Tour de France 2013

Ha!

+1

I am not convinced that froome, wiggins or SKY will cope, when the other trade teams gang up on them.
Their kit will look spes on the telly though.. Built for comfort, not performance methinks and somewhere to put your iPlod strava thingy

I'm not saying they WILL win, Contador remains an overwhelming favourite, I don't think either can live with him in the mountains, but I believe having them both there and going for overall will strengthen them. As for getting ganged up on, it certainly didn't work in the last tour. They will miss the strength and experience of Mick Dodgers, but they have bought in Kiriyanka (sp?) and Cotaldo and given they don't have the hobbit to worry about they can field an extra climbing domestique if they want. Also remember Sky lost a domestique in the first week of the tour last year, and will still able to utterly dominate the race.

Any let the fun begin....in a few months time

Agreed, let's see how things pan out.. A lot of racing to be had before the TDF.

Frank Schleck out of Tour, 1year ban.

A snap of Contador in a yellow jersey being led away by the police would\t go a miss... ;-)
ftfy

Just looking forward to seeing a clean tour ;)

Just looking forward to seeing a clean tour ;)

Wrong thread

A non-sensationalist article about Wiggins and Froome and theirs roles and goals in 2013.

I got the 1st flicker of Tour excitement reading Porte's quote at the end.

Can't wait... It's like Christmas for grownups.

Wiggins targeting LBL? That would be interesting.

Frank Schleck out of Tour, 1year ban.

Just curious, but why only 1 year?

According to the local anti-doping 'I might have taken contaminated supplements' constitutes a reasonable explanation. Doping thread >>>

A non-sensationalist article about Wiggins and Froome and theirs roles and goals in 2013.

I got the 1st flicker of Tour excitement reading Porte's quote at the end.

"It worked out OK at the Tour [in 2012] from a prize-money point of view"?

Porte gotta get paid

Booked hotels last night for the stage finishes in Saint Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel. Planning to cycle down to Portsmouth to get the overnight ferry. Not the most exciting stages, sure, but couldn't justify spending loads on getting down to the Alps. Another year perhaps.

Anyone else planning to head over? For those stages or any others?

Booked hotels last night for the stage finishes in Saint Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel. Planning to cycle down to Portsmouth to get the overnight ferry. Not the most exciting stages, sure, but couldn't justify spending loads on getting down to the Alps. Another year perhaps.

Anyone else planning to head over? For those stages or any others?

Polo crew expedition to Ventoux and onto Alpe d'Huez.

Won a trip to Bordeaux through work. Have to spend a couple of days in Bordeaux sipping wine and eating good food, and it's for the 4 and 5th July. I asked whether I could change the dates of the flight and Voila, I have a week and a half in July in France, travel paid for. This puts me close to the two Pyraneean stages at the right time, so was going to head down and catch them.

The the Tour fucks off all the way to the North, which means I may just stay in the Pyranees riding the cols before gorging myself on Toulouse sausage and frites in the evenings. Anyone planning to go to those stages? Hoping to take my bike with me, or hire one if I can't.

Bike polo bods are planning on being down there at the same time, there is a thread somewhere though it may have a name which makes no reference to the tour...
Search Buffalo Bill's threads and you'll find it..

Yeah, we're going to the Ventoux and Alpe d'Huez stages. Thread is here:

https://www.lfgss.com/thread96367.html

I'm not saying they WILL win, Contador remains an overwhelming favourite, I don't think either can live with him in the mountains, but I believe having them both there and going for overall will strengthen them. As for getting ganged up on, it certainly didn't work in the last tour. They will miss the strength and experience of Mick Dodgers, but they have bought in Kiriyanka (sp?) and Cotaldo and given they don't have the hobbit to worry about they can field an extra climbing domestique if they want. Also remember Sky lost a domestique in the first week of the tour last year, and will still able to utterly dominate the race.

Any let the fun begin....in a few months time

Whoever is team leader for Sky could have two super-domestiques in the shape of Porte and Wiggins/Froome.

I can't forsee Contador being a winner without dope.

If Nibali concentrates on the Tour, not on the Giro, he could be interesting. His odds are certainly interesting me at the moment. You can get about 40/1 on him.

Yeah, we're going to the Ventoux and Alpe d'Huez stages. Thread is here:

http://www.lfgss.com/thread96367.html

Ah, unfortunately I'll be on the other side of the country the week before, hey ho

Whoever is team leader for Sky could have two super-domestiques in the shape of Porte and Wiggins/Froome.

I can't forsee Contador being a winner without dope.

If Nibali concentrates on the Tour, not on the Giro, he could be interesting. His odds are certainly interesting me at the moment. You can get about 40/1 on him.

Nibali is a poor TTer in comparison to the other GC contenders, and I don't think strong enough in the mountains to give himself enough of a buffer to overcome what he'll lose. Maybe worth an each way

Just checked the route again, for some reason I was thinking there was less TT stages this year, so might be good for Nibali. But there's three including the TTT. Oh well.

Today marks 100 days 'til the start of Le Tour, by the way!

Anyone wishing to catch the Eurostar over for the final day, they opened online today. I got return tickets for less than £70. There were still some available at this price earlier.

^ But don't forget that the final stage finishes at night this year (scheduled for 21.45).