2010 Tour de France

[Wahooti Fandango]

Hunter is one of my favourite non-Australian cyclists. Fairly solid team overall. Hesjedal did quite well in the Tour de Suisse.

 

[indieswan96]

Van Summeren could provide a little support for Vande - Velde as well. He is a smokey for Top 5

 

[Freakie]

Astana:
Alberto Contador (SPA)
Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ)
David De la Fuente (SPA)
Andriy Grivko (UKR)
Jesus Hernandez (SPA)
Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ)
Daniel Navarro (SPA)
Benjamin Noval (SPA)
Paolo Tiranlongo (ITA).

 

[r dub 19]

I think Contador will be in serious trouble this year. If you look at Radioshack there are 4 or 5 riders that could win the tour Saxo have 2. Contador's team won't be strong enough to set the pace on the mountain stages. Radioshack can launch attacks with a number of different riders and Contador will have to keep chasing them down by himself(or other non team mate riders). Of course Contador could attack himself and leave everyone for dead but I think his team is too weak this time around. Also I wouldn't expect any great help from vino.

 

[waspy]

I think Contador will be in serious trouble this year. If you look at Radioshack there are 4 or 5 riders that could win the tour Saxo have 2. Contador's team won't be strong enough to set the pace on the mountain stages. Radioshack can launch attacks with a number of different riders and Contador will have to keep chasing them down by himself(or other non team mate riders). Of course Contador could attack himself and leave everyone for dead but I think his team is too weak this time around. Also I wouldn't expect any great help from vino.

I don't think it will really matter, he's good enough to chase down any dangerous attacks himself. If one of the rivals attacks, he can sit on the wheel until a few km from the top and have a crack himself. He has such a great turn of speed that the problems that befall Evans when he has no team are not really applicable to Alberto. While Evans often needs some help to grind back to the wheel, Contador can just kick it up a notch whenever he wants.

 

[r dub 19]

I don't think it will really matter, he's good enough to chase down any dangerous attacks himself. If one of the rivals attacks, he can sit on the wheel until a few km from the top and have a crack himself. He has such a great turn of speed that the problems that befall Evans when he has no team are not really applicable to Alberto. While Evans often needs some help to grind back to the wheel, Contador can just kick it up a notch whenever he wants.

Yes but how many attacks can contador follow by himself? Surely he can't keep 6-9 riders at bay. Last year when he was just with the schlecks he did ok but there were some signs of vunerability/cracking. I can see there being a group of Contador, 4-5 radio shack riders, 3 liquigas riders, the schlecks and a few other riders occuring multiple times in this tour. This would make it pretty hard for contador to follow every attack. Of course he may well have cracked a lot of riders by himself.

Can't wait

 

[Cruiser23]

Andy Schleck crashes in training

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-crashes-in-training

Andy Schleck was left with cuts, bruises and a dent in his pride after a training crash on Saturday. Fortunately the injuries should not cause concern for the Tour de France that starts next Saturday in Rotterdam.

Link

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

Yes but how many attacks can contador follow by himself? Surely he can't keep 6-9 riders at bay. Last year when he was just with the schlecks he did ok but there were some signs of vunerability/cracking. I can see there being a group of Contador, 4-5 radio shack riders, 3 liquigas riders, the schlecks and a few other riders occuring multiple times in this tour. This would make it pretty hard for contador to follow every attack. Of course he may well have cracked a lot of riders by himself.

Can't wait

He was the complete opposite of vulnerable last time. He just dominated that race completely. You seem to be looking for reasons he won't win.

 

[Freakie]

Don't underestimate that Astana team, it's not exactly weak...

 

[monty1104]

Disappointed John-Lee Augustyn isnt racing

 

[ballanFYNE]

Andy Schleck crashes in training

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-crashes-in-training



Link

That would of given a few bookies a heart attack.

 

[r dub 19]

He was the complete opposite of vulnerable last time. He just dominated that race completely. You seem to be looking for reasons he won't win.

I'm talking about the stage where he got rid of kloden and it was just the 2 schlecks, not the whole race.

 

[r dub 19]

Disappointed John-Lee Augustyn isnt racing

Would of fallen off a mountain anyway

 

[Freakie]

Would of fallen off a mountain anyway

That was spectacular, best piece of cycling footage ever.

 

[monty1104]

That moment was the exact moment I decided cycling was interesting. Now I'm hooked.

 

[RevDog]

Less then a week to go, I'm bloody excited.

Between this and the WC I will and have been very tired for work each morning!

Oh well, I love it!

 

[Freakie]

Française des Jeux

Wesley Sulzberger
Anthony Roux
Christophe Le Mével
Sandy Casar
Jérémy Roy
Benoît Vaugrenard
Rémy Di Gregorio
Matthieu Ladagnous
Anthony Geslin

 

[Freakie]

Cofidis

Damien Monier
Rémi Pauriol
Samuel Dumoulin (awesome, I can't wait for phil to tell me he is the smallest rider)
Stéphane Augé
Julien El Farès
Christophe Kern
Sébastien Minard
Amaël Moinard
Rein Taarämae.

AG2R-La Mondiale

Nicolas Roche
Christophe Riblon
John Gadret
David Le Lay
Rinaldo Nocentini
Martin Elmiger
Maxime Bouet
Dimitri Champion
Lloyd Mondory.

 

[Cruiser23]

Not sure how many of you are punting men/women but Sportingbet have a few markets up.

 

[sblack]

Not sure how many of you are punting men/women but Sportingbet have a few markets up.

Betfair are offering better prices atm. Plus more markets.

This caught my eye at a very quick first glance.

Winner w/o Contador - Andy Schleck @ 2.85. Or a safer $2 to place (SB have him $1.85 here). Or even safer, Top 6 @ 1.55.

Top 6 market has incredible value. Kreuziger @ 3.4. Rodgers @ 8. LL Sanchez @ 10+. Frank @ 3. Gesink @ 4.5

 

[indieswan96]

What do people think of Le Mevel as a chance for top 10?

 

[waspy]

What do people think of Le Mevel as a chance for top 10?

Last years field was weaker than this year, but he'd still have to be a chance I'd say. Some of his helpers are actually fairly decent. I like Casar, Di Gregorio and Vaugrenard. A pretty good tip for top Frenchman, Moinard from Cofidis would be the other to watch.

 

[r dub 19]

What is Kreuziger's form like? $81 odds I like.

 

[Freakie]

Caisse d’Epargne

Imanol Erviti
Ivan Gutierrez
Vasil Kiryienka
Christophe Moreau
Mathieu Perget
Ruben Plaza
Jose Joaquin Rojas
Luis Leon Sanchez
Rui Costa

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Cheers for the updates Freakie.