Le Tour de France 2016

Tim of the Oak said:
Yes I realise that but to the best of my knowledge Cav has never been excluded from the Tour to safeguard team spirit like Sky did to Brad a couple of years ago. Brad deserved to be treated better IMHO.

It's in the nature of the star performer to be a bit selfish. Winning those sprints takes a certain personality (maybe Chris Hoy is an exception to that on the track) and so does surviving in the mountains. Froomey played a reluctant support act to Brad and maybe Wiggo wouldn't have won the Tour without Sky brining him back into line.

Nobody is perfect so if we want to combine cycling achievements and positive personality, then maybe Hoy stands out above our other modern greats.
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No Cav left Sky because he wasnt the main man and getting the support he wanted. I agree Brad should have been allowed to defend his title, and offered but it was Froome who said if he was no 1 he didnt want Brad riding for him, so Brailsford did it for 'team' reasons.

In any case, my point remains the same, Wiggins won more than Hoy and Cav, a lot more, over a wider range of events. on both track and road, it doesnt matter who is the most likeable, Wiggins has a palmares that is up there with anyone who has ever got on a bike.
 
For what its worth I think it was the correct decision from Sky not to let Wiggins go again. Going up against Froome rather than Froome riding for him is a different kettle of fish, as good a Wiggins is I think Froome would beat him if they were head to head on a grand tour. Wiggo will always have the time trial but Froome is something else in a race. I remember when Wiggins won it, there was a stage where Froome despite using all his energy at the front for Wiggo still had so much left that he managed to break him as well, I reckon he would have gained at least a couple of minutes on that stage but obviously he sat up and waited for his team leader.
 
Paul Lake's Left Knee said:
Not really, Sagan is all on his own for green, the sprinters havent even bothered with the intermediate sprints this year, as they cant match Sagan in the puncher stages or his ability to ride in breakaways and mop up points. Its all about stage wins for Cav, the green jersey isnt a sprinters jersey anymore, Sagan's effectively seen to that. A bit of a freak of nature.
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I think Sagan is the only one really interested in the Green. The big sprinters have huge egos, and they'd rather win a stage than engage in intermediate sprints.
 
MCFC1993 said:
For what its worth I think it was the correct decision from Sky not to let Wiggins go again. Going up against Froome rather than Froome riding for him is a different kettle of fish, as good a Wiggins is I think Froome would beat him if they were head to head on a grand tour. Wiggo will always have the time trial but Froome is something else in a race. I remember when Wiggins won it, there was a stage where Froome despite using all his energy at the front for Wiggo still had so much left that he managed to break him as well, I reckon he would have gained at least a couple of minutes on that stage but obviously he sat up and waited for his team leader.
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It was probably the right thing to do, Wiggo's ego and character isnt really that of a domestique, although it would have been nice to see Wiggo defend his title and certainly when considering the parcour in 2013, Froome would have beaten him, not so sure in 2012 as there was a lot of TT miles in that race and Froome would have had to put 3.5 mins into Wiggo. Wiggo is a time trialist who learnt to climb and Froome is climber who has learnt to time trial.
 
malg said:
I think Sagan is the only one really interested in the Green. The big sprinters have huge egos, and they'd rather win a stage than engage in intermediate sprints.
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He is the only one interested now, but in previous years the sprinters went for the points in intermediate sprints, the green jersey is good for the team and sponsors so they would want to win, nothing to do with egos of the sprinters, they do what the team wants. Its just now that Sagan is dominating the green, there is no point them using energy, may as well save it to try and win the stages.
 
Sagan has the Green Points jersey wrapped up big time. I think Cav after winning it once his goal is to break the record. Why go crazy in the intermidiate sprints when he can save that for the final sprint and win. Lets be honest Sagan can dominate for years to come in the green points jersey it will be 5 in a row. Saying that he has only won 6 stages whic is crazy to think but only 26 or 27 he could well end up with 18 to 20 stage wins by the time he calls it a day. He is tied with Sean Kelly is second place on 4 Green Jersey wins with Eric Zabel in front with 6 Green Jerseys so he could well break that record in the next 2 years and extend it. I think Sagan knows that Cav in a sprint will get the better of him so the Green Jersey will do him. I fully expect Cav win today in a sprint finish.
 
A race for podium spots now. Hope Yates can push for second and hold off any challengers.

Oh, and have I mentioned how utterly shite Quintana has been?
 
malg said:
A race for podium spots now. Hope Yates can push for second and hold off any challengers.

Oh, and have I mentioned how utterly shite Quintana has been?
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Should be an interesting couple of days in the race for 2nd-6th. I reckon Porte will get on the podium and I hope Yates does being a Brit.

Not sure you have mentioned it mate, if you have its gone completely unnoticed ;-)
 
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