Tour de France 2009

Starting in Monaco this weekend.

Can Sastre win for the second year in a row? Probably not, but probably top five.
Can Armstrong win his eighth Tour in his comeback season? Nope, but he'll probably come in the top ten.
Can Andy Schleck turn the promise he showed in the mountains last year into a yellow jersey? Probably not this year, but he should be top five too.
Can Contador win it again? Yes, and he probably should do, but he might suffer from having Armstrong and Leipheimer dividing loyalties on his team (assuming Astana actually have the finances to last the distance).
Can Cavendish finish the Tour and get the green jersey? Hope so.
Can Wiggins and/or Millar get a time trial? Hope so.
Will there be several high profile doping scandals rendering several stage wins and overall classification positions meaningless and resulting in long drawn-out legal action? Probably. Maybe Menchov this year if the Humanplasma rumours are true.

lance will be strong. contador will win. he is hungry.

I just tried to find the thread where we discussed "Rough Ride" by Paul Kimmage, but failed.

thats a good read that book, stoked about le tour though, ventoux should be a good watch

Ronan - 'Bad Blood' by Jeremy Whittle is another good read.

a schleck

andy schleck will podium

Didn't know this was controversial

http://cyclocosm.com/2009/06/the-four-impossibilities-of-radio-free-racing/

"Starring the future wannabee governor of Texas!" should've been included in this thread title, somewhere.

Is it safe to say - though to say boldly - America wants Lance Armstrong to win this again, because Armstrong is a 'true American', and Europe vomits even thinking about another Lance win? I know most mainland European cyclist fans feel the latter. Where do the Brits stand in this?

Although I'm not nauseous, I'd still hate it if Armstrong wins Le Tour again. Why? He's just not a true cyclist. He ducks under the radar all year, nowhere to be seen, just to win one - the one - tour. It has been like that the previous seven times he won. Try giving that training schedule to people like Bettini, Sastre or Menchov.
Armstrong's good alright, but he ain't no cyclist. He's an entertainer. That's fine I guess, but it's not what cycling is about. Cycling is about struggling, it's about suffering. It's about being a perfect loser, not a perfect winner.

As for the win: it's a toss-up between Menchov and Contador I think. But I think Contador will take it. Menchov's in great form - having won the Giro - and is a better time trialist, but Contador will win dis thing I think, since he's got the better team backing him up.

All this and I haven't even gotten around mentioning all the incidents of doping that are bound to surface. Good times, good times.

if Lance does go into politics i take it he'd be a Republican? anyway he looked pretty good in the Giro this year, but i doubt he'll end higher than 5th in the Tour. Menchov was good as well despite nearly bottling it in the last km, god what a weird ending that was.
really looking forward to seeing what Contador does, he must be desperate to prove himself after missing last year, battling it out with Schleck in the mountains is gonna be so awesome.
also there's a stage ending in Barcelona this year, should be pretty memorable!

I think he's a Republican yeah. Barcelona is nice, but I'm already wetting my pants over the finish on Mt. Ventoux this year, on the day before Champs Elysee no less! That stage is going to rule so hard. Best planning in fifteen years if you ask me.

since he's got the better team backing him up

they are not necessarily backing him up

True Cutty, but say maybe, Contador (whether he falls or loses minutes in a contre le montre) is out of the race, Armstrong still has Contador, Klöden and Leipheimer behind him. That's a tough act to follow, for any team.

but not chris horner!

Try giving that training schedule to people like Bettini, Sastre or Menchov.

cmon man how many top 5s in the monuments, or even in the non monument classics, do sastre and menchov have?

how many top 5s on gc in grand tours does bettini have?

i dont even like la much but that comment is silly.

dudes who can race to win classics and grand tour gc are few-- and each objective is sufficiently hard nowadays that specialization is common. the seasons are raced MUCH harder now than the good old days. guys actually train to win Paris fucking Nice.

Er, Lance is a Democrat, guys. He just pretended to be Dubya's friend for cancer research money or something.

Contador is going to be your winner. Denny will try hard but he's won the Giro. Who can win two Grand Tours in the same calendar year these days?

Contador can and did. it's such a pity he didn't switch teams, Caisse could've used him. Denny is better than ever, yet i don't see him winning. 2nd place should be possible though.
as always rooting for the Schleck bros, but lately i got the feeling Andy will be like Damiano Cunego, a great promising rider for the Big Tours when he was younger, but later on more of a classics rider.
also there's 2 Japanese riders. i think those are the first since '96 or something when the Italian Polti team had one.

the Japanse fellow that rider for the Skil team has twitter, mostly Japanese but some great English stuff too.
I made break away again for get mauntain point! I fight again I took point! so I kept mauntain jersey!
http://twitter.com/Fumybeppu

So excited about this, as is Barcelona, I'm here for a conference and all of the bicing rental bike have tour stickers on them.

For the HC heart says Menchov, head says Contador and I hope Lance gets nowhere near it and retires once and for all. As much as I'd like to see Cavendish in Green on the Champs Elysée I'm not sure if he can make it all the way round, can't wait to be wrong on this one. Also can't wait to see him win on Wednesday and pull on the Green Jersey.

Who is Columbia's GC rider, they we're super strong in the tour and I presume Lockvist has a good chance for the white jersey, maybe wearing yellow a bit?

Haha, Ludo, that's a magnificent twitter:
I got mountain jersey @ Route du sud It was hard race but, I'm happy really mountain race this race so! Anyway good for my dream race!!

dudes who can race to win classics and grand tour gc are few-- and each objective is sufficiently hard nowadays that specialization is common. the seasons are raced MUCH harder now than the good old days. guys actually train to win Paris fucking Nice.

Hunt3r, I'm not disagreeing with you about specialisation. Ofcourse that's the case. But - and that's exactly what I mean - you ask me if I know riders with multiple top 5 classifications during a season. But Armstrong hardly ever participated in a race he maybe could not win. He never rode a classic or a tour to help a teammate win. Which, to me, is an essential part of cycling: you ride a lot of races, even the ones where maybe you yourself can't win, but say, a teammate can. Armstrong really was, and is, only in it for the Tour. It's an extreme example of specialisation rarely seen even today in this sport. And I don't care much for it.

@Ed, I think Columbia's GC rider is Kim Kirchen

^pretty much sums up how I feel about Lance, and why I still think LeMond and Merckx were better riders. (My two heroes, LeMond was the king when I first got interested in cycling and I still want a team 'Z' jersey, Merckx because I have one of his bikes)

xpost

You have one of Merckx' bikes? Whoah! If you mind me asking, how did that come about?

OTOH, Lance in the Giro seemed to have a reputation for being much more chatty in the peleton and handing out advice to younger riders. SO maybe he is just riding for the hell of it and the millions astana are paying him and is going to ride the tour as the peleton granny, in which case he will win my grudging respect.

Lance as the peleton granny, I like the sound of that :)

Not one he rode, just one the company with his name on makes.

It came about because I saw an advert on German ebay for Rennrad, It had a a blurry photo and a bad description, but it was cheap enough to take a punt based on what I thought it was. I got it for 200euros and then had to wrangle over the shipping for about a month which cost 100euros more. When it arrived it turned out to be a turn of the century merckx alu team with all chorus group.

Ah, thought you'd been given one he actually rode :) Sounds like a good buy though

so pumped, and am hoping to watch as much as possible this year

first doping case.. (it's sort of old but it finally has an effect) Dutch talent and rider for Silence Lotto has been replaced by Charles Wegelius in their team. Dekker's been suspended for a doping (epo of course) violation that actually happened in 2007. :)

it's sort of old but it finally has an effect) Dutch talent and rider Thomas Dekker etc.

Someone's really good at collecting news like this and saving it for the Tour innit? I'm always amazed by that.

yeah it seems WADA or UCI are really into retesting stuff with the new methods. there will be a day in cycling when a Tour winner of 6 years back is finally "caught" and is disqualified after all. useless if you ask me. if they can't catch you in a month it doesn't count. ;)

:D

So they'll catch Armstrong after his death then?

there is an 8 year statute of limitations, ludo

can someone knowledgeable give a rough sense of the likely....narratives(?) this year? or point me to a good overview ("what to expect from this year's tour" or whatever)?

i don't follow pro cycling at all, but it's mostly because the number of players/teams/etc. is sorta intimidating. i want some real TdF09 for Idiots kinda thing, just so i'm not lost/bored in the opening stages

watch the website http://www.velocitynation.com

one of their writers does the best narratives and tour coverage out there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwTUFNMTP-M

also they are one of the only US cycling websites out there that takes a definitively anti-lance stance, the others just suck at his teats

xpost

http://cyclocosm.com/2009/06/astanas-tour-selection-is-a-ticking-bomb/

thanx cutty

well, we're pretty much past the issue but:

But Armstrong hardly ever participated in a race he maybe could not win. He never rode a classic or a tour to help a teammate win. Which, to me, is an essential part of cycling: you ride a lot of races, even the ones where maybe you yourself can't win, but say, a teammate can.

this is like, waht, i dunno. cycling geir-ism? i am saying that it is not armstrong with whom you are at odds, it is modern pro racing. i am saying that you are factually mistaken that menchov or sastre race programs in which a support role is their primary objective in any particular race.

haha

http://www.bobkestrut.com/2009/03/25/same-as-it-ever-was-2/

Haha, that's gold!

vs schedule for first half

Stage 1: Saturday, July 4, 2009
Monaco
9:30am to 2:00pm: LIVE Daily Coverage
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay

Stage 2: Sunday, July 5, 2009
Monaco-Brignoles
8:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay

Stage 3: Monday, July 6 , 2009
Marseille - La Grande Motte
8:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay

Stage 4: Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Montpellier
8:30am to 12:00pm: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay

Stage 5: Wednesday, July 8, 2009
La Cap d'Adge - Perpignan
8:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay

Stage 6: Thursday, July 9, 2009
Gerone - Barcelona
8:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay

Stage 7: Friday, July 10, 2009
Barcelona - Andorre Arcalis
8:00am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay

Stage 8: Saturday, July 11, 2009
Andorre - La Vielle - Saint Girons
7:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay

Stage 9: Sunday, July 12, 2009
Saint Gaudens - Tarbes
7:00am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay Stage 19: Friday, July 24, 2009
Bourgoin Jallieu - Aubenas
8:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay

Stage 10 Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Limoges - Issoudun
8:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 2:30am: Race Action Replay

Stage 11: Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Vatan - Saint Fargeau
8:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage
12:00pm to 2:00pm: Race Action Replay
2:30pm to 4:30pm: Race Action Replay
5:00pm to 7:00pm: Race Action Replay
8:00pm to 11:00pm: Expanded Primetime Coverage
12:00am to 3:00am: Race Action Replay

boy sucks having a job now. last summer I could watch the whole dang thing live every day, eat a big bowl of granola/fruit, then go for a ride in the beautiful berkeley hills.

