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Bradley wiggens tour de france
- Thread starter pottert
- Start date
Agreed. I hope he wears his full mod suit to collect the trophy as well.
somerset
New member
Stats:
5 British riders from 195 starters, won 7 of the 20 stages and finished 1st and 2nd in the general classification.
Not too shabby.
5 British riders from 195 starters, won 7 of the 20 stages and finished 1st and 2nd in the general classification.
Not too shabby.
Those stages won by 4 different riders too. One of them the current world champion and now most successful sprinter in Tour history.
The Large One
Who's Next?
What were the winning raffle numbers in the end?
Postman Pat
Well-known member
1st prize - Yellow ticket - Number 101.....
2nd prize - White ticket - Number 105....
The Large One
Who's Next?
Beat me to it! Chapeau!
Seagull58
In the Algarve
You've scraped the barrel there. I admit to having heard of most of them, but "famous"? Clijsters and Henin, for example, I would class as reasonably well-known (amongst the sporting fraternity) and very good tennis players. Jean-Marc Bosman, do me a favour! The ruling is famous, not the person.
Eddir Mercckx "The Cannibal" - justifiably famous as possible the greatest road cyclist ever.
Of course, you forgot the very famous, albeit non-existent, Hercules Poirot and Tin Tin.
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Spiros
Well-known member
I thought there was some sort of prize for the guy who spends the most time cycling (ie the one who finishes last)? Isn't he known as the lanterne rouge?
oldham gull
Active member
Wiggins v Eddie the Eagle. A very unbritish victory just in time for the Olympics? New blog post for those who are interested! Falling With Style: Wiggins v Eddie the Eagle - the changing face of the British Anti hero
Norman Potting
Well-known member
That would be cool - prize presented by Paul Weller and the show played out by him and Wiggins. Allegedly Wiggins is a more than competent guitarist as well, cool name, cool sideburns - legend.
34064 Fighter Command
New member
A professional cycling team is like a cricket or football team. And like Batsmen, Bowlers, Wicketkeepers Goalkeepers, Defenders and Forwards, it has to comprise a blend of differently skilled riders, good on the flat, climbers, and sprint riders, or even the general 'plodder' who can act to service the other riders as a 'domestique', taking one for the team so to speak.
Bradley Wiggins is the Daley Thompson of Team Sky, good at one discipline ( time trials ) but not exceptional at everything, very much a utility player.
The overall General Classification Yellow Jersey is like the highest league goalscorer ( or golden boot award ) at the end of the season - but you can't achieve this without having the other players in your team supporting you. It would be no good Froome and Wiggins competing against each other, it would be like your two best forwards refusing to play as a pair or passing to each other, blocking each others shots to claim the final 'touch'. You can still win this by scoring lots of goals, even if your team also concede loads as well (so effectively Wiggins has won it by excelling at the time trials, and being generally good everywhere else). Like a decathalon, it's an aggregate time, so you have to be consistantly good, not just occasional stage winners.
The Green Jersey represents if you like, the most 'assists' in the season.
The Polka Dot 'king of the mountains' is for those riders who have been leading the stage at the summit of the 'classified' climbs. In effect it's a 'player of the season' award as it has to go to the strongest rider.
The Red Jersey for most agressive rider, is awarded to the man who has put his kneck on the line for a 'death or glory' attack during the stage - so effectively it's a 'man of the match award'.
The White Jersey goes to the best rider under 25, self explanatory really, best 'youth' player award.
And of course there is a best team award for the quickest team, much like the constructors championship in F1, but this is subordinate to the main timings, as it would be possible to win this with a team of 9 'average' riders.
With a race that lasts 3 weeks it's inevitable that even the best riders will have 'off' days or even extremely bad luck ( witness Cadel Evans with stomach problems and deliberate punctures ) and that's when the team is there to support you back into a competitive position - if your goalkeeper was lying out cold in the 6 yard box, or a player was off the field receiving attention, you would want the remainder of the team to cover defensively while he recovers, not go out hell for leather on an all out attack, or put that player in danger of conceding possesion or a goal.
Bradley Wiggins is the Daley Thompson of Team Sky, good at one discipline ( time trials ) but not exceptional at everything, very much a utility player.
The overall General Classification Yellow Jersey is like the highest league goalscorer ( or golden boot award ) at the end of the season - but you can't achieve this without having the other players in your team supporting you. It would be no good Froome and Wiggins competing against each other, it would be like your two best forwards refusing to play as a pair or passing to each other, blocking each others shots to claim the final 'touch'. You can still win this by scoring lots of goals, even if your team also concede loads as well (so effectively Wiggins has won it by excelling at the time trials, and being generally good everywhere else). Like a decathalon, it's an aggregate time, so you have to be consistantly good, not just occasional stage winners.
The Green Jersey represents if you like, the most 'assists' in the season.
The Polka Dot 'king of the mountains' is for those riders who have been leading the stage at the summit of the 'classified' climbs. In effect it's a 'player of the season' award as it has to go to the strongest rider.
The Red Jersey for most agressive rider, is awarded to the man who has put his kneck on the line for a 'death or glory' attack during the stage - so effectively it's a 'man of the match award'.
The White Jersey goes to the best rider under 25, self explanatory really, best 'youth' player award.
And of course there is a best team award for the quickest team, much like the constructors championship in F1, but this is subordinate to the main timings, as it would be possible to win this with a team of 9 'average' riders.
With a race that lasts 3 weeks it's inevitable that even the best riders will have 'off' days or even extremely bad luck ( witness Cadel Evans with stomach problems and deliberate punctures ) and that's when the team is there to support you back into a competitive position - if your goalkeeper was lying out cold in the 6 yard box, or a player was off the field receiving attention, you would want the remainder of the team to cover defensively while he recovers, not go out hell for leather on an all out attack, or put that player in danger of conceding possesion or a goal.
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ifuhatepalacestandup
New member
i dident think football was a race ie first to finish
What IS the aim of football then?
34064 Fighter Command
New member
But the 'Tour' part of 'Tour de France' tells you that it isn't just a straightforward out and out race. It's like Rallying, not like Formula 1, Cross country skiing, not Downhill - the winner is the lowest aggregate time to finish, so the intention is to get as many of your team to finish in as short a time as possible - it's no good if your riders spend the first 100 km of every stage trying to beat each other while the remainder of the field hang back waiting for you to exhaust yourself (not just for that one day but the following day or two), then they just coast by leaving you for dead in the last 10km. It's more of an endurance test than a race - you don't start a marathon of 26 miles running at the pace of Ussein Bolt because you wouldn't make the finish. One rider trying to beat the other 194 without the support of his 8 teammates is just going to crash and burn.
Norman Potting
Well-known member
Good answer, I almost understand it now, still can't ride a bike though. Good username as well, picture?
Watford4ever
New member
- Jan 9, 2011
- 79
Not a big fan of cycling (mainly because most of it isn't on mainstream TV) but watch the Tour each year on ITV4 and am delighted with the British success.
I know there have been issues before about drugs but Wiggins and co have a strong anti-doping stance which can only help the sport and he seems a very down to earth guy.
Back on his bike today training for the Olympics I read and you have to admire these cyclists for what they go through without a complaints.
I know there have been issues before about drugs but Wiggins and co have a strong anti-doping stance which can only help the sport and he seems a very down to earth guy.
Back on his bike today training for the Olympics I read and you have to admire these cyclists for what they go through without a complaints.