Tour de France 2015

gym4life

Norm Smith Medallist
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Can't believe there isn't a thread yet. Starts in two days.
 

chargers 09

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Can't wait.
How do people thing Yates from OGE will go? Or will they be focusing more on Matthews and Gerrans stage wins?
 

thegrach

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Must say, I enjoyed the Tour and Stage previews by Orazio2Joe last year. Hopefully the same this year, as a relative noob to cycling it certainly helped me get a better understanding.
 

Santoz

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I'll be cheering on Quintana.

If there's a Columbian in contention in any sport I find myself following them for some strange reason.
 
Must say, I enjoyed the Tour and Stage previews by Orazio2Joe last year. Hopefully the same this year, as a relative noob to cycling it certainly helped me get a better understanding.
More than likely won't be doing them this year. New role at work means I am quite time poor, therefore I haven't been paying anywhere near enough attention to cycling this year to provide good enough previews. I have close to no idea on lead up form other than what I've read. I'll still be watching every night.

If anyone else would like to step up to the plate and do them then please do so. If no one does one by about 6pm tonight I'll put a quick one up, but please don't expect them to be fully in depth like the past 2 years.
 
Tour de France race preview.
When looking at the major race chances over the past few years, the first thing I look at are the ITT km's. This year, there are only 13.8km of ITT. In stage 1. That is negligible in the scheme of things. Why do I look at that? Because in all reality, ITTs are the one thing that can really separate the main favourites. Chris Froome would be hating this route. He would be hoping for as many ITT kms as possible because he would use it to put major time on his rivals. Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintata would have given a not so subtle fist pump when the route was released. They know that ITT is not their strength, so the limited kms will suit them just fine.

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This year will see four major contenders battle it out IMO; Froome, Nibali, Contador and Quintana. Between them, they have won 7 of the last 8 grand tours. Given the aforementioned lack of ITT kms, it really evens out the chances between the four. I'm really looking forward to stage 20, with the climb of Alpe d'hues always a favourite of mine. This stage also includes the climb up the Col de la Croix de Fer, a really tough climb. If one of the main contenders is a couple of minutes behind coming into the last stage, they could use this climb as a launch pad to make up time. It could make for a great penultimate day. That is a long way off however.

I'll stick my neck out here and pick all of my jersey winners come the Champs Elysees. Given my lack of cycling watching this year, it will be a miracle if I get any of these right, so we will see how we go;
Yellow Jersey; Nairo Quintana
Green Jersey; Alexander Kristoff
Polkadot Jersey; Julien Arrendondo
White Jersey; Nairo Quintana
Combatif; Anthony Delaplace
Lantern Rouge; Jack Bauer
 
Stage 1; Utrecht - Utrecht (ITT)
carte.pdf


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As you can see, this is a short, pan flat circuit today. Having said that, it is very much a street circuit with a few tight corners to deal with. Bike handling will be at a premium today. Given it is a time trial, people's minds will automatically go to either Fabian Cancallara or Tony Martin. Here's the thing though; Cancellara has come off a limited preparation, and Tony Martin has a poor record in Grand Tour opening stage time trials. Fabian Cancellara has won every opening stage time trial/prologue at the Tour since 2007. Having said that, I still don't think he will win tonight.

Once you stray from the big two, you get some really good time trial riders; Adriano Malori, Tom Dumoulin, Luke Durbridge and Peter Sagan. Sagan is probably a bit below the other three, but his excellent bike handling put him back up there given the tight street circuit. Personally though, my tip for tonight will be Adriano Malori.
 
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Hopefully Durbridge gets the win tonight, having a Yellow on Orica GreenEDGE would be fantastic for us.

The Yates brothers are great, although I was a bit surprised they didn't select Simon Clarke (unless he's injured Orazio2Joe?) as he's probably the best mountain climber in Australia.

EDIT: I would also like OGE to chase the win in the polkadot jersey this year with the Yates brothers.
 

Ichabod Noodle

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how is the draw done? They start with Astana being last, but is there a rhyme or reason before that? I notice the teams cycle through in order, but is there a reason for the order or out of a hat? And do the teams then work out which of their riders go in what order - or are they drawn out of a hat too?
 
Hopefully Durbridge gets the win tonight, having a Yellow on Orica GreenEDGE would be fantastic for us.

The Yates brothers are great, although I was a bit surprised they didn't select Simon Clarke (unless he's injured Orazio2Joe?) as he's probably the best mountain climber in Australia.

EDIT: I would also like OGE to chase the win in the polkadot jersey this year with the Yates brothers.
Don't think he is injured.

Maybe they just didn't want to risk him giving a wheel to Richie Porte on an important stage?
 
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