Tour de France 2010

Bill's first hand account of seeing Christophe on the Tourmalet is riveting.

Have you thought about writing a book, Bill? you have a sharp recollection for tons of tour tidbits of yesteryear.

Thanks, but I'm only regurgitating what others have written.

But you do it with aplomb in your mouth.

"And er, and er, who's in the break?"
"Christophe? Carry on, come on up, carry on, come on up"
"Have a safe journey to Paris and a terrific time when you get there"

Bill's first hand account of seeing Christophe on the Tourmalet is riveting.

If you're not careful, you'll be the one getting the riveting.

"The tor do frans is a big ras in frans and fast siklists ride thair bikes very fast in the ras and the best siklist gets a yelo gursy for riding faster than evrywon and it is hot and it goes up big mowntins in frans and i hav woched evrywon and i no a lot abowt bikes."

If you're not careful, you'll be the one getting the riveting.

reported for workplace bullying via the internet

So, hang on, Roche got into an early break and his own team tried to fuck him over by chasing him down?

No wonder he told them to piss off and carried on, proving to be far stronger than Visentini anyway.

This one?

or this one?

My Road to Victory: Amazon.co.uk: Stephen Roche, Graham Watson: Books

Note the writer of this book.
The infamous David Walsh, Armstrong's nemesis.

I've got this book, and it's not a bad read actually.
Roche was right to attack because the Carerra team were fucking him over good and proper.
If it hadn't been for Robert Millar (riding for a different team!) Roche would have been physically attacked by Italian fans on the climbs.

The 'sort-of mums that are cracking you up at the moment' is pretty funny though.

I prefer the Glossy Photos of Dads with Prams thread personally.

So, hang on, Roche got into an early break and his own team tried to fuck him over by chasing him down?

No wonder he told them to piss off and carried on, proving to be far stronger than Visentini anyway.

This one?

[URL="http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Road-Victory-Stephen-Roche/dp/0091737389"][/URL]

It's that one.

Yeah, it was bit more complicated than that; Visentini was a previous winner of the Giro, an Italian, riding on an Italian team, in an Italian race; Roche had had a disastrous '86, after having had an expensive & controversial transfer from Peugeot (note that the Peugeot logo on his shorts - part of the deal that Carrera agreed to in order to persuade Peugeot to let Roche break his contract).

Roche senior strikes me as the sort of man who doesn't really enjoy peace & quiet. He made some extraordinary remarks on Irish TV some years ago; I recall that they were on the lines that Ireland wasn't a fit place for a child. He left the country shortly after.

On the other hand, the 1987 Tour pretty much inspired me to give cycle sport a go.

Meanwhile, the stage is underway today and it's been blown apart on the Aspin (nominally the easiest of today's four climbs). Sastre, Armstrong, Wiggins and others are 20 seconds up on the yellow jersey group, but that's down to 10 riders and Samuel Sanchez is out the back of that, about 20 seconds down and looking ragged.

Vino, Casar, and Ryder are in the lead group as well. And Charteau, who's the goose who laid the golden egg of fantasy hill climbers.

http://twitter.com/raceticker

Has the green jersey started today?

Yes, he has, I see. Chances of him making it to Paris?

I was asking Bill this question on the weekend - has he ever finished the tour? I'd UTFS but his wiki doesn't really have those details.

I thought not but Liggins said he finished his first tour. Anyway I was referring to his being under investigation for drugs; something he knew of before the race started but which has just come to light. Do try and keep up.

Sorry :(

(geez, when did that new break? I was just reading about his "asthma" problems but didn't see anything about drugs now...)

I don't think Petacchi has finished the Tour before, but he's finished the Giro and the Vuelta so there's no doubt he's capable of it. I'd not write him off just yet.

This is what Will's referring to;

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/petacchi-under-investigation-in-italy

PFCs eh? Dodgy stuff, they nearly cost Mauro Giannetti his life back in the 1990s.

The lead group has been caught (with the exception of Casar), but Armstrong is on a solo break.

Extra big protion of "rice cakes" this morning then?

He's going off the front on the Eddy Mercx tribute stage. O rly?