Starts on Saturday. It's going to be epic. This is the toughest tour in many years, with four mountain top finishes. I'm really hoping someone other than Contador wins it this year... specifically Andy Schleck, who was unlucky not to win it last year when his chain broke. Say what you will about the whole doping scandal (I really don't give a **** anymore, if it makes you better and you accept the risks, go ahead buddy), but the TDF makes the long month of July fly by.
Wow, that was a crazy first stage! Contador lost some serious time to Schleck today who was really aided by that 3km rule. Even though they crossed the line at the same time, Schleck was in the main group within the 3km finish when he was involved in that last crash. No harm no foul... go Andy go!!
Hard to follow this one P13, huge packs of riders with not a whole lot of breakaways just yet. Cannot wait for them to go up into the mtns, that is where the men seperate from the not so manly. Think it would be cool if they had RFID tags on the riders so one would have some idea "who" is in the pack and which teams are where at a given moment,.
I don't know what RFID tags are, but I think I understand your point. I haven't seen today's team time trial stage yet, but in the prerace they had a shot of where Contador was when the big crash ocurred yesterday. Needless to say, he wasn't in the first 25% of the peloton so that is why he's in trouble and got caught up in it. That's a bad plan for the favorite to be riding that far back. Mountain stages will be excellent. I believe they are going into the Pyrenees first this year and then the Alps. Well, that's like being raped and then murdered... rather than the other way around
Time trials are being replayed on Versus network time trial were also great to watch. 25 km in 20 minutes or so and a serious wreck where the rider just got back up and hopped on his bike and finished the race.
Last leg was in the rain, fun stuff to watch but miserable then more then likely welcome for the riders.
First week crashes have been the story so far IMO. Contador losing over a minute to Schleck. And now Wiggins is out. Not to mention Leipheimer and Horner crashing yesterday as well. Their TDF is virtually over as well from a GC standpoint. I was pulling for Horner as well since he won the Amgen here a couple of months ago. Seemed like such a crazy place for a crash, yet over 80 guys get held back from the peloton's finish and lose over 3 min's each. Too bad Contador wasn't involved again
Well, I'm sort of enjoying just the sporting aspect of it, and the views of France, and in times past the winner just tries to keep anyone from running away from them until they hit the Mtns and use them to establish a lead.
Yeah, it's no wonder that I really started getting into it after I got my HD tv a few years ago. The views are truely spectacular. I also think the commentators here on VS (Liggett and Sherwin) do an outstanding job of keeping things interesting for the novice watcher. Wait until the mountains for those. First "true" mountain stage is coming up this Thursday the 14th. Watch Schleck and Contador on those mountain stages, it's amazing.
I think I liked the routes through the low countries a bit more then the ones in France, probably because the French countryside looks very much like the mid Atlantic region of the US, the mtns look like the Appalachians but the sun flower fields are new to me. Love the bridges, did not realize the Rohn Loire Seine were that huge the bridges remind me of the Sunshine pkwy in Tampa. In my town we have several pro bicyclists who workout doing hill climbs as the mtns sort match some of those in europe.
Well that was another epic stage today... the Tour de Crash moves on tomorrow with a rest day. Some big names crashed out today after a nasty downhill crash at max speed on a wet turn, Vino, VDB and Garman Cervelo losing Zibriskie. Not to mention the insanity with the TV car taking out two riders in the breakaway... purely idiotic. Felt bad for Hoogerland ending up in the barbed wire fence, yikes! Voeckler has a pretty big lead in yellow jersey even though he is not considered a GC contender. It took a while for Armstrong to catch him way back when. Going to make things interesting for the big two in Schleck and Contador as we head towards the big mountain stages.
What an exciting race that was, down to the finish, in the rain at the end of a 167 km ride, Cavendish pulls it out in the last 20 meters or so. These guys go on 80 mile bike rides averaging 25 mph, hop off of their bikes in the staging areas and just do interviews, they are not even breathing heavily when speaking...sheesh...
next three stages are all mountain... the real race starts tomorrow. Can't wait to see Contador battle Schleck. Those guys are just rediculous when it comes to the big mountain climbs, they'll basically toy with each other while the rest of the riders pass out on the way up.
And here it is, those mtns are just tough but this yr has been full of surprises and wrecks so who knows if Schleck and Contador continue their dominance? Decent, NBC is putting together some nice sports coverage packages, and VS's is emerging as a solid alternative sports network who is benefitting from such a crowded sports market, NBC can put the Tour, the UFL and other alternative events on VS's and mop up on ratings for events that ESPN does not have a ton of interest in broadcasting.
Had hoped Jeremy Roy could hang on for the win in Lordes however he was just out of gas by the time he left the mountains. Roy did take the lead in the King of the Mountains competition.
Great stage today , as padre says really wanted Roy to hold out but what a chase down by Hushovd. Good tour so far , next week will be mental espec Thursdays stage cant wait
Well tomorrow's stage is going to be a lot like Thursday's stage. Contador has to go tomorrow IMO. He can't wait until the Alps, he's down two minutes to Frank Schleck, who has surprised me a bit... hell Frank might actually win this thing. I'll certainly be surprised if Voeckler is in yellow again after tomorrow. The God of Thunder today (Hushovd) was absolutely amazing. For a "sprinter" to do what he did on this mountain stage, just shows why he's wearing that world champion jersey. He made the right move when he did to break away from the true climbers in his breakaway group and it paid off in the end. Heart goes out to Roy though. Him and Gilbert have been the most aggressive.
