The Official EA 2012 Tour de France thread

[Auntie Ovipositor]

I was very happy to see both voeckler and voigt in the break today. There are many reasons i love jens voigt, but today i was watching him thinking 'he's doing that, and he's older than me!' Thanks Jens!

Indeed - Jens is always fun to watch.

It's nice to see Voeckler win after that ride, considering he did all of the work.

Fun stage. Sky held it together well, but I don't think the race is theirs by a long shot. Yet.

[Josef K]

Evans attacks!

No panic from Sky, yet.

[barndog]

Evans has no legs today - wonder how Teejay would have fared if he could have taken off by himself. Descent should be fun to watch.

[Josef K]

Great stage again today. Wonder if Froom was a little peeved at holding back a bit for Wiggins? Flawless riding from Team Sky again.

[barndog]

Great stage again today. Wonder if Froom was a little peeved at holding back a bit for Wiggins? Flawless riding from Team Sky again.

I was wondering the same thing about Van Garderen having to go back and collect Evans. It must sorta suck at times to have to sacrifice for the main rider - but I guess that's the nature of the sport. It was pretty impressive how team Sky never panicked on any of the attacks - just picked the pace up slightly and eventually caught up.

I felt bad for Cadel - I hope someone steps up and threatens Wiggens. It won't be nearly as fun to watch if he just runs away with it. It's not going to happen on a TT stage - it better happen pretty soon.

Happy to see some Frenchies win some stages too.

[Josef K]

Great stage again today. Wonder if Froom was a little peeved at holding back a bit for Wiggins? Flawless riding from Team Sky again.

I was wondering the same thing about Van Garderen having to go back and collect Evans. It must sorta suck at times to have to sacrifice for the main rider - but I guess that's the nature of the sport. It was pretty impressive how team Sky never panicked on any of the attacks - just picked the pace up slightly and eventually caught up.

I felt bad for Cadel - I hope someone steps up and threatens Wiggens. It won't be nearly as fun to watch if he just runs away with it. It's not going to happen on a TT stage - it better happen pretty soon.

Happy to see some Frenchies win some stages too.

Watching Wiggins reminds me so much of watching Indurain during his rule over the tour. He rarely did any of the sexy stuff but just quietly and completely dominated. It's great to see riders attacking and I hope more do it. Cadel toiled today. But he's too good to just accept the situation.

[barndog]

Watching Wiggins reminds me so much of watching Indurain during his rule over the tour. He rarely did any of the sexy stuff but just quietly and completely dominated.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/gene ... 32617.html

Team Sky was like the Imperial fleet - every time someone tried to make a break, they got pulled back in by their tractor beam. It really was impressive how coolly the quieted any uprising. I thought it was a classy move on Wiggins' part to give Nibali a pat on the back toward the end. No distractions whatsoever on that team. Wiggins' only real competition at this point is Froome.

Hopefully that changes - will be boring if this becomes a done deal too early in the tour.

[Nico Adie]

David Byrne's taller, skinnier, younger & better at cycling-er brother wins today's stage.



Cancellara pulled out yesterday, because:

Goodbye #TDF12. I am not only bike rider.i am a husband as well.My family needs me to be close for the pregnat and to assist.

[Auntie Ovipositor]

Impressive ride indeed! All of Sky held it together comfortably, but that was something truly special from Rogers. I think they'll be able to defend the jersey just fine.

I enjoyed everything about yesterday's stage.

Froome will either be leading Sky or on a different team next year. He's just too good right now not to be leading a team.

[seth]

Millar's stage win means four different uk riders have won a stage on this tour! I may have shed a tear or two.

[Josef K]

Great drama today. Sabotage! Carpet tacks spread on the road at the top of the Col. Punctures amundo! Evans had three punctures, Wiggins slowed the peleton to allow Evans to get back on. What a race.

[barndog]

Yea - that was nuts. Pretty classy how they decided to wait for team BMC. I liked how Evans waved thankfully to the team cars as he passed. It was the proper thing to do - but still classy.

And I won $10 from my friend by correctly picking Sanchez to win this stage.

Sagan's a beast. So many good young riders in this tour - will be fun to see which ones emerge to be the next contenders. Froome is already hinting that he believes he deserves a shot. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome- ... -this-tour I somehow don't see Wiggins deciding to not defend in favor of getting Froome a win. We'll see. Listening to Van Garderen interview after the finish - I got the impression that he may have gotten himself into a little hot water by not stopping when Cadel flatted.

