Sagan has a chance..... General classification after stage 5 Result 1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 20:26:46 2 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:02 3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale 0:00:44 4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:50 5 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing 0:01:17 6 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto-Belisol 0:01:45 7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto-Belisol 8 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky 0:01:54 9 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin - Sharp 0:02:05 10 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:11 11 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 12 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 13 Rui Alberto Costa (Por) Lampre - Merida 14 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:02:16 15 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:02:25 16 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano 17 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Team Katusha 18 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling 0:02:27 19 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:02:37
I can't see Sagan doing enough in the Pyrenees. Reckon Nibali has a great chance and only Valverde and Contador will given him a serious challenge. Rodriguez is already 40 minutes back.
If every stage was flat, sure. He has no chance. Of those on the current leaderboard I'd only expect Nibali, Van Den Broek, Porte, Talansky, Valverde, Van Garderen, Pinot, Mollema and Contador to be around/near the top 5 at the end. Fuglsang would have a chance if he was a lead rider but he'll lose time expending energy to protect Nibali. Edit: Kwiatowski has the potential for a top 10 finish too. It'll take something big to beat Nibali now, the way he climbs.
It is strange in life that things like this often work out this way, things have a habit of levelling themselves out.
It was the right call for the team to drop Wiggins, if your leader drops out then that's just bad luck. Wiggins wouldn't have put in a shift to support Froome (arguably there are better support riders in team sky anyway), plus even if Wiggins was in the team and became the leader after Froome crashed out he wouldn't have stood a chance of winning anyway.
Not saying he has a chance, but there's a fair bit about Sagan I like. I think if he can keep his exuberance and natural ability, but learn to be more of a team player at the same time, he'll do alright.
Sagan is a great rider but his target is the green jersey , he isn't going to win the TdF Nibali must be the favourite now but don't rule Contador out if he's in good climbing form
It's hard to call but I'm not sure Contador still has it. Guess we'll have a better idea after tomorrow
Just watching the Armstrong Lie from t'other night. Fascinating. Armstrong admitted to HGH EPO, blood doping and steroids. His Dr had snitches in all the doping agencies to tip him off and circumvent their tests. Armstrong comes across as a monster, horrible horrible man.
Interesting discussion on another forum about advances in engineering and how the governing bodies tend to hold it back with rules on weights and measurements. Someone asked how some of the old school cyclists would have fared on a modern bike, and I was surprised when someone said there'd be little difference. http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/has-the-quest-for-lighter-and-lighter-gone-to-far.160430/
The film is a fascinating look into the whole affair. If you have time then I recommend the BBC4 documentary into it (3 days left to watch on iplayer). I personally preferred it to the Armstrong lie for drama. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b048wq0z/storyville-20132014-29-the-lance-armstrong-story-stop-at-nothing
