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Bradley Wiggins must have a good chance of winning this year.
Bradley says he is at the top of his game at the moment, and has had this event in mind for some time.

With the new Sky team behind him, state of the art facilities on that tour bus, and a far larger support team than before.

Ive snapped up some of the 26 available on bf.

He may be considerably lower after a good result in the opening stage which should suit him.

starts Sat 3rd July

He just cant keep up with Contador and Schlek in the mountains and during the really hard climbs, he rode brilliantly during a stage last year and the 2 Schleks still took loads of time from him.

Andy Schlek looks an absolute certainty to place to me and appears an each way bet to nothing at 8-1. Whether he can beat Contador is a another question.

In fact he odds on across the board to finish top 3, so u get 2-1 the place if u take the 8-1 each way. Amazing scenes

Love the Tour de France, unfortunatley another reason to sit in front of the TV all day.

Can't see pass Contador, more likely to be caught doping than by one of the other cyclists imo.

Not looked into much yet but if Wiggins is to go for yellow, his team needs to be really strong & street wise.... is this the case?

they had quite a poor Giro really. Wiggins was caught up in a few crashes as well. He rode OK but that's all.

I can't have him for the win although he might be a nice trade as he should shorten up at some stage.

i used to ride with jude roche,
his big brother stephen was handy enough

I like the look of Wiggins, he will be alot better prepared for the mountains this year and looked good in the Giro without exerting himself.

Andy Schleck doesn't look in great form, his brother has looked better so he will have to improve greatly if he is to place, especially with the big TT in the penultimate stage (he'll lose minutes).

Stephen Roche = a legend. I grew up watching him ride..happy times spending the entire day in front of the television watching the Tour's mountain stages. Could be sunny as anything outside, we didn't care...The Tour was on :)

I heard today the pellaton let somebody ride off to say good bye to his family. True?

Probably, Its a very common courteousy given on long flat 'meaningless' stages.

Cycle racing is full of these little conventions.

I know nothing about cycling, but have had some bets after reading this thread and looking at the markets. Place value ftw.

Have had a cheeky ton on, 2 place i win, 3 i win nicccce and if 1 just wins it's wiiiiiii.

£25 ew A Schleck@8-1

£12.50 ew Basso@25-1

£12.50 ew Evans@33-1

1-2-3 please!

Andy just took really bad fall. Live Eurosport now, loads of riders down. Schlek took a real bad one and looks in a load of pain

Andy Schlek has had a bad fall just now, he is back riding but doesn't look good.

Yeh got this on while i'm working. He looks a bit of a state. How come they haven't been able to show footage of what happened yet? Is there not a camera on all the groups?

No idea- they claiming they dont even know where half the top 10 in the market even are! Pretty shocking coverage

He is 3.5mins behind peleton with 25kms left. Touch wood the peleton can slow down with his teammates near front and he can close. I assume he can get it down to around a minute obv depending on what physical state he is in

Lance and possibly Contador apparently hit the deck too?

And Frank Schlek!
Contador held up just didnt crash they now saying. Carnage, outright market madness Andy hit 80s for peanuts back into a steady 11s

Sprinters obv gone on strike as protest against Pokerstars as well.

yeah there were some great stage wins that year,
my favourite stephen roche memory was when he jumped the pack right near the finish at the world champs & held...great stuff

CRASH

Frank Schleck gone and out.

The odds against for Cavendish to win this stage could be massive in running- looks a certain sprint and he he won something like 5/6 mass sprints last year.

I've never quite undertstood why Cancellara can't turn his hand to the mass sprints, if he can boss a 10km stage surely he cant blast it with the best for 500m?

Probs a huge difference though.

What odds would you take Cav to win the stage?

he 5-6 now on betfair. I mean it probably cant be far wrong but i wouldnt want to be laying him- they just line him up so well with his leadout rider just teeing it up for him.

Ok cheers. Only really watched last years because of Cavendish. Was impressed with how well they get him home. Just wondered if i was missing out on a great bet or not.

Seen worse bets than taking the 16-1 Marc Renshaw top 3, thats his leadout man and if they get a really great spot its been known that Renshaw places up before

Didn't they 1-2 on the C-E last year?

