2010 Tour de France

[GameTipper]

Anyone interested in following this years Tour de France? I have been an avid watcher for the last 4 years now and picked up some nice stage winners last year, 5 in total!

The Tour is in it's 97th year now and kicked of this morning with a Prologue stage (8.9km) in Rotterdam, Netherlands and will continue over 20 further stages in the coming weeks... I'll post standings and some tips later today for Stage 01 - Rotterdam to Bruxelles!

Enjoy!

[adam]

Ive never really gotten into the tour, despite most people around me being obsessed with it. Just something about guys riding up a hill on a bike that doesnt appeal!

They reckon its incredibly tactical and enjoyable to watch, maybe this year i should give it a go

[GameTipper]

Yeah, it's very hard to start getting into over night, and does take some time to work out whats going on. This year is looking fairly wide open, so the tactical aspect of the race is going to be the most important part... who to push forward and when, who will keep it together on the climbs, and for the matter, the descents... Lance Armstrongs very last race before his come-back again!

I'm not going to be able to watch it as much this year as I have in past years, due to working night shift's, but there really is something to this race that captures the mind and sporting spirit. The sprinters rush to the line is always breathtaking and to think, they rode 70-120km to race it out at high speed in the last 300m is just crazy! Then you get the break-a-ways and the pelaton systematically riding them down, or they get too far ahead and stay out in front, leaping up the leader board... I just couldn't imagine riding just one stage in 3 weeks let alone covering the 2,300 odd kms they have this year. I'm really looking forward to this years event, so thought I'd thrown some more money at it and post some tips on here

[GameTipper]

OK, wiped myself out last night... never got to do the tips... maybe for Stage 2 then!

[GameTipper]

A great result last night for Aussie Mark Renshaw who followed winner Italian Petacchi across the line in second, with Thor Hushovd 3rd and another Aussie Robbie McEwan in 4th... If anyone missed out on seeing any of the final 1.5kms of this stage, look it up on uTube or something, it was crazy! A massive pile-up cut the field down which allowed a weaken sprint to the finish. The rest of the stage was also filled with crashes and incidents, one such case was a stray dog caused Aussie Adam Hansen to fall and break several bones. He actually finished the race before being taken to hospital to confirm the breaks, including his collar-bone! Who said these riders are weak?! The overall standings has Cancellara still out in front, with Martin 10secs, Millar 20secs, Armstrong 22secs and Thomas 23seconds behind in 5th...

Stage 2: Bruxelles > Spa, 201km (hilly)

Very disappointing that there is no betting option for Cadel Evans in this stage on any of the major online betting sites. This stage is very well suited for a break-away group and may not eventuate into a sprinters finish due to the last climb of the day coming at the 12km mark, plus the other category 3 climbs before it! The betting options only really include the sprinters market! *sighs* I eventually found Evans listed on SportingBet.com.au - Here credit card, where are you?! So I think I'll stick with using these guys for the rest of the race odds.

I like the following riders for a Stage 2 win:
Oscar Freire @ $6.50
Cadel Evans @ $61.00
Andy Schleck @ $151.00

Start out big, and see what happens!

[GameTipper]

Mayhem - absolute mayhem is the only way to sum up Stage 2! The rain came, and went, and came back again, taking it's toll on many of the riders who were tipped to do well here. Ironically, I took out the rider who won the stage (QuickStep's Sylvain Chavanel @ $67.00) because his tendancy of racing too hard in the wet has let him down before, but he stayed up and stayed out in front from the 17th km till the end, even with many passengers along the way. His blistering pace has given him an early, but handy lead over Cancellara (2.57mins) and Martin (3.07mins). Chavanel also holds the Green sprinters Jersey on 44pts over Pettachi on 35pts. For the rest of the field it was a lousy day, unable to chase the leaders down and trying to keep fallen comrades in the race. Oil was blamed for the accidents.

Stage 3: Wanze > Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, 213km (flat)

This is going to be a crazy crazy stage to say the least - 13km of cobblestones and a flat stage means the sprinters will be wanting to have a big say on this stage. Leaving Belgium and finishes back in France, this is one stage the pelaton are going to relish and try to re-cooperate from the day just gone. The only mystery here will be the weather conditions, of which, over 200km can change dramatically.

I like the following riders for a Stage 3 win:
Mark Cavendish @ $12.00
Alessandro Petacchi @ $34.00
David Millar @ $51.00

Mention to the following riders:
Robbie McEwen, Tony Martin and George Hincapie.

[GameTipper]

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last two days - I'll return to this again tomorrow night. I've been without internet access for the last day and a bit... It's an interesting race this year, so I'm looking forward to continuing this one til the end!

[jeffers]

Love watching the Tour, have it on during the afternoons, it's kinda like having test cricket on in the background while you're doing stuff all day. That's the flat stages anyway, when the mountains come I'll be glued...love the climbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kzm-Y4XaIc

Epic

[GameTipper]

LOL Jeffers - exactly! A quick look overt he shoulder to see what's going on and then glued for the last 5kms of each stage is how I like it. Cos of my working hours, I get to watch it pretty much live the whole way through... so I miss the highlight packages and summaries during the daytime, although they do an hourly or half hour update on the race during the live coverage. It's all good - next week is going to be VERY interesting indeed!

[jeffers]

Brilliant leadout by Renshaw today (again) - he's the best in the business. Used the Lampre then Garmin riders perfectly to give Cav the last 150-200m, and nobody passes the Cav in sprints nowadays

Mountains tomorrow, at last