the biggest race for second place in history: The Tour de France 2011 thread

A few weeks to go so I thought I'd get this started

Yes, Ed! Was counting on you as a known fellow enthusiast to open this one! :-)

http://crackbillionair.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/contador2.jpg

He's ready

http://vorige.nrc.nl/multimedia/dynamic/00220/andy_schleck_220472e.jpg

He seems ready, too

http://dailym.net/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Robert-Geesink-16e-etappe-Tour-de-France-2010-767x1150.jpg

He'll make sure he's ready, with Menchov out of his way

http://www.gunaxin.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Tour-De-france-Devil.jpg

Can't imagine this guy not being ready

http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/img/lacarte.jpg

The route

Ok, so contador may run away with this, he looked so good at the giro. I'm super pissed that the CAS hasn't adjudicated. Sure he can be beaten but I wouldn't want to bet against it.

Andy schleck, I have no clue what kind of form he is in. He's barely done anything all year. He could be coming to an impressive peak.

Sastre and basso, I don't think they are going to feature much.

Wiggins looked good in the dauphine but I still don't think he can do better than 4th. I hope I'm wrong. A strong showing in the ttt could help.

Evans, also looked pretty good in the dauphine and cunego is going well in Suisse (is he riding the tour)

Looking forward to seeing what gilbert will do; will he go for stage wins or gc?

Peter Sagan has future green jersey winner written all over him. No sure if he is riding.

Cavedish, not sure if the new points rules helps or hinders him from being a green jersey contender.

More as I think of it.

my pick:
http://cyclingresults.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/sanchez.jpg

(far and away the best rider that nobody ever talks about)

The new points system seems like its really going to shake things up. There are going to be much bigger names in the breaks, if breaks can even get away. It's going to be an interesting dynamic.

Don't disagree with you, steve.

I too think Contador will walk this. But then, it's the Tour, big surprises are nearly integral. I think Andy Schleck has been more involved in getting the new team started up than actually performing, but I have no doubt he'll be ready for it. Agree on Sastre and Basso, I don't think they'll feature much.

I wasn't that impressed with Wiggins in the Dauphiné to be honest. Because he lead the race for quite a while he resigned to consolidating his position, so I didn't see him in full-on combat in some of the mighty mountain stages. I do believe he's out-grown the 'clinging-on' stage, but I don't know if he can make or break the race. Same goes for Evans, a tough cookie, but who I have little sympathy for tbh. But I don't know where he stands this season.

Don't rule out Rabobank's Robert Gesink though. He's had a good season with a good build-up to form, did well in the Dauphiné. First time he gets to head the team, with Menchov gone, and he's got a couple of great, new helpers for the climbing stages. He's gunning for a place on the podium. He won't win it but will be a serious contender, especially when ripping through the Alps.

Finishing on the Galibier and Alpe d'Huez in two consecutive days is fantastic; taking time off from work to see those two!

New points system? For the green jersey, or all of them?

The Green is up for the taking for Cavendish I think, there's still hardly any competition, really.

Sanchez is a force to be reckoned with, I agree

Sastre and basso, I don't think they are going to feature much.

― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Saturday, June 18, 2011 4:29 PM (24 minutes ago)

I don't figure Sastre to figure much either considering his team was not invited to Le Tour (also: Menchov)!!! Meanwhile Vacansoleil (dopers anonymous?) get an invite.

Bit harsh to call Vacansoleil 'dopers anonymous' imho. It's more a case of stupidity than bad intentions with that team.

only one intermediate sprint on flat stages, but a lot more points available. guess they want two big sprint finishes a day? good tv i suppose.
i do love a team time trial, although its a bit short & flat.

Whoops, my

_Sastre and basso, I don't think they are going to feature much.

― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Saturday, June 18, 2011 4:29 PM (24 minutes ago) _

I don't figure Sastre to figure much either considering his team was not invited to Le Tour (also: Menchov)!!! Meanwhile Vacansoleil (dopers anonymous?) get an invite.

Whoops, forgot. He still looks rubbish.

As poor as his form looks at times, I do believe he was the last clean TdF winner we'll have seen for many years +/- when it is all said and done.

First clean one since......Lemond?

i'm a go out on a limb: contador was going deep like a baby seal (RIP wrinklepaws) on some of those giro stages - big ask to hold form like that from start of may to end of july. i think he won't have it all his own way.

kinda want to see more line-ups before i start predictions!

Last two years I watched the Giro but not the Tour - was planning to reverse that this year, skipped the Giro - but my favorite rider was Xavi Tondó! Btwn his death and Contador's presence here I'm jaded.

'whos gonna win it... the guy who does the most biking' --my friend dan when i mentioned the tour just now

love it

So sagen is not doing the tour, only the vuelta. Shame but he has plenty of time.

Levi leipheimer looked good today. I feel like he and wiggins are in the same class, could be interesting.

whos gonna win it... the guy who does the most biking

oh shit i think this is a floyd landis quote, right?

so leipheimer arrives on time, hmm. any word on why he skipped the press conference?

danielson appears to be "super-motivated," fulfills primary mission of eliciting snickers. (tbc, i would enjoy seeing him prosper, but lord, if anyone ever has been hyped w/o arriving...)

Some lineups

Rabobank

Gesink
Bauke Mollema
Laurens ten Dam
Lars Boom
Maarten Tjallingii
Léon Sanchez
Juan Manuel Garate
Carlos Barredo
Grischa Niermann

BMC

Brent Bookwalter (USA)
Marcus Burghardt (Ger)
Cadel Evans (Aus)
George Hincapie (USA)
Amaël Moinard (Fra)
Steve Morabito (Sui)
Ivan Santaromita (Ita)
Manuel Quinziato (Ita)
Michael Schär (Sui)

He's ready

http://www.pbkblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Cadel-Evans.jpg

(... and happy; I think this must be the only photo of him in existence where he is actually smiling)

Fantasy TDF anyone:

http://road.cc/fantasy-cycling-2011

^ I'm already in that (team 'Electric Plight Orchestra'), if you want to set up a league. I've been doing it since Milan-San Remo.

http://www.letour.fr/PHOTOS/TDF/2011/1200/PROFIL.gif

Radioshack

Jani Brajkovic
Chris Horner
Andreas Klöden
Levi Leipheimer
Markel Irizar
Dmitriy Muravyev
Sérgio Paulinho
Yaroslav Popovych
Haimar Zubeldia

"Too many leaders is not an ideal situation, but we are confident we can turn this into an advantage. Together we are strong to fight against Contador and the Schlecks."

No sprinter eh?

i found out the other day that a good old friend of mine is the tdf chef for radioshack this year, and another friend was approached by vaughters to do the same for garmin down the road.

how a mantis stays fat- friends with skills.

Tell him not to buy any steak in Spain.

I started following Vaughters on twitter recently, he's a nutjob.

no shack spot for robbie ;__;

He's not exactly sparkled the last couple of years.

Trying to work out which stages to hold TdF parties on. Last year we got the infamous chain incident. I feel like the 2nd two thursdays may offer the most, Tourmalet and Luz-Ardiden on the first, first go up the galbier on the second. 2nd and 3rd fridays have the Aubisque then Télégraphe, Galbier and Alp D'Huez. Middle saturday has 6 categorised climbs and looks brutal.

Hard decisions, I want to serve pastis and project cycling.

Also Issoioire> St Flour on the first* saturday promises to be the prettiest stage IMO.

*Not having a prologue is messing with me, this tour has 4 saturdays, so its really the second.

Saxo Bank-SunGard

Alberto Contador
Jesus Hernandez
Dani Navarro
Benjamin Noval
Richie Porte
Chris Anker Sørensen
Nicki Sørensen
Matteo Tosatto
Brian Vandborg

http://cdn3.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2011/06/22/1/pcy153_cover_600.jpg

Is the apparent trend for bearded sprinters them saying, "I'm so strong I don't need to be aerodynamic"?

the dif between velosnooze and cyclingsnooze- one covers leipy today, they other those guys above on the left. the photo appears to do a good job of scaling at least.

not "covers" but more like "features image"

So no McEwen this TdF? Freire also not coming due to jaw infections. Rabobank didn't even bring a sprinter, either

Vacansoleil

Romain Feillu
Thomas De Gendt
Borut Bozic
Bjorn Leukemans
Johnny Hoogerland
Rob Ruijgh
Lieuwe Westra
Wouter Poels

Sky

Bradley Wiggins
Geraint Thomas
Ben Swift
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Juan Antonio Flecha
Simon Gerrans
Christian Knees
Rigoberto Urán
Xabier Zandio
Marco Marcato

Omega-Pharma

Gilbert Philippe (B)
Andre Greipel (G)
Sebastian Lang (G)
Jurgen Roelandts (B)
Marcel Sieberg (G)
Jurgen van den Broeck (B)
Jurgen van de Walle (B)
Jelle Vanendert (B)
Frederik Willems (B)

Astana

Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz)
Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra)
Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz)
Andriy Grivko (Ukr)
Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz)
Roman Kreuziger (Cze)
Paolo Tiralongo (Ita)
Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)
Andrey Zeits (Kaz)

nsfw:
http://www.sportingbet.com/sports-cycling/tour-de-france-2011-(july-2-24)-outright-winner/1-3-168688.html

HTC-Highroad

Bernhard Eisel (A)
Mark Cavendish (GB)
Matt Goss (Aus)
Mark Renshaw (Aus)
Tony Martin (G)
Peter Velits (Slv)
Lars Bak (Dk)
Danny Pate (USA)
Tejay Van Garderen (USA)

Europcar

Anthony Charteau (F)
Cyril Gautier (F)
Yohann Gne (F)
Vincent Jerome (F)
Christophe Kern (F)
Perrig Quemeneur (F)
Pierre Rolland (F)
Sebastien Turgot (F)
Thomas Voeckler (F)

are vacansoleil one short?

interesting to see roman k front up for astana; has anyone seen the appalling sunglasses advert with him in 007 tux, claiming he has a 'LICENCE TO WIN'??

