See what I mean!
Wiggo's out.
Thanks for the update.
Wiggins...."ever again" (?)
Wow, never heard of a TDF champ doing that. Now I'm really interested to see if the performance of team Sky is as dominating as last year.
Chaz...I think he's starring on that frozen lake trucker series on discovery channel...Leon Spinks is his driving partner and sometimes throws a few jabs......RJ
NBC/Versus has an iOS app that pretty much fully live streams each stage and you can play them back later. It's $14.99 and I used it last year. It was pretty good. There may be an Android version as well.
I just realized this morning this thing has started! Kids keeping me extra busy this summer!
Also, love the Tour but I do not want "Contraban" to win. Go Frome!!!! but seriously in love with Peter Sagan, what a hottie, all his little escapades amuse me.
Charles Pelkey does live updates (via text and images) for each day. You can also read them later on.
He's very good and provides a good perspective. The Red Kite Prayer site has overall good writing too. They have the technical stuff (how to), but also write a lot about the "feel" part.
Takes my vote for the strangest final 3 K of a TDF stage.
You could hear it echoing from all the race radios. What?
WTF!
WTF?
WTF?
WTF!
Roger!
WTF!
Repete!
WTF!
Copy?
WTF?
cyclingnews.com offers good live coverage. They switch out the presenters from time to time so you get different perspectives which is nice so you aren't just getting one view. Here's the link:
After all the Lance drama I'm afraid the power of subjective thought
is filtering the tv images I see making the riders look ordinary,
clean, and slow.
Was I,the only one who,saw all that rock on Corsica. Bite me where I pee that looked like some sick,rock and while that was good those beaches looked amazing.
Add this island to the bucket list.
But seriously Corsica is a tough place to race and the hills are not long drawn out accents they are steep, short and hard.
Col de la Bavella has some really nice granite climbing. Also some good sport climbing in the Gorges de Restefond.
Yes, there are some short road climbs, but nothing really steep. Also, there are some longer road climbs up to 3000' of gain but, again, nothing really steep.
Anyone know what happened to Wenatchee's own Tyler Farrar. He wasn't on the TdF start list. The last mention I find of him on the net is his 4th stage win at the Tour of California.
Yesterday (Sunday) when Bakelants won Phil Liggett MBE ;-) and Paul Sherwen got it completely wrong on the live TV NBCSports feed and called the wrong winner, mistaking the Spanish rider for RadioShack Markel Irizar Aranburu for Bakelants (also RadioShack). It took mybe 1/2 minute to correct, and it was no big deal except maybe for Bakelants. Then during the evening re-broadcast that my wife wanted to see after I said it was the best finish I could remember, they completed redacted the coverage and edited over/out all incorrect rider references and put in Bakelants. That's all well and good I guess, but it was just weird because it was passed off as the delayed live feed. Interestingly enough, cyclingnew.com's live feed got it wrong, too.
I say, all you wacko Supertopo conspiracy theorists: RUN WITH IT! Spaniard kidnapped to giant Arc on the backside of the Moon -> Bakelants to winner's spot!
Also as I asked upthread, anyone know what Tyler Farrar is up to? He wasn't in the TdF starting roster.
Nutstory: Great pictures from Ajaccio. After the Corsicans stopped bombing French post offices on the island, Corsica is quite close to heaven on earth.
Darwin: The Norwegian TV2 expert, Johan Kaggestad, had the wrong winner for 10 minutes. Guess if he will hear that afterwards and guess if he is embarrassed? Lol...
I work with the Comcast operations folks regularly. They tell me that day 1 of this year's TdF was the least watched day 1 since they began recording viewership of the event, which began around 2005.
I don't necessarily think this means anything, nor do they. In 2005, Armstrong was a living American hero on his way to #6 (?). And Trek was selling new bicycles like they were tech stocks in 1998.
This is just an observation based on two Philadelphia area counties that I thought was interesting.
I think the low numbers are because the low-information cycling viewer likes time trials. TT's are more like reality TV for them, which is something they can understand.
