The Tour de France thread

[jslone]

I didnt see it here in chit chat so I am gonna bring it up.Lance so far has been looking very good,shaving all but 1 second off in the team time trial,not bad for someone who has retired for a few years.If this has been brought up,will someone please move it to the appropriate thread,thanks

[MrJan]

And if only he hadn't sat up then he might have gained that extra time and been in yellow. Can't see it lasting though, I think that he'll blow up in the mountains and we'll see a battle between Contador and Cancellara for the win. Would be interesting if Cavandish could stay in green purely from stage wins too, however I think that he'll struggle in the second set of mountain stages and fail to make Paris. Will be good fun watching it though and we haven't even had our first drug scandal yet :D

[AndyRAC]

And if only he hadn't sat up then he might have gained that extra time and been in yellow. Can't see it lasting though, I think that he'll blow up in the mountains and we'll see a battle between Contador and Cancellara for the win. Would be interesting if Cavandish could stay in green purely from stage wins too, however I think that he'll struggle in the second set of mountain stages and fail to make Paris. Will be good fun watching it though and we haven't even had our first drug scandal yet :D

The Contador/Armstrong inter-team rivalry is 'interesting'. However, come Friday to Andorra-Arcalis Contador will sprint off away from him.
I can't see Cancellara being a GC contender, would expect the Schlecks, Evans, Sastre to be the challengers, though both Evans/Menchov had a disasterous TTT yesterday.

[MrJan]

Schlecks will get done for doping and Evans isn't strong enough either in the mountains or on the TT (plus he's a dick) :D You read it here first :p :

[AndyRAC]

Schlecks will get done for doping and Evans isn't strong enough either in the mountains or on the TT (plus he's a dick) :D You read it here first :p :

I don't think they're the only riders with 'rumours' about them - 'Dirty Bertie' is another, somewhat connected with Operacion Puerto. Valverde isn't allowed to ride in Italy, and as 1 stage enters Italy - no go!

[chuck34]

I also can't see Cancellara being a GC contender. I don't think he climbs really well. Cavandish will probably keep the Green all the way to Paris (well at least he'll end up with it in the end). But he seems to be a bit of a dick too. Armstrong appeared to do a lot of the work in the TTT, I hope that he didn't blow himself up too bad. If he didn't I think he'll be ok for the rest of the Tour. I think it's going to be interesting to see who on Astana works with which guy. Right now I have a feeling that most of the team is on Armstrong's side, but I don't really have any facts to back that up. It's just a feeling I get from interviews and body language within the team.

We'll see. I think it'll be an interesting couple of weeks.

[ShiftingGears]

I think that Evans will finish in the Top 3 overall. Team Silence Lotto isn't the strongest team out there.

Also Sastre won't have the teammates of the same brilliance as the Schleck brothers, O'Grady, Cancellara and Voigt this year, so he'll be up there, but I don't think he'll win.
Armstrongs pace has surprised me, however I would put Contador ahead of him at the moment.

[ShiftingGears]

we'll see a battle between Contador and Cancellara for the win.

No way!

Cancellara is a time trial specialist, not an endurance rider. Last year he was 2 hours behind the leaders.

[pino]

Today is the crucial Pyrenees stage from Barcellona to Andora (224 km), don't miss it ;)

[AndyRAC]

Today is the crucial Pyrenees stage from Barcellona to Andora (224 km), don't miss it ;)

This is when Le Tour really starts - will the GC contenders show their hand? The tactics of Astana could be fascinating......


...bring it on!!

[Valve Bounce]

I'm with Armstrong. He was treated badly by spectators running out right in front of him in Stage 1 - otherwise he'd have the yellow jersey now. I'm watching it live tonight (Melbourne time) on SBS 's internet live coverage. :)

Today is the crucial Pyrenees stage from Barcellona to Andora (224 km), don't miss it ;)

Easy for you to say, live coverage starts at 12.30am here in NZ. My espresso machine is my best friend this week.