Real hardcore stage today, not really very much for the casual observer to dig into but my goodness they were digging deeply today. Contador looks like a non factor.
Well, I have to give full credit to Voeckler, riding possessed with the yellow jersey. Andy threw everything he had at them today and they stayed with him. That's got to be a little frustrating. Voeckler might actually win this thing now. Wouldn't that be something to see a Frenchman take it down? Contador hasn't gone for the lead yet, he's just been reacting and covering the whole way. I don't know what he's waiting for. The Alps? Can he make up two minutes or more there? If Cadel Evans is anywhere within 20 or so seconds of the lead, he'll win it on the time trial. Contador can TT too, but he's pretty far back at the moment.
That was some stage today. Contador attacked, Evans went with him, Voeckler lost minimal time, but the Schlecks... oh the Schlecks, struggled mightily. Not sure what happened. Andy even lost more time on the descent, not that he's a good descender. He still shouldn't have lost as much time as he did. Guess I'm rooting for Evans now, unless Andy or Frank can get it back on Thurs / Fri. Nobody expected a move like that today on such a small climb. Cadel is in top form though... Fantastic at descending. This is going to be some finish. Contador won't give up easily.
Exciting run today, loved the downhill and the sprint to the finish with none of the names gaining an advantage on the others. Norwegian rider pushed it right to the edge going down the mtn, loved the aggressiveness!
it's been a fantastic week, Schleck taking the stage win was very nice today, but I think he might have to gain a little bit more tomorrow in the final mountain stage to secure the victory over Voeckler and Evans. Contador getting dropped on the last mountain pass was shocking. Guess he's not doping up this tour.
More amazing stuff today... and it's not over. Can Evans pull back the 50+ seconds in the time trial tomorrow on Schleck? One of them is going to win it, who will it be? I thought it was a bit of a mistake of Schleck to go with Contador today after having spent so much energy yesterday in the breakaway. He should have let Contador go, but he just respected him too much. Might have lost Andy the overall if Evans does indeed pull back the time tomorrow. Because I suspect had Andy not gone with Contador, he would have rode away from Evans on the final climb today? Good news for Andy is that he gets to ride last tomorrow in the yellow jersey. Huge advantage knowing what he needs after his competitors have already made their times.
This is setup for as good of a finish as 1987 and Greg Lemond winning the Tour on the time trials, and he had more time to make up iirc, quite the drag race through the streets of Paris. BTW, who won the King of the Mountains?
Sammy Sanchez won the King of the Mountains by just a few points. And Cadel Evans is the winner of the Tour De France. Huge congrats to him. He really rode the tour of his life and the time trial of his life. He stayed with the mountain guys as far as he could and that was the difference. He's a great guy and you have to be happy for him. I can't help but feel sorry for Andy Schleck. He'll have other opportunities to win it surely. Just couldn't get it done today in the time trial after exerting so much energy the last couple of days. The moutains just took too much out of him. Perhaps a poor strategy to chase Contador yesterday when he really didn't need to as Contador was too far back to make a challenge at that point. I thought Andy could get a better time trial in today after what happened last year. He only lost a little bit to Contador on that TT IIRC. Well, he'll be back next year and we'll see what happens.
First Aussie to win the Tour De France coming up! Good on ya matey. It's going to be well deserved after years of trying to get there. Congrats!
Well, really enjoyed the race this yr, normally it is carried on NBC and they just show cut ups of the race since it is on VS's you can see the whole panalopy of the terrain and more of what the riders are seeing even if the Digital Cameras they were using were slow on the refresh rates at times. The other thing that stood out to me, besides seeing just what a grind that race is, was France itself, when they went through the small villages and averaged sized ones...no fast food restaurants on every corner, in fact I did not see one at all during the race.
hah, yeah I did see one McD's as they went thru one of the towns near the Alps, it was probably on the Italian side The last day is kind of like the day after the NFL draft for me.. big buildup and then you are somewhat exhausted not knowing what to do with yourself. There is a Colorado tour coming up towards the end of August. They were saying the Schlecks were going to be there and perhaps Cadel Evans as well. I don't expect them to be very competitve however. More there for the publicity. They are supposed to be showing it on VS. While the Universal channel (another NBC spinoff that is available via the internet) will be showing the Spainish tour in August too. This has inspired me to get out and ride my mountain bike the first time in 5 plus years.
Funny you should mention that about your mtn bike, I've recently taken up bike riding for the first time..well...it has been a very long time indeed...hard at first but like anything else it grows easier the more you do it, peddling up 12% grades or so is exciting when you finally make it to the top! About 3.5 miles to college from my front door and thinking about becoming a bicycle commuter, mostly river bottom to get to the school and gas is 3.75 per gallon ATM...I can't afford that..and I'm chubby anyway, so I have a sort of 'biofuel" tank..