I don't even have a tv now!

yeah right now i'm trying to decide between morning motivational viewing and evening drinkin a beer viewing

unemployed yalllllllllll

morning motivational! it's great!

^^^that coverage is lances fault too i think. was vs schedule that aggressive last year?

no alp d'huez stage for the first time since 1976 :(

But there's the Mont Ventoux Steve, on the day before the Champs Elysee!

itv4 are showing highlights for anyone in the uk without eurosport

think itv4 might be showing a few stages live too

no alp d'huez stage for the first time since 1976 :(

Apart from all the other years since 1976 that it wasn't used (2007, 2005, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1996, 1993, 1985, and 1980).

think itv4 might be showing a few stages live too

Yeah, they did last year. Also ITV4 > Eurosport because you get Liggett & Sherwen commentary plus Imlach & Boulting pulling no punches about doping.

Is it safe to say - though to say boldly - America wants Lance Armstrong to win this again, because Armstrong is a 'true American', and Europe vomits even thinking about another Lance win? I know most mainland European cyclist fans feel the latter. Where do the Brits stand in this?

The British cycling press basically seem to view his return as a negative development. They imply, without explicitly stating it, that it's bad news because cycling seemed to have been making a genuine effort to clean up since his retirement, and it seems to be assumed that he is part of the old guard of dopers that we could do without.

wait really

Who can I get streaming coverage of it from in the US?

versus website

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/kazakh-coup-to-oust-armstrong-and-bruyneel-from-team-astana

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen-can-start-in-the-tour

but is not in the start list

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/96th-tour-de-france-gt/start-list

I for one am very pleased Boonen can start.

Ed, maybe Quick-Step has to formally write him in again before the start list is updated?

The official site (letour.fr) has this under Riders list: "The starters are not yet known."

oh yes boonen can start. i for one dont really give a shit if he does or not heh

ITV4 appears to be doing the weekend stages live again, or the last couple of hours of them at least. Also a documentary on Sunday night about Chris Boardman's attempt on the world hour record, which I am well looking forward to cos Boardman is a fairly sizeable childhood hero of mine.

first episode of itv4 daily podcast w/ imlach up now btw.

Podcast, awesome!

Also, dunno why this occurred to me but I wouldve loved to read a dfw essay on the tour

So when does this thing start?

Partial Start Order and Times: (full times coming...)

Times listed are local. (Times in parentheses are U.S. Eastern)

16:00 (10:00am) Van Hummel
16:17 (10:17am) Armstrong
16:34 (10:34am) Farrar
16:35 (10:35am) Posthuma
16:36 (10:36am) Larsson
16:37 (10:37am) Leipheimer
16:52 (10:52am) Grabsch
16:54 (10:54am) Millar
16:55 (10:55am) Freire
17:38 (11:38am) Zubeldia
17:46 (11:46am) Bruseghin
17:52 (11:52am) Cavendish
17:55 (11:55am) Gesink
17:56 (11:56am) F. Schleck
18:04 (12:04pm) Devolder
18:08 (12:08pm) Pereiro
18:14 (12:14pm) Zabriskie
18:17 (12:17pm) Kloden
18:24 (12:24pm) Boonen
18:28 (12:28pm) Iván Gutiérrez
18:30 (12:30pm) Nibali
18:32 (12:32pm) Rogers
18:34 (12:34pm) Vande Velde
18:35 (12:35pm) Clement
18:36 (12:36pm) A. Schleck
18:39 (12:39pm) Hushovd
18:41:30 (12:41:30pm) Gerdemann
18:43 (12:43pm) Moreau
18:44:30 (12:44:30pm) Karpets
18:46 (12:46pm) Chavanel
18:52 (12:52pm) Luis León Sánchez
18:55 (12:55pm) Pellizotti
18:56:30 (12:56:30pm) Efimkin
18:58 (12:58pm) Kirchen
18:59:30 (12:59:30pm) Astarloza
19:01 (1:01pm) Wiggins
19:02:30 (1:02:30pm) Menchov
19:04 (1:04pm) Cancellara
19:05:30 (1:05:30pm) Contador
19:07 (1:07pm) Evans
19:08:30 (1:08:30pm) Sastre

I love how the news about Boonen got reported in the Australian media:

Australian cyclist Allan Davis has been dumped from the Tour de France so that a playboy rider with a cocaine habit can ride instead.

lol wasn't Allan Davis himself involved in a real doping scandal aka Fuentes..

Exactly!

Also, dunno why this occurred to me but I wouldve loved to read a dfw essay on the tour

― i want to marry a pizza (gbx), Friday, 3 July 2009 22:07 Bookmark

That would have been truly amazing, I think. Did he ever show any interest in cycling? I think what made his tennis stuff so compelling was that his obssession with the game shone through. Although tbh he could have written about paint drying and it would still have been awesome to read...

The Boardman documentary is great, they showed it last year too.

I am well excited about the Tour and am crossing my fingers for Lord Cavendish to make it to the Champs Elysees.

O_o

Any single chainring TT riders out there? Noticed LA never got out of the big ring even on this hilly course.

No sign of Millar yet on TV, but I think he's on the road now.

Tony Martin goes ahead of Armstrong.

Millar just started.

...with uber-tacky sponsor-tattoos.

haha, i got fooled, flesh covered shoulder panels on the onesie.

Here comes Millar. He looks to be climbing very slowly in a very low gear. Hopefully appearances are deceptive.

Leipheimer into the lead.

Millar is so awesome (but he's not winning this one unfortunately)

Alberto will kick Armstrong's ass with at least a minute.

man i hope so ^______________________^

that last hairpin is hairy

Millar did well to stay on his bike when he locked up the back wheel there. I'm pinning my hopes on Wiggins now.

And ITV4's coverage starts now! Imlach O'Clock!

Going for good ol' Fabian Cancellara. I have no idea if the circuit suits him, but what the hell. Cancellara rocks.

Imlach and St Boardman both suggesting that, due to the whacking great gradients at the start, this prologue will be throwing time gaps all over the place with a sizeable effect on the GC, so the major contenders are gonna go hard today. Which I'm guessing might not bode that well for Fabs.

Sherwen just said this course does, in fact, suit Cancellara, and he's the favourite for the stage. Fair enough. Go Fabs!

kreuziger looking a bit racey here

kreuziger' bike looks dope imo

levi's descent must have been insane... only his 3rd time on the bike.

Kloden takes the lead! Astana's depth is boggling.

awesome stuff. he was only 4th to the halfway check!

Man, I love hearing Liggett and Sherwen commentating for two different channels at once.

Oh man, Christophe Moreau has a goatee. Dude. Don't.

Is it just me, or are clouds starting to gather?

Yeah, that road is getting wet. Twisty descents + rain = ulp.

loving the use of chunks of the grand prix circuit for this.

those garmin outfits with the flesh-coloured sleeves look terrible!

It's crunch time now.

good work from the director missing sastre's start there.

sastre is the rodney dangerfield of this tour.

wow... what a finish...

wiggins!

jeez, this is so tight.

cancellara!

lol, where did THAT come from

whew. amazing.

he overtook menchov, right?

Intermediate standings 7.5km

1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 0:11:22
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Columbia-HTC 0:11:27
3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin-Slipstream 0:11:28
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto 0:11:29
5 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0:11:30
6 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 0:11:30
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:11:31
8 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:11:32
9 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:11:39
10 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Slipstream 0:11:43

Finish times

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Saxo Bank 0:19:32
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 0:19:50
3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin-Slipstream 0:19:51
4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:19:54
5 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto 0:19:55
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0:20:02
7 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 0:20:04
8 Tony Martin (Ger) Columbia-HTC 0:20:05
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:20:09
10 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:20:12

fucking Astana...

what was Cancellara's split? amazing...

Ah man. Not exactly a neck-sticking-out, really, but an 18 second win, which was basically all made on that descent (actually, he was six seconds behind Contador at the top so it's more like 24)... so awesome.

And now he gets to spend the next three weeks killing himself for the Fabulous Flying Schleck Brothers. Which will also be quite cool.

Up next, a typically endearing audience with Mr Cavendish...

You sure those times are right? Thought he was level with Wiggins at t'top?

Yeah, those times are flawed... c/p'd from cyclingnews.com

cancellara is such a fucking hero

Wiggins also pretty hero-ish too, tho.

Wiggins looks like he'll have a lot more left in the tank tomorrow. Also Evans.

stupid Astana, stupid Menchov. ;)

kloeden on top of my dead pool. also, somebody from columbia. its in their blood.

is there better coverage than this at the moment:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/cycling/tour-de-france/live.html

okay there's this:
http://gaps.letour.fr/us.html

i dont get a versus feed for another hour+...

local telecast says michael rogers dropped his chain twice yesterday. fair effort to still be 20-somethingth!

Yesterday's prologue reminded me of the first time trial last year in that there were a whole load of top riders bunched together with times within a few seconds of each other (this year Wiggins was just 1 second behind Contador, last year Millar was a fraction of a second behind Kirchen) and then one person storming through to win by a huge margin. At least with Cancellara it's easier to believe that he wasn't rocket fueled (unlike Schumacher last year), especially as he got his advantage by descending like a maniac - I doubt there's a substance that can help you do that.

epinephrine

columbia picking up the chase, pulling some chunks out of the near five-minute gap that's been maintained by the breakaway for the last hour or more

Cavendish looking to move up the leaderboard...

lol

never in doubt

lol'd at a few of them going straight on at that corner though!

dude slid into a haybale on his side! hope he's okay... looked like a garmin slipstream rider?

lol'd at a few of them going straight on at that corner though!

It was a bit surreal. After that there just seemed to be 3 Columbia riders and Tyler Farrar left in the race, everyone else had disappeared.

team euskatel

was boonen tied up in it too? it looked like it was getting a bit willing in the pack as they approached that bend, but i couldn't really make out who was who at that point.

farrar needs a dude who can make it to 200 meters, on the front, elbow to elbow. garmin and dean did very well getting him up to the front in the chaos, but farrar needs more if hes really gonna go toe to toe with cavendish (who is still undeniably faster anyway, imo).

i thought the commentators undersold how difficult that finish was, sooooo wide and open for sooooo long, then roundabout, super highspeed right bend. all kinds of wrong people were bangin on the front.

cancel "imo" and insert "in fact and everyone's knowledge" fwiw

I thought it looked close from the head-on shot, then they showed it from above and Cavendish was about five lengths away. His team mates deserved his hugglez afterwards - they're like a machine.

