Its that time of year....

Daniel S said:

... when the Tour de France is almost upon us!

Anyone care to make predictions for the yellow and green jerseys? What
about the climber's jersey now that Virenque has buggered off?

I'll happily make a prediction about all of those: that I won't win any
of them. Anybody care to bet against me? I'll give you very good odds
....

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"Daniel S" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

... when the Tour de France is almost upon us!

Anyone care to make predictions for the yellow and green jerseys? What
about the climber's jersey now that Virenque has buggered off?

The Aussies are looking better than ever this year but do you think any of
them will crack the podium?

More importantly, I'd like to get a list of the g-codes for all of the
coverage (WA) so I can program it in advance...any ideas? Without buying
some crappy TV magazine preferably....

Cheers
David M

Yellow Jersey Favourite: Armstrong Smokey: Basso
Sprinters Pettachi McEwen
Mountain any of: Basso, Mayo, Salvoldelli,

Other predictions:
Jens Voigt will have a cracker

Tom Boonen will too and win more than one stage

Armstrong will 'let' Hincappie have one day 'off the leash' for a long breakaway win as a payback for all them years...

This tour will confirm Ullrich is past his best (again!) and finish below 5th (but probably top 10)

Michael Rogers top 10

1-3 riders will get thrown out in the first week due to testing positive 🙁

McGee narrowly misses prologue win to Aitor, Leipheimer or Armstrong

team infighting between Damiano Cunego Gilberto Simoni will see the modern tour's first mid-climb biffo!

'The Devil' will be tackled to the ground by a scruffy-lookin aussie bike-tourer in thongs whilst managing not to spill a drop of brew in the process

Daniel S said:

.... when the Tour de France is almost upon us!

Anyone care to make predictions for the yellow and green jerseys? What
about the climber's jersey now that Virenque has buggered off?

The Aussies are looking better than ever this year but do you think any
of them will crack the podium?

Daniel
(long time lurker, occasional poster)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FWIW, I've put my TdF predictions on my weblog:
http://dsearson.blogspot.com/2005/06/on-road-again-tour-excitement.html

Yellow: Armstrong with Basso 3 or 4 mins back and then Vino.

Green: McEwen, followed by Boonen and Hushovd. (Dont think Cooke will get any stage wins). Those are the only 3 capable of being up there consistantly. Freire would not be amongst (if he didnt pull out), though he can climb better than all of them. This will be damn close and i just hope a crash does not ruin it for anyone. I think theres only about 5 or 6 stages that really suit the pure sprinters. So if you miss a bunch kick, crashing with a k to go, could be pretty hard to get back into it.

KOM: i guess Rasmussen. He wont ever podium, with a TT as poor as his. He has soft pedalled stages in the past to be fresh for stage wins and all day breakaways. Maybe Piepoli or Simoni (not sure if hes riding but Cunego isnt so....)

Aussies: I expect Rogers and Cadel (was a real chance for top 5 before his crash) to be right amongst the top 10 or just out of it. I dont think McGee will be able to hold on for 3 weeks to stay near the top 10. So top 20 for McGee. If he bonks badly (hes capable) then dont be surprised to see him leading out Cooke again. In which case, i would then tip Cooke for a stage win.

White jersey: i got no idea. Probably one of the young Liberty climbers?

flyingdutch said:

Yellow Jersey Favourite: Armstrong Smokey: Basso
Sprinters Pettachi
McEwen
Mountain any of: Basso, Mayo, Salvoldelli,

I think we should start a fund to send JayWoo over to have a crack at
the mountain title. Of course he'd still have to setup his own tent at
night and live on noodles.

DaveB

DaveB said:

I think we should start a fund to send JayWoo over to have a crack at
the mountain title. Of course he'd still have to setup his own tent at
night and live on noodles.

DaveB

and paint his own name on the road the night before! 😄

flyingdutch said:

Sprinters Pettachi

um ...

In article <[email hidden]>,

flyingdutch said:

McGee narrowly misses prologue win to Aitor, Leipheimer or Armstrong

No prologue this year...

Quoted message said:

'The Devil' will be tackled to the ground by a scruffy-lookin aussie
bike-tourer in thongs whilst managing not to spill a drop of brew in
the process

Among the crowd this year will be a touring group including Crackers
Keenan and Ron Barassi. Who knows who else will be in the group...

--
Shane Stanley

--
Shane Stanley

Shane Stanley said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

flyingdutch said:

McGee narrowly misses prologue win to Aitor, Leipheimer or Armstrong

No prologue this year...

Quoted message said:

'The Devil' will be tackled to the ground by a scruffy-lookin aussie
bike-tourer in thongs whilst managing not to spill a drop of brew in
the process

Among the crowd this year will be a touring group including Crackers
Keenan and Ron Barassi. Who knows who else will be in the group...

--
Shane Stanley

--
Shane Stanley

doooh! revise that.

Ullrich to go all out in opening TT to try and make a statement but get nailed by one of M Rogers or Aitor by a few secs. (Lance will relax till the 'uppy' bits altho Hincapie might have a go).

gettin goosebumps just thinkin 'bout this stuff

F"4 more sleeps"Dutch

flyingdutch said:

doooh! revise that.

Ullrich to go all out in opening TT to try and make a statement but get nailed by one of M Rogers or Aitor by a few secs. (Lance will relax till the 'uppy' bits altho Hincapie might have a go).

gettin goosebumps just thinkin 'bout this stuff

F"4 more sleeps"Dutch

Aitor is not riding it is he? I think the winner will come from either, McGee, Armstrong or Cancellara (just the right length for him i think). Hushovd is a former under 23 TT World Champ, he should put himself close enough to grab yellow after a few flat stages.

oely said:

flyingdutch said:

doooh! revise that.

Ullrich to go all out in opening TT to try and make a statement but get
nailed by one of M Rogers or Aitor by a few secs. (Lance will relax till
the 'uppy' bits altho Hincapie might have a go).

gettin goosebumps just thinkin 'bout this stuff

F"4 more sleeps"Dutch

Aitor is not riding it is he? I think the winner will come from either,
McGee, Armstrong or Cancellara (just the right length for him i think).
Hushovd is a former under 23 TT World Champ, he should put himself
close enough to grab yellow after a few flat stages.

Is the opening ITT too long for McGee though? He's more
a shorter ITT rider. Same with Cancellara.

Ullrich, Armstrong, Botero ... one of those three.

Carl Brewer said:

Ullrich, Armstrong, Botero ... one of those three.

Man, all of the papers and even some tv channels have tour info and suchlike... but it's all in friggin' dutch!!!! :S

hippy
"appreciating the 1000-word equivalent pictures"

hippy said:

Carl Brewer said:

Ullrich, Armstrong, Botero ... one of those three.

Man, all of the papers and even some tv channels have tour info and
suchlike... but it's all in friggin' dutch!!!! :S

Damn cloggies ... tell 'em to speak English. If they don't
understand, just shout louder!