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

[Ramira]

Isn't Lampre riding for Cunego's GC?

Officially they are, but honestly I have no idea how good he could be, he was once a top 10 level cyclist so I'm guessing they're hoping he will get back to that form.

 

[Tuarts]

I don't think Saxo will lose much time. Compared to Leopard they have the advantage that they can drop their weakest TTT guys on the way, while Leopard has to drag theirs to the finish.

Agree with this.

I think (and hope lol, for the sake of my fantasy teams) Garmin will light it up after yesterday. Will be close with HTC. Radioshack might challenge, Sky to do well, Rabobank as a darkhorse.

Gap from first to last to be no more than 1"30.

 

[AussieGoddess]

and - after watching the Giro there is no doubt in my mind that AC can take back the time any time he wants to.

Being a minute down might actually suit his purpose for a while. Give him time to recover, work up some riding without any responsibilities of being race favourite and defending champion .....

plenty of racing to come

 

[Bavarianrider]

Top 5:

1. Radioshack
2. Garmin
3. Rabobank
2. Sky
3. Leopard

HTC will be, at best, top 10Saxo will lose 1 minute to winner
BMC +- 20 sec. behind winner

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

PCM 2011 holds the following opinion (I rode with the real TDF selections, I was fdjeux)

1 Leopard - Trek 29'38
2 Team RadioShack + 19
3 Rabobank s.t.
4 Garmin - Cervélo + 29
5 HTC - Highroad + 41
6 Sky Pro Cycling + 46
7 BMC Racing Team + 54
8 Movistar Team + 56
9 Saxo Bank - Sungard + 1'01
10 Katusha Team s.t.
11 Pro Team Astana s.t.
12 Ag2r La Mondiale + 1'08
13 Omega Pharma - Lotto + 1'09
14 Quickstep s.t.
15 FDJ + 1'18
16 Vacansoleil - DMC Pro Cycling Team + 1'25
17 Lampre - Isd s.t.
18 Liquigas - Cannondale s.t.
19 Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne s.t.
20 Team Europcar + 1'43
21 Saur - Sojasun + 1'47
22 Euskaltel - Euskadi + 2'00

 

[ChopperArris]

HTC will be, at best, top 10

John McEnroe said it best...

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

lol. then we know the result is going to be totally different

 

[Bavarianrider]

PCM 2011 holds the following opinion (I rode with the real TDF selections, I was fdjeux)

1 Leopard - Trek 29'38
2 Team RadioShack + 19
3 Rabobank s.t.
4 Garmin - Cervélo + 29
5 HTC - Highroad + 41
6 Sky Pro Cycling + 46
7 BMC Racing Team + 54
8 Movistar Team + 56
9 Saxo Bank - Sungard + 1'01
10 Katusha Team s.t.
11 Pro Team Astana s.t.
12 Ag2r La Mondiale + 1'08
13 Omega Pharma - Lotto + 1'09
14 Quickstep s.t.
15 FDJ + 1'18
16 Vacansoleil - DMC Pro Cycling Team + 1'25
17 Lampre - Isd s.t.
18 Liquigas - Cannondale s.t.
19 Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne s.t.
20 Team Europcar + 1'43
21 Saur - Sojasun + 1'47
22 Euskaltel - Euskadi + 2'00

Wow 29 : 38 minutes. Seems like this game is an epic fail in terms of realism?

 

[Berzin]

What time does Tour coverage start from Eastern Standard Time here in New York City?

Any links so we can all catch the action live as it happens?

 

[Ramira]

and - after watching the Giro there is no doubt in my mind that AC can take back the time any time he wants to.

Being a minute down might actually suit his purpose for a while. Give him time to recover, work up some riding without any responsibilities of being race favourite and defending champion .....

plenty of racing to come

I really don't get where all this amazing Contador came from. In my opinion while Contador was good it was mostly the fact that the competition was weaker. He took pretty much the exact same time on Kreuziger and Rodriguez he took in last years tour in a much much tougher race. We'll see how good he is once he's up against Andy Schleck.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Trying to remember which chump said Leopard would 'obviously' win and that there was no legitimate debate to be had.

 

[Ramira]

What time does Tour coverage start from Eastern Standard Time here in New York City?

Any links so we can all catch the action live as it happens?

Tour coverage will start at 8:30 EST, Omega Pharma-Lotto will start at 10:57 EST. I have no idea how you can watch it though, sorry.

 

[Tuarts]

PCM 2011 holds the following opinion (I rode with the real TDF selections, I was fdjeux)

1 Leopard - Trek 29'38
2 Team RadioShack + 19
3 Rabobank s.t.
4 Garmin - Cervélo + 29
5 HTC - Highroad + 41
6 Sky Pro Cycling + 46
7 BMC Racing Team + 54
8 Movistar Team + 56
9 Saxo Bank - Sungard + 1'01
10 Katusha Team s.t.
11 Pro Team Astana s.t.
12 Ag2r La Mondiale + 1'08
13 Omega Pharma - Lotto + 1'09
14 Quickstep s.t.
15 FDJ + 1'18
16 Vacansoleil - DMC Pro Cycling Team + 1'25
17 Lampre - Isd s.t.
18 Liquigas - Cannondale s.t.
19 Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne s.t.
20 Team Europcar + 1'43
21 Saur - Sojasun + 1'47
22 Euskaltel - Euskadi + 2'00

I figured there'd be Dutch bias but Luxembourgian?

 

[spalco]

Everyone seems to be predicting saxo to finish well down on the results but I dont think that will bother them too much as long as they can finish in close proximity to the other teams with GC riders that they see as a threat? to Dopeador eg leopard(schleck), BMC (evans), Leaky (basso) and Rabbo (Gesink).

Whilst it looks pretty likely that HTC, Garmin, Sky & Radio**** will fill the top spots I cant see how that will worry Saxo as those teams dont have any riders that Dopeador wouldn't back himself too take back the time lost in 1 mountain pass.

I would be shocked if Saxo doesn't do fine in the TTT, Riis will have made sure of that.

 

[Ramira]

Trying to remember which chump said Leopard would 'obviously' win and that there was no legitimate debate to be had.

I don't know who said that but I doubt they will win it. I don't think they will be able to compete with Garmin and HTC, personally I see them finishing between 3rd and 6th or so.

 

[cineteq]

1 Leopard - Trek 29'38
2 Team RadioShack + 19

Crazy! How in the world the Schlecks are going to make this happen?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The game and the original DB is created by Frenchies.
Ask them

 

[Publicus]

What time does Tour coverage start from Eastern Standard Time here in New York City?

Any links so we can all catch the action live as it happens?

Starts at the bottom of the hour (0830)

 

[spalco]

Eurosport is on live already, seems like they are showing the TTT from start to finish today.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Amador and Intxausti will both start for Movistar, but it will likely be a battle against the time limit for them - Amador can barely walk on his ankle (reminiscent of Mosquera in the '09 Vuelta after the Liège pile-up) and Intxausti's having problems with his right arm compromising his control.

 

[python]

on eurosport both boyer and yates put the shack as favourites.

there is strong head wind on the final staightaway that yates feels will be decisive...

 

[cineteq]

They are off!

 

[spalco]

How's the weather report, everything expected to stay dry? It does appear to be cloudy to me.

 

[Dutchsmurf]

And we are off.

Belgium commentator worried about the public.

 

[ak-zaaf]

Saxo doesn't seem to have a great start.