I may have missed someone off vacansoliel

Vacansoleil

Romain Feillu (F)
Borut Bozic (SLO)
Marco Marcato (I)
Thomas De Gendt (B)
Bjorn Leukemans (B)
Johnny Hoogerland (Nl)
Wout Poels (Nl)
Lieuwe Westra (Nl)
Rob Ruijgh (Nl)

Lampre-ISD

Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita)
Grega Bole (Slo)
Matteo Bono (Ita)
Damiano Cunego (Ita)
Danilo Hondo (Ger)
Denis Kostyuk (Ukr)
David Loosli (Swi)
Adriano Malori (Ita)
Alessandro Petacchi (Ita).

Katusha

Pavel Brutt
Denis Galimzyanov
Vladimir Gusev
Mikhail Ignatiev
Vladimir Isaychev
Vladimir Karpets
Alexander Kolobnev
Egor Silin
Yuriy Trofimov

Cofidis

Mickaël Buffaz
Samuel Dumoulin
Leonardo Duque
Julien El Fares
Tony Gallopin
David Moncoutié
Rein Taaramae
Tristan Valentin
Romain Zingle

Leopard-Trek

Andy Schleck
Frank Schleck
Fabian Cancellara
Linus Gerdemann
Jens Voigt
Joost Posthuma
Maxime Monfort
Jakob Fuglsang
Stuart O'Grady

Tom Stamsnijder heeft geen uitnodiging gekregen voor de Tour, die zaterdag van start gaat in de Vende. Posthuma reed de Tour vier keer voor Rabobank, in 2005, 2006, 2008 en 2009. Hij stapte na afgelopen seizoen over naar de nieuwe ploeg van de gebroeders Schleck.

oops scratch that last sentence

Garmin-Cervelo

Tom Danielson (USA)
Julian Dean (NZ)
Tyler Farrar (USA)
Ryder Hesjedal (CAN)
Thor Hushovd (NOR)
David Millar (GB)
Ramunas Navardauskas (LT)
Christian Vande Velde (USA)
David Zabriskie (USA)

oof, no Haussler. Didn't he win a stage last year (or was it 09?)

Hausler was 2009 iirc

Still a shame

Movistar

David Arroyo
Andrey Amador
Rui Costa
Imanol Erviti
Iván Gutiérrez
Beñat Intxausti
Vasil Kiryienka
Fran Ventoso
José Joaquín Rojas

Ed - and anyone else who fancies it - I've set up an ILX league on the fantasy cycling thing. You need to enter code number 6968 to join it.
http://road.cc/fantasy-cycling-2011

haussler is trying to build a base so he can get into form for the worlds, according to reports a few weeks back in local paper. said he really struggled once march-april rolled around because the fitness just wasn't there, having missed so much time last year.

katusha is all ruskies!

Custom Treks for the Tour

http://cdn1.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2011/06/30/2/1309430715269_1yi4t9wo3oxj_800_75_600.jpg
http://cdn4.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2011/06/30/2/1309430839950_b5amsd3dwrgg_800_75_600.jpg

http://cdn3.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2011/06/30/2/1309430715288_s3bst8ck0ge4_800_75_600.jpg

o_0
http://cdn3.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2011/06/30/2/bettiniphoto_0084432_1_full_600.jpg

that hair is the true rainbow curse

i was wondering if garmin were going to go white for the summer like cervelo tt used to. sky are black and green too, shouldn't be any problems with picking them (and leopard) apart now.

I know it's not a finish that suits him or htc, but odds of 60 on betfair for cav to win today's stage are pretty bonkers considering that it's most likely going to be a sprint at the end.

nevr thought I'd want a trek

Allez! Le Grand Départ!

Going to try and get back into the TdF craziness after a few years on the outer (I got confused after it seemed everyone was testing positive).

I am on TEAM SCHLECK btw.

Can I just say that I HATE having a regular stage starting Le Tour rather than a Prologue!! At least the Stage 2 Team Time Trial makes up for it.

Have got to go on a mission with the boy to pick up a wallchart before it all kicks off! Pretty stoked for this tour.

I know it's not a finish that suits him or htc, but odds of 60 on betfair for cav to win today's stage are pretty bonkers considering that it's most likely going to be a sprint at the end.

― problem chimp (Porkpie), Saturday, July 2, 2011 12:25 AM (1 hour ago)

There is a small hill and then an uphill finish which usually spells "grupetto" for Cav.

beer is in the fridge, two race guides and the new issue of rouleur are on the couch, as are the new cushions. it's fair to say i am ready.

We have road noise on the versus stream, the eurosport stream is more stable than it's ever been; I have good coffee and I shall go and buy a pastry from the French bakery as soon as it opens. I'm ready

andre greipel crashed in the neutralised section!

I'm back from the pub and I'm ready for the last 45km of dis first stage no hype

ticked 2 bingo boxes so far:

field of sunflowers
euskaltel rider on the deck

PILE-UP!

Believe "You've got to ride at the front" is possibly the new leading Sherwenism.

lol 41 seconds

Sorry, Fabian, this was designed so you wouldn't win the first yellow this year.

1'20"!!!!!

1'20"!!!!!

A minute for wiggins as well, schlecks a minute up on contador.

I think geraint Thomas gets White there.

I'm not really sure who was were then. Wiggins appeared to be in the Contador group at the finish, but I think he'd made the cut originally. I couldn't work out if the second pile up (with about 2.5km to go) was at the back of the front group or was in the chasers - if the former, then maybe Wiggins was caught up in that and so ended up dropping back to Contador. Where were the Schlecks?

Wiggins was ahead of he contador group by about 20 seconds. I think the schlecks were about 20 seconds down on on Gilbert.

Contador group may get the same time as wiggins hey had another crash, I think

2nd crash was under 5km to go so they'll be relegated regardless. OTOH, time gaps due to the first crash will be significant.

Oh no, Andy was with contador, Frank was up at the front.

Wiggins 10s down on contador. David Millar kept up near the front, could take yellow tomorrow if garmin do well in the ttt.

Thor you mean?

If Wiggins was in the first group after the first crash, and if the second crash (which was within the last 3km) was in the first group and he was taken out by it, then presumably he gets given the same time as the leading bunch (i.e. 6 secs behind Gilbert), so will actually end up ahead of Contador even though he came in behind him

Thor, yes, same time but Thor would get it in the count back. Geraint could be in with a shout too.

Wonder no more w/r/t standings:
http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/100/classement/index.html

I was right! So Gesink, A Schleck, Wiggins, Leipheimer and Evans have all got a handy lead over Contador already

@nealrogers
Neal Rogers
How could Contador/Schleck/Wiggins group possibly be given same time as Evans when they were ~45 sec back when 2nd crash occurred?

I was on Eurosport but I guess Phil Liggett reffered to Europcar's Yohann Gene as "coloured" on the broadcast... wow.

I was right! So Gesink, A Schleck, Wiggins, Leipheimer and Evans have all got a handy lead over Contador already

Game on, then.

@joelindsey
joelindsey
#TdF fact: Philippe Gilbert has won 12 of the last 16 races he's entered (including stages and overalls of Tour of Belgium and Ster ZLM).

Sean Kelly was saying he had gone 86 days without loosing.

http://i54.tinypic.com/5u1lsh.png

Nah man, just keep hanging on to the team car on the hills Cavvo!

magic spanners all round

All the leopard trek riders seem to be loving their 5 star catering truck

http://a.yfrog.com/img612/2971/oteoc.jpg

virtual GC wot i found on velonews:

1. Cadel Evans, 4:41:34
2. Jurgen Van den Broeck, at 0:03
3. Andreas Klöden, s.t.
4. Chris Horner, s.t.
5. Fränk Schleck, s.t.
6. Alexander Vinokourov, s.t.
7. Nicolas Roche, s.t.
8. Tejay Van Garderen, s.t.
9. Andy Schleck, s.t.
10. Levi Leipheimer, s.t.
11. Jani Brajkovic, s.t.
12. Ivan Basso, s.t.
13. Brad Wiggins, s.t.
14. Robert Gesink, s.t.
15. Samuel Sanchez, at 1:17
16. Alberto Contador, s.t.
17. Ryder Hesjedal, at 1:52
18. Roman Kreuziger, s.t.
19. Jérôme Coppel, s.t.
20. Christian Vande Velde, at 3:38

lol at leaving off tony martin and peter velits while putting tejay on there - good job, american publication

what time does it start today?

http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/200/etape_par_etape.html

Those are French times, so deduct an hour for Britain. I'm planning to watch from about 3.00-4.30pm.

ty. i am in germany so i will add back the hour to get my local time.

someone on my twitter feed said the schleckettes are homophobes. what's that all about, google had nothing. unfounded nonsense?

