Tour de France

[R. Richard]

The Tour de France is the most famous bicycle race in the world. Tomorrow, Friday, is a key stage. The day's ride goes from Barcelona. at sea level in Spain, to Andorra high in the Pyrenees. The current favorites are 37-year-old Lance Armstrong of the USA adAlberto Contador of Spain. Both men are on the same Astana team and the clear winner of Friday's leg will be the favorite to win the Tour. The spectacle will be well worth it, even if you're not into bicycle racing.

 

[Weird Harold]

The Tour de France is the most famous bicycle race in the world. Tomorrow, Friday, is a key stage. The day's ride goes from Barcelona. at sea level in Spain, to Andorra high in the Pyrenees. The current favorites are 37-year-old Lance Armstrong of the USA adAlberto Contador of Spain. Both men are on the same Astana team and the clear winner of Friday's leg will be the favorite to win the Tour. The spectacle will be well worth it, even if you're not into bicycle racing.

You forgot to mention that Lance Armstrong, after a four year layoff, is in second place by a whopping 0.22 seconds. Alberto Contador is all of 19 seconds back and four of the top five are from team Astana!

The Tour is a third done already, but for those of us who follow it there has been excitement aplenty in the first six days and only the prospect of more drama to come.

(live TV coverage begins at 0800 EDT on Versus or Versus HD network)

 

[trysail]

If you've never ridden 60/80/100 miles on a bicycle in a day ( then get up the next morning and do it all over again [ for three weeks in a row! ] ), you'll never appreciate or understand the miracle of what these guys do.

Just like the folk who run 2:20 marathons, just like Roger Federer/Raphael Nadal, just like the lunatics who compete in the Volvo Ocean Race, I consider the Tour de France riders to be a breed apart.

 

[DesertPirate]

If a frog doesn't win they will accuse everyone else of steroids and perfomance enhancers. The whinning and accusing got very tiring and I lost interest years ago.

 

[Weird Harold]

If a frog doesn't win they will accuse everyone else of steroids and perfomance enhancers. The whinning and accusing got very tiring and I lost interest years ago.

Surprisingly, there hasn't been any drug or doping scandals for the first week, despite some superhuman efforts. The "accusations" in past years were symptomatic of a sport that needed to be cleaned up and they seem to have managed to actually get through to the riders.

French officials did say that Lance Armstrong would be "tested rigorously" this year and they snubbed Team Astana last year so Alberto Contador didn't get to defend his 2007 win.

But I would guess that Team Astana's performance so far with four riders in the top six (and six in the top twenty) after stage seven might give some credence to your jingoist conspiracy theory...

 

[DesertPirate]

Actually just a comment on what the French do best anymore, complain!

 

[Weird Harold]

Stage Ten is done and the Green Jersey Competition is heating up with a third stage win (seventh career tdf stage) for Mark Cavendish and three more flat/sprint stages to come this week.

 

[R. Richard]

The sprinters will shine through the week. Then come the alpine stages that will determine the tour winner.

 

[3113]

I can't watch the Tour because I get too lost sighing and wishing I were biking it--not that I want to be part of the race--no way I want to bike in competition even if I could--just that the scenery and route they take is so beautiful, and my gosh, what a wonderful bike ride that would be. And to make matters worse for my envious heart, the weather is often lovely as well.

*sigh*

 

[Weird Harold]

I can't watch the Tour because I get too lost sighing and wishing I were biking it--not that I want to be part of the race--no way I want to bike in competition even if I could--just that the scenery and route they take is so beautiful, and my gosh, what a wonderful bike ride that would be. And to make matters worse for my envious heart, the weather is often lovely as well.

*sigh*

Check out Versus.com They have a promotion called "match my ride" or something like that; I'm not sure exactly what is involved, but it is apparently a way to match a local daily ride with a TDF stage.

I don't get envious of the peloton enjoying the scenery and weather -- since it's often hot and humid and, like a sled dog race, if you're not in the lead, the view doesn't change.

On of the commentators who is a former competitor said the scouting/familiarization rides before the race were the only time he got to enjoy the spectacular scenery.

 

[R. Richard]

I don't get envious of the peloton enjoying the scenery and weather -- since it's often hot and humid and, like a sled dog race, if you're not in the lead, the view doesn't change.

On of the commentators who is a former competitor said the scouting/familiarization rides before the race were the only time he got to enjoy the spectacular scenery.

During the actual race, the only view the competitors get is:
a) the wheel of the rider ahead of them;
b) the configuration of the road just ahead of them.

If a rider touches the wheel of the rider ahead of him, the result is usually a crash, taking both riders down. The riders are under contract to a team and 'enjoying the scenery' aint what they get paid for. Similiarly, if a rider crashes because he didn't avoid a bad spot in the road, the rider is likely to be seeking a new paycheck.

 

[Weird Harold]

Interesting day today:

The top ten for the Yellow Jersey actually changed today for the first time in a week or so (other than Levi Leipheimer dropping out with a broken wrist.)

George Hincapie fell about five seconds short of takin the lead with a long breakaway that gained him over five minutes in the standings. Nocentini, Contador and Armstrong all finished together so their relative times staty the same, but Hincapie squeezes into second place and the top four are separated by eight seconds after thirteen stages.

 

[R. Richard]

Sunday, Stage 15 - Pontarlier to Verbier (207.5km). It's not a really difficult mountain stage but it has a summit finish that should provide attacking opportunities for the ones who hope to win this year's tour. Hincapie's breakaway means that the favorites have to step up now or walk away.

 

[oggbashan]

Two of the competitors have been shot with a BB gun or air rifle.

