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today was less dramatic than i was expecting. i was hoping there would be some attacking, i would like to have seen contador/lance launch at the end
Did you not watch the same race as I did? A.Schleck attacked and attacked and attacked to try to drag his brother up the GC. There was no reason for Contador or Armstrong to attack; Contador was already in yellow, and Armstrong was too far behind A.Schleck to have a reaslistic chance of moving up to second. The people who had something to gain by attacking were Kloden, F.Schleck and Wiggins, and none of them was good enough today. Pellizotti made a good attack from the group, but faded. Martin, Garate and Riblon made the decisive attack of the day on the lower slopes of Ventoux. How much attacking did you want?
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Well said dude, if he doesn't like sport then he should flame another in his stupid articles.
he's earned the right to comment on a sport he was such a big part of - he's informed and has the palamares to back up his right to speculate on what goes on in the peleton
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Well said dude, if he doesn't like sport then he should flame another in his stupid articles.
You've no idea who he is do you? I suggest you go and read about him before you start having a pop.
I think you'll find his passion for the sport is undimmed, despite what he's seen happen to it over the last 20 years.
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he's earned the right to comment on a sport he was such a big part of - he's informed and has the palamares to back up his right to speculate on what goes on in the peleton
But is he really helping, with his baseless innuendo? Sure, he was quite good once, and he might think he knows what's good for the sport, but he comes across as a bitter little prick who just wants to bad mouth anybody who is doing well.
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or his he one of the few not frightened by the 'omerta' that has tainted the sport for too long? I'd say the people who kept schtum helped less with their collusion…
I agree his delivery and timing can sometimes cast him in the same light as the old lady who wears bin bags and shouts at pigeons outside our tescos but I think his intent and the content of what he says is important and has merit
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But is he really helping, with his baseless innuendo? Sure, he was quite good once, and he might think he knows what's good for the sport, but he comes across as a bitter little prick who just wants to bad mouth anybody who is doing well.
How is it baseless innuendo? Do you honestly believe that Contador and Armstrong are clean? Why the fuck would they change if they thought they could continue to get away with it? Which it appears they can.
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But is he really helping, with his baseless innuendo? Sure, he was quite good once, and he might think he knows what's good for the sport, but he comes across as a bitter little prick who just wants to bad mouth anybody who is doing well.
doesn't make him wrong....
as LAnce himself said "it's not a personality contest".
Of all people Lemond is best placed to comment....what is most interesting is just how many ex pros remain quiet on the subject of modern day doping...wonder why?
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How is it baseless innuendo? Do you honestly believe that Contador and Armstrong are clean? Why the fuck would they change if they thought they could continue to get away with it? Which it appears they can.
I don't think Lemond's interventions have any positive effect on the likelihood of doped riders getting caught. Do you think the UCI, ASO, AFLD, WADA etc. are doing nothing until a washed-up has-been pipes up? Do you think 'aggressivly clean' teams like CTT, Highroad and Slipstream wouldn't be making representations behind the scenes if they had suspicions? They have access to much better data than Lemond, after all.
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"washed up has been" tells us all we need to know. About you.
Just because you can't say that there is one concrete result of LeMond's campaigning doesn't mean it has no effect. You may not respect him but many others do and know that when he talks about cycling he should be listened to. This has had the effect of helping to break the Omerta. He has also done more than most people to dent Armstrong's reputation - amongst people who actually know something about cycling rather than once-a-year-viewers or rabid American patriots - which is no bad thing in itself. -
I don't think Lemond's interventions have any positive effect on the likelihood of doped riders getting caught. Do you think the UCI, ASO, AFLD, WADA etc. are doing nothing until a washed-up has-been pipes up? Do you think 'aggressivly clean' teams like CTT, Highroad and Slipstream wouldn't be making representations behind the scenes if they had suspicions? They have access to much better data than Lemond, after all.