Oh, and I'm cheering for Garmin Slipstream.

[chuck34]

I can't wait to see what happens today. Too bad it is on while I'm at work. But I Tivo it, and VS shows it again at 8pm every night. So I end up watching most of every stage. Although the flat stages usually bore me a bit. I like the sprint finnishes. And the other day when the wind blew the peleton apart was cool.

Anyway today should tell us a lot. Not everything, but a lot. Astana's tactics yesterday going up some of those hills was interesting. Did anyone else notice how they got everyone up front and pushed the pace up? I'm not 100% sure what the message there was, but there was a message.

[Mark in Oshawa]

All I know to be the man, you have to beat the man, and I think Lance has one more Tour De France victory in him. I figured if he wasn't going to be close, it would have been evident already.

[Simmi]

What a day today. Huge statement from Contador. Did Lance chose not to pursue and drag some other rival GC guys along, or did he just not have an answer? Anyway AndyRAC called it.

Felt bad for Fabian today. He blew up something spectacular.

[chuck34]

What a day today. Huge statement from Contador. Did Lance chose not to pursue and drag some other rival GC guys along, or did he just not have an answer? Anyway AndyRAC called it.

Felt bad for Fabian today. He blew up something spectacular.

I think Lance is a cagie old vet. He knows that he could give up a bit of time to Contador, let him blow himself up on the first day of mountains, then go after him either tomorrow or Sunday. At least that is my theory right now, and subject to change.

[AndyRAC]

I think Lance is a cagie old vet. He knows that he could give up a bit of time to Contador, let him blow himself up on the first day of mountains, then go after him either tomorrow or Sunday. At least that is my theory right now, and subject to change.

That's what I've been wondering about Lance - did he let him go because he didn't want to drag other GC contenders along. Or was it that he couldn't? I have wondered whether he is actually 'sandbagging' - is he giving the impression he's not fully on it - then on 1 stage he'll blow everybody away. Remember Alpe D'Huez 2001 and 'The Look' with Jan Ulrich - gave the impression he was struggling - so T-Mobile cranked up the pace to try and drop him, and it backfired on them.
On another point - Bradley Wiggins - wow - showed well in the Giro, but thought he might struggle today on the final climb. He's lost 7kg this year in preparation for Le Tour - as has Cancellara, but he blew up, and struggled.

[Valve Bounce]

I have a different slant on Lance. I watched it intently on my PC, ( http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2009/web/flash/index.html for the aussis who don't have SBS HD ) and just before Contador took off, there was a very serious one way discussion from Lance to Contador. It did look like Lance gave him some sort of instruction or at least worked out some tactics. Contador went, but Lance made no effort to go with him. Instead Lance waited for Cadel Evans to make his move and then Lance another Astana team mate not only went with Cadel but sandwiched him to stop Cadel's run quick smart.

It does make me think who is running the tactics and who from Astana is supposed to win. One thing is for sure, Lance was there to make sure Cadel wasn't going anywhere.

Having said that, it was fantastic to see the Spanish Contador's acceleration. If Astana has selected Contador to win, he'll win. If they have selected Lance to win, he'll win. But make no mistake, one of these two Astana riders will win this year's Tour. That team is unbelievably strong and is superbly managed.

[Lousada]

I have a different slant on Lance. I watched it intently on my PC, ( http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2009/web/flash/index.html for the aussis who don't have SBS HD ) and just before Contador took off, there was a very serious one way discussion from Lance to Contador. It did look like Lance gave him some sort of instruction or at least worked out some tactics. Contador went, but Lance made no effort to go with him. Instead Lance waited for Cadel Evans to make his move and then Lance another Astana team mate not only went with Cadel but sandwiched him to stop Cadel's run quick smart.

I am not really sure if we are talking about the same thing here, but I thought Armstrong was talking to Kloden there and not Contador. Armstrong, Leipheimer and Johan Bruyneel all said Contadors attack was not planned.

