UKBouldering.com
the shizzle => shootin' the shit => two wheel spiel => Topic started by: chappers on June 23, 2009, 08:48:28 pm
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anyone know this vital piece of info: are the roads open the day before the tour rolls over them? (i assume they are but...)
planning the trip and i need to ride up the ventoux!
if all goes to plan, the following roads will be ticked off:
alpe d'huez
croix de fer
telegraphe
galibier
d'lzoard
aravis
colombiere
and other less well know cols...
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What an awesome set of climbs you're going to ride - I'm well jealous.
Good luck.
One of my mates went out last year to watch some of the Alps sections - and rode some of climbs the day before le tour rolled over.
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yes the roads are open the day before, I will down south for the kick off ;D
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OMFG.
Boonen is in. The French Olympic Commitee have apparently given him the OK to start, less than 24hours before the opening time trial.
He is the luckiest Belgian in the world. Unlike Allan Davies, who is the unluckiest Australian in the world, poor bugger.
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Fuck I cannot believe it the 1st road stage is practically going past the front door of my flat and I'm not going to be there arse arse arse.
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No keyrings and mini-saucisson for you then (or me either this year)
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Tour de France, as performed last night by Kraftwerk was very goo with 4 of Team GBR giving it some around the Velodrome ;D
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Where they wearing these?
(http://www.klingklang.de/images/large/p_5510x.gif)
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16:30 till 19:00 itv4 boys and girls.
excited!!
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Check here for streams as well.
http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/#live (http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/#live)
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
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ha ha, not even close.
lay down your predictions for tomorrow...this is mine: cav is going to win.
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Looked easy didn't it? Farrar was in about as good a spot as he's going to get and couldn't touch him. I reckon he could do another four this year. I'm with you for La Grande-Motte tommorrow.
for those who missed it:
http://www.steephill.tv/players/youtube/?title=tdf-09-st2-last-km&id=qoHKAM4y2oE&w=560 (http://www.steephill.tv/players/youtube/?title=tdf-09-st2-last-km&id=qoHKAM4y2oE&w=560)
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what money Cav doing what he said he'd do in the pre-tour interviews and winning the final sprint down the Champs Elysees???
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Not much. He's not finished a GT before and I reckon the third week with Mont Ventoux the day before will take too much out of him. No money against it though!
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And again. Thor got a bit closer, but still no real worries. Astana polotics more interesting I think - no one pulling AC up to the Columbia break was there? Too early to write of Carlos and the Schlecks, but a miss all the same.
Reckon Columbia have knobbed their chances for the TTT tommorrow though - still, maybe they were trying to teach the other sprint teams a lesson in load sharing...
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Not much. He's not finished a GT before and I reckon the third week with Mont Ventoux the day before will take too much out of him. No money against it though!
Apologies, just realised he finished the Giro last year. Still reckon he'll be knackered by then though.
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2/3rds of the wins so far, not bad.
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i wonder if HTC pay extra for a celebration like that too??
what a twist to an otherwise boring stage, columbia are monsters, and we may have just seen the rift in astana exposed.
i wouldnt count them out today either.
cavs bike...
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now that was exciting today eh? would have loved it for armstrong to take the yellow jersey that would shake it up.
what do you think of the chances for evans et al 3mins off the pace.
i personally think that contador and the astana team will put more time into them in the mountains.
out on a limb as it stands at the moment its not unlikely for an astana 1-2-3, is it?? surely not!!!
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Well it looks like the Livestrong drs have got the man back in shape - the French must be praying for him to crash, get an injury or fail a drugs test.
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Armstrongs not exactly the image of someone working humbly for the team leader is he? In interviews I can't decide if Armstrong/Gallopin/Contador are playing a big game, or just trying to cover up internal team tensions.
I guess that the mountains will make some big gaps, and we'll quickly see who the real contenders are.
Today should be interesting too. Really flat finish, and it's always windy around Perpignan. I bet the other teams keep a really close watch on Columbia!
