Who will win 2012 Tour de France v2.0

[LaFlorecita]

also one of my fav pics

he said he will target a big win in the pyrenees.afte teide,he looks indeed thinner but i don't know if it will be enough.let's hope so

Wow they all want to touch him like he is sacred or something

 

[jens_attacks]

Wow they all want to touch him like he is sacred or something

well yeah he's a god

 

[dlwssonic]

well yeah he's a god

lolol
Still thinking whether to put him in my cq team.

 

[airstream]

florecita, how do you treat juanjo cobo? he's gonna explode all climbs in the high mountains in this tour. he's cute, root for him!

i'll parodier jens.

gogo, el bisonte de la pesa! go grande attakante!!!

also one of my fav pics

mende?

 

[LaFlorecita]

well yeah he's a god

Damn you're right he is so awesome. It was in 2007 that Alberto won my heart but Vino was also super awesome. But Alberto was cuter.

 

[LaFlorecita]

florecita, how do you treat juanjo cobo? he's gonna explode all climbs in the high mountains in this tour. he's cute, root for him!

i'll parodier jens.

gogo, el bisonte de la pesa! go grande attakante!!!


mende?

What do you think, he is Spanish so of course I think he is awesome, but I don't agree on the cute part, but that doesn't matter because Purito and Piti are not cute either and they are awesome too.

 

[LaFlorecita]

lolol
Still thinking whether to put him in my cq team.

Vino? He'll retire at the end of the year.

Edit: or maybe you meant for Tdf game...

 

[cineteq]

Dutch are very direct. When something is good, its good. When it's bad, they can't do a thing right. Not only the Dutch though. I read a lot of Belgian articles and they are the same towards their athletes.

I don't know if it's only a Dutch/Belgian thing. I believe Americans are the same

I get it now. Makes sense that Flemish and Dutch behave in a similar way though. I don't think Americans are the same. maybe love first and then hate, but not both at the same time

I'm always to be found somewhere in between. I don't think Gesink will do particularly bad in the Tour, I just don't consider him a favourite for the top-5.

Fair enough.

No, its unconditional love. They love gesink so much they wake up every day paralyzed with fear that he will underperform. that's why they post these low expectations. just look at the Calif thread with 200m to go on baldy as gesink passes atapuma who is going backwards and dt posts that gesink has lost it.

Yeah I remember having seen that, and I was so puzzled. I guess we have to accept them the way they are...

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Damn you're right he is so awesome. It was in 2007 that Alberto won my heart but Vino was also super awesome. But Alberto was cuter.

Vino is not cute anyways. He is a sexual beast

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I get it now. Makes sense that Flemish and Dutch behave in a similar way though. I don't think Americans are the same. maybe love first and then hate, but not both at the same time

Fair enough.

Yeah I remember having seen that, and I was so puzzled. I guess we have to accept them the way they are...

Well, historically, Flemish have more in common with the Dutch than with people from Wallonia. However, the Dutch are much more extraverted (is that a word in English?) while the Flemish are more introverted. I think that's due to a different religious course, and the fact that until the 1960, Dutch (the language) was always put behind French in Belgium and considered lower class.

Dutch also act the same way towards their football (soccer) players more. Likely because the expectations are higher than for the Belgian national team.

That said, i think a lot of this is just a way to deflect disappointment in a proactive way. A preemptive strike if you will, lol.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Vino is not cute anyways. He is a sexual beast

Lol!!!!

 

[Fergoose]

-Sanchez could cause them problems potentially if not Schleck.

Yup, Sanchez has a decent chance, but even last year he needed others to go with him on attacks or break up the field. He can’t do it on his own and he’ll lose more than 60 seconds in the two ITTs. No time bonuses at stage finishes remember - 60 seconds is huge! And all that is assuming he is fully fit and not slightly past his peak age.

-Schleck didn't prepare for the Giro.

I’m prepared to take Frank’s word on it rather than suggest he entered the Giro on a whim because he just happened to be passing that way.

--Vuelta podium > Tour podium? Oh dear no.

