Tour de France 2009

from bradley wiggins twitter:
"Heard some news tonight thats going to shock the cycling world when it hits the press!"

wonder what that is then?

That Contador is gay maybe...

Yeah, saw him in Goudhurst that day. He'd slipped off the back of the breakaway group of 4 by then, even so the atmosphere was absolutely electric.

i saw him in Goudhurst too :-) parking in the right place and knowing the back roads helped too.

from bradley wiggins twitter:
"Heard some news tonight thats going to shock the cycling world when it hits the press!"

wonder what that is then?

Surely its some doping scandal yet again, or something going on with astana?

http://road.cc/content/news/5524-own-cycling-team-%E2%82%AC55 You can choose your own team from next year anyway

Another Ebbsfleet Utd.

that didn't turn out that well either did it?

from BW's twitter
"Ok,ok. Brad Wiggins is'nt going to Sky. It's official"

from BW's twitter
"Ok,ok. Brad Wiggins is'nt going to Sky. It's official"

My goodness me. That is news.

I have to say that Brad hasn't really got the hang of this twitter nonsense. He comes across as too honest.

Millar is hardly the inventor of the long suicide break that sometimes succeeds. Just look at the rare occasions when riders like Jens Voigt or Jacky Durand pulled one off. If it's a rider like Millar's slim chance of winning a stage, he'll take it.

it was a beautiful stage today. it showed why the Tour is fantastic even on the flats. millar did a good thing but Hushovd was awesome and you have to respect that. any way you look at it he was the fastest from start to finish.

it was a beautiful stage today. it showed why the Tour is fantastic even on the flats. millar did a good thing but Hushovd was awesome and you have to respect that. any way you look at it he was the fastest from start to finish.

Wise words, Grasshopper...

This stage so needed a breakaway group.. great to see Millar up there, gutsy performance. Nice solid finish by Hushovd and CTT, The Cervelo bikes are my favourite in this year's TDF.. the peleton looked good today too on the final approach, more teams getting their act together, shame about the crashes.. feel for Boonen though.. the tour is looking fabulous.. Harmon and Kelly just about bearable on British Eurosport.. mountains tomorrow..

This stage so needed a breakaway group.. great to see Millar up there, gutsy performance. Nice solid finish by Hushovd and CTT, The Cervelo bikes are my favourite in this year's TDF.. the peleton looked good today too on the final approach, more teams getting their act together, shame about the crashes.. feel for Boonen though.. the tour is looking fabulous.. Harmon and Kelly just about bearable on British Eurosport.. mountains tomorrow..

Thanks for this. I was just wondering what almac68's favourite bikes in this year's TDF were.
Oh, it's the mountains tomorrow is it? Thanks again.

Thanks for this. I was just wondering what almac68's favourite bikes in this year's TDF were.
Oh, it's the mountains tomorrow is it? Thanks again.

cheeky so-and-so..

The coverage is good though, Dave Harmon is a good commentator and he gets the best out of Sean Kelly's deep knowledge of cycling.
Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin get my vote. Plus ITV4 edit their highlights better, rather than just showing the last 30k, which is what Eurosport often do.

Unlike those words uttered by the o-so-owl-like-in-terms-of-his-wiseness Jonny the real stage to watch at this years tour is todays.

With the peleton finally reaching the mountains it's time to see who has the out-right balls and cycling ability to stamp their authority, and seeman, all over this tour. My bets on Armstrong.

Raping the first mountain stage is a psychological shotgun to the knee for all other contenders and anyone left behind will be calling the NHS cos seeman in the eye is a painful and highly stressful afair (i've been told). This is where the tour begins - nothing will be the same tomorrow.

So, being of the great unwashed (i.e. not working) I'm gonna watch the stage live for the 5/6 hours it'll be taking today. I'm gonna try the Italian restaurant on Charlotte St as they always showed it before, but I'm not sure if they have sky (why do sky have to steal everything from opur tv screens; grumble, grumble).

So my question, and in turn proposition to you is: Where can I watch it in central and do you want to come? Fiddy will be with me as well (just in case that sweetens the deal)

Lol

Check the TdF thread, there's a place on City Road that's showing it... Probably see you there later...
Awesome thread title BTW... Excited, by any chance? ;P

We watched a couple of stages at the Offside Bar on City Road last year. They were very amenable to showing it, but then we probably had 20-25 people in there on a midweek afternoon, so they did pretty well out of it.

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread7656.html

when is this stage being shown Jon?

" Raping the first mountain stage is a psychological shotgun to the knee for all other contenders"

pure class john, love this.

forget that italian joint in charlotte st and just go down the sports cafe on haymarket. yeah i know it is a little naff but one of the bars upstairs just shows the tour, fully aircon.

i like the offside bar too but as i will only be able to get out for about an hour of this stage i need to keep it as close to the office as possible. but don't mind either way - will try and join where you fellas be.

They'll probably have the fucking ashes on tho'... :/

Blimey. I've been downgraded...

Anyway. The good thing about the Italian is that the guys in there are quite obsessed about the race, but I'm just a little concerned at a few things:

1. Who is covering the stages live, as I saw a little bit of ITV4's 'red button' coverage on sky and there was this Aussie guy with about as much personality as a rivita mini bite covering it. But then I suppose no one will live up to Leggit.

2. Do they actually have it (does anyone know?)

3. I will need someone to hold my hand during the whole stage as the moment my bladder needs to be attended to I will be like a pregnant woman in labour. I will not be missing a minute of it (except maybe the first hour.

4. What time are you taking your lunch break Jonny and where do you work? Teenslain, are you takning the afternoon off? Just thinking cos I'm not sure I fancy sitting in an air-conditioned-american-theme-bar to watch it. I want to hear people who speak European languages who think they know everything about the tour screaming at each other. I want to see obsessive handgestures. I want to see tears. I want to smell good quality coffee being perculated. I want blonde girls with athletic physiques.

We need to organise this. I'm meant to be riding with Paul in a bit, so won't get back here till 12 I would have thought, but I'm happy to go most places...

when is this stage being shown Jon?

Just checked my calender and EuroSports are showing live from 1230

jon, it won't be my lunch break - i will really want to see the climax of the stage so will probably head out of here (russell square) around 1530 and then get wherever. just let me know where you will be dude. of course, work could still fuck me up but i should be clear and will just have to come back to the office afterwards.