the biggest race for second place in history: The Tour de France 2011 thread

A few weeks to go so I thought I'd get this started

Yes, Ed! Was counting on you as a known fellow enthusiast to open this one! :-)

http://crackbillionair.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/contador2.jpg

He's ready

http://vorige.nrc.nl/multimedia/dynamic/00220/andy_schleck_220472e.jpg

He seems ready, too

http://dailym.net/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Robert-Geesink-16e-etappe-Tour-de-France-2010-767x1150.jpg

He'll make sure he's ready, with Menchov out of his way

http://www.gunaxin.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Tour-De-france-Devil.jpg

Can't imagine this guy not being ready

http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/img/lacarte.jpg

The route

Ok, so contador may run away with this, he looked so good at the giro. I'm super pissed that the CAS hasn't adjudicated. Sure he can be beaten but I wouldn't want to bet against it.

Andy schleck, I have no clue what kind of form he is in. He's barely done anything all year. He could be coming to an impressive peak.

Sastre and basso, I don't think they are going to feature much.

Wiggins looked good in the dauphine but I still don't think he can do better than 4th. I hope I'm wrong. A strong showing in the ttt could help.

Evans, also looked pretty good in the dauphine and cunego is going well in Suisse (is he riding the tour)

Looking forward to seeing what gilbert will do; will he go for stage wins or gc?

Peter Sagan has future green jersey winner written all over him. No sure if he is riding.

Cavedish, not sure if the new points rules helps or hinders him from being a green jersey contender.

More as I think of it.

my pick:
http://cyclingresults.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/sanchez.jpg

(far and away the best rider that nobody ever talks about)

The new points system seems like its really going to shake things up. There are going to be much bigger names in the breaks, if breaks can even get away. It's going to be an interesting dynamic.

Don't disagree with you, steve.

I too think Contador will walk this. But then, it's the Tour, big surprises are nearly integral. I think Andy Schleck has been more involved in getting the new team started up than actually performing, but I have no doubt he'll be ready for it. Agree on Sastre and Basso, I don't think they'll feature much.

I wasn't that impressed with Wiggins in the Dauphiné to be honest. Because he lead the race for quite a while he resigned to consolidating his position, so I didn't see him in full-on combat in some of the mighty mountain stages. I do believe he's out-grown the 'clinging-on' stage, but I don't know if he can make or break the race. Same goes for Evans, a tough cookie, but who I have little sympathy for tbh. But I don't know where he stands this season.

Don't rule out Rabobank's Robert Gesink though. He's had a good season with a good build-up to form, did well in the Dauphiné. First time he gets to head the team, with Menchov gone, and he's got a couple of great, new helpers for the climbing stages. He's gunning for a place on the podium. He won't win it but will be a serious contender, especially when ripping through the Alps.

Finishing on the Galibier and Alpe d'Huez in two consecutive days is fantastic; taking time off from work to see those two!

New points system? For the green jersey, or all of them?

The Green is up for the taking for Cavendish I think, there's still hardly any competition, really.

Sanchez is a force to be reckoned with, I agree

Sastre and basso, I don't think they are going to feature much.

― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Saturday, June 18, 2011 4:29 PM (24 minutes ago)

I don't figure Sastre to figure much either considering his team was not invited to Le Tour (also: Menchov)!!! Meanwhile Vacansoleil (dopers anonymous?) get an invite.

Bit harsh to call Vacansoleil 'dopers anonymous' imho. It's more a case of stupidity than bad intentions with that team.

only one intermediate sprint on flat stages, but a lot more points available. guess they want two big sprint finishes a day? good tv i suppose.
i do love a team time trial, although its a bit short & flat.

Whoops, my

_Sastre and basso, I don't think they are going to feature much.

― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Saturday, June 18, 2011 4:29 PM (24 minutes ago) _

I don't figure Sastre to figure much either considering his team was not invited to Le Tour (also: Menchov)!!! Meanwhile Vacansoleil (dopers anonymous?) get an invite.

Whoops, forgot. He still looks rubbish.

As poor as his form looks at times, I do believe he was the last clean TdF winner we'll have seen for many years +/- when it is all said and done.

First clean one since......Lemond?

i'm a go out on a limb: contador was going deep like a baby seal (RIP wrinklepaws) on some of those giro stages - big ask to hold form like that from start of may to end of july. i think he won't have it all his own way.

kinda want to see more line-ups before i start predictions!

Last two years I watched the Giro but not the Tour - was planning to reverse that this year, skipped the Giro - but my favorite rider was Xavi Tondó! Btwn his death and Contador's presence here I'm jaded.

'whos gonna win it... the guy who does the most biking' --my friend dan when i mentioned the tour just now

love it

So sagen is not doing the tour, only the vuelta. Shame but he has plenty of time.

