Macca
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Tonight's first climb begins from Saint-Égrève at about 11.10pm. The summit of 'Col de Palaquit' should be reached about 30 minutes later. The 2nd climb from Saint-Martin-d'Hères should commence at about 12.05am. The summit of 'Chamrousse' should be reached about 40 minutes later. Times are approximate only but it's doubtful whether they will start these 2 category 1 climbs much earlier than the approximate times that are given. Niboli has indicated that he may attack Porte tonight and/or tomorrow night but Porte may well have his own plans. Should be a fascinating night and tomorrow night should be just as interesting.
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- 2011 winner cadel evans
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There are 5 mountain stages left involving twelve category 1 climbs. We're in the 'Alps' tomorrow night and Saturday night and ... next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we're in the Pyreness. All 3 of the stages in the Pyreness are tough. I don't reckon it's done yet - it may come down to who has the better team and besides all that, it only takes one bad day for any cyclist to lose valuable time. We may even have someone else as the leader in the next week. Porte or Nibali could hit the wall and an opportunist might take advantage. However, I do agree with you Cards that Nibali looks the likely winner but ... he's got a truckload of work ahead of him to make sure of it. Here are the next 3 profiles but there's 3 more similar outlooks (like the last 2 profiles posted) when they're in the Pyreness next week. Tonight's stage shouldn't present too many problems but the fun begins on Friday ... Tonight ... Friday ... Saturday ...
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Now Contador has crashed - bandaged up and a bit knocked around, he struggles on. Apparently the frame on his bike snapped and it was quite a nasty crash. 3 and half minutes behind the peloton with 5 decent climbs ahead. His teammates have dropped back to help him. Edit: Contador abandons the tour - he didn't look right when he got back on the bike. The attrition rate in this tour is quite something. The conditions haven't helped but we're in the dark about what actually caused Contador to crash the way he did.
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Yep, that's the real issue - it's one thing to want to delist away, but who do you bring in? That's where we need Roos' influence and pulling power. These are the 12 players who we brought in last off season (Clisby was upgraded from rookie status) Hogan Salem Tyson Cross Vince JKH Riley Michie Hunt Georgiou ® Harmes ® King ® A relatively successful recruiting effort IMO so based on last year, 10 list changes is do-able.
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Close enough, BtR. There's 21 players left from the completed 2012 season ... 'dc's post above explains the discrepancy in numbers somewhat ... here's the 2012 list It will be a huge turnover of the list, all the same (even if there's only 7 or 8 changes at year's end) I reckon we'll somehow make 10 changes to the list and I expect the club to be quite an active player in the off-season.
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I can't imagine someone like Frawley holding out and then re-signing unless ... he is genuinely looking at getting maximum coin from 2 or 3 different clubs with salary cap space (including our club) or ... good money from a genuine contender. What he may not see coming is our clubs attitude to the whole saga ... if we've played our cards right, we might decide to wish him well in his future endeavors and let him go (if he receives a good offer) In other words, call his bluff at the last moment. Or ... he may be a required player who we don't want to lose. Roos knows the answer to that question whilst we can only speculate. Pick 3 or 4 might then come our way if we were to lose James. We could turn that pick into a decent player and a later first round draft pick (similar to the Tyson/Salem deal) Coupled with our "other" first round pick, we could end up with 3 top prospects. We've got a poor list and we need to find a way to fast track our list into a much better list. A couple more Vince or Cross type signings on top of that and we've (in theory) brought 5 decent players into the club in one hit. We might also get lucky with our 2nd, 3rd and 4th round picks as well ... we could do with a bit of luck. JKH, Kent and McDonald have been more than handy "late" picks so it's not impossible. I can also see the club trying to find new homes for a couple/few of our contracted players. 3rd and 4th round draft picks might come back in return. Let's not forget that Roos let 12* players go from the 2013 list (including 3 rookies) For the most part, he'd seen enough and didn't want to have another look. A similar scenario may well transpire at the end of this season. *The 12 players let go from the 2013 list Sylvia (free agent) Rodan Tynan Taggert Davis Davey (retired) Sellar Macdonald Gillies Magner Couch Stark n.b ... 14 players were released or traded out at the end of the 2012 season (including Morton, Martin and Gysberts who were all contracted at the time) Rivers and Moloney left as free agents. 26 players out over the course of 2 off seasons was the wash-up.
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Make a bold prediction for the remainder of the season..
Macca replied to P-man's topic in Melbourne Demons
A baffled Roos in 'fit of pique' endeavors to employ Neeld as a consultant. Neeld declines with the words ... "It is what it is" Later on we sign 6 free agents who all agree to come to our club for less money. The AFL then get confused with the whole compo thing and grant us 3 priority picks. -
Yep, tonight and tomorrow night they continue to climb in the 'Vosges' ... I get the feeling that Contador has a need to bridge the time gap to Nibali so he might go on the attack tonight. Porte is already up to overall 3rd and he may be more watchful for the time being. Tomorrow night's stage is arguably more difficult so as a contrast, I'll post up both profiles. Regardless of what happens in the next 2 days, both these stages will be fascinating to watch. Here's a write up of tonight's stage (stage 9) from the official site ... Tonight's profile ... Tomorrow night's profile ...
