Tour de France

[Huffton]

My favourite sporting event of the year starts this weekend. Any predictions? Hard to see past another Contador victory, especially with the way the mountains stack up in the last week, although a few sectipons of pave early in the race could cause problems for anyone. Lance Armstrong has announced this will be his final Tour (again), what are the chances of a fairytale ending for him?

[AndyNorthernSaints]

Yep my favourite sporting event of the year. Agree can't see past Contador again. Armstrong will put in a good show in his last tour and hope Wiggins can repeat last years success. Will be interesting to see how Sky team get on as well. Cavendish as had a few problems this year but will be one of the favourites for the green jersey.

[Huffton]

Great opener yesterday. Cancellara showing his class at TTing, and nice to see Millar up there. Thought Wiggins may have done better but i think he has trained with more climbing in mind this year so that could well have impacted his TT ability. Armstrong vs Contador, first blood to Lance. Will be very interesting to see how Contador copes with the cobbles in the first week, any problems and he could be playing serious cach up come the Alps.

[South Londoner]

Apart from Geraint's and David Millar's performances in the Prologue, the weekend has been a bit of a disappointment from a Brit's perspective; Brad's already got a battle to make up 30 odd seconds on his main GC rivals and I was SO sure that yesterday's Stage had Cav's name written all over it only for him to crash out near the finish.

 

He won't get a look in today I should imagine; a little too hilly I think particularly as there's a Cat 3 climb near the end.

[Trader]

I can ride a bike without falling off - seems these c*nts need stabilisers

[sandwichsaint]

Anybody on here ever go out to watch it?

 

I'm going out to the Pyrenees next Thu, we will be taking our bikes and will ride and watch four mountain stages on the Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue. Awesome event to attend live, just one big all-day party - bikes, beer, food, music, all wrapped up in temperatures of nearly 40C. This will be the third time I've attended live, we went to the Alps about 5 years ago and went to the Pyrennes and Andorra last year (also seen the TDF twice in Kent but that doesn't really count!)

[Special K]

I was lucky enough the do a charity ride from London to Paris a few years back. We arrived in Paris on the Saturday before the Tour came in on the Sunday. The traffic was stopped and we got to cycle around half of the Place Charles de Gauille and ride down the Champs Elysees before heading off over the river and ending up under the Eiffel Tower. The day after we all went into Paris to see the final stage of the Tour. I managed to get a spot on the Rue de Rivoli all afternoon. It was magnificent and the whole event was superb, completely memorable.

[John Smith]

Anybody on here ever go out to watch it?

 

I'm going out to the Pyrenees next Thu, we will be taking our bikes and will ride and watch four mountain stages on the Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue. Awesome event to attend live, just one big all-day party - bikes, beer, food, music, all wrapped up in temperatures of nearly 40C. This will be the third time I've attended live, we went to the Alps about 5 years ago and went to the Pyrennes and Andorra last year (also seen the TDF twice in Kent but that doesn't really count!)

 

Apologies for going off subject, but as a registered user, I have no PM capabilities.

 

sandwichsaint, I owe you an apology. In a main board post, I was a little bit patronising and aloof in response to one of your posts. Please accept my apology. For some strange reason, I read the writer as StuRomseySaint and not sandwichsaint!!!Hence my confusion and possibly unreasonable repsonse. I had thought stu had done an about turn, and it didn;t make sense? When stu the responded to my posat, I got even more confused because his response didn;t make sense. That's when I realised my mistake, and as a registered user, I couldn;t edit or take it back.

 

However, your reponse was quality, and I really enjoyed reading it. I am very glad you didn;t rise to my baiting, feeble as my baiting was. I was trying to get a point across, and I think I achieved that, and you were able to pick out the relevant parts and also relate yourself to my younger experiences, which were not fabricated.

 

So, sandwichsaint, I take my hat off to you, top post, top bloke.

 

Apologies for thread hijacking.

[Saint in Paradise]

So how often do they do drugs tests on the riders then ?

[bungle]

So how often do they do drugs tests on the riders then ?

 

More often than in any other sport. If any other sport had the same level of drug testing as professional cycling I think you might just see a few embarrassing test results.

 

It's funny that total morons like yourself berate cycling because they catch cheats, yet are happy to accept sports with pitiful drug testing regimes.

[bungle]

Cobblestone roads late on in the stage today. Could well provide some drama, and possibility a big name could lose a lot of time.

[sandwichsaint]

Eurosport live coverage here, run it in the background and listen-while-you-work to the 'commentary/chat' in a TMS stylee,

 

enjoy.

 

http://www.fromsport.com/v-0/0/148/v-14923.html

[Huffton]

Looks like the cobbles did their bit. Big loss for Armstrong, even bigger for Frank Schlek. Superb ride by Contador, think they said that was his first time over the pave? Ride of the day though has to go to Geraint Thomas for riding himself into second place overall. Chapeau!

[Saint in Paradise]

It's funny that total morons like yourself .

 

 

Being called a moron by you is the best compliment I have had in years, a true heartfelt Thank You to you. :lol:

[bungle]

Great sprint from Cav, good to see him back after a poor sprint yesterday.

 

Hopefully he'll have a shot at the stage tomorrow, and then the road starts to get a bit hilly.

