Will Evans, Basso, or Sastre be a factor?

[auscyclefan94]

After last year's preparation Evans had a shocker in the tour, so it's probably better to hope that his preparation this year is different (better somehow)

You'd have to think that he is in pretty good form after a win in the worlds, fleche wallonne and a strong (but not dominant) ride in the giro. His confidence would have to be better than it was last year too.

Can't ever see him winning the tour (he doesn't seem to know how to use his team - or doesn't seem to be able to get them to work for him) but it would be good to see him mixing it with the other big guys this year.

Hmmm, Yes but Evans rode the dauhine last year and came into the tour way too good. This year he seems to be building his form a bit more and he also seems to have a confidence and calmness about him which I haven't seen in him going into a GT. He will be up there.

 

[blaxland]

Hmmm, Yes but Evans rode the dauhine last year and came into the tour way too good. This year he seems to be building his form a bit more and he also seems to have a confidence and calmness about him which I haven't seen in him going into a GT. He will be up there.

+1 agree and also no TTT this year so Evans won't loose 3 mins+...will definantly be top 5 overall...Sasttre surprissed me with his good prolouge.

 

[BroDeal]

Hmmm, Yes but Evans rode the dauhine last year and came into the tour way too good. This year he seems to be building his form a bit more and he also seems to have a confidence and calmness about him which I haven't seen in him going into a GT. He will be up there.

You can hope, but the prologue is not a good sign. Hopefully he took in a lot of rest during June.

He needs to put his MTBing skillz to use on stage 3 and win that like he did the strade bianche stage at the Giro. Riders like Cancellara and Hincapie may have to spend the stage caring for their GC men.

 

[JA.Tri]

Ivan top ten (Kreuziger will probably finish a bit higher), Cadel top five, Carlos (unfortunately) maybe top twenty.

They will all play a part: Ivan and Cadel more consistently so. Carlos will stamp his determination (I won't say authority - due to injuries and fatigue) on one MTN stage where he gives his all.

 

[auscyclefan94]

You can hope, but the prologue is not a good sign. Hopefully he took in a lot of rest during June.

He needs to put his MTBing skillz to use on stage 3 and win that like he did the strade bianche stage at the Giro. Riders like Cancellara and Hincapie may have to spend the stage caring for their GC men.

How? I agree he was not brilliant but he has not lost much and got time on other riders.

I found it funny on the itv (team sky) podcast with that muppet Matt Rendall said that Wiggins' performance was not that bad but Basso who finished ahead of Wiggins (on the same time), has a lot of work to do and the prologue was a bad result. Did anyone hear Rendall commentate Qatar or the Dauphine. He can't commentate and has such a husky voice.

 

[Angliru]

How about the option of Gesink can't time trial and will fall off after the first corner of the tdf?

Careful. I recall a certain rider falling off his bike and breaking a collar bone 2 or more times in one season while they rode for T-Mobile. I'm not going to say who it is. Point being, it happens to the best and they can overcome it to achieve greatness. Cut the young guy some slack as you would want the same done for a fav of yours.

 

[Angliru]

Yes it's true that Basso had to reach fairly deep to manage the effort it took to win the Giro, but this was not necessarily as damaging as it might seem. For one, remember that Liquigas used 2 "co-leaders" in the Giro (Basso and Nibali) and plan to do the same with Basso and Kreuziger at the tour. If Kreuziger (who admittedley is not as strong as Nibali) can attack off the front at strategic points and take long pulls in the mountains for Basso, that could be a big advantage.

Kreuziger has stated that he thinks that he himself has greater potential for successs than Nibali. Something about Nibali not having a strong enough motor to ever be a real factor in the Tour. Sorry can't remember exactly where I read the quote just that it was in one of the relatively recent cycling mags, likely either Pro Cycling or Cycle Sport America.

Edit: Galic beat me to the Kreuziger quote regarding Nibali. Day late again!

 

[Angliru]

While Kreuziger has agreed to work with Basso and utilize his experience in competing in multiple Tours, I think deep down he's hoping that Basso's Giro win has taken a bit out of him, leaving him (Kreuziger) as the Liquigas leader.
Already he's ahead of Basso in the gc after the prologue which was to be expected.

According to Basso after his Giro win he reached to Kreuziger and the two of them spent many a day training together, so Basso is miplying that they have bonded so to speak and are going to work cohesively in having the best Tour possible. At the same time, Basso is still of the belief that he has it in him to win both the Giro and Tour in the same year, a belief that he's held even before his suspension.

I don't think Basso will podium but he will finish top 5.

Evans will likely finish just outside of the top 5. With Armstrong suddenly showing ITT form, I think that is precursor to his displaying improved climbing form, which will translate to some aggressive mountain stages between himself, Contador, the Schlecks, Basso/Kreuziger, Sammie Sanchez and Menchov. I'll toss in Sastre too if his injuries are healed and he has the form. It may be too much for Evans to withstand. He'll make up for some of his losses in the long ITT.

Sastre has minimal support and with the tossing out of the race of one of his teammates there will be that much more work for him to do in support of Hushovd's bid for a green jersey repeat. I feel for Sastre. I hope he can hang in the mountainous stages and put in a good showing to finish top 10. I don't see him going for the KOM jersey because it would involve him having to purposely lose time to be given the latitude to go off in the epic breaks that it would take to win it. He would prefer to compete in the mountains against the rest of the contenders. Now if he finds that his back will not allow him to perform at the level that he hopes, he will dutifully work for Thor with nary a complaint. I'm hoping CTT will give him free reign to ride his own race in the mountainous stages and maybe minimize the amount of grunt work he has to do for Thor, otherwise I don't see the point of strong arming him into riding the Tour with no support.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

I think Evans will be up there and I hope he wins. I don't think Basso will podium, Sastre is a dark horse and hard to fathom but he did put in a decent prologue, maybe he's up for this?

If Sastre is still in contention later this week, he's got very good chances.

 

[LugHugger]

I voted None on the basis that Basso and Evans have raced a good deal this year and have had insufficient recovery. Sastre is just too far past his prime to 'be a factor' although what the hell 'a factor' is Christ only knows...will one of them have a good day or, possibly two, probably. Will any of them finish top 5? No.

 

[Mont Ventoux]

My heart would like to see all 3 (Sastre, Basso & Evans) do well.
It would be nice if they worked in concert and ran all the Radio shack guys off the podiums...that would be sweet.