with these things, and they are sure to have drilled positions et.al to optimize performance
4) leopard have to drag the schlecks to the finish line

So while they may lose a bunch of time to garmin, sky, schack, htc, I doubt they will loose more than 12-20 secs to leopard. But as they say, time will tell

 

[c&cfan]

I think what is in Saxos favour is that 1) its short, so they can burn their weak climbers in the start and make do with 5 people for the last what 5-8k?
2) Vandborg and Nicky isnt exactly bad at leading a train
3) Riis got an obscession with these things, and they are sure to have drilled positions et.al to optimize performance
4) leopard have to drag the schlecks to the finish line

So while they may lose a bunch of time to garmin, sky, schack, htc, I doubt they will loose more than 12-20 secs to leopard. But as they say, time will tell

i think that having cancellara in your team can be bad in a TTT. is much better to have someone a little weaker (martin) with other strong TTers and sprinters.

 

[benpounder]

If I am reading this right, Saxo goes off first, and RS, HTC, Leopard, and BMC are last out of the start ('cept Omega)

1. OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 14h 04' 45"
2. BMC RACING TEAM 14h 04' 48" + 00' 03"
3. TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
4. HTC - HIGHROAD 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
5. TEAM RADIOSHACK 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
6. COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
7. LAMPRE - ISD 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
8. SKY PROCYCLING 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
9. KATUSHA TEAM 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
10. PRO TEAM ASTANA 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
11. MOVISTAR TEAM 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
12. QUICK STEP CYCLING TEAM 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
13. TEAM EUROPCAR 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
14. TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
15. LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
16. FDJ 14h 06' 05" + 01' 20"
17. RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 14h 06' 05" + 01' 20"
18. SAUR-SOJASUN 14h 06' 40" + 01' 55"
19. AG2R LA MONDIALE 14h 06' 40" + 01' 55"
20. VACANSOLEIL-DCM 14h 07' 54" + 03' 09"
21. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 14h 09' 27" + 04' 42"
22. SAXO BANK SUNGARD 14h 09' 43" + 04' 58"

 

[Lanark]

i think that having cancellara in your team can be bad in a TTT. is much better to have someone a little weaker (martin) with other strong TTers and sprinters.

Fuglsang, Monfort, Voigt, Posthuma and O'Grady aren't exactly weak ITT'ers either. Cancellara blew up the rest of his team in the Tirreno, but I'm sure he's learned from that.