WorldTour and Pro Cycling Nonsense 2012

http://xenlogic.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/speed-bomb-diffusion.jpg?w=600

BMC is at it as well

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/06/gallery/tech-gallery-bmc-aero-road-bike_222610

Andy Schleck out of the TDF
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/13/andy-schleck-tour-de-france

wtf
course doesn't suit him but could have podiumed
team to back Frank then?

1) He's been having a terrible season
2) The report says he's fractured his pelvis

Frank is doubtful because Bruyneel is still angry over his Giro abandon.

Brian Holm says Wiggins is a "Living Computer"

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wiggins-may-not-yet-be-at-his-peak-says-holm

Time for a TdF thread?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57452727-10391709/armstrong-formally-charged-for-doping-tour-de-france-titles-at-risk/

eek

Finally

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bassons-and-simeoni-say-armstrong-probe-is-overdue

Time for a TdF thread?

YYY, but do it on ILE if you please

No Bronies - It's the 2012 Tour de France thread

usapc tourtracker is rollin. i know lizard head well enough that this familiar! stetina/danielson pushing break. dz dropped out of break and puked on the side of the road.

jens is in the break and hincapie too.

Contador killed today, the ol' junkie's still got it

danielson vs. the field

alta climb is harder than they think, id be surprised if he gets over it ahead of the group.

is it tru that contador just got sonned by two spanish kids in an andorran mountaintop beef?

cracking stage in the usapc

question for euro/brits:

what is that cool sounding melancholic, electronic (sounds like a tightly phased Fender Rhodes) incidental music snip they play at stage endings shortly before they switch to Tennis, etc.?

peter g.

think it's in a minor key, drums come in after about 10 seconds...

had insomnia over the weeekend and discovered the videos at Cyclocosm, fun stuff

furiously googling:
http://uk.messages.eurosport.yahoo.com/Cycling/threadview?m=tm&bn=UKS-CY-general&tid=9525&mid=9525&tof=32&frt=1

via bikehugger

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/339680_10151059560146185_1116823219_o.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/627260_10151063868066185_836207042_o.jpg

who is robert millar's doppelganger?

Bon Scott from AC/DC

Vuelta is awesome btw. All the mountain stages have been attack after attack after attack. So much so I'm actually warming to Contador (Valverde can still fuck off though). Best GT of the season.

Yeah, I missed the first half of the race but the last two days have been great, more GC attacks on the last climb yesterday than in the whole of the Tour.

That was insane, almost made the Angliru look tame.

I think that was the most brutal finish I've ever seen

Bola del Mundo on saturday is another leg breaker, I can't see Contador giving up even if resistance does seem to be futile.

It's an epic battle deserving of the cliche. I know they need the rest day tomorrow, but I'll be jonesin'.

Holy crap I can't wait to get home and watch the highlights.

Read 2/3rds of the Tyler Hamilton book last night. I'm not really shocked by any of it but it is very very detailed.

I want to get it, but apparently the British version has been edited (because of stricter libel laws) so I want to get it from America.

you guys see the cn forum where vaughters talks about jaksche vdv danielson and dz. crazy times.

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=18436

Thanks Hunter - an interesting thread (though there are a few nutjobs on there by the look of it)

I'm going to be so gutted if sky turn out to be doping. Not surprised, much, but gutted.

Why wouldn't you be surprised, Surfing? General cynicism as to professional cycling? Suspicion of Sky? Suspicion of cyclists within Sky able to avoid Sky testing? I would be surprised, I think. I was speaking to a friend (and fellow ilxor) earlier this year and said as much when he asked what I thought.

Just with regard to some of what is being said on that forum - there are some parts of Millar's book that make me feel uneasy. something like... hmm, how to put it? an impression of intense, pathological self-justification perhaps warping things into a narrative that suits where he is now? Is that too runic? I'm not sure it's even relevant or useful (i've written this bit and deleted it several times).

After winning my heart for the last three weeks, Bert goes and ruins it all with this:

http://cdn3.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net//2012/09/09/2/pic307648864_600.jpg

Betsy Andreu live on tourchats.com in 5 minutes

All of the above, Fizzles. 30 years of following the sport. Sky not sticking to their manifesto, hiring Leinders. Sky's results bordering on unbelievable. Kimmage's stint with them cancelled. Wiggo changing his tune.

Even so, I'm taking my sister and one of my nephews to Knowsley today to watch the guys ride in, and I'm thrilled to be going. Still a fan!

remember how all the breaks stayed away in the high mountain stages this year? they would've been caught and blown away on the last climb back in the old days. even at the dauphine, that one stage to morzine which had everyone start up with the 'UK postal' stuff, quintana from movistar rode away from them. i think sky's results are about as beliveable as they can be in the current climate. at least they actually take responsibility for training their riders, rather than leaving it to the riders themselves to organise a program (or 'program'). look at how rabo are reconfiguring themselves along these lines:http://inrng.com/2012/09/rabobank-revolution/

the TTT world championship is tomorrow!

tony martin just caught his two-minute man in the TT ...contador

chriiiiiist

I wish I wasn't in this all day meeting

Looks like it was an exciting race. I like all the riders who made the podium... and I've never been able to warm to Contador for some reason. Shame about Pinotti's collarbone.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02348/Philippe_Gilbert_2348418b.jpg

Momentum still building behind the Paul Kimmage Defense campaign http://nyvelocity.com/content/features/2012/paul-kimmage-defense-fund

Kimmage may not be the most likeable, but what McQuaid and Verbruggen are doing is out of order.

I'm assuming anyone interested in the case already knows about it, btw. I wouldn't know where to start trying to unravel the cover-ups / conspiracy theories at this point. The most interesting stuff is about to happen.

I donated yesterday. I'm not Kimmage's greatest fan, but Kimmage >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> McQuaid/Verbruggen.

I donated on Saturday, when the chipin wasn't working very reliably. I think it went through, though. I think a lot of people appreciate the chance to spit in Verbruggen's soup.