So, today was the first stage of the world's greatest bicycle race. This thread is for discussing the tour as it progresses. I'd like to know who you think:
1. Will win the Tour. 2. Will win the Green Jersey. 3. Will win the King of the Mountains. 4. Will get caught doping.
I think: 1. With the only time trial an individual one after the mountain stages, and more stages spent in the hills, the odds look to be swung in the favour of Contador or Valverde, rather than Froome, the defending champion. 2. Cavendish would be the main contender, but he dislocated his shoulder today, so could be out of the running. That leaves Sagan, Greipel, and Kittel, who all have their individual strengths, but I think Sagan's superior tactics might clinch it. 3. No clue. This is often one of the more open competitions, in my opinion. 4. Whoever you least expect.
Tony Martin won the stage and the king of the mountain jersey, and Tony Gallopin earns the yellow jersey for France. It was an interesting stage but tomorrow, the real fun begins! xD
Nibali won the stage. Man he was impressive, considering the miserable weather. Poor Tony Martin sacrificed himself for nothing today because Kwiatkowski ended up dropping in the young riders classification. Contador is out of the Tour because of a heavy crash. It's not unusual to lose 10-12 riders in the first week of the TDF but it is crazy to lose 2 favorite contenders for the yellow jersey and one of the best sprinter as well.
I guess nobody gives a crap about le Tour de France. Are the Americans not following it anymore because of Armstrong? There are still some Americans in it BTW and they're not bad at all. I'm trying to understand why nobody (in the US) seem interested anymore.
Ever heard of team work? Watch le TDF and you'll understand the meaning of it.
This bike race has everything, cool bikes, technology, insane logistic, strategy, team work, courage, action, crashes (for those who like it), excitement, international competitors, competitions within the competition ( Sprinter, climber, young rider, team) nice landscapes and historic buildings, towns...
I think Nibali will win the tour since he's been showing that he really wants the win so far. Peter Sagan has pretty much secured the green sprinter jersey, but I'm not sure who will win King of the Mountains since there are a lot of contenders for it. When it comes to who will get caught doping it will either be Nibali or Gallopin since they both look kind of doped.
