2014 Tour De France

['Dale]

I believe Berto had just been told by Tinkoff he is going to have to go faster !!

 

Yeah... it's gonna be interesting during next year's World Tour.

 

Rijs is lining his pockets with this deal and getting for retirement, I reckon.

Tinkov will add some melodrama to 2014.

 

Then there's the Bradley vs Froome rivalry.

It's gonna be chilly in Team Sky should both be in the same team for July's TdF.

 

Scarponi has been transferred to assist fellow Italian, Nibs, within the Astana set-up.

 

Cadel vs Porte for the Giro crown.

 

The Schleck brothers are back together for the new Trek Professional Racing (or some name like that).

 

BRING IT ON!

[Keithc]

Hi fellow hubbers!

 

This question has probably been asked on many occasions, but can anyone give me some advise on which Tour Operators to look at for the 2014 TDF. I am hoping to get across to watch.

 

Please PM as I am not always online to see replies

 

Thanks

 

Keith

['Dale]

Hi fellow hubbers!

 

This question has probably been asked on many occasions, but can anyone give me some advise on which Tour Operators to look at for the 2014 TDF. I am hoping to get across to watch.

 

Please PM as I am not always online to see replies

 

Thanks

 

Keith

 

PM Capcha.

 

He'll hook you up, I'm sure.

[ScottCM]

I hope Froome dogg takes it again next year but unfortunately my support for him will only stretch as far as Wiggo's inclusion in their tour team. If that chop rides then I hope the other teams team up against Sky

 

Sad but true

 

Back at the Tour de France

Wiggins has yet to confirm his objectives for the 2014 but has conceded that he will probably never again target overall victory in the Tour de France, setting his sights on a possible fifth Olympic medal in Brazil in 2016. However he hinted he does want to ride the 2014 Tour de France, which starts in Britain.

"That’s the plan, I’m deep in training at the moment and training hard, trying to stay injury free again, which wrecked this summer. I’d love to be back at the Tour de France in some capacity. Just to get back to the physical heights of 2012 and long term, focusing on gold medal number five in Rio,” he told Sky news.

However he ruled challenging teammate Chris Froome for a leadership role in the Tour.

"At the moment Chris is the current winner of the Tour de France and I think he has the right to defend that title next year. If I can play a support role I’d love to be back in the team and on the start line," he said.

 

 

Am i the only one that doesn't believe that SIR Wanker Wiggins wont be able to Serve and would end up challenging Froome for leadership in the team at the TDF?

 

As a non- Team Sky fan I say bring it on, should make for some entertainment

[Jaco-fiets]

Back at the Tour de France

Wiggins has yet to confirm his objectives for the 2014 but has conceded that he will probably never again target overall victory in the Tour de France, setting his sights on a possible fifth Olympic medal in Brazil in 2016. However he hinted he does want to ride the 2014 Tour de France, which starts in Britain.

"That’s the plan, I’m deep in training at the moment and training hard, trying to stay injury free again, which wrecked this summer. I’d love to be back at the Tour de France in some capacity. Just to get back to the physical heights of 2012 and long term, focusing on gold medal number five in Rio,” he told Sky news.

However he ruled challenging teammate Chris Froome for a leadership role in the Tour.

"At the moment Chris is the current winner of the Tour de France and I think he has the right to defend that title next year. If I can play a support role I’d love to be back in the team and on the start line," he said.

 

 

Am i the only one that doesn't believe that SIR Wanker Wiggins wont be able to Serve and would end up challenging Froome for leadership in the team at the TDF?

 

As a non- Team Sky fan I say bring it on, should make for some entertainment

 

I agree with you! In my opinion there is no way the newly appointed Knight of ASSholeville can play 2nd fiddle in the team. He will only instigate negative emotions but like you stated it would make the tour more interesting.

 

Go Nibali!

[Wez-O]

Back at the Tour de France

Wiggins has yet to confirm his objectives for the 2014 but has conceded that he will probably never again target overall victory in the Tour de France, setting his sights on a possible fifth Olympic medal in Brazil in 2016. However he hinted he does want to ride the 2014 Tour de France, which starts in Britain.

"That’s the plan, I’m deep in training at the moment and training hard, trying to stay injury free again, which wrecked this summer. I’d love to be back at the Tour de France in some capacity. Just to get back to the physical heights of 2012 and long term, focusing on gold medal number five in Rio,” he told Sky news.

