2012 Tour de France

When I grow up, I want to be Jens.

 

Jens and "Little Tommy Voeckler" 2 of my most favorite riders! Read some of the post quotes from TV its awesome!

"“It’s hard for me to recount. My knees hurt, everything hurts. Before this Tour started, Europcar was not in a great place. I saw my little boy and saw it in his eyes. I couldn’t give up.”

This is a pretty cool Jens Interview...http://velonews.competitor.com/2012...webs-grow-on-his-bike-after-retirement_226360

 

I don't care if you're a roadie or MTB'er, watching Jens in "Chasing Legends" can't help but motivate you to feel something similar.

Although its nice to see the team books/films come out, I'd like to see a Jens Biopic like "A Ride With George" was made about Hincapie...maybe it should be called "Eating Nails" or something similar that has a ring of vulgarity to it.

 

Still freaks me out - facial at 35MPH+. Voigt's always going for it. Great rider.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p1-gCNldUc

 

Nibali still bringing it on. If Syzmd were on better form then Nibali might have a chance. He's grabbing wheels and doing a lot of work himself. He is so freaky fast descending. Trying to stay with him can have big consequences. Tejay nearly took a flyer over the rail. These guys are crazy and fast.

Nibali's saying all the right things too. Like thanking Sagan for his work today. Interesting to see Sagan hit the climb and just fade quickly. Contrast him to Nibali, the classic climber, Sagan the muscled sprinter. If Sagan wants to go to GC rider someday he has a lot of work ahead of him. Way too strong a build for long tours. Cancellera made some noise a few years back about dropping weight and going to GC rider. That went nowhere, I think guys like Cancellera, Sagan, Boonen and Hushovd are born sprinters - they like to hammer hard. Sagan intrigues me - in the Classics someday he is going to really put it together and wreck havouc for years.



Frank Schleck going airborne. He said he just went right into the tree off the side and slid down about 30 ft. Walked away unhurt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O5d94P6JGo

 

I hope I'm wrong, but I think it is going to be a boring Tour, at least in the GC. I really don't see Cadel attacking and getting any big time gap in the mountains. Maybe Nibali can try it, but he does not have the engine to get enough time on the other two and then maintain it in the final TT. Team Sky are going to control the race all the way to Paris. Please, we need Contador and Andy back. The Tour needs true explosive climbers so that we can have some fun. Not a very good course this year either. IMO not enough mountain top finishes and too many km of TT this year.

 

Voeckler has brought back some excitement to this tour. Wiggo must be the most booooooorrrrrring racer that ever was. Would be good if he can at least attack once in a while. For goodness sakes at least get up out of the saddle once! Cadel used to be the most boring racer but he has learned a lesson and now attacks every opportunity he gets. Sorry but with Contador's and Andy Schleck out, Frank basically out of it, the GC has become bland. Wiggo's tactic of muscling the time trials and then just sitting in the front and not doing much of anything the entire race might win him the Tour,but it won't be the most memorable one. I really really hope Nibali brings it on hard in the mountains and breaks away on some of the upcoming big climbs....

 

Jens is a freakin... i dunno what... a Manimal.

 

Millar just does 226Km in 5:42 and announcers looking for trivia dots to 'liven' things up.

Waiting for the Pyrenees - Nibali to do his Contador-best and make one of his attacks stick. Seperate Wiggins, like he's shown he can do, and then make Sky decide what's their play - stay with Wiggins or send Froome up the road after Nibali?

Someone, anyone at this point, has to go with Nibali when the fireworks start. Sky with Rogers, Porte, Haggen and Froome et al are klcking the legs off the rest of the domestiques - not even close.

 

The deal with climbing: VAM

http://www.climbbybike.com/

Ferarri and VAM and some times for big climbs: (read and weep)

http://www.flammerouge.je/content/3_factsheets/2006/climb.htm

VAM & The Pro's
To win a mountain stage of a Grand Tour it's predicted (by Ferrari) that a rider needs a VAM of between 1650 and 1800m/h. Pantani, when climbing Alpe D'Huez in 37 minutes produced a VAM of 1744, a remarkable number at the end of a Tour stage but not wholly beyond the bounds of credibility.


Contador and his ridiculous numbers @ Angliru a few years back (1900 +). Still considered the greatest climbing feat ever recorded:

(Note in the first video Levi taking his monster pull to get Contador to the top.)

http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2008/09/contador-is-pro.html

 

I don't know why, but is anyone going to really challeng SKY? Or, are they unbeatable? That is an amazing team. I don't think BMC has got it this year. They should just let TJ loose!

 

Looks like Cadel has beat himself this year and the rest of the BMC boys just have to sit back and protect him, MW's right, they should let TJ just start pumping the boys into the ground.

 

The real test will be in the Pyrenees. The hills are steeper and Wiggins/Sky won't be able to ride tempo to catch any of the contenders if they get a gap.

Evans doesn't look like he has the form this year but I think Nibali should keep things exciting. It would be interesting to see what would happen if BMC sent Tejay out in a break.

 

Yep, that's what it looks like. Wiggins wants to spin high tempo and keep the speed up all the way to the climbs - he never looks comfortable when he has to break his rythym...but...on the other hand he is one hella climber now and to just be up there where you can mess with him & Sky takes some bigtime riding.

 

Ala the late 90s Telekom team with Bjarne Riis and Jan Ulrich?

 

Sky looks to be Doped to the gills much like Phamrstrongs teams of the eally 200s

 

Wiggens looks strong

 

What a boring race. Wouldn't qualify as a 2.0 UCI race anywhere else. Contador would be 5 plus minutes in yellow and maybe 10 plus by paris.

 

Boring? Eh...

I watched the last XC World Cup race @ Windham and that was pretty lame by comparison. Kuhlhavy bailed early and never said anything - just left the course. Burry Stander took the lead after Hermida & Fumic had mechanicals and was never challenged the rest of the day. I think that was four full laps (out of six) that he rode at the front. Meh.

 

I think Contador would handle anything Sky threw at him. Is he still with Saxo? I guess he'll be back for the Vuelta IIRC.

The race itself is still interesting to me. I just soak up all the details they throw out about the history, riders and places in France. Kelly has some good stories about his days on the Tour.
The attrition is setting in now too - some of the domestiques are baked. Done. Halfway in and 27-32 MPH every day is hell. How they can manage three weeks of riding at that speed is still amazing to me.