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A preview of stage 8 from cyclingnews.com Live coverage from the official site The climb to the Col de Grosse-Pierre involves a steep 1.2 kilometre stretch which has an average gradient of 12% with a passage of 16% Also, the last climb (La Mauselaine) has an average gradient of 10% for the final 1.8 kilometres (with a maximum gradient of 15%) and ... it's all uphill to the finish.
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Yeah, I agree. It's certainly different though. I'm trying to think of another "great" sportsperson who has returned to their original team after leaving that team in rather acrimonious circumstances. It's a huge move all the same and I like it. He'll be embraced by the large majority of Cleveland fans you'd reckon. The city has been so starved of success so in many ways, they have to embrace him. I can't see how it won't work either in terms of them becoming an automatic playoff contender (especially in the East) As for being a true contender, time will tell. 50 wins? 55? A lot may depend on Wiggins and Irving. Kevin Love may be pursued and Wiggins hasn't actually been signed yet despite being drafted as the no.1 pick overall. The other question is what happens to Miami now? (who play in the same conference of course) Ironically, Cleveland have got Miami's first round draft pick next year. ... and well done to the 2 Aussies (Exum & Bairstow)
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Here's a summary of last night's stage from the official site ... ... Boom wins, Nibali triumphs, Contador struggles, Froome pulls out Another flat stage tonight but again, there's a bit of rain about so the riders may need to be quite cautious (especially after the events of yesterday) I guess a lot of attention now goes onto a number of other riders (with Froome being out) but from an Aussie point of view, it will be fascinating to see how Porte goes and how his team reacts to yesterday's setback ... the race has really opened up in many ways but a realistic goal may be a overall podium finish for Porte. He's got a strong team behind him so you just never know. Nibali won the Giro in 2013 and Contador is sure to challenge once they get into the mountains. Valverde and Talansky have claims as well. Contador isn't the time trialist he once was but that may not matter. The race is up for grabs. SBS tour tracker & live coverage from the official site
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Froome crashes again and he's out of the tour ... first Cavendish and now the race favourite is forced to quit. Looked a sick and sorry lad before getting into the team car - such a shame
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Missed that bit ... what happened? ... he's certainly not having a good time of it regardless. It looks as if they've only removed a couple of kilometres of the cobbled sectors after all (down to 13 klms from 15 klms) 7 cobbled sectors remain with the first of these to be encountered with about 70 kilometres remaining in the stage (around about 11.30pm tonight)
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Who would have picked that scoreline? 7-1 and it could have been even worse. A loss for the ages for Brazil - hard to believe. Germany will be hard to stop now no matter who they play in the final.
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Kittel might make it 3 stage wins tonight ... he looked strong again last night and will be hard to beat. Local favourite Arnaud Démare should be thereabouts at the finish though. Here's a stage 4 preview from ... cyclingnews.com SBS tour tracker & live coverage from the official site
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Yep, it's not looking good for Cavendish which would be a real shame ... being able to ride again after a dislocation (and damaging the ligaments) would be some feat - we'll find out soon enough. Gerrans looks like he'll be able to continue. Kittel and Sagan fighting things out was a good sign though - Rogers and Froome weren't far behind either. As you said, the crowd numbers were amazing. Estimated at a million plus - it was great viewing. Tonight's coverage starts from 8.30pm on SBS ... cyclingnews.com stage 2 preview ... letour.com live coverage Noticed that tonight's stage has a number of smaller category climbs so here's the profile ...
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This site - cyclingnews.com gives quite a good overview for each stage of the tour. Live coverage can be found here ... letour.com (stage 1) While I'm here I'll post up today's profile but I'll mainly just post up the "profiles" when we're in the Alps or the Pyrenees (which will happen from about stage 8 onwards) It looks like SBS will cover the tour from about 8.30pm on Saturday and Sunday evenings and ... from about 10pm weekdays. I'm presuming it's live on the SBS website as well.
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It does, but Brazil might be able to get past Germany regardless ... who knows? Fred and Hulk will need to step it up but that's entirely possible. The Brazilians played quite a good game today and the Colombians dropped away a bit as a consequence. The final might be a different story though especially if Brazil get through and have to face Argentina or Holland. Argentina are missing Aguero as well so the tournament is starting to open up. Costa Rica have been impressive all through the tournament and they can't be discounted. I still favour the Dutch though. The Argentina/Belgium game could be a cracker. A lot rests with Messi.
