Tour de France 2009

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.

Who was it in Sigma? Will have to have a word. ;-)

You can see why people are suspicious though. A rider who's never done well in a three week race before, nor has ever demonstrated any ability to climb with the best in the high mountains, is suddenly challenging for the podium in the Tour. If he wasn't British I'd bet we'd all have been on here doubting his credibility.

it seems wiggins isn't unaware of the attention his new found success will get him. from the beeb...

*In an attempt to snuff out any doping-related suspicion over his fourth-place finish, Wiggins has asked the UCI to make public the blood values taken for the 'biological passport' introduced by the sport's governing body. *
*"I came from nowhere and everyone knows where the sport's been with doping," said Wiggins. "I have nothing to hide and I want this transparency." *

Who was it in Sigma? Will have to have a word. ;-)

james/jimmy, the bloke who used to work in condor

I understand Wiggins is to publish his blood passport records for the past two years in the next few days.

Quite what this means I have no idea.

His blood test results.. hematocrit/red cell count values so you can see he's at the same level as he was and hasn't suddenly spiked (which would indicate possible EPO/blood doping).

I think the fact that he's prepared to do this shows his willingness to be transparent. Those teams that are prepared to acknowledge that cycling has a doping problem and take steps towards transparency should be welcomed. Those who claim transparency in a fanfare of publicity then go completely quiet on it should not.

FWIW, I'd be astonished if Wiggins is doping given his very public stance on it. If you ask him a question about it you'll get a honest and thoughtful answer. Compare and contrast that attitude with Contador.

wiggins is a world class pursuit/TT champion who focused on the tour this year, lost some weight and changed the way he trained to help his performance on the road. it paid off.
he didn't exactly come out of nowhere and his performances were consistent. he wasn't doing a vino, breathing out his arse one day and winning a stage the next.

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

I blurted this out during a meeting once at work. It was a completely involuntary reaction to the "no I in 'Team'" bullshit.

Presumably Wiggero has published his VO2max to satisfy the likes of Mr LeMond?

I blurted this out during a meeting once at work. It was a completely involuntary reaction to the "no I in 'Team'" bullshit.

Ah, but there is an 'i' in meeting, so you were quite within your rights.

Cav's crushing superiority in the last stage must have a lot to do with the fact that his team didn't really have a GC contender, so the whole team was there for Cav. I've got to say his lead-out men were fantastic, really pushing themselves to their limits to get their man into a winning position.

I still think his disqualification was wrong. And if Thor let his riding do the talking after Mark's petulant outburst, on the last stage Cav let his riding shut Thor's the fuck up. I realise I've stretched that analogy to breaking point there, by the way.

Wiggo for me was the man of the tour. I cannot imagine just how deep he had to dig to stay in contention in the last 3 stages before the Champs-Élysées. His performance in the mountains was astonishing.

I think his and Cav's performance has a lot to do with the ruthless and scientific training regime that their track success was built on.

wiggins is a world class pursuit/TT champion who focused on the tour this year, lost some weight and changed the way he trained to help his performance on the road. it paid off.
he didn't exactly come out of nowhere and his performances were consistent. he wasn't doing a vino, breathing out his arse one day and winning a stage the next.

exactly what i said to the Sigma naysayers. the clear dedication he showed to achieving the double olympic gold has just been re-routed to becoming a road champion.

if Thor let his riding do the talking after Mark's petulant outburst, on the last stage Cav let his riding shut Thor's the fuck up.
Did Thor not do this on Stage 17 breakaway? Cav admitted to shouting his mouth off and apologised to Thor but the boy needs to be a bit more mature when a camera is stuck in his face. Thor has remained dignified throughout and I wonder if Cav would have been so conciliatory if he'd not won on the Champs Eleysees?

I wonder what would Eddy Merckx write if he have a Twitter account?

Something like this?

Rode my bike. Did a race. Won. Again. Had a beer afterwards.

Would he tweet in Flemish or French though?

^ I think Wiganwill has a link..

I wonder if Cav would have been so conciliatory if he'd not won on the Champs Eleysees?

Cav appolgised a couple of days before the final stage

Something like this?

No, more like:

Rode a race. Killed and ate all my opponents. Win by default.

Cav appolgised a couple of days before the final stage
Wasn't quite so magnanimous then, though? Moot point tho - Cav was a bit of a dick, he knew it and apologised. I still think he's ace, just that Thor's a bit more mature.

I wonder what would Eddy Merckx write if he have a Twitter account?

"In future people will always say I was the best who ever lived because they don't take in to account how much cycling changes and how invalid the comparisons from one era to another are"

Something like that, maybe?

Doubtful Will, tweets are limited to 140 characters. ;p

regardless of how incomparable eras are, winning the GC, Points and KoM jerseys all in your first ever TdF is absolutely amazing

He'd have won the young rider's jersey too if it had been available.

My favorite mo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkgU0CMoNt4

^^that's pretty sweet actually. i didn't know that happened