Tour de France 2008: Pre-race Talk
- Thread starter Crankyfeet
- Start date
Which French rider will come out of this the best? With the chance of this being the cleanest tour for ages will a Frenchman target the overall hoping to sneak into the top 10? Admittedly this contains the assumptions that this tour will be the cleanest and that the French have been held back by not doping or by doping less than others but both are possible. Moreau won the Dauphine last year but crashed in the Tour and finished 37th. Maybe this year will see him have better luck although he is getting pretty old now. Cyril Dessel did well in the Dauphine but again he is getting on as well. Maybe Sylvain Chavanel will aim for a top 20? Pretty slim pickings really. Probably the best chance of a high placing is for someone who is capable of about 30th being let go in one of those breaks that stay away and gain half an hour on everyone. Maybe one of the above will go for breaks in the mountains and try to get the polka dot jersey?
Has anyone seen the Quick Step line-up for the race? Is Devolder going to get more support now that Boonen is a non-starter?
Here's the start list I just dragged off CN. Haven't got much of a clue as to the strengths of the domestiques.
Carlos Barredo (Spa)
Matteo Carrara (Ita)
Stijn Devolder (Bel)
Steven De Jongh (Ned)
Sébastien Rosseler (Bel)
Gert Steegmans (Bel)
Matteo Tosatto (Ita)
Mauro Facci (Ita)
Jurgen Van de Walle (Bel)
Here's the start list I just dragged off CN. Haven't got much of a clue as to the strengths of the domestiques.
Carlos Barredo (Spa)
Matteo Carrara (Ita)
Stijn Devolder (Bel)
Steven De Jongh (Ned)
Sébastien Rosseler (Bel)
Gert Steegmans (Bel)
Matteo Tosatto (Ita)
Mauro Facci (Ita)
Jurgen Van de Walle (Bel)
Carlos Barredo (Spa) all round domestique, but think he will be a stage hunter
Matteo Carrara (Ita) hmmm not sure off hand
Stijn Devolder (Bel) wont do jack **** anyway
Steven De Jongh (Ned) good sprinte in his own right, Steegmans leadout man
Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) good tter, domestique duties, work in leadout train
Gert Steegmans (Bel)
Matteo Tosatto (Ita) leadout train,
Mauro Facci (Ita) not sure, assume decent all round rider/domestique role
Jurgen Van de Walle (Bel) not sure, see above
Matteo Carrara (Ita) hmmm not sure off hand
Stijn Devolder (Bel) wont do jack **** anyway
Steven De Jongh (Ned) good sprinte in his own right, Steegmans leadout man
Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) good tter, domestique duties, work in leadout train
Gert Steegmans (Bel)
Matteo Tosatto (Ita) leadout train,
Mauro Facci (Ita) not sure, assume decent all round rider/domestique role
Jurgen Van de Walle (Bel) not sure, see above
From some cursory research... most of your unknowns look like leadout train guys with some allround capabilities.thunder said:
Carrara (29yrs and 72kg) has a fourth in the 2007 Tour de Suisse, a 6th and 10th in the 2006 Giro di Lombardia and Milan-Sanremo respectively... and points classifications in 2003 Tour of Qinghai Lake and the Osterreich Rundfahrt. He was riding for Lampre in 2004, Barloworld in 2005, Lampre again in 2006, and Unibet in 2007.
Facci (26yrs and 70kg) is a late young switch replacement for Van Impe. His sole pro palmares are in Team Time Trials. He was with Barloworld in 2006... and QS since.
And Van de Walle (31 yrs and 75kg) won the Belgian U19 Road Race in 1995 and came second in the Belgian U19 TT that same year. He was with minor Conti teams before joining QS in 2006.
Some nice TdF intro videos that play automatically on Versus' site.
http://www.versus.com/tdf
Versus will be streaming the first two stages live on the internet prior to the TV coverage starting at 8:30am EST in the US.
http://www.versus.com/tdf
Versus will be streaming the first two stages live on the internet prior to the TV coverage starting at 8:30am EST in the US.
Horner picks his tour favorites... from cyclingnews.com
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/tour08/?id=/riders/2008/interviews/tour08_chris_horner
PS - Does everyone here read CN and linking to there is just a waste of time?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/tour08/?id=/riders/2008/interviews/tour08_chris_horner
PS - Does everyone here read CN and linking to there is just a waste of time?
true, many likely read CN - but with so many sources and articles to read about Tour stuff these days, I appreciate (even if thunder doesn'tCrankyfeet said:
) the links to articles others found interesting in case I missed something (eg. I hadn't yet noticed this Horner article, so thanks!)
re: Horner interview on CN - Horner always seems to have good insight about strategy stuff ... his comments about Beloki in 2003 (ie, why was he riding so aggressively in the first place when he crashed?) were interesting, never thought about it like that before.
Yeah... it was interesting that he said that riders sometimes act more defensively at the Tour... just to protect a top five or so spot... let alone a podium position.confusedfan said:
It would be a shame if a guy's coming second... and he doesn't want to attack for first... because of the risk of blowing up and losing his place.
Speak for yourself buddy!thunder said:yep
I don't check CN on a regular basis, and so appreciate the links posted here.
Here's the original list of favourites... and their finishing position in brackets on the left...
[2]Evans 9/4
[9]Valverde 9/2
[4]Menchov 13/2
[DNF]Cunego 11/1
[12]Andy Schleck 12/1
[1]Sastre 14/1
[DNS]Gesink 14/1
[DNS]Rogers 25/1
[DNS]Anton 28/1
[DNF]Soler 35/1
[6]Franck Schleck 35/1
[7]Sanchez 40/1
[DNF]Devolder 40/1
[45]Zubeldia 40/1
[DNS]Dekker 45/1
[24]Popovych 50/1
[2]Evans 9/4
[9]Valverde 9/2
[4]Menchov 13/2
[DNF]Cunego 11/1
[12]Andy Schleck 12/1
[1]Sastre 14/1
[DNS]Gesink 14/1
[DNS]Rogers 25/1
[DNS]Anton 28/1
[DNF]Soler 35/1
[6]Franck Schleck 35/1
[7]Sanchez 40/1
[DNF]Devolder 40/1
[45]Zubeldia 40/1
[DNS]Dekker 45/1
[24]Popovych 50/1
Crankyfeet said:
Very interesting list : Popo 50/1.
Popovych should be at 1,500/1 given the demise in his form.
On Eurosport yesterday, David Harmon said that a week ago a friend of his got odds of 80/1 on Kohl reaching the podium in Paris.
Nice odds.
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