Tour de France 2012

[Andrew Br]

Evans seemed to be sprinting all in and Wiggins well within his comfort zone.

Yes, I was really impressed by the overhead shots that showed Wiggins, still seated, eating up the gap to Evans while Froome powered off into the distance.
I think/hope that Wiggins still has a little in reserve.
Evans is probably holding something back as well but I think he's now going to be on the defensive.

Slightly OT for the not very cute about race tactics (that would be me then):-
Does it matter too much if BMC can't support Evans on the climbs in the way that Sky can support Wiggins ? Surely Evans can leach off track the other contenders Wiggins ?
Even the tactics employed by Andy Schleck's team last year (where they sent some riders ahead on a breakaway to tow Andy when he made that great effort up the Galibier) could be countered by Evans following Wiggins in a similar situation ?

[David Martin]

Nobody can rely on taking time off Wiggins in the time trials. And for most of the favourites they have to seriously worry about losing time to him in spades.

This means that Wiggo is in the box seat. His rivals must attack if they want to win. And Sky can nullify attacks by riding tempo, something which they are well suited for and which the Sky background in track has a good understanding of how to prepare and train for.

Barring mechanicals/accidents the tour is Wiggo's to lose. All he has to do is defend and the best way for them to do that is to prevent attacks.

[ran doner]

Don't think Froome will be allowed to go for the mountain classment. He may of course pick it up naturally by supporting Wiggo.

My guess is Moncoutie will be out in front today possibly with a failing gc contender or 2 trying to rescue their tours.

As for can Sky do it on a long climb, the dauphine stage when they did the same suggests they can.

[Tewdric]

Barring mechanicals/accidents the tour is Wiggo's to lose.

You've said it now! 

[citoyen]

Don't think Froome will be allowed to go for the mountain classment. He may of course pick it up naturally by supporting Wiggo.

He won't be contesting the intermediate climbs on the big mountain stages, which is where the majority of the points are to be picked up.

There are two more mountaintop finishes, which he could win and which score double points... But he'd have to rely on all the intermediate climbs being shared out between lots of different riders to have a chance of taking the jersey himself.

d.

[Somnolent]

Barring mechanicals/accidents the tour is Wiggo's to lose. All he has to do is defend and the best way for them to do that is to prevent attacks.

Preventing attacks/defending the yellow jersey is going to mean Sky towing the peloton for 10 stages over the remaining two weeks.  Big ask IMO.
Whilst I was chuffed as nuts to see Froome win the stage, I can't help thinking it might have been better to let Evans or Nibali take the yellow and give other teams the task of defending it for a while at least.   

[ran doner]

Barring mechanicals/accidents the tour is Wiggo's to lose. All he has to do is defend and the best way for them to do that is to prevent attacks.

Preventing attacks/defending the yellow jersey is going to mean Sky towing the peloton for 10 stages over the remaining two weeks.  Big ask IMO.
Whilst I was chuffed as nuts to see Froome win the stage, I can't help thinking it might have been better to let Evans or Nibali take the yellow and give other teams the task of defending it for a while at least.

Trouble is Wiggins would have to sandbag the tt stage to leave Evans in yellow.

[citoyen]

I hope we see some meaningful attacks today - much as I admire the sight of a Brit dominating the Tour, I want to watch a race, not a procession.

Moncoutie is a good shout.

d.

[mzjo]

Evans seemed to be sprinting all in and Wiggins well within his comfort zone.

Yes, I was really impressed by the overhead shots that showed Wiggins, still seated, eating up the gap to Evans while Froome powered off into the distance.
I think/hope that Wiggins still has a little in reserve.
Evans is probably holding something back as well but I think he's now going to be on the defensive.

Slightly OT for the not very cute about race tactics (that would be me then):-
Does it matter too much if BMC can't support Evans on the climbs in the way that Sky can support Wiggins ? Surely Evans can leach off track the other contenders Wiggins ?
Even the tactics employed by Andy Schleck's team last year (where they sent some riders ahead on a breakaway to tow Andy when he made that great effort up the Galibier) could be countered by Evans following Wiggins in a similar situation ?

Evans cannot make up time on Wiggins by following his wheel, although that is a very good way of finishing second. Somewhere he has to attack to take the lead. Perhaps he may attack in the TT but Wiggins is probably stronger and has the advantage of starting last and having Evans' splits to guide him (almost certainly stronger physically but not quite as experienced at creating the advantage at this level). Otherwise he is left praying for a mechanical to attack (and his experience on the Telegraph stage last year is an unfortunate omen in that respect).
There is something reassuring for Sky in that one of the ds of BMC said on Eurosport that they had not wanted to take the yellow jersey at this stage, which means to me that they had doubts about being strong enough to defend it.

[TimO]

Wow, Team Sky turn on the pain 
Did I hear right that hill was 15% average 

That was the last 1.5km iirc.  The last 0.25km was 20%.

