Tour de France 2010

Making the Chuckle Brothers look good there, you two.^

Some long overdue humility from Dave Brailsford. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/brailsford-admits-team-sky-has-learnt-some-harsh-lessons-on-tour-debut

It's been said already, but it's now my turn.

Contador is a cunt.

He knew that Schleck was/is riding strong, and the mechanical was his only chance (other than the TT) to put time into him.

Ned Boulting "Did you look behind after Schleck's mechanical?"
Cuntador "No."

Fuck off you prick. He did nothing but.

Anyway, that's enough from me, as taped straight after this evenings ITV highlights is Minder. Daar-dum-de-dum-dum.

an 8 second advantage for cuntador and people are writing off schlek WTF .. let him ride with anger and hurt tomorrow and thursday, it will be unmissable.. these two should drop the poker faces. i want to see saxo bank and astana riders earn their money this week.. and maybe some alliances with the other teams.. this is what the tour should be about, not pandering to some code of conduct / media hype, it's a race FFS.. and there are others in contention for GC..

chapeau to tommy voeckler for an impressive stage win..

I wonder what he said to him when they met in front of the podium today. Contador didn't look too chuffed. Maybe it was along the lines of "I'll fucking have you tomorrow!".

i hope so.. i don't think cuntador is as strong as last year.. i would love to see a schlek comeback on the tourmalet thursday with enough of a lead again for the time trial.. schlek would have to attack for a stage win.. where was his team to pace him back in contention today!! probably thinking about next year's post saxo bank contracts..

my turn now.

i think Contador was put in a difficult position, he had to decide fast. ultimately Andy attacked him, and, as has been said, Menchov and Sanchez weren't going to wait.

So, i think it's not cut and dried. If Contador HAD waited, it would have been hailed as a very sporting sacrifice indeed. 5 times out of ten, maybe he would have waited. I guess maybe he thought ' what if i wait then lose the Tour because i decided to be nice?'

maybe he feels bad tonight. who knows. i'd not hang him for this, it's one of those things.

Spanish practices.... They did for Robert Millar too...

If Schleck was to regain the jersey that's be an awesome effort.
I think the lack of team support was down to the other climber in the team sitting at home with a broken collar bone.

A good summation on the ITV podcast tonight alluding to sportsmanship leading to a competition cul-de-sac. Personally I thought FIngerbang was snide, but where do you draw the line? Where does mechanical end and 'act of god' begin? It's a bike race, there are many variables that can't be controlled (as Team Sky are finding out)

interesting how since last years 'cuntador vs lamestrong' debate on this forum.. a rider can go from hero to zero.. he still has that killer instinct for sure. I can't criticise him for his actions today.

my turn now.

i think Contador was put in a difficult position, he had to decide fast. ultimately Andy attacked him, and, as has been said, Menchov and Sanchez weren't going to wait.

So, i think it's not cut and dried. If Contador HAD waited, it would have been hailed as a very sporting sacrifice indeed. 5 times out of ten, maybe he would have waited. I guess maybe he thought ' what if i wait then lose the Tour because i decided to be nice?'

maybe he feels bad tonight. who knows. i'd not hang him for this, it's one of those things.

I think that sums it up.
we can all go to bed now.

Before we do though, share a thought for Menchov. Menchy, "The Mench". He won't win the tour because he's not good enough, but as Phil-Paul Ligget-Sherwin said back in 2007 "maybe we should call him Denis Mention, because he always seems to get one!"

No-one takes the team classification seriously if they are contending for the overall win. Back in the day, USPS would have been ashamed to be chasing some third rank prize that no-one cares about (if you doubt this, please tell me who won the team classification last year without looking it up. I bet a year of Wiggins' salary you can't).

I agree its not that important. Just sayin'.

I'd say last year is a bit too easy seeing as Astana had 2 riders on the podium and Kolden not too far behind. But yeah normally I wouldn't have been able to tell you.

I have to post the voeckler vs armstrong battle for GC from TDF 2004.. let's hope we have something as special this year in the pyrenees..

YouTube- TDF 2004 Thomas Voeckler Lance Armstrong

when did they make helmets compulsory in the tdf? after 2004?

There was a weird interim bit where they were allowed to take them off for mountaintop finishes. [/not answered your question]

2003, with the exemption mentioned by BMMF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#Helmet_compulsion_in_cycling_sport

I initially thought it was a bit cunty, but then I noticed Contador looking behind a lot, checking for Shleck. Contador didn't actually continue attacking at full gas, he stuck with the Menchov/Sanchez group.
I still don't like him though[t]...

No he didn't. I just watched it.

1. He knew Schleck had dropped his chain and attacked.
   
2. He did get to the group and sit on for a bit but only long enough for a breather. He was then driving that group until the finish.
   

lot of peiple hurting on stage, blog of chris horner

http://blog.oregonlive.com/horner/2010/07/tour_de_france_stage_15_chris.html

Can anyone point me in the direction of some footage from the descent? The only highlights I can find online from this damn hotel room cut off just as Schleck gets into his tuck

Well I'm really surprised no one has yet mentioned the moral arising from Schleck's problem today which I would have thought was obvious to this forum:

Henri Desgrange was right - the tour should be a straight contest of man against man without the intervention of technology to muddy the issue. If Schleck and Contador had been on fixed this situation would never have arisen!

everyone knows this forum has very little to do with fixed gear bikes.

I go to mumsnet for bike stuff.

^ Their Mechanics and Fixing section is great...

Enough of this Contador/Schleck nonsense, the real story yesterday was the treachery in the AG2R team over who finishes 17th!

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling-i-wanted-to-smash-his-head-in-i-couldnt-stand-to-be-near-him-2264978.html

Wow! Fiery stuff from Roche there.
I'm so tempted to throw a sicky, stock up on beer and pub snacks and camp out for six hours in my front room. Today is going to be a proper hum-dinger on the slopes!
I did a late one last night, intending to fast-forward the sky+ on the dull bits, but there were no dull bits! 1.30am and I crept into bed, to grumbles from the missus.
I reckon it'll be a 2 o'clocker tonight!