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#1
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Le Tour de France 2012
The 2012 Tour de France will be the 99th edition of the race, starting in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and ending on the Champs-Elysées in Paris 23 days and 20 stages plus a prologue later.
![]() The bookies favourite for the yellow jersey is Bradley Wiggins who has been in outstanding form this year and the route which features a total of 101.1 km covered in individual time trials and only three uphill finishes is likely to suit him. ![]() 2011 winner Cadel Evans will defend his Tour title and is just behind Wiggins in the odds for the ‘maillot jaune’. The notable absentees are Alberto Contador who won the race in 2010 but was stripped of his title for drugs offences and is still banned from racing, and the declared 2010 winner Andy Scheck who is injured. The battle for the ‘green jersey’ for sprints will be very interesting this year; World Champion Mark Cavendish won in 2011, but may be focusing on Olympic gold rather than the ‘maillot vert’ which may leave the way open for one of the hottest prospects in cycling Peter Sagan. ![]() British TV coverage is via ITV4 and British Eurosport. To add to the excitement there will of course be a free BBS fantasy Tour de France courtesy of Velogames where armchair cyclists can pretend to be a Directeur Sportif for three weeks (My own squad, ‘A Team of Alan Lees’ are in high spirits after two consecutive Grand Tour ‘wins’ at the Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia, so are probably heading for a fall after a mass pile up in the sprint on stage 2, a series of broken collarbones and the lanterne rouge in Paris). Once you have set up your team go to the bottom of the team sheet and add the BBS code, 22121825. http://www.velogames.com ![]() Last edited by Palestinian : 22-06-2012 at 11:32 AM. |
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#2
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Have all the teams declared their riders yet?
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#3
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Quite a few have, but not all by any means - Sky for example haven't yet. |
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#4
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Not yet, although Evans' BMC team annonuced their 9 yesterday Cycling Week have a nice team tracker on their site http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/...m-tracker.html Team Sky are due to announce theirs tomorrow
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Who's on First? |
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#5
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Great opening post.
Really looking forward to this. Although I suspect for non-Brits this year's race won't be a classic. |
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#6
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Couple of Wiggo items appeared today. Firstly this video interview with him on the BBC - it's quite interesting but a bit shit at the same time, not revealing anything of any real import. It's a problem with BBC sending generic sports reporters who don't really know what they're talking about; Apparently Andy Schleck is a 'wise old head'.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/18517127 And here's a youtube from UCI talking to some of his french old team-mates. |
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#7
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Bring it on!
With the time difference, I hope I won't be too far behind the debate on here. Wiggins is certainly a deserved favourite. Any thoughts on a potential Dark horse?
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Fully deserving of the extra 10% |
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#8
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There are no dark horses here, absolutely none. Not a sign of a velogames dark horse whatsoever. |
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#9
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Really enjoyed watching last year, so hoping to catch some of it somehow from Oz this year. Will probably take part in the velogames, so at least I have to check how things are going.
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Fantasy NFL Keeper League Co-commissioner 2011-present BBS competitive honours: Fantasy NFL Keeper League Champion 2011/12, 2012/13 Tour de France Velogames wooden spoon 2012 Fantasy NFL League Champion 2009/10, Runner Up 2010/11 Formula 1 Prediction League Champion 2010 Betting Masters Champions League Cup Runner Up 2009/10 |
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#10
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But it would make a great album cover for a 70's prog rock band!
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Fully deserving of the extra 10% |
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#11
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Would've thought it would be well covered over there - Cadel is defending champion and should go well again whilst you'll have Renshaw & Goss going well in the sprints - probably a few others, apparently Heinrich Haussler is australian and you'll do well in the time trials. Plus it's the first TDF for australian team 'green edge'. |
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#12
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It's always well covered. SBS has been broadcasting it live on free to air for close to 10 years.
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Fully deserving of the extra 10% |
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#13
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Must say that's what I thought.
Not exactly a 'dark horse' but there are a few stages with descent finishes that will favour Vicenzo Nibali btw. |
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#14
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I see his name written a lot and always about the ability to descend - what is it that makes him better than the rest coming down the mountains?
Is he just more fearless and prepared to take greater risk? |
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#15
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Sky squad announced
Only 1 difference from that speculated on the Pro Cycling thread. |
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#16
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Incerdible technical ability but a certain fearlessness comes in to it too. Here he is doing a bunny hop on the descent of the Passo Giau on stage 15 of last year's Giro. |
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#17
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He also likes shoes cooked by Ivan Basso. (weirdest advert ever)
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#18
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i love a bit of TDF, am writing this so i remind myself to enter a team.
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#19
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Will need to familiarise myself with the scoring system and research a few riders this year.
See if i can get anywhere near a Team of Alan Lees. |
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#20
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No big surprises with team selection so far. Vino road captain (just so he gets the "1" on his jersey). Apparantly Vaconsoleil are not going for GC which is a shame, just stage wins and Ryder fancies the Giro/Tour double so no surprises there. I will sort my team out over the weekend.
I am getting a bit concerned at the hype surrounding Wiggins, people seem to be expecting him to win now. He should do well, but it's almost like the hype that normally surrounds the England football team at a major tournament has been transferred to Wiggins. Makes me nervous! Froome will probably go on and win anyway (if he can beat supergrandad Horner). |
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