Tour de France 2013 *spoilers*

[themosquitoking]

I think some believe they reduce fatigue and smooth the power output by the rider. Ideal for TT's. Some speculated that the reason was the new Dura ace 11 speed set up but this seems not to be the case.

Bottom line though is Wiggins has pinpointed the oval chainring as a hindrance when the ascent becomes steep. AKA the Giro.

Does rule 5 apply here?

Whatever, i'm going to invent a double helix chainring that will make climbing up hills at 35 mph a breeze. You might have to have two chains though.

 

[SWSteve]

Does rule 5 apply here?

Whatever, i'm going to invent a double helix chainring that will make climbing up hills at 35 mph a breeze. You might have to have two chains though.

Think of the extra weight!

 

[The Couch]

There is also a problem it Porte and Uran and Henao already want to be top dog for the Vuelta. Uran is certain not to be because he's leaving, but both the other two have a case, even without Wiggins being involved.

As I have said in the past, I believe Porte will be quite exhausted after the Tour. Since I see him ending with a very decent standing, a top 10 place (like a smaller last year Froome, but without the squabbles), which means he will be too much tempted to give it everything in every stage (as well to prove his possible status for next year). And I don't see him recuperating quickly enough for the Vuelta (even Froome was knackered last year). This is of course, considering Wiggins won't participate, otherwise Porte will be (forced to take) a step down.

When Henao realized that in the Giro Uran was the better placed man (after the stage win of Uran) and probably being a little more tired due to the heavy work he had already done in earlier races, I believe Henao intentionally let it go in the last week of the Giro, to have a go at it in the Vuelta. Apparently Sky prefers to elect 1 leader, so it would still make sense to have Wiggins be the numero uno, but I would (like them to) give Henao full freedom to do whatever he likes in the Vuelta (like Tejay will have complete freedom in the Tour and won't have to "wait" for Evans if he should get dropped like last year).

 

[smutchin]

I was under the impression Quintana was going to be at the Dauphiné but apparently not...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/quintana-will-not-race-again-before-tour-de-france

I hope this strategy works out for him better than it worked out for Wiggins at the Giro.

(I also hope there's nothing suspicious about his wanting to stay out of the limelight. Not that I believe there's necessarily any reason to be suspicious, but I'm sure the out-of-competition testers will be on his case just to make sure. Just as I'm sure they were on Wiggo's case while he was sojourning in Tenerife.)

 

[The Couch]

... but I'm sure the out-of-competition testers will be on his case just to make sure. Just as I'm sure they were on Wiggo's case while he was sojourning in Tenerife.)

Out-of-competition (more specifically within the last week before a big race) is apparently anyway the most effective way to detect suspicious levels... as Di Luca can confirm
(Since we didn't hear anything from Di Luca samples being positive during the Giro, I am assuming the practiced experts know how to keep the levels low enough during the big races)

 

[Buddfox]

Seems like Blanco now have Belkin as their sponsor with the new kit to be used at the Tour de France. Good news.

 

[montage]

Bottom line though is Wiggins has pinpointed the oval chainring as a hindrance when the ascent becomes steep. AKA the Giro.

But it this because the gear ratios or biomechanics?

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

But it this because the gear ratios or biomechanics?

He didn't delve into that Montage but my guess is the gear ratios wouldn't play a part but the biomech's would. I am pretty sure he will still TT with the oval chainring but even then that is a guess and not an informed thought. I think he had done a lot of climbing pre Giro and figured out that the steep stuff required a normal chain set.

 

[Noodley]

The thread title is not "Tales of fecking chainrings and gear ratios *spoilers*" for a reason

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

The thread title is not "Tales of fecking chainrings and gear ratios *spoilers*" for a reason

It's all relevant no? Especially when asked a question about it. Would be rude of me to ignore the good man that is Montage.

 

[The Couch]

You know, guys, I just trimetravelled to the end of the Tour 2013 and (since the title of this thread clearly warns for spoilers) I really wanted to tell you about the amazing outcome of this year's Tour...

GC:
1st place: Wiggins

Who would have thought that when Sky announced (the last day before the Tour-start) that Wiggo would participate that he would be able to accomplish the re-peat (was the knee injury just sand in everyone's eyes)? However, with the Sky-internal pressures being too much for Froome to handle, the positive test from Bertie and due to weather-conditions the cancelling of all mountains steeper than 12% Wiggo all of a sudden had a free track to the victory.​

2nd place: Schleck

Who would have believed that Schleck was such a good actor... from the first mountain that they needed to climb Schleck was looking like the old Contador arch-enemy he used to be. If only, he would have been as good a descender as Wiggins, he would have won this year's Tour.​

3rd place: De Gendt

After loosing close to 2 hours in the mountain stages nobody believed he could pull off the solo he started in the first kilometer of the last mountain stage. However with a performance that outshined his last year's Giro stage-win, the non-existing form he had shown this year and due to a peloton where no team seemed willing to take the lead of getting the difference down, he managed the incredible feat of taking enough time back to take the 3rd place.​

KOM: Di Luca

Contesting his pre-Giro positive result in front of the court and changing to Astana, he managed to get starting rights for the Tour. Motivated to show his good form he attacked almost every stage and took enough point in the KOM ranking to win it in a landslide. Of course, the trial will take some years to get through, so KOM might still go the person who ended in second position.​

​

Green jersey: Matt Goss

Since Greipel and Cavendish had split the points in the pure sprints and Sagan mysteriously had no form at all (people said it was his youth that finally showed), it was the unexpected Goss - who took points in both the medium mountain stages and the flat stages - to win the Green Jersey without actually winning a stage.​

 

[rich p]

So after the Dauphiné, Sky and the others will be finalizing their line-ups.
@thom and I were musing over this on another thread and basically agreed on the Dauphine team for Sky - plus Eisel and Knees and minus Kennaugh.
PK, though, had a great race and was dropping off the train up the hills just before Thomas whilst David Lopez had a stinker; dropping time every day and DNFing on the last day. He may have been ill but if not it must put a doubt against his name.

 

[jowwy]

surely henao or uran should be in that team - stannard seemed to also struggle on the steep stuff too

my team would be froome, port, hagen, kiryenka, knees, eisel, henao, thomas and uran.

the above is a climbing machine.

 

[thom]

Henao is going on leave to Columbia. I saw he's down for a couple of races before the Vuelta - Uran would likely be a similar schedule.

 

[smutchin]

I thought Stannard did rather well today - spent a mighty long time on the front and climbed well. He'd done his job by the time they hit the final climb.