Vuelta less competitive (generally) but Wiggin’s podium there was, in hindsight, considerably harder for him there than his 4th place in the Tour, any day. Only Evans and Sanchez in this years TdF are head and shoulders against anyone he faced in the Vuelta.

[in reply to statement that Sky double podium in TdF would not be as hard as the double podium in last years Vuelta] Umm no, just no. one of the most stupid things I've read.

You should try reading more, for example maybe some of your own work, like…

Vuelta was a GT perfect for wiggo (only 1 climb stages and a tt to make the difference + worst field of a GT in memory).

Numerous stages with finishes ending in 15%+ gradients, searing heat and only one ITT was ideal for Wiggins? You give the impression you don’t appear to know his strengths particularly well.

I am a Taaramae fan, but there is no chance he podiums... I think 10th or 11th will be his best possible.

11th last year against a far stronger field in terrain that suited him far less and his competitors far more (too much uphill). Every rider that bet him last year is either too much of a climber or getting on a bit to perform at the same level this year. It is unlikely Taaramae will podium, but I think he is a very decent outside shout if in shape. I think (as others suggested above) Tom Danielson is also a good shout for this category as a credible outsider.

Gesink is probably the heaviest of all GC contenders, meaning that in theory he should be able to produce the necessary power in a flat TT. It was just his terrible TT position that prevented this, until recently.

Interesting. Really looking forward to watching him now to be honest despite thinking he is doomed. Some of you guys will have seen him far more than me so I’ll bow to that and have an open mind to being surprised.

Gesink left out of the official Tour guide but Taaramae included there

*lays down his quill and begins to laugh manically as he strokes his white cat from his underground bunker on an exotic tropical island etc etc*

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Yup, Sanchez has a decent chance, but even last year he needed others to go with him on attacks or break up the field. He can’t do it on his own and he’ll lose more than 60 seconds in the two ITTs. No time bonuses at stage finishes remember - 60 seconds is huge! And all that is assuming he is fully fit and not slightly past his peak age.



I’m prepared to take Frank’s word on it rather than suggest he entered the Giro on a whim because he just happened to be passing that way.



Vuelta less competitive (generally) but Wiggin’s podium there was, in hindsight, considerably harder for him there than his 4th place in the Tour, any day. Only Evans and Sanchez in this years TdF are head and shoulders against anyone he faced in the Vuelta.



You should try reading more, for example maybe some of your own work, like…



Numerous stages with finishes ending in 15%+ gradients, searing heat and only one ITT was ideal for Wiggins? You give the impression you don’t appear to know his strengths particularly well.



11th last year against a far stronger field in terrain that suited him far less and his competitors far more (too much uphill). Every rider that bet him last year is either too much of a climber or getting on a bit to perform at the same level this year. It is unlikely Taaramae will podium, but I think he is a very decent outside shout if in shape. I think (as others suggested above) Tom Danielson is also a good shout for this category as a credible outsider.



Interesting. Really looking forward to watching him now to be honest despite thinking he is doomed. Some of you guys will have seen him far more than me so I’ll bow to that and have an open mind to being surprised.



*lays down his quill and begins to laugh manically as he strokes his white cat from his underground bunker on an exotic tropical island etc etc*

lol

..............

 

[burning]

Yeah though it was.perhaps not.as ridiculous as i made it out to be as he did include contador and basso rather than frank and vdb.




No worries though. Turns out he made a made a big fool.of himself 2 qs earlier when he said cav could challenge cancellara in pr.

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/8...11-tips-Leopard-Trek-and-Tour-favourites.aspx

I seriously lost my mind about Cav in PR

 

[The Hitch]

Hello, mr. Christopher "Oh God, Samu will lose three hundred minutes today, he's so bad!" Hitchens.

Where did i say that ?

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Wiggins, who else?

Samu of course!

 

[offbyone]

Wiggins has the form, but that doesn't mean he can't avoid problems. I don't think he makes the podium.

I like Nibali, Leipheimer and Gesink. I would consider Kloden for top 10.

 

[Froome19]

Wiggins has the form, but that doesn't mean he can't avoid problems. I don't think he makes the podium.

