Just an attempt at getting discussion going without any mention of the ‘d’ word…

1) Who is your favourite rider and why?

2) Which is your favourite team and why?

3) Any predictions as to who will seriously contend in the different categories?

1) Voeckler – is he even riding this year!? He’s great to watch, both in his tactics and his gurning! Or Cav, because he’s Cav.

2) TFR – I want to see the new Madone 9

3) Podium will be Berty/Nibbles/Quintana. Froome will finish, but 5th or 6th after having several crashes! Sagan may not win green, but I reckon he’ll get at least one stage this year. Would love to see Cav get some wins, which seems more likely than last year with no Kittel. No idea on the other jerseys, don’t follow things closely enough.

1) Who is your favourite rider and why?
Voeckler, just for the pure pain he shows when riding. Adam Hansen always seems like good fun and ha hard as nails too. Sadly Bernie Eisel is not riding.

2) Which is your favourite team and why?
I like Sky for their British Cycling connections but Orica GreenEdge just for the way they ride, they seem to have fun like Garmin did 3 or 4 years ago.

3) Any predictions as to who will seriously contend in the different categories?
Cav for green, I was really impressed by him at the national’s this weekend.
Bertie for yellow, sadly.
If he’s riding, someone like Pierre Roland for the spots, he’ll be more likely to get away than the GC guys.

1) Another Voekler fan here. He’s French and I always like seeing the French do well in the TDF – doesn’t happen much -, he shows some emotion in his riding, dropping off a parking area bank when overcooking corners and staying on, buries himself to keep the jersey on out of what seems to be true pride, he just seems to have some real spirit.
Also Sagan, a character with the skills to back it up, like his attitude. I admire any pro racer that can handle a bike like that and seem to have so mch fun doing it. Same for Nys, Shurter, Tomac BITD, etc. Always best to see Cavendish win on pure pace though.

2) No opinion really
3) No idea, hopefully it’ll be a fairly unpredictable race where predictions and plans count for less and a few individials work it out together, then I may have an answer to 2). Like to see the underdogs come through by staying in towards the end also. TBH the overall win counts for little to me as a spectator these days, far more interested in what comes out of the various day’s racing. Sometimes it’s just one move or action that makes the whole Tour.

The most boring outcome would be clear, efficient teamwork putting Contador well into the lead and staying there. Watching him and Quintana duke it out on the big climbs would be great – in fact Quintana winning it would be amazing, would be so happy to see that, unlikely but there’s a lot of climbing towards the end..

1) Laurens Ten Dam. Just because he’s an uncompromising nutter that is happy leave it all on the road day after day.

2) None really. I do tend to follow what Sky are doing but that’s more the British Cycling angle thing like lunge^^.

3) Cav looks fired up for the green. I’m hoping the usual suspects miss out on yellow to someone like Valverde.

interesting as isn’t Voeckler very unpopular in the peloton, known as “hollywood” for his gurning, and his constant futile attacking making people work unnecessarily?

1) Contador (ooh controversial). Always been a beautiful, attacking climber, and he’s a really wiley and cunning/clever racer. Taking on the combined forces of Katusha and Astana (the Axis of Evil 😀 ) on the Mortirolo a few weeks ago just sealed it.

Also Pinot- I like climbers, and having some vulnerability (crap descending due to a mental wobble from all the pressure of French expectation?) adds a degree of underdog status.

2) FDJ. Always had gorgeous kit, Marc Madiot is old school and slightly bonkers (and punches team car doors in), they’re French, refuse to sully the national jersey with sponsor logos, and it was seeing a Lapierre in FDJ colours that re-fired my enthusiasm for owning a road bike a few years ago (I’m a born-again roadie).

interesting as isn’t Voeckler very unpopular in the peloton, known as “hollywood” for his gurning, and his constant futile attacking making people work unnecessarily?

I thought it was “the ****” (naughty word that rhymes with hucker)

his constant futile attacking making people work unnecessarily?