As for the French - the airport bookshops seem to be wall-to-wall with "Armstrong is a cheaty cheater" books. I also suspect that the current desire for no radios is partly a reaction to his comeback. I think that the riders won't have radios on two stages this year as an experiment? Anyone know which ones?
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Stages 10 & 13 are radio free.
Did anyone else see those Trek TT bike on ITV4 last night with the cables running inside the frames and the brakes built into the front forks and behind the bottom bracket / chainstays OMG - those must cost a shed load.
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The mind boggles. Are there any pics online?
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Voila!
(http://cdn.mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2009/06/08/1244450748618-11n7rfqpyp5wu-798-75.jpg)
(http://www.bikerumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/contador-trek-ttx-brake2.jpg)
(http://www.velonews.com/files/images/GW_conto_TT_12.jpg)
Rear brake seen (or not seen as the case is) here.
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bikerumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/contador-trek-ttx-brake2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bikerumor.com/2009/06/11/alberto-contador-downplays-armstrong-rides-prototype-trek-tt-bicycle/&usg=__apC-R_3m6vtwYXORtpD8knseGvQ=&h=600&w=467&sz=55&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=vjkS5d8o-5GJZM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=105&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlatest%2Btrek%2Btt%2Bbike%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1 (http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bikerumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/contador-trek-ttx-brake2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bikerumor.com/2009/06/11/alberto-contador-downplays-armstrong-rides-prototype-trek-tt-bicycle/&usg=__apC-R_3m6vtwYXORtpD8knseGvQ=&h=600&w=467&sz=55&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=vjkS5d8o-5GJZM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=105&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlatest%2Btrek%2Btt%2Bbike%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1)
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now that was exciting today eh? would have loved it for armstrong to take the yellow jersey that would shake it up.
what do you think of the chances for evans et al 3mins off the pace.
i personally think that contador and the astana team will put more time into them in the mountains.
out on a limb as it stands at the moment its not unlikely for an astana 1-2-3, is it?? surely not!!!
If he wanted yellow he shouldn't have sat up and started messing with his gears before crossing the line in 5th.
They could get 1-2-3-4, Contador, Kloden, Leipheimer, Armstrong. Hopefully Evans will lose even more time early on so I don't have to watch any of him on TV.
I think it'll be interesting to see what happens with Astana when one of their big two starts struggling and needs support, and the other doesn't.
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Some commentators think the race is over already and that Astana will walk away with it despite the internal team battles.
I think we will have to wait until the mountains to see just how good condition Lance is in. I expect it will all come down to penultimate day on Ventoux which will make for an exciting race.
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come on lance you legend.if he wins after 3 years out it will be the biggest thing in sport ever
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i personally am not a fan of armstrong, and i feel sorry for contador/want contador to tech him a lesson for his strange manner in the face of the media once we get to the mountains.
i was discussing earlier about his behavoiur in the media, if a football team was having an internal power struggle there is no way that one of the potential captains of that team would appear saying what he is. mind games...
im with you squeek on the evans call. borrrring!! :yawn:
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Contador is gonna kick ass in mountains and I wouldn't be surprised if Kloden was hot on his heels.
Also not that I'm defending Evans but he did try to attack in the Giro this year. I was :o
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come on lance you legend.if he wins after 3 years out it will be the biggest thing in sport ever
Rubbish.
Armstrong wins = small colour photo two pages from back cover of british papers, brief mention without video in national tv news.
Armstrong in yellow for last week, then done for doping on final day = Front page of papers, in length video special including interviews in national tv news.
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squeek, the d word is banned here!!
today didnt go to plan then...
good to see cav dashing for third though, im with him for taking the green all the way to paris due to seeing the dedication today.
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The French government must be plotting some plan to catch Lance out on some kind of doping offence. The French hate him so much they would do anything to prevent him winning again. He got tested today.
Got to agree with Squeek - cycling won't get a look in -its the Ashes, that sport England excels at getting beaten at by the Aussies.