Yesterday (Sunday) when Bakelants won Phil Liggett MBE ;-) and Paul Sherwen got it completely wrong on the live TV NBCSports feed and called the wrong winner, mistaking the Spanish rider for RadioShack Markel Irizar Aranburu for Bakelants (also RadioShack).
When the Radio Shack rider initially broke away, Phil and Paul correctly identified the rider as Bakelants. However, the Official Tour de France race radio incorrectly identified the rider as Markel Irizar so they changed their call. This mistake was on the Tour organization and not Phil and Paul.
On the way to Cham for the July 2012 climbing world cup, i met
a tour de France runner. He said he was happy to be
away from the circus for a day or 2. Was envious when i explained that in climbing
we dońt have this problem (yet). It sounded like cool wind to him.
Arrived in Cham, the circus started however: the death toll in the
Mont Blanc massif had included some of the world cup runners.
RIP!
Weird coincidence.
On a more positive note though: if you have not seen ´hell on wheelś
Do. Its a documentary about the Tour de France by Pépé
Danquart. The name sounds familiar? Yep. It´s the man who
did ´At the Limit´ with our drinking buddies Alexander and Thomas Huber.
and they would saw your frame at night.
not all the way, just enuff to have it break at the col de sac downhill.
the tour, back breaking work but somebody has to do it,
bernard hinault took a tree to the groin to avoid decking out,
grabbed the trunk with his legs after he bailed over the cliff.
also>
"One of the most memorable Hinault victories was at the 1980 Liege-Bastogne-Liege in Belgium. The April race was held in winter conditions which deteriorated during the day. Of 174 starters, only 21 finished. Hinault rode solo for the last 50 miles (80 km) of the 151 mile (244 km) race through a blizzard and won by 9:24."
i bet that's the race that cooked his knee, can't feel the damage you do when it's frozen, no nerves in the knee,
I swear I can't tell whether anyone is doping or not. Coverage seems to be the same with or without. I guess Zimmerman won't be riding this year what with the trial and all.
A run-O-the-mill sprinters stage.
Nice to see the boys finally got to play with their lead-out train sets.
Sagan continues to impress me. Starts his sprint after Cav, Boasson Hagen (sp?) and Greipel. Strolls around Greipel, who's maxed out in his sprint, and comes within two pedal strokes of taking Edvald's "best of the rest" 2nd place.
Granted, he was better than a bike length behind Cav, but when Cav jumped, Sagan made up at least three bike lenghts before the line.
The kid's strong and savy.
Yeah, not a big Cav fan here, and as much as I hate to come to his defence, he got caught-out.
There was a 50 foot stretch of 3% grade at 2k out. It took him a while to catch back up. not really.
But if you look at the finishing replays, he was about 12 wheels back when Greipel was in his final lead-out. An honest and valiant attempt. But,,HAH! He got gapped and Greipel made him pay.
I don't know what's up with liqui-dale. Seems Peter's left freelancing wheels in his finals. Iregardless ; he should be in the running for best-of-the-rest jersey. Three 2nds, oh my.
dee ee called it!
Sagan!
Brilliant tactics today. Not only for the stage win and green jersey, but for the polka-dots as well.
Mountains are in the forecast with a chance of selections...bout time!
I was a little worried that they used too much juice on the run in, especially when Degancolb went and Peter was several bike lengths back, but Peter just punched it and "see ya."
I'm enjoying every stage in this years tour. Nothing better then the unexpected outcomes like Jan Bakelants and the awesome team displays that the TTT and Cannondale showed today.
This is my World Series, Superbowl and NBA finals all rolled into 3 weeks of partying in France.
For those who follow Strava, the numbers by pro rider Laurens ten Dam during stage 8 of the Tour de France should give you a goal to shoot for. 118.5 miles, over 16,000 feet of elevation and an average speed of 23.4 mph. And BTW, he finished the stage fifth, ahead of past TDF winners Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans. Whoa!
"Hard day"--ya think? Those guys are fooken amazing. I wonder how many beers I'd have to drink to recover all those Calories?
His name's Quintana.
