Tour de France 2009

really beautiful moment in the tour.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/?id=cal09

Cheers Hovis, very useful. I also found the UCI website which is very well laid out for those who don't actually know what's going on! And it has the world tour calendar in plain simple English.

Wiggins aside, Haussler would have been my pick.

I think Lance is keen to proove even if he isn't as good a cyclist as Contador he's definatly more media savvy.

I didn think that this was an interesting quote: "I think this year's performance would have beaten my performances in 2001, 2004 and 2005"

He's obviously given up pies, to become a climber.

No, he's just modified himself.

BIG PICTURES TOUR COVERAGE

The Tour passing through fields of sunflowers is such a cliché, but this is a really nice edition of that cliché.

Roadie Trix, Yeah Fumy!

And all without foot retention. ;)

From Wiggins' twitter:

[QUOTE]Shed a tear today for Tom, I had a little extra strength today from somewhere. Had a photo of the man on my toptube
[/quote]

Sounds as if Wiggo is on the mythical stuff.

And all without foot retention. ;)

I've don't recall see a trials rider use any sort of foot retention. Gotta bail easy innit?
Back hops on those wheels.. sponsored git bag!

Haussler and Wiggo's performance were tops for me.. although I do have a soft spot for sprinting too so let's just throw Cav's work in to.

voeckler, haussler, sorensen and astarloza. just for the emotion each of them showed as they crossed the line.

cav on the last sprint. way out in front

The shot from above on that last sprint was ridiculous, so much space he could have been finishing a TT.

Doper or not (not proven but I have no doubt he was). I'm glad Chicken is back. He was pretty good to watch.

Man of the tour? How can you pick Haussler for one stage? It was great but he was pretty quiet for the rest of the tour.

I'm going to pick a name purely because its not been mentioned yet (although all are deserving):
Mark Renshaw
Not man of the tour per say (too hard to pick) but easily an honourable mention.

Well, there were definitely a few bright spots in this Tour. I enjoyed some of the early stages' nice escapes, and the Haussler win, too. The polka dot jersey battle was OK, too. But what made me get incredibly bored with this Tour were the following:

1. The GC. The dopers are back with a vengeance. Most predictable Tour since, uh, 2005. I didn't have time to watch any of the Ventoux stage, but other than that, I found the mountain stages so boring. All of them. The next Tour is going to be closer again as more people start to dope again. Don't get me wrong, I actually think that doping is a logical consequence of elite sport, and I don't get too agitated about it, but it just makes a race like this so boring.
   
2. The green jersey battle. A two-horse race. Why wasn't there anyone who got anywhere close to Hushovd and Cavendish? What's happened to Ciolek's form? It was a shame that Boonen couldn't find any form. His personal problems must be getting the better of him right now.
   
3. The sprint stages (except the one with the Cat 2 hill near the end, I found that interesting). Why is Cavendish more crushingly dominant than any sprinter I can recall? Is it just that there isn't the talent pool, that his rivals haven't worked out any strategy of countering him, that Columbia's lead-out is too good, or what? I don't mind Cavendish winning, and winning a lot, but isn't it a shame that the stages aren't more closely contested? I think it takes away from his wins a bit.
   
4. What happened to the last stage finish? Was it in the same place as in other years? I seem to recall a much longer run-up to the line after the corner?
   
   

Last year's Tour was my favourite in ages, despite the doping scandals. Much better than a seemingly squeaky-clean Tour. Perhaps more will come out and just hasn't yet. I'm not desperate for a doping scandal, don't get me wrong, but it is just odd.

No, he's just modified himself.

The Tour passing through fields of sunflowers is such a cliché, but this is a really nice edition of that cliché.

And all without foot retention. ;)

Sounds as if Wiggo is on the mythical stuff.

Well, there were definitely a few bright spots in this Tour. I enjoyed some of the early stages' nice escapes, and the Haussler win, too. The polka dot jersey battle was OK, too. But what made me get incredibly bored with this Tour were the following:

1. The GC. The dopers are back with a vengeance. Most predictable Tour since, uh, 2005. I didn't have time to watch any of the Ventoux stage, but other than that, I found the mountain stages so boring. All of them. The next Tour is going to be closer again as more people start to dope again. Don't get me wrong, I actually think that doping is a logical consequence of elite sport, and I don't get too agitated about it, but it just makes a race like this so boring.
   
