Tour de France 2008

Thing is now, Evans doesn't need to attack, seeing as he's already in front of the rest of the main GC contenders.

Ullrich was the ultimate wheel sucker IMHO. The only thing he's ever attacked was a row of parked bicycles while driving his Porsche pissed out of his brains.

Beg to differ;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l39ahBFGnuk

Apologies. So in his 8 TdF appearances he attacked once ;0)

or, don't read the thread.....

Do you know how hard it was for me to leave this thread sit unread all day today?
Damn hard! But I did it and it was worth it. As expected Cav delivered. Perfect stage for him.

you have to attack to win the Tour...that counts wheel-sucker Cadel out I'm afriad.

Um.. Indurain? Seems quite successful for a 'non-attacker' to me.

ah man, don't want to get in to a this rider did this, this rider did that. but you have to say armstrong attacked - ask pantani or ullrich. i have never seen cadel evans attack anything.

Australian Cadel Evans continues his hot streak in 2008's early season by winning Coppi e Bartali's stage three, 189 kilometres from Scandiano to Pavullo. The 32 year-old of Silence-Lotto, second last year in the Tour de France, put in an attack with nine kilometres remaining on the mountain-top finish of Valico di Gaiato, distancing overnight race leader Stefano Garzelli (Acqua Sapone-Caffè Mokambo), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Niklas Axelsson (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli). By taking 32 seconds on Garzelli, Evans becomes the new leader of the five-day stage race.

In the bigger races he admittedly plays it safe.

good win for cavendish. dont think he's the fastest tho.

He is the fastest, if it's a pure sprint stage he wins. Unfortunately for him, this tour is different with the hillier road stages and tt early on. The older guys (and I still want McEwan in green, don't get me wrong) don't have his top end speed. McEwan manages to get where he does because he's a bunch sprint magician and he floats around everyone, but he still doesn't have Cav's speed. This stage was 1k flat, straight, a pure top end drag race and as expected Cav won. Good on him, I think he's cool.

i think it's impossible to tell who is the quickest sprinter, as it depends so much on who can get themselves a clear run through the pack (which is partly why mcewen is so good). on any given day any of mcewen, cavendish, zabel, hushovd, freire, hunter, cooke etc can win it. they all think they're the quickest, and on their day they are.

on their day.

what was with valverde today? i didn't see the stage but i heard he was looking like crap.

He is the fastest, if it's a pure sprint stage he wins. Unfortunately for him, this tour is different with the hillier road stages and tt early on. The older guys (and I still want McEwan in green, don't get me wrong) don't have his top end speed. McEwan manages to get where he does because he's a bunch sprint magician and he floats around everyone, but he still doesn't have Cav's speed. This stage was 1k flat, straight, a pure top end drag race and as expected Cav won. Good on him, I think he's cool.

Kudos to Cav. Cant argue with his results this year. I wouldnt bet against him winning another.

I would also like to see McEwan in green. I think 'magician' is a rather flattering decription of his style:)

He's a wily wee fucker who isn't afraid' to 'lean' on folk in the way. Fair play to him always liked McEwan, and Zabel.

Cavendish is only 23! Long and glittering career ahead!

Evans will be the winner in Paris imo. I would love to see him attack in the hills this year.:)

what was with valverde today? i didn't see the stage but i heard he was looking like crap.

He fell, twice.

is he hurt? he's one of my favourite riders (although of course i hope cadel beats him in an exciting close finish).

i think it's impossible to tell who is the quickest sprinter, as it depends so much on who can get themselves a clear run through the pack (which is partly why mcewen is so good). on any given day any of mcewen, cavendish, zabel, hushovd, freire, hunter, cooke etc can win it. they all think they're the quickest, and on their day they are.

on their day.

what was with valverde today? i didn't see the stage but i heard he was looking like crap.

Cav is fastest. Fastest doesn't most successful. He probably wont be getting green.

Valverde crashed 2 or 3 times earlier in the day.

I would also like to see McEwan in green. I think 'magician' is a rather flattering decription of his style:)

He's a wily wee fucker who isn't afraid' to 'lean' on folk in the way. Fair play to him always liked McEwan, and Zabel.

if this isn't magic, then i don't know what the fuck is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p8n6dfJoYc

is he hurt? he's one of my favourite riders (although of course i hope cadel beats him in an exciting close finish).

"Please mister put a bandaid on it, please ow it hurts mister"

is he hurt?

Some gravel rash. He was still smiling. He's a right cheery bloke, Valverde. I like him too but not in a gay way.:)

if this isn't magic, then i don't know what the fuck is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p8n6dfJoYc

Granted that was impressive. He is nails.:)

cav is looking like a potentially legendary sprinter. as a brit, that makes me happy. but mcewen has been fast man i have enjoyed watching the most over the last couple of years. would like to see him in amongst it again

shame to see soler out before the hilly bits - his climbing style was like watching a monkey trying to shag a beachball

shame to see soler out before the hilly bits - his climbing style was like watching a monkey trying to shag a beachball

Heh heh heh.

Beg to differ;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l39ahBFGnuk

That was awesome.

Apologies. So in his 8 TdF appearances he attacked once ;0)

He attacked regularly in the off season, the trouble was that it was a pile of cream buns in his local cake shop. ;-)

Um.. Indurain? Seems quite successful for a 'non-attacker' to me.
Indurain used to attack but it seems to have been forgotten. He won the Tours in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1995 by a mixture of time trialling brilliance and strategic attacks in the mountains, i.e. the stage to Val Louron in 91, Serre-Chevalier in 93, Hautacam in 94 and La Plagne in 95.

was just speaking to my mate at work who's the only other person from the Isle of Man I know.
turns out he used to play footie with him when they were kids..

small world...well it is the Isle of Man..

Well you can add me to that small list.

shame to see soler out before the hilly bits - his climbing style was like watching a monkey trying to shag a beachball

that is legendary. funny and true.

That was still a pretty late catch on the breakaway yesterday. It'll be interesting to see how breakaways get treated now. I won't be surprised if they get put down and spit out the back pretty quickly now.

if this isn't magic, then i don't know what the fuck is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p8n6dfJoYc

one of my favourite tours sprints.

nearly as good as one ball riding away from ullrich looking into his eyes.

evans is a smart racer. just look at the first day when he finished 5th behind valverde, he was a wheel or 2 away and actually sat-up. he has bigger fish to fry, than by wasting energy early in the tour especially with bigger stages to come. he's won plenty this year already, so can't be that bad.