Tour de France 2012

looks like a double "up yours" to the French

I wanna know what Robert Miller thinks! Hard to believe we won Le Tour. Just goes to show put in the expertise/training like the track team, skys the limit (no pun)

Problem now is it'll never top this; first British win not to mention with British world champion also winning last stage, 6 British stage wins in all, 5 different British stage winners, last 3 stages in a row, British 1+2 on the gc podium etc etc.

Am I the only one who can't understand a word Cavendish says??

I know he's a bit inbred and from The Isle of Man but he may as well be talking Mandarin!

well whatever he's speaking, peta todd can't get enough of it!

I was scared Cav had gone to early. This might sound trite but I reckon is was Bradley's turn on the front that won it for him: so fast he kept right at the front of the Peloton and put distance between him and his rivals that he basically got a massive headstart. Surprise to see him come straight out of EBH's wheel and go for it, briefly concerned when I saw a wheel behind him on the tracking shot, then I realised it was Goss so all was well. Sagan was motoring at the end but he was already racing for second about 300m before

Am I the only one who can't understand a word Cavendish says??

I know he's a bit inbred and from The Isle of Man but he may as well be talking Mandarin!
you said a bit inbred? well i"d have his genes to sprint that fast, allthough you might have a point about the inbred bit, the Isle of Man flag does have 3 joined legs on it..

Problem now is it'll never top this; first British win not to mention with British world champion also winning last stage, 6 British stage wins in all, 5 different British stage winners, last 3 stages in a row, British 1+2 on the gc podium etc etc.

Sky surprised a lot of people with there team organisation,preparation and tactics. The way they rode this tour could be a game changer, I think we'll see a lot of teams looking at Sky and modelling their preparation on them. There should be more contenders next year for overall, and riders like Boonen and Hushvod to come back to compete for stages. Sky will have a headache accommodating the ambitions of Froome, Wiggins and Cavendish again

Am I the only one who can't understand a word Cavendish says??

I know he's a bit inbred and from The Isle of Man but he may as well be talking Mandarin!

better than sean yates

Am I the only one who can't understand a word Cavendish says??

I know he's a bit inbred and from The Isle of Man but he may as well be talking Mandarin!

Peta Todd understands him perfectly well to let him hang iut the back of her and I don't think their child has six toes.

Scousers are more inbred - aren't they all called Barry, Terry or Gary?

Herne Hill Velodrome has been getting loads of BBC airtime over the last couple of days

....which is nice

Can't believe it's all over :( but it was a great tour and didn't they do well!

Efforts on build my new bike must be doubled so I can ride 'til my hearts content!

Peta Todd was a page 3 bird, they'd yentz anything

#list of page 3 lovelies squired by pisti:

...........

Sky surprised a lot of people with there team organisation,preparation and tactics. The way they rode this tour could be a game changer, I think we'll see a lot of teams looking at Sky and modelling their preparation on them. There should be more contenders next year for overall, and riders like Boonen and Hushvod to come back to compete for stages. Sky will have a headache accommodating the ambitions of Froome, Wiggins and Cavendish again
The Sky pro team will have to keep on the ball, other teams will catch up, like they did in the Track cycling. Ideas are "stolen" improved upon, its hard to get to the top, even harder staying there!

Absolutely sunburnt to bits watching them come through the tunnel on every lap. The first few laps looked really worrying but Sky paced it really well in the final few. I couldn't see the last one properly as I am too small :( but bravo Wiggo and Cav! Amazing result overall. Fantastic day!

Magic magic magic

Just ask Graeme Obree.

I had a chat to him today!

Good job they didn't interview Michelle Cound.

To be fair to Cound (and it is difficult) she is not British and does not live in Britain. She probably does not understand how much more marketable Wiggo is and Team Sky would only let Froome win if Wiggo was out. It was more important for Froome to stay with Wiggo and protect him on those mountains than go alone for personal glory. If Wiggo had punctured, he would have had Froome's bike or had Froome to pull him up those last few yards. Simple economics.

Magnificent down at LMNH today capped by Graeme Obree racing Gary Fisher on the Rollaz. And I got to chat to Graeme Obree and was interviewed on Sky Sports. And saw lots of lovely people from here. Peace and love and happiness to all.

I was keepin' it postive man and you go ruin it!

Seriously, it is so easy to slate madels / wags and I believe that you should make a point of standing up and praising when they come across well. Stunning and seems like a really nice bright young lady. I like Cav (yes he can be arrogant, but in a shy way and entirely justifiably) and Peta, if anything, adds weight to the argument that Cav must be a thoroughly decent guy.

Peta Todd is very classy. Does a lot for Help for Heros. Always deports herself well. Great help to Cav.

Just trying to get all of this into perspective. I didn't watch the Tour of the Algave or catalunya, but I watched Paris-Nice, Tour of Romandie and Criterium de Dauphine, all of which Wiggo won. Although no Brits won any of the monuments I saw Cav win a load of stages at the Giro. Now I've watched him win 3 at the Tour, but 4 other stages by British riders as well (my favourite was David Millar's), as well as a 1-2 on the podium. Also 2 wins for Ben Swift at the Tour of Poland.

Add to that the World Cup and World Championship track meets I watched and seeing Swifty win the Scratch race, VP win the sprint and the men monster the team pursuit. It is astonishing how many bike races I have watched that a British rider has won so far this year. And we have the Olympics to come, then the Vuelta and the World Championships (Road). British riders are a juggernaut, we are the best cycling nation on the planet right now. So much talent everywhere, it's ridiculous.

Just heard a good analysis of power outputs (on radio 4, of all places). Apparently Nibali did La Toissure at about 5.4 watts / kg, and the preceding climbs that day at around 4.6 -4.8 watts/kg. I understand that to be totally feasible.

All,in all whilst not the most exciting TDF ever, I think this is more than anything else a reflection of what I hope was the cleanest race for many a year - every year when the tour is on I end up watching hours of YouTube vids of the best bits of tours past, and you can't help but feel that a lot of those performances that were incredible and epic viewing were only possible with some assistance.