Tour de France 2009

Just watched it.. well earned win for Cav.
Suck it Thor, you might be consistent but it's consistent 2nd, bitch. :)

Lance is going to win today's stage.

i wouldn't mind pulling armstrongs name out of the sweep.

Excellent article in the Guardian today - and a good piece on doping here with comments from LeMond - essentially a 'Contador - j'accuse':

And today Greg LeMond, the Tour champion of 1986, 1989 and 1990 and a noted critic of doping, used his French newspaper column to examine the implications of the statistics of the climb in which Contador soared away from his rivals, covering 8.5km of road with an average slope of 7.5% in 20min 55sec, averaging just over 30kph up a series of steep ramps linked by hairpins.

"No one in the Tour has ever climbed as fast as that," LeMond wrote, going on to talk about the findings published recently in Libération, in which Antoine Vayer, a performance expert and former trainer with the defunct Festina team, estimated that, judging by his results, Contador must have a VO2 max figure – the measurement of a body's ability to take in and use oxygen – so high that, in LeMond's view, it would have to be superior to that of any athlete who ever lived.

If one accepted Vayer's figures,LeMond continued: "Contador must be asked to prove that he is physically capable of achieving these feats without the use of performance-enhancing substances."

The sport's recent history, he said, makes doubt obligatory and forces us to question every remarkable performance. "That's why the sceptic I've become wants to ask Alberto Contador to convince us. I'd like to know the real figure in relation to his VO2 max. If we knew that, we might be able to explain the result that has made him the fastest climber in the Tour's history." LeMond was writing before Contador's victory in yesterday's time-trial, when he passed the 18km check-point in a time a staggering 18sec below that of Wiggins, the next fastest, only to settle back and secure victory by a mere 3sec. In the subsequent press conference someone asked: "What's your VO2 max?" There was no answer.

Does anyone know at aprox what time they are going to reach Ventoux? I need to make sure i am infront of the TV in time

Thor may win the green jersey, but sadly for him he will not be remembered as the best sprinter on this tour, he knows it, Cav knows it......everbody does.

Maybe, but the green isn't just about winning stages, it's just as much about intermediate sprints, something which Cav has done nothing about. i would have loved to see Cav win, but Thor has simply been the more consistant. Cav has either been first or nowhere, and that's something he needs to work on.

Cav has either been first or nowhere, and that's something he needs to work on.

Only if he wants to win a jersey. Look at the publicity he's got for winning 5 stages, compared with what Thor gets for being in green. Cavendish is doing a better job for his sponsors than Thor.

It means the time since the point when hipsters started to pose in vintage jerseys without having been there the first time around. ;P

I'd rep you, but...

Here we go! Come on Wiggo!

Crowds are insane - wouldnt be suprised if there is an incident

I'm always surprised when there isn't an incident with crowds on the mountains.. 99% of the fans are sensible but you get that 1% of idiots :S

I've got Kreuziger in the sweeps apparently.. Come on Leaky Gas, pull your finger out!

Kloden dropped!

...for now

Must be brutal in that heat

I think it would be brutal even if it were cold.. Especially going at the pace they are!

Come on Wiggo, stick in there!

Fuck me Tony Martin - howd you get back up there

Wiggins keeps 4th. Awesome.

what a gutsy ride by wiggins.

As much as I hate to say it, Armstrong rode impressively today.

Wiggins - what a ride. Brilliant stuff.

Brave, brave ride by Wiggins and a canny one by the Astanas.

Chapeau Wiggo!

le mond gets right on my tits.

Well said dude, if he doesn't like sport then he should flame another in his stupid articles.

Didn't know whether to stick it here or in the Mont Ventoux thread.

Did anyone see Mike Bushell's report this morning on the Club De Sangley? Shows perfectly how Mont Ventoux's climate can change in an in instant. Bushell only did one climb and not the whole three, but chapeau to him.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8168542.stm

If this a repost I don't give a shit!

Well said dude, if he doesn't like sport then he should flame another in his stupid articles.

You're a fucking idiot...

Maybe just ignorant in this instance, rather than habitually idiotic. One can only speculate...