I like Nibali, Leipheimer and Gesink. I would consider Kloden for top 10.

How does one corralate with the other?
Every other rider will have to avoid problems the same way as Wiggins has, as accentuated by the fact that you then go on to name Gesink

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

I'm always surprised by people who aren't capable of not spotting they used a double negative and rendered what they were saying nonsense.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I'm always surprised by people who aren't capable of not spotting they used a double negative and rendered what they were saying nonsense.

*epic facepalm*

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I'm going with Evans. I think Wigs has already peaked and will look great early, but fade in the third week.

I expect this to be a rather boring Tour. The two guys most likely to attack to spice things up aren't even there.

 

[taiwan]

Yup, Sanchez has a decent chance, but even last year he needed others to go with him on attacks or break up the field. He can’t do it on his own and he’ll lose more than 60 seconds in the two ITTs. No time bonuses at stage finishes remember - 60 seconds is huge! And all that is assuming he is fully fit and not slightly past his peak age.

Why do you say he can't do it on his own? And why does he need to be alone in order to put Wiggins and Evans in difficulty? A non-GC climber could work with him like Vanendert did for example. What he gained over Evans by attacking last year was more than a minute (disregarding what he lost on the Galibier stage) which suggests 60" is doable. There's nothing to say he's getting too old in terms of his results, so yes, assume he's not past his peak. Only his crash at the Dauphinee could have set him back, and nothing was broken - we'll just have to wait and see..

I’m prepared to take Frank’s word on it rather than suggest he entered the Giro on a whim because he just happened to be passing that way.

Link please.

Vuelta less competitive (generally) but Wiggin’s podium there was, in hindsight, considerably harder for him there than his 4th place in the Tour, any day. Only Evans and Sanchez in this years TdF are head and shoulders against anyone he faced in the Vuelta.

...and that's that. It was a funny Vuelta, with outsiders on the podium and favourites underperforming. It did more to lower my opinion of the Vuelta than to raise my opinion of Cobo, Froome or Wiggins, but you can call it a credible GT podium if you want. If we see 2 Sky on the podium in a month you'll find me in the clinic. And this Tour will also be harder than the 2009 for Wiggins if noone else, purely because he's going in as a major favourite, whereas in 2009 people probably just didn't believe what they were seeing.

You should try reading more, for example maybe some of your own work, like…

But of course TLR's position in those two quotes is consistent. He says the competition in the Vuelta < the Tour.

11th last year against a far stronger field in terrain that suited him far less and his competitors far more (too much uphill). Every rider that bet him last year is either too much of a climber or getting on a bit to perform at the same level this year. It is unlikely Taaramae will podium, but I think he is a very decent outside shout if in shape. I think (as others suggested above) Tom Danielson is also a good shout for this category as a credible outsider.

Interesting. Really looking forward to watching him now to be honest despite thinking he is doomed. Some of you guys will have seen him far more than me so I’ll bow to that and have an open mind to being surprised.

*lays down his quill and begins to laugh manically as he strokes his white cat from his underground bunker on an exotic tropical island etc etc*

Compared to last year, this year's field is missing Andy Schleck and a sub-par Contador, but includes GT winners Nibali and Menchov as well as the riders including Wiggins who were affected by crashes last time. Add to that the fact that Taaamae's TT isn't actually that strong eg compared to Gesink this year and you have a good estimate of the Estonian's chances.

 

[Afrank]

How does one corralate with the other?
Every other rider will have to avoid problems the same way as Wiggins has, as accentuated by the fact that you then go on to name Gesink

Wiggo is made of chocolate http://www.atwistedspoke.com/wiggin...ic-can-men-of-chocolate-survive-tour-crashes/

 

[Froome19]

Wiggo is made of chocolate http://www.atwistedspoke.com/wiggin...ic-can-men-of-chocolate-survive-tour-crashes/

And then what is Gesink made out of Candy floss?

 

[Afrank]

And then what is Gesink made out of Candy floss?

No, Gesink could also be considered made of chocolate. I never said Gesink wasn't just that Wiggo was.