Tour de France 2012..

perplexed · 03-07-2012, 04:28

A summary so far!

Cancellara wins the opening prologue, a short time trial, putting him in yellow... Wiggins is second, seven seconds behind. Evans, the defending champion is another 10 seconds behind Wiggins.

Stage one proper: Ends in a bit of a scrappy uphill sprint, with Peter Sagan of Liquigas taking the stage win. The main contenders end more or less together, so no change in the yellow jersey.

Stage two: 198km long, and a great sprinter's stage. The bunch finishes together, so no change in the yellow jersey, still with Fabian Cancellara. He'll loose the jersey at some point in the mountains. Mark Cavendish of Sky takes the stage from Andre Greipel of Lotto by half a wheel, after a hard fought bunch sprint, with the world and his wife scrapping for it.
Peter Sagan holds the green points jersey for the moment, Cavendish in second in the points competition. Cavendish's 21st TdF stage win...

perplexed · 03-07-2012, 20:06

Stage 3: Peter Sagan claims another win, keeps hold of the green jersey.

Crashes blow the peloton apart, Sky lose a rider due to a pile up. Breakaway hangs on for some time, but is caught in the last 10km.

Cancellara maintains the overall lead and stays in yellow, Evans comes home before Wiggins. Wiggins is taken out my another crash, but as it was in the last 3 km, he's given the same time as the main bunch. He therefore maintains his second place overall...

Sky could have done without losing their domestique. They're going to need all their firepower in the mountains next week...

not wanted · 04-07-2012, 19:44

I think it's been a good opening few days. I'm looking forward to the lumpy bits this weekend, it should shake things up quite a lot and people like Shleck have really go to go for it.

SportsTrophy · 04-07-2012, 19:59

I really enjoy following the highlights but I've been so busy the last few years. What's the best channel to see the action and what time is it on?

Fudbeer · 04-07-2012, 20:59

itv4 do it best with Phil Ligget,Boredman and co 7pm each evening.

not wanted · 04-07-2012, 21:26

I've always been surprised that Gary Imlach has never landed a higher profile TV sports job. He is consistently excellent and has been since he was on the American Football coverage years ago on Channel 4.

You can watch the Tour online on the ITV website for free.

perplexed · 05-07-2012, 08:05

Stage 4: A win for Griepel and Lotto, after a high speed pile up a couple of km from the finish. The riders must have been tired after a 200km+ stage, and they were going pretty much full bore (probably 40mph ish), short of a sprint.

Cavandish went down heavily in the crash, he looked a bit stunned as he sat in the road. Bernie Eisel, his wing-man also went down amongst others, but I think they all got up and finished. Becasue the crash was within the last 3km, they were all given the same time as the bunch.

No change in the yellow jersey standings. Sylvain Chavanel gave it a good go, he's only 7 seconds off GC, but he was never going to hold off the peloton.

A flattish stage today, so probably another bunch sprint.

Personally I watch it on Eurosport, 'cos I've got a basic Sky package, and I prefer the commentary. ITV4 also do it too!

dvp82 · 05-07-2012, 09:12

My gut feeling now with Cav is that he will race on untill the 2nd rest day in Pau and unless he's in with a chance of grabbing the green jersey he will drop out and have an extra week to prepare for the Olympic road race.

perplexed · 05-07-2012, 10:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvp82

My gut feeling now with Cav is that he will race on untill the 2nd rest day in Pau and unless he's in with a chance of grabbing the green jersey he will drop out and have an extra week to prepare for the Olympic road race.

Quite possibly, but it depends if Sky need him to do some pulling for Wiggins, as they're already a man down, what with Konstantine's crash the other day. Cav's not much of a climber, but he may have some value in protecting Brad in the bunch, and doing some pulling on the lower slopes/flat to give some of the climbing domestiques a bit of a breather...

Fudbeer · 05-07-2012, 11:50

I hope I am wrong but just get the feeling Cav is not 100% happy with Sky at the moment,he had one of the best ride out trains at htc and also having to accept Brad is the main focus.

Ok I know he crashed so you can understand it but he looked REALLY cheesed of yesterday as he went straight to the team coach.

A win today will probably help things.

dvp82 · 05-07-2012, 14:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by perplexed

Quite possibly, but it depends if Sky need him to do some pulling for Wiggins, as they're already a man down, what with Konstantine's crash the other day. Cav's not much of a climber, but he may have some value in protecting Brad in the bunch, and doing some pulling on the lower slopes/flat to give some of the climbing domestiques a bit of a breather...

