Tour de France 2012

[Exit Stage Left]

So is ESL saying that Bradley Wiggins is the Geoffrey Boycott of cycling?

So is ESL saying that Bradley Wiggins is the Geoffrey Boycott of cycling?

Pretty much. And if he's not careful, Chris Froome will deliberately run him out!

That's pretty much what I was going to say, Froome and Wiggins are in a partnership, Wiggins can win the match with a carefully calculated run rate, but Froome could hit some attractive sixes, which would be more fun, but is risky. My Physio friend has a strong Rugby background, working for South Africa Rugby and Western Province Stormers. http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/helen-millson/b/762/ba
Sky could be said to be a lot like an English test side, with a strong colonial presence.

[mrcharly-YHT]

History may show that all previous "swashbuckling spectacles" were drug-fuelled.

Not necessarily.

The shortest time to complete  each stage will be achieved by riding it like a team time trial.

However, if a rider can goad the nearest rival into exhausting themselves, then they can win the stage by 'swashbuckling'. This is the spectacle that the French love. Many of the 'greats' of the past were masters at this, producing entertainment and great sporting spectacles.

LA showed that the 'scientific' approach can be used  to consistently win.

Wiggo needs to hold his nerve and he can win.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

LA showed that systematic doping of the entire team consistently wins the TdF.

[bobb]

LA showed that systematic doping of the entire team consistently wins the TdF.

Yes, yes... we get the message. Any chance of changing the record?

[Peter]

If science is to be inextricably involved in the TdeF could I suggest we have a team cloned from Jens Voigt?  Then we could have suicidal attacks, spectacular (non-fatal) crashes, and epic failures, every day followed by witty interviews in our own language with added SMILES!  This is what the British viewer wants, surely?  He is superb.

[Exit Stage Left]

I reckon that Wiggins will have been inspired by Evans' win last year. I think he's more of a worrier than his image portrays. He has incredibly deep frown lines above his nose, which are concealed with a strategic placing of a baseball cap.

The psychology of getting Evans through last year's Tour was impressive. I'd like to know who Wiggins' room mate is. Hincapie was paired with Evans last year, like having a donkey in a field with thoroughbred racehorses to calm them down. I took a look at Hincapie's profile and he's the same height and weight as Wiggins.

[Exit Stage Left]

The financial aspects of the Tour make interesting reading. The obvious one being prize money.
http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/TourdeFrance/tour-de-france-demystified-part-2.html
2 miilion Euros are on offer, if Sky get a 1st and 2nd, they will get a third of that. They will also get prizes for other stages. Eddie Merckx was known as 'The Cannibal' because he left no winnings for anyone else. Sky have to be careful not to hog all the limelight, as it would cause resentment. That's why Jens Voigt emphasised the GC focus of Sky in his ITV4 interview.
The benefits for Sky of exposure are obvious. One of the adverts on ITV4 emphasised the quality of the Sky platform for accessing BBC HD coverage of the Olympics.

[JT]

But all riders wear "podium caps" off the bike, are they all wearing them to conceal their frown lines?

And here's me thinking it was just another way to get a sponsor logo out there. 

I don't think Brad has a roomie - it may have been Siutsou before he crashed out.

[Exit Stage Left]

I was wondering how you'd explain the finer points of the Tour to someone who wants to get up to speed, and was quite taken with this New Zealand site.
http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/TourdeFrance/tour-de-france-demystified-part-1.html

[Toady]

So is ESL saying that Bradley Wiggins is the Geoffrey Boycott of cycling?

Or, if we go back 10 years, Jonny Wilkinson.

Both BW and JW excel in the individual, non-head-to-head aspects of the sport: place kicking and TTs.
Both had African import sidekicks to take the pressure (Catt, Froome).
Both in teams headed up by baldies (Brailsford, Woodward) and relying on relentless crushing of any more enterprising opponents.
And there's the joker,  both teams had a gobby, talented, individual who didn't seem to fit in with the remorsesless crushing method (Cav, Austin Healey).

I rest my case.

[citoyen]

I might take a mosey up around tomorrow lunchtime. Hope it won't be too rammed.

It will be pretty busy, but should be a great atmosphere. I can hardly concentrate on my work and they haven't even lit the blue touch paper yet. I'm tempted to sneak out and join you...

d.

[Pingu]

He has incredibly deep frown lines above his nose, which are concealed with a strategic placing of a baseball cap.

