Le Tour de France (1 Viewer)

[Jim_F]

Lance Armstrong looking for #4 in a row.

USPS looked strong in the team TT, looks like they're fit to give Lance good support again this year.

Today's flat stage favors the sprinters. I can hardly wait until they hit the mountains, to see if Armstrong, with the help of his henchmen, can blow up the competition again this year.

It's cool to see Frankie working with the OLN coverage team. He started out years ago as a junior with my local club and we Wolverines (not to be confused with the U of M kind) are always proud of him.

I'll bet ya dollars to doughnuts that LA gets passed over for SI Sportman of the Year again this year, even if he four-peats this "most grueling event in all of sports". Not that the Williams sisters, for instance, are not deserving, but PLEASE! This guy cheated "certain" death and looks to become the greatest American rider in history.

 

[Jay H]

Hey Jim, how's it going? It's amazine the time that CSC lost due to Samstod puncturing... They were first in all the time checks except for the last one and wound up losing like 46 seconds behind ONCE and Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Try to fit that on a streetsign!!) The Posties had a good TT, at least they didn't crash this year
Beloki and Gonz. de Galdeano are sort of threats to Lance but they are all so close it doesn't matter, we'll see how Beloki's words pan out shortly.
I'm actually kind of hoping Tyler does well, I really wouldn't even care either way if Tyler wins the whole shindig, he's a classy guy and a great rider. I've been following his diary from the Giro d'Italia and it's a good read. Of course Frankie Andreau had the best diary when he was riding, those were awesome and insightful. Of course, his tidbits on OLN and the OLN preview to the tour seems one big Trek commercial and where's BOBKE????????????? Seems like he's not doing any backup anymore now that Andreau is there.... Frankie, at least to me, looks still uncomfortable behind the camera, he doesn't have the on-screen personality as Bob Roll does nor does he have those cool OLN commercials!!!
Did you catch Thor Hushovf near the front two days ago? Poor Credit Agricole, they seem to be having a nightmare of a tour, to Christophe Moreau's crashes to Thor's problems and Stuart O'Grady's heart problems... Love their jerseys, I think I like their jerseys the best of them all.
It is interesting to see Lance get covered on the local news. I try not to watch any because I PVR the live coverage and watch it taped when I get home... The local media in NY covers it a little during the sports, usually mispronouncing names like Oscar Friere when he won the stage. But I guess it's better than nothing. They still act like it's Lance versus the world, typical American-centric thought...
Who needs Sports Illustrated anyway, SI doesn't care anything about other than the 3 major US sports so I've never really cared about SI (except for their swimsuit issue , but that is universal). Now if ProCycling or even Velonews on the other hand......
Jay

 

[Jim_F]

Hey Jay, I'm doing OK for an OGWGFINTW, haven't managed to make the time to ride much this season. Usually watching The Tour inspires me (I guess I should pay more attention to the Giro next year)

I was working the last 7 days and entirely forgot about the first 3 stages, so I'm just getting into it now.

 

[Jay H]

Well, if the three big tours inspires you, I guess watching the Giro in May, the Tour in July, and the Vuelta in September would be a good ride schedule, you'll miss the hot August rides....

I've got a bunch of centuries under the legs, got another short 52mile ride coming up in a few weeks, a friend and I are gonna make that a longer day by riding to the event, about 35 miles one way so that should be a 100+ mile day but we have to be there by 8am so it would be a real early day, perhaps use the lights in the morning (Sunrise is 5:50am)

Of course, I'm still biking to work so I think I have about 3000 miles in my legs so far, including some mountain bike miles and also some touring miles from Lake Champlain.

My friend who used to be a cat 3 racer keeps telling me I'm an Ox and that I am a stronger cyclist than he was when he was my age.. But since I don't really have a desire to race, although time trials sound fun, I can do them myself without paying one-day license fees and stuff. I've never had explosive power or anything but I eat hills for lunch and have a compact frame with strong legs. Since I still bike in the winter time, I've always kept my form through winter...

Jay

 

[Mario Bartel]

Geez, what was up with Zabel's tantrum in the run-off area today? It's always chaotic, so the mob scene after the finish line shouldn't be something new or unusual to these guys, but he took swings at at least three tv cameras and one still photographer. Paul and Phil didn't say a thing about it in their coverage, and Zabel has always struck me as a fairly amiable chap.

 

[Aurel Savin]

I was just watching that too Mario ...

Thought it was the guy who was leading him in doing all the swings at the camera men. Didn't realize it was Zabel.

Zabel is washed up IMHO. This stage win took a major effort on his part. He looked pretty shot ...

I'm rooting for a good run from Laszlo Bodrogi, the first Hungarian in the Tour (ever). He's with Mapei.

 

[CameronJ]

Aaargh I hate not having OLN!!!!

At least with ESPN I could get a recap every night, but now I get nothing. Oh well, at least those of you with OLN can watch the whole stage and not the highlights.

I'm off to France for vacation tomorrow. I'm going to two stages, the finish on Mt. Ventoux next weekend and then the finale in Paris. Hopefully I can get up near the finish on Mt. Ventoux and push the Americans along.

Hopefully I'll get some good pics to share.