Already I am getting yearnings to go to France - some of the roads they were on today were fab. I predict: horsies galloping alongside the riders tomorrow.

Boonen was in the smash.

Just saw the highlights and that was a perfect lead out by columbia there. Difficult finish to be sure, but columbia seemed so confident and in control, two people to lead cavendish out and there didn't seem to be any doubt.

Also what is with this planet armstrong guff on eurosport.

yeah they did seem to be supremely confident as a team they had it won miles down the road

I predict: horsies galloping alongside the riders tomorrow.

We went to see the Camargue in june, and it is such a lovely place. That goes for the whole of the Provence though. The beautiful lila coloured windows alone :) I want to live there someday.

Perfectly executed team moves are really one of the most exhilarating things about the Tour, and Columbia's domination of the stage was just gorgeous. Looking down the team lists, it's kinda interesting that Cav has number 71, putting him at the head of Columbia's line-up - with most, if not all, of the other teams, the de facto team leader heads the line-up, so given that Cav's team contains both Mick Rogers and Kim Kirchen, for him to be given that number suggests that Columbia are really gonna be focusing primarily on these finishes, which seems like a very rare thing, maybe not something that's happened since the days of Cippolini?

Of course, it could just be alphabetical...

I don't think it's alphabetical, but with a Cavendish who can win three or four stages, Columbia would have to bet on that. I don't see Rogers nor Kirchen making the GC top ten. They haven't been that good all year, and especially Kirchen (he's in my pool, so I'm not talking him down deliberately ;) ) tanked the first stage. I think Cavendish is basically all they've got. But it's a lot.

Oh yes, and the Boardman doc is really very good. An extraordinary man who manages to be massively ordinary at the same time.

loved the footage of him emailing his stats to his trainer, so mundane

It's on again at 2pm and 6pm tomorrow on ITV4.

I do like how level-headed he is about things, you can see why him and Imlach get on.

Perfectly executed team moves are really one of the most exhilarating things about the Tour, and Columbia's domination of the stage was just gorgeous. Looking down the team lists, it's kinda interesting that Cav has number 71, putting him at the head of Columbia's line-up - with most, if not all, of the other teams, the de facto team leader heads the line-up, so given that Cav's team contains both Mick Rogers and Kim Kirchen, for him to be given that number suggests that Columbia are really gonna be focusing primarily on these finishes, which seems like a very rare thing, maybe not something that's happened since the days of Cippolini?

Of course, it could just be alphabetical...

― William Bloody Swygart, Monday, 6 July 2009 08:10 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

didnt watch teh stage. Which Columbia dudes were in the train at the end? Assuming Rogers wasn't up there?

oh no rogers was right there to the last kilometre or so

rly. awesome!

nice gap

farrar needs a dude who can make it to 200 meters, on the front, elbow to elbow. garmin and dean did very well getting him up to the front in the chaos, but farrar needs more if hes really gonna go toe to toe with cavendish (who is still undeniably faster anyway, imo).

cancel "imo" and insert "in fact and everyone's knowledge" fwiw

farrar outsprinted cav earlier this season, just fyi...

Farrar wil win a stage this Tour.

hopefully the break away guys will make it today though. Would be awesome if Skil won a stage.

Stage 3 Tirreno-Adriatico
http://www.steephill.tv/2009/tirreno-adriatico/photos/stage-03//325-PIC10821139.jpg

Already I am getting yearnings to go to France - some of the roads they were on today were fab. I predict: horsies galloping alongside the riders tomorrow.

they had some cows on earlier!

my recollection of tirreno is that cavendish was out in the wind on that sprint for at least 250m or more. farrar was on him. i dont know if it was just circumstances or hubris, but cavendish made it very hard for himself iirc.

on the sprinter spectrum, farrar is a big guy with a lot of watts but moderate acceleration. those guys seem to do best, like cipo, with a long long high speed train where ultimately no one can get around.

cav is small, and he is the whole package. he can hold a lot of speed coming off a long leadout, as he did yesterday, but he also has a really good acceleration coming out of a tangle.

(the extreme of that end of the spectrum is mcewen, who was so explosive and tiny he didnt seem to need anybody's help, he could just dart through the pack, float for moment and then bang. of course he is also a legendary bike handler.)

id be stoked to see farrar win lots, esp after cav's comment about farrar not being on his level. but it would be tough for farrar even if the teams were level, which they are not.

xpost

and lo, the predicted Camargue horses galloped alongside

yes yes splits!

wakey wakey, contador

cant wait to see columbia's real ttt after this

so bummed at the press that Lance will get after this... ugh. bad for the sport.

fucken cav. nice strategy by columbia... tomorrow will be epic.

nearly 40 seconds! so much for that being a boring day.

v happy for rogers, he did a bunch of work.

cav should just become the crazy t.o. of cycling.

"hi, im on the phone and im not even breathing hard check it out"

hahaha

Was that what Cav meant? Look, I can phone and win at the same time with these bozo's? It looked extremely lame.

So, did Bruyneel give Lance the go ahead to destroy Contador there? Or was it a rational decision Bruyneel made, thinking 'okay they're 20 seconds away, I'm playing the Lance-card now'? (personally I think it's the first, though I'm not 100% sure of it)

so hincapie's angry demeanor and comments, basically "the other sprinters' teams were not doing their share, so we decided to make them pay," was that to garmin? cause i didnt watch the first part of the race, but i can imagine garmin saving themselves for tomorrow and a shot at wiggins in yellow. so much for that.

the coverage stated that the stiff headwind turned suddenly (bend in the route) into a mean crosswind and that the timing of the Columbia team making the move en masse to swallow up the breakaway pack (btw kudos to those 4 for staying ahead of the peloton) was indeed at a very opportune time and that there was generally mass confusion in the front of the peloton once the columbia team attacked in the chevron formation to counter the crosswind, which created the initial gap that they built on.

did that make any sense? i could give it another go...

yeah, i got that, but hincapie seemed to be saying that while they didnt plan in detail ahead of time, they all knew to stay together and that the second they got any opportunity it was go time, no questions. so fortuitous, but not accidental, and with animus.

that makes it even more magical... it was like a gust of wind right when the breakaway was being overtaken and then there were two groups. pretty sure that during the final unsuccessful pursuit the announcers said at one point the peloton was split into 5 parts?

Wow. That was impressive. Columbia are one hell of a team. I'm pleased that Cavendish won, but I thought that was odds-on anyway, so I'm actually a bit disappointed that Wiggins has lost ground in the overall because he had a real chance of getting yellow tomorrow. The situation with Astana is amusing - I could see them splitting into two or three factions before the end of the race.

Just watched the highlights and Cav said that they were planning to break earlier, but the wind hadn't been right. Columbia were frikkin awesome though, like the re army team of the 50s, beautiful.

Lance says - "this is all nonsense about who is the leader, I've won 7 tours so give me some credit, but why can't there be two leaders" hmmm mixed message there Lance.

red army that should be of course

'Mixed' message? The cat's out of the bag, that's what it is!

hey, you guys are making me want armstrong to win so i can make a mint selling fainting couches. *back of hand to forehead with agonized look*

plus hes not gonna win and the melodrama is teh awez

A hint for the other teams: don't believe a word that Mark Cavendish says.

Before the Milan-San Remo he was deliberately pretending to be suffering on climbs in the Tirreno-Adriatico so that nobody thought he could get over them. Then he told everyone that he was just riding Milan-San Remo to see what it was like, but didn't think he had a chance of winning it this early in his career. Come the day, he makes it over the climbs with the leaders and wins the race at the first attempt.

Before today's stage he said the pressure was off Columbia now that he'd bagged the first stage win and that they would take it easy before the team time trial and let some other teams do some work up front. Come the race, Columbia all go to the front and blast their way right off before setting up another Cavendish win.

He says he's not really going for the green jersey this year, just stage wins. I doubt that somehow.

Before the Milan-San Remo he was deliberately pretending to be suffering on climbs in the Tirreno-Adriatico so that nobody thought he could get over them. Then he told everyone that he was just riding Milan-San Remo to see what it was like, but didn't think he had a chance of winning it this early in his career. Come the day, he makes it over the climbs with the leaders and wins the race at the first attempt.

you do not really believe this

It's what he claimed.

I have no reason to doubt him. Er....apart from the fact that nobody should believe a word he says.

wait nevermind i totally misunderstood your post, sorry!

Hmm, a big thing on Dutch television today was the fit Cavendish and Rooyakkers had in the 2nd stage. They were both pushing and pulling eachother. Cavendish afterwards said "Rooyakkers hould be ashamed of himself", and that he "should show some respect to the Tour de France by keeping his hands on the steering wheel". In the video of the incident, it's clear that both riders were hands of the wheel pulling and punching eachother. Cavendish tried to come out angelic out of that, but it was obvious they both were at fault. It lowered my respect for Mark "hands on the wheel!" Cavendish, 's what's for sure.

xps the phone thing was obv a 'thanking u' to the new sponser. whatta pro for doing that too!

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/tourdefrance/renshaw-does-all-the-hard-work-as-cavendish-takes-the-spoils/2009/07/06/1246732285715.html

lol australian media in stealing of thunder shocker

lols:

Astana was fined 65 euros (about $90) for being late to sign in for Monday’s stage despite considerable traffic at the port of Marseille near the start. Riders must usually sign in at least 20 minutes before the race, but the team missed that cutoff. “Today, and as usual, the Astana team arrived late at the prestage registration, in contempt of the crowd, who has once again not seen Lance Armstrong,” said Jean-Francois Pescheux, the Tour’s competitions director, according to Reuters.

there are rumors that Armstrong had prior knowledge of the attack...

This article puts the onus on Contador tho:
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/contador-didnt-follow-the-break-says-french-racer-22304

Well, yeah, it's obvious Contador couldn't follow, so in that regard he can be to blame for this. But Armstrong could also have teamed with Columbia to make it happen. Don't forget his great friend Hincapie is with Columbia.

Big George Hincapie, don't you mean?

