Professional Cycling For the Fans - 2012 Tour de France - Stage 19 - Bonneval → Chartres - Saturday July 21

http://www.grassyknolltv.com/2012/tour-de-france/resources/profiles/profile-19.jpg

breakaway of domestiques given the green light...

breakaway of domestiques given the green light...

A time trial breakaway? That'd be sweet! Would love to see a road race in which everyone is on TT bikes and fully kitted out! Yeah!

Anyway...the big question is, will anyone be watching this stage? Martin and Cancellara out...Wiggins has the Yellow sewn up and is the best TT'er...what's the point? I honestly believe watching paint dry will be more interesting than this stage. What's the odds on Wiggins winning the stage, 99.9%?

haha! wishful thinking i guess. saw the profile but not the distance. cthenn is right...paint drying will be more interesting. about the only thing i'll be rooting for here is a good third week tt performance by tejay. hoping he can put in another solid performance.

I'm trying to come up with a reason to watch.....I got it, I didn't see the Devil yet this year.

Sorry about that guys! I neglected to indicate this was the final TT! But we all know that by now.

Wiggins will put his final stamp on the tour.

Out of interest, for those of you defending the shenanigans in the mountains where it is clear froome is the more complete rider, will you also support this following scenario?

Wiggins stacks it after 20 km and takes 3 mins to get back on and hit stride.....froome is ordered to take his foot off the gas and sit up.......after all wiggo is the chosen winner and thats what it boils down too.......will you guys support that?

Support? that's a strong word considering we have zero say in it. What's wrong with a team picking their guy and then sticking with him? Froome can choose a new team next year since he has proved himself this year. His day will come.

Froome will get a new team next and maybe do well, but probably not. Probably won't be on a team as good as Sky. Some #2's do go on to win the next year. Maybe Radioshack for Froome? The brothers never seemed to get into shape this year and become a threat in the sense that we have seen before. No Contador made the Tour this year kinda' boring and sucky. No mountain stage challangers worht watching.I was dissapointed in Cadel--but Wiggo had his # from the tour they competed in before. Go Tejay and Voelker(sp.) at least the White and Polka dot jerserys are being contested for. Like I said boring tour this year.

I believe Froome signed a 2 year deal with Sky, so is stuck with them through next season.

Well then Wiggins will possibly be with another team because they're all speculating whether Froome and Wiggo will be on the same team next year..

Anyway...the big question is, will anyone be watching this stage? Martin and Cancellara out...Wiggins has the Yellow sewn up and is the best TT'er...what's the point?

Teejay is dreaming of taking back enough time to get on the podium. You can tell because in an interview yesterday, without being asked, he said that he had no chance of doing that. It's extremely unlikely, to say the least, but I don't think passing JVB for fourth is out of the question.

Wiggins easily fastest at the first time check. If he's intending to ride a negative split - and he probably is - he's going to crush this and win the Tour by more than three minutes.

EDIT. Sad to see Evans in such trouble. Whatever one thinks of him, he's always given everything he's got. One of the gutsiest riders of the last ten years.

Anyone else a little concerned with sky's complete dominance of this race?

Not trying to knock them, as i say, im british so happy to see them winning but i can fully understand people having question marks............porte and boasson hagen climbed every mountain almost as well as pure climbers and now porte has put in a killer time trial.....it seems to me that a few of their riders are punching well above their weight........its easy to be suspicious given the team doctors background and their decision not to be as transparent as they said the would be!!


Not trying to rock the boat so no need for belittling, patronising comments...........is it purely down to team skys strict regime?

?.. now porte has put in a killer time trial.....it seems to me that a few of their riders are punching well above their weight...


I have no idea whether Sky are clean or not. But if you follow the sport you should not be surprised by Porte putting in a "killer time trial". Look up his palmares. He has been one of the top ten time-triallists in the world for several years.

I was basing it on his very average TT's in this tour to be honest but i guess he may have been allowed to put it out there today!

