Tour de France 2012

So what seemed like a super boring rest day with no note worthy football or cycling to me, turns into.

Frank Schleck being kicked out of the Tour for using an illegal drug.

Its a bit of a shock as i thought he was clean, never saw him perform what i thought was just crazy, and this year he has been disappointing, so it doesn't make much sense, why would he take drugs to place so far behind the leaders, barely being able to follow them for most stages, never attacking.

He could not stand being the inferior brother, I suppose. If Andy fails at some point, that would just be, well...

Really disappointed by this news, makes me wonder who's next... Kloden? VdB? Even Cadel?

It's interesting that there's so much stigma around doping these days (and quite right), but you look at legends like Jaques Anquetil and even the great Eddy Merckx who were almost certainly doping, and even tested positive I remember hearing, yet they're let off. Different age I guess. It wasn't really until the Festina saga that people started taking it seriously. Makes me wonder about Hinault and Indurain too.

The ones dominating like they did are definitely suspects, but its pointless with these retroactive taking it back.

Frank and his people defends themselves with having no idea where the traces come from, but from the contador and tainted steak story it should be obvious they need to take more care, the drug caught in Frank's test was supposedly one that can be used to mask EPO

Wiggins is looking good for the win now, barring a crash or major calamity in the TT.

Chris Froome has done an incredible job this year, it will be interesting to see whether he gets his own shot at it at some point.

I remember hearing that Sky didn't know who the team leader was going to be, but due to the length of the TT's in this years course they went for Wiggins. Perhaps next year Froome will be chosen if the course suits him more. He's the better climber.

http://www.news.com.au/news/pau-to-bagneres-de-luchon-live-with-reece-homfray/story-fnejlub9-1226430646906

That is only if they are both still at Sky next year.

It must have been frustrating for Froome, I'm sure he feels that he could have made up the 2 minutes on Wiggins in the mountains and gone on to win himself. Also could have won today's stage had he not waited for Bradley. I wouldn't blame him for looking to leave and lead a team himself for next year.

I can't help but feel that both Cavendish and Froome have both wasted a Tour for Wiggins. Obviously, they are treating it like a team game, but both cyclists are good enough to compete for their respective jerseys. Cavendish should try to be reunited with Renshaw.

I agree. I think Sky tried to do it all, by having GC contenders, super-domestiques good enough to contend and also the best sprinter in the world. I'm sure Cav will be happy with a 4th win on the Champs-Elysees. A great tour for British riders and a British team though, Dave Brailsford again showing he really knows what he's doing.

ayvee1 wrote:I agree. I think Sky tried to do it all, by having GC contenders, super-domestiques good enough to contend and also the best sprinter in the world. I'm sure Cav will be happy with a 4th win on the Champs-Elysees. A great tour for British riders and a British team though, Dave Brailsford again showing he really knows what he's doing.

If they managed to fit Renshaw in, they would pretty much have everything. The way that he sacrificed everything for Cav two years ago in that tussle...

Froome has shown that he could have left Wiggins on the mountains, in a year with less Time Trial kilometers Froome would have been a better choice than Wiggins i believe. They have looked very good but with fairly weak competition and simply defending because of all the time lost in the first week by the other contenders.

Some insane (in my opinion) story today was danish Chris Anker Sørensen, who on the 2nd climb's downhill part had attempted to put newspapers under his shirt, as they do to protect against the wind, but made a mistake and it fell into his wheel, at 50 km/h he attempted to remove it with his left hand which resulted in all the skin being more or less ripped off his left hand pinkyand the one next to it (the lazy finger, ring finger w/e) so he had to drop down from the breakaway and get patched up. Any reasonable rider would probably then have just stuck with the calm group behind and his teammates, but not Chris Anker, he finished the stage 4 minutes and 10 seconds after the winner, just 3:50 after Froome and Wiggins in the 24th place. His team mates came in over 25 minutes later. He did this with the bandages being put on at roughly 30-40 km/h having lost a lot of blood (for a man his size), needing several stiches to fix his finger along with blood all over his bike handle.

I do admire these insane people, thinking of them along with the vast majority of footballers, can't help to think they can learn a thing or two about handling pain, loss of blood and skin.

