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Tour de France Preview and Discussion thread
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 17-01-2011 13:18
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Good stage for me. And while it points-wise would have been good to take over the yellow jersey, I'm glad that my team can relax for the next couple of stages.
(I'm not sure how much influence it actually has, but hey, it sounds good  ) |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 17-01-2011 13:33
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So, nothing special from Gesink in the mountains. Lets bring the sprint stages! Although I'm not sure Sieberg will be able to lead Van Stayen out as he did in the first week, before we reached the mountains.
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| SotD |
Posted on 17-01-2011 14:40
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Lavoine should be out of the race by now... If he has any chance at all it will be in the 3rd stage from now I think it is... Otherwise I actually hope he will be dropped, as Sonnery could be a decent bet for the uphill sprints... He has dissapointed me so far though, but I don't recall him being leader yet, so I'm probably the one to blame for that.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 17-01-2011 15:37
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My only worry now before the Pyrenees is if Spilak is too close to the front as the sprint begins on the Mende stage - he could well win that and take the Yellow there.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 17-01-2011 15:37
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| niconico |
Posted on 17-01-2011 16:08
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I really don't get this performance from Pluchkin...
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 17-01-2011 20:42
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Vaugrenard was present in several breakaways this year and what better way to grab a victory than a Tour de France stage!
Van Stayen is definitely out of the green battle now, but at least we got our third stage win. Now if only Gesink could climb a little bit better...
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| dave92 |
Posted on 17-01-2011 21:03
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im not too sure why with phinney in mediocre form, no sprinter whatsoever, why we arent more active in the breaks
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 03:27
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| mattiasgt |
Posted on 17-01-2011 21:17
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Kind of an anti-climax having a rider in the first succesful break of the tour with a small hill at the beginnning and then he can't climb whatsoever. 
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| fenian_1234 |
Posted on 17-01-2011 21:19
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Aaarrrrgggggghhh....just about the first day the team misses the break and it goes all the way.
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| Heine |
Posted on 18-01-2011 07:55
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This is turning into a TDF for the history books 
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| SotD |
Posted on 18-01-2011 09:29
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Good riddance... Contador almost caught himself in a bad position there... Thank god he climbed back not losing any time. He really knows how to make himself noted, especially when he positions himself right in the center of attention, that being mountain jerseyattacks, breaks in the peloton or crashes... I'm not calm before he gets of his bike in Paris, Knock-on-wood.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 18-01-2011 10:07
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SportingNonsense wrote:
My only worry now before the Pyrenees is if Spilak is too close to the front as the sprint begins on the Mende stage - he could well win that and take the Yellow there.
And there we go, kinda expected, so not too dissapointing - and at least Uran put up a great effort, and still has 1 jersey outright - no longer joint leading the KoM with Contador. So much still to play for so hopefully Uran can try to fight back - we'll see how he climbs without Yellow - but he needs to fight anyway with the Top 4 so close, and last year's winner being in 5th. And looking at the prologue - only 3 seconds separated Uran, Spilak and Dekker - so the Pyrenees will be so vital.
Heine wrote:
This is turning into a TDF for the history books
There's something about the Tour de France in the Man Game that so often leads to a tight, exciting race, where the other GTs may not. Maybe not in 2008, with Frank Schleck's 4 minute win, or 2009 where Devolder beat Frank by 2 minutes, with 3rd placed Gadret at 7 minutes - but in 2007, Moreau beats Vinokourov by 6 seconds, and last season, Fothen beats Devolder by 2 seconds - with Spilak less than a minute down. And now this year, 4 riders within a minute going into the Pyrenees (assuming/hoping for an uneventful flat stage) - its awesome.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 18-01-2011 10:08
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| p3druh |
Posted on 18-01-2011 10:24
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This TdF is sucking so very much for my team...
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| SotD |
Posted on 18-01-2011 10:28
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Yeah hopefully the loss of mountainpoints will lead Contador to drop his chase
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| SotD |
Posted on 18-01-2011 10:37
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p3druh wrote:
This TdF is sucking so very much for my team...
Below-par for sure, but sucking? Can't see how you can get that conclusion? Atm 5th without the last mountains and a 50km TT that will probably fit Fothen the best. You still have every chance to climb onto the podium imo. Your mediocre sprinter is the 4th most consistent of the Tour and Panayotov seems to be overperforming.
My sprinters suck, my 2 main helpers both crashed out of top 35, while they could both very well be around top 20, and Contador seems to be polkachasing...
So it's all down to a specific way of seeing things... On the bright side you seem to be collecting points from me, La Gazzetta (In the end) and Lipton, not to mention Wikipedia...
So losing ground on Domina, and Vesuvio could be much much worse...
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 18-01-2011 10:39
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He probably will though - he hasnt every actually led the competition as far as the game is concerned (Uran has been given position 1 in KoM since he took Yellow) - yet that hasnt stopped him throwing his energy away before.
Going for the KoM points on the penultimate climb of Stage 15 may not necesarilly be a bad thing - provided a gap can be made, and then kept in the descent. It's the sort of move Contador perhaps needs to risk if he hopes to claw back at least 3 minutes.
Edit: And I wouldnt underestimate how La Gazzetta might score from this. Bennati has what, 2 stages now. Plus a few placings, and then having led it for a long time. Lets say he gets another stage and already thats looking at the 400/500 point mark. If Fothen stays as he is in 5th, thats 290 points for the GC place - and not necesarilly a lot from stage placings, I think 3rd is his best on a stage so far.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 18-01-2011 10:46
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| Christer |
Posted on 18-01-2011 10:43
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I like this TdF. My team is being active. That was the main goal.
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| SotD |
Posted on 18-01-2011 10:44
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Agreed. I think I wrote it before, that exactly that stage could be a positive thing... I don't expect or dare dream about him taking a higher position though. I'm pretty happy with 6th here. Also stage 16 btw could be a good stage to jump away on, with the downhill finish...
But I think he might lose time on stage 17 and perhaps also on 18... Hopefully he will be able to take some time on the guys behind him, so he doesn't lose a spot or 2 in the TT. That would be horrible. Besides that I just hope that both Ardila and Madrazo can climb into top 30...
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 18-01-2011 10:48
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Stage 17? Nah, Id expect that to be a breakaway or a reduced bunch sprint - like real life.
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| Crommy |
Posted on 18-01-2011 13:05
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SportingNonsense wrote:
There's something about the Tour de France in the Man Game that so often leads to a tight, exciting race, where the other GTs may not. Maybe not in 2008, with Frank Schleck's 4 minute win, or 2009 where Devolder beat Frank by 2 minutes, with 3rd placed Gadret at 7 minutes - but in 2007, Moreau beats Vinokourov by 6 seconds, and last season, Fothen beats Devolder by 2 seconds - with Spilak less than a minute down. And now this year, 4 riders within a minute going into the Pyrenees (assuming/hoping for an uneventful flat stage) - its awesome.
The glory days for my team 
Shame we've never done anything close to that since
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