Another good thing about his racing : ) I thought Vinokourov was a great racer for that – technically / tactically not great maybe but so good to watch, you wanted him to stay away as a reward for the audacity or near-stupidity of it at times. Issues over Vino’s d—– aside, he was never a dull rider.

Agree with you about Contador as a climber. TBH the TTs and sprint finishes just don’t have a fraction of the interest for me as the big mountain days.

Do we transfer our thoughts from the “le tour” thread into here or keep both going ?? 😆

1) Fave: Sami Sanchez or Ali Valv but in reality Demolin/Pinot/Gilbert/Vocki/Gautier/Rolland/Engoulvent Anyone that pops off the front in a vain attempt at a stage win with 150k to go. Poncheurs FTW 8)

2) Sucker for a French Squad or Proper Spanish (ie; Euskatel, I was a massive fan of theirs) or Analucia CajaSur (now renamed) I’m a big fan of local home grown talent built from the ground up by kids on bikes into local squads etc. Still a fan of Bardiani CSF (despite the “cough” D word issues)

3)Bertie FTW, Nibb’s 2nd, Froome crash out early 2nd week, Pinot 3rd maybe top 5, Sagan Green Jersey and Cav 4 sprint wins. Not that bothered about TT’s either in single or team mode. Would like a battle with Quinti/Bertie/Nibb’s up the steep bits but expect they’ll be attached by a spiders web. Which leaves mountain top finishes open 8)

4) Fat McQuid to offer up some nasty insight to how the UCI should be managed and playing right into the medias hands with a revelation of the D word on a big name without actually naming him.

5) Lance, he’ll gain a lot of media with his couple of stages. Sadly take the limelight for these stages away from the proper racing.

6) A camera man/woman/kid with camera taking out a key player up a mountain and causing chaos behind.

7) A dog being let of a lead getting squished by a Team Car (like last year)

8) Orica Green Edge being all Chummy and Shouty “mate”

1) Any Garmin-Cannondale or Brit rider in a breakaway
2) AG2R who bought my vote at a TDF start a couple of years ago ‘cos they were really friendly and made an effort to appear as a team
3) Sagan for Green, Yates for White & I’m hoping the usual suspects miss out on Yellow to a frenchie, just because it would be great to see the French fans go properly mad.

Another Voeckler fan here too. Pity he was invisible in the Dauphiné

But I want to see Yates win the white jersey this year, beating Quintana…can but dream.

FDJ for their utter Frenchiness.
AG2R because brown and blue Argyll pattern is so appealing.

1) Laurens Ten Dam. Just because he’s an uncompromising nutter that is happy leave it all hanging out of his nose and dripping off his beard day after day.

FTFY

Plus he looks like that child botherer from the Wiggle advert…

interesting as isn’t Voeckler very unpopular in the peloton, known as “hollywood” for his gurning, and his constant futile attacking making people work unnecessarily?

Nah, there’s plenty more unpopular people who will be racing and feeling the wrath of Greg Henderson’s quickly retracted tweets if you catch my drift 😀 Plus, with Pierre Rolland around in Europcar colours Voeckler is way down there on the bellend scale by comparison 😆

I really like Voeckler too…. does that make me a housewife?

Laurens Ten Dam. Just because he’s an uncompromising nutter that is happy leave it all on the road day after day.

Nah, he’s a real wuss 😯

Cav looks fired up for the green.

Maybe, but the past few years have relied quite heavily on the intermediate sprints for the Green jersey which is a bit of a shame. I think Cav will want stage wins first and foremost and won’t want to fanny around chasing those extra few points mid stage. Plus the mountains aren’t quite as kind to him as someone like Sagan (even if he has been enjoying Monaco life a little too much in the early season)

The obvious prediction is one or two of the top 10 favourites will crash out / losing major time in the first week. The commentators will then remark about how there’s been an unusual number of high profile crashes in the first week, despite the fact it happens every year.

