Predictor-Lotto Team Thread

Here is the Team Jersey to use to show your allegiance:

Also attached to this post is an excel spreadsheet for tracking the team progress including all the stages committed to date!

Have a great challenge  

don't forget your goat's cheese:

Predictor

Monday July 2, 2007

Guardian

Would you believe it, the "home diagnostics" arm of the Davitamon group which makes pregnancy tests, thermometers and blood-pressure monitors.

Tour heritage

A team backed by their current co-sponsor, Lotto, appeared in the 1990 Tour and they have flown the Belgian flag ever since, with just about every decent Fleming in recent years wearing the team's jersey at one time or another. The pride of Belgium, they have won six stages and a green jersey since 2005 under the leadership of . . . an Australian.

Past controversies

The blue line is firmly in the negative zone.

In the coffers

£4m should keep the blood pressure in check.

The boss

Marc Sergeant was a solid Belgian pro (is there any other type?) whose seven-year career included a lone stage win in the 1987 Tour.

Team leader

Cadel Evans, 30, won the mountain biking world cup twice, made the crossover to the road in 2001 and briefly wore the leader's jersey in the 2002 Giro. The following year he broke his collarbone three times, then was bizarrely left out of the 2004 Tour by T-Mobile. He was eighth in his first Tour in 2005 and in 2006 improved to fifth.

Wild man of the saddle

Robbie McEwen, the puckish Australian sprinter and fluent Flemish speaker, has 179 wins to his credit, including three stages in each of the past three Tours. He is a daring rider - a little too daring for his own good last year when he was relegated to last place on one stage after head-butting fellow Aussie Stuart O'Grady while pedalling at 40mph down the final straight.

They'll be happy with ...

Top five for Evans and green jersey plus stage wins for (an ideally non-headbutting) McEwen.

Fans will paint on the road

"Nut him"; "Predictor: Kings of menstrual cycling"

William Fotheringham predicts

Evans is still improving - as long as he avoids the crashes that are his bugbear - but McEwen will be 33 when the Tour starts. He must start to feel his age at some point, so he may struggle to win the points prize.

If they were cheese... Goat's cheese

Been on the scene for quite a while though, if truth be told, still not very fashionable. At its best it is punchy and prickly, so not to everybody's taste, yet you can never rule out a sudden renaissance in France at some stage.

Based Nazareth, Belgium

Bike Ridley frame, Campagnolo wheels

Jerseys Vermarc

Team leader Cadel Evans (Aus, age 30. 2 Tours, 0 stage wins. Best 5th, 2006)

Climbers Mario Aerts (Bel, 32), Christophe Brandt (Bel, 32), Chris Horner (US, 35), Wim van Huffel (Bel, 28), Johan van Summeren (Bel, 26)

Sprinters Robbie McEwen (Aus, 34), Fred Rodriguez (US, 34)

Time-triallists Roy Sentjens (Bel, 26), Jurgen van den Broeck (Bel, 24), Wim Vansevenant (Bel, 35)

Team manager Marc Sergeant

Team founded 2003

Tours de France entered 10

Stage wins 13

King of Mountains 0

2006 best 5th, Evans

2006 stage wins 3 (McEwen)

ProTour ranking 10th

Website www.davitamon-lotto.com

I'm excited to be on the team...but a little confused about the details and what I need to do next as far as committing too as far as completing stages...where do I look for the details?

I was in a bike race crash in a crit race in peleton 3 weeks ago hit a sign post with my head seperated my shoulder and got a nasty concussion...I can't swim, can run limited, but I can and do ride...this week I'm riding 6 days...should hit my biggest week of riding ever.

A littel about me: I'm a mom of 5, in my 4th year of doing triathlons hoping I can do my first HIM in September if my shoulder allows me to get back to swimming in time to at least limp thru the swim. I love riding most and hope to hit 4K miles this year.

Go team!

kat has FINALLY gone to bed so i'll chip in.  all you need to do is confirm how many rides you'll do in the time. that's it. others are doing ratios of each stage etc but in order to take part in the challenge its just number of rides oh and each ride has to be 15 minutes or longer. trainer, unicycle, road bike, tricycle, tribike mtb are all included.

Just a quick update that you now have a seventh team member, SevenZulu. Ive let them know they are on the might Predictor Lotto team and to drop in and say hello!!!

Best of Luck!!

Hello. I am a late entry here in the TDF Challenge, and I will be joining y'all on Predictor-Lotto.

