Who will win 2012 Tour de France v2.0

[El Pistolero]

He'll learn soon enough that what he did at the Giro is worth nothing in the Tour(hyperbole). I'd like to be proven wrong though, as it would mean Thomas de Gendt is even better than I thought.

 

[ElChingon]

He'll learn soon enough that what he did at the Giro is worth nothing in the Tour(hyperbole). I'd like to be proven wrong though, as it would mean Thomas de Gendt is even better than I thought.

Yea, he'll have a new appreciation for Contador after this Tour (his not so good attempt at the double last year), not to mention Indurain/Pantani and who ever tried the double.

 

[taiwan]

For some reason I quite like Vande Valde as an outsider now. Hesjedal will fall off at some point and I think it willl fall to him again to be Vaughters' man in the top ten. I know he's old, but for once he got the Giro under his belt without breaking any bones, and isn't he a better time triallist than Danielson?

 

[mr. tibbs]

1 - Wiggins
2 - Menchov
3 - ...Rolland!

 

[Havetts]

Someone with a TT worse than Frank Schleck in 3rd.. that would require a miracle, mr tibbs

 

[Viking]

For some reason I quite like Vande Valde as an outsider now. Hesjedal will fall off at some point and I think it willl fall to him again to be Vaughters' man in the top ten. I know he's old, but for once he got the Giro under his belt without breaking any bones, and isn't he a better time triallist than Danielson?

Vande Velde is a pretty solid time trialist, definitely the best of Garmin's three GC hopes. He did solid work for Hesjedal at the Giro, and I don't think he's raced since. I think his training plan was to peak for the Tour. So, if he's still got a grand tour in him, I think he's Garmin's best bet for a good finish.

 

[TheEnoculator]

Stop the press!!!!!
Hesjedal: "We saw what happened to the favourites on paper at the Giro. I think I can win a Tour de France."

If that's Hesjedal's reason to think he can win this year's Tour, I think he'll be in for a HUGE surprise. With Wiggo and Evans at the event, not only they can climb, but also TT better than Hesjedal, he'll be lucky to be even mentioned during the race.

If history is any indication, my guess is Hesjedal will be tired, which will cause him to suffer a crash that will make him lose time.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Voted for Evans, hope Gesink, my brain says Wiggins.... and in the end it will be a garmin rider.

 

[movingtarget]

Nibali with podium in 2 monuments, a mtf stage win and a wt stage race every bit as prestigious as any Wiggins has won, definately does comes close.

For comperison, im pretty sure that if Chris Froome had come 3rd in MSR and 2nd in Liege, never mind winning Tirreno Adriatico, the yellow jersey battle would now be touted as Wiggins vs Froome with maybe Evans (and thats coming from Froome's biggest fan).

Then there is Samu who came top 10 in 2 Ardennes classics, came 2nd in Catalunya (to a breakaway) winning a stage by beating the entire peleton on climb descent and flat, then came podium in 4 of the 6 stages in Pais Vasco winning a road stage (against rider of the year Joaquim Rodriguez rather than lulu) and a time trial to boot, and of course the overall, lags not far behind.

Wiggins has had a better season than the other 2, but its not big a gap as the anglophone hype makes it out to be,

Not saying it's a big gap but Wiggins is getting the wins, the others are not including Evans who has won one race and one stage in the Dauphine. I have no problem with Wiggins being favourite but like many others I have doubts that he will be as consistent over three weeks as he has been over one. Neither am I convinced that Sky will be as formidable for the entire race. Be interesting to see how Hejesdal and De Gendt back up.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Lol @ hesjedal. He'll be a non factor

I don't think so. Breukink just mentions another team with mediocre time trialists, off the top of his head.

Gesink always rides on the front, because he's not a very smart rider. Not because they've made a secret deal with Movistar.

gesink will be the 2nd tier climbers best domestiques in the tour.

 

[movingtarget]

Lol @ hesjedal. He'll be a non factor



gesink will be the 2nd tier climbers best domestiques in the tour.

De Gendt finished the Giro stronger. They will probably look for a stage win.

 

[movingtarget]

Lol @ hesjedal. He'll be a non factor



gesink will be the 2nd tier climbers best domestiques in the tour.

Possibly Frank Schleck as well.

