Tour de France 2012

Seeing the highlights on ITV4, I think the stage win for Froome, and reaction from Froome/Brad, shows how much the competition was blown out of proportion. Lovely quiet celebration, and the confidence Cav has is great, as he has proven himself yesterday!

#choppingonions

edit: Also, nice to see Brad still in black shorts, compared to Tommy's spotted shorts urgh

Only just seen Wiggins' interview from yesterday. Did get a bit watery-eyed. Chapeau to him and his team

Loving Tommy's KoM socks!

what do you think guys, will Froome be next year team leader?? he could have dominated this year if Wiggins would not be leader?

Could be the most boring 90 minutes of TV ever followed by the most exciting 30 minutes.

It's possible, now he has had this experience

Could be the most boring 90 minutes of TV ever followed by the most exciting 30 minutes.

Nah. It's less boring than the same stage every previous year

Will Wiggins run another Tour, if yes, as a team leader?

what do you think guys, will Froome be next year team leather?? he could have dominated this year if Wiggins would not be leather?

Almost certainly? HIs performance seems rather similar to Wiggins performance two years ago - somewhat out of the blue, but boding well for the future

Tommy V's big red balls

I think Froome should stay with Sky but hold off trying to be team leader until 2014.

Froome still needs to get more experience. He's a great rider, but if you've got both Wiggins and Froome in your team (assuming that no-one buys out Froome's contract) then you still wouldn't rank Froome above Wiggins. Wiggins character strength and experience is worth more than a few good climbs.

edit: Also, nice to see Brad still in black shorts, compared to Tommy's spotted shorts urgh

My god. The two dots nearest his crotch.

^^Froomey said as much himself in the pre stage interviews.

Additionally... has Wiggins peaked? I don't think so.

Wiggins has shown improvement year on year for the past few years, and there's nothing to suggest it will suddenly stop. Yes he's older, but he's not yet past his best and there's a lot of victories in Bradley's future still.

I'm looking forward to team sky getting the champagne out in an hour or so...

Almost as good as the donkeys

but surely Froomey haven´t like the team´s order to hold back.

he can be teal laeder in another team

maybe Froome team leader and Wiggins second

He could, nothing stopping him (except for a contract that would need to be bought out).

Question is: Is Froome good enough to beat Wiggins? And would Froome have a team of such strength working for him as Wiggins does in the form of the Sky team?

If Froome wants to increase the odds that he would win the tour himself, he'll be a patient man and inherit an even stronger Sky team in a couple of years. He'll also inherit the additional exposure, advertising and commercial contracts such exposure brings about by staying with Sky.

Froome would be a fool to put his ego above all else and to be hasty when he would be in a much stronger commercial and sporting position staying with Sky and waiting for it to pay back.

Where abouts can I catch yesterday's interview?

agreed vb, brailsford's got a team succession plan for sure

I'd love to see a British 1 - 2 with Froome a challenger rather than on the same team. That would be proper amazing!

Getting greedy now.

Oh and in answer to your previous question VB I just stubbed my toe ok!.. and then I stubbed it again when he did his interview... and again when he rode up to Cuddles for a hand shake just now. Poor toes.

Nah. It's less boring than the same stage every previous year

Indeed, the Dior advert with Daphne Groeneveld they keep showing is really brightening it up.

Here is the extended interview with ITV.

http://www.itv.com/tourdefrance/news/bradley-wiggins-talks-exclusively-to-ned-boulting-after-stage-19-success/

If The Clinic spot something on screen in this they are going to go mental.

The Tommy V interview on ES:

A grown man full of joy because he's alowed to wear a spotty outfit and about to be pronounced King!

^ only in le tour.

Fuckety fuck

Why did I book a train ticket to travel home for this afternoon?

DJ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> fail thread