2. The green jersey battle. A two-horse race. Why wasn't there anyone who got anywhere close to Hushovd and Cavendish? What's happened to Ciolek's form? It was a shame that Boonen couldn't find any form. His personal problems must be getting the better of him right now.
   
3. The sprint stages (except the one with the Cat 2 hill near the end, I found that interesting). Why is Cavendish more crushingly dominant than any sprinter I can recall? Is it just that there isn't the talent pool, that his rivals haven't worked out any strategy of countering him, that Columbia's lead-out is too good, or what? I don't mind Cavendish winning, and winning a lot, but isn't it a shame that the stages aren't more closely contested? I think it takes away from his wins a bit.
   
4. What happened to the last stage finish? Was it in the same place as in other years? I seem to recall a much longer run-up to the line after the corner?
   
   

Last year's Tour was my favourite in ages, despite the doping scandals. Much better than a seemingly squeaky-clean Tour. Perhaps more will come out and just hasn't yet. I'm not desperate for a doping scandal, don't get me wrong, but it is just odd.

Mr Schick, have you been off the internet for a while and suddenly decided you need to vent and get involved?!!

I've not had much forum time for about a week, and catching up on long threads does that sometimes. ;)

1. The sprint stages (except the one with the Cat 2 hill near the end, I found that interesting). Why is Cavendish more crushingly dominant than any sprinter I can recall? Is it just that there isn't the talent pool, that his rivals haven't worked out any strategy of countering him, that Columbia's lead-out is too good, or what? I don't mind Cavendish winning, and winning a lot, but isn't it a shame that the stages aren't more closely contested? I think it takes away from his wins a bit.
   
   

There was an interview with Rod Ellingworth in CW where he went into alot of detail of what they worked on with his sprint, and the main advantage he saw he had over other sprinters was his small stature and positioning on the bike when actually sprinting.

Basically in the lead out he is getting maximum protection from the train who are all physically bigger than him and when he hits the front he gets so low and aero he doesn't have to be as strong as anyone else to beat them cos he's got such a small frontal area in comparison.

hey pistolero, there is no "i" in "team".

but there's a 'U' in 'cunt'

**Man of the Tour - who was yours?
**
you got to applaud the man who won, boring as he is.

He's not boring, though! he's very attacking, explosive, and a great all-rounder. the problem is he's better than everyone else, so doesn't need to try so hard all the time.
If he's boring then so is Cav - to me it's the same problem. Yawn, Cav wins again, no one challenges him seriously...

Which is why Wiggo was my man of the Tour followed closely by Mark Renshaw.

Curiously it was Wiggo's failure to keep with the bunch last Saturday that caused me to be most impressed. Dropped, he fought on alone and kept his fourth spot. That took enourmous physical and mental strength.

Renshaw's performances speak for themselves. A true team man in a sport that is at its most glorious when teams work well.

It's usually the case with sprinters.. look at Zabel's 6 green jerseys or McEwans ability to sneak the win from all the big lads. Cav is a fast guy but does seem to have far less competition than the Zabel days when at least there was a bit of a fight for zee green.

Cadel is on twitter. You might enjoy it....

Then again, his personality comes across.

Which is why Wiggo was my man of the Tour followed closely by Mark Renshaw.

Curiously it was Wiggo's failure to keep with the bunch last Saturday that caused me to be most impressed. Dropped, he fought on alone and kept his fourth spot. That took enourmous physical and mental strength.

Renshaw's performances speak for themselves. A true team man in a sport that is at its most glorious when teams work well.

I agree, Clive.
disturbingly though, i was in sigma sport the other day talking to one of the guys that works there, and he is now convinced the Wigger is doping. I was quite upset to hear he thought this, as I firmly believe all of the Wiggerooni's anti-doping rhetoric, and will continue to do so until shown otherwise.

Then again, his personality comes across.

oh, did he find it?

I'm with Clive and nimbhus in saying that Wiggo and Renshaw are my men of the tournament