The Official 99th Tour de France thread, 2012.

[Gregory2Smith1]

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.

hypothetical question SB,if next years stages were held this year,who'd win the tour?

 

[Brixtaan]

IF he holds on another couple of weeks then I'd love to hear an argument against him being the greatest British athlete/sportsman ever to walk these Isles. A knighthood isn't recognition enough.

 

[lost in london]

We do have a specific Lance thread on the go.

This is Le Tour 2012, we might not be so precious but for this tour going so well for GB.

So big George did it then.
It's a shame it's all a bit snidey, 6 months ban starting at the end of the season.

If that were 2 years there and then, ending all their careers, and they still confessed, that would it for Lance.

Now there's still a tiny bit of wriggle room.

Seems a bit hypocritical to me! I had no idea there were such special, and complicated rules!

 

[Stoichkov]

hypothetical question SB,if next years stages were held this year,who'd win the tour?

If Contador was racing he'd win this year and next year...

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

If Contador was racing he'd win this year and next year...

Bullish call. He didn't win last year when he was racing!

 

[Stat Brother]

Seems a bit hypocritical to me! I had no idea there were such special, and complicated rules!

So you noted the post, but not the complete lack of comment that it got.
Because there is another thread dedicated specifically to this, should you wish to discuss it.

 

[Stat Brother]

hypothetical question SB,if next years stages were held this year,who'd win the tour?

If Contador was racing he'd win this year and next year...

Bullish call. He didn't win last year when he was racing!

I'm going with Contador too.
He didn't win last year as he wasn't expecting to be there, and had ridden hard in The Giro.

If we were to have a Tour 'hit parade' next year, Andy Schleck may well run him close.
Chris Froome would be the strongest GB rider.

 

[Stoichkov]

I'm going with Contador too.
He didn't win last year as he wasn't expecting to be there, and had ridden hard in The Giro.

Yep, won a hard Giro and then in the Tour lost 1min in an early crash then more time in the TTT.

I reckon he'll smash everyone in the Vuelta

 

[Stat Brother]

Yep, won a hard Giro and then in the Tour lost 1min in an early crash then more time in the TTT.

I reckon he'll smash everyone in the Vuelta

Depressingly true.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Yep, won a hard Giro and then in the Tour lost 1min in an early crash then more time in the TTT.

I reckon he'll smash everyone in the Vuelta

Bullish call. He didn't win last year when he was racing!

I do, however, agree that he'll win the Vuelta and next year's Tour.

 

[Stat Brother]

IF he holds on another couple of weeks then I'd love to hear an argument against him being the greatest British athlete/sportsman ever to walk these Isles. A knighthood isn't recognition enough.

Andy Murray's failure, does still leave back to back cycling, Sports Personality of the Year, a possibility.
(3 chickens 4 chickens)

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

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.

They call him the MODFATHER and I tend to adorn the roads around him with Targets, the organisor of the Tour de France calls him the Fifth Beatle (although technically that should probably be the sixth.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

If Contador was racing he'd win this year and next year...

Yes but considoring he was banned for a good reason, hard to judge what is talent and what is not.

 

[Stat Brother]

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.

markpinsent ‏[MENTION=12437]Mark[/MENTION]pinsent
[MENTION=511]Ned[/MENTION]boulting Just reading L'Equipe myself. Amazing @TeamSky coverage…all the British references. Even a Mod explanation!

L'Equipe must make for some interesting reading, today.

 

[Stat Brother]

Whoever was asking about Podcasts, Team Sky's offering is now available.

As said it's Thingy Moore and Michael Barry, so at least it's knowledgeable bias.
Lets face it if they can't crow after last week when can they.

 

[The Large One]

markpinsent ‏[MENTION=12437]Mark[/MENTION]pinsent
[MENTION=511]Ned[/MENTION]boulting Just reading L'Equipe myself. Amazing @TeamSky coverage…all the British references. Even a Mod explanation!

