Tour de France

July 4th. Fuck yeah! 3 weeks of hanging in the work kitchen watching stage reruns for hours on end and doing no work.

I don't think it's going to be so cut and dry to be honest. I think someone other than Lance or Alberto will win. Looking forward to see if Hayden Roulston can pull off a stage win too. Still only one kiwi to ever win a stage, even if it was the team time trial.

cervelo havent named their team yet tho have they?

last year's tour was really exciting to watch. hopefully this year will be more of the same.

I managed to see a stage last year in Grenoble. By “see” of course it’s about 2 hours of promotional vehicles and then a 10 minute period of riders shooting past. Still it was quite a buzz .

Knowing how I feel coming off my single weekly long ride of 150-180km I just don’t know how those guys do it every day for more than two weeks…

plus they are racing! and in the mountains at times!

The important thing is Greenie, what free shit did you manage to score off the promo caravan? Where the hell do you ride 150-180km in London?

i got a team boygues telecom t shirt in 2007, together with key rings,etc. forked out 10 euro for a souvenir pack ive never looked at again as well. seems like a job all the uni students do...re promo vehicles. would be a cool job for the summer...

Starts tonight. predictions for prologue? I'm guessing Cancellara will win...

I hear tell the "Tour De hypodermique" is in serious trouble, interest in cycling has collapsed in major cycling nation Germany since some fellow (called Schumacker or something?) tested positive as a drug cheat, and a lot of the teams are in serious money problems.

really? there is more hype for this tour than just about any other.what with the comeback of armstrong, and the fact that one of his main competitors is on the same team...

cycling is still pretty huge in europe. when the tour de france is on, it gets as much coverage in france as the olympics does here...

and you'd be right

I'll put it out there - Sastre again! Late starter as usual, and he didn't do half bad in the first stage so he is gonna fire it up at the end. And our kiwi on the team will contribute with a stage win (ok that bit is hopeful)

Astana are blitzing it through the team time trial. If they keep this up Armstrong will be in yellow at the end of the race!

Full props to Garmin for doing almost the whole course with 5 riders.

Well it's early days yet, still a looooong way to go. Still playing safe and picking Alberto, boring choice huh.

lance 2.5 secs off the pace

You mean 0.25 seconds off the pace. The big test for everyone comes tonight. We'll see the GC positions changed dramatically with the climb up into Andorra. Man I'd love to ride some of these mountains. I think in Summer I'll give riding up to Whakapapa a go from Turangi.

Anyone playing the virtual manager game on the tour de france website? I won my leagues team time trial last night

stue..you ride a bit then? whereabouts mainly?

I'd suggest the turoa road from taihape

or now that they've sealed it the gentle annie from hastings

yeah ohakune to turoa is actually a race too. nightrider...you been doing much cycling?

i'm probably going to ride thames to coromandel (and back) tomorrow.

biggies posting in this thread...how many of you actually cycle much? anyone keen for a blat on the roads around coromandel peninsula sometime?

I confine myself mainly to the offroad experience these days cod but thinking that that ride from hastings to turoa would be a good challenge

would need a better bike than the one I have now though, prob the specialised roubaix

I did the colville connection a few years back on my mountain bike and was fun but not without incident

I wouldn't mind riding up to Turoa either...Uncle lives in Taihape so could be a goer from there.

what kinda bike you got currently? i have a cervelo soloist team.

I might do some mountain biking in Scotland whilst I'm there in a month or so. I really should do more as it's wicked fun!

I have an old alu cannondale criterium aka 'black magic' with suntour group set

not the most comfortable of bikes for the longer rides I think you'd agree

MASSIVE STAGE!

i love it when contador attacks!...

OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER STAGE SEVEN:

1. Rinaldo Nocentini 25hrs 44mins 32secs
2. Alberto Contador + 6secs
3. Lance Armstrong + 8

no earpieces in the nest stage 10 and for 13 as well....

Well stage 8 done, with no radios, break caught Cavo wins over Thor. No GC shake up.

New Colnago CLX with carbon 10 spd Campag Centaur should be here this week. Just in time to put it away in the garage as it's too cold and wet to ride.

Sorry that should read stage 10 not 8

yeh rollers are really sensitive and actually improve your riding skills. you should get to a stage where you can ride them without falling off.

heh I used my trainer in the apartment the other day and really pissed the neighbours off , guess I should get some rollers - they are quiet huh ????

