*Spoliers* Tour de France talk *Spoilers*

Capo

Cav 3rd and will have stretched his lead for the Green Jersey

Capo

DonDaddyD wrote:

I'm watching this:
http://www.letour.fr/us/homepage_courseTDF.html

Yes its dots on a screen, practically Pong....

I need HD...

You need to pay £3.99 to the nice people at Eurosport and you can watch it online

(Appreciate this may be impossible for those who work for anyone other than themselves)

Eau Rouge

So much for the theories.
Astana don't want the yellow jersey cause they'd have to work to chase breaks....yet there they are, working to chase a break
Cav won't win green as he doesn't sprint for minor places, yet there he is sprinting for the minor places.
No point in being in a breakaway except to show the sponsors your still there, yet the breakway stays away (kinda) and one of them wins the stage.
Isn't cycling great.

jonginge

Chapeau to Voeckler but poor old Gesink; rabo having a shocker

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

Chapeau to Voeckler but poor old Gesink; rabo having a shocker

+1. He could have been a shout for KoM.

DonDaddyD

Eau Rouge wrote:

So much for the theories.
Astana don't want the yellow jersey cause they's have to work to chase breaks....yet there they are, working to chase a break
Cav won't win green as he doesn't sprint for minor places, yet there he is sprinting for the minor places.
No point in being in a breakaway except to shwo the sponsors your still there, yet the breakway stays away (kinda) and one of them wins the stage.
Isn't cycling great.

This is where it gets a little boring and lacks competitiveness IMO.

The main contenders for the yellow jersey no longer have to be the fastest cyclist (at the moment). They just have to be faster than the guy in the yellow jersey and he isn't exactly leading any races (though its early days).

If the other teams don't want yellow (for the time being) then all they have to do is keep up with the guy in yellow, which is kinda boring.

I want them to duke it out, attack attack attack.

Damn it all! Where's my race license....

Rich158

DonDaddyD wrote:

Eau Rouge wrote:

So much for the theories.
Astana don't want the yellow jersey cause they's have to work to chase breaks....yet there they are, working to chase a break
Cav won't win green as he doesn't sprint for minor places, yet there he is sprinting for the minor places.
No point in being in a breakaway except to shwo the sponsors your still there, yet the breakway stays away (kinda) and one of them wins the stage.
Isn't cycling great.

This is where it gets a little boring and lacks competitiveness IMO.

The main contenders for the yellow jersey no longer have to be the fastest cyclist (at the moment). They just have to be faster than the guy in the yellow jersey and he isn't exactly leading any races (though its early days).

If the other teams don't want yellow (for the time being) then all they have to do is keep up with the guy in yellow, which is kinda boring.

I want them to duke it out, attack attack attack.

Damn it all! Where's my race license....

this is where it becomes interesting imo team tactics start to come into play, and everybody tries to second guess what the other teams are going to do. It's like a game of chess, as the stages unfold you can see the various strategies unfold with them, and then change to suit the conditions etc.

But then again I also love test cricket for exactly the same reason, I bet you're a 20/20 man DDD

iain_j

This Tour kicks ass

There's a stark contrast between the US Postal/Discovery team which bagged Armstrong seven wins, and Astana this year. USPS/Disco were built solely to get Armstrong to Paris in yellow. Remember the "Blue Train"? Wasn't it only in Lance's "final" Tour some of his team-mates went and won stages themselves. Lance was the leader, no question. Compare that to Contador being asked who's the leader in Astana this year: "there's 9 leaders in this team". The T-Mobile team had this trouble in their last few years. Remember Vino getting chased down by his own team when he attacked on a climb?

They pulled together in the TTT yesterday and got an impressive win, but that was a team effort, to get them *all* across the line in the shortest time. It's a different game in the mountains. It's going to be dramatic though

Anyhoo - chapeau to Thomas Voeckler today - brilliant win by a gutsy rider! At about 6km to go I gave up on the sprinters catching them, but it surprised me how close they were at the end.

oscarbudgie

iain_j wrote:

This Tour kicks ass

+1.

Totally gripping start to the Tour - best in years. I am getting NO work done between 1 and 5 every day

iain_j

And as for LA's "I've won seven tours" attitude - that means F* all in July 2009. He might as well say Eddy Merckx is going to win!!