 

[Ferminal]

De Gendt finished the Giro stronger. They will probably look for a stage win.

De Gendt ain't in town.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Stop the press!!!!!
Hesjedal: "We saw what happened to the favourites on paper at the Giro. I think I can win a Tour de France."

Well, there's a reason Ryder's not in the poll. But I'll give him credit for thinking he can win it, cos never will win it if he doesn't think thataway.

 

[movingtarget]

De Gendt ain't in town.

Not riding the Tour ?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Not riding the Tour ?

This was already known way back at the end of the Tour 2011. He has his wedding planned during the Tour so.

Still surprised so many don't seem to know De Gendt was never going to ride the Tour. It's been known for almost a year

 

[theyoungest]

He'll learn soon enough that what he did at the Giro is worth nothing in the Tour(hyperbole). I'd like to be proven wrong though, as it would mean Thomas de Gendt is even better than I thought.

Why? De Gendt lost major time on Hesjedal in every mountain stage. Except the one where he got a 5 minute headstart.

It's good to see Hesjedal got confidence from his Giro win. Although he won it against Rodriguez, and when he got 7th in the Tour he also finished one spot ahead of Rodriguez. The Tour is a different ballgame.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Stop the press!!!!!
Hesjedal: "We saw what happened to the favourites on paper at the Giro. I think I can win a Tour de France."

Facepalm...

 

[Havetts]

Oh I would love to see Hesjedal win;

A) Either Contador fanboys & girls go mad, that he was lucky that Andy & Bert werent there.
B) How unlucky Contador was last year then and how he was sabotaged so he coudlnt do the double.
C) Other people not accepting his win.

---

Time to root for Hesjedal.

 

[Panda Claws]

Facepalm...

Lol Hesjedal had an advantage from the TTT and still had trouble beating Rodriguez and De Gendt. Other contenders he beat? Two old Italians

Hardly comparable to an Evans, Nibali, VDB, Gesink, Wiggins

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Lol Hesjedal had an advantage from the TTT and still had trouble beating Rodriguez and De Gendt. Other contenders he beat? Two old Italians

Hardly comparable to an Evans, Nibali, VDB, Gesink, Wiggins

Tour de France, Stage 17 : Pau - Col du Tourmalet (174 km)
1. SCHLECK Andy SAX 5h03'29" 80
2. RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin KAT 01'18" 50
3. HESJEDAL Ryder GRM 01'27" 35
4. SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel EUS 01'32" 25
5. MENCHOV Denis RAB 01'40" 15
6. GESINK Robert RAB 01'40" 10
7. HORNER Chris RSH 01'45" 5
8. VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen OLO 01'48" 3
9. KREUZIGER Roman LIQ 02'14" 2
10. CUNEGO Damiano LAM 03'00" 1
58. EVANS Cadel BMC 12'00" 0
87. WIGGINS Bradley SKY 23'19"

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah, Hesjedal is about on par with the VDB-Gesink-Nibali crowd, maybe even slightly better. But this doesn't make him a potential Tour winner, certainly not after having gone full gas in the Giro.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yeah, Hesjedal is about on par with the VDB-Gesink-Nibali crowd, maybe even slightly better. But this doesn't make him a potential Tour winner, certainly not after having gone full gas in the Giro.

Ofcourse, I'm just pointing out Gesink/JvdB/Nibali etc aren't much better, if at all better. (Hesjedal still finished behind most of them in the gc ofcourse)

 

[theyoungest]

Ofcourse, I'm just pointing out Gesink/JvdB/Nibali etc aren't much better, if at all better. (Hesjedal still finished behind most of them in the gc ofcourse)

Yeah, but Hesjedal was in about every breakaway in that TDF. And still had the energy to finish 4th on Tourmalet. Vaughters wasn't kidding when he said Hesjedal gets better in the 3d week.

Not many riders have that quality.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yeah, but Hesjedal was in about every breakaway in that TDF. And still had the energy to finish 4th on Tourmalet. Vaughters wasn't kidding when he said Hesjedal gets better in the 3d week.

Not many riders have that quality.

Yeah true. I can only think of Menchov (at least he used to have that ability) and Kruijswijk (who seems to improve infinitely in a 3rd week?)