Le (100th) Tour de France 2013

TheRobotman

I expect Froome will win, and a few days in Yellow and about four stage wins for Cav.

I go off on holiday for three weeks starting tomorrow, timed to
perfection.

tomsoyer

Hard to see how anyone can stop Froome unless the Spanish work together Seriously Movistar are a strong looking team and Rodrguiez has to do something special after the legal battle Katusha had to get a place on the tour and hopefully Contador will find some form but all these guys have to work together against Sky.

Lin3ar

It is very hard to see anyone beating Froome. However, the nature of the Tour means there are always crashes, especially in the first week. He will have to avoid those.

I would like to see Contador find some form and make it exciting once they reach the mountains.

TheRobotman

Froome has the form but Contador, Shleck and Evens are more than capable of taking advantage of a bad day, if those three work together against Froome they could certainly make life difficult for him.

Just watched the team presentation on Eurosport there, Froome looked nervous, the other three were a lot more relaxed.

tomsoyer

watched Froome in an interview last night and he does come across as a nervous person but i think he's pretty confident and feels more at home on the bike.

scatterbug

I agree, the race is Froome's to lose. One way his opponents can look at isolating him from the Sky train in the mountains is to attack early. Unlike Wiggins (who would just keep churning out a steady 400 watts) I suspect Froome wouldn't be able to help himself in getting embroiled in a mano-a-mano fight. But even then, he'll still probably win.

davidegee

I can't wait.  Cav to win first and last stages, with a few in between too hopefully.

Froome has to be strong favourite.  He's in great form and has a strong team.  I do envisage a bit of "the whole pelaton vs Sky" scenario though..

I've booked the final week off work to watch tdf and the test match during that week

Lin3ar

What a chaotic first stage. I have never seen anything like it in cycling.

Cav looked seriously unhappy at the end. It was his best ever chance to wear yellow and it was ruined by a bus

tomsoyer

Team Time Trial today, first indication of which teams are strong. Sky might suffer a bit with Geirant Thomas and Ian Stannard injured and might see a Brit in yellow if Garmin can pull of the win.

severe dainjah

strong ride from Froome today, into yellow (and polka) and built up a good minute lead over the next non sky rider.... time for team sky to dominate the tour ?!?