This is what I could find. News to me.

Evidence seems a bit thin.

Saxobank looking really ragged, can't tell if it's because they're doing well or in trouble.

Lol at the farmer's sign "nothing wrong with our steak"

Ed, I think it's because they were doing well. 58.5 km/h average is a new TdF record, never a team has been that fast.

sorry, 54.6 km/h

I should switch commentary teams, complete failure by Sean Kelly to point that out. English language commentary is pretty dull. I should switch to Italian or French.

Bradley rocking some trick aerospokes there?

Sky looking really good here.

Apart from dropping two riders

Should be ok.

Lampre really going for the early 90s look with their bikes this year.

Or maybe not.

did not think garmin's time would stand to sky and possibly not to rs. interesting.

Did Garmin have anyone at -6s yesterday?

Thor hushovd

So he's probably going to be in yellow tonight

commentary says eisel "lost his wheel and crashed." pls tell me his wheel did not fall off.

Radioshack a fair way down. HTC lost eisel, I think this is garmin's an thor's.

commentary says eisel "lost his wheel and crashed." pls tell me his wheel did not fall off.

No wheel just stepped out on a tight corner.

if a rider gets dropped but makes the 30% cut does he still get the time of the 5th place in his team, or his own time?

His own time

it would be v garmin lols to lose this to leopard trek

ta xp.

these boardman adverts on the itv4 ad breaks are going to get old.

Not as old as the eurosport ones for sidi and salice which haven't changed in years.

Bmc could get cadel in yellow here if they could maintain hat gap.

Hat gap?
Good recovery by HTC after that disastrous opening.

man now that i look at htc's roster- that's a team that shouldve flown on ttt. martin, vangarderen, pate and velits?

Leopard trek sticking another useful 20s into contador.

Oooooh - Evans misses out by a second?

well, garvelo, we'll let you stay in the tdf for now- thanks for meeting expectations.

Millar in second at same time as God of Thunder

man, sammy sanchez

^^^

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/PJ-BB502A_SP_VE_G_20110628225517.jpg

lolll

more on DZ's vegan diet here

only 3 people doing the fantasy TDF?

i tried to register and i never received the confirm email, so maybe i screwed it up. that was enough effort tho.

Ok, that intermediate sprint was pretty cool.

That was a pretty impressive farmer display there.

Bruyneel taking a ride on the wahhhambulance

https://twitter.com/johanbruyneel/status/87918547786924032

Cav and Thor DQed in the intermediate sprint for argy bargy.

huh. i was about to add that cav might wanna think about saving his energy for the finales anyway.

Cav's twitter is good value today. Commissars were a bit hard on him, IMO. Thor was coming across him and has offered to take full responsibility, apparently.

SBS has a ride along in the BMC team car during the TTT. Worth a watch

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/video/494137/BMC-Team-Car

Thor's first 3 days at '11 TdF:

Day 1: Rainbow Jersey
Day 2: KOM Polka Dot skinsuit
Day 3: Maillot Jaune

Pretty amazing efforts by Garvelo, sorry Cav fans but he is such a chav wanker midget. He was all over Thor trying to get Gilbert's wheel, glancing off him like an annoying gnat.

ew @ "chav"

i didn't think there was much of a foul either way. it was thor's wheel going into the left bend, and cav tried to poach it through the bend as gilbert changed his own line. if i were in that situation, i'd definitely fight to keep that wheel, and if i nearly lucked into it as cav did, i'd try to keep it too. just, i didn't think it was anything, really.

chavendish

Also, w/r/t Eisel's mishap in the TTT, it was a clipped pedal around that corner that sent him sideways.

Raining today, narrow roads as well, could be interesting.

some non-trivial climbs too, right? or is that tomorrow?

should've called my fantasy team ~thigh candy~

Missed today due to meetings, saw the result, ugh, not sure I want to watch it tonight.

Really grueling finish there, good stuff.

yeah, but the sight of Cadel's face makes me want to punch the tv :(

did he manage to crack a smile that didn't look like a baby's arse with nappy rash?

Sorry, I just had time to watch the racing, I don't have access to the post-race media.

Worth noting that Farrar outsprinted Cav in the intermediate sprint again (field sprint as there was a 5 man break).

wonder if Alberto could have won that but didn't go full gas at the end cos he didn't want to face the booing on the podium

Watch the replays, he thought he won and did a half-hearted salute to boot!

no fingerbang, no victory

attn caek did u kno there's a big crowd at the birchwood to watch this every day

oh you absolute rotter

they throw up a big screen and everything, and there's specials on cafe au lait and eclairs and shit

just fyi

well i get to watch it on my laptop while eating my tea while sat at a desk, so i'm not sweating it either

seriously that sounds fun. do you go or are you too busy saving lives?

yeah, dude, but: babes

haven't been yet, thinking i might head over tomorrow morning

i stopped in a little bit ago for a scone and an arnold palmer towards the tail end of my ride

well i get to watch it on my laptop while eating my tea while sat at a desk, so i'm not sweating it either

― caek, Tuesday, July 5, 2011 9:56 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no babes, yes, but this is terribly bleak anyway btw

tell the babes i say hi

That was good. I kind of like Cadel Evans, but he really is a strange looking man.

yeah ffs I'd rather see him winning than contador

So apparently Cav was upset that his dog was put down today, hence the lackluster intermediate.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/feillu-says-cavendish-is-arrogant-like-ricco

That's a response for Cavendish slagging off Feillu for taking him out yesterday, non?

And Cavendish is clearly the best sprinter in the world - it's hardly arrogance to state that. Having said that, I'm very impressed with Hushovd hanging in there today (and getting those crucial 2009 green jersey points in the mountains).

Best sprinter for sure but he is getting more beatable every year. He doesn't seem to be that mentally tough, very easy to wind up.

I'll be surprised if he doesn't win tomorrow's stage.

he may pull it together and get both sprints (1st behind a breakaway obv.)

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/57/fullj.d2b530ebb1f4dcb9512e1098471afaf1/d2b530ebb1f4dcb9512e1098471afaf1-getty-_.jpg

Close but no cigar, steak boy

I'm most interested in friday. Seems like an opportunity for maximum points, the "intermediate" sprint is 25km from the end.

I'll be surprised if he doesn't win tomorrow's stage.

― There is power in an onion (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Tuesday, July 5, 2011 3:01 PM (27 minutes ago)

he may pull it together and get both sprints (1st behind a breakaway obv.)

― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Tuesday, July 5, 2011 3:03 PM (25 minutes ago)

You guys realize tomorrow's stage features the first climb of the tour ya?

It's a category 4 already after 45km, that shouldn't scare a Cavendish in good form.

Cavendish to win tomorrow and Friday. There, I said it.

:-O

My guess for tomorrow:

Skinny roads and hellacious cross winds over a lumpy parcours* = I don't think we've seen the last of Gilbert.

I'm thinking a few gaps in the peloton with the Belgians/Dutch guttering the echelons and racking up some points in the process.

*This whole stage conjours the spring classics ya?

(maybe look for Cancellara to do something cheeky)

Chavanel breakaway tomorrow, probably with boomerang jerome Roy alongside him.

Meteo.fr has 30kph southwesterly winds which would cause more problems on the first stretch of coast, I think it could come back together though.

Good call on Chavanel, also where has Voeckler been hiding for the last 4 days? He is ripe for a suicide attack.

Cav not happy about being boxed in today, expect whinging on twitter to commence in 3-4hrs.

Gesink & Contador in two separate crashes, oof

Carnage today, Brajkovic, Gesink and Contador Down. Brajkovic quite badly.

xpost

Brajkovic being put in an ambulance, hope he's OK.

This means war. Leopard was riding their asses off at the front when Contador and Geesink fell.

So sad about Brajkovic

Good call on Chavanel, also where has Voeckler been hiding for the last 4 days? He is ripe for a suicide attack.

― it's a meme i made and i like (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 19:49 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

here he is

http://data.srmlive.de/TDF/

Cav takes it from absolutely nowhere, HTC train broke down again.

the timing of that was incredible

hats off to Cav, that was an amazing finish

Yeah, great finish.

Shame he's such a querulant again in the post-race interview...

I thought his post-race interview was great. He seems like he genuinely respects the work his team does at all times, and enjoys the sprint game a lot. "That was proper hard"

Oh but I didn't mean him expressing the support and work of his team-mates.

