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2011 Tour de France - who wins?

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BB73

BB73

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'16 & '17 Upset Contest Winner
Which rider wins the TDF this year?

As always, once the winner stands atop the podium in Paris, this vBet will pay out. No changes will be made after that, even if the guy is later DQ'd for doping or determined to be an alien cyborg.
 
This is actually going to be a contested tour for the top spot. Andy Schleck has a huge chip on his shoulder and is in good form. Contador is a head case but unbeatable if he's on form. Watch our for Vino, he has been on fire.

This course is set up for the climbers. He who climbs the best wins. Obviously that is Schleck and Contador. It probably is going to come down to who has the best Time Trial because I don't think they are going to be able to shake each other on the big Mountain climbs.

The one factor is the heat. I was talking to the Director of the Garmin Team yesterday and they all expect this to be one of the hottest tours in history.
 
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Most interesting first stage of the Tour in some time. Contador now must be aggressive.

Will be interesting to see the team strength measured tomorrow.

Between the end of College Basketball and the start of football this is pretty much the only sport I enjoy watching. (And I really don't care who is on what.)
 
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Oh8ch;1948193; said:
Most interesting first stage of the Tour in some time. Contador now must be aggressive.

Will be interesting to see the team strength measured tomorrow.

Between the end of College Basketball and the start of football this is pretty much the only sport I enjoy watching. (And I really don't care who is on what.)
Click to expand...

Contador was in a crash with over half the field with a little under 10K left. An idiot kid at the side of the road was looking the wrong way as the peleton rushed by, and his elbow hit a rider, who bounced toward the other riders, who fell in a heap 10 riders wide all the way across the road. Contador fell behind the leading group by 30 to 40 seconds. The lead group wasn't going to slow down that close to the end of the race, as teams were trying to set up guys for the stage win.

With 2K left, Andy Schleck was in another crash within the lead group, which blocked the road. Those guys didn't have to worry about trying to catch up, since crashes in the final 3K of a stage get guys the same time as the riders around them that get through. The second crash actually hurt Contador further, since his group had to slow up since it wasn't cleared up when he got there. So Contador and Andy Schleck both crossed the line in the same group, but Andy Schleck got the same time as his brother, only 6 seconds behind the stage winner. Contador had to take the time difference of when that group came in, so he's 1:20 behind the leader.

The team time trial will be interesting tomorrow, since the Schlecks left SaxoBank to form their own team, and Contador left Astana to become the lead rider for Saxo.
 
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Folanator;1947580; said:
This is actually going to be a contested tour for the top spot. Andy Schleck has a huge chip on his shoulder and is in good form. Contador is a head case but unbeatable if he's on form. Watch our for Vino, he has been on fire.

This course is set up for the climbers. He who climbs the best wins. Obviously that is Schleck and Contador. It probably is going to come down to who has the best Time Trial because I don't think they are going to be able to shake each other on the big Mountain climbs.

The one factor is the heat. I was talking to the Director of the Garmin Team yesterday and they all expect this to be one of the hottest tours in history.
Click to expand...

There are 4 mountaintop finishes, including back-to-back days with the Col du Galibier and Alpe d"Huez, which are followed by an individual TT on the penultimate day of the race. No rest for the weary toward the end of the race.
 
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An unbelievable accident on Le Tour today.

It was a day with a lot of medium climbs, suited to a breakaway, 6 guys (later 5) had a lead of a few minutes most of the day. The peloton was doing a fast descent when there was on off-camera crash. Vinokourov went over the little guardrail, down into a ditch and ended up in some trees about 15 feet from the road. He had fractured the head of his femur, just below the hip. Kloden and some other guys went down (Van den Broeck is out with a broken collarbone), and the peloton slowed down for a few minutes to allow the guys that survived the crash to catch up. That allowed the breakaway's lead to go from about 3 minutes to 7 minutes.

With a little over 20 miles left, the 5 guys still had about a 5 minute lead, and were going down a straight, flat road when the most outrageous thing I've ever seen in Le Tour occurred. A French TV car was slightly behind them on a 2-lane road, and the driver decided to speed up and pass them. When he was next to the group of 5 riders, the driver noticed a tree on the edge of the pavement on his side of the road. Instead of braking, he swerved to the right, knocking Juan Antonio Flecha (who was going perfectly straight in the middle of the road) over into Thomas Voeckler. Voeckler managed to stay upright, while Flecha went down. Hoogerland (who had earned the King of the Mountains jersey on this stage) went flying off the road and landed on a barbed-wire fence.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYPDAry-A-s"]YouTube - ‪Flecha and Hoogerland Car Accident / Crash - 2011 Tour de France Stage 9‬‏[/ame]

Flecha and Hoogerland ended up finishing about 16:30 behind the other 3 guys in that group. Hoogerland thinks he's looking at about 30 stitches. Le Tour took the unprecendented step of awarding them both the Fighting Spirit (Most Agressive Rider) award for the day.
 
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Ligget was pissed. My guess is that guy is going to have to move out of France or some Basque is going to blow his house up.

Set your DVR's for Thursday and Saturday.

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BB73;1951458; said:
An unbelievable accident on Le Tour today.

It was a day with a lot of medium climbs, suited to a breakaway, 6 guys (later 5) had a lead of a few minutes most of the day. The peloton was doing a fast descent when there was on off-camera crash. Vinokourov went over the little guardrail, down into a ditch and ended up in some trees about 15 feet from the road. He had fractured the head of his femur, just below the hip. Kloden and some other guys went down (Van den Broeck is out with a broken collarbone), and the peloton slowed down for a few minutes to allow the guys that survived the crash to catch up. That allowed the breakaway's lead to go from about 3 minutes to 7 minutes.

With a little over 20 miles left, the 5 guys still had about a 5 minute lead, and were going down a straight, flat road when the most outrageous thing I've ever seen in Le Tour occurred. A French TV car was slightly behind them on a 2-lane road, and the driver decided to speed up and pass them. When he was next to the group of 5 riders, the driver noticed a tree on the edge of the pavement on his side of the road. Instead of braking, he swerved to the right, knocking Juan Antonio Flecha (who was going perfectly straight in the middle of the road) over into Thomas Voeckler. Voeckler managed to stay upright, while Flecha went down. Hoogerland (who had earned the King of the Mountains jersey on this stage) went flying off the road and landed on a barbed-wire fence.

YouTube - ‪Flecha and Hoogerland Car Accident / Crash - 2011 Tour de France Stage 9‬‏

Flecha and Hoogerland ended up finishing about 16:30 behind the other 3 guys in that group. Hoogerland thinks he's looking at about 30 stitches. Le Tour took the unprecendented step of awarding them both the Fighting Spirit (Most Agressive Rider) award for the day.
Click to expand...

I know it's not really funny, but my word does that make me chuckle.
 
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