[Valve Bounce]

I am not really sure if we are talking about the same thing here, but I thought Armstrong was talking to Kloden there and not Contador. Armstrong, Leipheimer and Johan Bruyneel all said Contadors attack was not planned.

You're probably right. It was late at night here. But I must say that Contador's acceleration on the climb was most impressive.

[pino]

To be honest it wasn't a great stage and I expected a lot more from Contador, Armstrong, but I am satisfied that the yellow jersey went to an italian after so long time. But I expect Contador to get it back already today...we will see :D

[Garry Walker]

Lets play a game - do we need one hand or two hands to count using our fingers the riders taking part of Tour de France who are not using illegal substances?

I think one hand is enough.

[ShiftingGears]

Lets play a game - do we need one hand or two hands to count using our fingers the riders taking part of Tour de France who are not using illegal substances?

I think one hand is enough.

Don't be silly.

[chuck34]

Lets play a game - do we need one hand or two hands to count using our fingers the riders taking part of Tour de France who are not using illegal substances?

I think one hand is enough.

I believe they've tested Lance pretty much every day, so I don't think he's doping. The French press would love nothing more than to throw him out.

I was a bit disappointed in the stages this weekend. The organizers need to not put the end of the stage so far away from the mountain tops. Hopefully the Alps are a bit more interesting.

Still not sure who is leading Astana though. But I agree that one of those two guys will win the Tour.

[stevie_gerrard]

I would love to see Lance win another tour, but hes going to have some tough competition with Contador, and Cancellara.


I'm really pleased to see wiggins do so well as well i can't remember the last time a brit was so high up in the rankings at this stage of the tour. Hopefully, he can keep it going.

[MrJan]

I believe they've tested Lance pretty much every day, so I don't think he's doping.

Or he's not getting caught ;) I think Lance has had an amazing career and is undoubtedely a special cyclist but I still feel that there are 2 types of bike rider, ones who are doping and ones who have been caught doping :p : It's a bit like Wiggins' transformation into a climber and his slightly crazed attacking of the team van, if I was picking riders to give samples then he'd have been first on my list :D

Unless Lance pulls out some serious time though I can't see him getting the better of Contador in the TT, he was well off the pace in the prologue when he used to be within a few seconds. Basically I think that it's Alberto's Tour to lose.

[ShiftingGears]

Or he's not getting caught ;) I think Lance has had an amazing career and is undoubtedely a special cyclist but I still feel that there are 2 types of bike rider, ones who are doping and ones who have been caught doping :p :

Hooray for stereotypes.

[chuck34]

Or he's not getting caught ;) I think Lance has had an amazing career and is undoubtedely a special cyclist but I still feel that there are 2 types of bike rider, ones who are doping and ones who have been caught doping :p : It's a bit like Wiggins' transformation into a climber and his slightly crazed attacking of the team van, if I was picking riders to give samples then he'd have been first on my list :D

Unless Lance pulls out some serious time though I can't see him getting the better of Contador in the TT, he was well off the pace in the prologue when he used to be within a few seconds. Basically I think that it's Alberto's Tour to lose.

I don't really know. All I do know is that they test him everyday (or just about), the French would love to kick him out, and they haven't. To me that says he's clean. You know, innocent until proven guilty and all. Plus I've seen a lot of documentaries on him, and read some other stuff about him. Everything I've read says he's a freak of nature. His body, for whatever reason, takes in and uses more oxygen than pretty much any other human they've studied. That and the fact that he got to reshape his body after cancer into a pure bike riding machine, tells me that he's probably done this all clean.

Lance has always been a TT guy, where as Contador has not been. Now Contador HAS improved quite a bit in the last couple of years. And Lance was a bit off in the first TT. However, I think it may have been more a case of starting position in Stage 1 that had him low. Plus, he was not well off the pace. What was he like 40 sec. back in 8th? And he did most of the pulling in the TTT the other day.

