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Tour de France 2012 - Ag2r-La Mondiale
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Posted on 20-05-2013 07:58
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| Geezar10 |
Posted on 06-06-2012 23:04
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Welcome to the 2012 version of le Tour de France and I will be playing as my favorite French team in le Tour this year, Ag2r. Ag2r are aiming to raise their reputation in this tour with as many stage wins as possible and they will try to get their fair share of camera time in the breakaways. They will also mount an assault on as many jerseys as possible. What is possible remains to be seen. Here is the map of le Tour's route this year:
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| Geezar10 |
Posted on 06-06-2012 23:05
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Maillot Jaune
Cadel Evans
Cadel looks set to retain his title this year with his great time trialing ability, his great skill in the mountains and the absence of his main rival, Alberto Contador. The Aussie also has experienced winning and I'm certain he cannot wait to taste victory again. Cadel is no doubt the favorite this year.
Bradley Wiggins
Surprisingly Bradley is second favorite although this mainly down to race organizers. This is the perfect opportunity for Bradley with almost 100km of time trialing throughout the Tour and the inclusion of only 3 summit finishes. He will be the one to watch if he can stick with the best climbers on the mountains and then impress in the time trails.
Andy Schleck
Often dubbed as the best mountain climber on a bike in the world, Andy will not be happy with this Tour's route because of the great amount of time trials. He will get on with it though and have to try even harder to gain time in the mountains. He also has the biggest help possible in the mountains, his brother. Andy has been practicing his time trialing and will hope he won't lose much time on these stages. If he performs there he will be the favorite for the overall.
Samuel Sanchez
Sammy took home the polka dot jersey last year and showed he can ride the mountains well. He also can time trial reasonably well and this should give him one over Andy. He will be hoping to claim a jersey that is even more highly acclaimed this year and will be going above and beyond to get it.
Frank Schleck
Many have written Frank off this year because of the time trialing where he will suffer even more than his brother. He and his brother are still deadly when they work together in the mountains with back to back attacks. If he gets away alone on a mountain stage he will definitely be a threat to the other favorites.
Maillot Vert
Mark Cavendish
Mark will hope to build on the success of last year where he took the green jersey. He will also be hoping to beat Eddie Merckx record of 34 Tour de France stage victory's. He is by far the favorite especially with Boasson Hagen as his lead out man.
Andre Greipel
Greipel stepped out of Cavendish's shadow last year where he claim a stage win in the sprint, he hopes he can claim a few more this year. The large German will be a threat to Cavendish for the green this year as he has improved since moving to a new team.
Alessandro Petacchi
Petacchi has claimed the points jersey once in all three grand tours but he is hungry for a second in the Tour. He will be third favorite this year due to his advancing age but he is not to be underestimated and can still accelerate away from nearly everyone in the sport.
Edited by Geezar10 on 07-06-2012 15:04 |
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| Geezar10 |
Posted on 06-06-2012 23:05
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Ag2r have gone for a different approach to their usual tour tactics with the tactic of capitalizing on the support of the home fans prominent here with the announcement of their all French squad for the tour. Here are the lucky nine that were selected:
Jean-Christophe Peraud
Peraud will lead the tour for us this year after his great success of a top ten finish last year. He will benefit from the extra time trialing this year as he will get one over some of the rivals for yellow like Andy and Frank but he should be outclassed here again by Cadel and Bradley so it has its pros and it's cons.
John Gadret
John is here really just to contest the polka dot jersey although if Peraud is under performing we never know. This tour doesn't really suit Gadret with all the time trials and the lack of summit finishes. Gadret will certainly be a threat to the favorites in the mountains though and it will be interesting to see how he does.
Anthony Ravard
Ravard is certainly not expected to do anything in the sprints this year but we are hoping he can provide a shock with the impressive lead out train we will provide him with. He is an outside shout for green but a shout none the less.
Hubert Dupont
Hubert will be helping Peraud in the mountains and also going for a breakaway or two to try and achieve some solo glory. He will also struggle in the time trials so it is unlikely his overall finish will be overly high but hopefully it will still be respectable.
