Who wins the Tour now?

thunder

that was Frank, amigo de birillo.

Also, Mr Andy was described by Simoni @ Giro last year after his podium "So much for the new clean generation".

padawan

I agree that Frank won't TT well this year - especially with his weight where it is right now (reportedly around 130 lbs). He seems to be focused for serious climbing. And I know Sastre can TT reasonably well if its under 30 km. But as you say, he's just not good at the long TTs, especially if their flat. The first ITT is only 29 km but flat, the other is 53 km and rolling but not super hilly. I think that Andy S. could do at least as well as Sastre on a rolling TT course.

I'm not suggesting that they TT well, but maybe well enough to limit losses of time gained on mountain stages. It will depend on what sort of form Sastre has, I don't think either of the Schleck bros. would be going for GC placing unless Sastre wasn't doing well. But Andy is certainly a good fallback position for CSC.

padawan

P.S. I've given up voicing opinions on who is clean and who is not. The reality is I - like most cyclists that aren't involved at the professional level - will never know the truth of it. I'm convinced that (as in most things in life) the more you hear, the less you know.

thunder

I think F Schleck, could be a podium threat, he won the alpe d'huez stage, people talk of Cunego, well he beat him on that stage, and he is probably as good a tter as Cunego.

It depends on the dope. I think Andy Schleck confirmed there were flaws in Daamsgards system, and you can get a blood transfusion and insulin. If Schleck the elder gets that help, he could win.

I think any of the 3 CSC riders could win. Schleck, Sastre and Sleck jnr. They probably all need a buffer of one minute into the final tt. But who is gonna take minutes out of them in tts?

Rogers? nope, never could tt in GTs as well as one day events.

Evans, nope, perhaps in the first tt if it was 55 kms, he could take 2-3 out of them. But not this one.

It is wide open.

limerickman

Schleck is a good choice.

I think at this stage, that it would be a good bet to select a CSC rider as potential TDF winner.....but remember it's only February!

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morelike hypocrisy.

Andrija

Menchov maybe.
He showed he can climb against riders we're mentioning here and he can tt better than most of them.

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thunder

when he has his blood transfusions

velo711

I was referring to the Andreas Kloden interview where he mentioned Astana's
anti doping program for the team, silly me.

docgtn

This team should be thrown away. It has doped since the beginning of doping and has always said we have cleaned house look at us now. Look we have riders who would never dope. They say that right up until the point they get caught doping again and fire all the riders who no one ever suspected would dope. It is a joke.

docgtn

What about Mike Rogers or Perriero? Rogers was on his way to the yellow jersey last year when he crashed and is Per still in race or has he been caught doping? I would say Evans is the natural to ascend to favorite based on the fact that his finishes have improved gradually over the last few years but with his age you would have to wonder if maybe he missed his chance last year.

thunder

Rasmussen would have dropped Rogers and got yellow. All Rass was down was about 35 seconds from the prologue to Rogers. Dont believe the bullshit. Rass would have ridden him off his wheel on the last climb. Whether or not Rogers would have gotten that time back in the timetrial coming up, is another matter. He probably would have taken it.

This is the perfect parcours for Rogers. The climbs are not too debilitating, he will have good support from Kirchen and Gerdemann and probably one more climber atleast, Lovqvist or Pinotti.

velo711

So which teams are clean?, of the 180 odd riders at the tour last year which one's doping? I guess only a select few on this forum know based on all the rider
bashing. Either way we will watch the tour and enjoy it, because we love it.

thoughtforfood

You'd have to ask the teams that...no wait, they would all claim to be clean. I guess we should just go on their word and not look at results and kind of do a little logical detective work and see who was keeping up with the people who got caught. No reason to question the fact that the average speed in the tour went through the roof, etc. etc. etc.

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snood

80% took HGH last year. 47 surely took blood doping.