Thread: 2012 Tour de France Fantasy Cycling

FABIAN!
- 7"

nice rides by cuddles, tejay & ryder
wiggo rode well...he doesn't need to carry yellow from the gun. none of the GC guys want that responsibility

for those on the fence, paying nbc for the feed seems to be quite good
(full screen on a 27" imac, it's pretty nice)

Way to go Spartacus!

Hell of a push by Cancellara.. I'm really curious what happened to Tony Martin, seemed like his chain was still on when he swapped his bike. Anyone hear more?

Also curious, is the feed you buy the same as the NBC Sports broadcast? Strange that they keep advertising it on tv to people (like me) who clearly already have the channel... maybe they're targeting people watching from a bar, lbs, or friends house?

it is the same feed with phil/paul but no commercial interruption

if you turn it on early, you get another no-name announcer, but, if i remember from last year, he was solid and did not get in the way of the broadcast

you don't get the desk preshow, tho (which maybe most would prefer?)

in the evening you can get the recap show too


and i can take it to the beach with me this week (woohoo!)

the only thing i miss about cable is the dvr ability to start it late and fast forward through the drivel or slow bits

Originally Posted by JayPowHound

Hell of a push by Cancellara.. I'm really curious what happened to Tony Martin, seemed like his chain was still on when he swapped his bike. Anyone hear more?

I just read he had a puncture...

Bad day for Martin and Sagan today, but a good day for Wiggo and my guy Eddie Boassan Hagan. Happy to see that Van Garderen did well even though he's not on my team.

I personally think the prologue TT is dumb. The real tour starts tomorrow.

Originally Posted by telebobski

I personally think the prologue TT is dumb. The real tour starts tomorrow.

Aside from the potential to get knocked out by crashes I would argue that the real tour doesn't start until a week from today at Stage 7.. Everything should be pretty cohesive until then, I don't think the big names will start making gaps till they hit the mountains.

Originally Posted by telebobski

I personally think the prologue TT is dumb. The real tour starts tomorrow.

Originally Posted by JayPowHound

Aside from the potential to get knocked out by crashes I would argue that the real tour doesn't start until a week from today at Stage 7.. Everything should be pretty cohesive until then, I don't think the big names will start making gaps till they hit the mountains.

and nissan trek starts the tour with frank schleck down 38 secs in less than 7km
shit! his WHOLE team beat him this morning! go frank!!!

Is velogames not doing points for the prologue?

It's all there ...

http://www.velogames.com/tdf/leagues...eague=23173437

Originally Posted by JayPowHound

Aside from the potential to get knocked out by crashes I would argue that the real tour doesn't start until a week from today at Stage 7.. Everything should be pretty cohesive until then, I don't think the big names will start making gaps till they hit the mountains.

I would mostly agree if you are only thinking about GC. But There are a lot of sprint and mountain points that accumulate in the first week - especially for someone Cavendish who I predict will not finish the tour so he can be fresh for the Olympics.

And IIRC, Evans was in a break last year in an early stage (the stage Gilbert won?) that basically won him the yellow jersey in Paris.

so the real tour didnt start today?

I believe they were suggesting the first stages are not decisive for the over all GC. If you ask Sagan, then yes, the tour has begun.

Dude makes it look so easy ... Boonen easy or Gilbert easy, that is. Hope they wait until after the tour to pop him.

Curiously, Leipheimer lost 17 seconds today. That very un-liepheimer-esque. I think he's supposed to be their GC man.

Impressive riding by Sparticus, Sagan and Eddie BH. That climb to the finish looked brutally steep. Loved how Cancellara kept trying to get Sagan to pull, but the youngster kept his head.

Anybody hear Horner telling the team car he hurt his knee? Bet The Shack is happy they put him on the team at the last minute. They should have sent Jens back so say "shut up knee"!

And I loved the Road ID commercial with Jens as the truck driver.

51. WESTRA Lieuwe 121 VACANSOLEIL-DCM 04h 58' 36'' + 00' 17''
53. COSTA Rui Alberto 163 MOVISTAR TEAM 04h 58' 36'' + 00' 17''
54. LEIPHEIMER Levi 191 OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 04h 58' 36'' + 00' 17''
58. PINOT Thibaut 146 FDJ-BIGMAT 04h 58' 42'' + 00' 23''
61. KRUIJSWIJK Steven 152 RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 04h 58' 42'' + 00' 23''
62. COBO ACEBO Juan Jose 162 MOVISTAR TEAM 04h 58' 42'' + 00' 23''
71. COPPEL Jérôme 91 SAUR-SOJASUN 04h 58' 42'' + 00' 23''

Sagan is an animal.

The dope fairies are bound to come knocking on his door sooner or later, eh?

Originally Posted by huckbucket

Curiously, Leipheimer lost 17 seconds today. That very un-liepheimer-esque. I think he's supposed to be their GC man.

lots of congestion heading thru town toward the line...narrow passages that stretched the peloton, and at least three crashes (including one moron photographer who stepped into the road)

can we agree to leave the dope talk to another thread? (if we need to go there...)

cancellara was a beast today
i think he may head the path that thor has taken recently - more of an all rounder, less of a specialist
he had some decent mountain days last year staying with the peloton instead of trailing in with one of the grupettos

Originally Posted by JayPowHound

Sagan is an animal.

The dope fairies are bound to come knocking on his door sooner or later, eh?

They did today - they always test the stage winner

Originally Posted by acinpdx

cancellara was a beast today
i think he may head the path that thor has taken recently - more of an all rounder, less of a specialist
he had some decent mountain days last year staying with the peloton instead of trailing in with one of the grupettos

Cancellera is an outstanding classics racer and ITT rider, but at 6'1" and 175 lbs he's not gonna keep up in the mountains. I think RadioShack is pushing him now for the advertising exposure, 'cause they don't have a decent sprinter and they sure ain't gonna get camera time from Kloden or Schleck.

Miguel Indurain was 6'2'' and 176lbs in his prime.
five mellow johnnies.
big dude