What I was getting at is the "they are trying to put a handicap on me" schtick. He enjoys to put himself in the position, painting a picture that the whole world is against him. The Tour de France made this years finishes the way they did just to keep him from winning. It's getting old and it's not a good look.

What I was getting at is the "they are trying to put a handicap on me" schtick. He enjoys to put himself in the position, painting a picture that the whole world is against him. The Tour de France made this years finishes the way they did just to keep him from winning. It's getting old and it's not a good look.

it's a winning tactic though, look at the (this is taking a lot to write) success that Imperial Lord Ferg has had with exactly the same tactic. Creates a gang mentality, backs against the wall, all pulling together to fight off the hordes etc etc etc.

Yeah, that's true. Manoeuvring yourself in the underdog position, saying everyone's against you etc. But people can win without letting themselves go to this extreme. I stand by what I think is not a good look.

OmegaPh_Lotto Omega Pharma - Lotto
Joaquin Rojas disqualified in supersprint - Phil tomorrow in the green !

Rojas and Boonen both relegated due to both of them closing doors on fellow racers in the intermediate sprint. Race judges are being more harsh in the intermediates to ensure race safety.

Was I the only one surprised to see Cav's win by the skin of his uh.... teeth at the finish? I had written off HTC entirely at that point. Gilbert looks incredibly strong. He is amassing points with reckless abandon.

Cavendish to win tomorrow and Friday. There, I said it.

So far, so good. Gilbert tomorrow.

http://data.srmlive.de/TDF/

― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Wednesday, July 6, 2011 10:09 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark

this is p cool

is that where there bikes are now?

their

i like to think they're just leaned up against lampposts and w/e, "i'll just pick it up tomorrow"

what 15 years of riding the grand tours will to your legs:
http://cdn4.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net//2011/07/06/2/bettiniphoto_0085033_1_full_600.jpg

My prediction for tomorrow is someone of Northern European stock to forge a breakaway that sticks.

Meanwhile, Contador will attack again towards the end to scare the GC contenders.

(Lars Boom?)

'hincapie legs', by h.r. giger

What the hell is going on w/ that leg?

Jut read on jani brajkovic's twitter that cristophe kern was DQed by the uci because he didn't allow the tour doctor to treat him on the road. Seems very odd.

This TDF has finally sucked me in to twitter.

http://twitter.com/#!/fredmantis

edvald!

also: that leg is super gross

that finish was sort of confusing tbh

Norway puts two on the podium.

Thor has finished in the top 10 of the first 6 stages. I'd like to know when the last time that feat has been done.

he isn't really a gc possibility though, is he?

Points class, not general class.

wondering if EBH has a shot at the white jersey, he's probably going to be last Sky man with wiggins.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/07/news/video-chris-horner-says-contador-still-looks-really-strong_182389

great interviewee imo

Oh no... Wiggins out? :-(

Looks like Wiggins and Horner are done.

It does indeed. Very, very sad

wha happen? missed this one

wha happen? lol xp

He fell, with Horner. Wiggins officially out now.

Well they fell with loads, but RadioShack takes most of the damage

Crash when the wind shifted from head to tail.

Horner back on with the Doctor's car... He was down off the road in a ditch for quite a while.

Well and Sky obv

Vino and Leipheimer down hard as well but are chasing back on.

Massive split in peloton. 30 second gap.

Ah shit, just found out

(just sayin the first week of the tour is a lottery that sucks ass)

yeah the chris horner interview you posted was good on that

Bad bad luck for so many people today. Could that be wiggins' last road race, wasn't his plan track olympics and then retire?

Boonen abandoned earlier today as well.

Really gutted about that. Wiggins was in the form of his life - he'll probably never have a better chance than this year.

Saw a funny tweet today that I can't find but it was basically:

DZ ends vegan diet by eating kgs of bugs for first week of TdF. Amazing work.

Gilbert & Thor continuing to selflessly lead out their sprinters in their leaders jerserys is probably the biggest takeaway for me. Those guys are the absolute champions of the Tour to date beyond question.

Thor= 7 straight top 10s... is this as uncommon as I think it is?

awesome day for kloeden

According to Johan B, Horner likely to abandon tomorrow, he was unconscious for a spell post-crash.

I guess Ryder Hesjedal was also caught out in the crash and lost 2.5 mins as well for Garmin.

what a nutty week

According to Johan B, Horner likely to abandon tomorrow

kloedy's day less awesome then

wiggo interview outside the hosptial: "i feel on top of the world now. i've had some fantastic drugs in there."

really?

ja

wiggo was fully blessed out, he's never that chirpy the britpop bampot

*blissed

http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/bicycling/?title=Confused+Chris+Horner+after+a+hard+crash+on+stage+7,+Johan+Bruyneel+updates&dashboard=tour-de-france&id=Chris-Horner-Post-Stage-7-Crash&yr=2011

"I crashed? Really? How long ago? 25k! I've been chasing for 25k? Oh that's bad. Did I finish? I finished right?"

ay yi yi, do not let him ride folks

"I don't understand"

hincapie's leg :/

Jesus (xp)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBtqSRsVkBc&feature=player_embedded

what? idgi

http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/bicycling/?title=Confused+Chris+Horner+after+a+hard+crash+on+stage+7,+Johan+Bruyneel+updates&dashboard=tour-de-france&id=Chris-Horner-Post-Stage-7-Crash&yr=2011

"I crashed? Really? How long ago? 25k! I've been chasing for 25k? Oh that's bad. Did I finish? I finished right?"

ay yi yi, do not let him ride folks

― fat mantis got sonned by a fred over a strava beef (Hunt3r), Friday, 8 July 2011 15:38 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wow bad, bad decision to let him ride on.

bradwiggins Bradley Wiggins
My 6 year old son's first words to me on the phone" daddy does this mean you'll stop cycling now and never have to leave home again" kids!
1 minute ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Is the wiggins interview posted anywhere?

I'm glad Wiggins won the Dauphine and the national championships, anyway. Last season they'd have told him to ease off in the Dauphine to save himself for the Tour and he didn't even bother with the nationals. If a win's there for the taking, go for it, because if you build your whole season around just one race then just one crash can lead to the whole season being a write off.

xp - yes, video clip on the ITV Tour website

Ta

http://bicycling.com/blogs/hardlyserious/2011/07/08/tour-de-france-stage-6-warp-speed/

good article on head injuries. Bruyneel should be punished for letting Horner ride on.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pro-cycling-plagued-by-head-injuries

Yeah from what little I've heard (ie this thread) that was just a horrible medical decision

I don't know enough about Chris Horner to feel confident that he's normally more lucid than that. For all I know he has participated in hundreds of races without noticing.

yeah that video is completely fucked, guy shouldn't be riding 25k while quite clealy completely away with it.

i can only think he was talking to a french commissaire saying "i don't understand i don't understand," and the french guy is thinking all "why don't these ignorant americans understand french?"

so, cuddles is loco y/n?

very weird video, either way

wonder if he writes cursive

hot pace today, phil + paul moaning that they missed the inter sprint

i'm embracing the fat mantis lyfestile and cooking a pudding

SRM data, live live live!

Really liking today's stage. TJVG is making himself known to the world and no mistake.

is he ever!

feeling conflicted about cheering for vino when he went for it out of the group

Of course, Vino's decided today's the day for him to re-announce his bastardness, too. Cadel and the BMCs trying to reel him back, cos at this rate he's in yellow. Teej and the front group have decided to start attacking each other.

On Urrghospore, Sean Kelly is disapproving of the front four "playing about". Poor Cyril Gautier is continually on the verge of getting dropped. Vino looking relentless.

Dunno who the main Eurosport commentator is, but his sigh of disgust when Costa decided he'd have a go at attacking was utterly priceless.

i wonder if flecha might be a dark horse here? he's just getting towed by vino and tiralongo...

if all the massif stages are like this, the next few days are going to be so good to watch.

Weather turning distinctly sub-nice. The Beemers might well be slowly hauling in Vino now. Amazingly, Big Thor is still about 7th or 8th wheel in the peloton.

i think we have our first clean bottle sighting!

where's the DIRK HOFMAN MOTORHOMES guy i wonder

I think Costa might have broken Teej here, but he's not looking at all strong himself. Vino's chances suddenly looking like they might be dramatically improving, him and Fletch are about to gobble up Riblon.

The peloton has SHRUNK. Big-time. Everyone is struggling.

And now Vino looks to have his claws into Teej! Costa GRINDING himself to stay away!

oo-er, gesink getting dropped!

i remember when i enjoyed watching vino

Every other Rabobank rider also looks to have fallen out the back to try to pull Gesink back in... think they may be re-shuffling after today.

AMAZING SHOT JUST THERE - Costa, Vino, the droppees and the peloton, all in a line, little gaps, VINO IS HUFFING AND PUFFING!

remember when they used to send kloeden out after vino when he'd attack ullrich

fun times

GILBERT HAS LAUNCHED! EVERYONE GOES WITH! COSTA CONTINUES TO CLING ON!

HERE WE GO

thor still there. amazing!!