I’m a Contador fan but can’t see him doing the double, think the Giro took too much out of him.. Froome to win overall IMO, and poss Simon Yates for the polka dot.. Cav or Sagan for the points

1) I really like Voeckler too, he provides massive entertainment compared to many of the others. I also like Contador and Quintana. I don’t mind Froome but have struggled to warm to him.

2) No real favourite, it’s not as clear cut for me in terms of teams these days as many have a lot to dislike.

3) I’d like Cav to win green, but suspect he won’t. I’d like Quintana to win yellow but suspect Contador will.

Favourite rediers…. besides Voeckler…

You have to love Farrar, because this year not only will he be crashing, he’ll be crashing dressed as a football ref/ Juventus player

You have to wonder if Tejay can continue where he left off aggravating his team mates and making Cuddles look likeable in interviews

Michal Kwiatkowski is awesome but unfortunately too good at everything to know where to focus. I love watching him ride and am always rooting for him

For “home” support, I’ll definitely be cheering on Gee and Luke Rowe

Sylvain Chavanel is another that is really easy to get behind and is a beast of a rider when he gets going

Before clogging up this thread too much 😀

Since it is a doping free thread my guilty pleasure has to be this guy. One of the most talented and well rounded riders there currently is. Expect some 2nd places 😕

Hopefully that gets some discussions going!

1) Nairo, my girlfriend is Colombian and he’s the reason she keeps making sure we’re leaving the 26th free to go to the Champs. Seems nice in interviews too, would love to see him take the yellow jersey.

2) Don’t care, beyond a vague “Sky are British” leaning.

3) Nairo Froome 1-2 in either order would do me. Albert the Accountant to be the early cobbles casualty. Cav for green.

We’re moving out from our Paris apartment a few days after the final stage to go and live in Bogotà for a year, so a Quintana win would be ideal.

AG2R because brown and blue Argyll pattern is so appealing.

Always been a favourite of mine and i have no idea why

Sky’s appear to have inadvertently decided to take Roche instead of Kiriyenka to the Tour – Froome, Porte, Thomas, Kennaugh, Stannard, Rowe, Roche, König and Poels.

I’m not sure about Rowe either, didn’t do particularly well in the Dauphine and didn’t look great yesterday.

I’m not sure about Rowe either

Had a cracking ride at Paris-Roubaix this year so I think so long as he helps Gee and the other strong boys on the flats/ cobbles to protect Froome/ Porte then it will be job done

Roche instead of Kiriyenka to the Tour

Probably still cooked from the Giro

Interesting to see that people like teams like AG2R and FdJ- I’ve always been baffled as to who would like them outside France. Their entire appeal seems to be to the French because they are French, and occasionally you get a DS screaming out of the car window with excitement. What draws you to them?

They are underdogs, British like underdogs*, they are generally considered clean (sorry!) so all in all they are seen as a bunch of honest triers. There are actually a lot of talented French guys and the thought of a French Yellow jersey is something special too.

*even if they are French

What draws you to them?

Because they often go out and attack a race and will throw a mental escape attempt up the road. Sometimes it comes off
It’s the same reason i really rooted for Euskaltel Euskadi
Small budgets and a bunch of riders who bury themselves in the break

I just think it would be nice to see a good attacking race as we saw on the Giro and Dauphine. Hoping Yates can keep up his good results too.

Cav, Kristoff, and Alan Hansen the king of domestiques… but there could easily be many more that are favourities…. In fact one of my favorite things about pro cycling is that I have so many favourites . 😀

Team … Quickstep and FdJ.

Nibali or Contador for the win …. don’t really care about the runner ups.

Kristoff … Green
Quintana … white
a frechman … KoM

a DS screaming out of the car window with excitement

^ that!

x10 more emotion from them than the technically perfect, science on wheels teams sometimes.

It was a tremendous piece of solitary riding by the youngster who was enthusiastically encouraged during the final 10km by his FDJ BigMat team manager Marc Madiot, shouting, gesticulating and banging the side of the car he was riding in.
“I lived through the longest 10km of my life,” said Pinot.”When I saw the peloton had got to within 50 seconds with 10km to go, I began to panic.
“If I wanted a stage victory, it was now or never.”

