Tour de France 2009

Agreed - It would be great if we could put together a night somewhere with vids of the greatest stages ever

"It's Roche! It's Stephen Roche!"

Jebus, sends shivers up the spine.

"It's Roche! It's Stephen Roche!"

Jebus, sends shivers up the spine.

Me too, that was the first tour I watched, aged 13, what a stage, or more like it: what commentry!, phil ligget IS the TDF.
Anyone else think making helmets compulsary has made cycle racing less individual? They seemed a bit more human.

ouch jens

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

ouch. ouch. ouch.

Just been to The Gun in Spittalfields where they kindly turned from darts to Eurosport.

That's my pub you non-drinking bastard! Geedout!
Maybe I should have been there rather than work today.. nice of them to change channels.
I've not actually been since the refurb.

The australian commentators that i've been streaming have just claimed wiggo as an aussie... Wtf?

Ha.. that's clutching at straws even for us. We usually only claim good kiwis.
His old man is Aussie and he was born in Belgium but he refers to himself as British.

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/95591/voigt-recovering-in-grenoble

He hit a bump moving his hands off the bars.. fucking bam!

Poor Voigt.. he's one of my favourites fo shizzle!

^

Yeah it was a nasty one ... hope he get back in the saddle quick.

He slid on his face for ages. That's not a nice thing to happen at the best of times. Good job they all wear helmets now otherwise the picture ITV4 showed of him could have been for a reason.

That's my pub you non-drinking bastard! Geedout!
Maybe I should have been there rather than work today.. nice of them to change channels.
I've not actually been since the refurb.

The only time I have been there before was around 27 years ago. They didn't have Eurosport then.

Try their salt beef sandwiches and a pint of Deuchars. :)

Jonny, I'm in early today.. so I should be able to escape early barring incident..

I think I was very lucky not getting severely hurt from today's crash. Now I hope that you can focus on the race and I wish you all good luck with the hard stage tomorrow

A message Jens sent to the team from his hospital bed. He's a fucking ledge.

Another great stage in a great tour. Good to see Wiggo following Contador's wheel like a shadow. My heart was in my mouth when Lance rode across the gap like he couldn't see anyone else, even Sastre couldn't hold on to him. I thought that Wiggo or Contador might attack again just as Lance got up to them, but was pleased to see they let him join.

Just like the old days, Matt!

Yeah except Wiggo didn't spend last winter on the piss!

yeah, eurosport could at least cover andyp climbing ventoux today - what's wrong with them

Such graphic depictions of human suffering are not suitable for viewing before the watershed.

i must say I alomost start to like armstrong, rides across the gap and casually admits in the interview that he dosent have the explosive power like 'these young kids'

How did it go Andy? Glad you are back in one piece and alive.

Such graphic depictions of human suffering are not suitable for viewing before the watershed.

Pics or it didn't happen.

Yo andyp! I take it swine flu was not the perfect setup for Ventoux? I saw Alain Prost came 250th or something.

Try their salt beef sandwiches and a pint of Deuchars. :)

Jonny, I'm in early today.. so I should be able to escape early barring incident..

nice one hippy, you know where i will be. i remember my phone reception is crap in there but will be upstairs in the executive box (well, that's what they call it - just slightly less crap than downstairs). 2 onwards.

the stage today is gonna be fuckin A grade stuff

I did it in 7 hours and 11 minutes. It was a beautiful ride, through some amazing countryside on a gorgeous sunny day. I sat in the wheels as much as possible and took it steady on the early climbs so not to leave the tank empty for Ventoux. The Col d'Ey is beautiful, with lavender fields and vineyards all the way up. After that the route skirts around the back of the Ventoux towards Sault so the looming presence of the mast on top was there, reminding you of what was to come.

I arrived in Bedoin at around midday, so 4:45 in and hit the Ventoux confident that I'd get up it. I was going fine until I hit the forest then the heat started to take it's toll, my left foot was sore as hell from 'hot foot' and I thought I was going to vomit. Took it steady with a couple of stops to apply more water to my head and neck and was delighted when I got to Chalet Reynard as I knew then I'd make it. Had a Zipvit gel there which must've done the trick as I got a second wind and rode to the finish without distress. My split for the Ventoux was 2:17, which I guess isn't too bad given I'd done 150 kms before I got to it and had been ill the week before.

chapeau!
glad to hear you aren't dead.

+1

Well played, Andy.

Top grimpeur there andy.

So what is everyone predicting today.

I'm going with a KOM battle over the first two climbs with the pack closing in by the second sprint. Schlecks and Nibali to make their move on Romme with Astana and Wiggins to respond on Colombiere. Armstrong to drop off on the last climb and probably Wiggins as well a bit later. He might pull some back on the descent but Contador will probably extend his lead. Andy Schleck to switch places with Armstrong in the GC.

I'd love to see Wiggins remain a contender for the win in Paris but barring major incident for Contador, I think he's going to seal the deal today and put himself out of reach of the rest of the competition.