I wonder what speed they were doing on that bit?  I'd be lucky to be moving at all, after that climb, but they still seem to be moving pretty rapidly, I'd guess of the order of 10mph (!), but it's hard to say with camera foreshortening and so forth.

[citoyen]

IIRC, from the profile of the climb I saw, the overall average was 8-9% but with no consistency - the gradient kept changing, lots of steep ramps of around 12-15%. The bit where Froome attacked was 20% - the TV commentators said they'd built that extra steep bit on the end of the existing road just for the Tour!

I've seen figures posted online that estimate Froome's average in the final km as 21km/h. And a seriously impressive 6.5W/kg (which, before anyone says anything, means nothing on such a short climb).

d.

[mzjo]

Don't think Froome will be allowed to go for the mountain classment. He may of course pick it up naturally by supporting Wiggo.

He won't be contesting the intermediate climbs on the big mountain stages, which is where the majority of the points are to be picked up.

There are two more mountaintop finishes, which he could win and which score double points... But he'd have to rely on all the intermediate climbs being shared out between lots of different riders to have a chance of taking the jersey himself.

d.

So the best chance for Evans is to stick like glue to Froome's wheel in the hope that he'll have a permission on one of the altitude finishes and Wiggo will be left behind? Realistically Chris Froome can only win a mountain stage if Brad is on his wheel at the end or Evans is already sunk without trace (and there is no other contender in view - difficult to predict after the first contact with the hills, it's a long way to Paris). I think we could see a very interesting race from the point of view of team tactics this year - a real chess match on wheels!

[Biff]

Wiggo, always good for a quote:

https://p.twimg.com/AxRvGRqCIAA0MSh.jpg:medium

[Justin(e)]

Voigt on the attack again today.  I am reminded of a quote from Mr Larrington:

Some people wear Superman pyjamas
Superman wears Mr T pyjamas
Mr T wears Chuck Norris pyjamas
Chuck Norris wears Jens Voigt pyjamas
And Jens Voigt wears...

[Justin(e)]

Wiggo, always good for a quote:

https://p.twimg.com/AxRvGRqCIAA0MSh.jpg:medium

(*) putain d'enorme

[citoyen]

Realistically Chris Froome can only win a mountain stage if Brad is on his wheel at the end or Evans is already sunk without trace

Yes, Froome is on strict domestique duty unless Wiggins is out of contention for whatever reason (either through crashing or through blowing up like he did in the Vuelta), so for Froome to win the other two mountain finishes, the team would have to find themselves in similar circumstances to yesterday, having ridden everyone else out of the race apart from Nibali and Evans. Which isn't inconceivable...

Evans tried to attack at the end yesterday but couldn't shake Brad off his wheel. That's when Froome decided to attack - he knew Evans couldn't go with him.

d.

[ran doner]

Would Froome be able to make it to lead the team at the vuelta?

Most commentators seemed unsure that Sky/Wiggins could maintain form through TdF but they are doing ok so far.

It's just Uran and Henao look a bit off the top rung.

Throw in Froome and Porte (?) along with Cav, Stannard, Pate, Flecha etc and they could have a good stab at red.

[AndyK]

Great stage!  I found myself cheering on a Frenchman!     

[Ray 6701]

Yes superb today & good to see a win for FDJ at last 

[mzjo]

Great stage! I found myself cheering on a Frenchman!     

Yeah! and what a performance from Marc Madiot  He really put his heart into it. I thought he was looking to block the route with the team car just before the end, just to give a helping hand. And FDJ boys congratulating Thibault Pinot in the interview box (and Mrs M. as well) What a family!!

[Nuncio]

And again today.

http://inrng.tumblr.com/post/26769888220/wiggins-quote 

I see Sky have strategically relinquished the lead in the team competition, and therefore also the yellow helmets.

[David Martin]

Wiggins really has mastered the post-race interview, hasn't he? Sky's PR people must be having a nervous breakdown.

[Pip]

What a great stage today, with some big names firing off right from the start. Sky and Astana didn't want them to go, and there was a serious amount of effort expended by the likes of Chavenel, Voigt, Montcoutie, Mollema and others in ensuring the break stayed away, and an equal amount by Edward Boassen Haagen and various members of Astana to ensure that they didn't make it.

Great victory by Pineau, and great motivation by Madiot.

Just love the Tour

[plum]

Wiggins really has mastered the post-race interview, hasn't he? Sky's PR people must be having a nervous breakdown.

I'd have thought they'd be loving it, all these viral clips of him mouthing off probably get the Sky logo more airtime than the tour itself.

[Gus]

Wiggins really has mastered the post-race interview, hasn't he? Sky's PR people must be having a nervous breakdown.

I'm getting more and more respect for the guy. Finally a rider who says what thinks instead of just saying what the pr people
wants him to say.