Indurain's Lungs
Legend of Garry Nelson
That's partly true but you don't really get a choice in the matter, plus you might get to win a few tour stages on the way.
The Official 99th Tour de France thread, 2012.
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That's partly true but you don't really get a choice in the matter, plus you might get to win a few tour stages on the way.
- Thread starter
- #622
It all depends on the course.
This year has the most TT miles, for a fair few years.
Sprinters can't win Le Tour because you don't get time gaps on the flat.
So the organisers have to balance the tour between mountains and TT.
Recently it has been done in favour of the mountains, but Contador is/was exceptional at both, so it became a moot point.
Nibali was 'only' 2 minutes slower than Brad, today.
In an excellent mountain top finish he would back himself to beat Brad by considerably more than that, by riding balls out for the last 5 kms.
Does he have the capacity to do that - doubtful.
Today TT was there so the likes of Brad & Cadel could regain the time they lost in the previous lumpy stages.
They didn't lose time, for many reasons, so therefore the leader board is TT heavy.
With another longer TT still to come to the mountain men, Nibali et al, will not only have to get the time back to be on terms with Sky.
They will also have to get an extra 3-6 minutes to cover their final losses.
Gregory2Smith1
J'les aurai!
in theory one might think you could gain more time riding up a mountain,than time trialing,but it doesn't seem to be the case
although pantani did win the tour
although pantani did win the tour
1066familyman
Radio User
- Jan 15, 2008
- 15,185
WTF!
Smash-tastic! is about the only post I can think to quote having just watched the stage back and then read all of today's postings on here. That is a rather special 1-2 that must leave Evans dazed and staggering back to his corner wondering where the hell he goes from here.
Not a lot more to add really as it looks like I've arrived at the party just as the disco man is packing his things up for the night
You work shy lazy gits ! 
Oh well, good job I had the foresight to book the days off that matter in August
Oh, one last thing though - Boring Frank finishing above Dave Z today!? I've looked but there doesn't appear to be a smiley available to cover that one.
Smash-tastic! is about the only post I can think to quote having just watched the stage back and then read all of today's postings on here. That is a rather special 1-2 that must leave Evans dazed and staggering back to his corner wondering where the hell he goes from here.
Not a lot more to add really as it looks like I've arrived at the party just as the disco man is packing his things up for the night
You work shy lazy gits ! Oh well, good job I had the foresight to book the days off that matter in August
Oh, one last thing though - Boring Frank finishing above Dave Z today!? I've looked but there doesn't appear to be a smiley available to cover that one.
- Thread starter
- #626
This years tour was put together with the Olympics in mind.
If the last week or so was too mountainous, half the field would have buggered off to London early, esp the sprinters.
Although Prudhomme has stated he'd love every stage to be like last Saturday, rolling, niggly, occasionally nasty, he still has to mix it up.
However next year will be the 100th.
It will be a doozy.
It will have every major climb, every classic flat stage, and very little room for TT miles.
Partly why last Oct Dave B and Brad looked at this tour route and said 'we can win this'.
Because it's very unlikely they would be able to next year.
If the last week or so was too mountainous, half the field would have buggered off to London early, esp the sprinters.
Although Prudhomme has stated he'd love every stage to be like last Saturday, rolling, niggly, occasionally nasty, he still has to mix it up.
However next year will be the 100th.
It will be a doozy.
It will have every major climb, every classic flat stage, and very little room for TT miles.
Partly why last Oct Dave B and Brad looked at this tour route and said 'we can win this'.
Because it's very unlikely they would be able to next year.
- Thread starter
- #627
No.
It's a time thing, Nibali won't be able to 'go for it' on every mountain.
But his team are well into Plan C now and they will have ear marked 2 possible 3 stages to have the last throw of the dice.
He'll lose 3 minutes on the final TT, if he's lucky.
But one massive effort up a mountain and he could conceivably gain 5+ mins.
If Brad were to properly crack he wouldn't even make the podium.
None of which I think would happen.