Oh, that was fun, that was. Believe Thor's once again hung on to yellow too...

gesink looks like he's lost about a minute.

lol just got a txt from a friend, 'Rui Costa - still making the play after all these years!'

I fell alseep on the sofa for an hour or two and woke in time to see the last minute of the stage. I have no idea what happened to the break apart from Rui Costa (he was in it, wasn't he?) or what the posts here about Vino refer to, but from the little I saw Gilbert, Evans and Hushovd are continuing to impress.

Blimey - checking the standings I've realised Geraint Thomas was in the lead group today. If he hadn't had to drop back yesterday in the doomed wait for Wiggins he'd still be in the white jersey and in 5th place overall.

Blimey - checking the standings I've realised Geraint Thomas was in the lead group today. If he hadn't had to drop back yesterday in the doomed wait for Wiggins he'd still be in the white jersey and in 5th place overall.

He pulled back over a minute on Gesink. Looking forward to seeing how he goes in the big mountains without domestique duties.

Sammy makes his first showing of the tour, attacking from 25th wheel to finish behind Cadel at the line. This is about the time he starts doing his thing, I'm pretty excited for him.

Also good to see cuddles remind schleck and contador up for it.

Stick in a "that he's" somewhere in there.

On the one hand, Cadel is looking very good. On the other hand, spending a full week failing to nibble a single second off Thor Hushovd is very... Cadel, innit?

hahaha

I think at that point you have to give Thor and Garmin credit. Cadel has mentioned patience, that his goal is to be in Yellow at the end than at the beginning. The parcours will start tilting a bit steeper from here on out.

Garvelo haven't really put a foot wrong so far. Both Thor and Millar in the top ten is testament to that. Individually they are both climbing better that ever before. They aren't gc contenders but I'm starting to think a top 20 might be a possibility for either of them, I'm thinking they are now grupetto rather than autobus riders. That and a good TT might be enough for 18th or 19th with a start like this. (might be out on a crazy limb here).

To be honest I'd expect Hushovd to suddenly lose at least 20 minutes on one day once they get to the real mountains. As for Millar, I think he's theoretically capable of getting 19th place, but that's unlikely to be his focus. He might well be working for Vandevelde (sp?) - delivering him a third of the way up the big climb and then peeling off; or he might well decide to take it easy on a couple of mountain stages so that he can concentrate on trying to win the time trial.

Ryder Hesjedal was top 10 last year (7th?), he'll either be working with or for CVdV and Tommy D at this point. They are a very dynamic team, definitely eyeing the top 10 or maybe a top 5.

millarmind David Millar
I was 4 riders behind Thor 400m from finish, tried to get to him to help as he engaged warp-drive. It was awesome to behold. Hammer time.

I thought Hesjedal was about 5th last year? I vaguely recall him having two monstrous stages - one through the dust on the cobbles, the other bursting out of the fog on one of the most horrendous mountains, possibly the one where Contador and Schleck were going blow-for-blow.

have you guys ever read about danielson's "eskimo metabolism" thing? really weird. i'll have to hunt it up.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/436522/jonathan-vaughters-on-the-enigmatic-tom-danielson.html

i think inigo raced for a part of a season for my old team in like, 97?

interesting article, thanks for that

Was an interesting article yes, am trying to work out a decent program now that will lose me shedloads of weight while still leaving me energy to increase the number of 26 mile commutes (both ways not each way) I can churn out as I get so frikkin tired.

Beautiful looking roads on today's stage, just the sort I like to ride.

On my ride today I was thinking what a great chance Cuddles has. Wiggins was obviously going to mark him closely. Schleck and contador are very blinkeredly focusing on each other, which gives him a great chance to get away.

Got Teej, Evans, Samu, and Gilbert on my fantasy squad. Good day for me!

van garderen's position and pedaling style is fuckin pure. back flat, arms bent, elbows in, head low. even after he was shelled, he was fluid, and the upper body barely moved. standing, lateral motion is minimal.

imo that's "stylish," tho that word gets thrown around a lot.

http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/gettyimages.com/117613224-20110709-074842-868.jpg

thought that yesterday, no matter how knackered he was, TJvG stayed smooooth, as opposed to Vino who got v v ragged.

Am really loving Gilbert and Hushovd in this race so far though, and have to say, Contador definitely doesn't look the sure thing I thought he was beforehand.

another big crash, kloeden down and vino dropped off into a ditch maybe??

and van den broeck abandoning! if u a team leader, be afraaaaaaid

millar too.

sorry, millar went down, but vdb and vino both out.

ugh, terrible for VdB & Vino. Fabian i love you but will you please stfu

Zabriskie out.

Voeckler could have a nice lead in yellow could wear it to the 14th at least.

what is the least number of riders a team has ever finished with?

vino broken pelvis. i had never seen teammates pulling a rider out of the woods before, that was pretty weird

So apparently karpets shoved contador http://nos.nl/video/255058-karpets-lijkt-contador-een-duw-te-geven.html

Right, so I'm gonna have to watch highlights too cos I've only just joined. Does this mean Gilb's the proper leader of OPL for the whole tour now?

Sherwen using 'summit' as a verb there, marvellous.

that's very common usage around here.

liggett talking about the emergency room at the nearest hospital. that could be a pretty weird scene, with like 5 riders chilling out on adjacent beds waiting for results and shit.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3128763/IMG_0067.MOV

Big shove on contador.

WHAT IN THE FUCK?

that was seriously like a sideswipe!

poor hoogerland and flecha. way to fuck a break up, french tv.

Car just swerved into Flecha, knocked him off and sent Hoogerland catapulting into a wire fence. Fletch is up again, but no idea about Hoog...

That was fucking insane! Flecha looks in pretty bad shape (but at least able to ride again), but Hoogerland could be seriously fucked up by that

That looked fuckin malicious

Hoog's riding again. Wow. Dude is a fucking champ.

Blimey.

Watching this with twitter is very addicting.

the local network has come back from the break showing the incident with 'tubthumping' as the soundtrack, haha

Yeah (xp) - it didn't just look unfortunate, it looked like the kind of driving you'd get prosecuted for

Twitter saying the commissars are requesting footage from NOS re: karpets

I'm trying to remember the name of the South African guy who fell off the side of the hill but then got back on a couple years ago - John Augustyn, something like that? That's about the scale of what Hoogerland's doing right now.

Yeah, John-Lee Augustyn, Tour of 2008. http://youtu.be/uAdnx_4A2G8

Peloton sits up. Barring disaster, Houdini is in yellow tonight.

not the best stage to have visitors round for - had it on mute all day and just kept catching glimpses of amazing shit going down while having to make small talk.

wow, field looks blasted

jesus, the face on Millar

So my Millar/thor prediction and was clearly ridiculous.

Hoogerland is not going to make the time-limit, but would be outrageous if the organisation throw him out of the race after today I think

Hoog and Fletch coming in with the autobus. Welling up.

Hoog's combative rider.

Still can't believe that car just knocked Flecha and Hoogerland of their bikes. French tv car supposedly. What an idiot.

ok, just seen the car take hoog and flech out, fucking stupid idiot. the bike rider that took out .... Danish guy earlier in the week was pretty unfairly maligned as he was holding a line and the riders went into him, but like NBS says - that's some prosecutable driving right there, don't think SMIDSY is an excuse in this race (not that it is ever)

Hoogerland crying on the stage now...

Hoog's a helluva lot more than that. He's in tears as he gets the KoM.

Just saw the Vino thing, him being hauled out of the ditch by his team... Holy fuck.

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu216/le_bateau_ivre/johnnyhoogerland.png

http://tour-de-france.sport.francetv.fr/cyclisme/88452-voeckler-un-soleil-dans-une-journée-noire

"une voiture du tour"

http://oreade.co.uk/images/orly.jpg

http://twitpic.com/5o5ztj

inrng the Inner Ring
Vinokourov is being transferred to a big Parisian hospital, possible serious injuries, via @thomas_lequipe

looks like I missed quite a lot today eh

do karpets and contador have previous?

https://www.facebook.com/FrancetvSport/posts/234294873258020

so cvv is out too, or is steephill's header wrong?

I think he meant to write van den broucke. Reuters article linked makes no mention of it.

Not just riders suffering

http://twitpic.com/5nq0yr

jeez, contador 4 mins down on the yellow, cadel and the schlecks 2'30 back

take it the peloton sat up and let voeckler ride off?

yup, Voeckler not really a threat in the big mountains, but still may have something up his sleeve.

http://twitpic.com/5o6ylb

Tour-director Christain Prudhomme just said on Dutch tv that it was a scandal. He personally ordered the car to get out of the way (because Voeckler's team boss needed to pass to bring him a drink), and they (the TF1 technicians) refused. They'll be thrown out of the tour and Prudhomme said he will take tomorrow to think about further repercussions.

well, did they refuse to pass because there were trees practically in the road and it was dangerous, because that would be a scandal for prudhomme, really

http://twitpic.com/5o76et

@Hunt3r, what I understood from his words was that that car shouldn't have been in that position in the first place. Prudhomme also said they passed when they couldn't have because it was too narrow (ehm well yeah anyone could see that).

