Le Tour de France 2012

[Sir Matt]

It's really amazing how he transformed himself from the track rider he was to the GC-rider he is now. A lot of respect for him. Wonder if he'll be able to come close though next year. There are lots of rumours already about a Tour mainly focussed on climbing instead of the time trial.

It wasn't the greatest Tour to watch when the GC is concerned but there were lots of great stages this year. More than other years in my opinion.

Anyone know if Wiggins or Froome are riding the Vuelta next month?

This was a very strange Tour. It was set up perfectly for a TT specialist who's decent at climbs. Only two mountain top finishes and neither of them HC.

If there had been stages finishing at Alp d'Huez, Mont Ventoux, Plateau de Beille, or Luz Ardiden, I don't know how well Wiggins would have done. As it happened though, there didn't seem to be any great climbers in the Tour at all. If Froome gets his own team next year with a more mountainous Tour, he should be easily the favorite barring a long TT.

For me, the best stages were always the mountain top finishes where the leaders battle it out on the last climb like Alpe d'Huez. I'd rather see that than stages with mountains mid-stage but then nothing at the end.

 

[spinoza]

i was up for him until I heard him celebrating after the timetrial.

nothing worse than an arrogant arse celebrating before the job is done.

that said, its a hard race to win so well done to him.

Why? No one really attacks on the last day. It's just not done. He'd won it by then.

 

[spinoza]

This was a very strange Tour. It was set up perfectly for a TT specialist who's decent at climbs. Only two mountain top finishes and neither of them HC.

If there had been stages finishing at Alp d'Huez, Mont Ventoux, Plateau de Beille, or Luz Ardiden, I don't know how well Wiggins would have done. As it happened though, there didn't seem to be any great climbers in the Tour at all. If Froome gets his own team next year with a more mountainous Tour, he should be easily the favorite barring a long TT.

For me, the best stages were always the mountain top finishes where the leaders battle it out on the last climb like Alpe d'Huez. I'd rather see that than stages with mountains mid-stage but then nothing at the end.

Next year is the 100th Tour, so there's a very strong chance we'll have the Alpe d'Huez, Col d'Izoard, Col de Joux Plane, etc etc. Maybe even both the Ventoux and the Alpe d'Huez together in the same Tour.

 

[Stretch]

i was up for him until I heard him celebrating after the timetrial.

nothing worse than an arrogant arse celebrating before the job is done.

that said, its a hard race to win so well done to him.

Wow. Really? Everybody knows the job is done on the last day before they ride into Paris.

 

[spinoza]

Unless the last stage is an ITT. They may have to do this to prevent Cavendish winning.

 

[Amir]

Anyone know if Wiggins or Froome are riding the Vuelta next month?

Froome is. Contador should also make his return there and maybe Andy Schleck if he recovers. Could be a better GC race than the Tour!

 

[Wowi]

i was up for him until I heard him celebrating after the timetrial.

nothing worse than an arrogant arse celebrating before the job is done.

that said, its a hard race to win so well done to him.

You don't really know how this works, do you? The last day is just a celebration really - the yellow jersey is never attacked. It hasn't happened for decades and now it's one of those unwritten rules that everyone lives by.

The invitation to the press conference the day before the last stage even states that the press can meet "the winner of the tour" when talking about the rider who's currently leading.

This was a very strange Tour. It was set up perfectly for a TT specialist who's decent at climbs. Only two mountain top finishes and neither of them HC.

If there had been stages finishing at Alp d'Huez, Mont Ventoux, Plateau de Beille, or Luz Ardiden, I don't know how well Wiggins would have done. As it happened though, there didn't seem to be any great climbers in the Tour at all. If Froome gets his own team next year with a more mountainous Tour, he should be easily the favorite barring a long TT.

For me, the best stages were always the mountain top finishes where the leaders battle it out on the last climb like Alpe d'Huez. I'd rather see that than stages with mountains mid-stage but then nothing at the end.

