Re: Loyal2TheRoyal's Official Tour De France Preview............J'adore La Tour!!!!!

**mossbags** Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:35 pm

SamiPremier08 wrote:right if you don't like cycling and think it's a sport full of drugs then piss off to another thread!

Here Sam this fine ditty might chill you at a little

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Guest Sat Jul 25, 2009 11:25 pm

Mount Ventoux is legendary.

Great stuff from Andy Schleck, he had all bar Contador dropped at one stage and if it wasn't out of loyalty to his brother he would have won the stage and possibly dropped Contador too.

I'm very disappointed Frank didn't kick Lance off the podium, the last few days took their toll on Frank but he's still in the top 3 climbers in the world. Wiggo got dropped as well, not as good as the media thought he could be.

A great tour and two stars in Andy and Alberto. And Frank in my opinion.

All but over now, just the final stage down the Champs Elysees to come which Cavendish will win as he likes.

Guest Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:08 am

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:

Alberto Contador: Winner in 2007, missed last year due to the trouble at Astana but its widely accepted that he's the best all rounder in the world. A worthy favourite but from a betting point of view, very short in such a competitive Tour!

Lance Armstrong: Dosen't need an explanation, the closer we get, the more I think that he could do it, it would be a fairytale.

Andy Schleck: Last year's White Jersey winner but the big problem I have with Schleck is he's going to lose a lot of time in the Time Trials so is he really going to be able to drop all the big names somewhere in the mountains? Podium finish for sure, 6/1 each way looks good.

Cadel Evans: Second in 2007 and second again in 2008 and one point take the view that if he couldn't win it last year in a weaker field, how can he do it again?

Carlos Sastre: Last year's winner, looked back to something like his best towards the end of the Giro and sure to be on the premises again.

Denis Menchov: Russian who won the Giro and that will surely take its toll against much fresher riders?

Levi Leipheimer: Flatters to decieve a lot of the time but whilst he's a good rider in his own right, you'd have to agree that Contador and Armstrong are the number ones for Astana.

Others: Kim Kirchen at 66/1 could do well while his fellow countyman Frank Schleck (brother of Andy) could surprise for Saxo bank. He held the yellow jersey for 5-6 stages last year and could do so again. Franco Pellizotti of Liquigas could be another to raise eyebrows in the mountains but it may be his younger teammates who shine - Roman Kreuziger and Vincenzo Nibali. Finally Christian Vande Velde of Garmin is not without his chance.

I still haven't mentioned the sprinters and whilst the climbers are great, I love the power and muscle of the sprinters as they hit 60km/h in the last 200 yards of a stage. Marc Cavendish is the Usain Bolt of cycling and I believe he is hoping to win five or more stages this year which would be great. Then the other usual suspects like Farrar, Cancellera, Frieire, Hushovd and even Kirchen will all be in the hunt for the Green Jersey.

Predictions:
Its such a wide open tour this year, Contador is the one to beat and sure he'll be hard bet but I think someone out there will take it to him, maybe one of the Schlecks or Sastre or his own teammate Lance Armstrong. I'm backing Andy Schleck at 6/1 and Christian Vande Velde at 40/1.

The King of the Mountains is always difficult to tell and given the record of winners testing positive, I'll leave it.

Love the sprinters and in particular Cav but he's such a short price that it may be worth taking a chance on someone else, possibly Tyler Farrar.

Andy Schleck should take the white jersey like he did twelve months ago but Nibali and Kreuziger won't make it easy.

Astana are moral certs for the Team Classification, only Rabbobank, Saxobank and Liquigas are in their league.

All in all, an exciting three weeks to look forward to.

Really enjoyed the tour. Very sad its over but looking forward to the Vuelta.

Looking back on my predictions, I didn't do too bad. Andy Schleck was second best, Vande Velde had one bad day I suppose and that handed Garmin leadership over to Wiggo. I said Pellizotti would do well in the mountains and he picked up the Polka dot jersey. Kruzeiger and Nibali did well too. Happy with my predictions. I would have expected Kim Kirchen to have picked up a stage or two though or even make more of a name for himself at the Tour. Suppose with Cav in the team, there was no need to be too aggressive.

**SamiPremier08** Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:55 pm

great tour, one of the best I've seen for a long time. next year will come around before we know it Very Happy

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