Tour de France 2010

The missus has decided that tonight is the night she catches up on three weeks of recorded 'come dine with me' ... fingers crossed it's not raining this evening as i will be out on my bike.

Shit.

Thank god I'll be sorting through some wedding pictures I took at the weekend.

I'm getting so much work done today.

Come back, tour :(

i bet £20 of hippys money that evans finishes higher than wiggo. unless someones steps on his dog and he's arrested.

I hope he does, it's pretty crucial to my prediction.

If you figure two spots on the podium will got to Contador and Schleck then things are not looking good for Wiggins. He won't be allowed to get in a break and there are some apparently on form riders ahead of him: Kreuzinger, Evans, Sanchez, Menchov is lurking. Basso looks ok. Sastre is unpredictable but if he goes ok in the mountains he will be up there. Leipheimer now has a strong team supporting him.
I'd be surprised if Wiggins is in the top five at the end.

Wow, good argument there. Cadel's finished on the podium twice and is current world champion wearing the yellow jersey. Grand Tour rider comparison fail.

Backlash fail.

Suggesting that Wiggins will finish nowhere near the podium when last year he beat the guy currently in the yellow jersey and with two podium finishes to his name and world champion is a fail. I've already conceded my own bias and predicted Evans for the win. If Wiggins isn't on the podium, he'll be damn close to it.

Grand Tour rider comparisson win.

If you figure two spots on the podium will got to Contador and Schleck then things are not looking good for Wiggins. He won't be allowed to get in a break and there are some apparently on form riders ahead of him: Kreuzinger, Evans, Sanchez, Menchov is lurking. Basso looks ok. Sastre is unpredictable but if he goes ok in the mountains he will be up there. Leipheimer now has a strong team supporting him.
I'd be surprised if Wiggins is in the top five at the end.

I'm already putting Schleck off the podium. I don't think he's going to cope with the absence of Frank in the long run.

did you watch yesterdays stage at all? beetleswig out the door when push came to shove, he's got no form unless he rides into it in the 2nd week. schlek is on form, so is evans and contador, plus a few others.

Backlash fail.
Suggesting that Wiggins will finish nowhere near the podium when last year he beat the guy currently in the yellow jersey and with two podium finishes to his name and world champion is a fail. I've already conceded my own bias and predicted Evans for the win. If Wiggins isn't on the podium, he'll be damn close to it.
Grand Tour rider comparisson win.

Reading fail.

Go and have a look at who said Wiggo will be nowhere near the podium. Me? No.
Although having seen him ride now I tend to agree.
Evans had a completely shit Tour last year so comparing Wiggo against him last year is just stupid, especially given the stage we just witnessed.

Grand Tour rider comparison fail.

Even without Schleck on the podium I still don't think Wiggins will get there. Though we have little to go on; a surprising ride last year, not much this and one mountain stage in excessive heat. The others we know a lot better.

Actually I will just wait to see what AndyP says; he knows his onions.

Oooh.. Mick Rogers over Wiggo by the end of Tour? Could it happen? I just bet 50p he will. And another 50p that BMC would beat Sky in Team classification.

#highroller

Bad loser alert;

@sergiompaulinho Muito bem Sky, Garmin e Astana amadores. O ultimo a rir ri melhor

("Well done Sky, Astana and Garmin amateurs. The last laugh laughs best")

Was he the bloke that Schleckles passed to take the stage?

Wiggins has a mountain to climb if he's going to make the podium. Literally.

I think he's finding out that last year's Tour route was tailor made for him (lots of time trialling and a fairly straightforward run through the Pyrenees. This year the route is stacked towards the climbers with just one long time trial, and it comes on the final Saturday of the race so everyone will be knackered, no team time trial and two tough days in the Alps followed by four tough days in the Pyrenees. He should make the top ten but it'll be the lower reaches of it I think.

Evans lost over 2 minutes to Wiggo in last year's TTT alone. The rest of his Tour fell apart from there.

Wiggins has a mountain to climb if he's going to make the podium. Literally.

I think he's finding out that last year's Tour route was tailor made for him (lots of time trialling and a fairly straightforward run through the Pyrenees. This year the route is stacked towards the climbers with just one long time trial, and it comes on the final Saturday of the race so everyone will be knackered, no team time trial and two tough days in the Alps followed by four tough days in the Pyrenees. He should make the top ten but it'll be the lower reaches of it I think.

this is what I think. Andy will be updating you on any other thoughts i have as the race progresses.

FFS, Lance Armstrong is 15 years younger than me and talking of quitting already whereas I am still working towards my first Tour. Mind you, I'm riding clean and so it might take me a while.

Was he the bloke that Schleckles passed to take the stage?

Nah he was part of the Shack group that got dropped.

Shit pic, but you get the idea. Only a laugh though, he has been brilliant this tour.

I'm already putting Schleck off the podium. I don't think he's going to cope with the absence of Frank in the long run.

I think the absence of Frank will be the making of Andy. No disrespect to Frank.

I agree. He can attack now and commit to it, rather than looking back to see where his brother is and then waiting for him.

I agree. He can attack now and commit to it, rather than looking back to see where his brother is and then waiting for him.

Awesome bit of film... :] [Vive Le Tour, posted by dogsballs]

Quality! Photography, script, editing, music, everything in that was just great ... the bit of part 2 about 4' in, where that rider is just bombing out, is quality. Just makes me wonder why anyone would bother! Madness.

Thanks Jose, I would never have looked in this thread had you not told me about that ...

Much as I would love Evans to take the win (and I never thought I'd say that), I'm still going contador. Despite not responding to Sanchez / Schleck attack at the end, I still back him to take Andy, and without Frank I don't think there's enough mountains support in Saxobank. Wiggo is toast as well, gutted as I may be for that. Most suprising for me was seeing Basso still hanging in there despite his Giro ride, and seeing LL Sanchez going backwards - very disappointing for me.

FFS, Lance Armstrong is 15 years younger than me and talking of quitting already whereas I am still working towards my first Tour. Mind you, I'm riding clean and so it might take me a while.

Let's face it, Clive, you're just not as much of a quitter as he.

Then again, he's much more of a Twitterer, too.