Tour de France 2012

Sagan on better drugs than everyone else. Probably a derivation of MDMA which would explain all the dodgy dancing.

Repped
Mdma comes to the party. Had suspicions with the chicken now confirmed. What will be his next celebration?

Please excuse my ignorance, but where are the Shlecks this year? Not heard anything about them in the build up or in race commentary/highlights..

Andy Schleck is injured and not riding, Frank is in 30th place at 38 seconds, most of which he lost in the prologue. He's been talking down his chances. I sense the commentators, especially Phil and Paul, don't want to talk about RadioShack any more than they have to (which they do because of Cancellara) because they don't want to tall about why Bruyneel is not there.

my fantasy team is a slow burner...

well, with Renshaw and a crocked Tony Martin it has to be : /

Mines kicking butt.

Sagan, Cav, Wiggo, Morkov, all stable point earners. Had Goss a few times for flat stages too.

Even had Chavanel yesterday. Which was fun.

What do you think the general feeling in French cycling might be about the prospect of a British winner? Ambivalence?

Petacchi shows off another kwality Campagnolo failure. How the hell can a chain end up looking like his did?

The larger shifting range makes you greedy. Hes riding 53:12 and 53:21 at the same time. Its a clever function.

What was the deal with Sanchez's Di2 rear mech?

While the Brits may want Wiggo to win, I don't think he's a very popular rider outside of these shores. Judging by the apoplectic reaction to the 3k rule being applied yesterday on the cyclingnews forum, where he was accused of turning into the crash because he didn't have to legs top stay with the group on the short climb, he's definitely unpopular with the yanks. I think his wins in P-N, Romandie and the Dauphine have bought him a lot of respect in France and if he produces a gutsy ride and challenges for the Tour well they'll warm to him, but won't line the streets to shout his name. Cav is well respected in France

^^ Looked to me like the mechanic had fucked something up with his wheel swap since he was going mental at the Mavic car until they dragged his chain back up.

Everything can be blamed on 3rd-party pulleys..

I was going to blame Shimano-Yumeya. But it appears they dont do pulley wheels.

top five today:

1. goss
   
2. caendish
   
3. greipel
   
4. renshaw
   
5. sagan
   

This might sound defeatist, but I predict a pile up.

No-one will be wanting to share a wheel with anyone and Cavendish's tactics/form is out of the bag.

It'll be double hard to snuggle in behind Goss, Renshaw or Greipel.

This race is like a drug. #addicted

"Watching" each stage via a comprehensive team/rider twitter list I got pointed to is just about feeding the cold turkey each afternoon.

Hate to be a doubter but Sagans form is almost too good to be true. I want to be wrong.

If its windy along the coast. Creating a clean mass finish is going to take its toll. Quite a few of the PC guys got into trouble yesterday.

There is a looong straight drag to the finish today.

top five today:

1. goss
   
2. caendish
   
3. greipel
   
4. renshaw
   
5. sagan
   
   

+1

Goss? Really? The Orica train seems to be misfiring to me. Didn't they have serious numbers for yesterday's intermediate and Cav just went past them.

That said I picked Gerrans for the win yesterday, put a crash put paid to that

He got 3rd on Monday. Today's result could be similar.

sean comes off like such a crackhead on tv :D

I have Cav, Goss, Freire, and Sagan in my fantasy team for today. Looking for a top 4 points orgy.

What stages are people looking forward to most this year?

11 and 16 personally.

My prediction for today

It will all end in rouen

^ +1

Cav still the quickest, so its up to the others to find ways of beating him, to be cleverer with their train. Saying that and doing it are two different things: Cav is very good at positioning himself and I think his size makes him difficult to pick out. That size also helps him draft riders better, and gives people less of an advantage drafting him. I've noticed Sagan looks for his wheel on the flat finishes

Goss made an error letting cav into his train the other day. He has good pace imo if he gets the position right. i think the greenedge train is pretty good so thats why im going for goss today. I still hope cav wins though. i just think getting the correct positioning twice in a row might be beyond him.