I'm just trying to decide which bike I want / need - The Spesh SL3 looks nice - maybe not bright yellow, Cav's paintjob looks cool on his Scott Addict although the Wilier Cento Uno always looks good or how about the Cervelo S3.
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squeek, the d word is banned here!!
Maybe, but I'm not wrong. Cav was close to second too.
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squeek, the d word is banned here!!
Cav was close to second too.
That position is called third.
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squeek, the d word is banned here!!
Cav was close to second too.
That position is called third.
Yes, but my point was that almost caught the guy from the break who was going much slower, rather than he failed to out sprint someone else.
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Yes, but my point was that almost caught the guy from the break who was going much slower, rather than he failed to out sprint someone else.
Good point - Cav still hasn't been beaten in a sprint and put more distance between himself and his green jersey rivals.
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Yes, but my point was that almost caught the guy from the break who was going much slower, rather than he failed to out sprint someone else.
Good point - Cav still hasn't been beaten in a sprint and put more distance between himself and his green jersey rivals.
As someone who only recently got into cycling, I'm finding this tour really gripping.
I saw a few remarks from Columbia complaining that they had to do all the work, as the other sprint teams weren't pulling. Some interesting comment on velonews suggested that this was good for Cav, in that it shows that he's already established a psychological advantage over his rivals - they know he's going to crush them all in a sprint, so they're already resigned to fighting for second place. Apparently this was what Armstrong used to do; establish dominance early on?
However, as this is only Cavendish's second tour (?) and he's only what, 24? it seems a bit like the other teams are banking on him being completely trashed for the later sprint stages. It's a long way to Paris yet.
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Millar is trying to TT his way to the end of this one. Not sure he's got enough of a gap.
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Aaaaargh. Just watched Millar get caught with 1km to go. Bollocks. Epic.
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bollocks been away from my computer all day, not seen the tour, saving it for the itv4 footage. thought i would just log on thinking that nobody would have said owt on here. ruined it for myself! :'(
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Good chance of an Astana 1,2,3 which would be a first I think, is a team sport after all. Armstrongs Twitter makes for a good read sometimes, read the other day he was on about 32 drugs tests in the season, and went on to say, been drug free the last 10 years (ie all his tour wins) - thought it odd no-one asked "well what about more than 10 years ago, we're you clean then?"
Tour has been good the last three years without Lance, yep Landis was a bit iffy but what a day to ride away like that, Contador's win was good as was Sastre's so still think the race holds up without the 'Lance' factor. Good pic's of all the new kit on the Weight Weenies road forum btw, under the pro stuff.
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Good pic's of all the new kit on the Weight Weenies road forum btw, under the pro stuff.
The new Spesh SL3 has a weight built up of under 6Kg -(SRAM Red), Zipp 202 wheels- and thats the one you can buy in the shops!! So the pros must stick some weight on or something to get up to the UCI weight limit or run heavier wheels.
Lampre were appparently running a Wiier Cento Uno with integration for the new Di2 dura ace groupset.
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Mr Wiggins has just twitted that some news is gonna shock the cycling world. :-\
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Interesting Tweet from Bradley W 5 mins ago about 'news' that's going to shock the cyclingn world.....
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So he's not going to sky? That's it?
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Would appear so. Not shocking although I think it's a shame. I'm looking forward to a British team. Just hope it turns out to be a good team.
First mountain stage today :bounce:. Evans has to attack. No two ways about it. Will they let him go? I suspect they might.
Rain expected again.
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i dont know what to think about team sky.
how will it represent a british team? only that they are registered in the uk? because they sure as hell aint going to get their hands on many good british pros, they seem to be content riding in foreign teams from what i can tell...so i assume that they will take any rider, in which case how "british" will this team be?
evans wont attack, he cant. sastre though...
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Good point forgot about Sastre.