As soon as the road goes upwards Cav will quickly be shelled out of the back of the bunch. Cav will be of no help at all to Wiggins in the mountsins.

If Sky are down to 6 or less riders and Wiggins is in Yellow or within touching distance then i think Cav will stay in the tour. If Sky don't loose anymore than 1 more rider and Cav can't win Green, i see no need for Cav to slug it over the last mountain stages.

Personally i think Cav made an error joining Sky, although his bank balance will say otherwise, hes on big bucks at Sky. It clearly looks like the team is working purely for Wiggins and Cav is having to look after himself. Sky have come to the TDF to win Yellow with Wiggins and not Green with Cav.

not wanted · 05-07-2012, 15:30

What a cracking finish.

Fudbeer · 05-07-2012, 17:33

Yes graet race today,well won't spoil it but well worth watching the highlights.

not wanted · 05-07-2012, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fudbeer

Yes graet race today,well won't spoil it but well worth watching the highlights.

The bit where Cav crashed into Wiggins and took them both out of the tour with broken collarbones looked nasty.

Steve51 · 05-07-2012, 20:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvp82

As soon as the road goes upwards Cav will quickly be shelled out of the back of the bunch. Cav will be of no help at all to Wiggins in the mountsins.

If Sky are down to 6 or less riders and Wiggins is in Yellow or within touching distance then i think Cav will stay in the tour. If Sky don't loose anymore than 1 more rider and Cav can't win Green, i see no need for Cav to slug it over the last mountain stages.

Personally i think Cav made an error joining Sky, although his bank balance will say otherwise, hes on big bucks at Sky. It clearly looks like the team is working purely for Wiggins and Cav is having to look after himself. Sky have come to the TDF to win Yellow with Wiggins and not Green with Cav.

They might not go full gas from start of a mountain stage , so Cav could get back on , on the decent and help Wiggins first half of a stage on valley roads..

HeadingNorth · 06-07-2012, 00:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvp82

If Sky are down to 6 or less riders and Wiggins is in Yellow or within touching distance then i think Cav will stay in the tour. If Sky don't loose anymore than 1 more rider and Cav can't win Green, i see no need for Cav to slug it over the last mountain stages.

There is one reason he might try to stay in it; more stage wins. (He has managed to win one stage without team help at the death, and he has at least half an eye on the all-time record for stage wins.)

It does seem that Sky are concentrating on the yellow jersey, and frankly given the choice you'd expect them to, but that's no consolation to a man whose objective is green. I think you make a good point.

dvp82 · 06-07-2012, 01:28

I think today's stage 6 into Metz is a big day for Cav, looking at the route it looks like today will be his last chance to grab a stage win up untill stage 13 and the finish in Le Cap d'Agde.

Grab a stage win today and pull back some decent points from Sagan, might be just what Cav needs heading into the Jura and Alpine stages.

I think the biggest problem with Cav is that he's been so use to having Mark Renshaw and the HTC lead out train, that's he's just not use to having to sort it all out for himself.

perplexed · 06-07-2012, 03:03

Cav must have joined Sky with his eyes open, he knows that the stated aim of the team is to have a British winner of the TdF within 5 years. He can't grumble when Wiggins is our best chance in over 40 years (pretty much since Tom Simpson). Not only that, this years Tour is very suited to Bradley. Fewer mountain top finishes, and two decent length time trials. So Mark knows what was what before he went to Sky. (Rumour was at one time he'd go to Lotto or Quickstep...)

No Contador either. No Andy Schleck. Leopard Radioshack Nissan or whatever they're called, are having problems too, with their DS embroyled in the Lance thing, and not getting on with the Schlecks by all accounts.

We've yet to see how Cuddles (Evans) is going, but he's going to be looking good I think.

Mark won't be much help in the mountains, but he can still pull for a bit on the flat or early on in the lower slopes. And, how much does he want to win for the 4th year on the trot in Paris?

Fudbeer · 06-07-2012, 08:32

I agree Evans is looking very strong queitly plodding away and would favour him over Wiggins not least because he has won it before although I would of course prefer a Wiggins win.

Funny character and whatever you do don't touch him

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FikzgWE3t0A

perplexed · 06-07-2012, 13:02

Cadel is a quirky character indeed!

I'm hoping the time trials will see Wiggins nick the overall win in this 99th edition of the Tour...