The other thing going against Contador is that I don't think his little break away the other day won him any favors amongst his team. And you're gonna need some team mates in the Alps.

Long story short I think it gonna be interesting. Definately one of those two guys will win. And I'll give a slight edge to Lance right now. But I also wouldn't be surprised if he blows up. Stay tuned.

[MrJan]

I'm just not sure that anyone can win at cycling when there are so many people getting help from other sources :)

As for this Tour I'm concerned by the way that Armstrong is riding, he wasn't his usual self in the prologue and I'm not convinced that riding on the front of the TTT for so long was such a good idea. Also 40 seconds is a lot of time to give away in the opening TT, especially when the time gaps are so close this year and we didn't see his usual demolition of rivals in the first mountain stage. As you say it's definately an interesting one but Contador looked so strong when he attacked the other day

[Garry Walker]

I believe they've tested Lance pretty much every day, so I don't think he's doping. The French press would love nothing more than to throw him out.

They all are using something, the top guys anyway. It just is impossible these days not to. The ones not getting caught are simply ahead of the "hunters". That is my view anyway.

[themo]

Two Tour de France riders have been slightly injured after being shot at with air guns during the world famous race.Three-times world champion Oscar Freire of Spain and New Zealand's Julian Dean were attacked along the road of the 13th stage from Vittel to Colmar in north-east France.

[Tazio]

"It’s not the worst thing I ever heard of, but it’s definitely the weirdest,” said White, adding that fans had thrown things, like eggs, at riders in the past. “But seriously, the boys could have been really hurt if they were hit in the wrong part of their body or in the face. Or if it caused a crash. But Julian’s quite tough. He didn’t really complain. It was just another day at the office"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/sports/cycling/18gun.html

[Roamy]

Lets play a game - do we need one hand or two hands to count using our fingers the riders taking part of Tour de France who are not using illegal substances?

I think one hand is enough.

Perfect and Jeremy Mayfield is driving the chase car!!

[themo]

A female spectator has died and two other people were hurt after being hit by a police motorcycle during the Tour de France.The woman, in her 60s, was crossing the road when she was struck by the bike.

The policeman then fell off and his motorcycle slid and hit the other victims, the gendarmerie said.

The three were treated by paramedics and the woman died at the scene.

She was crossing the road after a breakaway group of riders had passed when she was hit by one of the several police motorbikes which accompany the race.

The two survivors, a 37-year-old woman and a man in his 60s, were taken to hospital but do not have life-threatening injuries.

One of the wounded was a mother with a child in her arms, but the youngster was not hurt.

That's very sad news - a spectator's momentary inattention to the activities surrounding cycle racing.

On a brighter note, congrats to our Hayden Roulston for being part of the breakaway and 3rd placing.

[Tazio]

Or he's not getting caught ;) I think Lance has had an amazing career and is undoubtedely a special cyclist but I still feel that there are 2 types of bike rider, ones who are doping and ones who have been caught doping :p :The whole steroid in sports is a very sad and disappointing situation.
I'm not going to hijack the thread, but I want to relate it to another sport.
There has been a lot of controversy regarding the Homerun Records of Mark McGuire, and Barry Bonds.
McGuire has admitted he used human growth hormones, Bonds hasn't.
The Circumstantial evidence against Bonds is pretty overwhelming however.
I think most fans and Baseball people want Bonds stripped of this hallowed record.
Disregarding the fact that these substances are extremely harmful to your health,
and concentrating on the affect on the sport:
If the practice is rampant in the sport, I believe like all substance abuse issues
the best method of stopping it is education, as well as scrutiny, and punishment.
However, like cycling where the winner may come down to the best rider that didn't get busted.
Maybe the records should be viewed like records in F1. So, and So was the greatest cycler in the Steroid era.
And although a player achieves the most important record in American sports,
perhaps Bonds should be looked at as the greatest Homerun hitter in Baseballs steroid era.
The reason I say this is how many pitchers did he take out of the yard that were "geeked up on roids",
because their seems to be an awful lot more pitchers these days that are bringing 95mph+ gas than their used to be!
Don't get me wrong! It still doesn't make it right!
There just doesn't seem to be a foolproof method for exposing the perp's :(

