More than two of the three weeks of this Tour lie in the rearview mirror and the race is impossible to call; nearly every GC Contender has shown some kind of weakness or given something away that makes them look beatable. Contador was dropped on the first uphill finish. The Schlecks have been on the attack but have been unable to make the gains they need to insure a final victory. They’ve also reminded us that what goes up doesn’t always come down as easily. Evans has been the most consistent and oportunistic, but has been racing hard since day one and, while he’s been close, he’s done little to stamp his authority on the race. Voekler has been defying the odds for nine days and continues to hang on to a lead which looks more tenable with each passing day.
So far, the “minor” mountain stages – those without uphill finishes – have proven to be as decisive as those with uphill finishes. Normally reserved for the opportunist breakaway and a non-issue for the GC riders, Stage 17’s rain-slicked descent saw some of the best racing we’ve seen this year buddied up with the biggest impact on the GC since Tommy V took the Maillot Jaune.
Indeed, this year has everyone sitting around the table, questioning the accepted tactics of the recent past. The riders who go fast uphill will need to do something more than just attack a few k’s from the finish. Perhaps they are considering an Hinaultesque attack on a descent before the finishing climb. Or perhaps a Merckxian attack on the first pass, going long to take a huge advantage.
One thing is for certain: the rider who wins this Tour will not necessarily be the strongest one, for we’ve seen they are all closely matched. No, the winner will be the one who decides the old rulebook is better suited for toilet paper than a race manual. The winner will be the one who thinks creatively, leaves caution in the parking lot where Voekler punched his ticket today, and takes an extra dose of Rule #5 (I’m looking at you, Andy).
At this point, whomever rolls into Paris with the Yellow jersey on their shoulders will get the nod of approval from this guy. (Except Contador, obvs.) Vive le Tour, bitches.
Get your picks in by 5am Pacific tomorrow morning for the chance to win 3, 2, or 1 points for the podium spots, and 1 point for 4th and 5th places. Good luck.
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just a bit of a hunch.....not really expecting anything
VSP PICKS:
1. Sammy Sanchez
2. Cuddles
3. Contador
4. Jelle Vanendert
5. A Schleck
The Spaniards help each other out, Cuddles holds on to lose less than 30 sec, Andy loses time.
And little Tommy finally runs out of V (too bad, that, but it had to happen)
I'll be late for work tomorrow.
VSP PICKS:
1. Cothodor
2. Sanchez
3. Cadel
4. F Schleck
5. Andy
These picks are purely based on wishful thinking. Hopefully Andy-boy is aware that he is the butt of a lot of criticism and will do something about it. He'll either finish neck-and-neck with Meat-muncher or take time. He knows he's gotta get some time in the next two days or get wasted in the TT. Andy, your teammates have done all they can for you; time to reward them for their efforts.
VSP PICKS:
1. Andy Schleck
2. Contador
3. Cadel Evans
4. Ivan Basso
5. Sammy Sanchez
@brett
It's not much, but it's more than anyone else did! And I wish Evans had a kick rather than being such a diesel...he just motors up to them every time and drags everyone else with 'im. If he could jump at all, we'd see a different standing right now.
But fuck. I wish Andy would just keep up with his attacks rather than swivelnecking. Or, maybe he should get one of those mirrors you can put on your handlebar. Fuck. I'd forgive him the violation if it meant he was actually racing his bike.
swivelnecking, a new lexicon entry? The act of looking back for your teammates or opponents instead of racing your bike.
Sammy and Bertie do the one two, Evans motors on up and passes them, Andy is too busy looking around and misses the move and Basso grinds his way up - and I hope Danielson has a good day!
VSP PICKS:
1. Evans
2. Contador
3. Sanchez
4. Andy Schleck
5. Basso
If Leopard Trek have anything about them, they'll let Fränk go, and he'll do over Bertie on the final climb. His brother will attack on the final km again, but just enough to get to third...maybe. Cuddles has gotta be in the top 5, and I rate Cunego more than Basso, somehow.
I'm getting pretty sick of Andy now, to be honest. Sure, he's hanging in there, but doesn't seem to be actually sorting his shit and channeling some serious V - which is what he needs to do if he's gonna win this thing. Knowing this, he'll spend all night meditating on Rule #5, and dish out the pain on the Galibier tomorrow after all, completely betraying my picking him for the last god knows how long...
VSP PICKS:
1. Le Grand Grimpleur
2. Clenbutador
3. Grimplette
4. Cuddles
5. Cunego
That's right - the form line from this Tour holds through the Queen stage. Evans wins with final burst after duelling banjos all the way up.
And the rest of you can go fuck yourselves.
VSP PICKS:
1. Evans
2. Contador
3. Sanchez
4. F Schleck
5. Basso
Velominati TDF Data Addicts Beware!
For one thing,
It seems you can now experiment
with voyeurism et virtual suffering at home...
LIVE DATA STREAM FROM SRM
You can now find LIVE on the interwebs
the data recorded by the crankset embedded SRMs
As far as i know, at least for these riders :
Roy, Jeremy [138] FDJ
Oss, Daniel [95] Liquigas
Vandborg, Brian [9] Saxo Bank
Knees, Christian [115] Sky
El Fares, Julien [155] Cofidis
Zingle, Romain [159] Cofidis
Buffaz, Mickael [152] Cofidis
Zeits, Andrey [69] Astana
Vaitkus, Thomas [68] Astana
Irizar, Markel [73] RadioShack
For another thing
It also seems that you can watch all the roads used by the TDF in a dedicated app for Google Earth
where you can see for example that the next Grenoble TT is not so flat...
browse the page to choose your TDF stage and click the image to open the Google Earth File
And finally ...
The end of the TDf is near when this stage will arrive ... we'll see!
In this official event advert, it seems like Grenoble was a little bit Partisan on this one...
Is there a project for my home-town of a future twinning with Luxembourg ???
IF some roads remained open and ridable with the Horde of hundreds of thousands of people expected in my neighborhood saturday ..I'll try to shoot some photos of the TT racers on the climbing parts of the event ... If it's not the case i'll stay here in Grenoble and do the same as for the Dauphiné : Bikes, Gear, Apparel Riders, Staff, Buses, Mechanics, Podiums, etc ...
Do any Velominati want some specific photos ?
Name your racers and rides !! I'll try to do my best!
Viva la France! France needs a win, Roy has the form, and I need to pick someone that no one else has to get some points.
3-5 will be 5 mins down on the leaders. Very tempted to pick Cuntodor, but sticking to principles.
@minion - nice picks. You have a lot of faith!
VSP PICKS:
1. Jeremy monkey funkin' Roy
2. Jelle DirtyVan
3. Cadel
4. Basso
5. Slammin' Sam Sanchez