Bloody ITV, cocking up my Humax again. Last week I got the first four minutes of Gossip Girl before it cut out; yesterday I got the first 25 minutes of the Tour highlights programme. I had to watch Cav's win on the news :(

But boy oh boy, did the Columbia team look good. I am really looking forward to the team time trial now, as much for the lovely graphic quality of a group of cyclists in the same colours, heads down and going for it, as for the race itself.

thanks for coming out today, denis menchov!

thanks for coming out today, denis menchov!

I thought at first you meant out of the drugs closet. But that'll happen soon enough in all likelihood!

pure carnage

bbox 4 riders spill taking a corner too fast. i hate TT/tri bikes (bars/geometry) on curvy courses.

A lot of oufs and boffs from the french comentators regarding garming being down to 5 riders before the second splits, an oh la la as well.

sometimes it is strategy to drop riders.

like you would in a lead out train.

garmin (only 5 riders) have posted the fasted split through checkpoint 1.

sorry that would be checkpoint 2.

cancellera almost bites it on that same corner that people have been crashing all day.

astana equals garmin at chkpt 1

garmin's 5 riders are continuing to set the pace at 75% finished. -0:31 faster than liquigas.

lance may take the yellow jersey based on their 2nd time chkpt.

he's 2 seconds off cancellara atm.

lance in yellow

looks like a virtual tie atm

130 thousands of a second, Cancellara still in yellow

oh snap!

hahahaha!

OVERALL STANDING ON TIME

* 1.CANCELLARA F.
SAX
10h 38' 07"
* 2.ARMSTRONG L.
AST
00' 00"
* 3.CONTADOR A.
AST
00' 19"
* 4.KLÖDEN A.
AST
00' 23"
* 5.LEIPHEIMER L.
AST
00' 31"
* 6.WIGGINS B.
GRM
00' 38"
* 7.ZUBELDIA H.
AST
00' 51"

5 riders in the top 7

Cor.
[img=http://d.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/ng/sp/p5/20090707/16/153560218.jpg]

Um.
[img=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3661/3698461856_ba2b0ab454.jpg]

Doh.
http://d.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/ng/sp/p5/20090707/16/153560218.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3661/3698461856_ba2b0ab454.jpg

"The seven-time Tour champion received the congratulations of his teammates after the finish - one notable exception - Alberto Contador."

itv highlights promising to get to the bottom of the astana thing did not deliver, but that was good entertainment.

The seven-time Tour champion received the congratulations of his teammates after the finish - one notable exception - Alberto Contador."

there was no reason to congratulate. no yellow no glory. ;)

I'm not sure that fractions of a second have ever made me quite so happy before.

this is my idea of hell. lance will of course win again. BARFtastic

Wait for the mountains, dude. Saxo aren't really a time of time-trial giants, but they've still got the nucleus of the team that helped take Sastre to the title last year via accelerating like bastards. Of course, that was without Contador and Armstrong in the race... and now Sastre's on another team...

Still, I think the one concrete lesson from the day is that Cadel Evans will not be your winner, unless he can somehow take the entire field on his own.

If yesterday's Columbia-inspired split hadn't happened, this would be the leaderboard now:

1) Contador (Astana)
2) Kloden (Astana) at 4s
3) Leipheimer (Astana) at 12s
4) Wiggins (Garmin) at 12s
5) Cancellara (Saxobank) at 22s
6) Armstrong (Astana) at 22s

...which is even more astonishingly dominant.

I'm trying to follow people's opinions on this thread: De Grote Tour 2008 draad but I'm having some trouble.

as an oldster, im sayin:

lolz ben stiller u old get one dignity

how does danny pate not stay on garmin's train, hes a former junior world champion at tt

lance armstrong = sarah palin

^^^was that posted?

Bill Gifford, editor at large of Men's Journal, has written about cycling for a decade.

my brayne

in short, that guy hates LA

I feel sorry for Cadel btw :/

he seemed like he had such a good lead-up to the race, too. u__u

RIP Cadel Evans, Darwin needed a runner-up.

Look for me just after the 200m board, left hand side direction of race.

columbia and garmin joint pursuit effort has achieved an uphill speed of 65km/h!!!

Awsome

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2456/3700456605_eef0035ece_t.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2490/3701264758_e017140f40_t.jpg

Tidbits like that are useful as we have not too much idea of what's going on.

Ed: 6 runners up front, Columbia/Garmin leading the chase of the peloton. They've got them on a string, the six are 3m28 ahead but the peloton controls it.

Distance to finish?

107km for the six, peloton averages 39 km/u

89km down, 108km to go.

the chase is sure to be swallowed in the next 30 minutes, right now the analysts are positive that columbia will attempt a similar group breakaway by end of race due to the high winds. most are prediciting within 40-60km to go. lance was last seen sitting next to hincapie in the top 15 peloton riders fwiw.

The six up front: Voeckler, Hutarovic, Geslin, Sapa, Timmer, Ignatiev. Ignatiev is highest in GC (39th) at 3.02 from jaune.

or "Garmin-Slipstream has shouldered the majority of the pacemaking so far, keeping the breakaway within reach. Columbia-HTC is also lending a hand, showing that both teams are sniffing for a field sprint.

Like stage 3, the wide open landscape near the sea is likely to produce high winds. As such, look for teams to be more attentive on the front of the race so as not to get caught on the wrong end of any splits."

@Steve, I can't see Columbia doing that again. The last 20 km they make a U-turn and are faced with the wind in their face.

xp

Have fun at the finish line Ed!

just reported that the cancellara's lead is the thinnest in tour history.

@Steve, I can't see Columbia doing that again. The last 20 km they make a U-turn and are faced with the wind in their face.

xp

― young depardieu looming out of void in hour of profound triumph (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, July 8, 2009 6:06 AM (34 minutes ago)

well then why are all the heavy hitters looking nervous and staying at the front of the peloton in what would seem to be an inconsequential stage?

You're right. It's when they make the turn for the last 25 km the wind comes from the front, which makes it more likely foree the peloton to break into pieces. I got it backwards.

everyone who is in contention is nervously sitting at the front of the peloton atm

the big right turn towards the coast (and winds) is coming in abt 15-20 mins. everybody's on edge.

breakaway is still 4 minutes ahead coming off this long, final descent.

here they go....

ie, everyone who is in contention is nervously sitting at the front of the peloton atm

the big right turn towards the coast (and winds) is coming in abt 15-20 mins. everybody's on edge.

they just erased 30 seconds off the breakaway in 2 minutes.

65km/h peloton is stretched across 500m

just as predicted, the peloton is split in 4 distinct pieces.

gesink fell hard in the mtns and is bleeding hard, struggling with 2 of his teammates to get back to one of the pelotons.

Caravan here at the finish.

wow at view of sea

35km to go

breakaway is <60secs ahead

peloton is almost back to one group

peloton is rejoined, the breakaway group is in sight with 20km to go

Really windy here at the finish, bits of bark being blown off the trees. Ed

breakaway of 6 may have a chance... 1:20 with 10km to go...

columbia will need to do something special...

gesink abandoned his attempt to rejoin the peloton but he's now looking just to finish

Gesink's team boss told Dutch radio he probably has a small crack in his wrist. Which would mean Exit Gesink :'-(

Looks like they're gonna make it!

Well NOT if they're gonna fuck about like this! Crazy

the 2 katusha riders are aggressively attacking away from the breakaway group... exciting but could be ultimately costly

Huge gap already for Voeckler

voeckler makes a huge move with 4.5km to go... looks like a stage victory?

3km to go w/ 45 second lead

voeckler looks awesome

2km w/ 44 seconds

timmer is coming in 5-6 seconds back...

Timmer 8 secs behind Voeckler

looking for ed now

cavendish 3rd

nice rebound for voeckler after a disastrous TTT for bbox

We thought voekler had fucked it when he went early.

Ed it was Ignatiev who blew up the lead group and went away first. Voeckler should thank him!

wait i just went to the versus website and surfer stiller is talking, why

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/aldag-frustrated-by-pelotons-tactics

srsly, in the end, you must shut up and get your boys pedaling--sometimes having the best sprinter in the world is NOT FAIR. "ooohhhh we'll just take our green jersey and go home." waaaah.

I actually thought there was a lot of drama for such an inconsequential stage! but yeah, frustrated because they can't run their conventional strategy pretty much = fail from a mgmt perspective.

Gesink broke his wrist and is out :(

I have a picture of gesink getting led in, which I will upload when I get the chance, his wrist doesn't really line up how it should.

Aye, quality stuff today, again - it's been very good so far, hasn't it? Voeckler was proper value. Though it's also made me think - five days in, Sylvan Chavanel hasn't tried to do anything yet.

it's been very good so far, hasn't it?

hell yeah! can't remember the last tour that was this interesting.

THOMAS VOECKLER, YOU AND YOUR PANACHE

Today we are at the summit of the collsacreu. Just after the enormous norwegian flag on the left hand side and the huge catalan flag painted on the road.

Just on he right, green jersey.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/3703213409_10e59cb724_t.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2562/3704021660_345dc4e85d_t.jpg

What's the weather like there Ed? Barcelona's in heavy rain and thunder right now!

Pretty grey here, a few spots of rain, descent could be dicey in the rain. New, very new tarmac.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3535/3704078754_0bec419ffe_t.jpg

Thunder now here at the col.

Though it's also made me think - five days in, Sylvan Chavanel hasn't tried to do anything yet.

Come day 6...

It's such a pity Gesink's out. From a dutch point of view there's not much to expect anymore :-(

Really raining now on the col, millar may have made a smart move there.

We can see the helicopters over the coast now.

as soon as i heard about a long uphill sprint i remembered millar, i think in last year's giro, when his chain broke. hope he gets another shot here.

Millar vs Freire in the final would be sweet

farrar went down

Millar is off, like a rocket

Millar could capture the MJ if he keeps this up...

And Boonen goes down...

oh god he might juuuuuust hold them off

its gonna be close....

thor!

poor millar was fucked as soon as they hit the climb, what a shame.

from the Mick Taylor thread:

c'mon scotland...

― (*ﾟーﾟ)θ L(。･＿･)　　　°~ヾ(･ε･ *) (Steve Shasta), Thursday, July 9, 2009 8:13 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

caught with 1.1km to go

― (*ﾟーﾟ)θ L(。･＿･)　　　°~ヾ(･ε･ *) (Steve Shasta), Thursday, July 9, 2009 8:14 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha sorry, wrong thread.

― (*ﾟーﾟ)θ L(。･＿･)　　　°~ヾ(･ε･ *) (Steve Shasta), Thursday, July 9, 2009 8:19 AM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

loool

That was a lot of fun. Did millar completely bonk and come out of the back of the peleton?

