Tour de France 2015 - may contain nuts and SPOILERS

[Bobby Mhor]

Froome is 2/1 fave with the bookies..
I'm thinking accident free, maybe but my head says Quintana.

 

[smutchin]

How come Quintana skipped the tour of Switzerland in favour of Route du Sud?

Further away from UCI hq?

(Just to be absolutely clear, that's a joke.)

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Pip Gilbert not riding the Tour
http://velonews.competitor.com/2015...-de-france-amid-conflicting-statements_374023

 

[tug benson]

Is Kittel going to be fit for Le Tour?

 

[smutchin]

In all seriousness though, Quintana is a real dark horse. And he probably wants to keep it that way, hence choosing the lower profile race. Will be interesting to see his form.

I'm not ruling out Nibali. He's a born racer and will probably go at the Tour in the same way he did last year - attack from the start and put everyone else on the back foot.

I'd love to see Sky take the race to him. The way G rode on the cobbles to chase him down was one of the highlights of last year's Tour for me. Maybe Sky could launch a pre-emptive strike on stage 4, using G and Stannard to do a number on Astana.

Stage 3 is going to be very interesting too - finishing on the Mur de Huy.

 

[RobNewcastle]

Further away from UCI hq?

(Just to be absolutely clear, that's a joke.)

Lol

I'm going with Froome assuming he can stay upright in the first week. He can climb with the absolute best, has awesome powers of recovery and I think there'll be the added determination to win it agin this year after last years crashathon. Clearly the tour as with any 3 week race is hugely unpredictable but im going for Froome. I can see him laying it down on Plateau de Beille.

 

[coffeejo]

Did I imagine it or did I recently read something about Cav wanting to go for the Green Jersey this year?

 

[Bianchi boy]

Peter Sagan, But Gary imlach should be there to the finish

 

[Bollo]

Further away from UCI hq?

(Just to be absolutely clear, that's a joke.)

Funnily enough, that exact subject came up during my Monday night mates ride. There's a bit of me that would like to see Quintana take it, but it's an open race this year.
I'll be at Utrecht with 2 kilos of telephoto lens. Watch out Bertie!

 

[400bhp]

Love watching cycling but ironically I don't even own a bike!.

That's just..like..so wrong.

 

[400bhp]

Geraint Thomas for the Vuelta..oops wrong Grande Tour (well, I just wanted to sneak it in).

Froome for the win, Contador 2nd. Quintana 3rd. Top 10 for Simon Yates.

 

[Crackle]

The first week could spell the most trouble for Froome and Quintana and, in the nicest possible way, I hope it does but without any spills for them.

 

[themosquitoking]

Quintana ftw and i shall help him by picking Frome, Bertie and Nibbles every day in the punditry predictions.

 

[400bhp]

Hoping to get out there for some of the stages around Brittany-just the pesky house sale is in the way.

 

[Berk on a Bike]

I'm keeping my counsel on Quintana until after this weekend and his tilt at Route du Sud. Contador has said he's tired from the Giro so I'm calling büllshít on that right now. He'll be as ready as anyone. Froome showed a glimpse of his immense form at the Dauphine and if he times his peak right he'll be unbeatable I think. As for the defending champion, I struggle to get past the fact he won last year's edition (worthy as he was) with his strongest rivals missing. Same for the Giro the year before. Against Quinno, Conno and Froomo I would be surprised to see him make the podium.