Tour de France 2012 (with SPOILERS)

[thom]

Huge shame. All going a bit pear shaped for Garmin at the moment (and I'm sure that's pleasing some!). I hope thems that remain have a quiet day and regroup. I wonder what the game plan will be for them now? Besides ride for pride and finish that is.

Indeed but the big picture for Garmin is his Giro win and that they now have a credible GC candidate for a few years now. I think it would have been hard to get on the podium but he would have placed well.
DZ and Millar in time trials, with a few escapes. The fact they put DZ in the break yesterday was I think already something of a plan b - they seem to have thought that Farrar having crashed the day before was going to find it harder than normal in a sprint and it would be good to show themselves some other way.

 

[Chuffy]

Flattery will get you nowhere. That's just about the twattiest post so far.

Perhaps you could enlighten us further? Most people who'd have reason to have a head to head as you say with handbags, would be rivals, you know a sprinter up against a sprinter or a GC contender up against another GC contender. But, you're obviously unaware that Cav is a sprinter and Wiggo is a GC contender and aren't really rivals at all so precisely what you're harping on about only you and Noodley know?

'Going at it with handbags outside the Sky bus' and you accuse others of being a freak?

You complete twonk.

Dear god, rivals for the support of their team FFS. Right, I'll make it simple, ok? In the months before the Tour there was a lot of speculation about how Sky would accommodate Cav and Wiggy because both need a dedicated team to achieve their ultimate goals (green and yellow). The end of that was a clear deal that the focus would be on Wiggy with Cav as a free agent doing the best he could without his usual train (although he gets Eisel as his minder). All clear and obvious. Despite this, since Cav has missed out on a stage or two, there have been people hopping up and down in outrage that Sky haven't dedicated the team to helping him. Some of that has come from the likes of Peta Todd (blinkers) and some has come from fans who think that Our Plucky Lad winning sprint stages is all that matters. If you think that Wiggy won the Dauphine on his own and that he can just casually sacrifice a few team members to help Cav then I assume you're in the latter camp. Utterly ridiculous, especially now they've lost Sitsiou.

Also, if you followed Twitter and other cycling forums you'd know that there has been plenty of chatter about supposed tension between Cav and Wiggy over who gets the support of the team and there are also plenty of people who would just love to see this turn into a full-on scrap between the two.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

cav tweeted support for wiggins this morning, and have yet to see any tweet from him that's the slightest bit begrudging about things.

the media would love nothing more that a fall-out, but hopefully that won't happen.

 

[yello]

I can't see their being a fall-out since everyone knew the score to begin with. I'm sure Cavendish is feeling battered and pretty low at the moment (for obvious and understandable reasons) and given his temperament I'm quite sure his nearest and dearest are being made very aware of that. That doesn't equate to mutiny though.

 

[martint235]

Dear god, rivals for the support of their team FFS. Right, I'll make it simple, ok? In the months before the Tour there was a lot of speculation about how Sky would accommodate Cav and Wiggy because both need a dedicated team to achieve their ultimate goals (green and yellow). The end of that was a clear deal that the focus would be on Wiggy with Cav as a free agent doing the best he could without his usual train (although he gets Eisel as his minder). All clear and obvious. Despite this, since Cav has missed out on a stage or two, there have been people hopping up and down in outrage that Sky haven't dedicated the team to helping him. Some of that has come from the likes of Peta Todd (blinkers) and some has come from fans who think that Our Plucky Lad winning sprint stages is all that matters. If you think that Wiggy won the Dauphine on his own and that he can just casually sacrifice a few team members to help Cav then I assume you're in the latter camp. Utterly ridiculous, especially now they've lost Sitsiou.

Also, if you followed Twitter and other cycling forums you'd know that there has been plenty of chatter about supposed tension between Cav and Wiggy over who gets the support of the team and there are also plenty of people who would just love to see this turn into a full-on scrap between the two.

I think you're also forgetting that this year's Tour is a little bit different. The focus for this year's Tour maybe to get Wiggo in yellow at the end, but the focus for this year for Cav is to get Olympic Gold. I wouldn't say he doesn't care about the green jersey but you can tell where his priorities lie. Come on, he's dropped 4kg and sacrificed a bit of power for the Olympics.

In a normal year I think Sky do have the firepower just to support both men.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Dear god, rivals for the support of their team FFS. Right, I'll make it simple, ok? In the months before the Tour there was a lot of speculation about how Sky would accommodate Cav and Wiggy because both need a dedicated team to achieve their ultimate goals (green and yellow). The end of that was a clear deal that the focus would be on Wiggy with Cav as a free agent doing the best he could without his usual train (although he gets Eisel as his minder). All clear and obvious. Despite this, since Cav has missed out on a stage or two, there have been people hopping up and down in outrage that Sky haven't dedicated the team to helping him. Some of that has come from the likes of Peta Todd (blinkers) and some has come from fans who think that Our Plucky Lad winning sprint stages is all that matters. If you think that Wiggy won the Dauphine on his own and that he can just casually sacrifice a few team members to help Cav then I assume you're in the latter camp. Utterly ridiculous, especially now they've lost Sitsiou.

Also, if you followed Twitter and other cycling forums you'd know that there has been plenty of chatter about supposed tension between Cav and Wiggy over who gets the support of the team and there are also plenty of people who would just love to see this turn into a full-on scrap between the two.

