Tour de France thread 2014**

Who will win the Tour de France?

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errant said:
People said the same about froome last year at the top of mt vontoux.... They all race in the shadow of Armstrong for better or worse...

If he had more competition they'd be less suspicious minds imho...
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He's always been a good climber, he's let everyone do the work and then gone away, against lesser cyclists. I don't think the gaps are that remarkable, having tried to follow better cyclists up hills I know exactly how far they can get away from you in a very short space of time. Tiny margins on mountains make for bigger gaps and more dramatic blow-ups.

Anyway, I'm trusting and prefer to think that they're clean, otherwise what's the point of watching it, it can't be enjoyable if your default is "they're on it".
 


Flavonoids said:
He's always been a good climber, he's let everyone do the work and then gone away, against lesser cyclists. I don't think the gaps are that remarkable, having tried to follow better cyclists up hills I know exactly how far they can get away from you in a very short space of time. Tiny margins on mountains make for bigger gaps and more dramatic blow-ups.
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Unlike Froome...

TBF to Nibali - His wins in this TdF haven't been /that/ impressive. He was 15 seconds faster than Pinot the other day, 10 seconds faster than Konig and Majka today. Not exactly smashing it out the park. I criticised him last year because of his TT gains - If he beats Tony Martin in this years TT then that might start the alarm bells ringing.

Flavonoids said:
Anyway, I'm trusting and prefer to think that they're clean, otherwise what's the point of watching it, it can't be enjoyable if your default is "they're on it".
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That's why I don't watch it as much as I used to.
 
Walter Ego said:
Unlike Froome...

TBF to Nibali - His wins in this TdF haven't been /that/ impressive. He was 15 seconds faster than Pinot the other day, 10 seconds faster than Konig and Majka today. Not exactly smashing it out the park. I criticised him last year because of his TT gains - If he beats Tony Martin in this years TT then that might start the alarm bells ringing.



That's why I don't watch it as much as I used to.
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If he beats Martin in the TT I'll sell me bike.
 
Walter Ego said:
Did you read this the other day? - http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ucis-suspicious-list-leaked-from-2010-tour-de-france

Seeing Martin at 7 was interesting.


Knaven, de Jongh, Leinders, Yates, etc. How are Sky any different?
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Well one massive difference is no Sky rider( while riding for them...and JTL's passport irregularities clearly date from Endura days) has been banned

whereas Astana have had numerous bans...and that's not even mentioning Vinokourov,Contador,Bruyneel and dear old Lance who were all with Astana or had been part of their recent set up...Oh and nearly forgot Bertie

So why it would be madness to suggest Brits don't dope(of course they do) I can certainly see which team is at least attempting to compete clean
 
Cee Jay said:
Well one massive difference is no Sky rider( while riding for them...and JTL's passport irregularities clearly date from Endura days) has been banned

whereas Astana have had numerous bans...and that's not even mentioning Vinokourov,Contador,Bruyneel and dear old Lance who were all with Astana or had been part of their recent set up...Oh and nearly forgot Bertie

So why it would be madness to suggest Brits don't dope(of course they do) I can certainly see which team is at least attempting to compete clean
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Not sure you did forget Bertie ;)
 
Arkle said:
Not sure you did forget Bertie ;)
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Oh aye...to be honest the list of Astana riders with doping links is so long that I lost count.

Still like to think Nibali is clean mind...could be worse Valverde could be in the lead(now that is one unrepentant fucker)
 
Cee Jay said:
Oh aye...to be honest the list of Astana riders with doping links is so long that I lost count.

Still like to think Nibali is clean mind...could be worse Valverde could be in the lead(now that is one unrepentant fucker)
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Your not exactly making the best case for Nibali mind. He`s beating unrepentent dopers?.......;)

If he is still doping I`m still keeping me velogames points mind:lol:
 
Cee Jay said:
Oh aye...to be honest the list of Astana riders with doping links is so long that I lost count.

Still like to think Nibali is clean mind...could be worse Valverde could be in the lead(now that is one unrepentant fucker)
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I think Nibali is clean as well. I'm mostly pissed off that I didn't pick him in my Velogames team... if you'd asked most people who the top 3 were going to be at the start, they'd have said Froome. Contador and Nibali. The fact that the only one left is a class above the other GC contenders shouldn't come as a surprise.

Drug ban aside, Valverde rode like a knob today late in ste stage...
 
yorkyexile said:
Your not exactly making the best case for Nibali mind. He`s beating unrepentent dopers?.......;)

If he is still doping I`m still keeping me velogames points mind:lol:
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Where are you in the league then ? I'm doing shit :oops:

Arkle said:
I think Nibali is clean as well. I'm mostly pissed off that I didn't pick him in my Velogames team... if you'd asked most people who the top 3 were going to be at the start, they'd have said Froome. Contador and Nibali. The fact that the only one left is a class above the other GC contenders shouldn't come as a surprise.

Drug ban aside, Valverde rode like a knob today late in ste stage...
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he's a twat....
 
Walter Ego said:
Unlike Froome...

TBF to Nibali - His wins in this TdF haven't been /that/ impressive. He was 15 seconds faster than Pinot the other day, 10 seconds faster than Konig and Majka today. Not exactly smashing it out the park. I criticised him last year because of his TT gains - If he beats Tony Martin in this years TT then that might start the alarm bells ringing.



That's why I don't watch it as much as I used to.
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Pretty much my thoughts exactly, about Nibali. He's good but in a steady way, he isn't the type of rider who will really crush his rivals on a climb or blow them away in a time-trial, he's just a solid all-rounder like a GC rider should be, which overall when all put together makes him better than 99% of other riders at the moment. Like you say, if he starts time-trialling like Ullrich or Indurain, then be suspicious.
 
Thurston said:
Pretty much my thoughts exactly, about Nibali. He's good but in a steady way, he isn't the type of rider who will really crush his rivals on a climb or blow them away in a time-trial, he's just a solid all-rounder like a GC rider should be, which overall when all put together makes him better than 99% of other riders at the moment. Like you say, if he starts time-trialling like Ullrich or Indurain, then be suspicious.
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This is my point. He's never been as good as this year going up, but that could be a maturity thing. The pint that his TT has dramatically improved this year makes me uneasy. And with Vinokourov as DS, anything is possible; I never thought Vinokourov was repentant at all.
 
Nibbles needs to start squirting himself with water and panting a bit more ;)
 
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