Levi leipheimer looked good today. I feel like he and wiggins are in the same class, could be interesting.

whos gonna win it... the guy who does the most biking

oh shit i think this is a floyd landis quote, right?

so leipheimer arrives on time, hmm. any word on why he skipped the press conference?

danielson appears to be "super-motivated," fulfills primary mission of eliciting snickers. (tbc, i would enjoy seeing him prosper, but lord, if anyone ever has been hyped w/o arriving...)

Some lineups

Rabobank

Gesink
Bauke Mollema
Laurens ten Dam
Lars Boom
Maarten Tjallingii
Léon Sanchez
Juan Manuel Garate
Carlos Barredo
Grischa Niermann

BMC

Brent Bookwalter (USA)
Marcus Burghardt (Ger)
Cadel Evans (Aus)
George Hincapie (USA)
Amaël Moinard (Fra)
Steve Morabito (Sui)
Ivan Santaromita (Ita)
Manuel Quinziato (Ita)
Michael Schär (Sui)

He's ready

http://www.pbkblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Cadel-Evans.jpg

(... and happy; I think this must be the only photo of him in existence where he is actually smiling)

Fantasy TDF anyone:

http://road.cc/fantasy-cycling-2011

^ I'm already in that (team 'Electric Plight Orchestra'), if you want to set up a league. I've been doing it since Milan-San Remo.

http://www.letour.fr/PHOTOS/TDF/2011/1200/PROFIL.gif

Radioshack

Jani Brajkovic
Chris Horner
Andreas Klöden
Levi Leipheimer
Markel Irizar
Dmitriy Muravyev
Sérgio Paulinho
Yaroslav Popovych
Haimar Zubeldia

"Too many leaders is not an ideal situation, but we are confident we can turn this into an advantage. Together we are strong to fight against Contador and the Schlecks."

No sprinter eh?

i found out the other day that a good old friend of mine is the tdf chef for radioshack this year, and another friend was approached by vaughters to do the same for garmin down the road.

how a mantis stays fat- friends with skills.

Tell him not to buy any steak in Spain.

I started following Vaughters on twitter recently, he's a nutjob.

no shack spot for robbie ;__;

He's not exactly sparkled the last couple of years.

Trying to work out which stages to hold TdF parties on. Last year we got the infamous chain incident. I feel like the 2nd two thursdays may offer the most, Tourmalet and Luz-Ardiden on the first, first go up the galbier on the second. 2nd and 3rd fridays have the Aubisque then Télégraphe, Galbier and Alp D'Huez. Middle saturday has 6 categorised climbs and looks brutal.

Hard decisions, I want to serve pastis and project cycling.

Also Issoioire> St Flour on the first* saturday promises to be the prettiest stage IMO.

*Not having a prologue is messing with me, this tour has 4 saturdays, so its really the second.

Saxo Bank-SunGard

Alberto Contador
Jesus Hernandez
Dani Navarro
Benjamin Noval
Richie Porte
Chris Anker Sørensen
Nicki Sørensen
Matteo Tosatto
Brian Vandborg

http://cdn3.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2011/06/22/1/pcy153_cover_600.jpg

Is the apparent trend for bearded sprinters them saying, "I'm so strong I don't need to be aerodynamic"?

the dif between velosnooze and cyclingsnooze- one covers leipy today, they other those guys above on the left. the photo appears to do a good job of scaling at least.

not "covers" but more like "features image"

So no McEwen this TdF? Freire also not coming due to jaw infections. Rabobank didn't even bring a sprinter, either

Vacansoleil

Romain Feillu
Thomas De Gendt
Borut Bozic
Bjorn Leukemans
Johnny Hoogerland
Rob Ruijgh
Lieuwe Westra
Wouter Poels

Sky

Bradley Wiggins
Geraint Thomas
Ben Swift
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Juan Antonio Flecha
Simon Gerrans
Christian Knees
Rigoberto Urán
Xabier Zandio
Marco Marcato

Omega-Pharma

Gilbert Philippe (B)
Andre Greipel (G)
Sebastian Lang (G)
Jurgen Roelandts (B)
Marcel Sieberg (G)
Jurgen van den Broeck (B)
Jurgen van de Walle (B)
Jelle Vanendert (B)
Frederik Willems (B)

Astana

Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz)
Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra)
Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz)
Andriy Grivko (Ukr)
Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz)
Roman Kreuziger (Cze)
Paolo Tiralongo (Ita)
Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)
Andrey Zeits (Kaz)

nsfw:
http://www.sportingbet.com/sports-cycling/tour-de-france-2011-(july-2-24)-outright-winner/1-3-168688.html

HTC-Highroad

Bernhard Eisel (A)
Mark Cavendish (GB)
Matt Goss (Aus)
Mark Renshaw (Aus)
Tony Martin (G)
Peter Velits (Slv)
Lars Bak (Dk)
Danny Pate (USA)
Tejay Van Garderen (USA)

Europcar

Anthony Charteau (F)
Cyril Gautier (F)
Yohann Gne (F)
Vincent Jerome (F)
Christophe Kern (F)
Perrig Quemeneur (F)
Pierre Rolland (F)
Sebastien Turgot (F)
Thomas Voeckler (F)

Cuddles!! Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!!!!!

