2012 Grand Tours

[Roman]

Bluequay said:

Good win by Cav, but Sky have looked very disorganised over the last couple of days, a complete contrast to BMC who have given a masterclass on protecting their GC rider. They need to shape up and quick.

I agree though to be fair to them they've had more work to do: Not just looking after Wiggins but also Cavendish and to a lesser extent, Froome (gives them an attacking option in the mountains if he keeps in contention). As it is Froome was involved in a crash and Rogers has punctured on two stages.

[racerbob]

Cav speaking on French TV reckons that he is actually feeling more relaxed about doing the sprint without a team, he admitted that with all the graft that his previous teams put in for him during the final hour of a stage he felt absolutley pressurised to always win, the guy is agile enough to not really need a full blown lead out train, yes he looked good today, Griepel went a tad too soon on the headwind slightly uphill finish, but that's for him to think about, Cav got it right today.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

To my eyes his weight loss has cost him a bit of speed. When did he last win a pure sprint by "only" half a wheel?

[mcelliott]

Rocksteadyeddie said:

To my eyes his weight loss has cost him a bit of speed. When did he last win a pure sprint by "only" half a wheel?

I would say he has not lost an ounce of speed, he's just come "round" the 2nd fastest man in the world and beat him by a comfortable margin, all without the benefit of a leadout train. No, Mark Cavendish is evolving his sprint style and not getting slower.

[racerbob]

Rocksteadyeddie said:

To my eyes his weight loss has cost him a bit of speed. When did he last win a pure sprint by "only" half a wheel?

personally I think you are right, he has 'lost' a bit of power / speed, but he's still got enought o win, think back to his winning margin on final stage last year !

[Rocksteadyeddie]

Good bit of analysis by Richard Moore.

Fair to say the jury's out at the moment perhaps.

[wy906]

Rocksteadyeddie said:

Good bit of analysis by Richard Moore.

Fair to say the jury's out at the moment perhaps.

Good read that.

Good show today and very good win by Cav; he had to work hard for it. Though I have to say I miss the spectacle of the HTC train.

[Sway]

wy906 said:

Good read that.

Good show today and very good win by Cav; he had to work hard for it. Though I have to say I miss the spectacle of the HTC train.

Having mised the last few Tours, I've missed out on the HTC train, how did it compare to my current sprinting benchmark - Cippolini and Saeco Cannondale?

Anyone got a yootoob link to a textbook HTC/Cav win?

[Digger]

The 2010 Champs-Elysees made me chuckle yesterday when i revisited on youtube. Plenty of fodder on youtube but i doubt you will find much footage of the train bar rhe last km or two.

[aspender]

Sway said:

Anyone got a yootoob link to a textbook HTC/Cav win?

Stage 7 from last year is a textbook example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XClPS_hzrco

[anonymous-user]

Froome leads Team Sky in Vuelta with Ben Swift, Ian Stannard, Juan Antonio Flecha, Sergio Henao, Danny Pate, Richie Porte, Rigoberto Uran and Xabier Zandio. Good team, Froome has to deliver to justify all the sarcy comments this year but I think he will get the job done.

Provisional rider list here: http://www.lavuelta.com/12pr/en/equipos/participan...

In other news, Nicholas Roche has left AG2R and joined SaxoBank-TinkOff for 2013 and Nibbles has joined Astana

[anonymous-user]

pablo said:

Froome leads Team Sky in Vuelta with Ben Swift, Ian Stannard, Juan Antonio Flecha, Sergio Henao, Danny Pate, Richie Porte, Rigoberto Uran and Xabier Zandio. Good team, Froome has to deliver to justify all the sarcy comments this year but I think he will get the job done.

Provisional rider list here: http://www.lavuelta.com/12pr/en/equipos/participan...

In other news, Nicholas Roche has left AG2R and joined SaxoBank-TinkOff for 2013 and Nibbles has joined Astana

I can't see Froome after a hard tour beating either contador or schleck, hopefully he will put in a good performance though.

[okgo]

It wasn't a hard tour. He will be fine.

[anonymous-user]

okgo said:

It wasn't a hard tour. He will be fine.

Finishing 2nd in the tour and then winning the Vuelta would be a remarkable achievement. Not many men achieve a podium in successive grand tours, especially with the Olympics in between meaning he would have had to hold his form for 10 weeks.

[anonymous-user]

Bluequay said:

pablo said:

Froome leads Team Sky in Vuelta with Ben Swift, Ian Stannard, Juan Antonio Flecha, Sergio Henao, Danny Pate, Richie Porte, Rigoberto Uran and Xabier Zandio. Good team, Froome has to deliver to justify all the sarcy comments this year but I think he will get the job done.

Provisional rider list here: http://www.lavuelta.com/12pr/en/equipos/participan...

In other news, Nicholas Roche has left AG2R and joined SaxoBank-TinkOff for 2013 and Nibbles has joined Astana

I can't see Froome after a hard tour beating either contador or schleck, hopefully he will put in a good performance though.

No Schlecks, Andy is injure and Franck is, um, well, otherwise engaged.....

Looks pretty easy for Froome to be honest, he is in super form and will be really hungry for this having played second fiddle to Wiggo for the last twelve months. Its a great team behind him too, 2nd last year, 2nd in le tour, its his best chance to win his first GC for a while as I expect next years tour to be a toughie being the 100th anniversary....

Its not a star-packed entry, i'd expect the likes of Rojas and Valverde to go well but Contador is a bit of an unknown at the moment regarding form.... other than that, there isnt really any GC favourities in there I'd be worried of if I were Froome....

[ewenm]

La Vuelta kicks off tomorrow with a team time trial. I'm looking forward to it. Having only dipped into it in previous years, this year I'm going to try to watch at least the highlights of every stage if not any of the live coverage

I reckon I'll be quite partisan in my TeamSky support and Froome especially but I'd like to see some big attacks on the tough climbing days by anyone.

[Burrow01]

Where is it being broadcast - Eurosport?

[Not Ideal]

ITV4 doing a highlights package every night. (My preference).

Eurosport have a highlights and live package.

[anonymous-user]

http://www.lavuelta.com/12/en/equipos/participante...
updated rider list.

[The Stiglet]

Bertie looks pretty good...