PDog's 08 Tour Predictions

Who is going to win the 2008 tour? That seems like an odd question since we still don't know who won the '07 tour. Usually I wait until the prologue for my prediction. I've noticed the winner usually finishes top 10.

That would seemingly bode well for Kloden, Hincapie and Vinokourov.

But the wild card this year, in my mind, is who the UCI/WADA/Tour will accept as a winner. My conclusion (arrived at long ago) is that it doesn't matter to the Tour or WADA if you doped to win the tour. If they know you have doped to win races in the past they will find a way to pop you. That seems to rule out any Astana or Discovery rider. Now I am not saying that the riders for those teams have or have not doped. But it seems pretty clear the the UCI, WADA and ASO think they have which is what really matters.

So forget any Astana or Discovery rider.

Cancellara? Not a great climber and rides for CSC, the new darling of the UCI but mortal enemies of ASO thanks to the Riis factor. Plus Jakshe's accusations can't help.

Dekker? Works with Ferrari so forget him.

Bradley Wiggins has been outspokenly supportive of WADA and ASO critical of the UCI and rides on a French team. So go Wiggins. Enjoy the yellow.


1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 8.50 (53.7 km/h)
2 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0.13
3 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.23
4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
5 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.25
6 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 0.26
7 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 0.30
8 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 0.31
9 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 0.32
10 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux