2008 Tour De France : Stage 1 Brest - Plumelec 195 km Saturday, July

Runitout

I would pay good coin to see that. far better than watching azumah and fenech throw zimmer frames at each other.

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Crankyfeet

Hunter will be confused over which wheel to follow in the last 600m during the sprint finishes of this TdF IMO. Last year he just looked for Tommeke.

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Eldron

Agreed unfortunately - Robbie is a brute force and ignorance kinda sprinter. Still...there is a lot of brute force.

Perhaps a few more years will get him the tactical nuance he needs...

mrfrogger

Surely we're not talking about Jeff and Azumah? Is this the kinda shite people get up to in Australia these days? I've been away too long...

Meanwhile back at the point - I'll tip Zabel. It's nostalgia really but he'll do all the little things right.

adamastor

If peloton aarives grouped, Kim Kirchen will go with 4 kms to go, with Cavendish/Ciolek as backup if they catch him

thunder

nope Kirchen will not attack, he will follow wheels.

No need to expend unnecessary energy as a GC candidate throwing in an attack on stage 1, why would you? Why waste the effort? No bonus seconds. He will hide in the top 20, and when the peel of riders off the front occurs, he might find himself in a position to sprint for the win at the finish. But no, he will not actively animate the last 2kms. He is damn fast, so if they lose the sprinters, he will be there in the sprint with Ricco/Valverde et al.

wicklow200

Why is that? He didnt ride the tour last year either did he?

thunder

gives him ability to cherry pick the races like Hamburg and San Sebastian

Capt.Injury

I like Zabel, the experience and the fact he likes those uphill type finishes. Also isn't his birthday either Sunday or Monday?? Be a nice little present for himself.

Drongo

McEwen tipped Valverde for the stage win: http://www.smh.com.au/news/tourdefr...4951003669.html
The papers are trying to build it up as a rift, although his comments are innocuous enough. Having said that, I'll bet McEwen doesn't have a picture of Evans over his fireplace.

Runitout

Having seen the parcours profile, what he says makes sense. Valverde is up there as a good chance to do well. I would prefer a Ricco, Sanchez or my revised pick Pozzato - someone with legs for a short burst up hill but less expectation on GC - but you would write off Valverde here at your peril. Devolder might do it too if he's canny enough. So that's why I'm not including him.

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Crankyfeet

That's just BS that McEwen predicting a Valverde win is somehow a slight at Evans. Is this the tabloid level of cycling journalism in Oz?

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Runitout

It would be, but as you know, the Sydney Morning Herald is [gulp] broadsheet of record for the nation. So to give them the benefit of the doubt - maybe they assume that everything that isn't a fanboy comment is somehow a criticism?

Further - it's an AFP story - some chump at the wire services has put this together and the SMH has lazily reprinted it.

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thunder

actually the wires report they pick up on cycling is from an insightful cycling journo, looked at all the reporting last year.

Did my own Stuat Littlemore Medja Watch. When the reporting on Monday after was "Contador is a doper, our guy was the rightful winner".

I still think Gert Steegmans and Thor Hushovd will be there for the finish.