I was interviewed at length by some american documentary makers who were really focussing on the drugs angle.

when you get caught with 1k to go,a nd the level of effort you were most likely putting forth, there's nowhere to go but backwards

cutty posted a great article discussing the euro/american cultural rift wrt cycling.

from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED nonetheless:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/the_bonus/07/07/tour/index.html

Haha Ed if they're looking for cyclists on drugs, just send them to EC1.

Great article. nearly stopped reading when it said "If Belgium is the West Virginia of Europe", but it really pays off.

I know this will piss Steve off, but I get this feeling every time I hear how long baseball suspensions are: "Surely that wasn't the end of it, I thought. A rider had been caught doping in the Tour de Friggin' France ... and he would start the next morning?"

naw dude, i think i have more of european attitude w/r/t PEDs than most of the ILB crew. probably one of the few things me and morbs agreed on most on ILB is the rich history of PEDs and cheating in baseball that puritans seem to think only developed in the late 80s.

that's what i mean — i can't help but get all pompous and shocked (and "american" per that article) about the attitude of MLB to doping, which still seems more casual and less open than the attitude of pretty much any other sport, but i don't give a shit about it in cycling. me and my double standards.

yeah but doesn't "doping" in baseball = bigger dudes slugging more homers, which kinda makes the game less interesting? i'm not a baseball dude, so i don't really know if roids have actually changed the quality of the game, but it seems like they would?

besides the sheer grinding audacity of competing in the tour, it seems to me that a lot of the interest comes from tactical moves and what have you. i dunno, it's like i'd be more disappointed by chris hoy doping than i would lance or whoever.

speaking of which: is doping as prevalent in track cycling as it is in road racing? world cup mtbing? like the article suggests, i think part of what underwrites the blase euro attitude w/r/t doping is that it's practically ~necessary~ for something as horrible for your body as the tour. dopers are given an advantage, but its really not going to be the crucial difference between winning and losing

whereas doping for 200m of sprinting means that the whole point of the exercise---to figure out who is the better physical specimen in this v narrow way---gets taken out at the knees

What that article seems to ignore is that there does seem to have been a genuine attempt to clean up cycling over the last few years, spearheaded by the French, and that the Tour de France is *probably* much 'cleaner' now than it was 5 or 10 years ago, so some of the resentment towards Armstrong is actually because he is seen to represent the (supposedly 'old') culture of doping and is intruding into the dreams of the new-clean-era.

I'm not sure I've quite managed to get across what I'm trying to say there. I mean, the article is kind of saying "we Americans are so *puritan* about doping and tend to see the world in black-and-white good-and-evil, while the Europeans are so sophisticated and just shrug about it", but I don't think that's really the case everywhere in Europe nowadays.

I think the subtext of that article is that everyone in Europe knows that Lance was probably involved with PEDs and didn't get caught while the average American is positive he achieved his success without the benefit of any illegal PEDS.

Armstrong went on to subvert the guild even more than LeMond had. "It wasn't just that he had one goal, the Tour," Gilley says. "He built a team around himself. He used the latest in science and technology. He commanded a superstar salary. And he talked about conquest and battle and manifest destiny, all American concepts."

But in one critical respect Armstrong did go native...

^^^ made me lol

never go native

heard farrar and rogers are out of race? any confirmation?

gbx as doping in baseball goes steroids is in some ways the least of it. pretty much everyone on the field is on speed of some sort or another, up to and probably sometimes including the umpire and the ballboys.

hunt3r the local press here says rogers is still in - they thought he migh've broken his elbow but that's not the case.

first climb begins, small group 7'20" ahead of main contenders, 13km to go.

cancellara looks in trouble

bye bye cancellara

cancellara has cracked :(

c'mon martinez

evans takes off

praying to allah that nocentini holds on

contador attacks!!!

and how!

what's that big black hoop thing at the 1km marker??

contador and armstrong are tied!

holy shit

nocentini in yellow! :D contador/armstrong tied for 2nd

8 seconds back

we've got contador leading armstrong by 2 secs

we've = eurosport

yes, just got official stats: cont @ 6 secs back, armstrong @ 8

this is the real deal

Contador was incredible. Armstrong actually looked lost out there.

i hope lance finishes far, far behind in the end

Bradley Wiggins - you are a hero!

i hope lance finishes far, far behind in the end

And won't that be a goddamn treat if he does.

WIGGINS!!!

I mean, obviously he won't actually win, but this is probably the first time that I can remember where there's a British bloke not looking utterly lost in the mountains, and it's really rather marvellous. Grand ride from Feillu for the stage win too, obv.

Two other great things:

1) Gary Imlach's sport jacket

2) Lance attempting to be all "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO SCORES, IT'S THE THREE POINTS THAT MATTER" at the end, all the while having the proverbial face that could advertise war.

i thought Wiggins was supposed to be a time trial specialist (and then even 1 km prologues or something) well done indeed.

Alberto looks certain to be the winner. hope the Schleck bros will bring the good stuff soon, Cancellara is gone anyway, time for some real CSC action. (wait Saxo Bank now)

The worrying thing for the Saxos was how quick Jens Voigt seemed to get dropped today. I mean, he's obviously getting on in years a bit now, but for the iron man to be off the front that quickly isn't a good sign. Astana have really stolen the role of pacesetters from them.

what's crazy is that Astana has 4 riders in the top 6 in the General Classification all within a one minute of the leader... and one of those riders (Levi) was in a wreck about 12km to go and he still finished

I'm probably less of a LA fan than most of you guys but dude was the consummate teammate today, there's no way Contador would be 6 seconds off the lead without him. He did most of the hard work to reel in that breakaway once they hit the ascent up Arcalis.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/wp-content/photos/tour37.jpg

some nice photos: http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2009/07/10/the-first-week-of-the-tour-de-france/

i hope lance finishes far, far behind in the end

And won't that be a goddamn treat if he does.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, July 10, 2009 10:19 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark

im interested in your take ned.

thanks for the link caek-- ha, im a denver post subscriber, but i would never otherwise have seen these wonderful pictures. a very good collection to this point.

Wiggins really showing that he can climb now, really hoping for more of this and hoping he can keep it up for a top 10 finish in paris.

I seem to be picking up that he rather dislikes being called Bradley - one of his interviewers half apologised for doing so early on in the tour, and the commentators have begun calling him Brad, when they remember. I'm just disappointed all his hair has gone. Oh, and I think he's great obv :)

Watching tomorrow's stage is going to be fab because it runs through Ste Marie de Campan, where I spent virtually every Easter holiday between the ages of 5 and 15 and La Mongie, where I learned to ski. Unfortunately they're taking the long way from Ste Marie to Tarbes - I know the route via Bagneres like the back of my hand. But it'll still be great!

I can't quite work out what's going on on this first climb, but I think Wiggins and Evans are in two separate groups, both ahead of the yellow jersey and the Astana big guns.

yeah seems like a useless attack by Cadel. (but at least he's trying something)

Wiggins' group seems to have merged with the yellow jersey group now, but Evans' one is still clear.

Hushovd in chase group too, with Cav in the peloton.

good luck australia

oscar pereiro out

L'equipe had a small piece called "Wiggins, Grimpeur Surprise" yesterday. Says he is now 72kg in his 1.9m frame, maybe he can be a gc contender in the next few years. Not sure if it can happen but one good attack and maybe we can have a brit in yellow in the second week for the first time in forever. (Although would concievably have to get a yellow jersey to go with the green one)

Also, I forgot to mention that my tour swag includes an arrow (de rigeur for any camper van following the tour to have one of these) and the ultimate prise a tour roundabout sign. (Ok, so the ultimate prize is more likely a water bottle or the mythical discarded wheel/helmet/bike).

Surely the ultimate prize is a yellow jersey?

A handful of bloody gravel?

Bob Roll's guest punditry on ITV yesterday was a masterclass in culture-clashing - he'd clearly done US TV before, but not UK, so whenever he answered Imlach's questions he kept turning round to look into the camera, not realising: a) UK pundits deliver their answers to the programme's host; b) he was being filmed from the front, not the left-hand side. As a result, every time Bob gave his opinion, he started off looking at Gary and then turning all the way round so it looked like he'd been distracted by, like, a ghost or something.

Also, Nico Roche's accent is awesome, this sort of half-French half-Irish hybrid so he's got the Wenger "errrr" and the Sonia O'Sullivan "y'know" going on simultaneously. S'quite something.

andy schleck cops a flat 4km out from stage finish, jens tows him back. where does he get the energy from??

Because they stuck the finishes so far from the big mountains, this has been a back-to-front opening to the Tour. Normally the first week is pretty dull until they hit the mountains and it all gets lively. Instead, this has been the one of the most exciting first weeks followed by not much happening at all in the Pyrenees.

Need some kind of running log of riders whose names Liggett and Sherwen preface with "big". So far I've spotted Hincapie, Zabriskie and Voigt. Possibly also Michael Rogers, unless I've confused that with "Poor old", which is his usual handle.

The pyrenees have been completely meh, haven't they? I did expect some action on the cols today, what with it being a rest day tomorrow.

Was Hincapie was the original 'big'? That's definitely been going for several years. At least somebody has told them how to pronounce Kreuzinger now.

Also, argh, it is the Col d'Aspin, not Col de l'Aspin.

Big Mig is the original Big.

Oh, and BIG Thor Hushovddd, of course.

Slowly going through my tour shots and this is my favourite from the perpignan finish:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2661/3718767610_cf2f8c1aa8.jpg

Things found in the camera:

the top half of eric zabel's head.

ed that photo's great

Seconded.

Agreed that the Pyrenees were boring save for Contador's attack on Stage 7. Everyone's just going to hedge their bets until Mont Ventoux, and good thing there's an ITT to shake things up before that, otherwise we'd be looking at one of the most boring Tours ever (in terms of action on GC).

On to today:

What do riders do if they need to talk to their DS and don't have a radio? They fall back to the car for a chat, and that is just what Armstrong just did. His comment on the radio ban: "Then we can just ride with woolen jerseys and a tire around our necks, like in the old days."

I LOLOLed

Need to get back on the cocaine and brandy, that'll give things a kick.

yeah and try cheating by taking a train :)

no doping cases yet! when was last year's first one? and which one was it.. that Cofidis guy, or some Spanish Barloworld kid... hmm. never mind.

looked it up, it was Beltran.

and i think the ones i were thinking of were the year before :)

I rather like this pic from mark renshaw, Cav's lead out guy, recovering from a wrong turn on his rest day training ride.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/full/17159551.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1247577335&Signature=mKaLyRbrLwMsdk2rhXpvU9mP4Co%3D

Ludo, I've been thinking the same thing - not a single rider, let alone a whole team, out so far. And of course, now I've jinxed it and they'll announce the first one later on.

i'm not sure if any of you are reading "as the toto turns" but this is a great one:

http://nyvelocity.com/content/toto/2009/toto-turns-144

Time to reel in the break and get Columbia to the front...