Wiggins just confirmed who is the strongest rider in this TDF.

Wiggins just confirmed who is the strongest rider in this TDF.


Well he didn't did he........he won 2 time trials and followed in the mountains..........stronger than everyone else in the other teams no doubt.........but none of us can say whether froome could have tore him up in the mountains or not..........he dropped him in two different stages and stopped peddling.........every possibility he could have made up the deficit......not forgetting his mechanical of over a minute too!

Fair play to wiggo, he did what he had to do but sadly this tour will go down as probably the weakest in living memory and the organisers will clearly acknowledge they made an error with the route!

Wiggins just confirmed who is the strongest rider in this TDF.

Fine ride. Impossible to be unimpressed by how solid he has been.

Well he didn't did he........he won 2 time trials and followed in the mountains..........stronger than everyone else in the other teams no doubt.........but none of us can say whether froome could have tore him up in the mountains or not..........he dropped him in two different stages and stopped peddling.........every possibility he could have made up the deficit......not forgetting his mechanical of over a minute too!

Fair play to wiggo, he did what he had to do but sadly this tour will go down as probably the weakest in living memory and the organisers will clearly acknowledge they made an error with the route!

Amazing. Really nothing to say about this. Now go away TDF newb.

Fair play to wiggo, he did what he had to do but sadly this tour will go down as probably the weakest in living memory and the organisers will clearly acknowledge they made an error with the route!

How many Tours have you watched? And on what basis do you judge this as weaker than others?

How many Tours have you watched? And on what basis do you judge this as weaker than others?

His first one. There is a lot to learn.

I am not a fan of Wiggins, but I think this was a pretty tough tour. Wiggins and Sky did what they needed to for a win, and did it emphatically.

How many Tours have you watched? And on what basis do you judge this as weaker than others?


This is around my 20th cheers!

Based on the fact that not one rider could remotely mount any kind of challenge in the mountains........wiggo is an excellent rider and being a brit im happy he won, but as was shown by his own team mate, he is not a pure climber!

Add to that the fact that boassan hagen was taking them over many of the big climbs and sprinters extraordinaire such as sagan were keeping clear of the pack on ''big stages'' .......somehow i don't see the likes of armstrong, schleck and contador riding merrily along in the knowledge that they cannot shake sprinters!

It was poor and disappointingly over after the first time trial!

PS. you guys really do your reputations on this site a lot of damage by trying to belittle others, been reading your posts for some time and it really is comical that once you read an opinion you disagree with you jump straight to the ''newbie'' ''1st tour'' nonsense.
You lose any respect your ''experience'' may have gained you.....well done!

When you have people complaining that Wiggins is not a pure climber I am not sure what else to say.

This is around my 20th cheers!

Based on the fact that not one rider could remotely mount any kind of challenge in the mountains........wiggo is an excellent rider and being a brit im happy he won, but as was shown by his own team mate, he is not a pure climber!


Had you paid attention while you were watching your twenty Tours, you'd have noticed that it is comparatively rare for them to be won by "pure climbers". Indurain, Armstrong, Hinault, Merckx, Anquetil, LeMond - none of them were "pure climbers". Almost all of them, with the partial exception of Merckx who could win under any circumstances, won by time-trialling better than anyone and being good enough in the mountains to defend their lead.

As for sprinters leading over mountain stages, Freddie Maertens won the Vuelta while winning a majority of the stages. He was a sprinter, and there are no shortage of climbs in that GT. Sean Kelly won it also. Neither Sagan nor Boasson Hagen is a pure sprinter, it is quite clear that they can climb pretty well.

You don't give much sign of knowing what you are talking about, however many Tours you have watched.

When you have people complaining that Wiggins is not a pure climber I am not sure what else to say.

No one is complaining?? Wiggins himself would readily admit he is not a mountain goat.....he has a big engine and is similar to big mig, another rider much maligned during his tour career as sucking the life out of a race!

