Tour de France 2010

[TopDeck113]

What IMO is the best annual sporting event starts on Saturday.

Predictions

Yellow - Can't see past Alberto Contador - it's a very mountainous Tour and he's a great climber.  My outset bet is Andy Schleck.  It'll be interesting to see how Bradley Wiggins and the new Sky team do.  If he can improve on last year's fourth I'll be amazed but delighted.

Green - Mark Cavendish's not to win. Might not secure as many wins as last year, but will hopefully have the nous to secure points on the days when he's not on the podium.

King of the Mountains - By right it should be Contador, but contenders for GC don't ruin their chances by contesting climbs that would jeopardise their chances of finishing in yellow on the Champs de Elysees.  I'll go for someone with unfulfilled potential on a team not having to contest anyother classification: Lampre's Damiano Cunego.

Young Rider - Andy Schleck.

[usav]

Armstrong - it's his last tour, I think he may be motivated to go one better than last year.

[Mac]

I'm really looking forward to Le Tour and the Sky Team.

Hoping for Brad on GC and think Cav will win Green this year.

[Dave Cooper please]

Cavendish might find it difficult this year because he's not the most liked of riders in the Tour, not that this will bother him too much but if he finds himself targetted in the run up to the sprints his team are going to have to work extra hard to protect him and lead him out. For that reason alone I think Thor Husholvd will take green.

It would be great to see Bradley win, but realistically it's Contador's as long as his team (which isn't as strong as last year) can keep up with him on the climbs to help when he needs it.
Actually I quite fancy one of the Schlecks to spring a surprise this year.

[VillaZogmariner]

My prediction - it will be overshadowed yet again by drugs.

[Dave Cooper please]

My prediction - it will be overshadowed yet again by drugs.

If you didn't take so many you'd be able to watch it properly.

[Chris Smith]

You have to love this event. Such are the demands on them that whoever comes out on top can claim without fear of contradiction that they are truly at the top of their profession. However, the drug manufacturers shouldn't take all the credit the riders do have to do a bit  too.

[hipkiss92]

My prediction - it will be overshadowed yet again by drugs.

If you didn't take so many you'd be able to watch it properly.

well the 2009 Tour was one of the cleanest since at least '98, and the younger riders dont tolerate drug use as much as other riders have over the past decade, i think this tour will hopefully be even cleaner than the last one.

[cdbearsfan]

Can someone explain how it works... I know the bloke in the yellow jersey is the leader, not sure about how all the stages and King of the Mountains bits work.

Does whoever wins the most stages count as the overall winner or is overall winner calculated on accumulated time?

Are they having it in any funny countries this year like when they started it in Britain / Ireland?

[usav]

Can someone explain how it works... I know the bloke in the yellow jersey is the leader, not sure about how all the stages and King of the Mountains bits work.

Does whoever wins the most stages count as the overall winner or is overall winner calculated on accumulated time?

Are they having it in any funny countries this year like when they started it in Britain / Ireland?

The simplest part is the winner - whoever does the complete Tour in the least amount of time.

There are other categories like 'King of the Mountains' and 'Sprint Champion' - but they tend to be quite specialised and the winner of those is rarely (if ever?) the overall winner.

You can see the route here - looks like some Belgium and Holland action this year.

[Mac]

GC (General Classification - Yellow Jersey) - one with the lowest overall time.

King of the Mountains (Polka dot) one with the most points. Points are awarded for who goes over the top of each climb - larger the mountain larger the number of points awarded.

Points Jersey - Green Jersey - Points awarded for the ones over the line at the end of the day first PLUS some sprints during the day.

[TopDeck113]

You can see the route here - looks like some Belgium and Holland action this year.

Starting in a city where many great sporting triumphs have been celebrated...

[usav]

Well, one that matters anyway.

[Dave Cooper please]

Can someone explain how it works... I know the bloke in the yellow jersey is the leader, not sure about how all the stages and King of the Mountains bits work.

Does whoever wins the most stages count as the overall winner or is overall winner calculated on accumulated time?

Are they having it in any funny countries this year like when they started it in Britain / Ireland?

It starts in Rotterdam this year (now there's a place!) and goes through Belgium before hitting France.

Right.

There are 20 stages, one initial short individual time trial, one more longer time trial later on (time trials are ridden against the clock, individually, no help from your team mates). There are a few mainly flat stages, very few hills, good for breakaway where a few riders try to get a drop on the 'Peleton' (the main group of riders) and win the stage but usually good for the sprinters. The most dramatic stages are those in The Pyrenees and The Alps, 200Km stages up massive mountains! One good stage where a rider can blow away all his rivals and the tour can be won on one of these, Armstrong was a master of this, Contador is probably the best at the moment.
No team time trial this year I see.

Yellow Jersey and overall winner is decided on cumulative time over all stages.

Green Jersey is the 'points' winner. Points are accumulated on all stages, the top 30 or so to finish a stage get points and there are also points on offer for intermediate sprints in the middle of stages, this is really the jersey for the sprinters who can't hope to keep up in the mountains so will lose loads of time on the yellow jersey but they can gain enough points to get the green jersey by winning flat stages and hanging on in the hilly (but not mountainous) ones. This is what Mark Cavendish wants this year and he has a chance having won ten stages in the last two Tours.

Red Polka Dot Jersey is the 'King of the Mountains'. Points are awarded to the first few riders over every climb, more points on offer on the steepest climbs which are ranked from 5 (fairly gentle hill) through 1 (bloody big mountain) to "hors categorie" (literally "beyond classification") which is basically a cliff face!

There is also a white jersey for the highest placed young rider (U-23).

Any other questions?

[cdbearsfan]

Thanks all.

I will try to watch some of it this year and think of more questions if I get thoroughly confused, more than likely!