Pro Tour/ Euro/Whatever road thread

whew, that move by devolder.

whatta animal

ysi?

Some stuff here

no footage of a 'move'....yow @ that crash, tho

yeah. this is a pretty tight photo imo

http://i43.tinypic.com/154ytjd.jpg

on video you could see the precise moment quinziato dialed it back to avoid blowing up. that picture looks pretty much like that moment--he pulled over to the right as he dropped off.

(how is martijn maaskant on garmin, and for how much longer?)

too bad farrar seems always hurting

^From baot 1:30

Not road related but 2003 Kierin world champ Jobie Dajka found dead

it's a pretty fucking sad story

Ghent Wevelgem - Edvald Boasson-Hagen (who took the Tour of Britain by storm last summer) has just won it in a two-man break.

Which station carries the Tour De France in the states and do they stream it? Should be good watching it at work in the mornings.

i think the channel i watched it on was Versus?? pretty sure. it was at a bar, tho. no idea if it's streamed

it's versus and yes i believe they do stream it

This is good news although it looks like I will be in Europe for Le Grand Depart and be able to watch 3 stages in person. (Cap d'Agde-Perpignan, Girona-Barcelona and the first mountain stage). (Real number of stages may vary due to testing the patience of E w.r.t. chasing cyclists about the french and spanish countryside).

it's pictures like these that make cycling the greatest sport ever:

http://www.velonews.com/files/images/kirchenfleche_0.jpg

nah its video clips like ^^^ at 3:40. "you think YOU play hardball with me against the barriers? no, THIS is hardball!"

The reactions to the crash in the Tour of Turkey are no laughing matter. On Youtube you can see how I seem to intentionally cause a crash. Even Lance Armstrong makes it known that I should be suspended for a long time. A reaction which I fully understand after seeing the images and hearing the accompanying commentary.

Of course I also watched them myself, over and over. It is difficult to see in the view from above, it seems as though I pull him off his bike. However, I am completely boxed in there while being pushed into the barriers on the left and, as a reflex, the one thing I do is to make an ultimate attempt trying to keep him away from me. At that moment the only option, precisely to prevent the crash. I think I then hit a barrier foot with my front wheel and go crashing down immediately, together with Impey.

I feel like shit for having become headline news in this way. As a sportsman, I want to show that I am a different man. This is bugging me. I hope that there is more footage. Perhaps those videos can be viewed side by side and analysed frame by frame. I would give everything to prove that this was not my fault. It was never my intention. Not even in the heat of the battle. I will have to convince everyone that I win my sprints differently. I love this sport. Sport is on the cutting edge. Fair play is part of that in every way. It is never worth going beyond that!

yeah, the blogs are crazy about this---almost certain, myself, that it's an accident. he'd literally have to be crazy to do something like that on purpose

http://cyclocosm.com/2009/04/the-bos-impey-crash/

having handled a few asses while getting pinched, dude is mostly right ^^^^. and what usually happens when push someone away hard is that they automatically lean back to you, or even swerve back into you. so you want to push steadily and not too hard ime.

what im less clear on (and this may be a track thing and the right thing to do) was bos' first touch on impey. he puts his arm around him. ive never seen that done in that situation. he quickly changes to a shoulder snatch and the rest is clear to see.

bos has forgotten 100x more than i'll know about handling a tight sprint, but i have a harder time believing his explanation. to me it looked like he knew he was fucked and wasnt going alone. (by the way, if you ever crash on top of someone--it can be surprisingly soft and easy.)

Breaking news: Italian rider has tested positive for CERA (i.e. EPO) at last summer's olympics. Rumours that it is Rebellin.

More than rumours now. What a massive disappointment :(

and schumacher again

double jeopardy

Haha! I'm so glad Schumacher is the second one. Serves him right if he gets banned for life now, the cunt.

if you were on gsteiner and knew you needed a new k, i guess the pressure was high? or were they always cheats?

Is any US TV showing the Giro or have it online?

No worries: http://www.universalsports.com/

Spectacularly well timed launch of the sprint by Pettachi, just the right moment to block Cavendish against the barriers. However second day in Pink for him so it isn't all bad.

and Boonen gets caught on the gak again....

I think he must like having july off.

Anyone know if the Tour is doing bonus seconds for stage wins this year?

dunno - but the route sucks, they need to be going through north east France some more so we can go see it with free accomodation, they haven't been in 4 years or so.

Next year is your year then, grand depart in holland and lots of flat through belgium and luxembourg.

this is my year though, Finish in Perpignan and Barcelona on consecutive days and that's where I can get free accommodation. (Also trying to get school to pay for the flights as I am going to a conference in Barcelona on the preceding weekend).

Also for this year, Valverde out because of the one stage that passes through italy where CONI have banned him.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/indepth/landis/instantmessage.html

remember when? ha, good times yall good times.

I am eternally amused by the block of cheese riders get with their spumante for a stage win.

I loved scarponi's slow down to the line and cheeky grin as he looked behind for the chasing group.

http://www.theurbanshop.co.uk/multimedia/catalogue/images/OTHER/ynm0031.jpg

^crazy. in the wet too

http://cyclingnews.com/photos/2009/giro09/?id=/photos/2009/giro09/giro097/2_0038632_1_thumb2

lol meant that

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/8053657.stm

His bike was reportedly found around 60m away as paramedics recovered him from deep in a ravine.

Bradley Wiggins is still hanging on in there.

http://cycleto.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=973

i still think this is the best anglophone rider out there for race assessment.

im interested in hearing who's better tho.

Not pro, but pretty shitty:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/8054215.stm

i love chris horner

http://www.livestrong.com/lance-armstrong/video/lance-and-levi-talk-to-dave-zabriskie/bef12e89-651a-48fb-875a-ebbfe0b03389/rms/

juan pelota has better sense of humor about it than i figgered

di luca trying to break away from menchov here on the vesuvius climb is pretty entertaining!

Menchov looked pretty chuffed at the end there.

I normally find Cadel Evans to be the Prince of Boredom in the mountains, just defensively grinding his way up at a steady pace, following wheels and limiting his losses, but he was fantastically aggressive and attacking in the last two stages of the Dauphine Libere (trying to shake off soon-to-be-banned Valverde).

Yeah he's looking good hey.

happy moncoutie got that stage, always liked him.