I have a feeling tomorrow's stage will be a faceoff between Greipel and Cavendish. Sagan pushed himself very hard today - not sure he'll have the strength tomorrow to battle it out in a sprint - but I wouldn't be against him either.

[Josef K]

Yea - that was nuts. Pretty classy how they decided to wait for team BMC. I liked how Evans waved thankfully to the team cars as he passed. It was the proper thing to do - but still classy.

And I won $10 from my friend by correctly picking Sanchez to win this stage.

Sagan's a beast. So many good young riders in this tour - will be fun to see which ones emerge to be the next contenders. Froome is already hinting that he believes he deserves a shot. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome- ... -this-tour I somehow don't see Wiggins deciding to not defend in favor of getting Froome a win. We'll see. Listening to Van Garderen interview after the finish - I got the impression that he may have gotten himself into a little hot water by not stopping when Cadel flatted.

I have a feeling tomorrow's stage will be a faceoff between Greipel and Cavendish. Sagan pushed himself very hard today - not sure he'll have the strength tomorrow to battle it out in a sprint - but I wouldn't be against him either.

Definite error of judgement by Teejay - I'm sure Evans will have told him that in no uncertain terms. Sagan is a great rider as is Froome. Froome must remember that it's a team game and the objective is for a Team Sky win. If egos get in the way then it will be counter productive - I'm sure Froome knows that.

[seth]

Definitely not a classy move from Rolland, that was not ok. Was wondering if the media wasn't making more of the VanGarderen situation than was really there - he is actually in a jersey, and looks much more like winning one that Evans does, at least as the race has gone so far. Would it really make sense for him to stop, rather than one of the team riders behind them?

[barndog]

Definitely not a classy move from Rolland, that was not ok. Was wondering if the media wasn't making more of the VanGarderen situation than was really there - he is actually in a jersey, and looks much more like winning one that Evans does, at least as the race has gone so far. Would it really make sense for him to stop, rather than one of the team riders behind them?

I'm not sure they blew it out of proportion. A young rider appearing to leave the team leader and defending tour winner stranded with a flat is pretty hard to defend - regardless of how remote the chances of Cadel winning this year. I don't think this will end up being a big deal - but I would love to hear what kind of discussion takes place between Van Garderen and riders like George Hincapie over the next 24 hours. Probably in the end a good lesson for him - especially if he's ever in a position to lead his own team in the future.

[johnnyshape]

Can't decide whether to bet on Cav or the Gripper today.

[barndog]

Well it's looking less and less likely that anyone is going to make a serious attack on Wiggins. About all that can be hoped for is a schism develop between Wiggins and Froome over the last 4 stages and they go head to head. I guess there might be some potential action if Nibali tries to knock Froome out of second position.

Sad to see Evans done as well - although it looks like Van Garderen has been relieved of his pacing responsibilities and will get to ride for the best young rider jersey.

[Auntie Ovipositor]

On the one hand, I'm really happy to see 2 riders from the UK win for a lot of different reasons (the country's never done well at the tour, they made a serious effort to win and absolutely earned it), but I wish it had been a more interesting race this year. Much to my surprise, Sky absolutely dominated - in a way that reminded me of Armstrong's last win. There just wasn't any GC competition.

Mountains and green have been pretty interesting, though.

Wiggins and Froome are both young enough and likely to compete against each other next year, Andy Schleck will likely be back... It's an interesting time in cycling.

[barndog]

I was a little disappointed at the finish. It seemed like Froome had a chance for the stage win - but held back to stay with Wiggins. Going purely on body language - it looked to me like Wiggins was encouraging him to go for the win - I certainly think it could have made for a great finish. It could have also won me $5.

Sprinters stage tomorrow - it would be really great to see a big showdown with Greipel, Sagan, Cavendish and Goss.

[Dudley]

Hey tour/cycling aficionados. Slightly tangental question ahoy.

Was just reading about Cavendish's crash after a fan's flag got wrapped around his handlebars. Given that fan/spectator interventions/incidents seem to happen relatively frequently on the tour, what is the fallout? Do other spectators pile in on the perpetrator? Do they get arrested? Is the rider given 90 seconds alone behind the team truck with the perpetrator and a set of Allen keys?

In all the other sports I watch, any fan interference in the actual play nowadays has massive repercussions - arrest, lifetime bans etc. Obviously it's impossible to ban someone from standing on a public road. I can't imagine how a rider must feel to have done all that work and then have their shit all fucked up by a spectator desperate to get in on the action. Also, in other sports, the team would definitely take some sort of action against anyone who interfered with them winning/earning money.