Tour de France 2012

                                                                                                                            [[/URL][URL="https://twitter.com/Vaughters"]![](https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/631196045/jvascot_normal.jpg)             Jonathan Vaughters             ‏@Vaughters           ](https://twitter.com/Vaughters/status/225972556799303680)               
                            Would have been better for Froome to just drop Wiggo by 20  seconds or whatever and settle it in the time trial. That was just  humiliation.                   

I kind of agree. They put Froome on too tight a leash there. Wiggins is a big enough boy to find the stage finish without Froome holding his hand all the way. It gave Valverde the win and made Wiggo look like a bit of a dodderer.

If/when he pulls on yellow in Paris it will be a historic moment, but I've a horrible feeling history won't be very kind about this win. It rather lacked panache.

I also hope that after the debacle of a "team player" fighting his team that Froome gets a good sharp lesson in what a team is by having no support and therefore winning nothing in future.

a bit hateful. teamwork should also mean getting most out of every stage for the team, not just for the guy in yellow.

for the record, I also think Wiggo fully deserves it, I have nothing against him winning and think Sky have done almost everything right tactically

Do people still not understand?

Wiggins MUST be the ONE to win the TDF for SKY this year. The immediate future in funding and organisation depends on it. The implications are massive, for the national squad, for grass roots, for all cycling in the UK.
With that win, they will be set up so Froome or Uncle Tom Cobbley or whoever can have the best shot at yellow in forthcoming tours.

Possibly hateful. I think Michelle is putting me off Froome much more than Froome's riding would do.

^^^^I don't know about that, if he annihilates his competition in the TT tomorrow and further extends his lead, surely he will be remembered as a good rider who played to his strengths and had a team around him that could make up for his shortcomings.

The bigger picture illustrated

ITV 1 is showing the Paris finishing stage live 2-5pm

Will Francis be smashing it up the Champs Élysées?

^To busy spending Froome's winnings/salary on knock off LV handbags and fake tan.

The bigger picture illustrated

ITV 1 is showing the Paris finishing stage live 2-5pm

Clive Tyldesley isn't commentating is he?

a bit hateful. teamwork should also mean getting most out of every stage for the team, not just for the guy in yellow.

Not to sure about that though. Sky have said from the start they want to put and Englishman in the yellow jersey in Paris.

Perhaps next year they could go for the green and yellow, who knows?

Yellow and green should never be seen.

What happened to the combination jersey?

^^^^I don't know about that, if he annihilates his competition in the TT tomorrow and further extends his lead, surely he will be remembered as a good rider who played to his strengths and had a team around him that could make up for his shortcomings.

History is still quite unkind about Indurain's victories. He smashed nearly all the TTs he took part in, and in a classy way too, but they are damning about his time in the mountains. I'm not saying it's right that they take this attitude, only that it seems to be the trend.
The history writers are rather fond of wrapping the truth in a romantic blanket, and it's hard to pretty up Wiggins' Tour win, even though I'm a huge fan of his and think his performance has been awesome.

Hang on, hang on. Just a couple of pages ago, you (GL) were bigging up the slow creeping death of the sky train.

Not just an Englishman, an Englishman who has come up through the Olympic Development Programme and won medals on the track meaning Sport England and UK Sport and HM Government get to bask in the reflected glory and shovel £Ms down the throat of British Cycling for ever and ever amen.

^^^True, although I would imagine that he will always be remembered favourably here, especially if this launches British Cycling on to bigger and better things.

At the end of the day a hole's a goal a win is a win.

Not just an Englishman, an Englishman who has come up through the Olympic Development Programme and won medals on the track meaning Sport England and UK Sport and HM Government get to bask in the reflected glory and shovel £Ms down the throat of British Cycling for ever and ever amen.

M&S does British Cycling...

Not to sure about that though. Sky have said from the start they want to put and Englishman in the yellow jersey in Paris.

sorry I didn't write that right, being a foreigneur and all, I meant the guy in yellow at that moment: Wiggo. But I didn't want to mention his name because some forumengers might assume that I was against him and get all frothy at the mouth ;-)

I think the fact many view this year's tour as being boring goes to prove what an awesome job Sky have done tactically of sewing the race up. They have used the whole teams' strengths to the max and pretty much preempted every threat to Wiggo's lead and neutralised them before they even started.

While Froome might have wanted the win, it looked to me like he also didn't want to leave Brad and wanted him to ride with him, but Brad didn't have the legs. I'm not sure it occurred to froome to leave him and chase down Valverde on his own. People can interpret it the way they want however.

At the end of the day Sky have supported the rider through diagnosis and treatment of a difficult illness. After coming second last year he had plenty of offers on the table but choose to sign for Sky in a four year deal worth, I am sure, mucho deneros. When he signed I'm sure it was explicit it would be riding for Brad in this years Tour, despite just finishing ahead in the Vuelta. I don't like team orders necessarily in F1 but they are a fact of life there, you are a professional so you race professionally, even it that means subverting your own ambitions for someone else. He will get paid back for it.

Bradley's effort was a team one and although he's the one wearing the yellow jersey by proxy they all are.

It's just a fucking great day for British cycling

Not just an Englishman, an Englishman who has come up through the Olympic Development Programme and won medals on the track meaning Sport England and UK Sport and HM Government get to bask in the reflected glory and shovel £Ms down the throat of British Cycling for ever and ever amen.

yes he deserves it. but even so {HYPOTHETICALLY, not trolling} if he can't hack it in the race itself, that's too bad.

interesting view of (#ff tip) UCI_overlord on cyclismas, not my opinion because I'm just an overseas spectator:

http://www.cyclismas.com/2012/07/what-is-my-trouble-with-a-team-sky-tour-de-france-victory/

I just hope everyone isn't talking it up and Wiggins hurts himself today.

Wiggins looks like that kid from Lord of the Rings

If Mrs Froome's twitterings are distracting from your enjoyment of the tour simply choose not to follow her. And maybe don't post them here.

It's not as if they have anything to do with the reality of the racing.

Rather than listen to the bitchy comments of his gf, here is what Froome had to say:-
http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/07/news/no-regrets-for-chris-froome-who-says-hes-content-to-work-for-bradley-wiggins_230701