Tour de France thread

[Animal]

Couldn't find a topic for this yet so here it is!

Well today is the prologue in London and I have no idea who is going to win it, but I think Vinokourov and Leipheimer are gonna get a head start on the competition today, maybe Menchov can finish in the top 5 aswell.

For the yellow jersey I'm putting my money on Menchov, with Frank Schleck and Vinokourov as second and third.

What do you guys think?

Any folks from London gonna be watching from roadside today or tomorrow?

[alldaws1]

My Dad and Uncle have taken the trip to London to watch the prologue today.

I'm not really into the cycling myself but my dad's a big fan so I catch bits here and there. Bradley Wiggins FTW ¬_¬

[Sam13]

They cycled through my town of Maidstone earlier, my Dad has been buzzing about this for weeks. They actually cycled along the top of my road but I couldn't be bothered to go watch.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I was there, 500m from the finishing line in Canterbury. In my Polka Dot cycling jersey and England flag. Me and the mrs got to our spot at about 10:30pm and chilled out there, eating lunch and drinking beer all afternoon.

Myself and some Spaniard competed over who could wave their flag most larily.

The crowds got bigger and bigger as the afternoon wore on, we got some freebies from the Caravanne that preceeded the riders then when they got 30km from the end the commentary rang out over the speakers so we waited for the riders. Gutted Cavendish suffered all the problems though. When McEwan went over his handlebars I thought that was the end of his stage and was calling Hushovd as the winner. Found out that Millar was possibly gonna get polka which was fantastic.

The crowd got to about three or four deep but we were at the front with a good view.

Heard on commentary that cyclists were passing under the 1km marker. Saw crowd up ahead applauding then the peloton swept around the corner. I went mental, rest of crowd went mental. I'm yelling, cheering, shouting "ALLLEEEZZZ!" and so on. Got useless photo cos they were too far away, I didn't wanna be taking photos as they passed.

Peloton go past, then about a minute after it's the three man Cavendish group. I yell out that it's Cavendish and everyone around me screams and shouts even louder. Applause, banging the railings, going mental.

Then a lone CSC goes past, we go mental again, then think that's it.

We wander down towards the finish to catch the vibe there then there's some applause in the distance, we all rush to the fencing and there's a lone Liquigas rider struggling to the finish. I've never heard such cheers and shouting. Of course I had to get involved.

We get to see Millar take polka on the big screen then I waste loads of money on a cool official Nike Yellow Jersey.

Tell ya what, best spoting experience purely out of the waiting, anticipation then the barrage of sound for like ten seconds.

Really top notch.

Can't believe McEwan won, and by some distance in the end.

Edited July 8, 2007 by ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster

[ACCBiggz]

Vinokourov (sp?) and Leipheimer are two of the favorites for the whole thing, can't count out Valverde either. It should be intersting to say the least. We'll see where everyone stands after about a week or so. Hopefully I can wake early to watch it all.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Valverde will break at the start of the Pyranees and will give up as always. He's a weakling.

I'm reckoning Rasmussen for Polka.

McEwan Green (I'm hoping for Freire or Hushovd but McEwan is just too strong and in amazing form this season).

After seeing the time trial and knowing how he climbs I'm saying Kloden for Yellow.

I'm hoping Cavendish can take at least one stage before T-Mobile retire him though (He won't ride into the Pyranees cos he's too young, his team will retire him either before the Alps or before the Pyrs).

[mikevandam]

Would be an amazing feat if Rasmussen retains the polkas. And with him being the only dane in the tour it would be extra cool.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

It's hard for him as he'll be asked to help Menchov through the mountains. However if Menchov's crumbled early or if Rasmussen is given a little freedom, I can't see why he can't retain. Afterall he IS the best mountain climber in world cycling and he's capable of just riding off on his own without any support whatsoever....Which DOES sometimes seem to upset the team as a whole. But meh, he's great so they should give him the freedom.

[Animal]

I'm pretty sure Rasmussen has got complete freedom in chasing the polka jersey, Menchov will be assisted by Boogerd and Dekker in the mountains with Niermann and de Groot also helping him in the beginning of mountain stages.

Anyone saw today's stage, I heard there was a big crash somewhere at the en. Any word yet if any of the favorites are injured or something, that would suck.

[ACCBiggz]

I think everyone decided today was a day to take slightly easy.

That end was craziness.

Edited July 10, 2007 by ACCBiggz

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Sometimes the peloton just decides such things enmasse. Crashes of previousdays probably helped!

[ACCBiggz]

Vinokourov took a bit of a spill today, but it was a good job of fighting back.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Bradley Wiggins rocked my socks today. 190km out front on his own, he's definitely earnt his stripes as a serious road rider and not just a prologue specialist today.