 

[Jay H]

Hey CameronJ, its never really the whole stage, they usually kind of pick up things half way to 2/3rds the way in, usually when Jacky Durand is on some crazy 115km breakaway
Folks, could you use spoilers when discussing stage wins.. I tend to PVR the live coverage and then I watch it when I get home.. I avoid all newsfeeds after 11:30am and all cycling forums (at least the road cycling ones)....
Not a big deal, I'll still watch every stage whether I know the outcome or not....
Zabel hasn't won a stage yet but he still has the green jersey, perhaps the media is becoming a bit pesky because of that. We all know that Jan is out and Telekom is like the premier cycling team in Europe, not taking into effect the local teams.. Now that Germany lost to Brazil, maybe the German and French press are putting alot of pressure on Erik Zabel.
I have noticed alot of American flags on the road, include many "Lance" writings on the road, virtually nil a couple tours ago and also enjoy seeing Lance give interviews in French.
FYI, CBS is going to butcher a bunch of stages on consecutive Sundays so you'll only get live audio feed from OLN this upcoming sunday and then next sunday and so forth til the end. I believe they are airing at 5-6pm EDT, but check olntv.com for the Tour schedule...
Is Cadel Evens in the tour for Mapei, haven't heard his name mentioned that much, neither of Oscar Seville too..
Jay

 

[Edan W]

Zabel is washed up IMHO. This stage win took a major effort on his part. He looked pretty shot ...

Yeah, he definitely doesn't seem to be at his best...McEwen and Freire have both looked much better...and McEwen probably would have won another stage if he had been able to somehow lose Freire before making his move in Stage 2 (I think Stage 2...)

I kind of miss Cippo too, it sounded like he was in good form with a couple of wins at the Giro...guess we won't be seeing him battle Zabel and co. anymore now.

 

[CameronJ]

usually when Jacky Durand is on some crazy 115km breakaway

Maybe it's the masochist in me, but I love that guy. There's a guy who obviously pours his heart and soul into every stage.

 

[Aurel Savin]

I kind of miss Cippo too, it sounded like he was in good form with a couple of wins at the Giro...guess we won't be seeing him battle Zabel and co. anymore now.

Yes ... Cippolini was definetelly the highlight for some past tours. His performance at this years Giro was great.
I just heard today, that he is supposedly retiring ...cannot be :frowning:

 

[Jay H]

Mario is kind of pissed off at the TdF folks for the past two years, snubbing Saeco and now Aqua y Sapone and is supposedly also kind of feuding with AyS for contractual reasons. I wouldn't be too surprised he unretires for next year's Giro, he's only 2 stage-wins away from tying Alfredo Binda's record of 41 stage wins there and he is Italian with the Tour of Italy so it must mean something more than just a victory for him. He really cherishes fame and publicity, as if some of his skinsuits in the prologues and timetrials seem to indicate But if anybody can wear such outlandish suits, Mario can. Like Jacky Durand, Cipo is another personality of the tour, but a good one and good for cycling.
Jay

 

[Jay H]

What the ****???? I just finished watching CBS's supposed coverage of Stage 8... I am not freakin kidding you when they actually mentioned anything about stage 8 until 5:56PM EDT and the program ended at 6pm... This has got to be the sorriest excuse for coverage I have seen in my life. Bring back ABC/ESPN, at least that actually would cover a little bit of the finishline.

I really started to think that today was a rest day and that CBS was just going to cover the previous stages... Now I am going to find out what actually happened today, maybe I should of checked out OLN's live audio coverage...

sigh..

Jay

 

[Mario Bartel]

One of the few advantages of getting OLN Canada; we actually get live coverage on Sundays
Too bad CBS dropped the ball on Stage 8 coverage because the attacks in the breakaway group over the last four or five kilometers were great fun to watch.

 

[Jay H]

Hey Mario, I found out that OLN was going to cover it Sunday night so I caught most of the last hour of broadcasts. It was fun to watch all the attacks at the end. Plus, I like that one guy's name that sounds like "Cerves Knaven".. I don't know why, it just sounds like a cool name, like some Marvel superhero
I want a lion and I also want a podium girl... gimme gimme gimme..
Jay

 

[Edan W]

Mario is kind of pissed off at the TdF folks for the past two years, snubbing Saeco and now Aqua y Sapone

The TdF organizers have been doing that the past few years, putting smaller French teams like AG2R, Jean Delatour, and Bonjour in and leaving out higher ranked, higher quality teams. I don't know if I agree with that...the best, most prestigious cycling race in the world should have the best teams and riders, regardless of nationality. Still, the french riders do attack alot during the early stages and definitely give it all they've got.

Anyway, back to todays' race. Anyone think Lance can make up 34 seconds on Igor in the TT?

 

[Andrej Dolenc]

eurosport.com also has live audio coverage. Wish there was a way to get the TV channel here in the states, eurosport rocks.
Andrej

 

[Jim_F]

AAAAAAAARRRGHHH!!!!

What a time to lose the video feed! (and the official time as well!)

The plot thickens. Soon it's off to the mountains to show who's really going to be boss this year...

 

[Jim_F]

I wondered if anybody would try to make a statement this early in the mountains. Now I know!

Just a heroic ride by Jalabert, one of the best riders never to win the TdF.

What an absolutely machine-like display of teamwork by USPS. Just awe inspiring.

 

[Mario Bartel]

Just a heroic ride by Jalabert

I agree. That moment when he looked back in a curve during the ascent of La Mongie to see the Armstrong/Heras/Biloki trio about to run him down was heartbreaking. As great as Lance was today, I thought Jaja deserved OLN's Ride of the Day award for his gutsy, ill-fated effort.

And what can you say about Heras? The guy was a champion sparkplug for Lance's human engine!

While last year's "look back" to Jan Ullrich on the Alpe d'Huez may never be matched for sheer drama and excitement, today came pretty darn close. More climbing tomorrow!

PS, I loved the little historical interlude with the story about the rider in 1913 who tried to fix his front fork at a blacksmith's shop, after it snapped on the way up La Mognie; it's history like this that makes the Tour so great.