[stevie_gerrard]

A great stage yesterday, Contador proving his dominance with an accomplished ride. Great to see Wiggo finished 5th as well, up to 3rd in GC behind Lance. I get the feeling if he really did take his road racing seriously, he could be a future tour champion.

[MrJan]

As I expected Lance didn't have quite what it takes, he's still one of the best riders out there but seems to have lost the crippling acceleration that he used to possess on tough mountain climbs.

[chuck34]

I haven't actually watched the stage yet, but from what I hear Lance just doesn't quite have it this year. But hey at 37, he's still at least in the top 10 of elite riders, and that ain't bad. I think loosing Levi may have changed things a bit on that team, but we'll never know.

I'll go ahead and congratulate Contador now, because unless something wierd happens he has this thing wrapped up.

[markabilly]

I amazed that at his age, Lance has been able to comeback and even make the top 30........Must be something special about his muscle structure

A number of years ago, on a business trip, I stopped at a convience store somewhere north of Fort Worth Texas. In walks this dude all dressed up as a biker with this funny little racing hat, goes to restroom....clerk smiles at him and i thought he was laughing at his outfit, so I said something like dude must think he is lance, and the clerk says that really is lance armstrong.

Sure enough. I said I thought you live in Austin about 250 miles away. he says I do, but I ride the back roads up to here, stop for a few minutes and then head back every other week......

Reminds me of a story from doctor Cooper who ran a fitness clinic. Gave some speech about football players were in very poor aerobic conditioning compared to athletes from every sport. He had this running cardiac testing machine, putting all these athletes from the world over on it. The machine would mearsure heart rates and other functions of the heart while gradually increasing the angle and speed.

When the heart rate gets to a certain level, they turn it off to prevent lung-cardiac overload. Most people do not last but a few minutes on it.

Dr Jim Fixx had refused to get on it about a month before his death which made Cooper think?????.

So the question was which marathon runner held the record?

His response was that Roger Staubach, an nfl quarterback in his mid 30"s at the time (mid 1970's), held it (like 4 times longer than most and twice as long as second place, some big name marathon runner or long distance runner) and was the only one tested who literally beat the machine as his heart rate never came close to the max despite runnin on it about an hour, so they turned it off as it seemed pointless to continue as he was not approaching lung-cardiac overload, unlike everyone else.......

later after I had come across lance, I kicked myself for not asking if he had ever run the machine and what was the result?

[Tazio]

Roger Staubach A great QB and human being.
I've been a big Cowboy fan, since their heartbreaking back to back losses
in the NFL Championship Game to Green Bay '66, '67
BTW like "The Bear" Tom Landry was a god!
Remember the original "Doomsday"?

[markabilly]

A great QB and human being.
I've been a big Cowboy fan, since their heartbreaking back to back losses
in the NFL Championship Game to Green Bay '66, '67
BTW like "The Bear" Tom Landry was a god!
Remember the original "Doomsday"?
Oh yeah, I remember Bob Hays and the rest. grew up, in part, very close to the old cowboy practice field in the 60's----Staubach had a very strange handshake--many of the bones and ligaments in his fingers on his right hand had been broken, and he had them shaped to fit a football so he could throw it, with several fingers in this permanent curve.....even with that, he still had this iron grasp

[race_director]

Two Tour de France riders have been slightly injured after being shot at with air guns during the world famous race.Three-times world champion Oscar Freire of Spain and New Zealand's Julian Dean were attacked along the road of the 13th stage from Vittel to Colmar in north-east France.