Cav points at the green on his glasses as he crossed the line, but I think Thor keeps the jersey?

For now.

Thor has a pretty good chance by coming second or third to Cav on the race finishes and then picking up the intermediates on the Barrodeur stages. I expect him to get more points from the Vittel-Colmar stage and maybe colmar-besancon.

Wiggins has mysteriously slipped to 7th place. They've got half the bunch finishing 15 seconds down (and he was in that half), but presumably that was due to the crash right near the end - so surely they should all get the same time?

I think the crash was outside the cutoff point for such things

OK, I just read the rules and that provision only applies to the riders who actually crash the rest are SOL if they are held up by it.

Would pay to throw yourself on the floor then?

I was thinking that, however the instinct not to fall off may be too strong.

Yeah, probably best avoided at thirty-odd mph.

BIGWATCH: didn't spot any today - there was definitely at least one "little Sammy Dumoulin", tho.

Cav devastating again. I'd disagree that the Pyrenees were necessarily boring: certainly there's not been much GC action thus far, cos they're all waiting the Alps, but I found the breakaway victories pretty entertaining. LL Cool Sanchez straight-up gaming Sandy Casar for his stage win was particularly marvellous.

thought I heard a Big George Hincapie today on the lead-in (which was absolutely exemplary, especially in the face of Farrar's little go)

more snaps: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2009/07/tour-de-france-enters-the-seco.html?mi_atom=The%20Frame

http://media.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/images/july09/tourde_sm/tourde19.jpg

what is cav looking at?

It has taken me all week to realise that cav phone celebration gesture is all about their sponsors, HTC, making phones, I am an idiot.

Incidentally, this is the Gesink photo I have, notice how his wrist doesn't line up properly:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2627/3721546483_68834b7a01_b.jpg

dried blood is cool. what are the yellow things on the derailleurs?

transponders I think?

http://www.engadget.com/2004/07/19/counting-every-second-a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-timing-and/

oic thx2u

not sure why they put them there, seems vulnerable and not particularly aerodynamic, but whatevs.

When Hincapie took over the lead-out on the ITV4 evening programme, they definitely did not call him Big - I was listening out for it!

what was the track they played at the end of the itv4 show last night?

(bibio - jealous of roses. needs rub n tug treatment, nice though)

Incidentally the judges, gave everyone held up by the crash the same time as the rest of the peleton this morning.

Modification du classement de l’étape 10

Le président du jury des commissaires annonce à l’instant qu’après une étude approfondie du classement, des images et des écarts réels constatés, il a été décidé de classer tous les coureurs jusqu’à la 158ème place dans le temps du vainqueur. La correction concerne les coureurs ayant été enregistrés dans un premier temps avec un retard de 15’’, dont Wiggins et Leipheimer.

Good.

cav back in green.

Hurrah, but I think Colombia will need to do more work to defend it over the next week.

Cav equals Barry Hoban's British record for stage wins eh?

That was pretty sweet, when was there last such a dominating sprint team? I suppose US Postal with Lance were capable of winning most stages, whereas High road can ace the sprints but what can they do in the mountains?

In terms of teams with dominating trains... I'm tempted to say maybe Saeco, back in the glory days of Cippo, but I honestly can't recall how good they really were, and I vaguely remember Cippo being a bit of a pickpocket on the line in any case, certainly not the kind of fella who can hold on from the moment his last man goes like Cav does. I remember BIG Julian "The Bullet" Dean was meant to be one of the very best lead-out men a few years ago... trouble is, I can't remember who for. In short, I suspect Hunter and Shasta are the men who might know.

High Road's mountain capabilities are the reason why I'm confused about Cav having #71, designating him as their leader - Big George, Tony Martin, Kim Kirchen and Poor Old Mick Rogers can all more than handle themselves in the peaks, so it seems like a peculiar kind of pragmatism on the team's part: they've got a fistful of riders who could go for GC, but, in the face of Astana and Saxo, none who you'd honestly say are likely to win it (though one gets the feeling Martin is likely to have a serious pop in the years to come), so I was thinking their primary role might be to make sure Cav makes it to Paris OK; however, given that Cav's usually been safely ensconced with the survival pack in the mountains thus far, I'm not sure quite how many of his team have been back there supporting him.

I think it is partly about pragmatism for the sponsors. HTC and Columbia both sell in the UK and they are getting their logos on a lot of TV and all the papers. Martin is going to place high in the GC and may hold onto the white Jersey, so its not like they aren't contesting and you may see some attacking done on the peaks by the other riders who may well just be saving it for the Alps along with everyone else. Also, as I have said before Columbia may need to defend the green jersey from Hushovd on some intermediate sprints at some point.

I expect there will be much more done to support Tony Martin in the Alps, I'm sure he is going to pick his day to attack and you'll see Columbia support that.

I heard the assistent team leader of Columbia, an Italian (forgot his name), go into this in detail on the radio today. He did specifically say they built this Tour squad around Cavendish. Tony Martin is considered to be someone for the future, this is his 'learning Tour'. Kirchen had the worst possible preparation ofcourse (after his fall in the Giro). They've built this Tour team around Cavendishh this year.

That just seems like common sense to me. Obviously you'd focus more on someone who can win multiple stages (four last year, four so far, who knows how many by the end) and has a good chance of winning the green jersey, than doing your best to grab 8th place on the GC.

Roffles, somebody wrote in to the ITV evening programme asking how big George Hincapie is! (Answer: 6' 3") It was good to see the other teams attempting to interfere with the Columbia plan in the last couple of kilometres yesterday, rather than rolling over and having their tummies tickled again.

L'equipe is reporting this morning that the Italians are accusing (charging?) 30 people in their doping enquiry but don't say who. Looking forward to the Grand St Bernard already.

Big Lance just had to pull off with a derailleur adjustment.

heard a few shoutouts to Big Bernhard Eisel yesterday.

I am liking this interview with the Garmin Manager.

His shirt and sideburns are horrible though

The online Versus coverage did not cut away from the race, I feel as if I missed out there.

Also, they seem not to be giving any sound for the interviews.

I noticed they mute the sound if the interview is not in English and then cut to sound if the interview changes to English.

But no interpretation, or commentary a lot of the time, and I can speak or at least understand a fair few of the languages they are likely to be speaking, very annoying.

if you turn it wayyyyy up, you can still hear it... but then you risk a rude awakening when they cut back to sound. :)

Brilliant ride from Quite Emphatically Not Big Nicki Sorensen (his arms... you can literally see every muscle. And tendon). Really very thrilling conclusion.

Also Ned Boulting acting all like "People have been asking how to get our theme tune as a ringtone" - You sure that's the one they actually want?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=243BJu0zB50

I love that tune, bloody marvellous.

Missed today's shenanigans completely, this saddens me.

Great work, WBS! When I saw that Ned Boulting feature I actually said to my wife that I wanted the original 80s Channel 4 tune as a ringtone instead. I've just this minute gone onto the computer to look for it on youtube, so you've saved me the bother.

There's more than one version on Youtube - you can find lots of them here, but I'm embedding this one for Classic Liggett Action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEQ3NwgbHsI

Also, the other week, the Sport Is A TV Show blog put up what he reckons is the source piece...

Brilliant. And a quick google of 'Pete shelley'+'Tour de France' led me to a site where you can get the ringtone for free.

ysi?

http://audiko.net/ringtone/Pete+Shelley/Tour+De+France+Theme

Damn, wish I had a mobile that worked with. I'll nab it when I get home, tho. Just in case.

that + soul limbo + grandstand + the football trumpet (MOTD, no idea what its is actually called) + the chain + the snooker one = sports themes of my childhood.

That snooker one is classic. The old TDF one is great because it makes you feel tension and excitement (and worked really well with the visuals with the rider in the different jerseys). The modern ITV4 is a bit wrong: it seems to be designed to make you think "ah, we're having a lovely relaxing holiday in rural France" instead of "who's going to win? I can't wait to find out".

thnkngU

the knack for picking (or writing) sports theme songs seems to have died out. All those ones seem to encapsulate something about the sport (add in the Ski sunday one as well), the chain especially seems to exemplify everything that is missing from modern formula one.

I have no idea what the ITV tune sounds like.

James Murphy/LCD Soundsystem's "45:33" is pretty great though (quite long for a theme tho), you've heard that Ed?

Wow, Phil Liggett looks like he's doing the Peter Cushing role in a Baskervilles remake up there.

I have not, but I will try and seek it out.

xp

BBC saying Leipheimer's out with a fractured wrist.

'The damage. Sucks...'

Loving Mr L's holiday sweater.

Is that an old festina top?

Shaping up nicely today, fast first hour, Garmin clearly want someone in the breakaway or want it to end, decent climbs, maybe a new yellow jersey holder at the end of the day.

as soon as i read leipheimer's post race "surprisingly, i'm fine" or whatever yesterday, i thought "uh oh, he's gone."

i dont think ive ever seen guys actually racing in flappy drag-chute jackets.

Who are we going to loose to the cobbles at the bottom of the last climb?

Haussler out on his own with 28km to go. Will any of the favourites attack on the final climb (coming up any minute)?

they have to. c'mon Andy!

So bummed out reading the comments to Levi's twitpic... "Who will help Lance?", "Will Lance be okay?"...

"Getting post race massage. Listening to the Garden State soundtrack. So good. Shins, Iron and Wine, Remy Zero, Simon and Garfunkel, etc.
about 22 hours ago from UberTwitter"

at this stage he has to be trolling, right?

I thought that was Cadel Evans shooting off the front, but apparently it's Wegelius.

no Andy

Andy Schleck out of contention?

awesome work from 'aussie heinrich'

think they towed andy back to the group, the bike change was pretty slick! lucky for him that the organisers shit-canned the radio ban for today's stage.

Yawn. The leaders group stays together. Again.

should i even tune in tomorrow?

Overheard in a supermarket where TVs are sold - they were showing today's finish on all of the big flat screen ones and two little kids were watching while their mom was waiting at the electronics counter.

Kid 1 (boy, about three or four I'd guess) "Why is he crying?"

His sister, about five, immediate reply: "because he's lonely."

I lol'd.

