Tour de France 2015 - may contain nuts and SPOILERS

[rich p]

Roche is lucky to be there.
No Knees, Pate or Eisel.

 

[smutchin]

Bouhanni looks likes he's out after the crash at the nationals. I think that's a shame, he was just coming good and ironic he left FdJ to go to Cofidis becasue they left him out the tour. I think I'd be a tadge miffed if I was him.

Yes, that's a real shame. He's been looking in great form and could have given FdJ some food for thought at the Tour.

 

[Crackle]

Astana Squad:-

Michele Scarponi, Jakob Fuglsang, Lars Boom, Lieuwe Westra, Tanel Kangert, Rein Taaramäe, Andrei Grivko and Dmitriy Gruzdev

Strong squad? Seems they've got the first week heavily in mind with the picks, a real rouleurs squad but who's going to be there in the mountains?

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Cannondale-Garmin:
Talansky, Martin, Hesjedal, Bauer, Haas, Koren, Langeveld, Navardauskas, Van Baarl

 

[raindog]

Bouhanni looks likes he's out after the crash at the nationals.

Should still be riding I think
http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-...ent-au-depart-du-tour-de-france-samedi/570212

 

[Crackle]

Should still be riding I think
http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-...ent-au-depart-du-tour-de-france-samedi/570212

Reading that through Translate I'm unsure what he's done. Does he have a contusion, fracture or not? Costal damage is going to affect his performance I would imagine, breathing and position, mind you he's a sprinter, pain is relative. Article gives the impression his team has put him under a bit of pressure to start.

 

[The Couch]

Yes, that's a real shame. He's been looking in great form and could have given FdJ some food for thought at the Tour.

Actually I had in mind he would not only give FdJ some showing, but he might have been able to give the likes of Sagan, Kristoff, Degenkolb and Matthews a run for their money as well, since I have the feeling that he has been climbing better and better in the last 2 years (to not be dropped in the medium-hard stages) and he was finally starting to find/get into some form this year
So I actually had him in the back of my head as a (quite big) potential Green jersey winner... since in flat sprints (where the points are re-distributed this year) I rate him higher than the above mentioned guys and I believed him capable to stay with the peloton in stages where Greipel and Cav can't
(plus who else does his team have to ride for, right?)

He might still ride... we'll wait and see... but I believe this kind of fall/injuries should have an effect on his performance

 

[raindog]

Article gives the impression his team has put him under a bit of pressure to start.

Not sure why you think that - don't believe there's anything official from the team yet.
All we've got is Bouhanni's tweet from this morning, saying he'd like to start.

 

[The Couch]

Astana Squad:-

Michele Scarponi, Jakob Fuglsang, Lars Boom, Lieuwe Westra, Tanel Kangert, Rein Taaramäe, Andrei Grivko and Dmitriy Gruzdev

Strong squad? Seems they've got the first week heavily in mind with the picks, a real rouleurs squad but who's going to be there in the mountains?

Euhm.... who's not ?!
Scarponi, Fuglsang and Kangert are all relialable "Lieutenants" for in the mountains
Westra and Taaramae have both (albeit infrequent) shown that they can go a long way in the mountains as well
Even Grivko has shown he doesn't have a problem with medium-mountains

So there is basically Boom (who indeed is a good TTT-member and who should especially help in the windy stages and the "PR-stage") and Gruzdev (also good TTT-member) who might be of little use in the 2nd and 3rd week

 

[Crackle]

Not sure why you think that - don't believe there's anything official from the team yet.
All we've got is Bouhanni's tweet from this morning, saying he'd like to start.

Quirk of the translation and I completely failed to notice the article was based around the tweet which remained un-translated and so I didn't read it. It's a bit clearer now.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Reading that through Translate I'm unsure what he's done. Does he have a contusion fracture or not? Costal damage is going to affect his performance I would imagine, breathing and position, mind you he's a sprinter, pain is relative. Article gives the impression his team has put him under a bit of pressure to start.

''...ne souffre pas d'une fracture'' - it seems to be cartilage problem (''contusion des cartilages costaux'' in his tweet) so there's no bone fracture. I know little about anatomy so I've no idea whether a cartilage contusion can be considered a fracture in English or whether we would even talk about a ''cartilage contusion.''

EDIT: I didn't get the view new messages bit before posting.

 

[Crackle]

Euhm.... who's not ?!
Scarponi, Fuglsang and Kangert are all relialable "Lieutenants" for in the mountains
Westra and Taaramae have both (albeit infrequent) shown that they can go a long way in the mountains as well
Even Grivko has shown he doesn't have a problem with medium-mountains

So there is basically Boom (who indeed is a good TTT-member and who should especially help in the windy stages and the "PR-stage") and Gruzdev (also good TTT-member) who might be of little use in the 2nd and 3rd week

Those first three were the ones that immediately sprung to mind. Fugslang has been going well recently, better than his Leopard Trek days.

 

[smutchin]

'I know little about anatomy so I've no idea whether a cartilage contusion can be considered a fracture in English or whether we would even talk about a ''cartilage contusion.''

I believe contusion is just another name for a bruise.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I believe contusion is just another name for a bruise.

Yes, I think it can be translated as injury, damage or simply bruise.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Those first three were the ones that immediately sprung to mind. Fugslang has been going well recently, better than his Leopard Trek days.

The whole team will be showing miraculous form in the mountains. Unless they have adopted a different approach to preparing than their Giro prep.