I used to be an LA fan - I'll credit him with getting me properly hooked on the TdF and in fact pro-cycling having watched it casually for years - but the Simeoni incident pissed me off, and his attitude in the last few days hasn't helped. You got lucky, fella, you got in a good breakaway, doesn't make you a winner.

Coriander

By 'eck this is exciting. Better than any other I've watched. And from tomorrow it possibly gets better...

Chances of LA being blown out of the back??? Probably not very high, but a girl can dream...

DonDaddyD

Rich158 wrote:

I bet you're a 20/20 man DDD

Cricket isn't a sport.

But if it was, then yes I could only be a 20/20 man.

Bugly

@DDD you realise that each rider burns around 10000 calories per day over the tour? IN any race you use your allies and your competitors to your advantage you need to choose when you attack. The GC riders don't attack to waste energy they spend the energy of their teammates in order to get the opponents to waste energy in response.

Only in junior and low cat races do riders go for broke all the time :P

@cjcp not entirely tongue in cheek I think that LA can dig deeper then AC especially if he is riding after bertie.

cjcp

Bugly wrote:

@cjcp not entirely tongue in cheek I think that LA can dig deeper then AC especially if he is riding after bertie.

There's definitely that balls-out grit, but I think he'll be riding before AC come the final TT. I don't expect I'll be doing much work tomorrow afternoon.

oscarbudgie

iain_j wrote:

And as for LA's "I've won seven tours" attitude - that means F* all in July 2009. He might as well say Eddy Merckx is going to win!!

I used to be an LA fan - I'll credit him with getting me properly hooked on the TdF and in fact pro-cycling having watched it casually for years - but the Simeoni incident pissed me off, and his attitude in the last few days hasn't helped. You got lucky, fella, you got in a good breakaway, doesn't make you a winner.

Although I draw back slightly from the Kimmage and Walsh take on LA I wouldn't want him to win and it would be a backward step for the sport if he did. Unfortunately his closest competitors seem to be doing their best to give it to him - Menchov has already blown his chances and Evans might have - so it could be down already to Sastre, Contador, Schleck maybe and at the outside Cancellara

DonDaddyD

Bugly wrote:

@DDD you realise that each rider burns around 10000 calories per day over the tour? IN any race you use your allies and your competitors to your advantage you need to choose when you attack. The GC riders don't attack to waste energy they spend the energy of their teammates in order to get the opponents to waste energy in response.

Of course.

I'm just of the mindset that everyone should attack the yellow jersey always or - and this is slightly contraversial thinking - the yellow jersey should attack everyone causing the GC's to attack him or try and catch him and therefore burn out - best defence is a good offense...

Coriander

Whilst I don't think for a minute that Cancellara will get yellow this year (and probably never), he shouldn't be dismissed as someone who can't climb at all - remember him pulling that CSC train for hours last year in the mountains (my sieve of a memory can't remmber which stage it was), and he's 7kg lighter this year.

And have you seen LA's utterly unncessary tweet about the TTT? Sorry, am turning into an utter Lance-hater.

il_principe

DonDaddyD wrote:

Bugly wrote:

@DDD you realise that each rider burns around 10000 calories per day over the tour? IN any race you use your allies and your competitors to your advantage you need to choose when you attack. The GC riders don't attack to waste energy they spend the energy of their teammates in order to get the opponents to waste energy in response.

Of course.

I'm just of the mindset that everyone should attack the yellow jersey always or - and this is slightly contraversial thinking - the yellow jersey should attack everyone causing the GC's to attack him or try and catch him and therefore burn out - best defence is a good offense...

No point in attacking Cancellara atm, no point at all. I can't wait for stage 7...

DonDaddyD

Question:

Is this Tour missing Alejandro Valverde?

Everything I read seems to describe him as bags of awesome who missed out because of drugs...

bigmat

Valverde tends to be a bit rubbish in the tour - since 2005 anyway. Not sure what might have changed since then?! :twisted: He could have done his time and been back clean by now if he'd had the balls, instead he's been reaping the benefits of his competitors taking the can for the past 4 years (possibly cleaning up his act in the process to be fair) and has no place at the tour IMO.

I do agree he's great to watch on uphill stage finishes, but then so was Ricco.... :?

Sewinman

Coriander wrote:

And have you seen LA's utterly unncessary tweet about the TTT? Sorry, am turning into an utter Lance-hater.