Pinot, Stage 8, 2012. One of the most enjoyable stage wins to watch.

Alan Hansen the king of domestiques

Really??????

He always looks so different on the bike (cheerful for a start!)

😳

Would love to see ADAM Hansen get a break away win this year

😆

Pinot, Stage 8, 2012. One of the most enjoyable stage wins to watch.

I’d agree with that! A cracking stage, even though I had no real idea who he was before then I was really rooting for him by the end of the stage.

much the same can be said of europcar when Rolland is consistently failing to live up to his billing ( 😉 ), there’s often one of his team mates in there mixing it up, q/.v voeckler or Gene.

“what draws me to them”

Loads: passion, grit, determination, ambivalence, shrugs, smiles, pop off the front, disappear off the back, hang around in the middle, can climb/can’t climb, can’t sprint, can rouleur, gets shouted at, gets mollycoddled, gets humungus celebrations, gets told to get lost, looks freshly washed, looks filthy, team that (normally) stays together for long periods, encouragement, discouragement, they’re all mates, they all hate each other, stylish..

Just a few reasons but mainly they ride with a deep rooted passion, be it with utter love or hate for the TdF.

They just bring kids up through the ranks I guess. Hold onto them, become part of the family, supported and adored.

Simple.

Would love to see ADAM Hansen get a break away win this year

Definitely. Fingers crossed he makes it to Paris and can complete the Vuelta too!

I like this:

“I read one study that showed that cyclists who have completed a single Grand Tour lived an extra five years than the average person, so at this rate I will never die,” said an amused Hansen.

1. Geraint Thomas – Just like the way he’s not afraid to “get stuck in and see what happens”, in contrast to the usual Sky robotics. Hope he gets the chance to have a go on the stages that suit him.

2. Not really fussed about teams but like to see MTN Qubheka do well – plucky underdogs trying to do things a bit differently.

3. Contador for GC. Sagan for green (but look forward to some tasty battles with Cav). Bardet for white. **** knows for KOM, I’d need to look at the start list.

We should do a sweepstake for getting the four jerseys right though.

Luke Rowe included for his ability to comprehensively beat an over paid overhyped National Treasure at Paris Roubaix…

A bit gutted Kiriyenka is out, amazing mix of grace and power, upper half so steady in most TV shots you wouldn’t know he was pedalling a bike. Didn’t another pro tour team label their motor pacing bike Vasil as a nod to how powerful he is towing the entire field in his wake?

^ It is the name of a “nice” session FDJ do with their riders 😀

Kiriyenka hitting the front and over-hyped 2nd rate GC contenders going off the back as he barely breaks a sweat is one of the finest sights in cycling I reckon.

I do wonder when, not if, Kyri leaves Sky for a team that will let him win a stage or two.

Awesome bloke. I still can’t gather the pace he uses, seems sooooo low. Must have a cadence of 50 or something like 😆

Heeeeerrreeee’s Kyri…

Credit GettyImages

I do wonder when, not if, Kyri leaves Sky for a team that will let him win a stage or two.

His contract is up in 2016 and his body language often looks like he is keen to move on…. but he isn’t so young. He was having fun with the Katusha team car in the Giro when he stole their caviar 😆

1) The Yates bros – slightly biased cos I met them very briefly on the road out of manchester, they went full gas up a bus lane from a set of lights and I have never (or probably never will) see faster riders on the road! – they will be GT contenders in the next few years but for this year they’ll be able to go for broke on the stages looking for wins which will be fun to watch

2) no team allegiances per se but really don’t like Astana (I know, lets not go there). I do hope MTN get some good days, especially from the african riders

3) Green jersey will be cav vs Sagan,, I think it will be Sagan unless him and Kwiatkovsi share out all the intermediate points etc and cav wins enough stages to top all those
Yellow will be a full-on 4 way thrash and I’m looking forward to it!
KoM I really don’t know, could be Thibiault Pinot as it will be someone who can climb but not a GC contender who the GC teams will allow to go..