Tour de France 2009

i was looking forward ot the mess LA wearing yellow would have made!

well, it's only 1/100th of a second away...

Anyone else hoping Wiggins can get into a break away and gain over 38 seconds tomorrow? Fingers crossed!

Wiggins, as he has said himself, just needs to get away clean at 4km to go, because, in theory, he's unbeatable over 4km.

he never seems to manage it though.

wouldn't be surprised if garmin and wiggo pushed on for it, with the TTT gone and the mountains coming up its probably his best chance to wear yellow.

"Sometimes it pays to be old and experienced instead of young and strong."

Before that, LA said "Shit..." on live TV.

At least today was full of crashes and shit!

hours is total time....
read fail.

Apologies, I did indeed read the mintues as hours etc...! So Mark Cavendish isn't really that far behind in terms of the whole tour. Do people think he'll get all 10 flat sprints?

No; without looking at the route I doubt there really are ten sprint stages anyway; some will have plenty of big lumps in them that will split the peloton. Later on breakaways will be given more leeway as riders tire and, if he's already got a good lead, it will be better for him if there isn't a mass sprint which would give his rivals a chance to pick up points. I think 6 stage wins would be about the maximum. I think he'd settle for 4 especially if one was in Paris.

It would be good to see him get a few more than last year and finish the tour.

Wiggins, as he has said himself, just needs to get away clean at 4km to go, because, in theory, he's unbeatable over 4km.

unbeatable over 4km, on a track, without having just done 192.5 Km on the road, yeah.

It would be good to see him get a few more than last year and finish the tour.

I reckon that's exactly what he wants to do!

and it would be awesome

unbeatable over 4km, on a track, without having just done 192.5 Km on the road, yeah.

And against a solo rider. There are several known 4 man teams who can take 15 seconds off Wiggins in 4km

Just got back, fuck me Cav is fast over the last 100m.

Pics to follow...

Great TTT today... I am kinda glad Armstrong didn't get the yellow because I like Cancellara and at the same time I kinda want Armstrong in the yellow.

That Bert Grabsch is an absolute beast .... just some bloke with massive legs just caning it ... love it.

** [B]BBC Sport's Phil Sheehan on Twitter:** [/B] "Cadel Evans, being the rider he is - a follower rather than an instigator - looks to have his chances in this Tour well and truly stuffed"
Harsh words.

Hmm.. 17 stages to go.. let's just wait and see.

well, it's only 1/100th of a second away...

0.22 seconds according to CN.

Hmm.. 17 stages to go.. let's just wait and see.

yeah you never know his team might just get behind him
:smirk:

Hmm.. 17 stages to go.. let's just wait and see.

I thought it was a bit early to pronounce time of death for Cadel. After all he still has to make his comeback after some high pitched girly whining.

Next two stages to be handed to Cav on a plate or will High Road try to push Martin up the CG a bit ahead of the first bit of climbing?

Today's stage is likely to be affected by strong crosswinds. It could be carnage out there.

Why does LA get a different bike and helmet to the rest of his team? Apart from national and world TT champions and the TdF jerseys, all other teams are identical in jerseys and bikes.

He doesn't take a salary or bonuses from Astana, and in return they let him wear his Livestrong garb.

Can anyone please tell me why doesn't someone just ride away from the rest of the riders at the beginning of the day to win. It makes much more sense.

Thanks.

It makes no sense at all.

Riders working in a group will always be able to acheive a higher pace than a solo rider. Because they draft and take turns at the front although the overall speed and front output is higher, they individual efforts are lower. Learn to draft and try it out if you don't believe me.

Breakaways are usually in the interest of getting things like climbing points and sprint points for those who are not in contention for the general classification (GC) win. They usually get neutralised towards the end of the day so that the GC riders don't have to do as much work and save themselves for later on in the race (week 3) when timing becomes very important.

I think Sam was joking.

It would be good to see cav get a few more wins than last year and finish the tour.

I think columbia have pretty much shown there comittmnent to cav what with putting in that massive effort the day before the TTT and not dropping him in the TTT to try and push for some time in the GC. I reckon they're gunna put alot of work into gettin him stage wins and towing him over the mountains for for the green in paris.