Great summary!
Chich, What are your predictions for next year?
Is it a definate that the course won't be one that Wiggins could win on?
If so, is Froome good enough to potentially win? Will Schleck and Contador be back and would they be favourites ahead of him?
The course for the next year is usually announced late October(around my birthday, often on it) Prudhomme who holds to much power but i guess that goes with being race director has said he liked the idea of having high mountains for next year.
He also in recent seasons has changed the long held tradition of having completely flat stages in the first week because of how Cavendish was dominating the sprints. That is why in recent seasons we have had sharp climbs towards the end of the sprints.
Not sure how in future seasons he will stop Sagan dominating but maybe Sagan will have different objectives in the future.
I think as Froome is better in the high mountains and would be able to respond better to the attacks of contador and schleck then he would be given the nod seeing as there time trialing ability is similar.
Think contador would be favorite for next years tour he really is a brilliant climber if sadly also a bit of a ****. Schleck has a mental block with his time trailing and even crashed in one just before the tour started, he got back on his bike but was seen shouting with tears in his eyes at his team boss who told him to finish the race, all is not well in that team if you ask me.
My prediction for next year will be that it will be all change. I think brailsford will realise that Froome is his best chance of getting a winner again he will tell Wiggins he has to race for him, i think to be fair Wiggins will do this as he knows his limitations. If sky keep a hold of porte and rodgers and use robeto uran next year they will still have a strong enough team to help froome try and win.
Think we will see Evans ride for tejay van garderen and he could well be very good, maybe a year or two to soon for him. Sagan i imagine will try and win the sprints again but he may also test himself more in the mountains because at the moment i doubt even he knows how good he could be, it is scary but we maybe seeing a once in a lifetime cyclist in him, someone that can actually do everything, or maybe not.
I hope so it may cloud my judgement but i hope that Cavendish leaves sky and goes to a team that can allow him to sprint for the green jersey and multiple stage wins like he deserves. For that to happen the team needs to be a "sprint team" a team that has no ambitions to win the tour overall, then they would be made up of 3 or 4 strong guys that can work onfront of the pelton to bring back breakaways then he needs 2 or 3 guys to set him up for the sprints, the last person to launch him needs to be someone who is nearly a top class sprinter themselves like renshaw when he was at HTC. Ben swift could fill this role or even Geriant Thomas.
Riders like Thomas may wish to leave sky if they do not get the chance to go for the wins they wish, how Cavendish has kept his team mates happy in the past was by giving them free reign to go for other victories in the classic races.
Cavendish has also said how he wants to respect the history of cycling and also make history i think he wants the points jersey in the giro tour of italy, it does usually go to a sprinter but an all round man as that is such a hilly tour, i think he will try for that again next year. He lives out in italy and trains on those roads.
I hope that Tony Martin recovers and shows what a top class ride he is, i really like him and have a lot of time for him, he is so powerful it is awesome to watch.