Marxo
Well-known member
The only worry for Wiggo is if he has a 'bad' day, many riders in the past have had such a day when they suddenly have rubber legs and lose many minutes in a short span. There will normally be many attacks in the following mountain stages and it all depends on how Brad handles it. I remember Lance not panicking, letting the goats go mad and carrying on at his own pace and reeling them back by the finish, he had a very cool head. On todays performance it looks to me like Brad is really on top form and it looks like he's got everything under control, fingers crossed, I daren't even contemplate what might be! This is the most exciting time for me since I moved to the country of Eddy Merckx! (and the birthplace of Bradley Wiggins).
- Thread starter
- #629
The best thing for Sky, is to repeat stage 7, and do it the Lance way.
Ride so hard and fast at the front nobody has the legs to go round them.
Although Lance had 8 men doing that for him.
The Cav factor and being a man down means Brad only has 5, which will be a tough ask.
Neither Brad, Cadel, or Denis can ride stop start up a mountain.
So we can expect Liquigas & Radioshack to throw all manor of attacks, from very early, to dislodge the trains and leave Brad isolated.
Something I doubt they can do.
Ride so hard and fast at the front nobody has the legs to go round them.
Although Lance had 8 men doing that for him.
The Cav factor and being a man down means Brad only has 5, which will be a tough ask.
Neither Brad, Cadel, or Denis can ride stop start up a mountain.
So we can expect Liquigas & Radioshack to throw all manor of attacks, from very early, to dislodge the trains and leave Brad isolated.
Something I doubt they can do.
- Thread starter
- #630
Who would have guessed a TT would have got us so animated.Not a lot more to add really as it looks like I've arrived at the party just as the disco man is packing his things up for the night
sssshhheeeeiiiitttttttt.
Marxo
Well-known member
Just been watching the 'Tour Journal' on Dutch TV and it was really enjoyable. They're very complimentary about the Sky boys and spoke about Dave Brailsford along with a short interview with him. They were saying that the French don't know who he is and that they can't understand the British/Sky set-up very well. At the end (the presenter sits with ex riders around a table) when asked what the TT meant for the whole race they all said it was decisive i.e. it's all over, I hope they're correct!
- Thread starter
- #632
Great shot from the other day:-
Horton's halftime iceberg
Blooming Marvellous
Its about an allrounder winning someone who has a bit of everything, Wiggio has learnt to climb and is still vunrable in that area. A good climber could attack and take big time out so that they have a buffer in the TT. However so far sky have managed the attacks, the teams will now try and isolate and attack on mass to break sky and wiggo and cut into the time gap.
A good tactic would be to put Froome on breakaways and then the other teams would be forced to chase him down, thus giving Brad an easy tow/ride.
Horton's halftime iceberg
Blooming Marvellous
Great shot from the other day:-
That really was fantastic, the French should just pay Brailsford millions and millions of pounds to create a French champion, that would be a fun Tour to watch, 100's of thousands of Madiots lining the roads.
Great shot from the other day:-
Love it.
- Thread starter
- #636
I guess that's defence Plan A.
Dave B isn't going to hand the tour to Chris over his non biological son.
Not sure about that. The best bet is let them attack, keep the team together then reel them in at the end with the full force of Team Sky. Unfortunately for the also rans they need to put so much time in to Brad that they need to attack early. I expect Nibali and Evans will attack on the descent tomorrow but how much time can they possibly gain doing that? 30 seconds maybe, they need minutes not seconds to stand chance now.
The Large One
Who's Next?
Without having read through the rest of the thread, is Bradley Wiggins one of the few people in the world who goes to work dressed like a Mod?
I'm not talking about the Nazi uniforms needed to arbitrate on this board, I mean the sharp haircut, the dark glasses, the attitude, the cycling top... all that's missing is saying 'Smart' every other word.
I'm not talking about the Nazi uniforms needed to arbitrate on this board, I mean the sharp haircut, the dark glasses, the attitude, the cycling top... all that's missing is saying 'Smart' every other word.
Mods tend not to wear lycra cycling shorts, to be fair, but otherwise spot on.
We all know you just want to be part of history by getting on this thread TLO, the longest NSC TdF thread ever, the first to document a British rider getting yellow on a road stage (I'm not going further than that yet) and the longest thread without an argument in NSC history.
Woodchip
It's all about the bikes
Until SB calls me a girl again. LOL