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The Pro Cycling Thread (Part 2)


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Old 10-07-2014, 09:42
grassmarket
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Incidentally, don't think many people have mentioned what a great job Geraint Thomas did yesterday - he took the initiative when Contador was weakening and gained Porte a very handy 40 secs.
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Old 10-07-2014, 09:51
aggs
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I'd thought that too, but that was obviously on the assumption Froome would win/complete the Tour.

There's probably a good chance Wiggins will have signed a contract with another team for next year by the start of the Vuelta, so Brailsford will have even less compulsion to try and keep him happy.
I'm interested in what Wiggins (and Cav) have as targets for the 2016 Olympics because I'm almost convinced that if they want to ride the track events, then they will have to start pulling off the road and concentrating more on track events to get the necessary qualifictions and team slots.

Incidentally, don't think many people have mentioned what a great job Geraint Thomas did yesterday - he took the initiative when Contador was weakening and gained Porte a very handy 40 secs.
I'd have Geraint as team leader, to be honest.
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Old 10-07-2014, 09:57
Aftershow
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I'm interested in what Wiggins (and Cav) have as targets for the 2016 Olympics because I'm almost convinced that if they want to ride the track events, then they will have to start pulling off the road and concentrating more on track events to get the necessary qualifictions and team slots.
Cav signaled his intent to try and do that at the back end of last year, but OPQS put a stop to it, if you remember.

I'm with you on Porte too, i'm not convinced he can get it done over three weeks.
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Old 10-07-2014, 10:18
aggs
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Cav signaled his intent to try and do that at the back end of last year, but OPQS put a stop to it, if you remember.

I'm with you on Porte too, i'm not convinced he can get it done over three weeks.
Yes, but I dunno.
Now it's getting closer to the crunch time, I can see him trying to re-visit. That gold medal gap hurts him.
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Old 10-07-2014, 13:53
swingaleg
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Pretty much flat today but it's still raining on and off and there are strong winds

Sean reckons that 50K of the course will be in cross winds and he predicts that the peloton will be smashed to pieces........

So it could be pretty exciting for a flat stage !........
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Old 10-07-2014, 14:27
Party Animal
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Anyway, a bad stage for my best, except for my bet on sagan to win green. Mind you, I only got 8/15 - he had been a bit longer than that. He must be about 1/8 now.

Just checked. 1/12 lol
Sagan to win the green jersey was and still is the safest bet in the whole tour
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Old 10-07-2014, 14:37
Party Animal
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No one has mentioned Andrew Talanski on here
he is in the form of his life and his mountain top stage win in the Criterium du Dauphine was spectacular over coming 39 seconds on Contador and took 5 minutes out of Froome
I can see him getting on the podium here

as much as I like Nibali he generally has one really bad day in the mountains after having a a run of great climbs.. I think Contador is the favourite he is far and away the best climber in the race
and Richie Porte for a top 5 finish
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Old 10-07-2014, 14:39
swingaleg
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Zandio (Sky) abandons after a crash......
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Old 10-07-2014, 14:41
aggs
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No one has mentioned Andrew Talanski on here
he is in the form of his life and his mountain top stage win in the Criterium du Dauphine was spectacular over coming 39 seconds on Contador and took 5 minutes out of Froome
I can see him getting on the podium here

as much as I like Nibali he generally has one really bad day in the mountains after having a a run of great climbs.. I think Contador is the favourite he is far and away the best climber in the race
and Richie Porte for a top 5 finish
The way Sky are going at the mintue, I think anyone actually making it to Paris will be a bonus.
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Old 10-07-2014, 15:01
basdfg
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Is there a minimum number a team must have or could a team end up with just one rider after the end of a tour '
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Old 10-07-2014, 15:07
swingaleg
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Is there a minimum number a team must have or could a team end up with just one rider after the end of a tour '
no there's no minimum.......

they can all abandon ..........

there is a Team Classification..........I guess if a team have all abandoned they'll just be at the bottom of that
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Old 10-07-2014, 16:53
swingaleg
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Something went wrong for Kittel.........he was toodling along at the back of the peloton as they came into the last couple of Kilometres, don't know if he crashed or just got squeezed out around a roundabout

The predicted smashing of the peloton with cross winds never happened although one quite large group got dropped off the back

It seemed to me that with the rain and a few early crashes there was a gentlemen's agreement not to race until they reached the town........they just appeared to be coasting along stretched across the road .........
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Old 10-07-2014, 17:01
James1953
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Something went wrong for Kittel.........he was toodling along at the back of the peloton as they came into the last couple of Kilometres, don't know if he crashed or just got squeezed out around a .........
It said on the review after that he had a puncture
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Old 10-07-2014, 17:34
deivu74
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Toodling is such a great word.
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Old 10-07-2014, 18:33
soapfan_1973
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I just wonder if there is going to be anyone left for the final stage into Paris the way they have all been abandoning.
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Old 10-07-2014, 20:02
aggs
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Well, Henri Desgrange did say that the perfect race for him would be only one rider completing the event
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Old 10-07-2014, 20:04
deivu74
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Watching André Greipel during that last sprint makes him look like a man on a child's bike! He is so big and the bike so small, he's practically throwing it around trying to get as much speed as he can.
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Old 10-07-2014, 21:33
Jules 1
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It said on the review after that he had a puncture
on ITV4 he said he didn't have a puncture, he said he couldn't keep up with the pace today (possibly due to his crash yesterday). Very dignified IMO.

I mentioned yesterday about the chances of Geraint Thomas finishing Top 10, is this realisitc.
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Old 11-07-2014, 08:52
Cissy Fairfax
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There's a good chance that a sprinter will not win another stage until Paris now, possibly one a couple of days before. There looks absolutely nothing for them in well over a week now. Sagan or Kristoff might have enough to nick one but not in a bunch. Wouldn't be surprised if Kittel, Griepel etc gave it up before then.
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Old 11-07-2014, 09:00
Cissy Fairfax
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Quite a decent Vuelta shaping up: Quintana, Froome, Contador and JRod should all be going for it.
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Old 11-07-2014, 09:21
grassmarket
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And we should mention that Peter Kennaugh won the opening time trial in the Tour of Austria at the weekend, and is still in yellow after 4 stages so obviously the Sky team is working. Presumably it is hilly

Photograph of Peter holding a giant salami here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/28247086
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Old 11-07-2014, 09:24
grassmarket
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I mentioned yesterday about the chances of Geraint Thomas finishing Top 10, is this realisitc.
Not if he is protecting Porte, he will be expected to work hard on the middle slopes of the big climbs and then lose time in the last few kilometres.
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Old 11-07-2014, 10:05
aggs
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Not if he is protecting Porte, he will be expected to work hard on the middle slopes of the big climbs and then lose time in the last few kilometres.
Unless Porte has his somewhat traditional bad day, and ships bucketloads of time.
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Old 11-07-2014, 10:26
Aftershow
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There's a good chance that a sprinter will not win another stage until Paris now, possibly one a couple of days before. There looks absolutely nothing for them in well over a week now. Sagan or Kristoff might have enough to nick one but not in a bunch. Wouldn't be surprised if Kittel, Griepel etc gave it up before then.
Not sure about that. I think there's at least two of the three stages into St Etienne, Oyonnax and Nimes that will probably end up in a bunch sprint. The one into Mulhouse, to a lesser extent, could too although it might be one that the break could cling on to.
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Old 11-07-2014, 14:05
swingaleg
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Eurosport just left the race for a moment to tell us about the 3 former TdF winners killed in the first world war.......
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