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Team Sky won't be a fully British Team - it has aims of doing well / winning a grand tour. It won't at the moment. Britain does not have the riders - to win the Giro or Le Tour you need to be a world class climber & be capable of putting down a good solid time trial and I can't think of anyone at the moment that is British and able to do that.
I agree with Chappers the current crop of British riders seem happy where they are - Millar will probably take over Garmin Slipstream when he stops riding, from what I understand he has some management role already & was heavily involved setting the team up. Lance seems to be courting Cav at the moment - apparently for some kind of Livestrong team. Bradley who knows?
Hopefully Evans will get destroyed for being a whinging Australian - although I do feel a touch sorry for him, I think he could have won le tour in the past, but the team he has around him just don't do it for him.
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Hopefully Evans will get destroyed for being a whinging Australian - although I do feel a touch sorry for him, I think he could have won le tour in the past, but the team he has around him just don't do it for him.
:lol:
i have no interest in watching him at all. too boring.
i am looking forward to an attack from sastre, he needs to get back on terms.
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It seems Bradley's Tweet set everyone speculating last night... Perils of t'internet.
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Great stage - Contador attacks his cadence up the hill was amazing & Mr Wiggins to stay in the main group- that must have been the news shocker!!
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That sounded like a pretty exciting stage. Effort from Wiggins :o
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Go Wiggo!! That was sweet. Nice to see CE trying, AS, FS, CS all keeping very quiet. But on the back of that performance, they may as well just give it to Contador - he looked a class above. Effort to Romains little brother too - didn't see that coming, he looked totally shot at 9km.
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Just seen the highlights. You could almost see Contador muttering "Fuck it, I'm going!" as he sped off, riding like it was the start of the stage.
I like it when French guys win stages, they always look so made up.
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Wiggins tells it like it is: “I’ve ridden a near perfect face apart from the one day we got caught with our pants down.”
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Just seen the highlights. You could almost see Contador muttering "Fuck it, I'm going!" as he sped off, riding like it was the start of the stage.
if he was riding like the begining of the stage how come he had a full mask on at times.he didn't seem to be finding itthat easy to me yes he got a gap quickly enough but i suspect everbody was waiting to see what lance would do.was he going to chase or be the team player.
its going to be some race i reckon.
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i loved the contador break from the pack. that should shake things up in the astana bus, interview with lance spoke volumes of his thoughts rather than what he was actually saying!
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Just seen the highlights. You could almost see Contador muttering "Fuck it, I'm going!" as he sped off, riding like it was the start of the stage.
if he was riding like the begining of the stage how come he had a full mask on at times.he didn't seem to be finding itthat easy to me yes he got a gap quickly enough but i suspect everbody was waiting to see what lance would do.was he going to chase or be the team player.
its going to be some race i reckon.
Dont think anyone would find that easy - fact is - he gapped em.
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how to ride a bike downhill really fast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgVmq4UBJs4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgVmq4UBJs4)
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Some top notch camera work too :bow:
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again today? any one want to put a bet on??
i am starting to worry about the chances of cav wearing green in paris, he needs to get the intermediate sprints i think!
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i'll back cav. he's well isle of man.
interesting gallery here btw: http://www.projectletour.com/ (http://www.projectletour.com/)
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again today? any one want to put a bet on??
i am starting to worry about the chances of cav wearing green in paris, he needs to get the intermediate sprints i think!
I remember reading in the Racing Post that only one Green Jersey winner in the last six years has actually won the most sprint stages. Overall success seems to mainly rely on getting lots of placings and catching people napping on the intermediate sprints.
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Cav. Beast.
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He's an arogant swine who actually has the talent to back it up.
The French hate him, therefore I think he's ace!
Go Go Cav! Stop messing around and bag those intermediates!
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:agree: Another fantastic stage win for Cav but Brad at 5th too .. f*cking :great:
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He's an arogant swine who actually has the talent to back it up.
Go Go Cav! Stop messing around and bag those intermediates!
Another quality performance, he really is a cut above the others.