He could'a been a contend'a, if he was a bett'a descend'a!
Phil, this is how you lay out todays selections. First you take your Contador and put him next to your Evans. Then you take your Valverde and set him next to your Froome. Next you take your....
Paul!.. Don't you think your putting that Porte alittle too close to that Quintana?
Nonsense Phil, I........
BOOOOOM!
Well Paul, let's hope none of our viewers at home were injured in that selection process.
I hope there is some challenge from someone. Of the recent tours, I can only picture Sastre's(and the Schleck brothers) and Cadel's wins. I know Contador and Wiggins won in there, but really I can't remember any of the stages.
Oh, yeah, there was Andy attacking while Contador was getting water, slipping a chain, and then whinging like a baby when Contador rode by him.
Really nice stage!
Great riding Dan! Thanks for putting Garmin on the board.
Finding Sky vulnerable after yesterdays big effort should put some wind back in the sails of the other GC contenders. It seems to have done wonders for Andy.
Being the armchair director sportif that I am.........
Moviestar, IMHO, missed a great chance to crush Froome today. Valverde should have sent Quintana on the attack earlier then they did. Quintana can't TT well enough to be a true GC threat, making him more of a stage sniper. Putting him up for sacrifice today, no matter the outcome, with a rest day and flat stages into alps for recovery? Down side?
With stages like todays, How can you not love this sport?
One indication as to the relative doping free racing happening in this years TdF is the fact racers are having bad days. Before the days of EPO/HGH, bad days were not an uncommon fact when racing for 3 weeks.
My pick for tomorrows flaaaaaaaaaat stage win.
Cav. (damn it!)
Short TT on Wednesday, so it's a hard call.
I'm bummed.....no Spartacus or Captain America.
I'm hoping.....for TJ to take it.
I'm thinkin.....Martin or Froome.
I was jus' watchin' the highlight show for the first week. Wow, it's good stuff, it's the TOUR DE FRANCE afterall.
The best stage was yesterday, Sunday. Garmin hits hard early on with Tommy D. and David Miller attacking early and winning the first climb. Then they go again for the second and third climb with Dan Martin coming into play.
Moviestar takes over with our little star Colombian Quintana ripping on the front. He kicks again and again. Valverde is waiting just behind for the right time to go. Unfortunately, Quintana doesn't give 110% and drop Froome. Maybe he did and we just couldn't tell. Froome hangs.
Finally...it's the last climb, and late on Daniel Martin goes with almost 40km to go. Fuglesang goes just after, and luckily for Danny.
They both give 110% for ~40 kms, it's awesome to see each rider going for it like that, no bs, no games, just a total commitment for the win. The sprinters teams are going like hell to try and catch, the gap drops by 12 seconds and then grows by 8.
They come into the last km. Danny has perfect position behind Jacob. Jacob doesn't cut to bs, he's in front but he thinks he has a chance, no reason to be a pussy. Danny is thinking of the turn at 500 meters and kicks just before. He goes into the turn in the lead and goes to the end.
YES!
I remember a few years ago when Chris Horner was in the same position and both of them sat up (I can't remember who the other guy was) waiting for the other to lead them out. Neither guy did and the peloton caught them with 100 meters to go. What a disappointment, that was the closest Chris ever came to a stage win and the only time he let us down. Bad style.
Tomorrow the wind will wreak havoc and some Belgian team will produce the winner. Note that Cavendish's team is Belgian, so I'm kind of hedging my bets here. I'm not saying that I'll be particularly happy with him winning.
Schoolmasters, sprint du jour
Argos/Shimano is showing they are a team to be respected.
Sending the,"powerhouse teams" back to school. Very well done!
Mark Cavendish is the biggest wanker in professional cycling!
I was able to watch the early coverage. Phil and Paul made short mention of it, but there was no mention of his actions post finish.
As I raise my right index finger above my head.... I solemnly swear from this day forward I will only refer to him as "Cavend#@&%e."
