The Official 100th Tour de France thread, 2013.

[Pantani]

"And here come Saxo to set the fastest time"...

Or not.

Then the same thing for Orica at the intermediate, having already done the same thing for Movistar. Phil learn where the finish line is, please.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Saxo into 3rd, Contador leading from the front.

 

[rcf0712]

Omega on the pace, dare we dream?

 

[teaboy]

"And here come Saxo to set the fastest time"...

Or not.

Then the same thing for Orica at the intermediate, having already done the same thing for Movistar. Phil learn where the finish line is, please.

There MUST be a Tour de France drinking game in this somewhere.

A mention of the Amgen Tour of California - take a sip.
A mis-identification of riders/teams - take a sip
A failure to identify the finish line - take a sip.

On second thoughts I don't think such a game would be safe...

 

[Pantani]

Biggest shock so far today is that Euskaltel are not last. Shocking effort from Argos, 23 seconds slower than a bunch of 8 stone climbers from the Basque country, with all their big power houses.

 

[rcf0712]

Get in!

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Well I didn't see that coming.

 

[Pantani]

Superb again from Greenedge. They are really lighting up the first week of this Tour. Suppose we won't see much of them in the last week, so they may as well get involved now.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Seeing as I haven't offered stage win predictions yet, I'll give tomorrow's a bash as in theory it's a tad easier to call:

OPQS
Movistar
Garmin
Sky

Katusha possible best of the rest.

July 2, Stage 4: Nice (TTT) 25km

Garmin
Movistar
BMC.

I can't see OPQS and Sky getting over really important injuries.

Should be nice though.

Is that your order or are you just naming four teams? A proper prediction will look like this:

1. Sky
2. Garmin
3. Movistar

Last place Cofidis, who will continue their joke of a Tour with the ultimate embarrassment, finishing behind Euskaltel in a Team Time Trial.

I don't think missing G will make a huge difference to Sky. Think of it like this, their best TT rider is better than anyone else bar an injured Martin. Their second best is Porte, probably the third best TT rider in the race. Then Kiriyenka, Boasson Hagen, Kennaugh, Siutsou and Stannard are all very strong.

1. Garmin
2. Movistar
3. Sky

In a nice alphabetical order. If G was fit it could bump Sky up, and Garmin could have yellow by the end of the day so will be full-on (as always!)

Yep, that's my order. To confirm then:
1) OPQS
2) Movistar
3) Garmin

I'm glad I didn't stick my neck out with predictions now...did anyone pick Orica....mate, for real cobber.

 

[rcf0712]

I'm glad I didn't stick my neck out with predictions now...did anyone pick Orica....mate, for real cobber.

They were in my top 3 with BMC and Garmin, mate

 

[Bold Seagull]

They were in my top 3 with BMC and Garmin, mate

You should have shown more conviction. That's a prediction spread over 3 places with only 1 team getting in there. That's as loose as Mitchell Johnston's bowling!

 

[Rookie]

May have already been mentioned but on the ITV 4 coverage anyone noticed the stadium in the background of the WiiU adverts?

 

[Stat Brother]

There MUST be a Tour de France drinking game in this somewhere.

A mention of the Amgen Tour of California - take a sip.
A mis-identification of riders/teams - take a sip
A failure to identify the finish line - take a sip.

On second thoughts I don't think such a game would be safe...

Must not slag off P & P.
Must not slag off P & P.
Must not slag off P & P.
Must not slag off P & P.
Must not slag off P & P.
Must not slag off P & P.
Must not slag off P & P.
Must not slag off P & P.

 

[rcf0712]

Yellow Jersey, 4 Aussies in the top 15 in 4 different teams with Cadel (in a 5th different team) at 28, 2 consecutive stage wins, madness......

 

[rcf0712]

You should have shown more conviction. That's a prediction spread over 3 places with only 1 team getting in there. That's as loose as Mitchell Johnston's bowling!

Yup, should have

 

[Bold Seagull]

Yup, should have

Still, you were the only one to mention them, so fair play!

Will Australia be switching to cycling en-masse this summer!!??

 

[Stat Brother]

Still, you were the only one to mention them, so fair play!

Will Australia be switching to cycling en-masse this summer!!??

T'is a snickers not a sprint.

I don't think we'll be hearing must Aussie bravado in 2 and a half weeks time, excluding Porte of course.

 

[teaboy]

Still, you were the only one to mention them, so fair play!

Will Australia be switching to cycling en-masse this summer!!??

It's their best chance of sporting success...

 

[JCL - the new kid in town]

JCL question time. I know that Gerrans is in yellow but how do they choose which of the Orica team get the yellow as Impey and Albasini have same overall time as him? Is Gerrans the team leader and its worked like that or does it go to stage wins?

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

It's their best chance of sporting success...

Besides all our other world champions?