Tour de France - 2012

[RidgeRider]

Well, stage 1 is underway and our ever popular Tour de France thread is due to kick off.

Phenominal performance by Fabulous Cancellara yesterday, good to see him back and healthy.

This years race appears to be between maybe 5 riders:

1-Cadel Evans
2-Bradley Wiggins
Frank Schleck - maybe
3-Denis Menchov
Jurgen Van Den Broeck - maybe
Robert Gesink - maybe
Levi Leipheimer - maybe
4-Ryder Hejsedel
5-Vincenzo Nibali

I think Jurgen, Gesink and Schleck will struggle to podium this year because they can't TT and the TT's this year are long, which makes this years installment right up Evans and Wiggins wheelhouse.

I think this will be a very close battle this year coming down to the last TT between Wiggins and Evans. Too close to call but should make for great race. Team Sky and Team BMC are both stacked squads so should be an epic battle.

[Berserker]

Yep i'm following it and rooting for Bradley W

[Burt]

I hope they have all ordered sufficient quantities of butt butter.

[MJG]

Not an expert at all (my grandfather is, he rode for England in the 50's) but always follow the tour.
BW has been building up to this tour for the last few years, its his chance to be a british winner. With luck and help from the Sky team he could do it.

[Ron Sheepskin]

In an unrelated story, John Terry has been spotted buying yellow tops in Primark...

[Mr Fulham]

I guess it's between Cadel and Bradley Wiggins this year which is a nice thing because I like em both.

[RidgeRider]

Wiggins has made a pretty remarkable transformation. It started when he was with the Garmin team who were working with a physio that helped him get his body 'right' for the high altitude long climbs of the tour and moved him further away from being a track rider. Personally I am not a Wiggins supporter, just due to the way he left Garmin but he seems a decent bloke in his interviews so its not a dislike by any means, more of an ambivalence. Having said that though he has exactly the right characteristics now to win this years version of the tour. Really good climber and an excellent time trialist. He also has an excellent team built around him that should make him difficult to beat this year.  

My guy is Evans....he will have to be on his game to beat Wiggo this year though.

If you are a Wiggins fan, this is probably the year you will get to see an English rider win the tour.

[sipwell]

Evans will not finish. He will give up when (not if) he is 2 minutes behind the leader. I am rooting for who-ever is willing to attack and not make it the bore-fest of last year!

Go Belgium!

[RidgeRider]

More ex-Armstrong teammates look to have come forward and may be suspended at the end of the season and Cavendish mouthing off in the press again, or at least his girlfriend is.....Lance is going down.

With one rider out of the tour already, and Cav landing on the tarmac yesterday, Team Sky has been a bit weakened.

Watch Cav win today after yesterdays bad day. I think Petacchi will win today and we'll see some more, potentially damaging crashes.