Tomorrow the wind will wreak havoc and some Belgian team will produce the winner. Note that Cavendish's team is Belgian, so I'm kind of hedging my bets here. I'm not saying that I'll be particularly happy with him winning.
Yes, but I saw footage of Cav out sprinting a pair of rice rockets on the Isle of Man. He must be good and fast.
My guess is Cavendish will be rewarded with last place for his efforts today. But he won't care because to him, finishing third is no different than finishing D F last.
Oh.... that was an awesome sprint!
Kittel, the underdog of the top 4 sprinters was first to score his second win. I was bummed for Sagan, he was boxed in and didn't really have a chance, but that is the luck of the draw.
Bravo Marcel!
That bump from Cav causing the ugly crash wasn't too egregious....but, indeed, why didn't he sprint straight? Dawg! Careless primadonna.
Cavendish is not what the sport is all about . . . he is a sprinting specialist and quite good at that discipline, despite his petulance. He is useless in the big scheme of The Tour . . . merely a sideshow to the real riders. It is unfortunate that there is so much hype surrounding the pure sprint, but it is a form of cycling and it is potentially dangerous, so we must accept what is.
I dedicated my first pint of the evening to Phil and Paul. I can't imagine how hard it must be to keep the enthusiastic dialogue going...and going...and going, while broadcasting for a stage so broad and flat it could only be described as oceanic.
Odd, as I watched the prime time broadcast it seemed as if they had edited in more mention of Argos/Shimano and Kittel, where this mornings version they were pumping the "Big Three" sprinters teams. None-the-less, I'm really stoked for Kittel and Argos/Shimano on their second stage win.
After seeing this evenings edition, and thinking back to his earlier aborted sprint, where he swooped another A/S team member, I'm more convinced then ever about the guilt of Cavend#@&%e. I've tried my best to give him the benefit of the doubt the last few years because he is a gifted sprinter, and thinking he'd mature. I'm done with that.
A few years back Paul did just that after a near collision, and got himself in hot water.
Highroad, quietly, went after him and Versus for not following the journalistic code of neutrality.
They've both pulled back from expressing their opinions.
EDIT:
Dolomite, with all due respect, sprinting is a big deal. That's why it's a dicipline they award a jersey to the best one. Just like KOM and GC, it wouldn't be bike racing without it.
I would guess Phil and Paul's comments were moderated by the nationalities of their audience. Cavendish has bugged me for a while now, but IMHO the referee call on his actions in today's sprint could have gone either way. If he had won, I'm pretty certain he would have been disqualified.
fugit: as I typed that I felt he should have been relegated to last regardless of winning or not. I'm just glad that Veelers wasn't hurt and that justice seemed to have been done with Argos's Kittle winning.
Dar
w.r.t to my prediction: ok, the winds didn't seem to play a big a role - but Argos-Shimano is a Dutch team and therefore almost Belgian, kind of like Canadian is almost US of American.
I do love Phil and Paul and actually they weren't too defensive about Cav. In fact they seemed a little surprised he wasn't penalized. I don't like him much, but I wouldn't throw piss on the guy! Sheesh, you'd think he was trying to build a climbers' hostel in Eldo!
...a fan took things to a new extreme, throwing urine on cyclist Mark Cavendish...
The incident occurred during Wednesday's Stage 11 time trial, which stretched from Avranches to Mont-Saint-Michel. The motivations behind the fan's actions are still unclear, but Sky Sports speculates that it may stem from Cavendish's involvement in a crash that took out Tom Veelers during Stage 10 on Tuesday.
Despite the belief by many that Cavendish was to blame for the wreck, he was exonerated from any wrongdoing by race officials, according to William Fotheringham of The Guardian.
There is really no excuse for slinging pee, but overhead shot showed pretty clearly that Cav swerved in and hit Veelers handlebar. Not intentional, but but a pretty aggressive move that poor Tom never saw coming.
Yes, may I retract my comment about Cav's move being "not too egregious?"
Upon further reflection I must say "way too effing egregious." It was the reflects of someone that is WAY Too internally programmed to win. You don't have to take out every competitor. DUDE, just sprint.