Not sure that he is arrogant though, well not according to those that have actually spent some time with him.
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I've always seen him referred to as "arrogant", but now he really has proved that he's the fastest in the world in a sprint finish. And he's now only the second British rider ever to win 8 stages in a career. One thing that's really stood out from watching the tour coverage (well, the highlights) is that all the Columbia team including Cavendish always talk about how it's a team effort. After he's won stages, I keep seeing Cavendish going through the crowd to each team-mate in turn, not waiting for them to come to him, or prima-donnaing it up.
But will he have green in Paris? I saw an interview here (http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/LIVE/us/1000/journal_etape.html) after stage 10 where he said
I’m going for stage wins and hopefully the green jersey will come with that
Looking at the numbers, he should do it as long as he stays one stage win clear of hushovd (ie if Hushovd gets one, Cav needs two or else Hushovd can pull ahead by taking a couple of intermediate sprints). What fun.
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i am really impressed with him. he has made it consistently clear that he owes loads to his team. those turns big george and renshaw take look like fucking agony! lets hope he gets the green through the stage wins, but lets face it, if anyone else wins it, they will be overshadowed by his remarkable dominance of the whole tour.
wiggins is the don, anyone see that interview with him on the itv highlights, funny as! i am going to target him for my cheering on the ventoux. look for me, i think i will be dressed in short red running shorts, a mullet wig etc...
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i think i will be dressed in short red running shorts, a mullet ___ etc...
you should dress up instead. let us know what you're wearing, then you'll be easier to spot. ;)
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Some great pictures from The first week of the Tour de France (http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2009/07/10/the-first-week-of-the-tour-de-france/) for you all to pore over.
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Yesterday was a real nailbiter. Superb finish. I can't remember a tour that was quite so much fun to watch.
Cav = Legend, FACT
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He's an arogant swine who actually has the talent to back it up.
The French hate him, therefore I think he's ace!
:agree:
Last year he seemed like an utter ar$e in the making, despite his undoubted haste in turning over the pedals. Glad to say he seems a bit less egotisitc this year.
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Some great pictures from The first week of the Tour de France (http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2009/07/10/the-first-week-of-the-tour-de-france/) for you all to pore over.
Thanks...lovely photos
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Last year he seemed like an utter ar$e in the making
To be fair to him he has acknowledged as much in interviews this year and has shown a lot of humility this time around. I really hope he holds on to the green.
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Copied from the BBC feed.
1203: Quick insight into the domestic bliss of Mr and Mrs Wiggins. Cath Wiggins on Twitter: nagged @bradwiggins 'why didn't you ring me?' he said 'cos I follow your twitter'
Isn't technology wonderful... ::)
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a very clever days racing from cav there. looks like he is very focused on the green jersey after all!
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Well Levi Leipheimer is out with a fractured scaphoid.
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(http://classes.kumc.edu/sah/resources/handkines/images/scaphoid.gif)
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Shame for him, but good for the tour I reckon, Astana could do with weakening.
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How sweet does Haussler's S3 look? :bounce:
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Gotta love a man who it so obviously means so much to. Great ride on a miserable day.
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How sweet does Haussler's S3 look? :bounce:
On my list of, I need one of those bikes. :-\
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you need full on FR bike before that mate!!
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What a stage. Contador showed why he is regarded as the greatest climber of his generation & Armstrong had no response despite having Klodden with him. Thought it was interesting that Contador pulled his ear piece out - obvious got bored with the SD telling hi to wait for Lance.
And OMFG - Bradley Wiggins what a ride - he's in 3rd - what a star, no wonder he wants to stop riding the Track & become a grand tour rider.
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i wonder what would happen if contador tried?
great finish. go wiggins!
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go on wigo!!!!!
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on hearing Lance after..
I cried.
the epoch has ended,
if the top players go positive then I will hunt them done and kill them,
I am sucked in...will have a bottle of fizzy nxt saturday for the live event.. OMG
since the Lance post cancer this was never so good...
