2012 Le Tour De France

[BoundaryRider84]

Cadel has made one of the best breakaways in recent memory. Go Son!

[mickey]

Sky has rained him back in before they got to the summit. Looks like Cadel didnt have the legs to keep up with his team mate.

On the plus side the breakaway smashed the peleton and Wiggins doesnt have as many black jerseys around him now

[trev]

Evans back with Wiggans. Hopefully Cadell will get some time on him during the descent and hold it up the final climb.

[Grahaml]

Sky has rained him back in before they got to the summit. Looks like Cadel didnt have the legs to keep up with his team mate.

On the plus side the breakaway smashed the peleton and Wiggins doesnt have as many black jerseys around him now

Worth a try, but he never got any momentum to ride away and force Wiggins to do some work. Obviously pulled the pin before he smashed himself. Still there's another climb later on, if he can't get away on any descent it's not done yet today. Then there's other stages. Great to see him giving it a crack like a defending champion should. Fingers crossed Nibali and Van Den Broeck can keep chipping away at Sky. Let's see if we can eliminate one or two more Sky riders from that group up the final climb and see how Wiggins goes then.

[dedja]

Nibali bolts, WIggins loses his team ... c'mon Cadel, attack the bastard

[dedja]

faark, Cadel has cracked ...

[Jase]

faark, Cadel has cracked ...

He's gone...

[bd u15 09]

He's in big trouble! If Froome was on a different team to Wiggins, I'd be backing that Froome. He looks the goods!

[dedja]

Froome looks the strongest ... he should ignore his race director and faark Wiggins off.

Cadel's tour is over, losing chunks of time here.

[Grahaml]

Still time to go for Cadel but you don't often see riders coming back from these sorts of time losses. Looks to me like it's Nibali who might displace Wiggins, perhaps Van Den Broek.

I still expect Cadel to keep trying though. 5 minutes can be made up on a climb, expecially if Wiggins himself has a bad day. We've yet to see Wiggins look like a winner over the final climbs of the day. On the other hand, perhaps he'll have some good form for the olympics.....

[pels]

Great stage to watch, attacks galore.
Loved that the riders put it all on the line
Thats the only way they are going to destroy the sky train.
Froome definitely looked better than Wiggins, but the team wont let him attack his own leader
How about Rogers & Porte they are doing a ton of work for sky.

Just keep attacking Nibali, Van Den Broek & Evans & see what happens

[Grahaml]

Great stage to watch, attacks galore.
Loved that the riders put it all on the line
Thats the only way they are going to destroy the sky train.
Froome definitely looked better than Wiggins, but the team wont let him attack his own leader
How about Rogers & Porte they are doing a ton of work for sky.

Just keep attacking Nibali, Van Den Broek & Evans & see what happens

Must be said that several riders looked better than Wiggins. The hope I guess is that Wiggins is cooling off. When we get to the last mountain passes of the tour he might lose a bunch of time if that's the case. Fingers crossed that happens and Cadel is the one taking the time. In terms of Froome and Nibali his defecit isn't too great.

[scoob]

Great stage to watch, attacks galore.
Loved that the riders put it all on the line
Thats the only way they are going to destroy the sky train.
Froome definitely looked better than Wiggins, but the team wont let him attack his own leader
How about Rogers & Porte they are doing a ton of work for sky.

Just keep attacking Nibali, Van Den Broek & Evans & see what happens

Must be said that several riders looked better than Wiggins. The hope I guess is that Wiggins is cooling off. When we get to the last mountain passes of the tour he might lose a bunch of time if that's the case. Fingers crossed that happens and Cadel is the one taking the time. In terms of Froome and Nibali his defecit isn't too great.

Evans is gone!!! would have to be a 15/1 chance now

[pels]

Great stage to watch, attacks galore.
Loved that the riders put it all on the line
Thats the only way they are going to destroy the sky train.
Froome definitely looked better than Wiggins, but the team wont let him attack his own leader
How about Rogers & Porte they are doing a ton of work for sky.

Just keep attacking Nibali, Van Den Broek & Evans & see what happens

Must be said that several riders looked better than Wiggins. The hope I guess is that Wiggins is cooling off. When we get to the last mountain passes of the tour he might lose a bunch of time if that's the case. Fingers crossed that happens and Cadel is the one taking the time. In terms of Froome and Nibali his defecit isn't too great.

Evans is gone!!! would have to be a 15/1 chance now

Not gone, but definitely a long shot now, but anything can happen.

I'm more interested what Sky are going to do with Froome.
He looks far more stronger than Wiggins on the climbs and there has been numerous times in the past when the team helper has not listened and attacked his own team leader.
Sky F*cked up big time in last years Vuelta but not allowing Froome freedom when he was better than Wiggins and they finished 2nd & 3rd respectively, this could get interesting.

