Le Tour 2012

jww · Post by **jww** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 7:40 am

Yup -- it's that time of year again, and my thoughts turn to ..... Le Tour - which always conflicts with my wife's interest in Wimbledon ... but that's another story -- thank goodness for PVRs, ya know?? Not that I don't enjoy the grass of south London -- I do -- it's just that Le Tour holds my attention more closely, that's all.

The prologue was quite enjoyable, with Cancellara showing why he's arguably the best TT rider in the world - apologies to reigning world Champ Tony Martin.

Lots of anxiousness in Stage 1 with a few crashes and injuries as a result. Yesterday's sprint was good as well, with the Manx Missile once again showing why he's the best sprinter in the world. He's a machine, and when he latched onto Greipel's rear wheel with 500m to go, I figured he'd take it from the German. Just like old times - Cavendish was led out -- this time by former team mate rather than one of his one team.

Looks to be another good finish today -- I'll pick up details later tonight.

Any early thoughts on who your pick is to win this year? Does Evans repeat? What about our beloved Cannuck Ryder Hesjedal - any chance he might do the double? It's been a long time since Idurain won both the Giro and Le Tour ... could be interesting.

Of course, let's not forget that our boy Andy Schleck is watching from a chair due to his fracture pelvis (Ouch!) --- there's always next year Andy -- hang on -- we said that last year -- tough break (literally).

changabang · Post by **changabang** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:59 am

I don't get a channel that televises the Tour, so I don't tend to get that involved, but Cavendish IS a sprinting machine, with the emphasis on "SPRINTING". Too bad he can't compete in the longer runs or the mountains. I'd love to see the Canuck via Scandinavia do the double.
As for Wimbledon, I'm glad The Shrieker was eliminated. Trying to watch her and her imitators makes my hair hurt. And didn't Nadal act like a truculent child when Rosol, rated 100, took down #2?

paddy · Post by **paddy** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:03 am

i think that the podium will be wiggins, evans, menchov. not sure what order, but those 3 will be the ones to fight it out i think.

things will start to become clear for the GC after the first big time trial - stage 9.

jww · Post by **jww** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:03 am

paddy wrote:i think that the podium will be wiggins, evans, menchov. not sure what order, but those 3 will be the ones to fight it out i think.

things will start to become clear for the GC after the first big time trial - stage 9.

The mountains will sort out early contenders and pretenders.

jww · Post by **jww** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:04 am

changabang wrote:...As for Wimbledon, I'm glad The Shrieker was eliminated. Trying to watch her and her imitators makes my hair hurt. And didn't Nadal act like a truculent child when Rosol, rated 100, took down #2?

I usually turn down the sound when Maria Sharipova plays .... and Nadal, as good as he is, does tend to mope around when he gets beat by someone who he doesn't think is worthy. Professional athletes --- what can you say?

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 3:17 pm

Remembering the 1975 Championship reached a spectacular climax to the Gentlemen's Singles Final between the world's then number one player, Jimmy Connors, and Arthur Ashe. Wow!

jww · Post by **jww** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 3:47 pm

brothers wrote:Remembering the 1975 Championship reached a spectacular climax to the Gentlemen's Singles Final between the world's then number one player, Jimmy Connors, and Arthur Ashe. Wow!

Edberg/Becker final in 1990 --- 5 sets - grueling back and forth --- some of the best tennis I have ever witnessed -- ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGEQxIIWAKs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becker%E2% ... rg_rivalry

Now -- back to cycling ..... haven't seen today's results yet -- will catch the last 60 minutes of today's stage later this evening --- after Endeavour.

paddy · Post by **paddy** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:57 pm

The mountains will sort out early contenders and pretenders.

what you often find in most of the mountain stages, certainly the early mountain stages, is that a lot of the GC favourites mark each other out of it and there are not many time gaps to speak of.

with the time trials however there are always time gaps between the GC favourites.

jww · Post by **jww** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:25 am

Was quite pleased with the finish yesterday. While I don't know what he's going to be like in real mountains, this Sagan kid is incredible --- green shirt, and two stage wins already and not even a week into Le Tour. Something special, I'll say. Cancellara doing well to stay yellow for the time being, but I have to admit that he'll likely disappear when the Pyrenees and Alps come into play.

