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John - if they take it to early then you risk burning out all the domestiques and his mountain lieutenants. There is the added strain of having to police the peloton and the breakaways. So yeah you could turn down the chance if you were pretty cock sure you could pull it back later. Plus this isn't a week long race like the others sky have won. This is 3 weeks of the fastest racing on the planet. It's universally excepted that the tdf is raced a good few extra km/hr compared to other races.
If Wiggins can keep within 10 - 20 seconds of the race leader he could take it on the last tt. However it will all depend on who controls the mountains. Wiggins needs sky to maintain that high a pace up hill that it nullifies the ability of cadel etc... To attack. That's Wiggins worst case scenario as he doesn't have a kick to haul successive attacks back.

John_D wrote:

I don't think you can turn down any opportunity to lead, can you?

Agreed. I don't think you can mess around and hope to take it on the last time trial.

I still think that Evans and Wiggo are not going to have this all their own way. There is someone who we're not even thinking about who will take the fight to the 2 favourites either by being in a breakaway or doing better than expected in the first TT.

[John_D]

Haggis Fax wrote:

Agreed. I don't think you can mess around and hope to take it on the last time trial.

I still think that Evans and Wiggo are not going to have this all their own way. There is someone who we're not even thinking about who will take the fight to the 2 favourites either by being in a breakaway or doing better than expected in the first TT.

Without Schleck A, I think FabCan will be a string contender.

[John_D]

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

John - if they take it to early then you risk burning out all the domestiques and his mountain lieutenants. There is the added strain of having to police the peloton and the breakaways. So yeah you could turn down the chance if you were pretty cock sure you could pull it back later. Plus this isn't a week long race like the others sky have won. This is 3 weeks of the fastest racing on the planet. It's universally excepted that the tdf is raced a good few extra km/hr compared to other races.
If Wiggins can keep within 10 - 20 seconds of the race leader he could take it on the last tt. However it will all depend on who controls the mountains. Wiggins needs sky to maintain that high a pace up hill that it nullifies the ability of cadel etc... To attack. That's Wiggins worst case scenario as he doesn't have a kick to haul successive attacks back.

Yeah, I get all that, but I just can't see anyone sandbagging on the prologue just to take a back seat. In a race that could be decided by fine margins, every second is vital.

John_D wrote:

Yeah, I get all that, but I just can't see anyone sandbagging on the prologue just to take a back seat. In a race that could be decided by fine margins, every second is vital.

I'm with you. There'll be twists and turns throughout the 3 weeks, and the likelihood is that he won't be in yellow throughout (maybe not at all) so you take the seconds when you can get them.

I think your both wrong. It's a very short prologue which would serve sky no good to win and have to Marshall the peloton for so long. Even going back a couple of years ago. Contador purposefullynever put his team in that position until he needed to. No team with real intentions will be stupid enough to do it. Sky need to.conserve as much energy apossible if they are to help cav get his wins, help wiggo in the hills and when.they need to take on the duties of the yellow jersey team.

As for Spartacus not a chance of him being anywhere near sniffing the podium. Infact Tony Martin is a better hope.

Also sad to see europcar will be missing tommy v due to injury. It won't be the same without his mad attacks. Though johnny hogerland is still there

[John_D]

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

Also sad to see europcar will be missing tommy v due to injury. It won't be the same without his mad attacks. Though johnny hogerland is still there

Noooo!! Voeckler is brilliant. Love his style, the fact he rides with a smile on his face.

Just hope Hoogerland stays out of the fences this time

John_D wrote:

Noooo!! Voeckler is brilliant. Love his style, the fact he rides with a smile on his face.

Just hope Hoogerland stays out of the fences this time

Yeah apparently "hollywood" has knackered his knee up. He will be well missed as h certainly adds a bit of unpredictability to the peloton.

I find it interesting how much he was hated within the peloton until recently because of his kamikaze attacks which went against "the rules"

Spartacus & Das Panzerwagon as contenders? I may be going out a limb right now but I think we can forget them as GC men. Considering the amount of TT miles I may be proven to be an idiot but this is just my gut instinct.

Why? Well Wiggins has proven that he can go toe to toe with them in the time trials and neither of them can climb like Wiggo or have a team like Sky to protect them.

Who do I see as the real threats? It's hard to pin it on an individual but it will be someone like Hoogerland, Mollema, Sanchez (either), Brice Feillu etc etc. Sky will find it impossible to mark all the dangermen who can time trial somewhere around the top 10/20 and who have a habit of getting into breaks.

Gutted that Tommy V is out but at least that allows Rolland to step up and show what he is capable of.

[jonny the leyther]

I'm doing a charity ride, so if anyone's kind enough to donate a little, the details are below, thanks:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundra ... onationFor FundraiserDisplay.action?fundraiserActivityId=221725

I've organised it through work, where I chose a local charity 'When You Wish Upon A Star' to raise monies for.

They provide terminally ill children with a special day out to remember for them and their family, from visiting Lapland at Christmas to Skydiving from a plane.

They have a really good website if you fancy a look.

If anyone's kind enough to donate, my name's Jonny Hindley on the donation link.

Cheers