Who wins the tour 2014 now?

[Miburo]

Froome is out. And Nibali gained time on everyone.

Who wins it now?

Imo the main contenders are nibali, contador and porte. I think porte and Contador have the potential to drop Nibali on the condition that this is full *** Porte (from last year) and the Contador from '09/'11. Also keep in mind that Porte has the ITT, he should perform the best there.

Should be really exciting, a shame though that froome crashed out, but then again i thought Contador was gonna win the tour easy when i saw Froome crashing. That isn't the case, game's on.

 

[arvc40]

Contador

 

[DenisMenchov]

JVDB


still believing

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Think the battle will only be as close as Froom v Contador so no change really.

Voted Contador.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

If I only knew the result of today's stage I'd say Contador. But actually seeing how strong Nibali was, I have to go with him.

 

[red_flanders]

Going to be a great race. Contador will race to the last meter, and might pull it out. Voted Contador, but not with much confidence.

Nibali would be a worthy winner. He became a different rider today.

 

[dduff442]

Should be really exciting, a shame though that froome crashed out, but then again i thought Contador was gonna win the tour easy when i saw Froome crashing.

Contador probably thought the same and the disappointment when the rest of the day turned into a grim struggle was probably worth another 30-45 seconds to Nibali.

 

[whittashau]

I still think people are forgetting how good Nibali was last year in the Giro. If he has that form I feel he should hold on to win.

 

[Miburo]

I still think people are forgetting how good Nibali was last year in the Giro. If he has that form I feel he should hold on to win.

The competition sucked in the giro last year. Impossible to tell how good nibali was there.

 

[Ramira]

The competition sucked in the giro last year. Impossible to tell how good nibali was there.

While the competition wasn't great. He dealt with Uran far more easily than Quintana did this year, and we know Quintana's level from last years TDF.

 

[whittashau]

The competition sucked in the giro last year. Impossible to tell how good nibali was there.

That's a cop out. We can see the times up the climbs and see the calculations of his power output on those climbs. It wasn't hard to see that he was immense.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Contador put 6:56 into Nibali in 2011 Giro. With the time to makeup, it is game on but I still expect Contador to makeup 3 minutes and thus win.

 

[armchairclimber]

I've gone with "other" because it already looks like that sort of race. Kwiat/Talansky and even Bardet aren't that far out of it.
I'd like it to be Bardet though....for the velogames points

 

[MBotero]

I voted for Nibali,Contador was looking really bad today,Kreutziger is not here and his team sucks.Of course Contador will fight to the end,no doubt about it,Valverde looks weak,the others are not good enough,the only one who could get in the fight could be Richie.

 

[cineteq]

I voted for Nibali, Contador was looking really bad today,Kreutziger is not here and his team sucks. Of course Contador will fight to the end.

People like to turn the blind eye on the obvious. They don't pay attention to the guy's body language.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Although I would like Contador to win I still voted on Nibali. Why? Contador basically has to gain almost 3 minutes in the mountains over Nibali. Obviously it's possible (Contador is the best climber in the race) but not very likely. From what we've seen so far I think Nibali is now much better than in the Dauphine and can limit his loses. I could be close in the final TT but Nibali is also a decent time trialist.

It's also possible that Contador will crush his rivals in the mountains and still win GC by 4-5 minutes (that would be cool ) but we will see.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Voted Porte.

Not sure Valverde and Contador can perform before the 3rd week and that might be too late.

Porte is ready to go.

 

[the sceptic]

Horner probably.

 

[Miburo]

That's a cope out. We can see the times up the climbs and see the calculations of his power output on those climbs. It wasn't hard to see that he was immense.

Was he anything close to Froome? That's my standard

 

[LaFlorecita]

Voted Nibali:

I still think people are forgetting how good Nibali was last year in the Giro. If he has that form I feel he should hold on to win.

 

[RobbieCanuck]

Voted Nibali:

Ah LF yee of little faith!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Ah LF yee of little faith!

Managing expectations if he does win it'll be a nice surprise

 

[whittashau]

Was he anything close to Froome? That's my standard

Pretty similar. A little less on average

 

[Dr. Juice]

Pretty similar. A little less on average

I also assumed just a little less. Which means about Quintana level and slighly above J Rod. Nibali was stronger in the Vuelta 2013 compared to Rodriguez, even not at his best.
I think we can agree Nibali was stronger in 2013 Giro than Vuelta.
So why would he have been inferior to Quintana/ Rodriguez level in the alps?

Probably also more consistent in the pyrenees, where Q and R were average? (Quintana started going well in the last pyrenees MT stage, Rodriguez first alpe stage ->Alpe d'Huez <-)

Nibali in top form - Giro 2013, winning easy MTT by 1 minute) - is slighly less strong than Froome Alps 2013 ( probably would have been around Porte in AX 3 and around Quintana from Ventoux stage onwards. Beating by a few seconds (considering his Giro MTT) Froome in the MTT who won by 10 seconds over Rodriguez/Contador/Valverde)

His (top) form in Giro '13 was consistent thoughout. No reason he couldn't repeat reaching 100 % , thus climbing on Quintana Level. Which means slighty slower than Contador/ Froome at 100 %. From an atlethic point of view.

Leaving the fact that Contador and Nibali have got a lot of " panache" aside.

 

[Miburo]

Pretty similar. A little less on average

So nibali who was like even with (maybe bit better) santa is equal with Froome who was toying with the best climbers in the world.

Cool story bro