JayTrek · Post by **JayTrek** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:30 pm

Watching the reair tonight. This race seems to have more crashes that ever. Happy to see Cancellara in yellow early on again. He is for me one of the more likable riders on the road.

jww · Post by **jww** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 5:24 am

JayTrek wrote:... Happy to see Cancellara in yellow early on again. He is for me one of the more likable riders on the road.

+1 -- he's likable, doesn't get involved in controversy, and rides like the wind in the TT stages. Gilbert's win yesterday was a good one -- but one can't help where Cavendish would have been in the mix had he not been caught in a crash just before the real sprint occurred.

JayTrek · Post by **JayTrek** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:02 pm

jww wrote:Cavendish would have been in the mix had he not been caught in a crash just before the real sprint occurred.

Cavendish is a stud. World's best sprinter.

jww · Post by **jww** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 5:27 am

JayTrek wrote:...
Cavendish is a stud. World's best sprinter.

Unfortunately, he couldn't release on yesterday sprint finish -- it was possibly the best stage so far this year, with the lead-out group actually leading from start until almost the finish -- they didn't get pulled back officially until about 150m left to go -- it was one for the books.

This first week is always so tough -- with no rest day until day 11. Saturday's stage should be very interesting -- back into medium mountains.

One of these days I am investing in one of the replica leader jerseys -- but at 75,00€ they ain't cheap.

jww · Post by **jww** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 5:53 pm

Brutal stage today - with unbelievable crashes on a stage which should have been crash-free. Quite the finish from Sagan again today - out-sprinting Greipel. Think of this -- 6 stages plus the prologue done, and only 3 different stage winners so far - that's unheard of -- even with the dominance of the likes of world champion Cavendish.

Rambler · Post by **Rambler** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:20 am

Finally had it on a channel available to me this morning. I'll definitely be following it from now on.

jww · Post by **jww** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:16 am

Chris Froome closed of the grueling last 300m like a man possessed --- what a day for Team Sky - taking the double on the stage win and the Maillot Jaune to Bradley Wiggins. Great day for Great Britain as well -- historical according to Phil and Paul.

And to be fair - while no one expected Cancellara to hold onto the lead today, it wasn't until the last couple of clicks where he broke from the back of the peloton. Mark my words though - he will show up for the individual TT on Monday. There are only 4 events, in my mind that rank tops for me as the best 3 weeks in sports - and Le Tour is certainly one of them.

jww · Post by **jww** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:43 pm

What a TT ride today. Cancellara looks to have the best time, only to be blown away by Chris Froome -- who then gets blown away by Bradley Wiggins on the last ride of the day. It has been a good few days -- rest day tomorrow before heading into the Alps full tilt. Should be a very interesting week of cycling ahead!

paddy · Post by **paddy** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 3:22 am

wiggins totally bossed it yesterday and really stretched his lead.

after the rest day today things will get very interesting in the alps on wednesday and thursday in particular. those down the GC pecking order know now that the only way they can get back to wiggins is to attack and try and gain time in the mountains, particularly as there is another time trial later in the tour.

jww · Post by **jww** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 6:29 am

paddy wrote:wiggins totally bossed it yesterday and really stretched his lead.

after the rest day today things will get very interesting in the alps on wednesday and thursday in particular. those down the GC pecking order know now that the only way they can get back to wiggins is to attack and try and gain time in the mountains, particularly as there is another time trial later in the tour.

+1

Nice to see a brit wearing yellow, for sure. All he really has to do is stay in contact with Evans and Nibali and he will take it. Of course -- there are still more than half the miles yet to go and anything can happen -- crashes (heaven forbid), dead legs (can happen to anyone), bad day at the office (ditto), etc. Rest day today --- what is a fan to do with that????

fallingwickets · Post by **fallingwickets** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:14 am

Nice pics from the globe

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/0 ... t_two.html