What tweet? I follow him and didn't see anything controversial?

So many haters!

il_principe

Sewinman wrote:

Coriander wrote:

And have you seen LA's utterly unncessary tweet about the TTT? Sorry, am turning into an utter Lance-hater.

What tweet? I follow him and didn't see anything controversial?

So many haters!

Why all the hate Cori. I quite like LA - inspiring books and I think a good guy despite the media persona. You have to admire the work LAF does.

DonDaddyD

Lance does have a well polished media persona.

He uses the media brilliantly to his advantage, whether that's to challenge the establishment, the other riders or his team.

I can fully understand why some may think he is arrogant or not a nice guy but when he puts this up on Twitter:

lancearmstrong: 1 more thing. I'm not the only cancer survivor in the TdF. Sebastian Joly from Francaise des Jeux is as well. Give him a shout if u see him.

I can't help but think there is more to him.

Hating on Lance Armstron is like hating on Muhammad Ali.

biondino

DonDaddyD wrote:

Question:

Is this Tour missing Alejandro Valverde?

Everything I read seems to describe him as bags of awesome because of drugs...

Fixed your post.

cjcp

DonDaddyD wrote:

Hating on Lance Armstron is like hating on Muhammad Ali.

Not really. Ali was the greatest. :P

As said above, the problem with LA this time around is his attitude; it's different to the 1999-2005 period because he's publicly niggling away at his team mate. That's not cricket, IMO. And not talking to the press during the Giro when this whole comeback was about raising cancer awareness. Egos. Gotta love 'em. :P

Now, wouldn't it be amusing if AC gave LA "The Look" when he attacks in the hills?

It's good viewing all the same. Better than a lot of the other guff on TV.

As for Valverde, he's not shown himself to be a strong enough all-rounder to be a serious contender for the overall.

symo

Could AC purposely ruin LA on the climbs? Setting off faster than LA can cope with?

Kak interesnat.

Coriander

Sewinman wrote:

Coriander wrote:

And have you seen LA's utterly unncessary tweet about the TTT? Sorry, am turning into an utter Lance-hater.

What tweet? I follow him and didn't see anything controversial?

So many haters!

didn't think the highlighted line on twitter after the TTT was entirely necessary:

"Well, what can I say? The team was simply awesome today. Consistent, fluid, mistake-free. We love this event (TTT) and are stoked to win.

I thought the course was tough but proved to be 2x. Ouch. Popo and Klodi were on fire.

And they might need to repair the pavement on the sections where Alberto was pulling. All in all, great day."


I have read LA's autobiographies and thought he came across as a vile person - a bully, arrogant and thoroughly unpleasant. Also, if you want to another example of his bullying read more about the incident with Filippo Simeoni

didn't think the highlighted line on twitter after the TTT was entirely necessary:

"Well, what can I say? The team was simply awesome today. Consistent, fluid, mistake-free. We love this event (TTT) and are stoked to win.

I thought the course was tough but proved to be 2x. Ouch. Popo and Klodi were on fire.

And they might need to repair the pavement on the sections where Alberto was pulling. All in all, great day."


I have read LA's autobiographies and thought he came across as a vile person - a bully, arrogant and thoroughly unpleasant. Also, if you want to another example of his bullying read more aobu the

Coriander

Sorry, my system suddenly started behaving really wierdly.

I don't think LA's behaviour towards Filippo Simeoni was the action of a decent man, either. More information here:

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/?id=results/stage18

benno68

symo wrote:

Could AC purposely ruin LA on the climbs? Setting off faster than LA can cope with?

Kak interesnat.

Neither rider is going to do the other any favours, they're going to do their own thing I reckon. The Astana Team Manager has certainly got his work cut out if he is going to pull them into line - mission impossible???

DonDaddyD

Benno68 wrote:

symo wrote:

Could AC purposely ruin LA on the climbs? Setting off faster than LA can cope with?

Kak interesnat.

Neither rider is going to do the other any favours, they're going to do their own thing I reckon. The Astana Team Manager has certainly got his work cut out if he is going to pull them into line - mission impossible???

Astana keep saying they have 9 leaders?

Johan should just let them all ride solo and for themselves using/relying on and manuipulate the other teams tactics to win. Then we'd see the best leader borne out of cunning and the ability to influence.