I was so glad that Tony Martin held on for the win. After waiting in the hot seat for 3.5 hours, how nice it was.........and Andrew T. held on for 11 th (?) place.....sweet... ahead of Contador and other faves.
When I saw the replay my reaction was " Wow, he took that guy out!" All of the announcers (Bob Roll etc) all felt it was incidental. I was surprised by that.
Two flat stages and then its to the "hills".....big boy territory. Watch for Contador to close the gap, as well as Schleck. Froome will have to work for this tour. Sky will have to dig deep to keep him in yellow.
I thought Cavendish had it lined up even before Phil "called" it for him ( probably to be edited out for the re-broadcast ), but Kittel rode right past him. That's a RACE!
Sounds like a personal problem to me. Suggestions: 1) go to bed early and get up early to watch the stage 2) stay off the thread until you watch 3) quit your wankin'
Had the line been 25 meters more ahead, Sagan would have nipped them both! Watch his exceleration in the final 50 meters.
It's only fitting that I take that picture as my farewell gift from you, the perpetrator of this fine thread, as I depart. Regrettably I will be unable to participate any longer, as I am off to the wilds of Montana in search of fat, gullible, trout.
You folks have been alot of fun, keep up the good work.
See you in a few weeks.
Pretty impressive win for Cavendish and his team. I was surprised so many GC contenders got caught out. Sagan was again amazing in that he is always there at the finish. Given his good performance in the TT, could he ever contend for the yellow jersey - or will he never be a good enough high mountain climber?
Amazing stage today on what was supposed to be an easy day. Froome got boxed in and with his team falling apart, Saxo made a very smart and gutsy move. Can't wait until Sunday's Mountain stage.
Cavendish blew it yesterday and knew it, roared back with a great win today. Say what you want about the little guy, he is of the greatest sprinters ever in the Tour.
Yes, Cav raced like the real deal today, bravo to Quick Step and Chavanal.
But especially, bravo to Saxo Tinkoff, Belkin and Quick Step for REALLY puttin' it to 'em. That was an awesome action filled stage that looked pretty predictable on paper.
I don't dislike Froome but no one wants to see him run away with it.
I was bummed about ValVerde's bad luck. We will see how much class he has by how he races from here on. I think he'll back the little Colombian and maybe go for a stage win next week. He didn't deserve that crap.
Anything can happen in the Tour and they still have a long, long way to go, Mont Ventoux, another time trial then Alpe d'Huez twice in one day and as we saw today the most routine stage can kick someones ass.
Oh, I forgot to say I love Laurens TenDam. How about last year when he had a full beard for the tour? He knows about aerodynamics and doesn't worry about it enough to shave! I kept thinking "there's a guy that does what he wants." I'm sure the team director gave him shite about that.
Jul 8, 2013 - 10:06pm PT
Tomorrow the wind will wreak havoc and some Belgian team will produce the winner. Note that Cavendish's team is Belgian, so I'm kind of hedging my bets here. I'm not saying that I'll be particularly happy with him winning.
OK I got the day wrong, but you have to admit the call was petty good.
anyone got the specs on those babies..
I wonder how much of an advantage they could be.
Shimano used to market them on lower end road bikes under the name Bio-pace and they lasted for a couple of years before being replaced by regular round chain rings. The idea behind them is they remove the dead spot in one's pedal stroke.
Bobby Julich had pretty good luck with them and refined the shape a bit. I do believe he is part of the Sky coaching/management staff.
Shimano had BioPace on their montain bike group as well. I raced them for a year. They were supposed to even out the "dead spot" at the top/bottom of your stroke. They were ok once you got used to the different spin, but I never really got used to them.
My first mountain bike ( Raleigh bonded aluminum "Technium" ) had the elliptical rings, too. But mine was the SunTour version. The small ring was almost square. I didn't care for them, either.
-Lance Armstrong, upon seeing Ventoux's de-forested summit. The trees went to good use, building ships from the earliest explorers through Napoleon ( which Lord Nelson sent to the bottom of the Atlantic ). Now the trees are gone.