WTF with astana, lance owns but is no longer a dictator..
the king is dead..
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What a stage. Contador showed why he is regarded as the greatest climber of his generation & Armstrong had no response despite having Klodden with him.
Would it not have been a little silly for Armstrong and Kloden to chase down their own team member?
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What a stage. Contador showed why he is regarded as the greatest climber of his generation & Armstrong had no response despite having Klodden with him.
Would it not have been a little silly for Armstrong and Kloden to chase down their own team member?
Yes, but isn't it also a bit silly for them to not keep up with anyone else? In the end Armstrong couldn't even keep up with Kloden.
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Yes, but isn't it also a bit silly for them to not keep up with anyone else?
Not at all. Contador was the only GC contender ahead of Lance so there was no reason to bust himself to keep up.
In the end Armstrong couldn't even keep up with Kloden.
He didn't need to. In the end he played it perfectly, he gained a place in GC himself, Astana now occupy the top 2 places and he ensured that Contador gained a bit more time on any rivals. I fail to see what he did wrong.
Don't forget that Lance's game face is legendary. He's a master strategist and an expert at hiding his intentions. I think he'll surprise everyone yet.
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Is so hard to know with Lance, could all just be part of the game, Bruynell uses every trick in the book so could be Lance heading up the road tomorrow with Contador sitting ready for the one two. Saw him fiddling with the ear peace, think it just came out.
Didn't know Lance put millions into SRAM (http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/armstrong-invests-with-sram-18729 (http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/armstrong-invests-with-sram-18729)), kinda like Lt. Dan investing in a fruit company.
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lance what a beast today!
poor jens voigt! hope he's ok!
GO ON WIGO!
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From Daily Peloton :- He [Voight] has incurred a fracture of the right cheekbone and a concussion. For now he is staying at the hospital for further observation.
Today is going to be a cracker! Shame I don't have a TV.... BBC text feed here I come!
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I'm preferring letour.fr this year, with the profile, how far they are along the race, and who's in which groups, it's easier to get a quick snapshot of who's where whilst I've got a spare minute.
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From Daily Peloton :- He [Voight] has incurred a fracture of the right cheekbone and a concussion. For now he is staying at the hospital for further observation.
Today is going to be a cracker! Shame I don't have a TV.... BBC text feed here I come!
I found great streamed Eurosport coverage yesterday - (though it failed in the last min!!). go to ustream.tv and search for it.. or google tour de france and streamed coverage (thats how I found it..). Better than the BBC text feed!
T
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live strong sponsered by Nike...
anyone fancy putting a punt on that being announced tomorrow???
have settled into the arm chair, don't foresee much movement for the rest of the afternoon
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I found great streamed Eurosport coverage yesterday - (though it failed in the last min!!). go to ustream.tv and search for it.. or google tour de france and streamed coverage (thats how I found it..). Better than the BBC text feed!
T
Nice one.. got it on now. Hopefully I'll continue to work without being too distracted!
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think it's live on itv4 today and tomorrow too.
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think it's live on itv4 today and tomorrow too.
definitely live today on itv4
and online here (http://www.itv.com/sport/tourdefrance/default.html?intcmp=756994_123_1)
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sounds like a fucking good stage: the shlecks clinging to contador like flies on log; armstrong descending the last climb like a nutbox; wiggins hanging in there not far back too.
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tomorrow should be amazing. Contador seems safe with that lead, but Kloden's got TT skills and Wiggins should be faster than the others.
If you've only got t'interweb, yahoo/eurosport (http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/cycling/tour-de-france/stages/) do a good text feed and live audio.
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COME ON WIGO!
god what a fierce stage. hopefully wigo hasn't left himself too much to do. lance shows what a total beast he is. the shlecks are little rats! contador was pretty cheeky killing off his teammate kloden.
what an amazing tour.
(cadel evans wtf!)
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it's amazing how they were all shit scared of wiggins. the game plan for all of them, particularly the schlecks and cuntador was to put as much time between them and him before today's TT.