Oh way quieter. I just had a tendency to be able to go for 1 minute without falling off the side of them to them end up falling off the side and riding into the wall at the end of the garage, or the side of the car or, well you get the picture.

Girlfriend wouldn't let me bring them in the house. My friend, who I borrowed them off said stick them between a door fram so you've got something to balance off with your elbows/ forearms whilst getting used to them. But yeah, they improve your balance and skill huge amounts, apparently.

roly gets 3rd in a stage!!! and WHAT a stage!

with a trainer, just turn your music up really loud so that noise is drowned out!

I take it with the last stage Astana has made it clear they want Contador to be the winner this year.

For sure. Lance rode damage control, admitted himself that he couldn't stick with everyone so limited his loses. Man, Brad Wiggins is super impressive. More mountains and then the TT. I honestly think Lance will ride defensive of his position, lose it in the TT drop to 5th and go for the Ventoux stage win.

I don't think Lance has it in the climbs right now to be honest. He just couldn't hack the pace today. Andreas Kloden is stronger than him...Lance just doesn't seem to have the ability to do the big accelerations anymore.

Noone could have gone with Contador today. Apparently it was the fastest vertical ascent in tour de france ever! 1900 metres per hour or something (ie metres upwards per hour)

I'm picking Sastre to try and light up Ventoux from the bottom...ala alpe d'huez last year. But I'm gonna pick Contador for the win there. When he goes, he goes.

Did you see how hard they were driving into the climb at the bottom?

Few reports saying Lance was feeling very good and pretty much stayed behind to maintain the lads and give Contador that break. Im very new to this cycling stuff so just learning as it goes.

Contador however said he was fucked after that stage and gave it his all. This might bite him a little later on.

Here is what I think the overall GC will be in Paris. Pending a disaster I doubt Alberto will lose the overall, but I don't think Carlos or Cadel can gain big enough time to crack the top 5.

1. Alberto
2. Wiggins
3. Lance
4. Kloden
5. Andy Schlek
6. Vincenzo Nibali

Nah...he couldn't stay with his 'domestique' Kloden at the end of the climb. Nor could he stay with the others who went off. Lance is a competitive bugger, and if he could have gone with Cadel Evans, Nibali, Frank Schleck etc, he would have. He still wants to do as well as he can in the tour. He just couldn't go with him/them. Contador just did the fastest climbing rate EVER at TDF, quicker than anything Lance did at the peak of his powers. Watch him go around the corners, even with the hill tilted upwards, he can just about freewheel (he did at Arcalis, last climb he attacked on).

The second to last stage is the stage to watch Reaction...its on at the same time as All Blacks vs South Africa though...mysky is good..

Yeah, record the rugby.

Lance has said he's lacking the kick he had maybe with another season behind him it might come back he said, but not at the moment. He's also said his chances for yellow are over and he's in support mode. I still think he'll go for Ventoux, but Sastre has said that's the stage he wants to win as his chances for yellow are over too.

I think the TT is going to be a pretty big show down as well. Cancellara, Wiggins, Contador, Grabsch, Evans for the top 5, Lance top ten again on that one.

lance's kick has NEVER EVER been anywhere near as good as contadors. only person who comes close is pantani.

Bjarne Riis looks a bit more powerful than Pantani. Or are we discounting known drug users?

Don't forget Lance won a lot of his tours based on time trial results where he was a mile better than any other at the time. More a complete cyclist than a pure climber.

Well we all know why Pantani was the best climber. Interesting chart.

If you haven't read the Book The Death Of Marco Pantani by Matt Rendall I highly recommend it. An excellent read.

ps chart comes from http://www.sportsscientists.com/

Lance showing some form of old bridging the gap. Go old boy go!

I'm also figuring that although Lance is riding in a support role for Alberto, he doesn't want to lose time to Bradley Wiggins before the TT, which Wiggins will over haul him in, it's only 9 seconds difference. Which will only leave the Ventoux for Lance to gain back time on him if he can to retain 2nd place.

That's my guess anyway.

He raised his seat height apparently...so felt much better.

Still, Contador looked like he was doing it easy.

Might be tight between Wiggins and Armstrong.

As one of the guys at my work said, "Lance is a seasoned campaigner, why would he be raising his seat now? He'd have had that shit dialled in for years, why would he make that change?"

I'm inclined to agree. Someone like Lance doesn't just raise their seat now after 2 weeks of racing. Although watching him it looks like his seat is oddly low in the past two weeks, almost like he hasn't been getting full leg extension. But yeah, you'd think that sort of thing would have been sorted a loooong time ago.

lance armstrong looks like a right cunt after this tour de france.

hope he loses big time next year.