[The Cat]

Yeah, that was more like it. Cav was in tears on the podium.

 

Good to see Thomas up near the front again. Looked like he was leading out Boasson Hagen. Sky have signed some superb riders for their first season and have been right up their in every stage which is commendable seeing as they didn't pick a proper sprinter.

 

Can't wait for the mountains to see how Thomas copes. People have been tipping him as having the chance for a podium spot in the future - far cry from a few years back when (I think) he finished second from last! But then to be fair he was only about 12.

[AndyNorthernSaints]

Another great win by Cav today. Still got alot to do to catch up in Green jersey but think he has at least 4 chances to win stages including Paris. Great to see Thomas still in 2nd place overall and made up 3 seconds on leader today with a chance of yellow jersey tomorrow if he can climb well.

[Huffton]

How much bad luck can one man get in the first week? Armstrong is finished, and already it looks like a two horse race betwen Schlek and Contador. Evans won't be able to hold those two in the big mountains, and Schlek can't time trial that well. Contador it is then, barring a disaster.

Only remaining question is will Lance be happy to go out like that (on his arse) or will he find it in him to give it one more crack?

[OVER THE HILL]

Cadel Evans is not the most likeable of riders but I felt a lot of sympathy for him today,to drop from 1st to 18th in one stage,what a disaster. Schleck and Contador it is then.Wiggins will do well to make the top 10.

[OVER THE HILL]

Another great win by Cav but how will he cope without lead out maestro Renshaw?

 

On the run through Chabeuil there was a man at the side of the road wearing what looked like the new Saints shirt.

[SuperMikey]

What do you call a pointless race that covers 2,200 miles through France?.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...the French.

[Sherminator]

One of the best Tours in years. Would be nice if there was at least one other rider challenging for the GC. Menchov or Basso perhaps.

I think one of the big 2 will crack over the next couple of days in the montains. Hoping for stage wins for Armstrong & Wiggins before the end and a couple more for Cavendish, altghough I expect that the Green jersey is out of reach now.

[AndyNorthernSaints]

One of the best Tours in years. Would be nice if there was at least one other rider challenging for the GC. Menchov or Basso perhaps.

I think one of the big 2 will crack over the next couple of days in the montains. Hoping for stage wins for Armstrong & Wiggins before the end and a couple more for Cavendish, altghough I expect that the Green jersey is out of reach now.

 

Agree and one the toughest tours for years too. Don't think Wiggins is in good enough form this year to win a stage and he admitted this himself this week.

Still think we could see another leader change in yellow onthe next stage.

[badgerx16]

Agree and one the toughest tours for years too. Don't think Wiggins is in good enough form this year to win a stage and he admitted this himself this week.

Still think we could see another leader change in yellow onthe next stage.

Sanchez or Menchov ?

[sandwichsaint]

Just back from four awesome days in the Pyrennes.

 

Saturday we rode 30k and then the HC Plateau de Baille (17k at over 8%!), the climb that Armstrong said was against his human rights (it didn't do much for mine either), took my nipper 2hrs and me 2hrs 40min. Awesome descent, down in 17 minutes!

 

Sunday we rode 10k to get there then the Cat 1 Ax Trois Domaines (8k at touching 8% and the bottom 4k at over 10%), red hot day, dropped into the shade just below the 5k mark to watch the race and the riders looked absolutely shot when they went past us-just seen on the recordings the cat and mouse between Contador and Schleck over the final 3ks.

 

Monday we rode 10k flat and then the HC Porte de Bailles (10k at something reasonable and then about the last 7k all over 7.5 percent); even hotter than the previous day and awesome crowds and atmosphere. Again dropped into the shade to the 5k mark to watch the race - riders were in full on mode past us at this place and we were only about 400m below where Schleck had his mechanical though obviously didn't see it and not aware of it till next day. Bad form of Contador to attack and the French papers slaughtered him for it though opinion in the teams and riders seemed split fairly evenly.

 

Tuesday was our last day of riding and another HC to round the week off - 28k from Glasnost to the Col d'Aubisque via the Solour, two climbs in one! 12k to get there then something like 8k x 8% up the Solour, down and round to the Abisque on the self-styled 'prettiest road in France' - a balcony carved into a cliffside several 100m up from the valley floor, followed by a killer 6k of climbing to reach the top of Aubisque. With frequent stops made it from tent to top in under 3 and a half hours. Dropped to Solour to watch the riders and a major surprise to see Armstrong rolling back the years and driving hard in third place. As per the other days Wiggins looked a shadow of last year's rider (hot weather possibly? .. shouldn't be...) and was well off the pace.

 

Absolutely brilliant event live, a real buzz every day of riding on the same roads and in front of the same crowds as the real riders do - not many other sports where you can replicate the identical conditions that the real competetitors use. TV and media, brilliant though the coverage is, can't begin to convey the sheer scale of the achievements of the riders or the speed at which they carry them out! Any body who follows it on telly really does need to get out for a couple of stages if they ever get the chance, great crowds and great company with everybody there to have a good time - and you are allowed to eat and drink as much as you can as often as you can and still come back a couple of pounds lighter!

Edited 22 July, 2010 by sandwichsaint
Missed the Wiggins bit out!