However he ruled challenging teammate Chris Froome for a leadership role in the Tour.

"At the moment Chris is the current winner of the Tour de France and I think he has the right to defend that title next year. If I can play a support role I’d love to be back in the team and on the start line," he said.

 

 

Am i the only one that doesn't believe that SIR Wanker Wiggins wont be able to Serve and would end up challenging Froome for leadership in the team at the TDF?

 

As a non- Team Sky fan I say bring it on, should make for some entertainment

Wiggins will never be the Sky leader at the TdF again (unless for unforeseen circumstances Froome is absent)

[jcza]

Wiggins will never be the Sky leader at the TdF again (unless for unforeseen circumstances Froome is absent)

 

I'm not convinced that we will see Wiggo at the TdF again. Porte going to focus on Giro so will be interesting to see the team.

['Dale]

 

 

I'm not convinced that we will see Wiggo at the TdF again. Porte going to focus on Giro so will be interesting to see the team.

 

Porte's also looking for team leader spot from 2015, looking to a new team.

[Jaco-fiets]

Porte's also looking for team leader spot from 2015, looking to a new team.

 

Good on him. Reckon he will be picked up in no time

[ScottCM]

Quintana skipping TdF

 

Last year's runner-up Nairo Quintana of Colombia says he is skipping the Tour de France this year to race in the Giro de Italia and the Spanish Vuelta.

Quintana told the internet portal of the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo he would leave the Tour de France for "other years."

He gave no other information but said the leader of the Movistar team at the Tour would be Alejandro Valverde.

 

Was hoping to see him fighting in the Alps again, but then again he is still extremely young and provided he doesn't pull an Andy we should see plenty more battles from him in years to come.

[ScottCM]

Mark Cavendish’s Perfect Lead Out

 

Bicycling: You’re here racing in the Tour de San Luis in Argentina for the second year in a row. It’s turning out to be a perfect early season race for you.

Mark Cavendish: I really like it. It’s a nice race with really nice people. And this year’s course has the climbs come later in the stage, which is better for me because I don’t have to be on the limit from the start.

 

A race like the Tour Down Under is just too hard for me in January. I really love racing the Tour Down Under as well, but it is too hard in January. I have to go good in July and if I have to race that hard in January, I won’t be racing well in July.

 

I can’t just turn up to a race. I am expected to perform, and I can’t do that in the Tour Down Under. It is a WorldTour race. The consequences of winning or losing WorldTour points makes it that much bigger, plus all of the Aussies are just flying. I could win down there, but then I wouldn’t win in July. Here, there are a lot of big riders and people want to win. But it is not as important. It’s a bit more relaxed.

 

Last year you moved to Omega Pharma-Quick-Step and it looked like you had a good lead-out train for the Tour de France. However, the train often came up short against Argos and Lotto. Was something missing?

There wasn’t a missing link. It was just that other teams were better. Normally it takes two or three years to really dial in a team when it comes to a sprint train, and we were a new team last year. We had it pretty much going, but Argos and Lotto were better because they had been working at it for two or three years.

 

The team made some big changes this year in terms of your lead-out train for the sprints. Having Mark Renshaw back is huge, but also adding Alessandro Petacchi is potentially a big game changer. What’s it like having a guy like Alessandro as a lead-out man?

It’s incredible. He’s a real good guy first and foremost. Before you work with someone on the bike you need to get on with them off the bike. I’ve actually been speaking with him for a few years about working together but it didn’t work out. But when he retired [Omega Pharma team manager] Patrick Lefevere called and asked me, “What would you think about working with Alessandro?” And I was like,“******* hell yeah!”

 

We rode first in the Tour of Britain and right away it clicked. He led me out for three sprints and I won three sprints. But like I said, to get on with someone on the bike you have to get on with them off the bike and he is a real good guy. It’s funny because he can seem a bit distant, but he’s real funny, just real dry. And he is so professional. He just loves it!

 

He was also one of the only guys that worked out tactics just to beat me. He beat me a number of times and it wasn’t just because he was faster. He knew how I sprinted. I’m not going to tell you how he did it. But he’s really intelligent on the bike. As a lead-out man he is perfect to be behind. It’s the same with Renshaw.

