Le Tour !

[thenry]

Brad to win?

[tenrec]

I certainly hope so.

[pdq1]

Judging by today its the rider that manages to miss the tacks thrown into the road. I hope it hasn't given any nutters ideas for the olympics.

[Mattk]

I may have misheard but they said that only riders who are not in direct competition are allowed to break away at the front meaning that surely he has already won it bar a disaster?

[jomifl]

Mattk, I think you must have misheard it. Any rider can break away at any time. You must have heard a reference to the convention of not taking advantage of another riders misfortune not caused by the rider or his team.

[MoonRocker]

Any rider can break matt, they mean that the sky team will only let them get away if they are no threat to the jersey. Wiggins should close this out now but their are some nutters who could spoil it with their antics, so it's not certain.

[Frank97]

He certainly looks good for it at the moment! :-)

[penelope2]

Looks good for Wiggins now as long as he doesn't suffer any disasters. Sky have Froome (a disgruntled Froome I think) as a back up. Pity the French and Spanish press keep going on about him 'doping'.

[sunny-dave]

Wednesday and Thursday in the Pyrenees will be the last real hurdles for Bradley - he looks strong, but one bad day could lose it for him.

Frightening day of climbing over the classic passes on Wednesday (Aubisque, Tourmalet, Col d'Aspin and Peyresourde) but not a mountain-top finish.

Thursday is much shorter, but a nasty up/down/up sting in the tail to finish at the ski station of Peyragudes - that will be sh!t or bust time for the other GC contenders.

[snags]

Brad's biggest threat Tuesday and Wednesday is Chris Froome ;-p

[snags]

^ Wed and Thurs.

[sunny-dave]

He could duff him up in the showers on Tuesday :+)

[Frank97]

Weather Wiggins wins or not do you think Sky will ride for a Cavendish win on the Champs Elysees? I hope so!

[snags]

'Brad beaten black and blue with Brioche, Brie and french bread'

Seriously, Wiggins is lucky Froome is his team mate and not a rival... he'd have left him standing in the Alps...

[sunny-dave]

Once they are on the Champs Elysee with Brad in one piece, there is no reason for Sky not to work for Cav - he's been a good domestique for the last week or so & it should be payback time.

[snags]

Of course they will... Brad will (hopefully) have it sewn up so any chance to gain maximum team exposure. Plus Cavandish wants to make it four in a row.

[sunny-dave]

Tricky call for Froome next year ... ?

[snags]

''Froome, meanwhile, offered timely assurance of his total support this week and also distanced himself from the interview in L’Equipe at the weekend which suggested, among other things, that he would expect support from Wiggins in next year’s Tour de France in return for his assistance this year.''

No team can have two number 1's.

[Khandro]

snags; //Wiggins is lucky Froome is his team mate and not a rival... he'd have left him standing in the Alps...// I'm not so sure. Years back, Indurain rode for Pedro Delgado, and it became obvious he was the better man having to constantly wait for him, and so he was elevated to team leader. I can't see any similarity to this between Wiggins and Froome.
Incidentally, I hope things DO hot up, or this in danger of being the most boring tour I can remember.

[snags]

''I can't see any similarity to this between Wiggins and Froome''

I haven't said there is. I never said their respective roles within SKY would change. I agree with your comment about this year's Tour not being as exciting as past years though.

[sunny-dave]

Even the ITV4 crew called yesterday 'not terribly exciting' ... which is TV speak for 'utterly tedious'.