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Le Tour! - 6/26/2006 6:27:04 AM   
stef


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~stef

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RE: Le Tour! - 6/26/2006 7:29:48 AM   
joyinslavery


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Joined: 6/21/2005
Status: offline 		stef, you a cyclist?  I can't wait for The Tour!  It will be an interesting year with Lance gone.  I really hope Jan will take it this year but of course everyone is talking about Ivan so we'll see.  Good to know there's at least one other person on the boards here that's into cycling! 

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RE: Le Tour! - 6/26/2006 7:34:41 AM   
meatcleaver


Posts: 9030
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Status: offline 		I went to see the tour once. It past by me in the winking of an eye, before I retired to a cafe for a glass of wine to wonder why I bothered.

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RE: Le Tour! - 6/26/2006 7:42:22 AM   
stef


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Status: offline 		I ride a bicycle but I wouldn't call myself a cyclist  :)

It's going to be very interesting to see how things shape up without Lance in the mix this year.  DSC still looks strong even without Lance, especially with Eki back and healthy.

~stef

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RE: Le Tour! - 6/26/2006 7:45:36 AM   
joyinslavery


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quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver

I went to see the tour once. It past by me in the winking of an eye, before I retired to a cafe for a glass of wine to wonder why I bothered.


Sounds like a great day to me meatcleaver!  Especially the part about a glass of wine in a little cafe.  Sounds very...French.   

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RE: Le Tour! - 6/26/2006 3:35:10 PM   
misfire


Posts: 55
Joined: 11/6/2005
From: Greenville, SC
Status: offline 		I gotta root for my hometown boy, Hincapie!  :D
Now I just have to figure out scheduling.. World Cup and le Tour.. what to watch, what to watch..  

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RE: Le Tour! - 6/26/2006 6:16:36 PM   
happypervert


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Joined: 5/11/2004
From: Scranton, PA
Status: offline 		I think this year's tour will be a battle between Basso and Ullrich.

Basso won the 3 week Giro d'Italia in dominating fashion. Although it is unusual for a rider to do well in both (though Pantani won both in '98), Basso finished 2nd in the Tour last year after riding to win the Giro; he appeared on his way to winning until he got sick and lost about 30 minutes one day in the mountains, but he recovered and still won a mountain stage and a time trial after that. so he proved he can recover from that effort in May to be a serious contender in July.

Jan Ullrich won in '97, and has finished no lower than 4th; the past two years he has also finished behind Basso. He is a former World Time Trial Champion, an important factor in this race.

At first glance Basso would appear to be the favorite; however this year's course favors Ullrich because it contains long time trials while having fewer mountain top finishes where Basso would be expected to gain time.

Also this year's Tour will not have a Team Time Trial as it has the past few years. Last year, Basso's CSC team beat Ullrich's T-Mobile team by about 30 seconds.

As for Hincapie and the Discovery team -- my guess is Yaroslav Popovytch will be their GC contender after finishing 12th last year, and others will aim for stage wins. Although Hincapie finished 14th, a lot of his time gain came the day he won the stage from a breakaway. I'd be surprised to see him finish in the top 10 racing every day as their main man.

< Message edited by happypervert -- 6/26/2006 6:23:45 PM >

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RE: Le Tour! - 6/26/2006 7:33:34 PM   
happypervert


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From: Scranton, PA
Status: offline 		here's a pretty good preview of contenders, and there are links to descriptions of the course and just about everything else:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2006/tour06/?id=default

And if you're wondering how they finished last year, here are the top 15 with times:

1 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 86.15.02 (41.654 km/h)
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 4.40
3 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 6.21
4 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 9.59
5 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 11.01
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 11.21
7 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 11.33
8 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 11.55
9 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 12.44
10 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 16.04
11 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 16.26
12 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 19.02
13 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 21.06
14 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 23.40
15 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 23.43

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RE: Le Tour! - 6/30/2006 5:49:33 AM   
happypervert


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quote:

2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 4.40
3 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 6.21
4 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 9.59

Well, we can scratch these guys from the list of favorites -- their teams have suspended them because their names were found in the files of a doctor embroiled in a doping scandal. Here's a link:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/jun06/jun30news3

Earlier this year the director of the Liberty Seguros team was arrested with a variety of doping products, and then I think he got linked to this doctor. I suspected there would be big trouble for more spanish riders who had been on his teams in the past, but seeing Ullrich and Basso involved too is really surprising.