Dutch newspapers are reporting Oscar Freire, get this, GOT SHOT IN HIS LEG WITH AN AIRGUN today. Teammate Garaté heard three shots, one piercing into Oscarito's leg. He's got a wound but looks able to start tomorrow. Jesus fucking christ.

viva le france!

banter!

Dutch newspapers are reporting Oscar Freire, get this, GOT SHOT IN HIS LEG WITH AN AIRGUN today. Teammate Garaté heard three shots, one piercing into Oscarito's leg. He's got a wound but looks able to start tomorrow. Jesus fucking christ.

apparently Julian Dean was also hit. this is like the ol' days, angry mobs blocking the roads, attacking rider hehe. The Rabobank team really has their worst/most unlucky Tour ever.

<3 haussler's accent

scary pelletgun attack.

armstrong's riding looked ok, better than at the start of the tour, but i dont ever remember seeing his expression look like it did on the last big climb. he looked somewhere between nervous and uncomfortable.

apparently he was very very cold

nothing more tweets about garden state ost wont cure

The two 16-year old kids who shot at the riders were apprehended.

BIg George Hincapie in virtual yellow.

At least two big thors today.

spectator killed by a motorbike

terrible

local tv just came back from the break with a montage of big george on the break, set to 'you can make it if you try' by sly and the family stone!

wtf pic on belgian newspaper site (warning: dead woman) http://www.hln.be/static/FOTO/pe/17/9/14/media_xl_967649.jpg

attack attack

ivanov, dang

Poor Big George - five seconds shy. Not much anyone could have done about Ivanov, to be fair, he timed it perfect and no-one could stick with him.

Also Cav nearly squiding Big Thor into the barricades at the end - this green jersey race just got some serious needle, eh?

just in time for them to cool down for a week

CAv may have had his points stripped for not keeping his line.

oh shiiiiiiiiiit

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/wp-content/photos/tour2021.jpg

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/wp-content/photos/tour2039.jpg

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/wp-content/photos/tour2043.jpg

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/wp-content/photos/tour2026.jpg

etc. http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2009/07/18/the-second-week-of-the-tour-de-france/

i sorta love american superfans of typically european sports. like seeing a slightly paunchy dude in a texas jersey and a longhorn helmet running with a lol hueg flag next to a bunch of skinny euro cyclists just warms my heart for some reason

i bet he is having a great summer, yeah!

Love the pictures Caek, thanks for the link!

Am going through riders' Twitters. Wiggins:

Final day in the mountains before the rest day. Keep the faith people, I ain't no Benard Khol
8:49 AM Jul 12th from mobile web

And Mick Rogers' twitter confirms Cav was dq'd.

Generally, it seems to be a bit of a firestorm as to whether Big George got screwed out of yellow or no. Blame seems to be getting lumped on Garmin for chasing in the last 10k, Lance appears rather pissed off about people suggesting Astana were giving chase rather than just setting tempo.

Sez Bruyneel:

Bummed, really bummed about George Hincapie not getting yellow. Won't elaborate on the strategies but what Garmin did was just BS. Sorry!
39 minutes ago from TwitterBerry

And Vaughters:

That had nothing to do with George or Columbia. Wiggo almost lost 15 seconds the other day due to a split. We can't have that happen again.
about 1 hour ago from TwitterBerry

As for Vaughters' riders, Big Dave Zabriskie sez:

Pawns in their game...
about 1 hour ago from TwitterBerry

And Wiggins:

This man does'nt quite understand what went on today. @ghincapie is a legend and deserves to be in yellow tonight!
41 minutes ago from mobile web

poor Big George.

Also fuck a Cav, that was some serious bullshite.

love this.

it woulda been nice to see hincapie in yellow, but you know what? thats bike racing. you want yellow? go with ivanov. not strong enough? balls! i will call him big george crybaby just for today.

stapleton: see what happens when you fuck around with people as you did on that day with the split you forced? it comes back.

Stapleton wasn’t finished and went further still, adding that he’d possibly seek a conversation with Vaughters’ boss, Doug Ellis: "Maybe I’ll talk to his boss. He seems a little more forward thinking. If I was in their shoes why would I chase? You tell me why we’d waste our team energy for no reason. baaahhahahahaha.

whats next? "im gonna have you fired!"

also, its considered bad form, but columbia coulda planted their guys on the front and soft pedaled and generally disrupted stuff. maybe because they want the green jersey too, that interfered with that option. they have big goals.

Hincapie already wore yellow a couple of years back so wasn't really sorry for him today.

anytime an American goes ahead of Barfstrong (or takes media attention away from), it is good for the sport imo.

Hincapie's post-race interview was not that of a happy camper. Regarded Astana leading the peloton as being 'disrespectful' towards him. Crumbs.

wait but wasn't it garmin's fault?

"fault"

you know what i mean, u rube

love this.

it woulda been nice to see hincapie in yellow, but you know what? thats bike racing. you want yellow? go with ivanov. not strong enough? balls! i will call him big george crybaby just for today.

^^^ OTM. What the fuck are people on about? This sharade of "respect" is sickening. Are they supposed to let the most likable guy win from now on, is that how it's gonna be?

Armstrong pointing at Garmin is madness. Dreading that your good friend didn't win yellow, sure, I can see that. But why point your finger? This is sports man, what do you expect? Waiting for someone who fell is something I already despise, as if falling or getting a flat tire isn't part of the game. But it is!
If Garmin for some incomprehensable reason want to go, than neutralize it or quit whining. Astana did a lot of frontwork today, as did AG2R. And who lead the peloton to a quick finish? Columbia, because Cav needed the points. Sweet irony.

yes. they are not on the team. this is bike racing, not friendship time. the team's interest rules all.

also lance's twitter is hilarity right now, i hope he doesn't backpedal and delete shit. he's responding to people's tweets to him!

Kinda lol but mostly sad, I'd say. This fucking guy.

Having been round the twitters, I think my favourite might be Charlie Wegelius', if only for:

idea of my antics on the last hill was to try and poke some life into the race, I don't think they even noticed! Embarassing!
5:30 PM Jul 17th from TwitterBerry

" This sharade of "respect" is sickening"

come on. if anything it was armstrong revealing too much i felt, in a moment of honest political difficulty.

you think nothing is personal in this shit you are crazy. its the same pool of ppl all year, year after year.

on teams' interest controlling: exactly.

columbia keeps saying garmin had no interest in chasing. i say bs. for example. someone will have to work to help control shit tomorrow. if columbia is in yellow, they are strong enough to do so. however, ag2r is probly not strong enough to do so. the next strongest team is astana. they may find they need to ride on the front tomorrow now. astana had a strong interest in columbia getting the jersey tomorrow imo.

so if i were garmin, i would not want hincapie in yellow. i want astana working for gc.

to make this about merits or deserts for hincapie is foolish, despite his disappointment

makes sense but the 'foolish' aspect is just as real. in fact the drama aspect should open up generally from here on.
which is good! wait until they are shooting each other!

" This sharade of "respect" is sickening"

come on. if anything it was armstrong revealing too much i felt, in a moment of honest political difficulty.

― noizez duk, Saturday, July 18, 2009 8:37 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you think nothing is personal in this shit you are crazy. its the same pool of ppl all year, year after year.

― noizez duk, Saturday, July 18, 2009 8:38 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

Thanks for calling me out as being crazy...

Ofcourse it's personal, it all is. But that's not single-sided. It's personal for everyone involved, just as much for Garmin wanting to bully Astana a bit as it's for Lance who wants his friend in yellow. That's still no justification to point fingers afterwards. It's not me you should lecture on the personal side of this, you should tweet it to Lance! He didn't get what he wanted today, but if he doesn't understand why and starts to put the blame on other people for it, he seems clueless. It's all in the game.

bob stapleton was sitting with craig and bobke on extended versus broadcast during the finish. VERY uncomfortable.

i'm either going to stay up all night or wake up at o'dark thirty to watch this tomorrow... so stoked!

live on freeview in the UK too

Brad Wiggins: "Todays events is sport, I dont make the decisions on the road. So to all the unsavoury messages I have recieved, Bollocks!"

Dave Zabriskie: "Pawns in their game..."

Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r-La Mondiale), race leader: “We had our guys riding at the front and then we saw Garmin put riders on the front. I don’t know why they did it. I didn’t speak to any of them, so I don’t know their reasons. But we didn’t mind at all. It helped me stay in yellow.”

White: “Me and George are good friends. It’s not something personal. We’re not out to ruin someone’s day in yellow. I’m here to look after the objectives of my team – that’s all I am interested in – whether it’s George or another Australian, I am looking out for my team and my sponsors, and to put Christian and Bradley Wiggins in best position on every stage.”

White: “There’s not a problem there at all between our team and Columbia. We are here to win the Tour de France. We’ve been caught out twice already, we didn’t want to make that mistake a third time.”

White: “It is unfortunate, but it’s my opinion we wouldn’t even be talking about it if it wasn’t George. If it was another rider, or another team or even someone else at Columbia. But we’re talking about it because George is American and he’s friends with the guys in team. But this was just the unfortunate consequence of guys riding at the front.”

The real question is: why did Garmin SS/Chipotle push the pace so quick at the end rather then just ride tempo and make sure that Wiggo was in a position not to be caught out?

Most contending riders not in yellow sit in the front and would be content to let the prevailing yellow jersey's team set the pace (in this case AG2R). But Garmin did not settle for that and instead went into pursuit with nothing to gain except keep a fellow American out of Yellow.

As innocent as White and Wiggins try to make it sound, their team led an orchestrated attack that did nothing other than limit Hincapie's effort. Whereas all Wiggins needed was to ride in the top 20 riders in the peloton, Garmin went into full TTT mode with 10k to go.

did nothing other than limit Hincapie's effort

still think this is too narrow a view, they might have been looking at who has to work tomorrow up to verbier. if its ag2r in yellow, its more likely to be astana. if it were columbia in yellow, it would be columbia.

lets see how much work astana has to do tomorrow before verbier.

stapleton: excuse me, we're EXCELLENT.

aside from the tactical hubris: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/sports/19food.html?_r=1&src=sch

Interesting article on the food the riders eat - can't believe in this day and age most teams still let themselves be at the mercy of whatever the hotel they're staying in can slop out for them (usually overcooked French (ie nasty) pasta)

I'm sure Garmin's plan must be to get Wiggins to Annecy with as close to yellow as possible, keeping things just as they were yesterday would have been just what they wanted.

Not sure what Astana's plan is, control everything until Ventoux?

http://www.cycling-challenge.com/images/verbier700.jpg

8km of 8%+.