Contador and Andy will most likely be there next year and if Froome goes to another team, Wiggings will be in trouble in the mountains unless he gets another equally good helper. I think there's a very good chance that Wiggins won't even be in the top 5 next year tbh.

Good job winning this year, but he's been incredibly lucky really. As you say, the route was favouring big time, but even then Contador or Andy would most likely have beaten him anyway if they had been there.

 

[Amir]

Good job winning this year, but he's been incredibly lucky really. As you say, the route was favouring big time, but even then Contador or Andy would most likely have beaten him anyway if they had been there.

Totally unsure about Andy. He probably would have had to erase a massive time loss in the time trials. Contador's a different story. It definitely would have been interesting if those two were there to at least attack Wiggins in the mountains.

Obviously there was a lot going for Wiggins in this Tour but I wouldn't really say he was lucky. You make your own luck. He worked hard, he won big races, he earned the status of number 1 for one of the best teams and the support of riders such as Froome.

Not that I disagree with the notion he won't be winning it again. He's done terrific work to be a Tour winner. He's obviously not going to be a GC great. Not every Tour winner has to be one like that.

 

[spinoza]

You don't really know how this works, do you? The last day is just a celebration really - the yellow jersey is never attacked. It hasn't happened for decades and now it's one of those unwritten rules that everyone lives by.

The invitation to the press conference the day before the last stage even states that the press can meet "the winner of the tour" when talking about the rider who's currently leading.

I'd like to see the rider who can put more than 5 minutes into Wiggins on a flattish course, with a criterium at the end, when Sky is driving the peloton. Wiggins was 6 mins over the closest non-Sky challenger. Even if someone broke etiquette and attacked the yellow jersey, it would have come to nothing.

 

[Liam147]

Delighted for Wiggins if he wins this - without question the single biggest sporting achievement in any sport

Well he did, and I've seen this statement elsewhere. Why exactly is this the biggest sporting achievement in any sport? In fact, I'd be reluctant to say it's the biggest British sporting achievement. What makes this so special?

 

[Wowi]

Totally unsure about Andy. He probably would have had to erase a massive time loss in the time trials. Contador's a different story. It definitely would have been interesting if those two were there to at least attack Wiggins in the mountains.

Obviously there was a lot going for Wiggins in this Tour but I wouldn't really say he was lucky. You make your own luck. He worked hard, he won big races, he earned the status of number 1 for one of the best teams and the support of riders such as Froome.

Not that I disagree with the notion he won't be winning it again. He's done terrific work to be a Tour winner. He's obviously not going to be a GC great. Not every Tour winner has to be one like that.

If Andy or Contador had been there it would've been a completely different Tour. More pressure in the mountains and because of that even harder stages. Apart from Nibali no one really attacked Wiggins this year, so he could sit behind Froome and hold a tempo that was decent for him. Not saying it was easy of course, but with a top mountain rider there Wiggins would most likely have had to use a lot more energy on the mountain stages. That would also mean he'd do worse TT because of being more drained.

Even though Radioshack is a fecking mess, they would most likely have been riding for Andy if he had been there. Would be a very strong team, if they could keep focus and it'd most likely mean that Sky couldn't dominate mountain stages like they did.

You might not call it "luck", but I still think it's the right term. Wiggins was lucky that pretty much everything fell for him. Long TTs and two best climbers in the world not being there.

 

[spinoza]

Well he did, and I've seen this statement elsewhere. Why exactly is this the biggest sporting achievement in any sport? In fact, I'd be reluctant to say it's the biggest British sporting achievement. What makes this so special?

Winning a Grand Tour is physically the hardest sporting achievement to do. Even Ironman triathlons are over in a day. This is half an ironman ever day, day after day for 3 weeks.

It's not the biggest British sporting achievement, particularly given the amount of money thrown at it, but it's the greatest thing any British cyclist has ever done. In the context of the sport being rather unloved in Britain, and the fact that Wiggins is almost certainly riding clean, it's remarkable.