Vino's as good as dead. He may last the mountains tomorrow but he WILL break in the Alps. Shame Kloden's struggling with injury though. Also feel bad for Cavendish as he's just had bad luck followed by bad luck in the final kms of stages.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Well my choices at the beginning of this thread are mostly looking stupid now except for my man Rasmussen who was beyond excellent in taking that stage and the yellow jersey! So glad he's got it! He's also in Polka. Happy days.

Major kudos to Kloden who dropped back to help out Vino. His chance of overall is falling away as he devotes himself to his teammate.

Valverde was very good but I still stand by my beliefs that he'll die somewhere in the Pyranees.

Also bad day for the Aussies - saw the Rogers break, then the Rogers crash then the injury, his fall through the pack then him breaking down into tears as he retires. Really sad. Also O'Grady's out.

Contador looks VERY dangerous. I reckon a top ten is possible.

I've also decided I seriously dislike Cadel Evans. I hate his riding style - it's defensive and cowardly. He never takes the front, he never tries to outpower anyone. He just sneaks onto breakaways and lurk at the back. Thankfully there's NO WAY he can win the Tour like that and he doesn't deserve to.

Edited July 15, 2007 by ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

O'Grady got like 2 or 3 fractured vertebrae, a broken collarbone and a few broken ribs, one of which punctured his lung. Nice.

Anyway we're getting close to the first long time trial which will cause trouble for Rasmussen sadly. Yesterday was pretty average but then again that stage generally is.

Listening to Vino it sounds as though Astana have decided to let Kloeden do his own thing in chasing down the yellow jersey while Vino is supported by a few guys to see if he improves at all...In fact he was talking more of winning an individual stage than the overall.

Also is appears that Rabobank are turning their attention to Rasmussen as a new team leader over Menchov...For the time being at least. If Rasmussen can limit his two time trial losses to ten minutes behind someone like Kloeden or Contador then he'll need to make up six and a half or so minutes on Kloeden in the mountains and, more worryingly he'll need to make up six minutes over Contador in the mountains. The Spaniard has a great time trial and flies up mountains, probably Rasmussen's biggest threat at the moment actually.

Is it Jens Voigt who's gone off the front of the peloton again today for the second day in a row?

[Sir Alan LCSugar]

Does Bradley Wiggins have a team? Is he anywhere near contention after the round where he led for most of it.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Wiggins cycles for Confidis. His role was very much to try to win the prologue (he came fourth - same time as third). The stage he was out front for 192km he ended up coming in last after the peloton overtook him 8km from the end and of course he couldn't keep up with them after that. However it didn't matter because his attack won him the "most aggressive rider of the day" award so he got to stand on the podium and for a team like Confidis (very much a second tier team) that was great. Also, as it's only his second tour, that gutsy solo break made people aware of him as a proper pro cyclist as opposed to just a track cyclist so really it was a great stage for him, his team and their sponsors even though he ended up in last eventually.

You could see the respect of the other cyclists too, as the peloton caught him and overtook him, numerous cyclists in the peloton patted him on the back as they went past him.

He's now in around 140th overall out of 171. It's unsurprising as he's down with the other prologue and sprint specialists (who compete for the green jersey). They're not expected to win the Tour, they're there to win the odd stage for their team and to do all the hard work for their team leader.

The highest placed Brit is Charlie Wegelius who can actually climb mountains (where the big time is won and lost). He's 76th overall I think. He's also hired by his team (Liquigas) as a very good domestique who will help to cycle hard up mountains so his team leader can slipstream behind him without using up too much energy.

Millar is about 100th but has been involved in a couple of breakaways which is what Saunier-Duval (his team) love him to do.

[ACCBiggz]

..and Rasmussen cast a shadow over himself. Doesn't really effect his Tour de France bid and there isn't any evidence, but there is always something to come back and cause some harm to cycling and the yellow jersey holder.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Here we go, official news given.

Twice this year Rasmussen wasn't available to be told about giving a bloodtest - he was off training in Mexico where his wife is from and they could not track him down. It was not a failed test, he just couldn't be found to take it - hell he didn't even know he was meant to take it - they couldn't find him to tell him. This wasfound out in June so WHY did certain parties wait until now, when Rasmussen was in yellow on stage 12 of the Tour to bring it up? They had more than three weeks to announce this situation before the Tour started. REMEMBER, this is not a FAILED test, nor a MISSED test (both suspicious)

He underwent four tests in late June and early July - all negative and has given four urine tests DURING the tour, the results of which aren't in yet.

It's disgraceful behaviour from the person who's waited until now to bring it up just to get big coverage. It's a big non-story and the tests he HAS passed before the Tour prove that he is NOT cycling this event under the influence of drugs and therefore this should not be held against him. It's stupid, it's a non-news event.

[ACCBiggz]

The ramifications (which I didn't post this morning) for those wandering is simple. Kicked off national team, can't compete with the worlds or olympics, but does not effect the Tour de France.