Tour de France 2009

Unsportmanlike? Everyone I've heard on it has said what Cav did was unsportsmanlike. I'm not an expert, but if professional cyclists, ex-professional cyclists, and cycling journalists think Cav was in the wrong (albeit, penalized more than he should have been), why do you blame Hushovd?

Cav was the one who has been gloating and moaning the entire tour (although Thor's green jersey celebrations are a bit over the top, but it seems more like a response to Cav then a gloat - that's the way I'm reading them for now, anyway).

An arrogant response isn't justified in my eyes.. They both just need to STFU and let their riding do the talking.

To be fair, Cav has always been a gobby git. It is something that cycling clubs on the IoM seem to enforce in their members.

still hoping contador will come a cropper sometime, sour grapes or what.. i dislike him intensely.. more smug than that ladyboy C Rinaldo IMHO.. maybe he'll get busted soon..

While I have no great confidence in his doping status, Contador's saving grace is that he's more or less the most elegant out-of-the-saddle climber imaginable. Even compared to the other specialists, he's just so fluid and unforced as to be a pleasure to watch.

good stage today. bertie bores the shit out of me but fair play to him for realising that the stage win had to go to the equally boring frank schleck. who did show some big cajones out there bringing up younger bruv to the finale.

sad to see menchov like that. sastre too. to a certain extent kloden too, when he could'nt stick with the other three.

has anyone got anything left to challenge contador with?

I have a sneaky feeling that Lance is going to suprise us all and try to drop the hammer on Ventoux - no way he is going down without a fight

vv. i would like to see that dude.

So would i - i am no big fan of his, but i get the feeling he has been riding thinking if he can just stay in touch till then, it gives him a chance to go for it - although he's been dropped a couple of times by the young uns, he has put in some decent kicks too, and looks to me that he has been trying to conserve his energy.

Would love to see him claw back some time tomorrow, then it'll all be teed up for an epic finale

what has happened to menchov, he was a powerhouse in the giro, is he just knackered from that?

i cant wait for ventoux, but i have to admit im not looking forward to the end of the tour. catching up on the days racing has become part of my routine. with ventoux being near the end everyones gonna raise hell and give it everything.

alex, i share some of the same thoughts/hopes/suspicions.

but like melon, i guess i just don't want it to be over yet. or ever

To be fair, Cav has always been a gobby git. It is something that cycling clubs on the IoM seem to enforce in their members.

As if...
;-/

Sprinting these days is shit. Cav has no competition so Thor goes out on a break.. I mean wtf.

Bring back Zabel, McEwan, the old Thor, the old Boonen, Freire, McGee.. the old guard that could actually "fight it out".

Not so chatty now Wiggos disappeared down the GC are you Seldom? Even though I was rooting for Wiggo.. suck it :P

cough
Cadel?

Yeah.. that was in reference to Seldom's post sinking the boot in to the Aussies because of Cadel's shit Tour. At least Cadel has finished on the podium twice.

Epic stage!

It's not Thor who should be proud of the green jersey, It's the green jersey that should be proud sitting on a rider that rides the way Thor does (the green jersey is all about collecting points on many different milestones, not just stage-finish sprints).

The Schleck adventure were announced prior to the race and they made the 'miracle' actually happen.
One of the more spectacular TDF performances ever! IMHO

Nice damage control by the Garmin team (and Nibali), but unfortunately they dragged Armstrong along (Armstrong who stays behind until he is certain to make it to the top of the climbs before opening up, I guess).

has anyone got anything left to challenge contador with?
Except from the Schlecks/Riis (ohh sorry, and Sastre) nobody dare to gamble a nice raking to challenge him. Taking the wheel of the yellow jersey and see were it leads to, is simply to lame IMHO.
The Schlecks won't settle for second, so expect more racing on Saturday ;-)

Live Text coverage of the TT here

paternity leave ftw!

Get back to the nappies!

Hope you're using modern reusable cloth ones, and at least saving bio-degradables for when solids start.

EcoTFU :p

My preferred text coverage supplier..
http://live.cyclingnews.com/

can't find the video feed today,I forgot to save the last one i used.

wasn't there a load of links at the start of this thread? where have they gone?

www.cyclingfans.com - TV coverage doesn't normally start until 2:30 CET though.

www.cyclingfans.com - TV coverage doesn't normally start until 2:30 zulu though.

fixed

been using steephill.tv they seem to have the ligget on there so no need to use a russian/norwegian/spanish feed and the eurosport audio

yeah, I am a bit early!

i think we are all feeling keen

They are racing already though. That said, watching time trials is not much of a spectator sport.

[QUOTE=Jim/;831097]I don't know a great deal but aren't the Schlecks rubbish in the TTs?
They're not the best. But a TT in the third week is a hard one to gauge, as any natural advantage a good time triallist may have is negated somewhat by all the climbing they've done. I'd expect that the time gaps tomorrow will be less than many expect.[/QUOTE]Some interesting weather though!

The Schlecks did some special TT-training with Bobby Julich and especially Andy should have gained from this.

chapeau F Schleck, and you were voted the worst descender in the peloton, too..
;-)