Seperate question, do they get prize money for stage wins?

8000 euros is what they got last year for each stage. I think they share that equally among the whole team.

Perfect setup- he obv isnt in same shape as last year!! Will be opposing from now on

Yeh never looked like he got going.

Contador seemed to struggle yesterday, yet dropped from 1.65ish to 1.52ish now, knock on effect of Lance's troubles & Schleck losing his bro?

Shame they aren't a few more riders capable of winning this.

Contador is fine shape. He had never riden on the cobbles, & was expected to struggle, but rode strongly.

Cadel Evans has had his strongest start to the Tour in years, he normally finds his form in the 2nd week. But I can only see a top 3 position at best for him.

Interesting & chaotic start this year. Despite its troubles, still the most dramatic sporting event of the year imo.

Sounds like a nasty finish to the stage today and a good train could be important so despite his poor performance yesterday i've had a small bet on Cavendish to win the stage at 4.3. Not sure if it's a good idea though.

Nice one!

N1, he went out to 6's 30 seconds before the end

Get in. Much better set up today. Impressed by Hagan. Aftertiming but I had him top 3 at 4.0 too and he's done it 2 days in a row.

Some monstrous aftertiming from Roche!

I know the glory for sprinters is winning the stages (35 points?), but to win the green jersey do you not need to pick up points for the intermediate sprints throughout stages?  Hushovd seems to pick these up all the time, Cav rarely.

Should he not be trying to pick up more of these?

I'm no expert but from what commentators were saying yesterday Cav came very close last year by winning the most stages and the fact he was relegated in one really cost him so a similar performance and add a few intermediate sprints to win it.
Already Hushovd has won a stage and Cav didn't win one earlier this week that he targeted so Hushovd is a big favourite. Although the green jersey was Cav's aim i get the impression that they are going to concentrate on winning stages and if it puts him into a position to have a go at the green jersey towards the end then they may go for it but he still doesn't look as strong as last year so i don't think he will.

Cavindish, has little chance of Green & can only go for stage wins now. However he will have the pain of getting through the Alps over the next few days, before any sprint stages again. I'd guess at a target of 4 stage wins, with the prime target a win in Paris. GL him

Not got TV here, but I've been following here http://www.teamsky.com/tour-de-france/live

Cav too short for me to back with the finish meant to be similar to 2 days ago.
Backed Petacchi at 6.2 but then read that he has a wrist injury and thats why he didn't go for the sprint yesterday so just laid that all back 5.8.
Going to go for Boasson Hagen and hope he can do it for the 3rd day running. Did well 2 days ago with a stage with a similar finish and HTC will probably have to do alot of work at the front today so might not be able to form a good train and may run out of steam before delivering Cavendish.

Class by Renshaw and Cavendish again. Seems like he was asked to go too early earlier in the week as over 200-300m he doesn't seem beatable.

Favourite tour stage anyone?

This is probably mine

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2FQqHF8x5I

Pantani was easlily my favourite rider, he was just so exciting to watch a pure climber. Yes he was a cheat but imo they all were back then and he was still amazing to watch.

RIP Marco.

Tempers flare on the Tour...

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KveDxORwcw8

Armstrong proves himself to be a true Champion

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaKR5iOCTts

Marco Pantani was different class! By far my favourite cyclist of any generation.

'The death of Marco Pantani' by Matt Rendall, is a good read though its a sad story from his young loner days to his explosion, he was a degen but a lovable one!

Armstrong has been dropped on the first major climb of the tour, he had a crash at the bottom. Good news for Wiggins podium chances.

And again, bad luck to say the least

Mammoth day ending in the Col de la Madeleine, could be a classic.

Wiggins & Evans looked off it the other day, straight battle between Shleck & Contador now?

Looks likes Evans has been gg'd

2 man tour this. Schlek looks in supreme shape, could be a cracking end to the tour

I've got Schlek without Contador but didn't take him outright. I only swtiched on about half an hour ago. Any news on Wiggins? Is 3rd place quite open?

That TT at the end could be crucial, guess he needs at least a minute advantage going into that.

Great sweat this on Schleck. Thought same with evans, just hope he dsnt ride himself out of a place chance today.