I'm certain I've far more knowledge of what the UCI are up to than you'll ever have. They know certain riders are still doping and they are trying to catch them. But autologous blood transfusions remain virtually impossible to detect, as Pierre Bordry, head of the AFLD, reaffirms today;
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bordry-floats-possibility-that-new-products-could-be-in-use
Some teams are taking a stance, primarily the French teams and Slipstream, but too many, and I include both CTT and Columbia-HTC, say one thing yet do another. They need to do much, much more if they are serious about a cleaner sport.
The fact that a respected ex-rider like Lemond has the balls to stand up and publically cry foul should be applauded, not derided. Cycling is a beautiful sport, with unique appeal, yet the professional side of it remains a seedy, amoral sideshow. It needs more people, especially current riders, to actually make a stand against the culture of omerta and declare their opposition to doping. Contador has been asked countless times about his attitudes during this Tour and, as you'd expect of someone riding for Bruyneel, has come out with a terse 'no comment' without fail. That alone speaks volumes.
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They** know **certain riders are still doping and they are trying to catch them.
What does that even mean? They might suspect, but they surely don't know, otherwise they would either have brought charges or they're sitting on evidence as part of this grand conspiracy to which everybody keeps alluding. Given that the UCI couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, I have no faith in the concept of a conspiracy, so I have to conclude that they have suspicions but no solid evidence. Lemond has suspicions but no solid evidence, but the UCI has access to riders for any test they choose to perform, while Lemond just has his febrile imagination and a distant memory of his own glory days.
If Astana has designed a thus-far successful method of cheating, I hope they get caught, and soon, but it isn't helping that effort or the sport to shoot off at the mouth for reasons which have more to do with self-publicity than an effective attack on doping.
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bit of a damp squib, though, todays stage, eh? not the spectacular racing that ASO had gambled on by any means.
Again - no.
I felt fucking drained by the end, just watching it. You do realise they were cycling up a mountain that's claimed lives, don't you? No-one's going to break from the group at 30mph, and then hold tempo for 20mins @ 10%. Even if the drugs existed to facilitate it, the flesh remains too weak.
There were constant attacks throughout the field.
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Again - no.
I felt fucking drained by the end, just watching it. You do realise they were cycling up a mountain that's claimed lives, don't you? No-one's going to break from the group at 30mph, and then hold tempo for 20mins @ 10%. Even if the drugs existed to facilitate it, the flesh remains too weak.
There were constant attacks throughout the field.
+1.. There have only been a couple of relatively boring stages for me, most of the racing this year has been awesome
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I think there's irony in abundance here. I'm pretty sure that what some poo-pooers are lamenting is the lack of a decisive, opposition-crushing attack. A sense of anti-climax.
But some of these voices have also been quick to slag off the dopers. You can see what I'm driving at, can't you?
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The last week lived up to it's promise. But the price of having a last week like this one was that the first two weeks saw almost no competition for the yellow jersey. Infact only three riders wore it (though Armstrong and Hincapie did come** very close). The Pyrenees were very dull as the favourites saved their energy. Which makes me wonder how well Wiggins would have done in a more normal tour where there is racing over both mou**ntain ranges. A summit finish in the Pyrenees would have tested him.
The TTT continues to be controversial for its effect on GC riders - like Evans- who have poor teams behind them.
And it's been won by someone who is mysteriously able to be both a pure climber and an unbeatable tester. I've never laughed so much at a result since Laurent Jalabert was world time trial champion. Oh, well, perhaps when Heras came second in the Vuelta's final TT. And I suppose Shumacher's TT ride last year was mirthful. -
I loved every minute of it. It just blows my mind how they can race up a mountain standing on the pedals like that.
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Tour de France 2009
Posted by
@Sparky
today was less dramatic than i was expecting. i was hoping there would be some attacking, i would like to have seen contador/lance launch at the end.
well done wiggo, i didnt think he was gonna keep his position today but the boy did good.
tommorow has surely got to be cavs day.