Name = David
Stages Committed = 10 

A little about myself. This is my first year of triathlon(s). Well, I've only done one so far, and it represented my first competitive athletic event in, oh, a couple decades or so. I may do another this season if I can get off my rear end and start doing some running again. I've got one wife, two kids, a hamster, a couple goldfish, and three bikes (2 road and 1 mountain).

I might manage a couple more stages if it cools down a little, but with the weather heating up like it has, I've been pretty wiped out from the heat. Anwyay, I'm looking forward to helping the team shine in the challenge!!

Kathy more information.

Mom to 5, 8-18, twins starting college next year, wife to Kevin....busy busy all the time!

Bikes: I bought two new bikes in the last year..Kuota K Factor tri bike...that I love love love!! A specialized Tarmac road bike as my winter/road/race bike that I don't love love love....it is a men's bike and a little long on me. I have a Softride that I never ride since I bought the Kuota. I think our family has 5 road/tri bikes, and some 15+ other bikes...lots of bikes. Of course all my bikes are red as they are the fastest. I do have my eye on two more bikes...I want a cyclecross bike.

Other Cycling facts about me: I hope to ride more this month than last July which was my biggest month ever...around 468 miles....500 miles would rock! I hope to set the record for fastest to travel South to North across MA, then go North to South and set another record, and then the up and back record this fall for women my age. I also have this weird desire to try and do a 12 hour bike race...see how far I can ride in 12 hours.

The Challenge part...now if my math is right the 7th to 29th, so we have 22 days to ride? Someone double check that for me.

14 Stages...do I need to be more specific? If it isn't 22 days..I need to change it. Also we may drive to MN during that time period if we do, I'll miss 3 days of riding, not sure how to factor that it....14 days if no trip, 11 if we go to MN...can that be the goal? Do rides only on stage day count or anytime in the 7th-29th?

Casie gets my vote for team leader as she can do it and has excel skills! Go Casie!

Well hello there! I can finally respond now!

I'm Lynne, 35 originally from Glasgow, Scotland now living in Seattle, wa.  

Stages commited: 10

I have 2 bikes. A cheap MTB and an even cheaper GMC Denali road bike.  A new bike is certainly in the works but 1st my car needs a new engine.  

Tour is starting...my husband made some comment as I'll be glued to the TV and lost to the family soon.

I love watching those guys ride....maybe I can learn a thing or two or three.

I think I'll sneak in an extra ride tomorrow with my 12 year old, plus 50 Saturday and 30 Sunday....I'll have ridden every day for a week. 

what up BTiches....i'm part of all this craziness now! YEEEEHAAAAWW

• name-trix (stage name only)
• location-trixieville
• committed 9 times...or... to 9 rides
• bike-comet, a pretty little cervelo p2sl rocking some HED-3s.
• i like long rides in the country and even longer runs in the woods, i'm a libra and wish i could make the world a better place by giving everyone a puppy...or a coca-cola. 

Hi Team,

With the prologue due to kick off the Tour in less than 24 hours thought I would drop in and let you know all about your team in the pro peloton.

The line up (as of today) for the team is:

- Mario Aerts BEL

- Dario Davd Cioni ITA

- Cadel Evans AUS

- Chistopher Horner USA

-  Leif Hoste BEL

- Robbie McEwen AUS

- Fred Rodriguez USA

- Johan Van Summeren BEL

- Wim Vanservant BEL

 This team, uniquely, has two strong leaders in Australian riders Cadel Evans (yellow jersey contender) and Robbie McEwen (the current green jersey holder).

Robbie McEwen is possibly the fastest finisher in the pro peloton. He is a former BMX rider who switched to road racing when he was 18. He has ridden 9 Tours, won 11 stages and taken the green jersey 3 times.

The other Australian, Cadel Evans is a former mountain bike world champion who also made the transition to the road. His biggest strength is uphill finishes but he has also developed into a great time trial rider wining the Tour De Suisse in 2006.  He will be riding his third Tour this year, after finishing 8th and 5th in the overall standings in previous years.

I hope all this info can help you really get behind your team and assuming I stay awake through all the stages (10pm - 2/3am here) I will drop in and let you know how your team is going (assuming you're interested!)

Have a great challenge!!!

Cat 

it is better to commit to 21 and ride 10

nah: its about consistency: only commit to what you can ride. the number you ride doesn't actually make any difference.  

Hi - to answer the question, the team does NOT get extra credit for you riding more than your committed stages. This is to ensure people dont under committ just to get the extra credit - seems fair really

However.. if you do ride over your committment please log it anyway so I can give some credit where its due!!!

The idea is to challenge yourself to make ALL of your scheduled rides (as well as the whole team pride thing!!!   )

Clear as mud ?