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Any cyclist folloiwing the Giro d'Italia? (1 Viewer)

Michael Harris

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I watched some of OLN's coverage but I keep forgetting to check on this. I always seem to forget this race is in May.
 

Nils Luehrmann

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I tried to stir up interest in the race last year as well as 'Le Tour', but I just don't think there are many HTF members who follow professional cycling. :frowning:

As for the road conditions for stage 17, I guess I like the drama and historical value of having at least some gravel segements along the course.

That really added to the excitment of last year's Giro's penultimate stage 19:



(more pics here)
 

Steve Berger

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Heck, Americans in general, let alone HTFers. I raced for 10 years and I find it hard to keep interested. I track the "Tour" but I just don't know the names (usually) in the early season events. VeloNews is one of my daily bookmarks (love that "open in tabs" feature) but Eurosport gives a different slant on the races.

Timing is a problem, I have to go to work just about the time things are heating up (with live coverages) but reading results is just not the same as minute by minute coverage.

I don't get OLN and I don't know anyone personally (locally) that does. It's on an obscure digital tier here that has no other channels that I would watch; so the internet is my only source.
 

CameronJ

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There are very few of us. I've been following it less and less over the years - I tend to just pay attention to the Tours and the Classics, although I also always forget that the Giro is in May. When OLN stopped doing daily coverage it became harder to follow.

Basso is showing that he may be the guy to beat at le'Tour this year.
 

Jay H

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Hey, I had some rednecks in a white P/U truck yell something to the effect of "Lance is on drugs" at me yesterday on my ride after work. I lead a bike ride after work for a bunch of fellow cyclists who work here, so

1)Rednecks have heard of Lance
2)Rednecks have heard of his drug allegations
3)Rednecks care enough to shout these things at strangers out their window :)

What do you mean Americans don't care about cycling?

I don't recall if it was a GM/Chevy or Ford, but thoughts of saying how the American truck market is being overrun by Honda and Toyota but I refrained. I don't think I had the nerve to inform them that Lance has retired and is now into celebrityville (even though Sheryl Crow isn't good enough for him).

Back to cycling.

Basso sure is strong this year, todays stage will still be interesting. I don't get OLN either after switching from DishNetwork to Digital Cable (cablevision). I could pay $4.95 per month to get it but since the coverage has pretty much sucked and I'm kind of busy nowadays to even watch anything on TV, I didn't bother. Who knows what OLN is going to do with the TdF these days too with Lance gone and them changning their name to "versus" and doing more hockey.

I'll be out west during most of the tour this year again, off climbing big mountains... Mt Hood, Shasta, Whitney and Boundary Peak... so I'll miss most of the tour anyway...

Jay
 

Michael Harris

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This is just a guess but since OLN is partly owned by COMCAST, it may not be carried by non-COMCAST cable systems. After all, why give the competition money? My brother's non-COMCAST cable system in Columbus, OH does not carry OLN, for example.

I wonder how OLN will carry this year's Tour? With no Lance, will they give it the daily coverage as in the past? I only watch OLN for its cycling coverage and don't care for hockey, shooting, hunting, bull riding, etc.

For those who have been following this year's racing, who should we be looking for this year? How will a non-Lance Discovery Team fare? Is Ulrich in contention?
 

Jay H

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Salvodelli is the Discovery's man for the giro. Of course, he isn't American though on an american team. Tom Danielson is kind of the American rider, if you don't cound Floyd Landis on Phonak. Nobody outside cycling has heard of Tom Danielson though and he had a bad stage 16 anyway.

Ulrich's main contention is the tour, as always, he's doing OK, kind of hard to tell how much he is trying in the Giro but his results so far look like he is on par to attempt to peak at the Tour... For all the grief he takes for getting fat and using those party drugs, he still has good results cyclingwise and is part of that German sports machine of years past. He should have a good tour in any case, hopefully living up to the expectations finally after Lance.

Maybe Basso can go for the double? :)

I have Cablevision, OLN is carried in the "Sports package" or if I get the 'Digital IO' package. Right now I basically get the basic family package and the HD OTA stuff.

Jay
 

Nils Luehrmann

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My hope is tha with Discovery Channels' sponsorship and HD cameras starting to be used on the Tour, we may finally get to see some Tour coverage and segments on Discovery's HD Theater channel. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Lew Crippen

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As I no longer have OLN, I forgot all about the Giro this year.

I normally only follow the major events (and depending on my schedule, not necessarily that closely). I normally record what is available (OLN in the States) and watch/scan the coverage.

It was actually easier when I lived in Australia, even though I did not have access to a plethora of channels.
 

Jay H

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This was posted in Today's live giro ticket from Velonews about yesterday's aborted stage... Too bad the weather didn't cooperate!



That's some low gearing for the pros!

Basso is well in control now...

Jay
 

Peter Kim

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Ullrich and teammate suspended by T-Mobile - out of Tour de France. Other names 'decoded' (wow, what a derogatory connotation) from dope doctor's notes include Basso, Hamilton, Mancebo, Beloki, Heras and others.

No mention at all of Armstrong.

http://www.startribune.com/503/story/525619.html

It's interesting to read that while Tour organizers themselves did not suspend Ullrich since they determined the info was too limited, once the T-Mobile team received that info (including that from the Spanish gov't?!!) from the Tour, they apparently felt it was without doubt.

An entire Spanish team has been wiped out as a result.

Basso, Beloki, and Mancebo are now out. It sounds like the dominoes are about to fall. 15-20 additional riders are expected to be ejected before the end of the day. All of the riders implicated in the Spanish info have now been suspended by their own teams.
 

MarkMel

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Armstrong was smart enough to have his own doctors and not go to the Walmart of doping.
 

dany

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I dont. I ride{05 Roubaix Comp Double} but just cant get into racing but i'll follow TDF. Some call that evil but heck,i dont follow rugby either.
 

Shane Martin

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Cox's digital tier has it here.

I believe that if a noteworthy american isn't involved in the tour, it will fall further into obscurity. The only reason most people watched it was because of Lance or in my early years(Greg Lemond).
 

Michael Harris

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This year's Tour should be most interesting without Ullrich. I'll be curious as to which riders will actually show up tomorrow.

Today a read a silly article on the MSNBC site by Mike Celizic saying that the Tour is not worth watching because with out Lance, there is no story. I guess he does not realize that the Tour is not, and never was, just about Lance.
 

Michael Harris

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We can use this thread to secretly talk about Le Tour.

First of all, OLN needs to remember who is not racing in this Tour. I saw a commercial today for their "Cyclism", which was touting Basso as a threat. Hmmmm, wonder how long that will last.

Today's stage was great. Nice finish and good tactics by Hincapie to get a few seconds on Thor Hushovd and wipe yesterday's Prologue result. Gee, a Yank in Yellow on the second day. Wonder if there is a story here.

Too bad about Hushovd getting hurt. Those cardboard "hands" must really be sharp when hit at race speeds. I'm curious as to how many riders have been injured by fans.

Good profile of Floyd Landis in today's Washington Post (registration required) at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...070101109.html
 

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