Today a spectator was killed while she was crossing the road. She was hit by a police motorcycle.

Og

 

[R. Richard]

Alberto Contador is now 1:37 up on Lance Armstrong. There's no reason to believe that he won't add to that margin. Contador will win the Tour and Astana will win the team championship.

 

[Weird Harold]

Alberto Contador is now 1:37 up on Lance Armstrong. There's no reason to believe that he won't add to that margin. Contador will win the Tour and Astana will win the team championship.

With Andreas Kloden only 31 seconds out of third place, it might even be a clean sweep for Astana on the podium in Paris!

Contador certainly demonstrated that he's the man to beat today.

 

[Weird Harold]

Stage 17

An impressive Challenge by the Schleck brothers to move up to second and third place, but Alberto Contador just followed along with a good bit in reserve to meet any fresh challenges from them to retain the Yellow Jersey.

I suspect it will be a short stay in podium contention for the Schlecks becasue tomorrow is the last time trial of this year's Tour and Armstrong and Kloeden are better time-trialists and may well take back second and third. If they do manage to finish 1-2-3, it will be the first time since 1914(?) that one team has made aclean sweep of the podium positions.

Bradley Wiggins lost too much time today and will require a superhuman time trial tomoorow to make up the 3+ minutes he lost to Contador today.

 

[R. Richard]

Time trail romorrow, but then the really big climb the next day!

 

[R. Richard]

Contador survived the challenges during the big climb and will, barring crashes, be the Tour de France winner. Lance Armstrong also survived challenges during the big climb and will, barring crashes, be the Tour de France 3rd place finisher.

There is one final stage, but there is also something called Tour etiquette. If a rider/team decides to try a breakaway during the final stage [unless the finish is going to be very close] then all of the other teams will work together to defeat the upstart(s). The peloton can defeat any individual/team.

 

[Weird Harold]

There is one final stage, but there is also something called Tour etiquette. If a rider/team decides to try a breakaway during the final stage [unless the finish is going to be very close] then all of the other teams will work together to defeat the upstart(s). The peloton can defeat any individual/team.

There might be a breakaway on the "ceremonial stage", but the only competition tommorrow with be in the last 500 yards between Thor Hushov and Mark Cavendish for the final Green Jersey Points. Cavenish has a remote chance of taking the Green Jersey, but it's going to require Thor letting Mark get into a breakaway to pick up the intermediate sprint points and then not being able to contest the final bunch sprint.

I'm betting on Cavendish doing everything he can to take the final sprint and being able to win his sixth stage this year (and tenth career TDF stage.)

Still, the final stage has always been pretty much a scenic tour except for the last lap of eight laps in Paris.

 

[R. Richard]

There might be a breakaway on the "ceremonial stage", but the only competition tommorrow with be in the last 500 yards between Thor Hushov and Mark Cavendish for the final Green Jersey Points. Cavenish has a remote chance of taking the Green Jersey, but it's going to require Thor letting Mark get into a breakaway to pick up the intermediate sprint points and then not being able to contest the final bunch sprint.

I'm betting on Cavendish doing everything he can to take the final sprint and being able to win his sixth stage this year (and tenth career TDF stage.)

Still, the final stage has always been pretty much a scenic tour except for the last lap of eight laps in Paris.

Not always. Some years back, Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by a few seconds on the final day. That year, the final day was a time trail and LeMond was close enough that he overtook Fignon and won the Tour.

 

[R. Richard]

Alberto Contador wins Tour de France again

PARIS (AP)—Alberto Contador of Spain has won the Tour de France for a second time, and Lance Armstrong will join him on the podium after finishing third in his comeback to cycling’s main event.

Mark Cavendish of Britain collected his sixth stage win of this year’s Tour in a sprint after the 101.9-mile ride from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to the Champs-Elysees on Sunday.

Contador won the Tour in 2007.

 

[Weird Harold]

Mark Cavendish of Britain collected his sixth stage win of this year’s Tour in a sprint after the 101.9-mile ride from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to the Champs-Elysees on Sunday.

I think Mark Cavendish is the biggest story of this year's Tour. He got screwed by the judges when they relegated him in Stage 14 -- nobody but the judges and Thor Hushov seemed to be able to see any infraction on the replays available to the Versus broadcast.

That relegation robbed everyone of a truly relevant sprint at the finish, but Cavendish's sixth win was well worth tuning in the last hour of the race.

(Sports Soup on Vs just mentioned the pellet gun shootings of riders this year. "Nobody was seriously injured, which makes the prime suspects the French Army." )

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

Lance in third place was still the biggest story of the Tour. I believe if Leipheimer hadn't gotten knocked out with the broken wrist, there's a fair chance Lance would have won it all, with Levi firmly in Lance's camp in terms of leadership of the Astana team. But Lance was able to play the good teammate, after surrendering the big lead to Contador on day 15.

As much as I was pulling for Lance, I think the best rider won. Contador is the real deal.

Really pretty amazing tour this year - the performance of the Schleck brothers, Cavendish's amazing 6 stage wins (and 10 in two years) and Armstrong's comeback as an old man after 3+ years of retirement.

Looking forward to next year - especially Lance's new team!

And yes, I'm an unabashed Lance fan. Local boy done good. (Richardson Bikemart right down the road is where he started it all! I may not be able to ride like him, but I can buy my bikes where he got his to start off.

 

[R. Richard]

I think that the plan was to bring Lance back and get some 'feel good' publicity after the doping scandals of the last few years. Lance was not only out of bike racing for three years. He also broke his collarbone recently and that certainly affected his preparation for the Tour. However, he did finish well and was a credit to the Tour.