It depends on the route. Last years course was made for Wiggins with all the time trials. Could be Froome if more climbs.
Froome, Contador, Schleck, Roche, Valverde and Rodriguez will battle this one out. Rui Costa, Moreno and Roy will battle for the polka dot jersey Pinot and Talansky for the youth classification Sagan, Kittel/Degenkolb and Cavendish for the green jersey
Tejay van garderan maybe? Dan Martin could be an outside shout It's a shame nibali is not there, I think he is the best this season
Epic tour ahead, the last week is going to be a killer. Hope it's a close one. It's a shame Andy Schleck is not the rider he was pre-injury
Cav was unlucky today, but who could have foreseen such a moronic event (Orica-Greenedge bus getting stuck - i didn't even realise some actually fitted under that low finishing structure!). Still, despite his only chance at yellow evaporating, none of his rivals benefited: 1) Sagan will be sore as hell tomorrow, watched the replay and he got steamrolled over the top by at least two riders from behind, which means that he is less likely to be a winner considering his current physical condition 2) Goss tasted asphalt today, did he crash into the side barrier or did his chain rerail? Either way, he let a golden stage win/yellow jersey opportunity slip by! 3) Greipel serves him right, as he was the chief culprit in the crash. Watch it again and you'll notice a black item bouncing along the road, a.k.a his gear interchanger. Tried to go through a gap that wasn't wide enough. Guess he got what he deserved when he couldn't pedal any further... 4) Kittel made the most of a great chance handed on a plate through luck of a major crash taking out all of his rivals. Wasn't overly impressed by his end speed, throught the Katusha rider might sneak it. Against Cav and Greipel, he will be toast. One for the future probably... GC-wise: Froome (puncture/crash fortunately before start, will be relatively happy to be unscathed), Contador looked to have a nasty fall and was certainly grimacing when he came over the finish. Did Ryder Hesjedal make it back to the peleton in time to be given same time? Anyone see the flying boat? Most bizarre. Someone suggested that it might have been Federer and Nadal dropping in on proceedings
My View: GC Main Contenders 1) Froome (75% chance, devastating form with strongest team) 2) Porte (insanely good lieutenant, good form) 3) Contador (17% shadow of former self, but is best of the rest in absence of Nibali) 4) Rodriguez (8%, see him getting controlled by sky team) 5) Evans/TVG (battle for team supremacy, cadel did well in Giro in difficult situation) Green Jersey Contenders 1) Cavendish (80% chance) 2) Sagan (20% chance) 3) Greipel (only if 1 or 2 get injured) 4) Kittel (likewise)
Nairo Quintana is the other one I would pick out. Also, if Evans loses team leadership, TVG will be some force. Sagan for green jersey; not sure Cav will find the course easy at all and may take some out of him
If Sagan doesn't win today's 2nd stage, it will be a big blow in the green jersey race. Pundits had him favourite for today, but in light of yesterdays crash and he did go down heavily, I doubt that he will be there contesting the top 3 places. Lost points and news that Tony Martin will start having recovered enough, firmly puts the ball back into Cav's court (still perfectly healthy and if you watched the Giro, you will have noticed his climbing ability has improved)
Tejay van Garderen has been a let down at times even though he is 24, in the Tour of Switzerland he just couldn't follow in the mountains at times. His time trials are very promising though but I doubt he will be a big part in this year's TDF. Last year he got in 5th place mainly because he finished in the group controlled by Wiggo and he had a decent last time trail, 2 minutes something behind Wiggo that day. This year the mountains will be a lot tougher than last year, and the time trails are much shorter and have less impact on the general classification. Those two factors combined will lower his chances of getting the results he had last year.
You've got to admire cyclists for the way they do keep going. Fractured pelvis - pah! Shows footballers what a real sportsman can do.
And we have the first big exit in the Tour: Jurgen VandenBroecke didn't start due to the injuries he sustained from the big crash just before the finish line yesterday.
He looks insanely strong indeed but he never has pushed himself for 3 weeks on. Everyone has an off day in the Tour, Schleck and Evans had one yesterday, Contador had a bad couple of weeks before the tour started and probably needs to find form in the next couple of days. But it seems like a done deal already. Porte and Kiryienka looked incredible yesterday and especially Porte has a lot of power to keep Froome in the yellow in the mountains. But the revelation of yesterday has to be Ten Dam. The way he countered some of the pace differences of Froome is commendable. He dropped out of the group to keep his ow pace and passed Contador ten minutes later. Such a shame he is a very crappy time trail cyclists. Else he might have had a shot at the top 5 in this tour. Massive disappointment was Van Garderen yesterday, lost 12 and a half minutes on that last climb which is immense for someone his calibre. But I expected it as you can see in my post of last week. Not living up to his potential, such a shame.
That was a mad stage today! Why on earth didn't Movistar go for the stage win, they had the numbers up there Well done dan Martin Team sky fell to pieces a bit Lastly good to see andy schleck back
Yep, what a mad day it was. Froome had to dig deep today. He is lucky that there's a day off tomorrow so he can recuperate. Time trial on Wednesday and on Friday the stage to Lyon is hopefully going to be as mad as today. Still have to pinch myself that we got 2 Dutchies in the top 5. Last time that happened was in the 80ies!
trying to rack my brains who they would have been Cove (your 80s riders) without cheating and looking on the internet. van de brouck? certainly there was a guy with a ponytail. contador and evans blowing up on sat, and porte yesterday, gives me hope that the peloton is becoming cleaner.