L'Equipe must make for some interesting reading, today.

Bradley Wiggins, icône Mod | CONTRE-PIED

Rough translation...

Bradley Wiggins often surprised by the French humor cold, haughty appearance that hides a form of shyness and unusual look in our region. Like what the Channel Tunnel and the single market have not really culturally close both sides of the Channel. To his countrymen, "Wiggo" is nevertheless quite readable both by his choice of clothing as his attitude, his musical tastes and his somewhat fetishistic attachment to the past, be it cultural or cyclist.

He was questioned on this side of the Channel on his "likeness" with Liam Gallagher, lead singer of Oasis, the group for which he admits a weakness, when in reality both are inspired by the movement Youth of the most durable of British society, the Mod movement.

References Wiggins are the coup to be sought in the 60s, and groups like the Who, the Small Faces, then 70s with The Jam, whose singer, Paul Weller, Liam Gallagher is more than the model leader of Team Sky. Weller is a bit like Johnny here, an incongruity ... Probably the most respected singer of his island, which boasts the continent as a critical success. When not cycling, Bradley Wiggins is a passionate music lover, collector of guitars, which has even offered one of the most rare of the Who bassist John Entwistle. What connection, you might say, with cycling?

Is that the former Olympic pursuit champion dedicated to the history of the sport the same collectionnite maniac that's for fashion or the melodies of the Sixties. Wiggins knows the history of the bicycle as his pocket and surprised the ancients, as Bernard Hinault or Marc Madiot, reminding them the equipment they used in their time, or by evoking the charts forgotten most experienced statisticians. Bradley Wiggins has been particularly marked by Tom Simpson, whose death on the slopes of Mont Ventoux in 1967 remains one of the most striking dramas in the history of the race, but also a vivid image of the 1960s where movement Mod was at its peak.

Mods, what are these lovers of jazz and rhythm & blues that haunted the wild nights of swinging London, stood the shock to amphetamines - follow my eyes - and roamed the streets of the East End perched on shiny scooters. Of course, Wiggins collects Vespa and Lambretta as well as jerseys and he is accompanied on the tour of a photographer, Scott Mitchell, fervent Mod too.

When, at the beginning of the Tour, the riders of Team Sky were decked out in yellow helmets as leaders of the team standings, David Millar, another British dandy Platoon, sniggered on Twitter: "Not very Mod! "

However, by capturing the most coveted jersey in cycling, Bradley Wiggins makes a stylistic return to the roots of Mod movement, since these young men were also the inventors of sportswear in popularizing polo Fred Perry or Ben Sherman, but above wearing cycling jerseys and sometimes bicycle helmets on their scooters chrome. Win the Tour, for Britain, it would also be an aesthetic triumph. And on the Champs-Elysées, it would probably play "Mod Save the Queen".

 

[Stat Brother]

Ned Boulting ‏[MENTION=511]Ned[/MENTION]boulting
Got ITV4 TdF viewing figures....live shows up a lot, highlights too - and very close to 1 million. Which would be a breakthrough.

Sure to top the million if Sky were able to dominate.

 

[Hiney]

They call him the MODFATHER and I tend to adorn the roads around him with Targets, the organisor of the Tour de France calls him the Fifth Beatle (although technically that should probably be the sixth.

Not to mention his SPLENDID sideburns

 

[Stat Brother]

Not to mention his SPLENDID sideburns

Which are completely unaerodynamic.
Imagine how fast he'd be if he were a connoisseur of Right Said Fred.

 

[Stat Brother]

Mark Cavendish ‏[MENTION=12437]Mark[/MENTION]Cavendish
So @TeamSky's rest day training ride featured an impromptu 'highest cadence competition'. I won with 227rpm..

ssshhheeeeeiiitttttttt.

I know it's preaching to the converted but I'll get rightly flamed if I start a new thread.

Anyone caught up with the Wiggins press and wanting to catch up on the events so far.

ITV4 @ 7 has a review of the tour, so far.