Paris-Nice 2015 *spoilers"

[rich p]

Very simian

Like a Flying one?

 

[Berk on a Bike]

Like a Flying one?

Wizard of Oz style?

 

[rich p]

Wizard of Oz style?

@Flying_Monkey

 

[iLB]

Greipel dedicates the win to his mum, top banana.

 

[400bhp]

What happened to Wiggins? He's 42s back according to the GC?

 

[rich p]

What happened to Wiggins? He's 42s back according to the GC?

Nothing special, he just isn't doing this for the GC so didn't bust a gut in the last few kms. AFAIK

 

[Louch]

Porte and Thomas are joint gc for sky

 

[400bhp]

I'm liking the aggression of Sky so far this year - Thomas attacking with a few K's to go.

Etixx Quick Step have so much strength in depth. Real shame about Boonen though.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

@Flying_Monkey

Yeah, me and Andre are practically twins.

 

[The Couch]

What happened to Wiggins? He's 42s back according to the GC?

Porte and Thomas are joint gc for sky

You guys really need to pay a bit attention here

Porte is riding good this year... and with Geraint they have a very good co-leader as well
... (don't think Wiggo is interested in the GC, considering his focus on the 1-day classics)

 

[400bhp]

You guys really need to pay a bit attention here

Gah - I was actually wondering whether Wiggo fell or had a puncture or something.

I'm now wondering whether all that pishing about by Thomas yesterday is a bit of a rouse by Sky and actually he's going to go for a two pronged assault on a couple of classics, rather than going for GC here?

Exciting stuff anyway.

 

[The Couch]

I'm now wondering whether all that pishing about by Thomas yesterday is a bit of a rouse by Sky and actually he's going to go for a two pronged assault on a couple of classics, rather than going for GC here?

I believe he is probably going for both, i.e. he really wants to have a go at the GC here and has the classics ahead of him that he wants to perform in as well... although I believe that the competition in this PN will be too much for him (to win that is)

Since he is multi-talented, it's hard to make choices... Kwiatkowski would have the same hard choices if he wouldn't be in EQS,.. I believe Kwiatkowski would also be able to have a good go at the Flemish races (E3, Tour de Flanders) but they already have enough guys for that, so he needs/can focus on the Ardennes classics

 

[tug benson]

Porte and Thomas are joint gc for sky

Bet that breaks your heart, poor wiggo

 

[Apollonius]

Pleased to see very different tactics from Sky this year. I think a lot of their poor performance last year (by comparison with 2012 and 2013, anyway) was down to their over-obvious tactics. Other teams just expected Sky to do all the work and picked them off. They are doing less of the front-riding this year and have a bigger variety of tactics. Looks like Thomas attacking on the flat and maybe Porte attacking on the hills. This all may be rubbish. Only been following cycle racing seriously since I retired.

 

[smutchin]

Is it the official Sky line that Porte and Thomas are joint leaders? From what I read in the build-up, I thought Porte was the protected man with Thomas as his lieutenant. But then if the Algarve is any kind of indicator of form, G might be the better bet.

Porte is still the better climber though. Good for Sky if they're learning to take a broader, less fixed view of the racing possibilities.