Tour de France

[Matteh]

It's nearly that time of the year...

http://ilps.science.uva.nl/~erikt/tdf/

Anyone up for a fantasy competition? It's important to read the scoring details if you do though.
There's no mini-league function, so if you sign up, post the name you've signed up with and i'll be able to post how everyone is doing at the end of each day.

And use this thread for all other TdF talk.

 

[Cloete]

Can't wait

Hopefully Evans has a good one and would be great to see Basso come away with the win, Hushovd and Ulrich failing miserably would be nice too.

What's the deal with Vino's Liberty Seguros team? I heard there was some weird happenings there. Anyone care to explain?

 

[Craig]

For me I'm tipping Ivan Basso to do the Giro-Tour double, I think he has more drive, more form, better team and DS Bjarne Riis is a former Tour winner himself. This is despite the fact I ride a Giant (same sponsor as T-Mobile) and the German national champion T-Mobile clothing (being nicknamed Andreas Kloden, TdF 2004 runner-up), but Ullrich is in form as well having one a Grio stage and a stage and overall in the Tour de Switzerland.

For Australia I reckon Cadel Evans is a good bet for top 5, but he will have strong competition, with the likes of Valverde, Lepihemier, Landis, Hincapie/Savoldelli, Mancebo. Good outside bets would be Iban Mayo (if he can find his 2003 form), Denis Menchov, Damiano Cunego, and Gilberto Simoni. Look out for Savoldelli when he goes gown hills, he will live up to his nickname 'II Falco' (the Falcon), he is a madman

I'm tipping Robbie McEwen (Gold Coast and Queensland and same cycling club bias ) for the Green Jersey, but he will have strong competition from mighty Thor Hushovd and current World Champion Tom Boonen (an astonshing 17 wins this year to date ), Oscar Feriere, and one can never forget Erik Zabel

Anyway my tips:

Overall: 1) I. Basso 2) J. Ullrich 3) F. Mancebo

Green Jersey: R. McEwen

Mountains: Michael Rasmussen, but Cadel Evans pushing him strongly

Best Young Rider: Damiano Cunego

 

[Craig]

My team is also in.

 

[Cloete]

Can't wait

Hopefully Evans has a good one and would be great to see Basso come away with the win, Hushovd and Ulrich failing miserably would be nice too.

What's the deal with Vino's Liberty Seguros team? I heard there was some weird happenings there. Anyone care to explain?

Oh, it's not becuase he's Norwegian if anyone gets any ideas

 

[Magrat Garlick]

What's the deal with Vino's Liberty Seguros team? I heard there was some weird happenings there. Anyone care to explain?

Sports director Manolo Sainz got arrested for possessing illegal material. Liberty Seguros withdrew as a sponsor as a result of the arrest and talks, but with cycling being somewhat of a national sport in Kazakhstan and Vinokourov having pretty much no time to find a team, five major companies (and probably the Kazakh state) went together to sponsor the team, so it's now called Astana (capital of Kazakhstan).

Hopefully Evans has a good one and would be great to see Basso come away with the win, Hushovd and Ulrich failing miserably would be nice too.

What's wrong with Ullrich? He's been beaten too many times to count, what's the attraction of seeing him fail miserably again?

 

[thewizard1o1]

Mayo had a good win recently so that should do alot for his confidence, will be interesting to see how Millar goes 'clean' in the prologue and watch simoni blow up in the mountains again

Overall: 1) I. Basso 2) J. Ullrich 3) Y.Popovych

Green Jersey: Tom Boonen

Mountains: Jose Rujano

Best Young Rider: Alberto Contador

 

[nibbs]

hmm, how is it that so many people get off on this event? i can't see it. boring boring boring stamped all over it

 

[Chubb]

I think Basso will win because he is generally a better climber than Ullrich, though if Ullrich can stay with him in the mountains then the final time trial could be very interesting indeed. My dark horse would be Yaroslav Popovych, because he is extremely talented and has Disco.

Euskatel, my favourite team (I like the Pays Basque) have been very disappointing in the last two tours and I hope they improve this year, though I think Mayo is a busted flush. I also hope Wiggins wins the prologue.

 

[Cloete]

I think Basso will win because he is generally a better climber than Ullrich, though if Ullrich can stay with him in the mountains then the final time trial could be very interesting indeed. My dark horse would be Yaroslav Popovych, because he is extremely talented and has Disco.

Euskatel, my favourite team (I like the Pays Basque) have been very disappointing in the last two tours and I hope they improve this year, though I think Mayo is a busted flush. I also hope Wiggins wins the prologue.

I hope that Venezuelan isn't riding for them. That would be a bit of a let down!

 

[Neil Pickup]

What's wrong with Ullrich?

He's German.

I think Craig's got it pretty covered - will be an interesting tour, I reckon.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Ah, the Tour de France.

"If you look on the left, you can see one breed of cow native to the Languedoc region. And if you look on the right, you can see another breed of cow native to the Languedoc region."