Yeah, that's right I said that Wiggins won the Dauphine on his own, and the Race to the Sun and all the others. But where did I say that? And where have I said that I'd like nothing more than Cav and Wiggins to have it out with each other? That's your little fantasy.

I'll look out for you and your Sky jersey, as in your eyes they're fantastic obviously. And when you realise that if Cav wants to make Olympic Gold and the way to do that isn't some sort of deranged 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' and the definite way to do that is to practise a lead out, which Sky either haven't bothered to do, or aren't good enough at, you might see that if those are his (Cav's) stated ambitions then he's being let down and Sky are going about it the wrong way.

Or will Cav get Olympic Gold with all the domestiques working for Bradley Wiggins instead? Or perhaps by dropping him too early so he has to drop back a bit to contest the sprint? Never mind eh.

As for Twitter, well if you believe that kind of nonsense then you're obviously game for a laugh. In one of my earlier posts I also said I like Wiggins as a rider, precisely the reason I followed the the three races he's won this year, so if people want both men to fall out they're not worth listening to, but they're obviously enough to get people like you all defensive and completely unwilling to accept any criticism of SKY whatsoever.

 

[iLB]

Wiggins drops the c bomb after yesterdays stage http://www.cyclismas.com/2012/07/wiggins-lets-the-insults-fly/

 

[smutchin]

And when you realise that if Cav wants to make Olympic Gold and the way to do that isn't some sort of deranged 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' and the definite way to do that is to practise a lead out, which Sky either haven't bothered to do, or aren't good enough at, you might see that if those are his (Cav's) stated ambitions then he's being let down and Sky are going about it the wrong way.

This is appalling. What are Sky playing at? Has no one thought to phone Dave Brailsford and tell him all this? If he's doing it all wrong, we need to let him know urgently - we can't have clowns like Brailsford ruining our Olympic chances through their incompetence.

d.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

This is appalling. What are Sky playing at? Has no one thought to phone Dave Brailsford and tell him all this? If he's doing it all wrong, we need to let him know urgently - we can't have clowns like Brailsford ruining our Olympic chances through their incompetence.

d.

I might take a banner along to the Mur de Peguere on Stage 14 come to think of it.

 

[ColinJ]

I was just thinking back to how Cav 'dissed' Greipel at the end of 2010 for only winning 'shoot small races'. I wonder if he'd care to reevaluate that statement in the light of how they are doing in the Tour this year...!

 

[Buddfox]

Wiggins drops the c bomb after yesterdays stage http://www.cyclismas.com/2012/07/wiggins-lets-the-insults-fly/

Eurosport's take on it: "It was sad, then, to see one rider behaving much like a spoilt footballer at the finish. Having managed to avoid the crash and finish alongside his main rival for the GC, Britain's Bradley Wiggins was caught on camera having a completely unnecessary meltdown in Metz.

Coasting along in the finish zone, Wiggins's path was temporarily blocked by a French cameraman trying to run after the stage winner, Peter Sagan. Instead of moving slightly, Wiggins held his ground and then — in an act of outrageous petulance — seemed to deliberately knock the camera out of the man's grip.

In the ensuing war of words, an irate Wiggins was hear shouting: "F***ing a***wipe. You f***ing wiped me out with a camera, you stupid c***." (And to think, if he wins the Tour he'll be up against Andy Murray for the BBC's Sporting Personality Of The Year award...)"

 

[yello]

choice

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Eurosport's take on it: "It was sad, then, to see one rider behaving much like a spoilt footballer at the finish. Having managed to avoid the crash and finish alongside his main rival for the GC, Britain's Bradley Wiggins was caught on camera having a completely unnecessary meltdown in Metz.

Coasting along in the finish zone, Wiggins's path was temporarily blocked by a French cameraman trying to run after the stage winner, Peter Sagan. Instead of moving slightly, Wiggins held his ground and then — in an act of outrageous petulance — seemed to deliberately knock the camera out of the man's grip.

In the ensuing war of words, an irate Wiggins was hear shouting: "F***ing a***wipe. You f***ing wiped me out with a camera, you stupid c***." (And to think, if he wins the Tour he'll be up against Andy Murray for the BBC's Sporting Personality Of The Year award...)"

I blame Dave Brailsford.

 

[zimzum42]

To be fair to Brad, I don't think he 'stood his ground' as Eurosport have it. He would have had to pull a fairly decent move to avoid being hit, and I think it's understandable at the end of a day like yesterday that people are a bit pissed off with the hundreds of journalists and cameramen running around without much concern for the riders.

As for his language, well, that's pretty normal for a Londoner...

As for the Remmings/others spat, well, at least we have some handbags, even if they're not from Cav and Brad!

FWIW, and for fear of incurring remmo's wrath, I don't get the argument that Sky are somehow deficient as regards Cav.

Winning the Olympic Road Race isn't going to be about having an HTC-style lead out, it's more like a Classics race, and what you need is a team to pull you to the end of the race and to dump you at the end near the front. From then on it's up to Cav to win...

For Sky the TdF is only about Wiggo, if Cav can win a few stages, then that's a bonus...

 

[Noodley]

Eurosport's take on it...

Well, their take on it is just not what happened then is it? He pushed the camera out of the way, he then made a comment including a bit of swearing. But that's not a story. So the media will make something up.