Luxembourg’s Le Quotidien has a good piece on how to beat Wiggins, asking several team managers for their suggestions
Whilst Wiggins is the great favourite for the race I think the next three weeks can bring plenty of surprises. But let’s run with the idea that Wiggins is the rider to beat, here are the suggestions from the team managers plus some extra ideas.
It looks like the perfect picture for a cycling team. A smiling rider stands tall on the podium, dressed in yellow with the team logos in evidence as the girls hold their pose for the cameras. Even his sunglasses are perched just right on the team-issue baseball cap. But there’s something wrong with the picture.
I’m not talking about the composition of the image. You might notice the podium girls haven’t zipped up their jerseys fully but it’s not that. No, the problem here is that Radioshack-Nissan’s Jakob Fuglsang has won a race and bizarrely this could prove damaging for the interests of his team.
The Col du Tourmalet is one of the legendary climbs of the Pyrenees. With tough ascensions on both the east and west, it is a regular feature of the Tour de France. Indeed the Tour has tackled this pass more times than any other in France. So you’d hope the altitude of the pass is agreed. In case of doubt a giant sign marks the pass.
Only a new jersey by Rapha created to celebrate the legendary climbs of the Pyrenees appears to mention the wrong altitude.
| Wins | Team |
| 30 | Omega Pharma – Quickstep |
| 25 | Team Sky |
| 21 | Liquigas – Cannondale |
| 16 | Lotto – Belisol |
| 15 | Movistar |
| 14 | Katusha |
| 14 | Orica-Greenedge |
| 13 | Garmin – Barracuda |
| 11 | Rabobank |
| 9 | FDJ – BigMat |
| 8 | Vacansoleil – DCM |
| 7 | BMC Racing |
| 6 | Euskaltel – Euskadi |
| 6 | Lampre – ISD |
| 5 | Astana |
| 3 | Radioshack – Nissan |
| 3 | Saxo Bank |
| 3 | Ag2r – La Mondiale |
The final stage of the race is a time trial and the overall result is not yet certain. Three weeks of racing across Italy with numerous mountain passes and Joaquim Rodriguez leads Ryder Hesjedal by just 31 seconds. It seems likely that Hesjedal will take time on Rodriguez, enough to win the race outright. Is this possible?
It’s only a 60km drive from Pfalzes to Cortina but the race takes the scenic route across several mountain passes. Look at all those climbs but don’t forget the descents too especially as the race tackles the Passo Giau and then a steep and technical road down to the finish in Cortina which includes a short uphill section too.
The overall classification in the race is beginning to settle and today should start to cement positions amongst the top-10. Those with ambitions might not want to wait until the climb of the Stelvio on Saturday.
Look at the profile and you’ll see 173km with three bumps along the way including one to the finish and given the upcoming mountain stages it might be tempting to view today’s route as a mere transition stage.
But the diagram doesn’t do the the final of the race justice because this is a tricky finish with hairpins, cobbles and double-digit gradient ramps. It could be a very exciting finish.
ASO have announced the four “wildcard” invitations for the 2012 Tour de France starting on 30 June in Liège, Belgium.
Dutch squad Argos-Shimano are picked alongside French teams Cofidis, Europcar and Saur-Sojasun to join the 18 World Tour teams in the race. The choice is logical.
Tomorrow sees the greatest one day race of the year, the Tour of Flanders. Organisers say 600,000 to 800,000 people will line the roads, L’Equipe even says one million could turn out, making one tenth of the Belgian population.
This does not mean that the race will have you perched on the rivet of your armchair for hours as like many events, sometimes anticipation can exceed reality. But ahead of tomorrow’s race here are a few things to consider.
During the classics season I’ll be doing some pieces for cyclingnews.com. I’m a regular reader of their site and did something similar last summer for the Tour de France. My first piece this year is about the classics and they way their format changes to suit the times.