 

Renshaw is a pure lead-out man. Alessandro is a sprinter, but he kept saying for years that he wanted to finish his career leading out. He wanted to finish out his career like Erik Zabel, who finished leading out for me.

 

Petacchi is a perfect lead-out man for you. He was one of those big wind-up sprinters, the perfect wheel to be on.

Yeah, and he is a big guy. He is just so smooth. There are only two guys in my career who I have taken their judgment over my own and that’s George Hincapie and Mark Renshaw. There’s a third man now and that is Alessandro Petacchi.

 

How does that work? So many of these judgment calls occur in the last kilometers and the build-up to the sprint, at a really crucial moment in the race.

Yeah, there is so much going on. You have to make split-second decisions and every decision has consequences on the next move you have to make. Sometimes you can’t quite see it until you are there. Alessandro is very good at seeing things. It is rare that I think someone is better than me at that, but those are the three guys that I really trust. And it just makes it so much easier in a sprint.

 

The thing about sprinting is that people think if you bang out 2,000 watts you’re going to win a bunch sprint. But sprinting isn’t about putting out massive amounts of power. It’s about putting out massive amounts of power when you are in the red zone.

 

But apart from that, the biggest energy waste in a sprint comes from the mental stress, you know. It’s working it out, thinking it out. It’s hard to believe, but that’s where the fatigue comes from. If you can eliminate that, you are just so much fresher for when you actually go.

 

So what happens when you are not getting the perfect lead out? Are there days where you have to abandon ship and freelance it?

Yeah, a lot! I’ve never been afraid to leave my lead-out man. I’ve done that a hell of a lot, more often when I haven’t been with Renshaw. And now with Renshaw and Petacchi I can’t think how anything could go wrong really. They are both just so smooth and so committed. With them I am never in a situation where I think, “Wow that doesn’t look right!” With guys like that I don’t have to make decisions. I just have to follow.

 

You have your two dream lead-out guys working for you this year. Do you know yet who will be in what position and who will be your last man?

I don’t know. I’ve got Petacchi here and then both of them in Dubai so we will see. We will have to try with some physical tests, but right now we don’t know.

 

In training camps is this something you worked on?

No, there is not much you can do in a training camp when you are not in a race situation. Sure you can do the physical effort, we practiced the sprint train, but you can’t practice a race.

[jcza]

Teams announced....I think (link in French - http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/fr/avant-course/actus/ahc/selection-des-equipes-du-tour-de-france-2014.html)

 

AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)

Astana Pro Team (Kaz)

Belkin - Pro Cycling Team (Ned)

BMC Racing Team (USA)

Cannondale Pro Cycling (Ita)

FDJ.fr (Fra)

Garmin Sharp (USA)

Katusha Team (Rus)

Lampre-Merida (Ita)

Lotto Belisol (Bel)

Movistar Team (Esp)

Omega Pharma - Quick Step Cycling Team (Bel)

ORICA - Green Edge (Aus)

Team Europcar (Fra)

Team Giant - Shimano (Ned)

Team Sky (Gbr)

Tinkoff Saxo (Dan)

Trek Factory Racing (USA)

 

En plus de ces dix-huit équipes, les organisateurs ont délivré les invitations suivantes : (wildcards)

 

Bretagne - Séché Environnement (Fra)

Cofidis (Fra)

IAM Cycling (Sui)

Team Netapp - Endura (All)

[T-Bob]

Latest News:

- Quintana is heading to the Giro.

- Valverde has 'unfinished business' @ the tour

- Kittel interested in Giro this year, decision in a few weeks

- Ireland start may mean Dan Martin goes to Giro

- Wild Cards: Bretagne – Séché Environnement / Cofidis, Solutions Crédits / IAM Cycling / Team NetApp – Endura

- Bretagne – Séché Environnement dress in silver grey. ride KTM with Shimano and BBB helmets

[Cav']

I think its great that quintana is heading the Giro route, it suites him.

['Dale]

I think its great that quintana is heading the Giro route, it suites him.

 

Cadel and Richie will be a lil nervous.

Nairo has been working on his time trialling too.

[Cav']

 

Cadel and Richie will be a lil nervous.

Nairo has been working on his time trialling too.

Yeah, dont see cadel challenging up a Cat 0 but Porte..

 

Cant wait