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Today's going to be really important, but I have a feeling that the final selection will be made on Mt Ventoux, just as the organisers hoped.
I also reckon that LA will really, really want to win the Ventoux stage - I think he's never won on Mt Ventoux; he lost to Pantani in 2000 (or let him have it depending on who you read) and lost to Virenque in 2002?
Wiggans has been really impressive, but I think Cavendish's chances of getting the Green jersey are sunk now - even if he wins both remaining flat stages he'd have to finish something like 20 places ahead of Hushovd to make up the deficit, and count on Hushovd not hoovering up the four remaining intermediate sprints.
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I just hope that Bradley can ride to maintain his 4th position - i don't think he will get on the podium, but he has done so well - and may have a realistic chance of a Grand tour podium postion in the future. . I don't doubt the guy, but I just hope he's clean. I expect he has been heavily tested for cera etc - as his performance in Le tour was not expected. Di Luca has recently been caught after his Giro performance.
Looks like Alberto has it wrapped up and I reckon Lance will hang on in there for 3rd - not bad for 37.
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pretty disappointing press conference from contador. (http://www.bikeradar.com/blogs/article/contadors-annecy-faux-pas-22537) i hope he's not off his tits on goofballs.
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I'm starting to wonder how contador is so much better than everyone else. There's more than a wiff of haddock about it.
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pretty disappointing press conference from contador. (http://www.bikeradar.com/blogs/article/contadors-annecy-faux-pas-22537) i hope he's not off his tits on goofballs.
Doping comments interesting - but watching it yesterday - I was wondering how much of an advantage the riders would get from having all the bikes/cars around them.
There again, If I were groaning my way up to the top of a climb I would want a ball and chain to continuously swing around my head to fend off the twats in the middle of at the side of the road.
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Just watching this stage today and they keep talking about the "wattage" the guys are putting in. Anyone know how they work this out?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_power_meter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_power_meter)
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Another stage win for Cav! Thats 5 so far. Beginning to regret not having £20 on him winning 6 stages at the bookies before the start of the tour :'(
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Just seen the post stage interview with Cav. Isn't he a total star bigging up his team mates?
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it's the big one today. quite a few places in the top 10 could be sorted right out. well exciting.
(http://www.strangesports.com/images/content/108653.jpg)
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some good pics
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/2009_tour_de_france.html (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/2009_tour_de_france.html)
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Gutsy ride by Wiggo today, good stuff. Hope he can keep it going into tomorrow's stage and keep / improve on his fourth place.
Was a bit perplexed by A. Schleck's tactics at first, but then it all made sense once he came back and his brother tried to join on the attack and split Lance from them. Lance was only too aware of this though and I particularly was impressed with Contador's team tactics for once (despite him having the tour pretty much in the bag barring any bad misfortunes tomorrow)...
Just how many spectators were there though, it was crazy at times - this is really the first tour I've been watching from start to finish so I don't know if crowded roads are the norm!
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That was a brilliant stage, very exciting.
Brilliant effort by Wiggins to dig deep at the end. Awesome.
Only a shame that we didn't get to see Contador and Schleck duke it out properly.
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Wiggo wont race tomorrow scragadoo - its all over bar the shouting (sprinting)
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What a great tour :thumbsup:
Cav winning in Paris and accumulating six stage wins plus Bradley coming fourth overall is fantastic....
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Just how many spectators were there though, it was crazy at times - this is really the first tour I've been watching from start to finish so I don't know if crowded roads are the norm!
got back today after 24hrs of driving. the ventoux was mental, took us over an hour to get down from half way up! spent two nights sleeping in a doss bag in car parks. horrible!
shouting at cav "tomorrow mate!" was my favorite. as well as my mate ben screaming "dont worry wiggo you can fuck armstrong over on this!!", when lance was about a second away - not happy!.
photos in a few days.
oh and today. cav and renshaw are fucking mental fast! a good stage.
fingers crossed contador is clean after giro news this week.
