Brad to support Froome for the 2013 tour

[Monsieur Remings]

Can you imagine the former winner of several TdFs saying he would support a team mates attempt instead of his own. Can't remember the guy's name, but you get the picture.

Bernard Hinault for Greg Lemond.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

I think the main issue will be the strength of the Sky teams at both the Giro and the TDF .

I hope that Froome rides only the TDF and gets the better team to win the TDF, but it's possible that the stronger team could be used at the Giro to support Wiggins. Perhaps they can do both but I'm not sure after last year. Froome was not only understandably jaded at the Vuelta last season, he also had a weaker team than the one Sky fielded for the TDF.

It all remains to be seen.

 

[montage]

I think the main issue will be the strength of the Sky teams at both the Giro and the TDF .

I hope that Froome rides only the TDF and gets the better team to win the TDF, but it's possible that the stronger team could be used at the Giro to support Wiggins. Perhaps they can do both but I'm not sure after last year. Froome was not only understandably jaded at the Vuelta last season, he also had a weaker team than the one Sky fielded for the TDF.

It all remains to be seen.

Heano and Uran are pretty amazing wingmen in the mountains, arguably stronger in the mountains then Porte, Rogers et al. Sky can field a pretty formidable team in all three grand tours - It'll be interesting to see who goes for the Vuelta as the GC hope. I imagine Froome will be feeling up for it without the olympics

 

[asterix]

Bernard Hinault for Greg Lemond.

No, not that former winner, I meant the former, former winner.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Heano and Uran are pretty amazing wingmen in the mountains

Either could win GTs if properly supported. Henao in particular I have no doubt will be a future Vuelta and/or Giro winner.

 

[Adam Robertson]

has anyone on here been to France to watch the tour ? we're going on fri 19th to the 22nd just for the final day on the
champs Elysee found a hotel just working out the nearest airport is it CDG ?

 

[oldroadman]

has anyone on here been to France to watch the tour ? we're going on fri 19th to the 22nd just for the final day on the
champs Elysee found a hotel just working out the nearest airport is it CDG ?

Gly in to whichever airport is directly connected to your most local. Be careful with Ryanair, they will probably land you 90km from Paris on what they call "Paris xxx", likely an old military airfield. Seemingly cheapest is not always best!
Any of the Paris airports around the city are RER/metro connected, or have a short bus link to the trains.

 

[jdtate101]

Go via CDG and get the RER/Metro into the city, it's very easy and straight forward.

 

[PpPete]

There is also a bus to the Porte Maillot which is a bit less than a mile from Place de l'Etoile (where the route turns at the top of the Champs Elysees this year)

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Well, it seems Wiggins may have other ideas - he says he wants to defend his Tour title, and he's leaving Dave B with a bit of a problem to sort out.

 

[PpPete]

Well, it seems Wiggins may have other ideas - he says he wants to defend his Tour title, and he's leaving Dave B with a bit of a problem to sort out.

Looks to me like a PR gambit to give a bit of emphasis to the fact that he is sacrificing his own chances to support Froome.

 

[Hont]

I just wonder if the broken ribs have put him behind in his training so that the Giro is no longer an option.

But I guess we won't know the real reason until his next autobiography in November 2013.

Either way, two leaders in a Grand Tour is never a recipe for long-lasting team spirit and happiness...Hinault/Lemond, Armstrong/Contador, Roche/Visentini...

 

[thom]

I just wonder if the broken ribs have put him behind in his training so that the Giro is no longer an option.

But I guess we won't know the real reason until his next autobiography in November 2013.

Either way, two leaders in a Grand Tour is never a recipe for long-lasting team spirit and happiness...Hinault/Lemond, Armstrong/Contador, Roche/Visentini...

I didn't hear the interview but I wonder whether this line is going to be clarified after the filter of Sky's media machine like various other Wiggo pronouncements.

I think he ought to have the right to choose to defend his tour title if that is indeed what he is most motivated by.

He just should make a decision with his team and let Froome know the score so he can focus on the alternative of the Giro/TdF. The tour will be harder for him to win next year given the route and the competition of Contador. It shouldn't be an after thought to the Giro and I don't think he has great chances to win either, let alone both.

This decision and discussion would probably be better made in private in respect to his employers and team-mates.

 

[Boon 51]

From tonights Evening Standard

BRADLEY WIGGINS faces an arduous defence of his Tour de France title after the route for the 2013 race was unveiled in Paris today. The 100th Tour, which will start in Corsica on June 29 and finish at dusk on Paris’ Champs- Elysees on July 21, includes seven mountain stages, four of which boast mountain-top finishes.​

​

The peloton will climb Alpe d’Huez twice on stage 18 with the other summit finishes scheduled for Ax-3 Domaines, Mont Ventoux and Annecy-Semnoz.​

Although there are two individual time trials and a team ride against the clock, disciplines in which Wiggins revels, the second time trial from Embrun to Chorges in the final week is hillier, with that stage and the route as a whole playing more to the strengths of Wiggins’s team-mate Chris Froome.​

Team Sky have said they will wait to digest the route fully before deciding how to tackle it but it has been suggested that Froome will play the role of team leader at the Tour with Wiggins, who as defending champion will undoubtedly argue his case to head up Sky, doing so at the Giro d’Italia.​

When asked to pick a team leader, Sky boss Dave Brailsford said: “We had the first and second-placed riders this year which puts us in an interesting position going into next year’s planning.​

“Bradley’s the champion but the whole excitement about today is to see what the course is like and that will dictate our plans. It’s not about one rider but the team trying to put the best team out to win the race.”​

The biggest threats to a continued British stranglehold on the race look likely to come from Spain’s Alberto Contador, who missed this year’s race following a doping ban, and Andy Schleck, who was ruled out by injury.​

When asked for the biggest challenger in his quest for victory, Contador said: “Froome. His potential for attacking in the mountains is far, far higher. Even though it’s your form that ends up making a difference on a climb, the attacks themselves can be important.”​

Froome is clear where his focus lies for next year. He said: “I do not know if I will be able to ride two big Tours. I will only be able to seek one win and I have the Tour in mind.”​

Dont forget Rodrigues and Val Verdi...

 

[400bhp]

Dont forget Rodrigues and Val Verdi...

Teamless?