Voeckler . . .

[JMerring]

ill go out on a limb and say that, yes, tommy v wins it. yesterday it occurred to me that he is starting to believe he has a chance. given his grit, his experience, the fact that he is french, his gap over the others, and the fact that the heretofore considered contenders arent going to be able to drop each other in the alps, he has an awesome chance. i would love to see it happen.

[stephenmarklay]

I think until yesterday he, himself, thought the idea was unrealistic. I am sure that everyone around him is saying "you can Tommy boy you can"

Alberto, Cadel, Andy, Frank etc are all running scared (Frank less so). Tommy on the other hand has nothing to lose and is dreaming it right now.

He is still a way long shot but a podium position is likely in my opinion.

I for one will not mourn the loss off a high profile rider from the podium. This has been a hard tour, mentally anyway, so whomever is left standing earned it this year. BTW I would love to see Cadel take the top spot. He has paid the dues and mental demons.

Great tour no matter what happens.

[tele]

head says no, heart says yes!!!

at least the TT at the end of the Tour is shortish, that increases his chances if he can hang in the mountains. I wouldnt be surprised if he starts to get some French allies in the Alps too.

[soulspinner]

Long live TV. Cant see him surviving the Alps, but when he blows the French will love him even more.

[dekindy]

I was riding all day yesterday so I did not get a chance to watch the stage. I saw a brief highlight that showed V actually attacking the competition. Impressive. He will not lose it for lack of grit and determination.

[witcombusa]

Maybe the French passed the hat in the off season and gave our old friend Dr. Ferrari a call. Or perhaps they found out the secrect handshake and got the white lunch bags from Johan and LA....

If you can't beat them, join them

[firerescuefin]

Originally Posted by witcombusa

Maybe the French passed the hat in the off season and gave our old friend Dr. Ferrari a call. Or perhaps they found out the secrect handshake and got the white lunch bags from Johan and LA....

If you can't beat them, join them

Or perhaps he is a rider that wore yellow in 04, has steadily improved as a rider, has been on his best form all year.....and perhaps others don't have a needle in their @ss....just a thought.

[davidlee]

Originally Posted by firerescuefin

Or perhaps he is a rider that wore yellow in 04, has steadily improved as a rider, has been on his best form all year.....and perhaps others don't have a needle in their @ss....just a thought.

Where is the "like" button?

xo
davidlee

[Lifelover]

Originally Posted by firerescuefin

Or perhaps he is a rider that wore yellow in 04, has steadily improved as a rider, has been on his best form all year.....and perhaps others don't have a needle in their @ss....just a thought.

Or maybe he is on the same doping program he was on in 04.

[firerescuefin]

Originally Posted by Lifelover

Or maybe he is on the same doping program he was on in 04.

Steady improvement over 7 years and battling to keep the yellow is a lot easier to buy than almost dead to a one balled 7 time TdF winner.

As the forum's Lance-o-phile, I thought you would appreciate TV's efforts this year.

[Gummee]

They're all scared of making an attack cause they know that they don't have much if anything more than their rivals. One good dig in the mountains = couple of not-so-strong days right after?

All of that plays into Voeckler's hands because all he has to do is follow wheels. Its up to the rest of the 7 Dwarfs to attack him.

I'm thinking Cadel, but with an outside shot for TV.

M

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Gummee

They're all scared of making an attack cause they know that they don't have much if anything more than their rivals. One good dig in the mountains = couple of not-so-strong days right after?

All of that plays into Voeckler's hands because all he has to do is follow wheels. Its up to the rest of the 7 Dwarfs to attack him.

I'm thinking Cadel, but with an outside shot for TV.

M

I've never been a huge fan of Cadel, but I think Voekler holding his lead until the final TT, Cadel beating him by enough to win yellow by a few seconds, and Voekler on the final podium would be a "just" result (whatever the hell that means in competition). Cadel has paid his dues and fought for it for many years now. As much as I'd like to see Voekler win it, if he does, he got there because nobody took him seriously when they let his break go away, whereas Cadel would NEVER be able to get away with that. But if Voekler somehow found a way to hold him off in the TT and WIN the thing, I wouldn't be able to keep from jumping up and down, just a little! Wouldn't be bad to see a Frenchman actually win a Tour again after a quarter century...

-Ray

[Walter]

TV does have a good little team that has been with him pretty much all the way.

The favorities seem to be more into reactive racing rather than taking a shot...and time is running out.

If he can hold wheels in the Alps, he has enough in hand to survive the final TT.....

Good racing and great drama.

[ultraman6970]

Many people think Voeckler will lose time in the ITT, the main issue is that this time he has the support of his team. secondly when u have a racer that does support work aka domestique, that doesnt mean the guy is bad at all. It would not surprise me that he can TT decently or even more than u think, not as much as evans or contador but i see him gaining some time to the polidor bros aka the sckleck bros.

Good for the french man, wishing and waiting the best from him.

[Crazy Chris]

Mr. Voekler is from Martinique. Quite different from those "fine" people from Parigi, as the Italians are wont to say.