 

[Rams]

i was up for him until I heard him celebrating after the timetrial.

nothing worse than an arrogant arse celebrating before the job is done.

that said, its a hard race to win so well done to him.

Idiot, you've no idea what you are talking abut

 

[King_Eric]

Next year is the 100th Tour, so there's a very strong chance we'll have the Alpe d'Huez, Col d'Izoard, Col de Joux Plane, etc etc. Maybe even both the Ventoux and the Alpe d'Huez together in the same Tour.

I've heard they're going to try to get the legendary Puy de Dôme back in the Tour. Although it's going to be difficult (read: expensive) convincing the local authorities. Apparently the mountain can't take much tourism anymore, let alone the whole Tour caravan including a peleton. It could however be ideal for an individual climbing time trial.

Froome is. Contador should also make his return there and maybe Andy Schleck if he recovers. Could be a better GC race than the Tour!

Van den Broeck is also participating, as is Thomas De Gendt. The Vuelta and Giro are often much more interesting than the Tour when the GC is concerned. The stages are usually much more interesting as well. The only thing they should improve in is the broadcasting aspect. The camera work etc from the French television is really top class. So much that even boring stages can become interesting. In Italy it's really amateuristic in my opinion and the Vuelta isn't much better.

I'm also not really expecting the Tour contenders to do very well in the Vuelta. The Giro-Tour combination has already proved to be pretty much impossible these days, so the Tour-Vuelta combination will probably be worse since they're even closer to each other.

Totally unsure about Andy. He probably would have had to erase a massive time loss in the time trials. Contador's a different story. It definitely would have been interesting if those two were there to at least attack Wiggins in the mountains.

Andy Schleck could become one of the all-time greats, if he only put 50% of the commitment into his training and preparation that people like Wiggins, Froome and Van den Broeck put in. If you saw the documentary they made about their winter training a year or two ago, you'd be really surprised at how much room for improvement there really is. Their excuse for not training on time trialing is that there are no flat roads in Luxemburg...
There are no mountains in Belgium as well and that's why Van den Broeck and De Gendt spend months abroad, also in the winter to train in the Spanish or Italian mountains. And they get results from that as well.

Obviously there was a lot going for Wiggins in this Tour but I wouldn't really say he was lucky. You make your own luck. He worked hard, he won big races, he earned the status of number 1 for one of the best teams and the support of riders such as Froome.

Not that I disagree with the notion he won't be winning it again. He's done terrific work to be a Tour winner. He's obviously not going to be a GC great. Not every Tour winner has to be one like that.[/QUOTE]

 

[Dave89]

Why are people assuming Froome will leave? When is the 2013 course announced? If they know early enough they could quite possibly build the team around Froome. They seem efficient enough to prioritise a better chance at winning over a possibly futile yellow jersey defence.

 

[B20]

Why are people assuming Froome will leave?

Isn't it obvious? Because he looks like he has a good chance of winning it himself and it would be quite a surprise if they don't let Wiggins defend his jersey.

 

[King_Eric]

Isn't it obvious? Because he looks like he has a good chance of winning it himself and it would be quite a surprise if they don't let Wiggins defend his jersey.

I don't know. If the rumours are true and the next Tour will be very favorable for the climbers, they might give Froome the leadership. Or at least starting with a duo-leadership.
I can't imagine Sky would take the risk losing a talented Brit like Froome by going 100% for Wiggins while realising he hasn't really got a chance winning the Tour. And if Contador and Schleck are back, and the Tour is indeed focused on the mountains instead of time trial, I really don't think Wiggins has a chance.

 

[spinoza]

I've heard they're going to try to get the legendary Puy de Dôme back in the Tour. Although it's going to be difficult (read: expensive) convincing the local authorities. Apparently the mountain can't take much tourism anymore, let alone the whole Tour caravan including a peleton. It could however be ideal for an individual climbing time trial.

Contador will fancy that one...