TheKhann

Garmin will be riding for Andrew Talansky, who just won Dauphine ahead of both Froome and Contador. BMC will be riding for Tee Jay Van Garderen.

KantoBoy

Everybody's forgetting about Nibali here. As a Pistolero fan I want him and Nibali to join forces when attacking. 1 GC contender can't do it alone. I also believe Purito's going to be all in this time around since he's probably in the same position as Valverde.

Overall, I want the GC contenders try to dismantle the Sky-bots with attacks left and right. I still think Sky's the team to beat but that's because they ride together til their wheels fall off on the mountains. The other teams' tactics are pretty suspect when the slope rises and it personally frustrates me.

coppercook62

Pumped

dleccord

Tony Martin's girl is hot. Can't wait to see her at the prologue.

yote223

Wow. This stuff ranks right up there with basketball, tennis and golf. I think that I will be busy watching paint dry. And after that, I will go for a ride.

Machka 

Professional Cycling For the Fans

Fiery

He and every other GC contender in the peloton. And you must have missed the 2012 Vuelta.

ConGrUenCy

Really? Did you watch the Fuente De stage in the 2012 Vuelta which won him the Vuelta, or stage 5 of this year's Tirreno Adriatico, where he won after a long range attack (30-40km from the finish), defended and even extended his lead on the downhill, and finished it off on the last hill- about 1km, averaging 20+%, with ramps upto 33%. He looked like his old self, and absolutely demolished the field.
He has the most balls among any racer imo and he rides to win. He's also tactically brilliant, which is to be expected since he's a product of the two finest minds in cycling- Johan Bruyneel and Bjarne Riis.

Winning the Dauphine does not make you a contender for the Tour. Contador and Froome were not trying to win, and they were more intent on testing their form and testing each other. Winning a 1 week lead-up race is very different from winning a 3 week Grand Tour. At best, TJVG and Talansky can hope for a top 5 finish, which is still optimistic, seeing asyou also have Nibali, Valverde and Purito.

TheKhann

You said Garmin and BMC had no GC guys so they would be hunting for stage wins, the fact is, they have GC guys and will be supporting them for GC, whether their GC guys are contenders for the title or not is a different matter entirely.

shinyandfree

Not to mention that he was the only one who seemed willing to attack Froome (again and again, uphill or downhill, right up until the end) in last year's tour. Meanwhile Sky plays the same game again and again. If they want to drag everyone around for another three week snoozefest I'll be glad to see someone else take advantage of it. Sky came up with a (boring) very successful strategy and Contador is simply exploiting the ***** in its armor. That's bike racing. Also, when fighting for the GC in a grand tour, wheel sucking 99% of the time is pretty much the name of the game.

shinyandfree

Apparently bikeforums thinks I'm a racist

Zinger

Garmin Sharp stated they'll be focusing on supporting Talansky in the GC.

dahoss2002

You might be troubled that he does not KA very well. He is probably the only rider that did not KA to Armstrong.

slcbob

Huh? That is THE template GC best practice. And Contador is one of the legit GC contenders who is perhaps least likely to follow it.

The only things I dislike about Contador are: 1) that litlle pistolero thing; 2) his whiny voice (but not the things he says); 3) that he's so much better on the bike than me. But I can say #3 about a lot of people.

I think he got a bad rap from the Lance-Astana period, to go with the bad beef. He sure can animate a race.

whitemax

The goal is to win and he doesn't give a rats ass what you think about his game.

Giacomo 1 

I think your nuts if you count Talansky out. His win at the Dauphine really put him on the map and he proved he will be a contender in the TDF. Admittedly, Talansky will not likely be able to sneak in an attack in this Tour like he did in the Dauphine, because he certainly has the respect of the top contenders now.

And TJ is really out to prove he is the American to watch, not Talansky, and with both teams focused completely on them, I think both of these Americans will be very much in contention...

Zinger

I'd say a 10th place in the GC as a TDF Rookie last year would make Talansky a contender for a GC podium place. At any rate Garmin's stated strategy and roster this year is for the GC focus and not stage wins.

hueyhoolihan

you're insufferable...

Zinger

That was mean......but of course irresistible.

SpeshulEd