Le Tour 2012

[SteveN]

I know it's never going to happen, but I think it would be more compelling if they had riders working for themselves and making individual decisions, rather than following team orders. 

The tactics of road cycling are fascinating and it's the team ethic which I love to see.  The sight of the world champion acting as a domestique and Froome, a potential GC contender himself, working for Wiggins sums up the way these guys work for each other. 

[Meanwood Villa]

Great stuff from Wiggins yesterday. I've seen or read several comments about the "un-British" nature of such a dominant performance with minimal fuss and no real drama so expect lots of fun and games in the mountains. What would it take for Sky to switch attention to Froome do people think?

[Dave Cooper please]

Isn't froome more of a climber?  I seem to remember reading something that he's targeting the mountain stages.

Froome proved yesterday that he's also a time-trialist, anyone who can beat Chavenal and Cancellara so comprehensively is prett damn good. Only Tony Martin (injured hand) might have got near that time.

[Dave Cooper please]

Great stuff from Wiggins yesterday. I've seen or read several comments about the "un-British" nature of such a dominant performance with minimal fuss and no real drama so expect lots of fun and games in the mountains. What would it take for Sky to switch attention to Froome do people think?

Wiggins falling off or having a bad day and losing over five minutes to Evans.
Next time trial is longer than the last one so even if Wiggins is a couple of minutes behind on General Classification he would fancy himself to pull it back over 53Km.

[paul_e]

Isn't froome more of a climber?  I seem to remember reading something that he's targeting the mountain stages.

Froome proved yesterday that he's also a time-trialist, anyone who can beat Chavenal and Cancellara so comprehensively is prett damn good. Only Tony Martin (injured hand) might have got near that time.

I don't disagree, he's clearly a very good rider, I just think his strength appears to be on the climbs (whereas Wiggins is a superb time-trialist), I guess we'll see soon.

[Meanwood Villa]

Great stuff from Wiggins yesterday. I've seen or read several comments about the "un-British" nature of such a dominant performance with minimal fuss and no real drama so expect lots of fun and games in the mountains. What would it take for Sky to switch attention to Froome do people think?

Wiggins falling off or having a bad day and losing over five minutes to Evans.
Next time trial is longer than the last one so even if Wiggins is a couple of minutes behind on General Classification he would fancy himself to pull it back over 53Km.

Hope Wiggins rides imperiously to a crushing victory of course but isn't it great to have options!

[PaulWinch again]

Thought Froome had ballsed it up there, but fortunately not.

[VWBelgian]

Well its all out that Wiggins have to win this year... Evans is not that good as last year. Froome strange man, first makes the pace then get behind and then attacks.

Oh well, VDB top six, other riders will be stay the same also, just another TT before Paris so its done. There is just one other mountainstage with finish uphill, i hope to see some action one more time.

[Hopadop]

I know it's never going to happen, but I think it would be more compelling if they had riders working for themselves and making individual decisions, rather than following team orders. 

The tactics of road cycling are fascinating and it's the team ethic which I love to see.  The sight of the world champion acting as a domestique and Froome, a potential GC contender himself, working for Wiggins sums up the way these guys work for each other. 

Fair enough, and I suppose it's something you can appreciate if you've done more than scratch the surface like me.

But still, today I'd have liked to see what Froome could do if he'd been allowed to make that break. It seemed a shame he was called back to help drag BW up the mountain.

[UK Redsox]

But still, today I'd have liked to see what Froome could do if he'd been allowed to make that break. It seemed a shame he was called back to help drag BW up the mountain.

Froome might have been able to win yesterday but he might then have had very little support from the team for the rest of the tour and possibly have been out of a job at the end of it.

It would be different if Wiggins had been really struggling and Evans had overtaken, but Wiggins is the team's main man for the GC so Froome has to do what he's told.

[Meanwood Villa]

Great day yesterday. I never thought I'd see a British winner of the tour, never mind a one-two. I know there's a long way to go but can't help getting excited. I don't think I've ever seen a mountain stage where the team element has been so noticable, with Evans and Wiggins both essentially clipping their team-mate's wings to help them. My recollection of tours past is that while the team leader will be carried for so long there come's a point where he has to do it on his own. This only happened for the briefest of moments yesterday when it looked like Froome had cracked, only to come roaring back.
What I would say about the "he should have been allowed to go himself" argument is that Wiggins is team no 1 for a reason, namely that he can destroy the rest of the field in a time trial like he did the other day. He also lasted the pace yesterday, even if Froome might have been able to hack a quicker one. The tour winner is always on merit no matter how much help he might get.

[UK Redsox]

Its also possible that BW & CF had agreed that, once they'd caught the group, they were going to fire on past and try to break Nibali as they'd done to Evans.

Therefore, maybe CF didn't know that BW wasn't with him until the got the blast in his ear and turned round to see that BW wasn't there.

[JD]

It's brilliant viewing and great to see the Sky team dominate. Fingers crossed for Wiggins to stay in yellow.

[Meanwood Villa]

Its also possible that BW & CF had agreed that, once they'd caught the group, they were going to fire on past and try to break Nibali as they'd done to Evans.

Therefore, maybe CF didn't know that BW wasn't with him until the got the blast in his ear and turned round to see that BW wasn't there.

I think that's exactly what happened. Incredible to see how much energy he had when he looked out of it not long before.

[peter w]

good lead but still all up for grabs whilst they're still in the mountains. Any sort of half decent leade - a minute or so - on the road into Paris (thinking the last 4 or 5 days) and i think Wiggins will win it. froome has put himself into contention as a future winner.