Cycling 2012

[Mr A]

Today should be another day for the sprinters.. tomorrow is the first real climbing test. I have a feeling Roche will go well, and we'll learn a lot about Martin's recovery from his crash at the Dauphine.

[Mr A]

Stuck a few quid on Goss once I heard Greipel had crashed.. Looks like Cavendish isn't in the front group.. Sagan will probably screw me over.

[Mr A]

Drat.......

And it seems both Roche and Martin lost time.

[Dodge]

Didn't watch but whole team pulling for Goss and he can't win that against Sagan and an injured Greipel? Poor

Nico Roche unscathed and in 14th place now

Dan Martin part of the germin bus that brought Ryder home 13 minutes down. no idea if caught up in crash or just there to help him finish

[Stuttgart88]

Dan Martin interview with Ned Boulting here:

http://www.itv.com/tourdefrance/news...ive-interview/

He has a regular column in Irish Times too which I guess you all know about so I won't post a link.

[Mr A]

Hopefully AG2R now focus on Roche seeing as Peraud lost time yesterday. Martin is almost the only unhurt Garmin Sharp rider so should have free rein from now on. Mental stage yesterday and really looking forward to today's. Would love to see Evans put some time into Wiggins.

[Stuttgart88]

Roche up to 8th in GC. Martin was hyped up by ITV but couldn't cut it today apparently.

Evans and Nibaldi are riding solo for all intents and purposes. SKY seems well in control and with a 50k+ TT to come it's already looking like Wiggins' to lose.

[Dodge]

Garmin rode for Martin. He said he didn't have the legs today. Hopefully he finds them for next week

[Macy]

Yeah garmin going on the front kind of hyped Dan rather than the other way round.

Great performance from roche.

Not sure I'm entirely comfortable seeing a US postal style mountain train blow a stage apart. however, still coming down on believing...

[CraftyToePoke]

What number is Roche lads? My father wants to know but when I google him there seems to be different numbers on him each picture I look at. Does it alter with overall classification each day ? And/or is there a constant number also? Forgive the ignorance here.

[Stuttgart88]

I think he's number 79. Constant. I'm a bit confused, as I thought all numbers were 3 digits, except Evans as he is champion so wears 1. then I thought it went by team ranking so SKY being best ranked team and Wiggins being team leader makes him 101 etc.

[the 12 th man]

I think he's number 79.

I think you're right there,thought he looked strong enough at the end today.

[Stuttgart88]

Was looking at it today. Team leaders definitely end in 1 but plenty of double digit rider numbers.

Roche down to 9th after that. TT tomorrow.

[the 12 th man]

Was looking at it today. Team leaders definitely end in 1 but plenty of double digit rider numbers.

Roche down to 9th after that. TT tomorrow.

Roche is def No.79 http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2012/us...e-nicolas.html

[Macy]

I think he's number 79. Constant. I'm a bit confused, as I thought all numbers were 3 digits, except Evans as he is champion so wears 1. then I thought it went by team ranking so SKY being best ranked team and Wiggins being team leader makes him 101 etc.

They always start with 1, with the defending champion (and I think defending champions team if they're not defending). And always start from 1 going up. They are constant through the tour - gc leader is defined by yellow jersey.

Wiggins lost the plot yesterday...

Honestly, they're just f**king w**kers. I cannot be dealing with people like that. It justifies their own bone-idleness because they can't ever imagine applying themselves to anything in their lives. And it's easy for them to sit under a pseudo-name on Twitter and write that sort of s**t rather than get off their arses in their own life and apply themselves, and work hard at something and achieve something. And that's ultimately it... C**ts.

For what it's worth, I do believe (and hope) Wiggins and Sky are clean. However, imo he's been far less vocally anti doping since he became a contender, and his continued Lance fanboy act doesn't exactly do him any favours in this regard. And there appears to be a question mark over one of the Team Sky Doctors, which the dot joiners just love to see, but does raise some questions for Brailsford. So I don't have a problem with Wiggins having a pop back (or the language used), but he hasn't really done himself any favours in recent seasons.

[Mr A]

Roche in 10th after the time trial- great ride from him. Hopefully he can move up a bit in the mountain stages before the final time trial.

Hard to see anything stopping Wiggins now.. but the climbers have to give it welly in the mountains now so it should be entertaining.

[Macy]

Yep, great TT from Roche. Definite improvement. Unlucky to lose that bit of time the day before, but hopefully he can stick with the main GC guys on the longer climbs.

Possibly Froome is Wiggins biggest danger. If Wiggins has a bad day, and Froome isn't, will Froome wait? And would Brailsford make him? Probably, but creates an added bit of confusion.

[Mr A]

Armstrong tries to stop the USADA case, fecks it up completely: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12...fications.aspx He can try again though, and no doubt will.

Meanwhile the Cofidis team have been raided by police and one rider arrested with two others on suspicion of involvement with doping products. Yay. Another Tour rest day.

[Dodge]

Remy di Gregario arrested at Cofidis hotel (usual bull about them storming the hotel). As if he wouldn't turn up anyway... Investigation stems from his time at Astana (shock!)

Froome was stronger than Wiggins in the Vuelta. Sky ballsed up trying to get Wiggins the title, and they ended up 2nd and 3rd. Phenomenally strong

[Macy]

Froome was stronger than Wiggins in the Vuelta. Sky ballsed up trying to get Wiggins the title, and they ended up 2nd and 3rd. Phenomenally strong

Yeah, but I'm not sure anyone (including Froome himself) knew he was that strong or consistent at that stage. He wasn't even selected for the Tour last year in support of Wiggins. Still think from the PR point of view, Wiggins is the man for them to focus on.