I don't see where i claimed pure climbers won the race????......the reference was about the fact that not even pure climbers made any noticeable sustained attack!

I don't pretend to be a tour expert, i watch it as i enjoy it very much, after all it is a spectator sport, and this year it was disappointing, waiting for something to happen and it never did.....i always push for mates and work colleagues to tune in and last year got a few people hooked as it was dramatic all the way......this year nobody saw the appeal and took the piss out of me for watching it!

I have to agree with Cincipeddler: the mountains were consistently disappointing. Nobody could threaten and Sky had no reason to do anything crazy otherwise. I'm sure it was tactical on Sky's part and there's nothing wrong with that. And every Tour is so many races in one there's always plenty of entertainment throughout. Still, nobody could argue this was a competitive Tour for GC. It would have been considerably more dramatic if there was a seesaw between a stronger climber on a rival team and Wiggo working to cut his loses until the next TT.

I do love Wiggins though. I'm glad he got his no matter how it shook out.

Also, get off Cincipeddler's back. If some folks thought the mountains provided enough drama then that's fine too. He's obviously not some no-account just because he feels otherwise. We watched maybe two instances over three weeks where somebody made even the most fleeting GC-related attack on a climb and it was always over before they event went to commercial. Wiggins himself said, "What attack?" at one point and it was about the defending champ.

Congratulations to Wiggens and Sky! I think Sky's dominance bodes well for next year's season. The other teams will look at Sky's organization, preparation and execution in this GT and see how they can improve their own teams. My lasting image from this TDF will be Wiggens motoring along with 3 or 4 Sky guys in front of him, on every stage, in every situation, totally dominating the other teams. If another team would try to do anything, I mean anything, the Sky train would roll over them. Somewhat boring to watch, but amazing never the less.

Congratulations to Wiggens and Sky! I think Sky's dominance bodes well for next year's season. The other teams will look at Sky's organization, preparation and execution in this GT and see how they can improve their own teams. My lasting image from this TDF will be Wiggens motoring along with 3 or 4 Sky guys in front of him, on every stage, in every situation, totally dominating the other teams. If another team would try to do anything, I mean anything, the Sky train would roll over them. Somewhat boring to watch, but amazing never the less.

I think that is exactly the point..........it was complete dominance from sky and VERY professional............sadly it made for poor viewing, thankfully peter sagan introduced himself to the world!

I have been following the tour for almost 30 years and this final week has the least excitement I can remember. This is no-one's fault, Sky is simply too good. Hats off to them.

I can't help but let my nationalistic bias come through and speculate that we might have had a good competition between Nibali and Hesjedal for third had Ryder remained healthy. Unfortunately we will never know.

How many Tours have you watched? And on what basis do you judge this as weaker than others?

I heard an interesting bit on BBC radio last night that claimed the peak power data they had from this tour was 10% less than the the late 90s and early 2000s. I think this was a weaker tour than most remember if you were to just consider power output, but it was fascinating to watch. The reason there weren't big mountain time gaps between GC contenders was that they were all riding as hard as they could, at least until Cadel got sick.

There were a lot of memorable moments in this year's tour. There just did happen to be a good GC battle in the mountains among them. Personally, I found Evans' win last year every bit as boring as Wiggins' win this year. I'd like to see the winner ride away from everyone in the mountains, but that isn't always going to happen.

I heard an interesting bit on BBC radio last night that claimed the peak power data they had from this tour was 10% less than the the late 90s and early 2000s. I think this was a weaker tour than most remember if you were to just consider power output, but it was fascinating to watch. The reason there weren't big mountain time gaps between GC contenders was that they were all riding as hard as they could, at least until Cadel got sick.

Power's down because no one's doping. Wiggins himself revealed that the Sky train runs at 450 watts up those hills. Anyone wanting to attack off the front and stay off needs to hit 500 watts and maintain it for 20 minutes. Not going to happen unless you're juicing.