BePositiv_Mag Dolce Vita
: LL Sanchez : "Toute la journée, des voitures d'invités nous passaient devant sur des routes étroites. Parfois, elles nous frôlaient."

Holy crap - Chris Horner doesn't half look like me...

looks perma-baked

This is what it looks like when you crash into barbed wire

http://cdn1.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net//2011/07/10/2/bettiniphoto_0085461_1_full_600.jpg

Poor bloke

Flecha refused the combativity prize

http://www.velochrono.fr/actu/2011/flecha-a-refuse-le-prix-de-la-combativite-du-jour/

poor guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJarentZE2

Ed, did you post a flash thing? It doesn't show up here

its a youtube

Thanks

http://cyclocosm.com/2011/07/has-the-2011-tour-de-france-really-been-more-dangerous/

you know, ll sanchez might be hard to shake out of that 40sec lead he's got himself over the favourites. at least for a while.

From the comments of:
http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/07/le-tour-diary-stage-9-tour-de-france-jinxed/

"Pierre_the_car_driver 7 hours ago
Hi all, this is the driver of the french television car. I am truly sorry for my actions which were responsible for the crash of Flecha and Hoogerland. I have now been terminated from my job and have received a formal warning for my actions. This means that I will never be able to drive during the event of the tour again and I have lost points on my driving licence. I wish a quick recovery to Hoogerland and Flecha. Once again, I deeply regret my actions today and I ask for your forgiveness."

->

"Johnny_Hoogerland 5 hours ago
Hi people, its Hoogerland here, thank you all for the support. It is really a shock to see the actions of the driver. I can imagine they're in regret and shock too for their actions. I am glad to have finished the stage with my life in my hands. I spoke to Flecha after the stage and he seem to be in good condition, but we as pro cyclists must get up and fight on, that's why its the toughest sport in the world. I wish this incident did not happen, but there are somethings that cannot be avoided.
I am happy to have polka dot jersey now, the hardwork has paid off...going to spend rest day in lot of pain. Abandoning race is last on my mind. Thank you all for wonderful support."

almost tempted by ivan basso at 65s on betfair. no-one's talking about him, he's got all that experience. OK he's not been in the best form lately but we won't know properly how strong he is til this week

thomas_lequipe A. Thomas-Commin
Contador sur son genou après 2 h d'entrainement : "Not good, not good. Je mets de la glace et je vais en remettre avant demain." #cyclisme

yeh considering how often he fell off his bike in the last week it would be surprising if Bertie wasn't carrying some sort of injury by now. depends how quickly he can get rid of it/hide the extent from the other riders/dope himself up during the rest day

The big rest day news is that Big Jens Voigt has apparently been persuaded to get on twitter, although not see yet.

Also, Johnny is out on his bike in the maillot a pois.

http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg738/scaled.php?tn=0&server=738&filename=yxszz.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640
http://yfrog.com/kiyxszzj

"Thomas Voeckler, the leader of the Tour de France, does not use a power meter. In fact he doesn't even use a heart rate monitor."

"Moreover, he is a violator of Cutty's Law, which states that one should never ride a heavy bike in hopes of obtaining superior workouts. Voeckler's training bike often weighs more than 11 kg due to its stout steel construction, box rims, tuffy strips, and lead tape applied to its down tube."

I've got the willies thinking about all of Johnny's scabs stretching today.

Voeckler knows where it's at

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/feature-garmin-cervelos-dramatic-day-at-the-tour-de-france

chaos from the inside

Welp...

http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/breves2011/20110711_194407_kolobnev-positif.html

Who here is surprised the 1st positive is from katusha?

Fabian the chef

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.179580528773311.48230.114212335310131#!/media/set/?set=a.179580528773311.48230.114212335310131

HTFU now = Hoogerland the fuck up (from Twitter)

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/07/news/introducing-the-all-new-velo-magazine_183235/attachment/066_vnaug

oooh, so edgy, can you feel the nowness?

Some good shots here, 61, ouch!

Alexander Kolobnev

The judges touching the balls where we throw out the bottles... but do not care how riding motos and cars between us. this is unacceptable!

just on twitter.

and he's out.

http://i.imgur.com/UEKoi.gif@thejensiehttp://i.imgur.com/UEKoi.gif

Ha, i forgot the link. Stupid man!

http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/07/tour-de-france-2011-1st-week-highlights/

Kolobnev: that poor sick man, look at the list of illnessess he could be having and the side effects: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochlorothiazide
(it's clearly not for his performance, he's in 69th place)

Is 61 the same shot they used in the Graun? Looks even worse on TCP o_O poor guy.

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo75nxsR7D1qbw072o1_500.png

Popovych out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yc9ugsilKA

Go! Go, Johnny Go!

Why did Sky go lime green for the tour? To differentiate from Leopard and Garmin? Is there some UK marketing campaign on Sky that has something to do with green that Yanks like I don't know about?

ed, are you paying for eurosport this year? can you choose the commentary language?

PHIL dishing out the pain on the climb to slough off those pesky sprinters.

slp, apparently sky want to save teh rainforests.

(but i think it might be about making them stand out from leopard and garmin too.)

PHIL.

When was the last time a frenchman in yellow won a stage of the tour?

ed, are you paying for eurosport this year? can you choose the commentary language?

― caek, Tuesday, 12 July 2011 09:35 (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

only english

PHIL should target the overall at the vuelta next year. that would be amazing.

what's the eurosport url? i seem to be in redirect hell because i'm in germany. do you use a vpn for that?

how satisfied do you think greipel will be with that stage win?

I use vpn, yes

xpost

greipel dead chuffed I'd imagined, whiney bugger.

a uk vpn? what's the url you find the player at?

eurosportplayer.co.uk

What a brilliant race by Omega Pharma Lotto.

Really happy to see Greipel dominate his biggest critic ("Greipel can only win shit races").

Great racing today, so much better than the boring corporate style that's become so common.

Another one from Cav about Greipel: "Even if I cycle with one leg, I'm still faster than Greipel"

I co-sign Steve's words on Omega Ph.L.

andre, post-race: "I am the most happiest person in the world at the moment"

pretty sure PHIL will not make it through the high mountains in any gt. the last time a puncheur did it, it was di luca, and well... or vino, rip.
xp

Today, my friends, you saw the place I will be on holiday in three weeks (in a hamlet just up the road from Rieupeyroux). I hope there will still be lots of writing on the roads. Mum and Dad were in the village, cheering and banging those clappy sticks. Looking forward to getting my goody bag :)

I am glad my French neck of the woods got a good stage. Short and sweet with no pile-ups.

"Greipel can only win shit races"

That's not quite what he said (but not a million miles away from it). IIRC he belittled the number of wins Greipel had racked up last season by saying they were just "shit small races".

yeah sorry for the paraphrase but in agreement it seems equally offensive on 2nd look.

Actually, it wasn't even quite that:
"If I wanted to just win races I wouldn't ride every ProTour race," said Cavendish. "I understand that at the moment I'm racing to be in my best form for the Tour de France and the world championships. If I wanted to get shit small wins, I'd race shit small races." (April 2010)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/apr/06/mark-cavendish-andre-greipel

I was willing Gilbert to get away today, that would have been so cool.

Gilbert is cool, been a breath of fresh air in this tour by just going put and bloody racing for sobbing out loud. The bert and Andy show is boring and self neutralising, cadel is cadel (still a dull wheelsucker IMO), brad was a time trialler with a bit of race .... But PG is a racer through and through, and it's exciting. 2 hopes = that he can do something in the mountains (doubtful) and that he's clean (soooo hope so)

Mark_Renshaw
Not happy with today at all. Had a shocker and was pop'd on top of last climb. Should have been there in the finish to help Cav. #shitlegs

haha that hashtag!

Had a shocker? NSFW!

Oh god please let Phil be clean....*sigh*

Anyway, from Fab's Twitter: Schleckholio

http://yfrog.com/ke2i9yij

Matt Goss was similarly spannered

mattgoss1986 Matt Goss
Bad day today upset stomach and was doing little cat spews for the last 60km of the stage, shame I couldn't help cav...

little cat spews!!

luv cav but when he dropped that 'little shit races' quote last year i did think 'u gonna have to eat that next year when he beats u at some point'

so currently twitter is ablaze about this

http://tdflr.blogspot.com/2011/07/espn-suspend-michael-smith.html

So this morning the versus app was listing Gilbert's team as PMU

http://twitpic.com/5phihh

Hah

http://twitpic.com/5phihh

http://twitpic.com/5p5a1m

haha awesome

Cavendish strikes again. Full of praise for Greipel at the finish (saying yesterday's sprint was technically perfect).

cav in green then?

Yup

Does Cav's praise for Greipel strike anybody else as perhaps a (probably unconcious) diss, in a way? I.E. "He did a technically perfect sprint, which is the only way he (or anyone) could possibly beat me"

zzz most boring stage to date, bring on the mountains.

your wish is my command, I'm good like that.

