Who will win the criterium du dauphine

[Matty_Tucks]

So after today I feel confident to say Cuddles, Vino, VDB2 will not beat Wiggo in this race as he is good enough that it will take too much effort and they wont risk it this close to Tour.

Brajkovic is another matter - he finished in elite group without being mentioned in the online commentary and he could be very dangerous tomorrow.

Wiggo does look good though. I hope he and Sky go balls out for the win here and look at it as a stepping stone. Giving up on a win way bigger than anything else they have would be arrogant ina way they haven't shown they have warned the right to be...

Yes and yes yes yes. Especially for those points for a 9-man team to put Cav in the rainbow stripes in the Worlds.

 

[jens_attacks]

wiggins without a single sweat.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Yes and yes yes yes. Especially for those points for a 9-man team to put Cav in the rainbow stripes in the Worlds.

Will be a 6 man team - for all 9 you need 9 seperate Brits scoring world tour points, otherwise you get as many as have scored, to a minimum of 6.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Will be a 6 man team - for all 9 you need 9 seperate Brits scoring world tour points, otherwise you get as many as have scored, to a minimum of 6.

Swift, Wiggo, Cav, Geraint probably as well... Who else of the brits?

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Swift, Wiggo, Cav, Geraint probably as well... Who else of the brits?

Wiggins may well not want to - he's not a great team player and may well end his season after the tour.

Definately Cav, Swift, Thomas, Millar, then presumably a couple more with decent engines, could be Wiggo, Stannard, Cummings, Hunt, Hammond, maybe even Downing, Froome or Blythe.

Basically I expect that front 4 to be the leadout train if it comes to it, and any other two who fancy contributing.

 

[Straßenrennen]

dave millar?

 

[Winterfold]

Wiggins may well not want to - he's not a great team player and may well end his season after the tour.


.

Hmm. I think helping to put Cav in the rainbow jersey will earn Wiggo lots of future alliance points from Uncle Bob.

It would be wise for him to take a long view....

Cav, Swift, G, Millar, Wiggo, one of the rest is already a pretty decent team.

 

[Parrulo]

Hmm. I think helping to put Cav in the rainbow jersey will earn Wiggo lots of future alliance points from Uncle Bob.

It would be wise for him to take a long view....

Cav, Swift, G, Millar, Wiggo, one of the rest is already a pretty decent team.

those 4 alone would be an amazing train. wigan and millar to pull at the front till 500 meters to go and then swift to launch cav. a mini zolder italian team with petachi launching cippo

 

[auscyclefan94]

So after today I feel confident to say Cuddles, Vino, VDB2 will not beat Wiggo in this race as he is good enough that it will take too much effort and they wont risk it this close to Tour.

Brajkovic is another matter - he finished in elite group without being mentioned in the online commentary and he could be very dangerous tomorrow.

Wiggo does look good though. I hope he and Sky go balls out for the win here and look at it as a stepping stone. Giving up on a win way bigger than anything else they have would be arrogant ina way they haven't shown they have warned the right to be...

Maybe but Brajkovic was look just as ragged as Evans when following accelerations.

I do agree Wiggins will take gc as I think he is looking in very good form.

 

[greenedge]

Wiggins. I think if Brajkovic was bad he can still secure 3rd with Hermans help. Unless if Evans attacks or is dropped he shall stay in 2nd and that is fine if he is not in superb form for this but still comes 2nd, he is showing consistency.

 

[Woody22]

Just watched the last 6km again from stage 5 and I am not as concerned about Evans performance as I was watching it live. At one point he falls about 20m behind Wiggins but he was following a rider in front of him who lost the wheel. He then moved passed and closed the gap. On two or three other occassions he had to claw back some ground but he was pushing a very light gear and to me never seemed in trouble making it back up to wiggins, who he was happy to mark.
I feel better now, because as an Evans fan, I must admit that until I saw it again I was worried. Who knows, maybe after tonight I will be worried again. And well done Wiggins, he looked very, very good.

 

[Frosty]

As far as Brajkovic goes, looking back at last year he won the ITT with Millar second and EBH finishing 43 seconds back. This year he finished 5th in the ITT, losing to Martin, Wiggins, EBH and Zabriskie. No shame in losing to those guys but it suggests that he is not quite on top form.

 

[movingtarget]

Just watched the last 6km again from stage 5 and I am not as concerned about Evans performance as I was watching it live. At one point he falls about 20m behind Wiggins but he was following a rider in front of him who lost the wheel. He then moved passed and closed the gap. On two or three other occassions he had to claw back some ground but he was pushing a very light gear and to me never seemed in trouble making it back up to wiggins, who he was happy to mark.
I feel better now, because as an Evans fan, I must admit that until I saw it again I was worried. Who knows, maybe after tonight I will be worried again. And well done Wiggins, he looked very, very good.

Wiggins looked good but admitted later that the final km's were tough. It does not worry me if Evans does not finish this race off. To me, hopefully it would indicate he still has some improvement in him before the Tour. Evans always takes time to react to the accelerations and always has. I think the next stage will be better indicator of form. Obviously Wiggins only has to follow. I think he will want to win this race now. Why would he settle for a podium position with a 71 second lead ?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Wiggins, I think he has very strong form atm.

ACF ftw!

 

[Angliru]

As far as Brajkovic goes, looking back at last year he won the ITT with Millar second and EBH finishing 43 seconds back. This year he finished 5th in the ITT, losing to Martin, Wiggins, EBH and Zabriskie. No shame in losing to those guys but it suggests that he is not quite on top form.

Last year he was further along in his preparation than this year and from what I understand he may have peaked for the Dauphine last year with the intention of not riding the Tour but going for a second peak to compete for the Vuelta overall. Unfortunately his training didn't correspond with how his schedule eventually transpired. Shack wasn't invited to the Vuelta and Brajkovic was a late addition to the Shack Tour team.