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Thread: Tour 2019 predictions?

  1. #21
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    Well, I not sure anyone saw todays stage coming nor yesterday's amazing performance. The attrition in the last week of a grand tour is something else and Alaphilippe has no pedigree. That doesn't mean he can't do it - it's just a big unknown. If I had to choose a winner on today's showing, I'm still favouring Kruijswijk. If only Pinot had not been in the wrong place at the wrong time - he would be odds on favourite.

    I wonder if Ineos either have got their prep wrong or they will yet come good. They started shipping riders early on again and to see the like of Wout Poels in trouble is rare.

    Incidentally, amazing tactics by Movistar today in blowing their own team leader out the back door and then screwing up any chance of a stage win. Quality!

  2. #22
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    Ineos will get better as the race progresses.
    Julian Alaphilippe will finish on the podium.
    Great entertainment.

  3. #23
    Master Witton Park's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stagger View Post
    Ineos will get better as the race progresses.
    Julian Alaphilippe will finish on the podium.
    Great entertainment.
    My pick Mas blew yesterday.

    I thought Bernal had something in hand. He couldn't explode at the end in the last few hundred metres as it isn't his way, but I think he could have gone harder over the last few km. But when Thomas started dropping off the back, he lost a bit of focus. Had he attacked then, he might have won the stage, but also could have put GT another 30 seconds back.

    I'll be amazed if Alaphillipe wins overall, but there's no doubt he is a huge talent and we have never seen him try and ride the big climbs at the front of the peloton until yesterday.

    Kruijskuik is super consistant. He might wear down Alaphilippe over time, but I can't see Pinot pulling back the time against Kruijswick.

    However Thomas is still 2nd, reigning Champion and the only Grand Tour winner in the top 10 other than Valverde.

    I wouldn't right him off yet.

    I reckon Froome in reasonable form would have been a shoe-in for this tour.
    Richard Taylor
    "William Tell could take an apple off your head. Taylor could take out a processed pea."
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  4. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Witton Park View Post
    My pick Mas blew yesterday.

    I thought Bernal had something in hand. He couldn't explode at the end in the last few hundred metres as it isn't his way, but I think he could have gone harder over the last few km. But when Thomas started dropping off the back, he lost a bit of focus. Had he attacked then, he might have won the stage, but also could have put GT another 30 seconds back.

    I'll be amazed if Alaphillipe wins overall, but there's no doubt he is a huge talent and we have never seen him try and ride the big climbs at the front of the peloton until yesterday.

    Kruijskuik is super consistant. He might wear down Alaphilippe over time, but I can't see Pinot pulling back the time against Kruijswick.

    However Thomas is still 2nd, reigning Champion and the only Grand Tour winner in the top 10 other than Valverde.

    I wouldn't right him off yet.

    I reckon Froome in reasonable form would have been a shoe-in for this tour.
    There is a famous quote in the movie industry from William Goldman:

    Nobody knows anything...…( Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one).

    And not just in the movie industry. Sure Froome would have been a shoe-in - if he didn't blow his nose.

    The list of "well, we didn't think he would win" from commentators is staggering. Where do you want to start? In living memory: Fignon (We Were Young And Carefree is an excellent autobiography btw), Roche, Riis, Lemond, Indurain,..."of course it will be Merckx or Hinault or Ullrich again..." and then it isn't, with the most screaming-out-loud example being Armstrong (listen to the TV tapes at the time).

    I would like any team but Ineos to win and with my happy memories of running and cycling up the Tourmalet - I would like it to be a French man and preferably with panache.
    Last edited by Graham Breeze; 21-07-2019 at 09:53 AM.
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  5. #25
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    Panache is everything

  6. #26
    Master wharfeego's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Graham Breeze View Post
    ...I would like any team but Ineos to win and with my happy memories of running and cycling up the Tourmalet - I would like it to be a French man and preferably with panache.
    Ditto.
    JA for me.

  7. #27
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    The one thing I don't get is the abuse thrown at Thomas from the crowd on the Tourmalet during yesterday's stage.

    The French press have long espised the success of Sky/Ineos and accused them of being "dopeurs". Whether there is truth in that who knows but a Frenchman who puts in an incredible TT when he has no precedent for doing so, is hailed a hero and saviour of French cycling. I'm not accusing JA of anything by the way, but his performance so far has been amazing considering how hard he raced early on in the season.

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Derby Tup View Post
    Panache is everything
    Isnt that the french for shandy?

  9. #29
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    Pinot looks very strong based on the last couple of days.

  10. #30
    Master Muddy Retriever's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeteS View Post

    The French press have long espised the success of Sky/Ineos and accused them of being "dopeurs". Whether there is truth in that who knows but a Frenchman who puts in an incredible TT when he has no precedent for doing so, is hailed a hero and saviour of French cycling.
    Apparently his previous best performance on a stage containing a 2000m+ climb is 47th. Yesterday he finished second a day after he had put in that incredible TT where he was expected to lose time. Not just the French press, there would have been plenty of eye brows raised on here if it had been an Ineos rider who’d done that.

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