Christophe Riblon
Riblon will be helping in the mountains but is really just a domestique in this tour. He will be a breakaway rider in a few stages though so he might snatch a win before the Champs-Elysees but it remains unlikely.
Blei Kadri
Another helper for the mountains and also a rider for the breakaways on the mountainous stages. I expect he will do well in the mountains for a 25 year old although this GT will be a sign for what he can do in the future.
Maxime Bouet
Maxime is another of the teams promising riders but and will also feature in this tour as a domestique. He will have a chance to show if he has talent to his french fans but no-one will be too disappointed if he doesn't produce any fireworks this early in his career.
Sebastian Hinault
Hinault is the second lead-out man for Ravard. He will also help the leaders in any hilly stages. If the opportunity arises in a breakaway we can be sure he will contest a sprint valiantly.
Lloyd Mondory
Mondory is Ravard's lead out man for the Tour this year. He will also be allowed to go alone if Ravard gets dropped or if he is badly positioned.
Edited by Geezar10 on 07-06-2012 02:41 |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 06-06-2012 23:15
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Good luck, the french are always fun at le tour!! |
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| chris01 |
Posted on 07-06-2012 02:12
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Good luck Ag2r surely can make the tour interesting!
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 07-06-2012 12:35
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Good Luck Geezar10, hope it works out for you 
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| Geezar10 |
Posted on 07-06-2012 15:08
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@TheMankMissile thanks and your story was one of the main reasons i picked a french team
@chris01 thanks i hope so too, they have some riders to challenge for a few jerseys so that's what I'm going for
@sutty68 thanks I think my goals are bit ambitious but hopefully achievable |
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| Geezar10 |
Posted on 07-06-2012 15:59
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Prologue
Today's stage is a flat 6.4km time trial through Liege. Today will probably separate all the riders over the span of approximately 1 minute so it won't impact too much on the general classifications. However today's stage will be taken very seriously by the favorites as they know that a few seconds can make all the difference in the end. The favorites for today's stage are Tony Martin and Bradley Wiggins. We are not expected to pull any trees today but Peraud will hope he can clock a decent time and maybe take a few early seconds on the favorites.
Frank Schleck was the first one of the favorites out and he set a respectable time of 8'35
David Millar went top of the provisional rankings with a time of 8'11.
David's time was instantly smashed by the world time trial champion, Tony Martin's, time of 8'02.
Our rider for the GC Peraud crossed the line with a time of 8'20.
Many people believe this is Vinokourov's last chance for a Tour victory but he did okay today with a time of 8'18.
Bradley Wiggins came in provisional 3rd with his time of 8'10 behind his team mate Boasson Hagen.
Samuel Sanchez was next over the line with his time of 8'20.
Andy Schleck was second to last over the line and he clocked a time of 8'32.
The reigning champion Cadel Evans was the final man across the line and he did well but just missed out on a top five place with a time of 8'12.
1 Tony Martin Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team 8'02
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen Sky Procycling + 7
3 Bradley Wiggins Sky Procycling + 8
4 David Millar Garmin - Barracuda + 9
5 Roman Kreuziger Astana Pro Team + 10
6 Cadel Evans BMC Racing Team s.t.
7 Andreas Klöden RadioShack - Nissan + 11
8 Levi Leipheimer Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team s.t.
9 Luis León Sánchez Rabobank Cycling Team + 13
10 Janez Brajkovič Astana Pro Team s.t.
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| chris01 |
Posted on 07-06-2012 17:15
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It is a good thing you made Peraud leader instead of Gadret
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring. |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 07-06-2012 17:44
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Good luck with this!
TDF is nearing, you just feel it at the popularity of TDF-stories 
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 07-06-2012 17:50
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Good luck with this |
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| Geezar10 |
Posted on 07-06-2012 17:54
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@chris01 yeah i know i messed up the first few time trials until i sorted it out in time for Peraud's
@Ian Butler i love TDF stories because they are short yet very interesting so i thought i give one a go
@PCMrulezz thanks still got high hopes at the minute |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 07-06-2012 18:22
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A nice and steady prologue for all the team
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| Geezar10 |
Posted on 07-06-2012 22:47
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Stage 1
Today's stage will probably be a stage for any sprinters who survive the hills. Despite this the favorites are hill specialists because of the terrain early in the stage. It is unlikely any of the favorites will go for a long solo win across the hills but it would be an interesting tactic. Today our strategy is to have a man in the break and then to get Ravard over the hills and in prime position for the sprint at the end.