Science in cycling - phrenology 

[Ewan Houzami]

Filling up in lmnh, citoyen! Will prob stay til they crest the tourmalet and then head off.

[Dibdib]

a strategic placing of a baseball cap.

To be fair, I think the baseball caps are common because not even News Corp are evil enough to insist on a logo tattoo'd onto Wiggins' forehead 

[Exit Stage Left]

He has incredibly deep frown lines above his nose, which are concealed with a strategic placing of a baseball cap.

Science in cycling - phrenology 

I originally thought they were stress marks. I get them when I'm under pressure. They're fairly common in people with fair skin and reddish hair, and are purplish marks in the same place. They're quite useful in diagnosing how much stress you are under, but a Tour leader requires a 'Poker Face', which was one of Indurain's great advantages, he was pretty much unreadable. If you want to know how to control the effects of frown lines there's a section on the Livestrong site. Lance controlled his stress by a form of controlled paranoia.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/168015-facial-exercise-for-stress-lines-and-wrinkles/
I tend to look at the Tour as similar to contract work in an unpredictable setting, such as a motorway. I've taken on those sort of jobs and woken every morning with a sopping wet pillow. Managing stress forms a big part of the process, so I'm interested in stress management on the Tour.
I was interested in what Bradley said in the Fred Perry article, most focused on the helmet quote, but this interested me.

The main one was when are you going to get a hair cut?
 Just now, I’ve just had one (for the photo shoot), haha. I find it fascinating that people find my hair fascinating, haha, half the reason why I don’t cut it is because you’re not supposed to have long hair when you’re riding a bike. I’ve always been a bit of a non-conformist, I’m a bit of an anarchist at heart.
 
Following on from that, what’s up with the long black socks…
 Haha, that’s another thing, yeah. Again, it’s tradition to wear white socks so I like to wear black, it’s good to be different. The more people that bang on about it the more I want to do it, haha. But you’ll notice that a lot more people are wearing black socks in the peloton now…
 
Do you think that the pro peloton is a little bit too serious, maybe?
 I don’t think it’s too serious, we all have our own individual characters but I think we’re all different, everybody’s different and it’s good that you can express that through your sport and not just be robotic like everybody else. That’s one of the nice things for me having Fred Perry because I’m not like Daley Thompson in an Adidas tracksuit or a typical sportsman you know? Sitting here now I could be anyone and that’s what’s really nice about it.

Lots of sportsmen are contrary, it's what makes them try harder in adversity, but it makes them hard to manage.

[Peter]

Odd that he should have cited Daley Thompson as a typical sportsman!

[Exit Stage Left]

Odd that he should have cited Daley Thompson as a typical sportsman!

He probably wanted to say Chris Hoy, as the sort of conventional hero figure who appears on cornflake packets, but is too diplomatic to say.
It will be harder for Wiggins, as an anorexic Paul Weller fan.

[LEE]

a strategic placing of a baseball cap.

not even News Corp are evil enough to insist on a logo tattoo'd onto Wiggins' forehead 

They insist on a "666" tattoo apparently

[docsquid]

On a completely different subject, I do hope Tommy Voeckler enters the world gurning championships once he quits cycling. He is a natural!  Love watching his face.

[Exit Stage Left]

On a completely different subject, I do hope Tommy Voeckler enters the world gurning championships once he quits cycling. He is a natural!  Love watching his face.

The housewives favourite of course, which is an important part of the viewing demographic in France.

[spesh]

I can see why Voeckler's been nicknamed "Hollywood".

It will be interesting to see what Brice Feillu's post-stage comments are, I thought he looked pretty unhappy as he crossed the line - I wonder if there had been a deal earlier in the stage that Feillu would let TV take maximum points over each col in return for the stage victory? 

[Ewan Houzami]

Bradders


Nibbles (with Bradders' sidies)

[spesh]

Given how that film ends, I don't think we'd want to see the analogy being stretched too far.

[Bledlow]

LA showed that the 'scientific' approach can be used  to consistently win.

I thought that was Indurain.

[mattc]

I can see why Voeckler's been nicknamed "Hollywood".

It will be interesting to see what Brice Feillu's post-stage comments are, I thought he looked pretty unhappy as he crossed the line - I wonder if there had been a deal earlier in the stage that Feillu would let TV take maximum points over each col in return for the stage victory? 

Going by his horrendous play-acting record during the Tour, and his incredibly evasive post-race interview, i'd say OUI!