Shimano had BioPace on their mountain bike group as well. I raced them for a year. They were supposed to even out the "dead spot" at the top/bottom of your stroke. They were ok once you got used to the different spin, but I never really got used to them.
I ride an early 80's Schwinn High Plains for a commuter. Rebuilt the drive train a couple of months ago and even found a brand new Biopace ring on Ebay for it.
Since I've ridden it for more than 20 years, getting used to a round ring may be more of an issue. The Biopace had no advantages as far as power, but they are much kinder on bad knees. Not much of a market for bikes for bad knees, so I'm glad I ended up with one now that they are toast. (both the knees and the rings)
Rode it down to Long Beach and back today, (60+mi)
The new ellipticals are cut exactly opposite of the Biopace.
I"m looking for a road bike, anyone have any opinions on the Motobecane's
They look like the best deal going right now in a titanium frame.
i got a bunch of free cliff bars and gatorade today, happened to be on the chahalis bike path when a couple thousand bikers came my way, happened to be the seattle - portland race, group health or sumthin, free food in Tenio so i snuck into the snack line and loaded up, had them do a free tune up at the mobile velo shop while i was eating, then i went home while they slaved away towards centralia, life is full of free suprizes, take my mother in law for instance,not a bad gal, few extra pounds, like some of the riders today,jeez, they must be making rear wheels stronger cuz theses big gals can hammer, probably on the EPO or some other russian engineered designer compound, Eddie Borysewicz started all this doping, in colorado springs,so we burned his house down and had him deported. he knocked up rebecca twigg, and karen carpenter,
the Germans seem to have something boosting their power this year that the others haven't gotten ahold of...we will be hearing about their disqualification in the future but they will have the glory TODAY!!!
The list of tour winners with Lance voided out looks ridiculous. Contador doped in 2010 but not in 2007 and 2009? Indurain doped, Riis doped, Ullrich doped, Pantani doped, Delgado doped, Merckx and Anquetil used banned substances - who knows, maybe the Badger doped too. But only Lance shall not be named.
Absolutely, but it's all about an even playing field. How would you like to be putting out to that degree and wondering if the guy on your wheel is enhanced......then again, maybe they all are.
Geez....in that case, it would be an even playing field.
After watching the Mt. Ventoux stage a few times, I still get the gut reaction (after years of denials that they're using) that Froome's performance is a mirror image of past drug cheats. I hope that he is on the up and up, but history tells me he's cheating.
Not from his personal history, but the simple fact he is so over-the-top better then all the other elite climbers/time trialer he's been racing against.
Either Froome is on the juice, or he's the greatest natural talent since Merckx (who juiced a little himself). And Froome appeared out of nowhere. Unlike say Lemond, there was no indication in Froome's early career that he'd be like this.
One thing I would do to improve the TV coverage would be to totally disable the ZOOM lenses on all the motorcycle cameras.
What's gained by an extreme close shot looking into the vents on the back of a racer's helmet? Or by an extreme close shot into someone's ear canal?
Shitcan the zoom already. Pull back, so we can see the rider's position on the bike, the bike itself, the gears being used, the other racers, the fans lining the course, and the scenery. That's all part of the race too, but we're missing out on it to see yet another tight shot into someone's ear canal.
I'll tell you who's not doping. Cadel Evens. WTF. He must be sick or something.
As for all the armchair doping experts. Give it a rest and enjoy the show. Tomorrow should be awesome!
I think tomorrow would be truly awesome if it was a race amongst equals. Whether Froome is clean or not, his dominance this year is akin to Mike Tyson boxing against Jerry Seinfeld. He's got 4 minutes. Four!! That makes for a boring ass race. Especially when everybody knows that if he lays the hammer down tomorrow like he did on the other key stages that he could realistically stretch that 4 minute gap to 20 minutes... and that's no joke, he's that head and shoulders above everyone else. The rest of them might scrap for podium spots, but c'mon.
As to whether Froome is clean or not, I definitely have my suspicions. But, maybe that pre-2010 parasite really did affect his abilities that much. Maybe he is a late blooming, better-than-Merckx natural talent.