As you've probably guessed I'm an avid Lance supporter, but I agree with you on this. He's going off at Alberto for not thanking the team etc and making comments about Lance is a great rider but I don't like him and shit. But Lance blows everyone off at the team drinks and dinner the night before riding into Paris to satisfy his new sponsors. I'd be pissed off too if I was Alberto.

Poor form indeed. I hope Bradley Wiggins kicks everyone next year.

yep he's not a good sport that's for sure

still a fucking amazing effort to get 3rd but WTF?

Don't wanna shit on anyone's parade here, actually I really do hence my posting, but cycling is the shittest sport ever. And that people follow it astounds me.

Running = natural human endurance.

Any car racing = unnatural human instincts put to the test.

Cycling = fagetesque combination. Excitement peaks when some other person wears a different coloured jersey. BONUS! :>

actually it's the spectacle of men in coloured tights that explains it fag

Urgh what a dumb post. Is cycling not a natural human endurance? god you make me

hah, have you ever watched the tour de france or other big bike races? do you realise how much there is to it with all of the tactics etc?

you don't think that being able to ride hard for 200kms then sprint at 70kph at the end doesn't require a huge amount of endurance? (on flat stages).

or that being able to go up 15km+ climbs after 150+kms on a slope which would have yr car in first gear is not impressive?

cycling is HUGE in europe. the main guys are as well known other there as ma'a nonu and dan carter are here. i was in france for 3 weeks whilst the tour was on in 2007, and the tour de france totally dominated their tv and other media for all of those 3 weeks.

Fuck I'm a funny cunt when I'm pissed

Floyd Landis at the Tour of Southland? Real smart move...

Had to laugh at the race organiser stating it would be an honour having a Tour d'France winner there? Ummm... He's a drugs cheat who disgraced the entire sport, not a champion.

Must admit that in a sport full of drugs and programs that go to great lengths to hide them, Landis took the establishment for a bunch of fools. Like Tyler Hamilton he is half the man he was.

Tour de France: Kiwi rider in head-butt drama

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10659130

To be honest watching the race summary video on letour.fr http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/1100/videos.html?target=158890 it looks to me like Dean was unnecessarily encroaching on Renshaws space. Not too badly but definitely encroaching.

URL=http://img411.imageshack.us/i/tourdefranceheadbutt.jpg/][/URL]

Question, how do the likes of Contador and Armstrong win when they never seem to win stages? And if they have a team supporting them the whole way surely his team mates would end up with similar times?

Different riders have different roles in the team... Hills, sprints, time trials. The 'guys you refer to are set up to finish near the front each time. from what I recall though Armstrong used to be a demon in the time trials and on the mountains. Those guys do win stages, just not really on this tour.

Yeah Lance use to be insane in both time trials and mountain stages. Very unlucky this year to have crashed so many times Now supporting Andy Shleck to win. This year has been awesome so far ... very exciting stages.

From the herald over the weekend

Tthe first New Zealander to win a stage in a Grand Tour, Christchurch's Paul Jesson, did not believe Renshaw had done anything wrong.
"That's what happens in sprint finishes," Jesson said. "If you look at the replay, Dean actually rode down on Renshaw. He [Renshaw] has got both hands on the handlebars so he had to lean in with his head. They've got helmets on, it's not like a proper head-butt.

"To kick him off the Tour for that is wrong in my opinion."

What Renshaw did was dangerous. Dean never took his line.

End of story.

Plus when you're dealing with Australians it's usually fair to assume they're intentionally cheating.

watching 30 mins highlights every day this year via torrent... awesome.
its great to see some races such as stage 13 where individuals take the lead and fight it out as opposed to a mass sprint at the end.

Forgot all about my thread! Haven't been on here for a while. Yes, this year is shaping up to be an interesting race. I don't want either of the Shlecks or Contador to win to be honest, rooting for Cadel again and hoping Voeckler can do something too. He's hanging in there!

check www.steephill.tv as this has links to live web streams as well, you can also sign up at www.cyclingtorrents.nl where people upload all of the stages etc recorded from Versus, Eurosport etc to torrent afterwards.

I do hope Cav wins green too.

the tour won here?

cadal wil crush the TT. it's all his

how true - he held on well in stage 18 and improved in 19 to put himself in good position to take yellow

great effort and gutsy win by the seasoned pro