There is a common link to Ullrich and Basso -- Basso's team director is Bjarne Riis, who won the Tour in '96, with his then rookie teammate Ullrich finishing second. There were rumors of Riis using EPO, which boosts red cell production, and his nickname in the peloton was "Mr. 60%" referring to his hematocrit level. These days, riders are tested and if their hematocrit is above 50% they are suspended for riding for 2 weeks as a health precaution because that test isn't proof of EPO use.

< Message edited by happypervert -- 6/30/2006 5:52:23 AM >

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RE: Le Tour! - 7/1/2006 9:42:27 PM   
happypervert


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Status: offline 		Now that the favorites have been eliminated, I'll toss out some names of other podium contenders. Usually, I would do rigorous fact checking, but I'm kinda drunk now so check for yourselves.

Best Bets in a best guess order:

Floyd Landis (USA)-- strong in time trials, good enough in the mountains, and has a strong team to back him up. Earlier this year won the prestivious Paris-Nice 1 week stage race

Alessandro Valverde (Spain) -- an excellent climber and good enough in time trials, but I don't think his team is as strong as some others. He could get caught out if they aren't attentive.

Andreas Kloden (Ger) -- I think he finished 3rd 2 years ago while he was a teammate of Ullrich; he's still on the same team, so could do the saime again. He's got the talent to win IF the Ullrich situation hasn't disrupted the team too much.

Levi Leipheimer (USA) -- I think he already has a couple of top ten finishes in Le Tour to go along with his 3rd place finish in Spains grand tour a couple of years ago; also has a decent team, though they probably have mixed objectives beyond seeing him on the podium.

George Hincapie (USA) -- After he won a mountain stage last year a lot of folks have touted him as a contender -- I have my doubts. He basically beat one breakaway companion after sucking wheels all day long; that doesn't qualify him as a world class climber. Just my opinion, but I think he could finish top ten, but no way would he make a podium this race.

Iban Mayo (Spain)-- talented climber and good enough time trialer, but his team is weak. I think it was two years ago he looked great early and then cracked horribly; my guess he is a threat for stage wins instead of the overall victory. I have no idea how he has performed thus far this year -- just know he has shown unusual talent in the past.

Cadel Evans (Austrailia) -- a few years ago he was leading Italy's Grand Tour until the last day in the mountains, and then he cracked as bad as I've ever seen. I still remember him going up a climb that day wearing the leaders pink jersey with some huge fat guy running along side pushing him and occasionally seeing the fat guy's belt as his gut bounced up as he ran. I have never seen such a pathetic performance by a leader of a race.  But, he was much younger then, so I'd expect his stamina to be improved now.

Yaroslav Popovytch (Ukr) -- he was hired to be Armstrong's successor, so now it's time for him to prove he is worth it.

Well, I started with a disclaimer of having had a drink or two, and I have been less attentive to this sport than usual, so take all that with a grain of salt.  Now that I've tossed this list out. it means someone I didn't mention will probably win the whole thing, and I hope somebody does make an idiot out of me -- that will make it an exciting and surprising race!

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RE: Le Tour! - 7/4/2006 10:38:42 AM   
happypervert


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Status: offline 		Valverde crashed today and got carted off in an ambulance -- that's one less favorite for the overall win now.

Another potential contender I forgot to mention before is Damiano Cunego -- he won Italy's grand tour in '04. Although he finished 4th this year, he was almost 20 minutes behind Basso so it is hard to say how competitive he will be in this race.

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RE: Le Tour! - 7/11/2006 9:57:41 AM   
happypervert


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Status: offline 		Mountains start tomorrow (Wed) in the Pyrenees. There are 5 mountain stages in this year's tour, and it looks like Thursday will be the most brutal of them -- 5 major climbs, with 4 category 1 climbs and 1 "HC" (above category), and a mountaintop finish.

After the 2 days in the Pyrenees, they'll have 3 stages as the work their way over to the Alps and a rest day before finishing the last mountains and then head to Paris. The last time trial should be real interesting, because that will come the second day after they leave the Alps. Sometimes contenders will push so hard in the mountains it takes a while to recover, so if that happens somebody could crack in the TT.

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RE: Le Tour! - 7/11/2006 8:55:55 PM   
misfire


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From: Greenville, SC
Status: offline 		I wonder how Landis'll fare in the mountains -- what, with the messed-up hip and all.

