Tour de France 2012

[TheV]

He's so damn quick, little bugger... wish there was someone that could give him a good go, sadly he's in a bit of a class of his own ATM.

[T-Bob]

No sign of Sagan the wheel sucker.

 

Sagen was 6th, not exactly a fail.

 

Had to laugh about Renshaw tho, maybe he should have stuck as Cav's lead out man, 9th isn't going to make you a contender. Goss and Greipel looked good until the end.

[shaper]

Shows the class of Cav, still winning without a lead out team!!

[Cav']

Tony martin finished 4'22" behind the peloton

Must be feeling the pain on his hand

['Dale]

Shows the class of Cav, still winning without a lead out team!!

 

Cav is superb.

Must still watch the highlights.

 

Nice to hear Sagan was in the top 10. Go, boytjie!

['Dale]

Tomorow's parcourse is intriguing.

Check out that final 50 kms.

 

My bet is on a breakaway to take it.

Sagan could feature again on that uphill finish.

Cancellara will probably work hard again to gain some time in yellow.

 

 

http://www.letour.fr/PHOTOS/TDF/2012/300/PROFIL.jpg

Edited July 2, 2012 by Puncheur

[Wyatt Earp]

 

Sagan could feature again on that uphill finish.

 

But will he ?

If he does, my guess is that this is one long tour where the cocky youngster is going to learn all about output tax.

['Dale]

Tony martin finished 4'22" behind the peloton

Must be feeling the pain on his hand

 

Doesn't look good...

 

Cool pic of this Belgian lil' fan.

 

http://velonews.competitor.com/files/2012/07/Stage2_3-631x421.jpg

['Dale]

Maple leaves on Hesjedal's machine.

Slam that stem...

 

http://velonews.competitor.com/files/2012/07/NIK6329-606x421.jpg

['Dale]

Nice analysis:

 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/2012-tour-de-france-five-key-stages

 

Apologies if it's a repost.

[petatodd]

Cav sucked wheels until the last moment.... not that I mind.

That's what we all want to see. Straight shootout between the beast and the cavenator. No sign of Sagan the wheel sucker.

I wasn't on these boards when Big George sucked wheels all day in the high mountains in 2005 to win from Óscar Pereiro on stage 15 at Pla d'Adet but that was wheel sucking of the highest degree. What Sagan did was nothing by comparison.

 

You guys must have been all over Big George for ages for that.

['Dale]

I wasn't on these boards when Big George sucked wheels all day in the high mountains in 2005 to win from Óscar Pereiro on stage 15 at Pla d'Adet but that was wheel sucking of the highest degree. What Sagan did was nothing by comparison.

 

You guys must have been all over Big George for ages for that.

 

Yeah...

Somewhere, drafting was renamed as wheelsucking.

Drafting is a key tactical weapon.

[Cav']

 

 

Yeah...

Somewhere, drafting was renamed as wheelsucking.

Drafting is a key tactical weapon.

Yip i don't know why everybody is freaking out about "wheelsucking" its FOKKOL people FOKKOL!

['Dale]

Yip i don't know why everybody is freaking out about "wheelsucking" its FOKKOL people FOKKOL!

 

[petatodd]

What?! Are you saying people will wheel suck him or will he be a wheel sucker?

 

Are you new to cycling or missed last years tour? maybe missed yesterday?

He worked up the climb yesterday to reduce the lead and last year when Andy attacked he worked on the front. Unfair comment

Been watching Tdf since 1990, so I think I have seen a few.

On the wheelsuck note, how many top contenders sit safely in the bunch until the attacks come? Is this called wheelsucking? or Tactics?

 

Cadel has never had to launch attacks on climbs because he has been one of the strongest Time Trialers, and that is his edge.And lets face it he isnt the best climber there, he doesnt have the acceleration to attack like a contador, so why should he? BUT, when push comes to shove and he has had to work to defend his chances he has. I dont call that wheelsucking I call that boxing clever and playing to your strength.

Cadel - King of wheelsuckers?

Did I watch a different Tdf last year??? Cadel did A LOT of riding in the front on his own trying to catch up to Mandy Schleck.....

Oh and yesterday, did Cadel not do alot of work in the final 2.4kms?

 

Lets go back a few years, these are the sort of articles that were written

http://www.guardian....cyclingholidays

Headline: Workmanlike, wheel-sucking Evans ready to go one better in race against the clock

 

There are a lot more similar articles from the past.

 

Even today on Eurosport, after the finish in the studio, were talking about how Evans wheel sucks, but he has improved and a big change to that was his world championship win.

 

The interesting thing this year is he doesn't have a clearcut strength in the TT over the other GC contenders so will have to attack, Wiggins can afford to just follow Evans around.

Edited July 2, 2012 by petatodd

[Wyatt Earp]

Yeah...

Somewhere, drafting was renamed as wheelsucking.

Drafting is a key tactical weapon.

 

No not really there is a difference between the two.

Wheelsuckers are the scum of the peloton, they hang on by the skin of their teeth and hope for the best, they never come to the fore to share the load.

They tend to boast afterwards about their tactical genius ability.

For me the best part of all is that the wheel sucker pays the worst output tax, especially on a three week tour.