My prediction is that at least two of the jerseys will switch hands tomorrow.

My guesses are:
Yellow: LL Sanchez
Green: JJ Rojas

I reckon green will stay with Cav, but KOM will definitely change hands (though who to, I have no idea - it depends if there's a break - but possibly a Schleck). Agree with you about LLS taking the yellow.

I wouldn't count Hoog out definitely! I'm rooting for him... it sucks he's in the KOM jersey as this is about the time he (and/or Voeckler!) normally launches a suicide break. Perhaps the other teams will let him get away out of sympathy?

Hoogerland:
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/8e/fullj.11be84e067ddfe0ada1bd918c5c65bb0/11be84e067ddfe0ada1bd918c5c65bb0

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05Tz6fla6Mgpu/x610.jpg

gutted I'm missing this

http://www.lequipe.fr/EquipeMag/Avant_hier/PORTFOLIO_100-ans-de-tourmalet.html

Gerant Thomas wtf o_O

Five mins ago drove into a ditch, very narrow escape of free falling, now he slips and rides straight through in the rough again.

Sand or Sheep shit on the road apparently

Nobody's taking Sanchez seriously? So they're just going to hand him an extra minute?

Sammy Sanchez, just riding himself back into contention and the top ten here. Chapeau to Voeckler defending the yellow today.

I think that was the closest thing to an attack by Evans in all the years he's ridden the Tour.

woof! where da legs at conty

Amazing what Voeckler and also Gilbert did today, hanging on for so long. It was good to see Kreuziger on form as well.

My Dutch heart says RIP Gesink.

Extremely pleased with the result today, Sammy is one of my favorites.

My prediction is that at least two of the jerseys will switch hands tomorrow.

My guesses are:
Yellow: LL Sanchez
Green: JJ Rojas

― it's a meme i made and i like (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, July 13, 2011 9:31 AM (Yesterday)

I was right on two jerseys, wrong on which ones.

Sammy in polka dots, RIP Gesink indeed. T_T

This could be really interesting. Contador doesn't look all that this time round, whether that's due to crashes or post-Giro fatigue or a lack of steak. Andy Schleck seems to be suffering. Could Frank S or Evans or Basso actually win it?

I have a sneaking suspicion this is Evans' year. He's skulking along quite nicely.

The way I see it... Cadel and the Schlecks are virtually in a three way tie for yellow.
Basso and Cunego are about a minute behind them.
Sammy and Alberto are about 2 minutes behind them.

Strategically, you have two choices: you can either try to chip away at each stage or pick one or two stages to try to bury your competitors.

I would look for Sammy and Alberto to team up on stage 18(Galabier) and/or 19(Alpe d'Huez). A stronger attack deeper into the race could prove to be the most devestating.

evans
basso/contador
schlecks
sanchez

cunego has no chance imo

watch him win it all now

Cunego looked exceptional at TdSuisse, otherwise I would agree with you.

McGee on Contador: "I think a bloke that’s won six grand tours has had his fair share of challenges in his time."

"I think Contador has had a lot of problems in the first part of the Tour, a lot of falls, but let's be careful not to underestimate him," Basso warned. "Contador is a champion. You need to remember that he might only need one real attack to win the Tour de France."

It is funny how the GC top 10 stacks up right now:

The lone valliant Frenchman
(gap)
LuxBro #2
The Aussie/Commonwealth Hope
LuxBro #1
(gap)
Italy's #1 hope
Italy's #2 hope
(gap)
Evil Spaniard
Nice Spaniard
(gap)
Oh shit, an American! Who is he? He's part Eskimo? WTF!
And an Irishman too!

Evans looked really good today, I'd be inclined to think he had a chance if he wasn't the same Cadel Evans who never ever attacks in the Tour and can be counted on to lose a couple of minutes here and there when the real climbers do their thing.

I still don't understand why the GC group wasn't concerned about Sanchez's attack. He was fourth last year and can ride a decent time trial, so why let him gain an extra minute without a fight? This could come back to haunt some people.

looked to me contador only had eyes for andy schleck at the end, seemed happy as long as he marked all of his moves

basso at 60s. tasty

Sanchez started the day 5+ minutes down on Voeckler and I think around 4+ mins on Cadel/Schlecks. The best part was the Sanchez predicted his victory pre-race.

Other interesting fact for the day:

Frank Schleck climbed Luz Ardiden nearly 2 minutes slower than lance in 2003, and lance even managed to crash

^^says a lot about those times really.

enjoyed watching sylvester szmyd turn the screw for basso, massively underrated. cameron wurf who rides for liquigas was interviewed here before the tour, they asked who basso would have working for him in his and nibali's absence - "he'll only have szmyd really, but that's ok, he'll be enough"!

check out this insane llama yall

so pissed. was watching this all afternoon, left the house for a meeting this evening with it paused at 46km to go (where, according to a friend of mine who didn't spill the result, was when Shit Got Real). got home, and the g-d feed stalled and stalled and buffered and buffered x100000 no matter how many different browsers i tried it in. had to settle for the highlights >8[

so pissed. was watching this all afternoon, left the house for a meeting this evening with it paused at 46km to go (where, according to a friend of mine who didn't spill the result, was when Shit Got Real). got home, and the g-d feed stalled and stalled and buffered and buffered x100000 no matter how many different browsers i tried it in. had to settle for the highlights >8[

Was that the versus feed, if so it was a POS last night. Did persuade local bar to put the highlights on, which were quite extensive.

My money is still on Cadel.

yeah that was the VS feed

Klöden out. Terrible TdF for RadioShack

but they won toc lol.

i've got the best fucking stream, but have chores to do >:\

i don't!

:D

that's only my second ever sb

jk

man that's a long skinny string that's gone on for a long time.

so a q about that sprint: at what point does boxing someone out become against the rules?

When the commisaires say so.

Who boxed who? Thought it was perfectly legit sprint but Cav getting heated again. Did I miss something?

xp

also: of the opinion that team sky has the best kit if only because, for the once-a-year cycling fan, having the rider's names printed on the side makes it easy to keep track of who's who. some dudes are easy to pick out (thor is lol hueg, cadel has that face, contador looks like a prick, the schlecks are two dimensional, fab is fab, etc), but otherwise its a bunch of gaunt faces in a sea of gaunt faces

xp no no, i'm not saying he got boxed, just that it looked like he could've, and i was just sorta wondering how that gets determined

omg @ that helicopter sequence

Oh, thanks for explaining gbx. Thought you referred to Cav being pissed off after that sprint for a a reason unknown to me.

like if yr boxed 100m from the line, does anyone care?

xp well when i saw him get het up, i thought "oh was he boxed?" and then my buddy and i were discussing how all that gets sorted out

hate the sky kit cos I hate the green

team-leopard (lolhipster) or omega pharma lotto for me

the q is usually "did someone deviate from his line improperly?"

what's hushovd at?

ah ok

xp for real, i was just wondering the same thing

am I tripping or has the quality of breaks been better this year? seems like at least some of the bigger names are having a go at least

(compared to last year)

jeremy roy w/the panache again

this move by thor is thoroughly baffling

like maybe i just don't 'get' cycling strategy, but srsly what is to be gained?

thor-oughly baffling, soz

that intermediate was more just cav being inattentive to the setup imo. if someone has a lane and overtakes you, well, you shouldve been in that lane first of you wanted to pass. you don't have a theoretical right to enter a passing lane when ppl are overtaking you. at least that's how ive always treated it. you're just fucked. being the kinda hardman that can "force" a lane is part of being an excellent leadout (or sprinter).

xxxpost

does seem odd to me considering the aubisque is still to come and you'd figure he'd want some help there, doubly weird considering he's probably the best descender in the breakaway so could easily have attacked then

TDF on ipad, the open on the 42"

~sport~ man

livin the dream

Not much to understand imo: form a break, attack the break. It's a numbers game. You want to eliminate any threats and/or dead weight once shit gets real.

what ave speed do the sprinters do up these climbs?

i've read they usually do 1300 VAM

SS, speak to my level---i'm confused by thor, a heavy sprinter, going for it on a mountain stage.

Thor is not so much a pure sprinter (anymore), he'll lead out Farrar or Haussler, but if it's an uphill finish or there's some form of selection to be made at the end of the race, that's where he shines and can outpower the selection.

Thor has solo'd in a hilly stage in recent history! Shouldn't be a surprise.

(brb, have to go to airport)
(damnit!)

Thor becomes more of a puncheur/barrodeur every year. He can't beat any of the big sprinters in a straight line any more so he has to go out in the break to get a win (or the green jersey a couple of years ago).
xpost

bear in mind i don't follow this stuff all year round

now that i realize that dude has climbing ability, i've had it explained to me thusly

i think he figures if he can stay close on the climb and catch back on the descent, because it's basically downhill to the finish, then he's the best sprinter in the group that comes to the line

sorry for asking so many questions, but

are the gc dudes gonna start attacking (not the break, but each other) on the climb, or will they just sit in and finish as a group?

shocked if anyone does shit

aw

wondering about boasson hagen, he is a strong finisher, more close to hushovd in style and ability than the rest. if his group can get back in contact (and there is a lot of terrain after the climb), he's the guy. hushovd may be hurting his chances actually.

tomorrow should be sick for GC attacks

gonna watch it in HD

Trying to count how many breaks Roy has been in so far this tour?

been at the panaché

hushovd is fkn pimp

holy shit Thor!

thor my man

like. a. boss.

booming finish

wow

haha shaking his head and grinning

Not much to understand imo: form a break, attack the break. It's a numbers game. You want to eliminate any threats and/or dead weight once shit gets real.