He destructed mate, cant place now

Favourite tour has to be 1980 (I'm old school, I am)

Classic;

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaNWCcNgpe0

Had a couple of bets thinking that the ew part of the bet might be good value.
Boassen-Hagen again 20/1 ew - been in the top 3 places twice already and although i fancy Cav to win it as HTC basically rested yesterday so i'm just getting the place value if Cav does have another bad day it could be quite open.
Renshaw 150/1 ew - As mentioned above HTC didn't compete for points yesterday so i'm hoping they'll be fresh today and hopefully Cav will win it but Renshaw can hang on to a place.

Great by Cavendish. Went from quite far out and still pulled away. Renshaw disqualified from the Tour for a headbut. Looked more like a push with the head but it's definitely bad news for Cav.

Punishing run in today to the sprint.

Renshaw was unlucky to get thrown out. Will certainly hurt Cav's chances of more stage wins.

I thought Thor Hushovd was nailed on for Green, but Petacchi looking stronger with a more organised team. I guess who comes out of the Pyrenees stronger will take it.

Wow at Schlek's chain coming off there, very impressive recovery from him.

Poor form from Contador to attack from misfortune?

Not imo, all part of the sport. People haven't stopped for crashes on early stages, you don't get drivers in F1 stopping for other mechanical errors.

Cancellara (sp) slowed the whole Pelaton and gave up the yellow jersey in the earlier stages when the big boys had fallen to give them chance to catch up.

Cancellara is on the Schlek brothers team, I presume that is when Andy or Frank crashed.

Contador also fell and the pelaton waited for him. Then the Schlek's fell and again the pelaton waited.

Defending champion Alberto Contador of Astana tried to explain why the peloton decided not to race, in an interview on cyclingnews.com.

"It was a really crazy stage. On this road it was impossible not to fall. I fell on a straight part at about 60 km/h. I saw at every turn there were people on the ground, it was impossible to go without falling.

As soon as I heard that Andy [Saxo Bank rider Andy Schleck] was behind I ordered all my teammates to stop. As I wished he'd do with me, I had to do with him."

He probably didn't realise how big a threat Andy Schlek was and now he just wants to win.

I don't know whether it is right or wrong in the sport of cycling but people have waited before. He didn't have to stop but by the sounds of it people aren't happy that he took it as a chance to attack when he could have gained time without attacking.

It is wrong. Not against the rules that are written down but it is definitely wrong.

Wiggings & Armstrong attacking from the start, peleton not letting them go anywhere though.  Could be a cracking stage

GO GO GO Armstrong.  he said there would be 'surprises' up the Toulamert, didn't think he'd attack alone, Horner get with him!

Sounds like today is a key stage. Is it likely that Contador and Schleck will be part of any breakaway and then attack each other? They are both very short for the stage win so i assume they aren't going to let a breakaway go.

Today is very much the day especially for Schlek as he has to put time into Contador as he is unlikely to beat him in the time trial. The finish is on top of the Col du Tourmalet which is on just about every tour and is a very tough climb. There will probably be a break go before it but unless there is a top climber in it, they are unlikely to hold on when the attack comes from Schlek/Contador.

Should be a good stage.

Hope Schleck can get the yellow today. Commentator saying he needs 1.20 lead into time trial but nobody knows how much Schleck has improved so hoping he can get a lead of at least 30secs.

This is genuinely brilliant to watch - Contador and Schleck alone on the mountain.

Immense sport! That schleck look to contador was pure hate

Fantastic.

Brilliant stuff.

One of the great sporting events of the year is the crucial mountain stage of the Tour.

I like Jens Voigt's interview after his 60kph crash...so matter of fact.

Unless team doctors advise not to, most of the riders get back on the bike & battle in a race they have no hope of winning  ;hattip;

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfiBbZJTx9s

Brilliant sprint by Cavendish. No delivery this time (i was sort of hoping Sky could win it after a great train) but he knew which wheels to follow and won it on his own. His most impressive win i think.

First time check sees Schleck take 6 seconds out of Contador's lead.

Couldn't keep it up but great effort. Hope Cav finishes the tour of nicely tomorrow.

was that good enough for you? awesome finish

Amazing. Such a good end to the stage to allow him to look so good