[Grahaml]

Great stage to watch, attacks galore.
Loved that the riders put it all on the line
Thats the only way they are going to destroy the sky train.
Froome definitely looked better than Wiggins, but the team wont let him attack his own leader
How about Rogers & Porte they are doing a ton of work for sky.

Just keep attacking Nibali, Van Den Broek & Evans & see what happens

Must be said that several riders looked better than Wiggins. The hope I guess is that Wiggins is cooling off. When we get to the last mountain passes of the tour he might lose a bunch of time if that's the case. Fingers crossed that happens and Cadel is the one taking the time. In terms of Froome and Nibali his defecit isn't too great.

Evans is gone!!! would have to be a 15/1 chance now

Is he gone or 15/1? Simply put, Wiggins came in firing on all cylinders and Cadel didn't. Wiggins cracked yesterday as well. There's no reason to think on the next mountain top finish Wiggins won't crack first. If that happens Cadel could take 5 minutes on him. He wouldn't need so much time on Froome, who might in that scenario go back to Wiggins. I don't think Cadel will win this year, but any mountain top finish could change things dramatically. Even the downhills could see Wiggins shed off the back and lose time as we saw happening with the GC guys last year. For me, if it's not Cadel the Nibali looks very strong. Van Den Broeck also looks like a serious threat.

Goss was stupid tonight. He had to get relegated after that. He rode right across Sagan just as Sagan was gaining ground and Sagan lost his momentum. I think he had Sagan covered too. This competition will come down to the wire and that little move might be the difference.

[brod]

Great stage to watch, attacks galore.
Loved that the riders put it all on the line
Thats the only way they are going to destroy the sky train.
Froome definitely looked better than Wiggins, but the team wont let him attack his own leader
How about Rogers & Porte they are doing a ton of work for sky.

Just keep attacking Nibali, Van Den Broek & Evans & see what happens

Must be said that several riders looked better than Wiggins. The hope I guess is that Wiggins is cooling off. When we get to the last mountain passes of the tour he might lose a bunch of time if that's the case. Fingers crossed that happens and Cadel is the one taking the time. In terms of Froome and Nibali his defecit isn't too great.

Evans is gone!!! would have to be a 15/1 chance now

Hes out to 26.00 now

[Grahaml]

Great stage to watch, attacks galore.
Loved that the riders put it all on the line
Thats the only way they are going to destroy the sky train.
Froome definitely looked better than Wiggins, but the team wont let him attack his own leader
How about Rogers & Porte they are doing a ton of work for sky.

Just keep attacking Nibali, Van Den Broek & Evans & see what happens

Must be said that several riders looked better than Wiggins. The hope I guess is that Wiggins is cooling off. When we get to the last mountain passes of the tour he might lose a bunch of time if that's the case. Fingers crossed that happens and Cadel is the one taking the time. In terms of Froome and Nibali his defecit isn't too great.

Evans is gone!!! would have to be a 15/1 chance now

Hes out to 26.00 now

Bookie odds aren't always a reflection of how likely they think someone is, plenty of money for Wiggins no doubt means Evans has gone out further than he should, but he's certainly an outsider. Hard to see such a turnaround, but stranger things have happened. Although I must admit I was thinking of the last time someone made such a turnaround and came up with Landis the day he got done for doping.....

Goss docked 30 points I heard for that crazy swerve and fair enough IMHO. He could easily have sent Sagan to the ground with that move. Puts Sagan firmly into that green, now he needs to get to Paris and make sure he's in the top 4 or 5 in sprint finishes and it'll be his.

[brod]

The Gorilla (Griepel) wins his third stage of the 2012 TDF in a photo from Sagan, who gets even closer to winning green

[Grahaml]

Great stage tonight. Love those crosswinds that split the peleton late. Catches out the lazy/inattentive riders and teams that sit too far back. Nobody major caught out (shame Wiggins wasn't napping) but keeps everyone alert. People are talking about opportunities for Wiggins to be attacked as being mountain finishes and descents but on a stage like this if Wiggins is too far back on a big crosswind BMC, Liquigas and Lotto would be crazy not to attack unless he was back for a mechanical, natural break or team car visit. Even 50km from the end, give it a go. Worst thing happens you get caught again and end with the same time.

[dedja]

Still not convinced about Wiggins ... appears to only have one gear and is susceptible to attacks.

Will be interesting how Froome responds in the Pyrenees ... will he heed the team call or will his natural instinct kick in, because if it does, then he'll blow Wiggins out of the water.

It will interesting what the team does if Wiggins cracks and Froome doesn't ... it is not out of the question for the team to change the No. 1 rider.

As for the others, Nibali is the dark horse, whilst Cadel isn't completely gone but has an enormous task ahead of him.

There is no doubt the challengers will not die wondering and will attack Wiggins at the earliest opportunity.

Is Wiggins up to it? ... I have my doubts.