Yeah, I saw that, looked painful. Blood all down his handlebars and shorts from the wound.

heard he will need a skin graft after the tour and he will finish it out.
Froome has also said he wants to stay with Sky because of the infrastructure and setup of the team.

Bit of a mess with spectators this year i think the tacks on the road incident a few days ago and yesterday Cavendish was brought down by a flag around the 3km mark today, he has not had much luck at this tour, hope it turns around for him for the Olympics, apart from the danish riders he is by far the most popular rider with the people here in Denmark, possibly due to his relationship to then HTC now Omega Phrama sports director Brian Holm whom he did various talk shows in the country with and of course became world champion in Copenhagen last year.

I think Wiggins and Froom's dominance may have been on a cheaper background this year, with the only real challenger being Nibali who would need a lot of time, not just the 2 odd minutes to take yellow but also a clear advantage for the last TT to make it home in yellow. Too much distance between the 2 and the rest since the first week for the remaining riders to make up, that along with classic mountain riders not being able to do much, i think especially Van Den Broeck have been disappointing, he was able to pull away from Andy and Contador in previous competitions, but haven't really done much this year and if he had been allowed Froome would have "eaten" him every time.
About Andy there is his team Radioshack who is probably going out of business very soon, the GC rider who was left out danish Jakob Fuglsang (who went on to win Tour of Austria during the tour, being crowned winner of Tour of Luxembourg and Danish TT champion before the tour to show his form) has apparently already signed back with Saxo Bank (may mean that Contador could end up switch team again).

Overall the "super" team Radioshack + Leopard Trek has been a disappointment, sure Cancellara did what was expected in the first week but was "destroyed" on the time trial by Wiggins & Froome among others, only then to leave (for a valid reason) other than that Jens Voigt have been the only bright spot i believe. Although they are very well placed for the Team competition (1st) i could easily see them lose that one during Saturdays time trial should Sky simply get their riders placed better, assuming Froome and Wiggins end in top 10, Richie Porte is a good bet as is Edvald Boasson Hagen. Radioshack doesn't really have any good TT riders left, the ones that may pull a decent one haven't looked like much the last few days, perhaps a bit of a morale drop with the F. Schleck incident.

I agree with you. I just have the feeling that the Tour this year hasn't been a great standard. It seems that gone are the days of Armstrong, Ullrich, Pantani, Beloki etc. Even Contador, the Schleks, Sastre, Menchov et al put on a great show. Not taking anything away from Wiggins, but this has probably been the easiest tour to win for a long time.

This year = Bradley Wiggins.

Next year = Mark Cavendish.

Cavendish will clean up at the olympics.

Cav is an absolute monster.

Most likely the most impressive sprint i have ever seen, and what lead out people to have, he was good with Renshaw but Boasson Hagen and Wiggins as lead-outs to only then pull a very long sprint over taking the breakaway on the way to the finish...he is a worthy World Champion.

He will win in Paris too, Team Sky will make sure of it.



F. Schlecks B-test was also positive, so he is guilty unless he can prove that it wasn't on purpose, either way there is probably a long break for him.

His interview was incredible today. It is pretty clear that his frustration was building, delighted to see him release that tension the right way.

Well Wiggins settled who was the stronger rider where it mattered this year, the Time Trials. Absolutely cemented his first place. Cavendish to win tomorrow, a fantastic Tour De France for Team Sky and the British riders. (6 stage wins, probably 7 with Cav tomorrow)

Sagan takes the Green sprinters jersey , Voeckler takes the Climbers jersey, Tejay van Garderen takes the white youth jersey, Chris Anker Sørensen takes the most combative award (He didn't win the stage award at any point, his team mates Mørkøv and Nicki Sørensen won it 3 times, but supposedly Chris Ankers performance on the 18th stage where he fell and lost a lot of blood yet still finished just 4 minutes behind tipped the scales)

Awesome TT by Wiggins. Fully deserves his win today and overall.

Cadel is over 15 minutes behind

Gave up on the TT today to be honest. There's no other reason to lose nearly 4 minutes to his team-mate Van Garderen, never mind the stage winner.