thoughts on TdF winners & losers...
Last Post 07/27/2014 12:22 AM by Franck A.. 9 Replies.
Author Messages
Entheo

Posts:317

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07/25/2014 09:10 AM
yeah, i know it's not over yet, but that's never stopped me before! winners: the poles, germans, french and yeah that one sicilian guy. majka and kwiatkowski have been revelations. the germans have 5 stage wins so far with likely 2 to 3 more. the the french may podium twice. and i think we owe nibali props for what he's done, with (stage 2 victory, cobbles) and without froome & contador. losers: team sky. woulda shoulda coulda. eurocar: wierd behaviour and no results. garmin: so close yet so far, and tough lessons for their young GC contender. purito: who'd a thunk he'd lose the dots once he set his sights on it. winner: tinkoff saxo: successfully retooled upon berto's departure. loser: bob roll. consistently predicted incorrectly, many times at odds with CVV, on camera. winner: CVV. say what you will about his commenting style (i happen to think he got better as the tour rolled on and give him a B+), he accurately predicted outcomes early in the stages. he understands modern bike racing; roll should be relegated to the dust bin of has-beens. loser: valverde. ex doper who wheel sucks and then attacks. no longer a GC threat. hope the two young frenchmen make the podium and not him. winner: TJ. shows he's a fighter and doesn't give up, even tho the podium is out of reach now. Talansky too, for his courageous last ride. but he needs to back out when the sprinters heat up. winner & loser: sagan. unless he wins the stage today, it will be a somewhat disappointing green jersey for him. zabel also won the points without winning a stage, but that's gotta be bittersweet for what's generally considered the sprinters jersey. winner: the mountains and white jersey competitions, and 2nd & 3rd spots on the GC. except for the yellow it really has been an exciting TdF. okay, who you got for winners & losers?
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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07/25/2014 11:46 AM
Winners? The French! No country was better represented on camera than France. In every break, the battle for the young rider's jersey and podium spots. Tomorrow, all eyes will be on the 2nd and 3rd place riders, both French. And these riders are young. They will be around for years. And French kids get to have French heroes in the great French race. There will be more. We will see another Thevenet, Hineault, or Fignon because the kids with their gifts will be wanting to be the next Pinot, Péraud or Bardet.

The French are back!

And of course, Nibali. We knew he was a climber who could be GC threat. This year he showed he could: train with focus, ride the Tour with his head always on straight, avoid crashes and dumb mistakes AND (who knew) could descend not far of the best in the business, sprint like Mario (that footage of him passing 20 riders in the wind to avoid being echeloned) and ride cobbles!!

Ben
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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07/25/2014 12:11 PM
Winners: Nibali, French cycling, Majka.

Losers: everyone else.

German cycling is among losers because despite Kittel's wins no one in Germany got to see it due to TV boycot (a big sore point with Kittel).

TJ, Mollema and the like are among losers because despite admirably being in top 10 they made zero impact on the actual race. Whenever Nibali gunned it, I only saw a little French dude next to him on occasion.

While Kwiatkowski has had an awesome season, his jojo riding this tour did not impress me.

Sagan...well, I guess today's happenings were symptomatic of his Tour and this season overall.

The jury is still out on Valverde, if he makes the podium tomorrow, it will be a personal victory.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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07/25/2014 03:48 PM
Nibali!
French kids!
Award for most beautiful views: Stage 15 Tallard to Nimes.

I am looking forward to both the men's and woman's races on Sunday!
8art8

Posts:11

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07/25/2014 04:12 PM
Greg Lemond's return via Eurosport?
Ride On

Posts:537

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07/25/2014 05:42 PM
Winners, the guys putting on the Vuelta.
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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07/25/2014 08:21 PM
Posted By Ride On on 07/25/2014 05:42 PM
Winners, the guys putting on the Vuelta.


This....except AC tweeted the other day that he would not make the Vuelta.
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
longslowdistance

Posts:2881

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07/25/2014 08:24 PM
Bummer that.
Inferno7

Posts:344

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07/26/2014 10:52 PM
I did not know that J.C. Peraud on the silver medal in men's cross country Bejing.
eurochien

Posts:163

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07/27/2014 12:22 AM
French pros and their team directors (as well as many fans and journalists) have said for years that French cycling sucked for so long (last podium Richard Virenque, 1997) because of the wild west doping years effectively put them out of the race (French laws are very strict regarding doping, as you all know). It's hard to say if there's no doping going on - even on French teams - but it sure looks like a more level playing field now.


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