The riders are now passing the Cascade de Pissevache. Just thought I'd mention it.

cavendish: "it’s upsetting that someone would think I’d ride deliberately like that. I’ve never been malice, I’ve never been unjust, and I lost a lot of respect for Thor yesterday — a lot of respect."

christ, we're gonna need more crying hankies over at the columbia truck

bummed. Running last minute errands and missin this

lol professional bikers in being butthurt crybabies shocker

this has been best 10km of the race so far I think.

Contador's burst was something else, and loving Wiggins' effort here.

Armstrong is done.

agreed, he's got AK pacing him but he's still dropping back.

rest day tomorrow?

yup. sort of boring that Contador is the best time trial guy AND the best climber. Wiggins might be good enough for a 2nd place if he can keep this up. 3 riders from Luxembourg in the top 10 today, cool :)

that was exciting.

sorry Ludo, Contador is not even the best TT guy on his team... maybe the 4th (3rd now that Levi is out).

and yes, a great race today... glad I woke up early to watch it. Contador is next level climbing style, looks like he's not pushing it to 90-95% yet.

great finish!

<3 wiggins too. great interview with him on itv now: "i've just got to get to annecy and then wiggo's in his element"

Haha, that was my favourite quote too. I am so pleased for Wiggins. Contador's burst was incredible.

Also, how old is Lance Armstrong again? Could they mention his age one more time please?

today's yellow jersey girls are rawr.

Fantastic finish. Great to see Contador show Armstrong who's boss, and Bradley Wiggins is awesome.

<3 Wegelius too.

It feels weird how much today feels like the making of Contador, given that he did, y'know, kind of win the thing in 2007, but the associated bullshit with Rasmussen, Vinokourov etc. overshadowed it - today, he had everyone there and he just slayed them. Ridiculously slayed them. He's got this Tour, and probably the next few for a while too...

Man, Bob Roll just cannot resist looking into the fucking camera, can he?

he needs to stop looking at me

LIGGETT TWITTER!!!

Sherwen also has one... and he's following Floyd Landis. Hmm.

As is Liggett. Hmm.

STOP LOOKING AT THE CAMERA BOB

STOP IT

At least he's looking at the right camera now

blah how did i miss this

sorry Ludo, Contador is not even the best TT guy on his team... maybe the 4th (3rd now that Levi is out).

he is! was 2nd in the first TT for example (after Cancellara) (maybe he's not as good in flat TT's, but i believe he's Spanish TT champion as well, that has to say something)

again:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/hinault-pushes-intruder-off-podium/79846

cant get link--was it lance?

i lol'd

years of dope made Hinault agressive, seems like a good joke to me. :)
(btw i first read that as Hincapie pushes intruder off podium hehe)

When I was a youngster, I used to think his name was spelled Eno.

Brian Hinault?

Before and After Alpe d'Huez

And of course Another Green Jersey

all released under his pseudonym, Brian Epo

Taking Mont Ventoux (By Strategy)

^^^ love it

Really excited for this week. I want to see the schleck boys go out on the attack, Lance in the tank for contador and to find out just how good Bradley wiggins really is. (also who told him that that hairstyle was a good idea).

good article from roche:

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/they-called-me-every-name-under-the-sun-1830452.html

bradwiggins On the ceiling watching The Jam Live in Dusseldorf 1980, Great
2 minutes ago from mobile web

Oh Twitter, you are the best.

hahaha he is such a dork

Not as much as Charlie Wegelius, who not only follows David Gray (the singer) but also Neil "People I Don't Know Are Trying To Kill Me" McCormick.

Sally Jenkins explains Lance to us mere mortals.

thanks ned.

'Armstrong is a strategy wonk, and a math wonk. He reduced the race to a series of performance equations. It's why the French were never wild about him, they thought he was too mechanical and too "professional" in his approach to a race that should be a trial of the soul.'

This seems to disagree with one of the thrusts of the Sports Illustrated piece. Are either right?

I am going to go way out on a line and predict Cadel Evans and one of (both?) the Schleck bros to throw a little drama into stage 16.

a limb line

would be happy to see that

cadel made noises about last stage being his worst-ever day on the tour... still beat lance over the line, haha.

L'equipe's prattle this morning has Evans saying that he '... wouldn't be surprised if Wiggins wins the tour". Wiggins says, don't be daft "...Contador is too strong".

Just looked at the stage profile for today. It appears to have been designed by a five-year-old, consisting as it does of two fucking huge mountains. It starts at the bottom of the first one. And finishes at the bottom of the descent of the second one. This is going to be hell of fun.

A break has gone off the front with all your favourites - Voigt, Cancellara, Vandenbroucke, Haussler, Fedrigo, Pellizotti, Eggy Martinez, Maaskant, Inspiral Karpets, JI Gutierrez... dunno if they'll make it to the top of hill one, but their efforts should be fun.

http://cdn.media.cyclingnews.com//2009/07/21/1/stage16profile_600.jpg

ouch

oh god dutch commentator keeps talking 'bout:
http://www.vg.no/protokoll/bilder/large/0657dbfa2322c3820446f8c3f3498416.jpg

(not entirely sure if that's the right dog ;) )

Schnorbitz

Sherwen and Liggett have been giving the final descent an awful lot of hype on Twitter.

Damnit why is there no live coverage till 8:30?

argh, where is my versus stream today?

I've been frittering away my holiday by watching live coverage on Eurosport right from the start today. I've been particularly keen to see the scenery recently because the Tour has been kind of retracing a route I drove when I went to live in Italy many years ago (Besancon-into Switzerland-around the lake-Martigny-Grd. St. Bernard-Aosta) except I used the tunnel.

I spent a fair bit of time climbing all around there, very nice part of the world.

I'm operational now, versus site having kittens this morning.

BANG! Here we go!

I did not think Lance had that in him. wow.

Dude's like the Death Star that wins. Daaaamn.

Except obviously Contador wins overall but still.

Fingers crossed for a Vandenbroucke win here.

yikes poor Jens

:0

ouch

Good god this hill is amazing.

love DZ

Zabriskie... it's like he's in some incredibly bleak film from the seventies, like no-one else is there. Under a minute's gap now!

sastre and evans are done for on today's form.

Great stuff from Astarloza... and apparently Sastre got back to the yellow jersey group?

yes he did actually! man, he was nowhere.

Dude's done that twice now. You'd almost think he was still in the running if Contador didn't seem so bloody invincible.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE CARLOS SASTRE.

ITV says Jens is having an MRI on his spine, but information is still scarce... :-(

the pictures look brutal... looks like he landed on his face/head first.

apparantly teeth were flying around. (i missed the super slo-mos)

yaow : (

warning: if those white things are in fact teeth flying and not pebbles then this is pretty gruseome

T_T

Lance says on Twitter that Fraenk Schleck said Jens is doing ok.

i think those were sparks

Standing 	Rider 	Rider number bib 	Team 	Time 	Gaps
1. 	CONTADOR Alberto 	21 	ASTANA 	67h 33' 15" 	 
2. 	ARMSTRONG Lance 	22 	ASTANA 	67h 34' 52" 	+ 01' 37"
3. 	WIGGINS Bradley 	58 	GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM 	67h 35' 01" 	+ 01' 46"
4. 	KLÖDEN Andréas 	23 	ASTANA 	67h 35' 32" 	+ 02' 17"
5. 	SCHLECK Andy 	31 	TEAM SAXO BANK 	67h 35' 41" 	+ 02' 26"
6. 	NIBALI Vincenzo 	95 	LIQUIGAS 	67h 36' 06" 	+ 02' 51"
7. 	LE MEVEL Christophe 	106 	FRANCAISE DES JEUX 	67h 36' 24" 	+ 03' 09"
8. 	SCHLECK Frank 	36 	TEAM SAXO BANK 	67h 36' 40" 	+ 03' 25"
9. 	SASTRE Carlos 	1 	CERVELO TEST TEAM 	67h 37' 07" 	+ 03' 52"
10. 	VANDE VELDE Christian 	51 	GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM 	67h 37' 14" 	+ 03' 59"
11. 	ASTARLOZA Mikel 	61 	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 	67h 37' 53" 	+ 04' 38"
12. 	KREUZIGER Roman 	93 	LIQUIGAS 	67h 37' 55" 	+ 04' 40"
13. 	KIRCHEN Kim 	75 	TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC 	67h 38' 20" 	+ 05' 05"
14. 	NOCENTINI Rinaldo 	87 	AG2R LA MONDIALE 	67h 38' 41" 	+ 05' 26"
15. 	CASAR Sandy 	101 	FRANCAISE DES JEUX 	67h 38' 55" 	+ 05' 40"
16. 	KARPETS Vladimir 	161 	TEAM KATUSHA 	67h 39' 11" 	+ 05' 56"
17. 	EVANS Cadel 	11 	SILENCE - LOTTO 	67h 40' 38" 	+ 07' 23"
18. 	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon 	118 	CAISSE D’EPARGNE 	67h 41' 38" 	+ 08' 23"
19. 	GOUBERT Stephane 	85 	AG2R LA MONDIALE 	67h 42' 29" 	+ 09' 14"
20. 	FEILLU Brice 	174 	AGRITUBEL 	67h 43' 15" 	+ 10' 00"

that didnt come out so nice

ugh that Jens crash video is brutal. He's just lying there like a rag doll at the end :( :( :(

that crash is fucking brutal, still can't work out what caused it - speed wobble? didn't seem to be pushing that hard.

Bradley really is the master of the post stage interview, just the right side of cocky.

And what's up with sulky Cadel? He was pretty much tripping over his bottom lip during his interview (if you can call it that)

the pave changes, you can see the guy in front of him react to it. jens must have let go of his handlebar at the wrong time.

ah yeah, saw it that time, he looks worse off every time I see it :(

Voigt's relatively OK (concussion and fracture cheekbone):
http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/95591/voigt-recovering-in-grenoble

oh jesus.

link above is not for the squeamish btw

friend here at work just said in email: "It makes me feel so bad when anything like this happens. But when it happens to Jens….. It is more badder."

<3 Jens

cadels always sulky xposts

i'm not loving this TdF tbh

although mountain stages have been entertaining enough

wilter are u wanting to strangle SBS voice of cycling m1ke tomolar1s like i am

i've wanted to strangle that fucker for a few years. his challops boggle the mind

Hope Jens recovers well.

Armstrong says he'll be back next year, presumably him and Brunyeel will build a new team and have no problems finding sponsors. (Brunyeel, incidentally, says Astana is finished)