Tour de France 2008

I'm a bit disappointed with the highlights packages so far, an hour isn't a very long time to squeeze stuff in, but you hardly see any racing between the competitions, segways purely for the reporters to massage their own egos and other crap. and they only show the last bit of the stage.

I really wanted to see the start from st malo yesterday, and the bit through Dinan, but on the highlights I watched today they only showed from the last 50k.

I'm a bit disappointed with the highlights packages so far, an hour isn't a very long time to squeeze stuff in,

i was just thinking today that ITV's coverage is crap compared to when channel 4 did it in the early 90s.

Dodgy result today, no? I thought TT went pretty much to form bar mechanicals or crashes...

sweden's got the white jersey, aaah yeah!

not sure about the ITV commentators heavily implying that Schumacher is a drug cheat.

i mean, pointing out that he's never done anything except have suspicious results, followed by highlighting a drink-driving/amphetamine incident with the police (out of competition), then saying "draw your own conclusions" is a bit rough straight after the bloke won a stage.

yeah, it was funny though - he obviously wanted to say that he got pissed in a club and took half a pill and got caught by the rozzers.

Still wasn't he a rank outsider? Remember Vino in the TT last year? Millar was pretty outspoken that time!

he came third in the 2007 world championships, apparently, which hardly makes him a rank outsider.

he came third in the 2007 world championships, apparently, which hardly makes him a rank outsider.

plus one

this is a very exciting start to the tour. it seems full of potential again. those men push the pedals hard. i am naive i know. but i am on the edge of a seat already

you hardly see any racing between the competitions, segways purely for the reporters to massage their own egos.

Ahem, 'segues'.

It just goes to show the paucity of knowledge of cycling that Liggett and Sherwen have these days - they spend too much time blowing smoke up the arse of Armstrong, Bruyneel and any of their riders.

Schumacher has won stage race time trials before, i.e. one in Tirreno-Adriatico last year, and has led a 3 week tour before, the Giro a couple of years back. The fact that he won may have more to do with the biological passport scheme in place now which is hoped to make the sport cleaner than with any misdemeanours on his part.

Also worth mentioning that this was only the fourth stage of the race. The riders will have been under a completely different set of stresses before the TT than they would have in previous years. Makes it far harder to call the winning order and still leaves riders capable of just "having a good day".

I agree with the thoughts on how Schumacher was treated by the press. It was a bit rough and too much time spent talking about the drugs rather than the win.

Today is meant to be another sprinters stage looks pretty flat from the profile, 50 m overall rise.

Personally I waiting until they hit the mountains. That is where is starts to get really exciting.

great first days of the tour, only these itv muppets start getting on my nerves

One of the BBC digital radio channels is doing live commentary , I think

cornering schumacher at end like that was unfair. would they have done that to millar if he had won? i think not

I stand duly chastised. I hope the Tour has sorted itself out after last year's debacle.

Looking forward to today's racing!

may contain spoilers!

Can we note Spoilers?

Like this

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SPOILERS BELOW:

[insert spoiler]

or something like that please?

cornering schumacher at end like that was unfair. would they have done that to millar if he had won? i think not

I agree. It was also a really awkward moment. Poor guy.

Also I can't wait for the mountains.

Fook. Juan Mauricio Soler abandoned. I was looking forward to watching him contest the mountain stages. Unlucky but he should know better than to ride at the very back of the bunch.

Can we note Spoilers?

Like this

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
SPOILERS BELOW:

[insert spoiler]

or something like that please?

Sorry, I should have thought about that. It was a dick move to post whilst the stage was still underway and I will be more circumspect in the future.

Although, to be fair, in a thread about an ongoing race, there is a good chance that there will be information about the progress. And when do details and results stop being spoilers? It's not as if a poster is going to know when everyone has had a chance to catch up on the days action and therefore be able to discuss it freely.

Fook. Juan Mauricio Soler abandoned. I was looking forward to watching him contest the mountain stages. Unlucky but he should know better than to ride at the very back of the bunch.

I think he felt safer there after his crash given that the damage to his wrists made braking difficult.

Is he destined to be a one hit wonder like so many South American riders before him though?

I was referring to the initial crash on Day 1 when he was riding near the back of the bunch.

I certainly hope he's not a 1 hit wonder. He's so gawky, he doesn't look like a cyclist on the flat but when climbing he just looks a natural. It's so strange.

The trouble with the first week of the Tour is that everyone wants to be at the front of the bunch. 190 into 6 doesn't go so there will be crashes. Soler strikes me as being a pretty poor bike handler so maybe he feels safer taking his chances at the back? Pantani used to do that.