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what money Cav doing what he said he'd do in the pre-tour interviews and winning the final sprint down the Champs Elysees???
Not much. He's not finished a GT before and I reckon the third week with Mont Ventoux the day before will take too much out of him. No money against it though!
Did you have a punt Duma??
I should have...
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Well done Wiggo - much respect to the man, obviously it will be overshadowed in the papers tomorrowby Hamilton winning the grand prix, but in my mind le tour is one of the biggest annual sport events - and a far greater achievement.
I hate to say that I don't think he'll ever win a GT - Contador, the Schleck bros, Tony Martin to name a few - not mention a certain Rasmussen returning to the fold, will get in his way. Mind you I never thought he'd get a top 5 finish & it made me a nice little earner!
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Did you have a punt Duma??
I should have...
Not on Cav - thankfully as I've been proven about 30 meters wrong! Frank Schleck did me well scraping into the top 5 - though I suspect not as well as BW did for fatkid!
Really enjoyed this year - here's hoping no nasty suprises come out in the next month or so...
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Chappers - did you get to ride any of the climbs? The Times had an article by one of its editors about L'etape on Mt Ventoux & it sounded awful.
I bet on Wiggo getting in the top 5 - before le tour started. Nice - ;D
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yeah, i was in the alps for a week. did: glandon, croix de fer, telegraphe, galibier, alp d'huez - all in one ride. Col d'Izoard, (and some other smaller ones on other day rides).
then i went over to the ventoux, wanted to do a big ride but had real problems finding camping so ended up sleeping rough (also the (nazi) police made us less well off). i rode the ventoux twice, but in isolation so to me it didnt seem too bad. the middle part is just the perfect gradient to really motor along - that finish ramp is more like a wall though esp when you are in the red from racing loads of armstrong loving yanks!!
good fun out there, but the alps were too busy and mega expensive, next time im off to the ventoux area, much nicer and loads of quality riding to do too.
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not mention a certain Rasmussen returning to the fold
starting now... (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rasmussen-second-on-cycling-return)
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contador is starting to sound a bit like a dick in his post race interviews. i get the impression there's not a bunch between the ears with that guy, regardless of how good a bike rider he is.
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not mention a certain Rasmussen returning to the fold
starting now... (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rasmussen-second-on-cycling-return)
...and Vino
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yeah, i was in the alps for a week. did: glandon, croix de fer, telegraphe, galibier, alp d'huez - all in one ride.
If im to believe this im glad im not doing the pendle pedal now (i have not done any exrecise at all for 6 weeks now cos of this bloody virus which thankfully seems to be getting better) wouldnt see you for dust. have entered the tour of peak though in October instead.
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yeah, i was in the alps for a week. did: glandon, croix de fer, telegraphe, galibier, alp d'huez - all in one ride. Col d'Izoard, (and some other smaller ones on other day rides).
then i went over to the ventoux, wanted to do a big ride but had real problems finding camping so ended up sleeping rough (also the (nazi) police made us less well off). i rode the ventoux twice, but in isolation so to me it didnt seem too bad.
Hmmm, I think you're going to find the pace pretty easy on Sunday. My knees a little tweaky too.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jul/31/bradley-wiggins-publishes-blood-tests (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jul/31/bradley-wiggins-publishes-blood-tests)
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arstaloza first one to be caught out. (http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails.asp?id=NjQ2OA&MenuId=MTYxNw&LangId=1&BackLink=%2FTemplates%2FUCI%2FUCI5%2Flayout.asp%3FMenuID%3DMTYxNw%26LangId%3D1) i hope there's not many more.
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not mention a certain Rasmussen returning to the fold
starting now... (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rasmussen-second-on-cycling-return)
Or perhaps not (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rasmussen-denied-contract-on-uci-advice)
Can't see Ceramica Flaminia being invited to many big tours anyway given the other folk they've signed (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ricco-to-appeal-suspension-again)