TdF

[tenacious1]

To honor us 'Mericans the French have decided to start the race on July 4.

I haven't been following the lead up closely but had a conversation with a friend Sunday. His take is that it will be a battle between Contador and Nabali. Even though Contador won the Giro he appears to be in great form as does Nibali. I'm guessing Froome rather than Nibali will be Contador's big challenger.

There are only two TTs and one is a TTT. The other is Stage 1 and is less than 20km. This just might help Quintana.

TJ -- is in good form but doesn't appear to have any teammate to help him in the mountains. Froome dropped easily and often in the Dauphine. Talansky finished 4 minutes behind TJ at the Dauphine.

I miss Phinney.

[tenacious1]

That cost him the Dauphine; a little help to stay with Froome on that last climb would have been so nice

With Alpe D'Huez on the penultimate day? It could be EPIC

That's exactly what my friend said.

BMC should have hired Horner.

[ctjim]

Jersey picks:

Yellow - Contador
Green - Sagan
Polka Dot - Some dude I've never heard of
White - Quintana

Cool stage-by-stage guide:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/ng-interactive/2015/jul/01/tour-de-france-2015-stage-by-stage

My pick for early stage carnage:
Stage 3, which includes cobbles and the climb of the Mur de Huy at the end. 

[ihop]

Yellow:  Contador
Green:  Sagan
Polka dot:  Quintana
White:  Pinot

And I read that Froome missed an out of competition test...

[wherestheportojohn]

I've not followed a single thing on the lead up to TdF this year.
No clue who's in/out/team/fitness/doped up.


should be fun.

"Who's that?"
"Which squad is this....stupid new colors and sponsors confuse the hell outta me."
"Who's this guy?"
"Where's (fill in any name) this year?"
"Banned?"


 

[ctjim]

http://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/3bpe52/official_2015_tdf_drinking_game/

"Drink whenever Phil Ligget screws up a rider's name.
Drink whenever Phil and Paul talk about the scenic French countryside(includes tourist sites, old castles, and landmarks). Finish your drink if that "beautiful" old church doesn't actually look very special."

"Yeah I don't want get blackout drunk before 9 am..."

Exactly this !!!

[wherestheportojohn]

 

[ctjim]

Word has it that Jens will be Jensing on NBC Sports during their coverage.
The dream trio is almost complete:

Bobke
Jens
Horner

[wherestheportojohn]

Word has it that Jens will be Jensing on NBC Sports during their coverage.
The dream trio is almost complete:

Bobke
Jens
Horner

[ihop]

I've not followed a single thing on the lead up to TdF this year.
No clue who's in/out/team/fitness/doped up.


should be fun.

"Who's that?"
"Which squad is this....stupid new colors and sponsors confuse the hell outta me."
"Who's this guy?"
"Where's (fill in any name) this year?"
"Banned?"


 

I must admit to being out of this year too.  Just too much going on to pay attention to everything/everyone.

[tenacious1]

I must admit to being out of this year too.  Just too much going on to pay attention to everything/everyone.

Same here. But I might as well make some predictions guesses.

Yellow -- Froome.  (I don't care how in shape Pistol Pedro is, I'm not rooting for him.)
Green -- Sagan -- because he was a beast last year. No one came near his points total.
Polka Dot -- Quintana
Yellow -- Kwi-a-cow-ski  (I'm too lazy to go look up the spelling)

Top American rider -- Talansky because he'll have more help in the mountains than TJ.

It's kind of awesome to see that Quintana is the designated leader for Valverde's team. Does this make Valverde road captain?

[tenacious1]

Stage 1 is a 13.8 km TT on pancake flat terrain. The map shows the route has a lot of cornering.

Who's your favorite for the fastest ride and the yellow jersey?

[wherestheportojohn]

stage 1


Sagan....or the Manx missile....I'm gonna miss Kittel. 💔

[wherestheportojohn]

Wait.
No.
It's a time trial...not a sprint finish.

I change my vote to (fill in a name)


But I'll still miss Kittel. 

[tenacious1]

...off to find out what happened to Kittel.

[tenacious1]

    (I got distracted while I was looking for Kittel.)

[tenacious1]

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/07/news/the-biggest-names-not-at-the-tour-de-france_375972

So...Kittels been sick.

For tomorrow's TT, I think it will be either Tony Martin or Rohan Dennis. I'm guessing Dennis.

No Wiggins. No Phinney. Cancellara did not take the Swiss TT title a week or so ago -- trained for the road race so he's not in top TT form.

[wherestheportojohn]

  let me be the first to volunteer to comfort and rub down Fabian 

[tenacious1]

You're such a giver!

[InflatableLawnTurkey]

I love all the mountain stages this year, in particular stage 19 which will take down to the wire.
I picked Nibali last year but I'm a bit nervous with all the doping on Astana.
Yellow - Contador
Polka dot - Quintana
White - Quintana
Green - Cavendish