It will only be a footnote to the main story, but that's a great time by Sanchez

Watching Andy in the bullhorns on a long straight descent has to be the most vivid image from today that I'll take away.

since he already won a stage, panache purists can deal with not winning tt. good job dude.

^^

Luxembourg! Your boys took one hell of a beating!

Well done Cuddles

What a race, good stuff. Did not expect such excitement.

A well deserved win for Evans.

Hats off to Cadel, fantastic race. Disappointed that Andy seemed unable to even make it a contest.

best TDF i can remember seeing, really happy for Cadel.

LOOK, HE'S SMILING!!

Great win in a great year.

CUDDLES ACTUALLY CUDDLED THE LION!

YES!

had to race (rowing) so missed watching this properly, but kind of saw it on my iphone. now watching properly. Was awesome, though.

there it is

Aw that actually made me a bit teary-eyed. Cuddles!

Cadel hasn't stolen that win, imho.

But re: thread title: Andy has won, is that right?

Andy forever schleckond

The CAS/ASO verdict on Contador will come in a month iirc so Andy may get a victory before the summer's over.

Pic of the day

http://www.bicycling.com/sites/default/files/images/tdf-stg21_zabriskie_tdf2011.jpg

Someone had to cut that out - what a job.

But how can cardboard Zabriskey get a medal if he has left the race early? I don't get it?

Zabriskie, sorry.

It's a team effort, first three riders across the line every day.

first three everydayyyyy, RIP nate dogg

anybody else think j.c. peraud's tour debut at 34, netting 10th, is enormously impressive? if phil and paul hadn't constantly confused him with roche/gadret/riblon, people might've taken more notice!

for the photo fans:

http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/07/tour-de-france-2011-1st-week-highlights/
http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/07/tour-de-france-2011-2nd-week-highlights/
http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/07/tour-de-france-2011-3rd-week-highlights/

related fun fact: ed boasson hagen is a keen amaetur photographer, according to sean yates.

Amazing set of pics there. Close-up pics of Hoogerland's injuries after his crash (#58-61 in the first set) aren't for the weak of heart.

Post-tour depression, y'all

OTM

:(

co-sign ;_;

On the plus side, I've won the ILX fantasy cycling competition by a huge margin (though there were only three of us in it).

I'm going to spend the next few weeks reading nothing but cycling books. Then it's the Tour of Britain in September: not the same as the TdF but it goes some way to filling the hole. It was great a couple of years ago, when Eddie BH was all over it.

ha, i was looking up Vuelta details already earlier (Aug 20th - Sept 11th)

1. BMC 493,990 euros
2. Leopard 395,310
3. Europcar 147,130
4. Garmin 145,940
5. HTC 104,940
6. Omega Pharma 96,600
7. FDJ 90,660
8. Euskaltel 87,780
9. Saxo Bank 72,290
10. Sky 67,000
11. Movistar 46,660
12. AG2R La Mondiale 45,560
13. Cofidis 41,740
14. Vacansoleil 35,650
15. Lampre 30,100
16. Saur-Sojasun 26,930
17. Rabobank 24,290
18. Liquigas 22,360
19. Quick Step 19,940
20. Katusha 12,380
21. Astana 11,710
22. RadioShack 10,540

what do you think an entire tdf campaign costs a typical squad?

Europcar annual budget ~€4,000,0000
Leopard Trek annual budget ~€20-30,000,000

You get two Schlecks and a Cancellara for an entire Europcar team.

Been trying to find a complete overview of the budgets from Pro Cycling Teams. They showed an overview on Dutch telly a couple of days a go. It said Astana and Rabobank paid most per year with € 14 million, but I'm not sure if that is right. Ed, do you have a source?

from a tweet by a L'equipe hack

It's entire budget rather than just salaries. Leopard had some pretty fancy accoutrements so I could believe those kind of numbers.

Did I spot a Garmin-Cervelo riders wearing argyle patterned plasters (band-aids)?

it's Rock Tape, a brand of kinesiology tape.

cheer up everybody, classica san sebastian on saturday!

more photeys, not much overlap:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/07/2011_tour_de_france_part_1.html
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/07/2011_tour_de_france_part_2.html

Are the post-tour criteriums ever recorded/broadcast? Can I find them on filesharing sites? I love watching the pros race crits.

cyclingtorrents.nl

loved cycling tips discussion of post-tour crits a couple of years back - "I don't mean to suggest these races are fixed... but these races are fixed!"

http://i.imgur.com/oIOi2.jpg

Stiphout crit

http://twitpic.com/5wkf9i

jesus...
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/102426972

PRO