Tour de France 2013

I read lynchman and placed him on ignore as I believe he is nothing more than a lonely troll, he may be a knowledgeable cyclist* but really has any one ever seen him?

Agreed. Sky are the drugfree Duran Duran of cycling.

Sky are the drugfree Uran Uran of cycling.

ftfy

Lolz armchair fans are the best. This is like the football thread but with precious little input from cliveo

Apparently Froome is saying he has not heard from Wiggins since the Tour began. Why would he? Porte has shown what a team rider ought to do for his team leader, something that Froome and his ghastly woman appeared to have forgotten last year.

I must say that Froome winning leaves me a little flat but I am glad Contador came out of the podium. Also delighted by Quintana's performance.

Enjoyed Movistar. Loved Europcar, Voight, Thomas a quite a few other things.

Looking back on Tour de France in 20 years time, if not sooner, unfortunately US Postal/Discovery, including Lance Armstrong, will go down in history as the ones who killed some formidable qualities such as instinct, guts, bravery and spontaneity let alone passion, heart and soul, just to mention a few forgotten elements of the sport that can't be computer calculated and listed on spreadsheets - basically everything I love and treasure about professional cycling having followed it and been part of the sport one way or another for nearly 40 years. By then undoubtedly pro teams will simply compare Watt diagrams and do a round of honours in Paris and the race will be over and done with.

Don't get me wrong; fabulous performance by Lance and US Postal/Discovery - you can't take that away from them - but today the Tour de France and pro cycling died a little bit, and this is just the beginning. Good day for Lance and US Postal/Discovery, not so good for cycling and Tour de France.

ftfy.

Do you even?

No idea why you bothered but chapeau, Ed! Haha

"My word Lynchman, you really do come out with some utter rubbish. I guess given the amount you post it's just a lack of quality control, but do you really believe what you've just written? That Sky in 2012 and 2013 effectively killed passion in the sport and reduced it to nothing but the result of a spreadsheet?"

Wouldn't argue that Sky killed every bit of passion remaining in the sport... But yes, I firmly believe this is beginning of the end. Needless to say (most) other teams have gone, and are continuing going down the same route, but being so successful at it, in effect Team Sky does stand out.

More often than not strategy and tactics are now, and increasingly so, called by SDs and SDs only, not the riders, based on biometrics and live Garmin readings during the race. Call it lack of quality control on my part, if you want, but heart in pro cycling, beyond what you can monitor that is, will soon be a thing of the past.

That's a problem caused by telecommunication, not the BC/Sky innovation of optimising all the things. You'd get a more sympathetic hearing if you called for a ban on radios.

All part of evolution and advancement in technology I suppose... However, inevitable as it may be, not all development is particularly desirable.

Has there ever been a year where somebody, somewhere, hasn't accused whoever is winning the current grand tours of "killing cycling", pls?

AFAIK people have been saying the same thing as far back as Coppi / Bartali

Possibly so. News to me though.

Coppi is probably the rider of all time I admire the most, hence I might have missed or subconsciously chosen to ignore such accusations.

personally, I blame Anquetil. only TdF winner to have worn the yellow from day 1 to the finish

tsk, that coppi, so disappointing, really killed the tour, both in 49 & 52

Maurice Garin killed it for me, after he was DQed for cheating in TdF2 I lost interest because you never know who actually won until long after the event

I think it's been a cracking tour, I enjoyed it.

Not really getting into the spirit there, Dammit

"tsk, that coppi, so disappointing, really killed the tour, both in 49 & 52"

:)

Did it with style though... did it with style!

"Not really getting into the spirit there, Dammit."

Me too as it goes, me too... I always do. Doesn't mean I can't be critical.

I agree with Lynchman.

For me the demise kicked in with Lemond made worse with Armstrong and topped off with that pair of plastic 'Brits' and their loathsome Murdoch backed team.

And for all you Carbon-head youths slagging off Contador it's mainly down to him that we've had any sort of excitement this year.

Ban fecking radios, run the sports scientists out of town,let the competitors go mano a mano and the hairiest chest wins.

Won't happen alas. 'tis big bizness just like the Champions league, Formula one and all the other shyte that passes for sporting endevour these days.

Part from that cyclist carries on with broken bones and the added bonus of being able to throw piss at them.

What did Contador do that was so exciting? 2nd on a time trial and a couple of so-called attacks that were less urgent than someone running to the toilet after a bad kebab. Movistar and Quintana actually had some effect on the race, Contador was as much of a threat as Navarro sneaking in to 9th place while wearing an invisibility cloak.

Whenever I saw Contador make any sort of move the only thing I was thinking was "he's just not got it without the drugs"

What did Contador do that was so exciting? 2nd on a time trial and a couple of so-called attacks that were less urgent than someone running to the toilet after a bad kebab. Movistar and Quintana actually had some effect on the race, Contador was as much of a threat as Navarro sneaking in to 9th place while wearing an invisibility cloak.

^this. Contador was so boring when he was winning he reminded me of Indurain. Contadorzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Whenever I saw Contador make any sort of move the only thing I was thinking was "he's just not got it without the drugs"

^that too

I'm glad that Contador got depodiumized from second, especially because he lost it to Quintana.

Anyone got a link to more pics or video of Quintana's family watching in Colombia? They had a pic of his Dad crying on the tv along with what seemed like half of an indigenous Andean village cheering him on.