― it's a meme i made and i like (Steve Shasta), Friday, July 15, 2011 6:54 AM (1 hour ago)

MY MANS

started the tour impressively and has continued to impress throughout. chapeau indeed

textbook racing from a classy world champ. incredible ride.

hope for cycling in America: ppl ~clapped~ at the cafe I'm at

Fantastic race from Thor, feeling sorry for Roy though

helicopter/bike camerwork for the finish was incredible

do you get the itv commentators in the us?

TS: ITV commentators Vs. eurosport

itv for the lols every time

liggett did refer to gene as the "coloured europcar rider" I guess

This might be my favorite tour in a very, very long time.

Amazing ride by Hushovd.

agree, great tour, and still so much to come

tomorrow should be sick

he was absolutely cunting along for the last 3k

I'm cunted just watching

I mean seeing him sit up a bit when he caught Roy (but before he was in his slip) was when I was like welp there it is and then the afterburners kicked in like damn

Yeah, awesome awesome tour so far. Seems like the formula is to string together classics-style stages, rather than just flat flat flat then high climb high climb high climb.

15:23, 15 July 2011 90.149.75.53 (talk) (17,441 bytes) (Thor won å TdF stage today) (undo)

And to think a few months ago, people were giving JVaughters quite a bit of grief on the new team... Dude must be freaking out.

lol nice interview with thor there. seemed tearfully happy

"best day of his career"

Supposedly a "goodbye" present to Vaughters and teammates.

BMC 2012: Cadel, Gilbert, Hushovd, Kroon, Burghart (?), Phinney, Tegarderen...

haha, Tejay VanGarderen^^

http://d.yimg.com/i/ng/sp/p5/20110630/17/1360629874.jpg

Roy can be comforted in polka dots tomorrow.

TS: ITV commentators Vs. eurosport

If they don't call it the maillot zhorn, I don't want to know.

I watch cycling on Eurosport most of the rest of the year (for the classics, Giro, Dauphine, etc) and quite enjoy David Harmon rambling on with Sean Kelly, even though he frequently misses big moves and misidentifies the riders. But I watch the Tour de France on ITV4, not for the Liggett & Sherwen commentary (which is overly geared towards newcomers and the American market), but for the Gary Imlach and Ned Boulting bits.

Harmon and Kelly are lovably dumb and harmless, but Liggett and Sherwen are much better at getting across the excitement of the race, especially when a potentially race changing moment happens (e.g. somebody attacks or is dropped).

i like it when kelly talks about the "sitchy-ayshun"

you guys know any good blogs or w/e for analysis? basically all I've got is bikesnob and cosmo and that dude never posts (what gives, man??)

http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/2011_tour_de_france/bp9.jpg

http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/2011_tour_de_france/bp28.jpg

Why didn't anyone tell me that yesterday was NO PANTS FRIDAY btw?

apparently thor reached 112k/69mph on the descent yesterday

if i were bruyneel i think i'd have a "for hire- high mileage turbodiesel" sign pinned to leipheimers jersey.

you guys know any good blogs or w/e for analysis? basically all I've got is bikesnob and cosmo and that dude never posts (what gives, man??)

Inrng.com
Cyclicosm.com
Flammecast

Twitter is also good for this.

@flammecast
@sofaboy
@uci_overlord
@thomas_lequipe
@gilsimongil
@festinagirl
@inrng
@chiarapasserini <- mrs Cuddles
@janeaubrey

Many others I'm following too

@tdflanterne

I meant ciclismas.com rather than cyclocosm

Nyvelocity is good too, good podcast as well

Ouch (Ten Dam)

Did we talk about how the climb to Luz Ardiden was 5 minutes slower than when Armstrong beat Mayo?

not much of a return for all the effort that Leopard Trek have put in over the last couple of days. beginning to believe that Cadel has a chance!

He definitely has a chance. The Schlecks aren't going get anywhere if they keep easing off ten seconds after they attack.

Yeah, what a disappointment that was. The Schlecks have to stop trying to mess with Contador's mind and start thinking about winning the Tour. At the rate they're going, they'll be dicking around all the way to Paris with Voeckler (who looked great again btw) still in yellow.

Getting the feeling main Eurosport guy may slightly have it in for Andy. He was begging Voeckler to have a go at 1km. "Go on! Round the outside, while he's looking for his brother!"

Andy needs to be less meercat and more leopard.

2mins30 slower up beille today than pantani in 1998.

LOL @ Matt Rendell trying to impress Basso with his Italian skills. And Basso informing him he has no idea what he's talking about.

Several riders look good, but nobody looks unbeatable. Evans has arguably looked the most consistently strong - that (and the fact that Voekler has been able to hang on in there) suggests Wiggins would still be right up there in the top four now if he hadn't crashed out. How frustrating.

Only 1'58" between cuddles and Voeckler in the ITT at the Dauphiné. I'm just mentioning that. Of course him holing onto that gap to Grenoble is ridiculous, isn't it?

current lantern rouge was mugged and had his bike stolen last December

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/01/news/movistar%E2%80%99s-amador-attacked-by-thugs-on-training-ride_154338

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrGWczbwDRY&feature=player_embedded

hahaha

Add @autofact to the list of informative twitterers

Frank sulking about how only him and Andy and Basso attacked is possibly the first/only time someone has ever accused Tommy V of not being attacking enough.

This race has been hella fun (while simultaneously massively painful) so far - heroes all over the shop, and Gilbert, Thor and Tommy is probably the most popular trio of maillot jaunes in a while. Every rider that's got the big prize and held it has been due to really taking risks and attacking to hold onto it.

So obviously Contador is gonna jam it out on the ITT.

it would be frustrating were wiggins not a total fanny and if geraint wasn't actually legit

hope basso creams them all #sonotgonnahappen

personally I'm dreaming the impossible dream and hoping that the meercat brothers and contador mark each other out of contention and voeckler just hangs on.

Amused by basso and the schlecks whinging that other people aren't attacking enough, go and attack.

I'm supporting Cuddles or Tommy, should he hang on!

twitter is issuing a well deserved beat down to the meercat brothers after one whinged about journalists and the other about having two doping controls in one day, one during dinner.

One thing we don't seem to have mentioned yet: Pierre Fucking Rolland is wingmanning like an utter hero for Voeckler. Aside from Team Venture, Europcar were the only team to have two riders in that lead pack today. Also, with all the talk about Wiggins - what'd be happening if JVDB was still in? The job Vanendert's done past couple of days suggests a double-team of the OPL lads could have done some heavy damage in the hills.

omg @ the "gahlibeeyee-air or something like that."

http://video.bicycling.com/video/Tom-Danielson-Post-Stage-14

finally watched...stage was "interesting" but not exactly exciting?

Gibby, the best tour analysis I've read is here:

http://www.sportsscientists.com/

One thing we don't seem to have mentioned yet: Pierre Fucking Rolland is wingmanning like an utter hero for Voeckler. Aside from Team Venture, Europcar were the only team to have two riders in that lead pack today.

Yeah, that was impressive. Also, who is Kevin de Weert? I've never noticed him before, in fact haven't noticed him in this race, and yet somehow he's sitting in tenth place.

Also, with all the talk about Wiggins - what'd be happening if JVDB was still in? The job Vanendert's done past couple of days suggests a double-team of the OPL lads could have done some heavy damage in the hills.

Yup, this is equally true and unfortunate. It's worth mentioning that Uran Uran was still up there yesterday so that's a pair of (half ghostly) Sky riders and to go with the pair of (half ghostly) Omega-Pharma-Lotto boys in this fantasy version of the Tour. I don't think Wiggins would have a chance of going with Contador at his best, but this isn't Contador at his best (for whatever reason) and it seems his 'best' may well have been steak-aided. Andy Schleck has got the ability, but seems to be tactically inept.

contador got the saxobonk

Gibby, the best tour analysis I've read is here:

http://www.sportsscientists.com/

Was going to come back and recommend this

http://www.spitsnieuws.nl/sites/default/files/imagecache/article_image_node_slideshow/tendam17juli.jpg.crop_display.jpg

Laurens ten Dam just got on his bike again this morning after his tumble yesterday.

Two time trial champs, Terpstra and Ignatiev, 50secs ahead with 17.5k left. Could be intriguing...

outtasight outtamind dude

Cavendish should be safe for green now, as long as he can get over the mountains.

Tommy still determinedly ruling himself out.

Boulting: "You did in the Pyrenees, the Alps are just mountains..."

Voeckler: "Yes, but they're higher mountains."