[insert obligatory "go Hincapie" comment here]

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RE: Le Tour! - 7/13/2006 1:20:10 PM   
happypervert


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From: Scranton, PA
Status: offline 		Looks like Floyd's hip isn't bothering him at all, so far anyway. Now let's see if his team can defend the yellow jersey.

Levi Leipheimer did great too! Too bad he was sick and lost so much time in the time trial, but he sure has recovered well from that.

Too bad George lost 20 minutes today; but he still has his 1 day in yellow. Now that he isn't a GC threat he can get in breakaways and have a chance to win another stage, though he won't be able to sit on the break all day without working as he did last year.

Menchov is looking like a strong man; he and Cadel Evans look like the main threats now.

Still a long race with 3 more mountain stages and a time trial to go; I wonder what other surprises are in store? Let's see who still looks strong when they get to that last time trial.


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Amazing Day! - 7/20/2006 8:58:25 AM   
happypervert


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Status: offline 		2 days ago Floyd Landis had the lead; yesterday he had a "bad" day . . . it was more like terrible, and he lost 8 minutes and fell to 11th place and was completely out of contention.

Today was the last day in the Alps. Floyd took off on the first climb . . . eventually he caught a breakaway that was 6 minutes up the road . . . he went by them and at one point had a 9 minute lead over the bunch with all the leaders . . . by the bottom of the last climb that lead was about 6:30, and they didn't have much luck gaining back any more time on him. Usually a guy on a solo breakaway like that conks out near the end; didn't happen today.

So now the GC looks like this:

Pereiro
Sastre + 0:12
Floyd +0:30
others + 2:00 and more

This will be decided by the time trial on Saturday, and Floyd is by far the better TTer. Looks like he can win this thing as long as he recovers from the effort today.

There hasn't been a comeback like this in recent history. It was incredible!

< Message edited by happypervert -- 7/20/2006 9:01:10 AM >

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RE: Amazing Day! - 7/20/2006 9:50:28 AM   
KatyLied


Posts: 13029
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Status: offline 		I'm feeling the Floyd love too.  And a weird addiction to Le Tour!

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RE: Amazing Day! - 7/20/2006 8:51:42 PM   
stef


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quote:

ORIGINAL: happypervert

This will be decided by the time trial on Saturday, and Floyd is by far the better TTer. Looks like he can win this thing as long as he recovers from the effort today.

You can bet Phonak will be at the front of the peloton tomorrow keeping pace and sending off riders to keep tabs on any GC threats that try to breakaway and make time on the leaders.  Landis made over 5 minutes on Sastre in the stage 7 time trial.  He should be able to do the same, if not better, on Saturday's stage.

quote:

There hasn't been a comeback like this in recent history. It was incredible!

I have to agree with Bob Roll, it's arguably the best single day performance in the Tour's history when you consider the previous day.  It was absolutely amazing.  Hearing Al Trautwig giggle like a schoolgirl during Pereiro's final descent while he thought he was in a commercial break but still had a hot mic was pretty funny too 

~stef

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RE: Amazing Day! - 7/21/2006 9:54:40 AM   
happypervert


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quote:

Landis made over 5 minutes on Sastre in the stage 7 time trial. 

Actually, it was just 1:10, but that still indicates he ought to make up the 18 seconds Sastre has on him. For that matter, Floyd probably lost more than 18 seconds in that TT when he changed bikes! Stage 7 results here:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2006/tour06/?id=results/tour067

Here's another page that has comparisons to a handful of other extraordinary performances (the second item down):

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2006/tour06/news/?id=/news/2006/jul06/jul21news4

That's pretty heady stuff when he gets compared to Eddy Merckx over 30 years ago or Charile Gaul in 1958!

An interesting note is that Eddy's son Axel is on Floyd's team; I saw a report that said Eddy was on the phone with the team manager the night before saying "attack early".

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RE: Amazing Day! - 7/21/2006 11:24:51 AM   
EnglishDomNW


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Status: offline 		You are all quite, quite mad.

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RE: Amazing Day! - 7/21/2006 11:39:14 AM   
KatyLied


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From: Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		I'm quite mad.  I am totally caught up in this.  Prior to July 1, I thought the Tour was Lance Armstrong, the Discovery Channel and a bunch of other guys biking around France.  I had no clue about sprints, time trials or mountains, stages or jerseys.  I watched a few days of it, learned about it and quickly became addicted to it.  I love me some Floyd Landis!  

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