The Tour De France 2006 1st-23rd of July

[the puerto rican feen]

Well who is going to win ?


Ivan Basso, was very strong in the Giro, and a very strong team also.

Jan Ulrich, won the Tour of Suisse with a very strong last day time trial, might be coming to form at the right time.

George Hincapie, a contender, might have won the Paris Roubaix except for cracking the forks. Discovery Teammate Paolo Savoldelli might be there or thereabouts too

Alexandre Vinokourov, been doing high altitude training in Kazahstan, hasnt featured in many races this season, form is not known.

Levi Leipheimer, won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, an outside chance maybe.

who else ?

No dominant rider like lance this year will make it exciting I hope

[boshea]

I'm rooting for Ulrich....but you just never know how he's going to show up...he looks to be coming into form, and seemed to look strong during hte Giro when he did push himself.....I wouldn't read too much into his result there, as it was a training tour, and used just to fine tune a few bits n pieces.

Basso will have to be one of the favourites going into it...............how ever I definitely wouldn't discount Vinoukorov....at least his constant attacking will make things interesting anyway.

Floyd Landis would be worth throwing a few quid on as well I reckon....has looked pretty good in the races I've seen him in so far this year.

I don't think any of the discovery team riders will do it this year....savoldelli isn't strong enough in the mountains, and I don't think hincapie is strong enough yet to win a 3 week tour....he's a good bet for some of the one day classics, but the tours are a different beast.....maybe give him a year or two.

[azfad]

vinikourov - he could have done much better last year if t-mobile had supported him instead of the very bland ulrich.

[storysham]

Oh yeah giro,


de italia.



meh, pissed.

[Carmona]

Originally Posted by storysham

Oh yeah giro,


de italia.



meh, pissed.

Couldn't you just fuck off and die, or do you feel you have to say something stupid about every thread you don't like.

Find it hard to see past Basso.

[Rebel Yell]

Basso has to be favourite....I'd nearly fancy Sean Kelly win it this year if he came out of retirement, with no dominant force in it

[Carmona]

Ay, Sean Kelly. Anyone remember an RTE video of the 87 tour that Roche won and Kelly had to pull out of after doing in his shoulder? U2's with or without you...... a bit obvious like, but at the time I thought it was great.

[jungle]

How things have changed since this thread was started...

Anyway, it's the first day in the mountains today and none of the big boys (to the extent that there are any left...) are doing anything.

The way things stand some guy called Cyril Dessel is going to be in yellow tonight. Cedric Vasseur and Jens Voigt are attacking as they always do.

I had thought with all the others out that Andreas Kloden might be someone to watch this year, but there's been no sign of him doing anything today...

[the puerto rican feen]

yeah, teams in the peloton still taking it easy and not doing any chasing, not sure why, 50k to go, maybe they will put the squeeze on the leading group from now on

Voight has been dropped from the lead group and is 7 mins behind

the peloton is 11 mins back.

[jungle]

Originally Posted by the puerto rican feen

yeah, teams in the peloton still taking it easy and not doing any chasing, not sure why, 50k to go, maybe they will put the squeeze on the leading group from now on

Voight has been dropped from the lead group and is 7 mins behind

the peloton is 11 mins back.

Do you have this on TV?

From the internet commentary, it sounds like Voigt is back in the peleton now.

The leading group is nearly at the top of the Col de Marie Blanque. After that, I can't see them being caught before the finish. You'd always expect a small group of riders to be faster on a descent.