[lagerstarfish]

didn't know whether this had already been up, but...

[Duma]

 
"have you ever ridden a bike?"
"non"
"it shows"

 
 

[lagerstarfish]

so, he's just won a 115 mile section with a sprint finish after having a puncture towards the end... and he's still making me laugh and talking French

 

[Dolly]

That's great 
Try and think of some good questions for tomorrow

[andybfreeman]

Knackered at work today after staying up watching the Dauphine time trial on SBS last night. Awesome ride by Wiggins, looked so composed and relaxed throughout I had to keep reminding myself that he was cruising along at 50kph! At 40.5kms it looked like he'd catch Cadel but even after evading capture it looks like Cadel's race is over.

Cannot wait for le Tour 

[Ti_pin_man]

That is funny.  He looks on form but the Tour is so full of unknowns.  Fingers crossed he realises his potential. 

[Palomides]

Wiggins looks on form now (despite his missus telling JensVoigt on twitter that he hasn't peaked yet!).

But...

Cadel hasn't hit top form (and he has shown that he's good over three weeks in France)

Andy S has the same form as this time last year (and he was right up there in the mountains last year)

Nobody really knows how the new version of Wiggins will go over a three-week race.

[Dutch]

Be interesting to see how he copes with the big mountains over the next couple of days. Should get an overall look at how hes performing. If he does well can't see any reason why he can't carry form into the tour- new training methods and all.

[Duma]

schlecklet will fail, 100km+ of ITT and a couple of DH finishes will be too much to make up, plus I'm pretty sure he's in worse shape than last year.

Will be good to see how wiggo goes over the big hills at the weekend.

[Yossarian]

The altitude training he's been doing in Tenerife sounds pretty hardcore.

I find him quite a quite a difficult guy to support because he does say some stupid stuff, but I think he deserves to win this year. He's worked fucking hard and I don't see anyone else in a position of particular superiority.

I was about to link to the amazing John Prolly pics of Tom Boonen partying, but they seem to have disappeared. Hmmm...

[Dutch]

Another box ticked for Wiggins.  Seems he's also pretty dominant in the mountains.  Roll on July!!

[Duma]

So, who else has done the PN and CD double?

Anquetil and Merckx, and what other race did they win that year...

[fatkid2000]

Andy Schlek is out with fractured pelvis.

[fatdoc]

poor bastard... been there... sucks...A LOT

[lagerstarfish]

latest episode

http://vimeo.com/45352846#

[Duma]

 

[Oli]

That's awesome. 

[Duma]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wiggins-delivers-caustic-assessment-of-his-critics

[Dutch]

Me thinks well said doesn't quite say it! About time se reporters got put in their place.

[fatdoc]

so, his gonna win it or what???

UKB opinions please???

[Stubbs]

We need the first proper mountain stage to see if all that Tenerife training has paid off, and to see what sort of shape cuddles is in.  Wiggo's time trialling this year has been excellent, so hopefully today won't be a problem, unless his stupid O-symmetric rings throw his chain again!

With Froome in support I certainly wouldn't bet against him at the moment, although I'd love to see Nibs wheelsuck them up the slopes and then gain a load of time on the decent.

[Duma]

FD: barring a wet day in the mountains when Nibs goes mental, yes. He was brutal yest in the TT


Chris Froome's transformation rings alarm bells with me.

This is funny: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12346/Armstrongs-federal-court-application-thrown-out-may-be-allowed-re-file-with-substantial-modifications.aspx

[andybfreeman]

Having been enthralled once again by Wiggo's TT performance I am starting to believe

Froome was super strong at the vuelta so it's not like his performance has come from nowhere. I truly hope that he's riding clean as a +ve result for any of the sky boys would take the shine off what I'm hoping will be an emphatic Wiggo victory.

The next few days in the mountains will be interesting, especially if it's wet, as to my eyes Nibs and Cuddles both look like they're going to have to take some serious chances on descents to gain time back. On the climbs so far Wiggo has looked solid and composed not even having to leave his saddle to chase back Cuddles' attacks.

Dunno what I'm going to do tomorrow morning without a stage to watch - bring on Wednesday and come on Wiggo!

[fatkid2000]

It's the power of the side-burn.

[Will Hunt]

I am starting to believe

He is The One.