Still, I'm curious to see how Sky plays it tomorrow. I wrote about this on another site, but Thursday's stage should be interesting. With so many press agencies around the world publishing articles calling Froome's performance into question - e.g., making note that if he won these stages by a handful of seconds nobody would really think much of it - I wonder if Sky will take this into account in how they let Froome race. Maybe hold Froome back, have him ride defensive and/or win by just a small margin (sandbag it until the final switchback up the Alpe, give RP a win, etc). Or, if they are fully confident in his 'pane e acqua' performance, let him fly and push out the same wattage and VAM that he did on AX3 or the upper slopes of Ventoux. Basically saying "F you!" to all the doubters. We shall see.
About the only positive that Froome has in my book is that considering the current microscope that racing is under, if you are doping the absolute stupidest thing you could do right now is call that much attention to yourself. I don't think he's that much of an idiot, but I have zero trust and very little respect for bike racing right now.
I'll say it for him: 'FU to all the doubters.'
imo Froome is racing clean. unfortunately for them, his main rivals are too.
what's that Cadel? couldn't hear you from the bottom of the standings.
What a fantastic race!! While I wish that TJ had won, I'm glad France claimed the hardest stage.
Froome momentarily bonking today made him seem vulnerable and human. This alone gives me hope he's racing clean. I wonder what the outcome would have been if Porte had played by the rules and hadn't gone back to the team car for food?
Just the crowd lining the course made for a great stage. Everybody old enough to tie his own shoes was higher than a kite from the cheap red wine they'd been drinking since they woke up this morning, and when the race came by they did their best to act like it. I saw T.J. backhand one guy who was bothering him.
And then it turned into a real race.
rrider writes:
"If NBC is all there is, it might be pathetic, like the Olympics coverage."
I was worried about the same thing, too. But NBC could not have done a better job. The whole stage - start to finish - LIVE. I waited 35 years for this. Maybe NBC will do the Olympics like the bike race.
I admire the heck out of TJ and would have loved to have him win and was sorry about the chain, but good for Riblon. He metered out his efforts masterfully. We have Bozeman people on ST. Given the size of the population, I wonder if they know him.
I've given up worrying about them drugging. If they don't get caught at the time, they get away with it. Unfortunately, I kind of assume the worst. I do wish we could take advantage of their experimentation to advance medical science though. All these data points are lost because they have to be so secretive.
If you want to see really how fast those guys are riding up hill check out the runners in the end of the stage. They can not keep up with the rider going up hill.
-especially when you consider a lot of the climbing is sustained 8-9 %...
Watching today's rainy stage live at the moment. Reminds me of the ride I did on Tuesday...
Like Dee said, Bravo to Rui Costa. Two very impressive stage wins.
And yeah, Quintanna is a classy rider for sure.
Chapeau to Chris Froome for hanging tough and taking everything the tour has thrown at him.
Radio Shack has also shown to be riding with panache. Huge kudos to Andreas Klodden, his 2nd place today was amazing.
One thing about today's stage, was when the rain started pouring down, after racing over 2 HC climbs and then 3 first category climbs, I was thinking, I bet hypothermia could really hit some of the riders.
Movistar has a legit team and a chance to win the GC if they back Quintana. Contador must surely feel like he's passing the torch.
great tour this year. Corsica was a real treat and there were some great mt. stages. congratulations to Froome and Sky...Richie Porte was really badass and Chris did an admirable job of countering attacks when isolated from his team. His attacking on the time trials and in the Pyrenees won him the race. he is a very special rider, a clean rider and a great ambassador for a clean tour future.
one final thought: tour authorities must do a better job of protecting the riders from crazed fans. it's cool to go nuts anout the sport but when contact with a rider occurs there should be consequences.
I watched this cutesy specialized promo with golden boy Ventura hyping hydraulic brakes on Cavendish's bike and how it saved Cavedish from a pile up..Then i read about Cavendish throwing a tyrone on the team bus about his POS specialized...HA , ha..
Let us know!