A breakaway of 10 riders including our rider Dupont along with other assured hill riders such as Kroon and Duque.
Dupont contested all of the sprints for mountain points but was unsuccessful in all of them.
Back in the peleton there was a brief scare for Frank Schleck and Levi Leipheimer as they fell but easily made it back on their favored terrain.
With just over 1km to go a group of 3 riders got away from the rest of the breakaway, Bak, Offredo and Kroon but Duque was out infront. It was going to be won by one of these four as the peleton was nowhere to be seen.
Duque was off like a bullet and there was nothing either of the other three could do to catch him. A great win after a marvelous sprint.
The peleton came in over 3 minutes later and there appeared to be a split in the peleton. Whether a gap was awarded remained to be seen.
Great news for the team! Peraud was on the correct side of the split and it was awarded with all the favorites losing time except Cadel Evans.
Stage Results
1 Leonardo Duque Cofidis, le crédit en ligne 4h42'11
2 Karsten Kroon Team Saxo Bank + 25
3 Lars Ytting Bak Lotto Belisol Team + 39
4 Yohan Offredo FDJ - BigMat s.t.
5 Jonathan Hivert Saur - Sojasun + 1'06
6 Daniele Pietropolli Lampre - ISD s.t.
7 Marco Marcato Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team s.t.
8 Eros Capecchi Liquigas - Cannondale + 1'22
9 Hubert Dupont AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
10 Cyril Gautier Team Europcar s.t.
General Classification
1 Leonardo Duque Cofidis, le crédit en ligne 4h50'50
2 Karsten Kroon Team Saxo Bank + 19
3 Lars Ytting Bak Lotto Belisol Team + 24
4 Yohan Offredo FDJ - BigMat + 26
5 Jonathan Hivert Saur - Sojasun + 1'07
6 Marco Marcato Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team + 1'10
7 Daniele Pietropolli Lampre - ISD + 1'15
8 Eros Capecchi Liquigas - Cannondale + 1'19
9 Cyril Gautier Team Europcar + 1'21
10 Hubert Dupont AG2R La Mondiale + 1'23
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 07-06-2012 23:06
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well positioned for peraud, every second counts |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 08-06-2012 00:05
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World Champion
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Nice top ten finish for Dupont
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| Geezar10 |
Posted on 08-06-2012 00:31
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@TheManxMissile yeah we really need to gain time on Cadel now if we are to have any chance of surviving in the mountains and the time trails
@sutty68 thanks, i was a little disappointed at the end where he was left behind but it was to be expected as he and Kroon did most of the work to pull the breakaway over the hills |
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 08-06-2012 12:31
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A good start for AG2R |
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| Geezar10 |
Posted on 08-06-2012 16:14
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Stage 2
Today's stage is the first real stage for the sprinters. It could again go down as a stage for the breakaway but after yesterday the sprinters will be determined to have their turn before tomorrows hilly stage. We will try to get another man in the break today and then we will attach Ravard to the back of a leading sprinter at the end and hope for the best.
A 14 man breakaway got away including our rider for today Riblon.
Only 2 riders went for the intermediate sprint today, Riblon and Kroon with Kroon taking max points in green.
The break was caught with only about 5 kilometres to go and the sprint trains had already been formed.
The trains of the three green jersey favorites led the way. We had got Ravard onto Petacchi's wheel so we were in with a chance.
Cavendish demolished the sprint today with a great burst of speed to win. Lampre's train fell to pieces and Feillu came from nowhere to take second with Greipel third.
A large group of riders fell near the finish today in the wet conditions with only one major name affected. We were in luck for it was Cadel Evans! The group all lost 4 minutes on the GC.
Sadly the game crashed before I could export the results. So all I know is the top 3 and that Ravard came 17th. |
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| chris01 |
Posted on 08-06-2012 17:09
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The cycling gods must really like Peraud
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring. |
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