well i do not know much about the sport . i was watching the race on sunday. i felt it was so easy to create trouble during the race. there is nosecurity at one stage the leaders were punching the crowd and going through the road

[Tazio]

well i do not know much about the sport . i was watching the race on sunday. i felt it was so easy to create trouble during the race. there is nosecurity at one stage the leaders were punching the crowd and going through the roadMaybe it's time to add a twist to the sport. Or even create a hybrid.
When they venture into Spain it would be really cool if they combined a road race with the
” Running of the Bulls” :confused:

[Roamy]

yea great idea - Sniper Training
Have the riders wear flak jackets and full on helmets

[MrJan]

Terrible crash for Jens Voight today, hope he's okay as I've always considered him one of the nice guys in cycling.

That was just an awful crash for Jens Voight. I've read that he has a fractured cheekbone and had a concussion.

I'm watching stage 17 and Cadel Evans is riding at the back of the peloton and really struggling during the early part of the stage so it's not going well for him.

[race_director]

this is the 1st season i am watching tour de france. its my 4th race from saturday i am seeing . i am addicted to it now . i cam home early from work just to watch the last 40km .

anyway i would like to be a official car driver or the TV guy on bike or the photo guy on the track. the racing and overtaking move they do is more fun than f1.

Well yesterday there was a cyclist who fell down. the tv crew bike missed him by 5-6 cms .

well i do not know names of the guys. but the 2 brother's look cool .

hope mike and ralphy worked for the same together during there 15 mins of fame

amen

[chuck34]

Just got done watching today's stage. Man Lance looks good! If he wasn't such a good team player, he'd be well up there. If he hadn't stayed on Wiggin's wheel so long he might have been able to finish with the Schlecks and Contador. Oh well, that's why he's such a good all around guy, I guess. Plus he may be able to pull back a bit of time tomorrow on the TT, and maybe even some on Ventue?

[Garry Walker]

Did I hear that correctly? Giro winner was caught having used banned substances. Cycling sure is a clean sport :rotflmao:

[AndyRAC]

Did I hear that correctly? Giro winner was caught having used banned substances. Cycling sure is a clean sport :rotflmao:

Almost - the Giro runner up Danilo Di Luca (aka Killer) tested for CERA.
Having said that, at least Cycling is trying to clean itself up - other sports make out that they are clean, and pay lip service to testing. Take Operacion Puerto - it wasn't just cyclists involved, tennis players, footballers - it's just they weren't named.

[MrJan]

Almost - the Giro runner up Danilo Di Luca (aka Killer) tested for CERA.
Having said that, at least Cycling is trying to clean itself up - other sports make out that they are clean, and pay lip service to testing. Take Operacion Puerto - it wasn't just cyclists involved, tennis players, footballers - it's just they weren't named.

:up: There are people doping in pretty much any professional sport out there, cycling seems to be the only one which is desperately trying to get clean and sort itself out. I seem to remember hearing that Kelly Holmes was linked with Dr Costa in Operacion Porto (although I'd have thought that her looking like a man offered some clue) but of course just because you are seeing a Spanish drug doctor doesn't mean that you're doping :rolleyes:

[jslone]

It was a great win for Contador,I did want Lance to win,but after the attack that Alberto did before the TT,the race was over.I was wondering how much the Tour winner gets now and also how much does a stage win pay out?

[stevie_gerrard]

Congrats to Contador, a worthy champion. Was the better rider throughout the tour. Im glad Wiggo and Lance both did well though. Wiggo is one for the future.

[MrJan]

Great Tour to watch, the only downside for me was the green jersey which was decided by an excessive penalty (regardless of whether you think that Cav moved across it was still harsh to disqualify him).

Well done to COntador, he looked the strongest in the mountains and combined with top notch TTs and a great team it wasn't really in doubt once they hit the Alps.

[chuck34]

Congrats to Contador. He was the best by far this year. He must have really worked on his TT ability.