Top quality commentary from Eurosport. Should be interesting this year, I don't have a clue about cycling, but it's one of those sports you can just sit down and watch without knowing the riders particularly well (like biathlon )

 

[Craig]

hmm, how is it that so many people get off on this event? i can't see it. boring boring boring stamped all over it

You out the door now.

 

[Craig]

Sports director Manolo Sainz got arrested for possessing illegal material. Liberty Seguros withdrew as a sponsor as a result of the arrest and talks, but with cycling being somewhat of a national sport in Kazakhstan and Vinokourov having pretty much no time to find a team, five major companies (and probably the Kazakh state) went together to sponsor the team, so it's now called Astana (capital of Kazakhstan).

And now they may not even take part.

I would say it would be highly unlikely they are allowed anywhere near the start line.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Last year was the first time I ever really watched the Tour de France. I'd seen bits and pieces of it before, but I watched quite a lot of the live stages last time and it was good fun.

For those who know more about the sport than me, does Evans actually have a realistic chance this year? I've heard him talked up a bit as our best chance to win in a long time, but I don't know if that's just the Australian media being ridiculous or not. He did pretty well last year from what I remember.

 

[Neil Pickup]

I think he is the best chance to win in a long time... but that really isn't saying much, is it!

He's a good climber and he had a habit of sticking around and being there in the shakeup last year - tenth or something, wasn't he - but whether he's capable of challenging the big guns over the big climbs, and time-trialling with the best of them is a bit debatable. Could be a decent value each-way bet (40/1), but I reckon anything above sixth will be a great effort.

Selection of odds:
2.25 Basso
3.50 Ullrich
12.0 Valverde
17.0 Landis
21.0 Vinokourov
40.0 Popovych
41.0 Leipheimer, Evans
67.0 Mayo, Azevedo
70.0 Savoldelli
75.0 Kloden
80.0 Dekker
81.0 Menchov, Jaksche, Zabriskie
82.0 Hincapie
101.0 Rasmussen, Rubiera, Di Luca, Mancebo, Kashechkin, Corioni, Karpets

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Aside from the Australians, I'll be supporting Karpets and Moos for having the funniest names.

I put a team in also, by the way.

 

[Craig]

Last year was the first time I ever really watched the Tour de France. I'd seen bits and pieces of it before, but I watched quite a lot of the live stages last time and it was good fun.

For those who know more about the sport than me, does Evans actually have a realistic chance this year? I've heard him talked up a bit as our best chance to win in a long time, but I don't know if that's just the Australian media being ridiculous or not. He did pretty well last year from what I remember.

Well he is not a clear favourite like Basso or Ullrich, that's for certain, and the fact there is no team time trial will also help him as well (he's a good time trialist, but his team isn't). He certaintly has a good chance, the fact that he came 8th in his debut race last year will count a lot (should have gone in 2004 but that is another matter) for him confidence wise.

I don't think the overall is possibly for him, but as I said he can time trial pretty well (he won a stage race this year by winning the final day time trial), he can climb and decend well, all from his mountain bike days (where he was one of or the best in the world), and the two long time trials in the race will be important for him to get time over the likes of Valverde and Cunego or even Mancebo (who rides for AG2r which is the same team as Simon Gerrans) who are frankly mediorce against the clock.

If I had to pick a spot for him it would be top 5 for him, and possibly a podium spot. But like I have said he will have a lot of competition from Valverde (who can climb and sprint brilliantly), Mancebo, Landis, Lepihemier, Hincapie, Popovych etc.

It will be a hard race for Davitimon - Lotto having to control the breaks to protect Evans and set up Robbie McEwen for the stage wins and the Malliot Vert (Green Jersey) for McEwen.

 

[Craig]

I think he is the best chance to win in a long time... but that really isn't saying much, is it!

He's a good climber and he had a habit of sticking around and being there in the shakeup last year - tenth or something, wasn't he - but whether he's capable of challenging the big guns over the big climbs, and time-trialling with the best of them is a bit debatable. Could be a decent value each-way bet (40/1), but I reckon anything above sixth will be a great effort.

Selection of odds:
2.25 Basso
3.50 Ullrich
12.0 Valverde
17.0 Landis
21.0 Vinokourov
40.0 Popovych
41.0 Leipheimer, Evans
67.0 Mayo, Azevedo
70.0 Savoldelli
75.0 Kloden
80.0 Dekker
81.0 Menchov, Jaksche, Zabriskie
82.0 Hincapie
101.0 Rasmussen, Rubiera, Di Luca, Mancebo, Kashechkin, Corioni, Karpets

Is that Thomas Dekker? He isn't racing so it is about time to update their odds

 

[Magrat Garlick]

It will be a hard race for Davitimon - Lotto having to control the breaks to protect Evans and set up Robbie McEwen for the stage wins and the Malliot Vert (Green Jersey) for McEwen.

Thankfully.

T-Mobile managed it with Ullrich and Zabel in 1997, IIRC. Not that hard competition then, tho.