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Germany and Brazil are through to the semi's but sadly, Neymar won't be playing a part ... Neymar: Injured Brazil forward ruled out of World Cup
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If last night's show is anything to go by, it doesn't look like it. I get the feeling that the Armstrong story isn't done with yet. There's still the possibility of some court room drama and then there's the question of all the money he's made from the sport. Those he crossed won't be letting things go too easily either. Anyway, what is noteworthy is that pro cycling seems to be relatively clean now (as compared to the Armstrong era) Much of what we've recently witnessed is of a retrospective nature rather than being more of a current issue. The sport has taken a monstrous hit but because pro cycling is so big, it will recover it's immense following. The crowds at this year's tour will be huge as always. In other words, it's business as usual. That's not to say that cycling is squeaky clean but with the blood passports now being in operation, taking PED's as a pro cyclist is now extremely high risk. 'Testing' for peptide use seems to be available as well now. ... Official Site ... Tour de France preview (BBC podcast - 77 mins)
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I guess many of us knew a lot of the details already but it was still equally as disturbing to see it all played out again. Having a federal investigation shut down was an eye-opener though - at the time, many probably believed that it should have been shut down. He was certainly a powerful figure. It just goes to show that even in this transparent age, things can still be covered up for a lengthy period of time. In the end, he's the biggest sporting fraud of all time and it's daylight to the next biggest cheat (in terms of fraudulent "achievements") I feel for the people who bought into him lock, stock and barrel - they must feel so betrayed. Seeing those past interviews with him was difficult to stomach (knowing he was just flat out lying for the most part) ... and yeah, the Tour will be great viewing once again. No real mountain stages until some category 2 climbs in stages 8 and 9 but it hots up after that. Starting off in Yorkshire this time around - Froome is favourite whilst Contador is a highly rated 2nd favourite - I thought Alberto might have dropped away a bit but apparently not so. It will be interesting to see how much Richie Porte has progressed - he showed a bit in last year's tour.
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Here's the bracket for the round of 16 matches ... You'd expect Brazil, Argentina and Germany to win their round of 16 games and probably France, Belgium, Colombia and the Dutch will get through to the last 8 as well. The Costa Rica/Greece game is hard to pick. However, I reckon at least 1 of those aforementioned teams will miss out and there might even be a couple who get beaten. Anything can happen on the day and there's always the chance of a red card or a dodgy penalty. I'd like to see the Netherlands make it as far as the semi's (at least) but their round of 16 opponents (Mexico) have done very well so far and they might prove hard to beat. The Belgium/USA game could be a good one too. All the games offer something ... bring it on!
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What was Luis Suárez thinking? It's such a shame. Biting is just a complete no no and it will be very interesting to see where his career goes from here. There were rumours that he may have moved to Barca or Real Madrid but with this latest episode, those 2 teams at least would probably be backing off. Anyway, England, Italy and Spain are all out with probably Portugal to follow them ... Costa Rica topping their group is a great story but many of the teams from the Americas are doing well. That wasn't unexpected of course, but it still had to be done. Contrarily, it looks like only about 5 or 6 European teams will qualify for the round of 16 games. Up until the 2010 World Cup, European teams would usually number about 9 or 10 teams in the final 16. Any number of teams could win the World Cup this time around. There might be one unfancied team who might make it all the way to the final. As it stands, either Costa Rica or Greece will make it to the last 8 (they play each other in the round of 16 games) There's sure to be a few upsets as well. It's been a grand World Cup so far with plenty of goals.
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Why break the alliance? It's a perfectly fine union that our club doesn't seem to have an issue with. The Casey area has tremendous potential in a whole bunch of different areas. These things take time and we should be viewing the whole concept as a future investment. I'm almost certain the club would be viewing things the same way. If indeed we did have a "reserves side", would we care too much about the wins and losses? From a lot of points of view, it's all about development with these sort of things and always will be. However, from Casey's point of view, it is about the wins and losses. Over riding all that is that our club would be better off if Casey became a successful, on field, winning team ... especially when considering that we're serious about picking up a level of support in this huge growth area. The positive flow on effects would be there if it's all done right. The Casey team itself would be better placed if it could attract some better players. Rather than seeing that as a conflict, the best of both worlds could quite easily happen. In some ways, it's good that most or all of our players are playing for the Casey firsts but a bit more competition within the ranks never hurt anyone. So ... what if our club was to throw a bit more money Casey's way so that they can attract some better players? That can really only happen when we start posting profits again but why not? Same as if we were subsidising a reserves side, Casey may need to be subsidised in a similar way. If we had a reserves side, we'd have to pay the non listed players a reasonable fee to play for the side. It all amounts to the same thing. The key here is to get the balance right.
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Sometimes, you don't get an indication as to how good a ruckman is unless he's the main man. Playing as a 2nd ruck in today's footy is a bit of a luxury unless that 2nd ruck can impact a game (preferably in the forward line) Pedersen is doing it in a different way and we're a better team because of the role he plays. As it stands, I can see Gawn or Spencer replacing Jamar if Mark loses form or if he gets injured. However, I don't believe either player needs to actually be in the side right now in order to take on the role of the main ruckman. Whether either player can be a top line ruckman remains to be seen. Fitzy needs to develop his game at Casey and there's no reason why he can't improve to a point where he's holding down a position in the senior side. Gawn needs to use his height to his own advantage in marking duels and again, there's no reason why he can't do that. The more players we have who are "knocking down the door", the better off we'll be. It's been far too long since we've been in that position. With Hogan, he may develop to a point where he can play a variety of roles (both within the forward line or elsewhere) The sky is the limit with the natural talent that this bloke has.