2007 Tour de France
 

The Tour starts tomorrow in London, and while there are some riders I still recognize it seems many of the big names of the past won't be there. Seems like this might make for an exciting wide-open tour, if it can skirt pass the doping scandals.

Anyway - anyone more in touch with the cycling world, want to venture some opinions on who to watch?

My money is on:

First failed urine test comes out of the 5th stage.

I'm not up on this thing (I've tried but just can't work up any interest in anything other than the gruesome accidents) but if they are starting in London, how are they getting to France? Do some legs not start where the previous leg ended?

bike racing in the chunnel?

I like the idea of them having to ride in circles around the deck of a ferry while it crosses.

I'll be routing for the Discovery boys and Levi Leipheimer.

Here's a good article in the NYT summing up the favorites.

Yes, they usually start in the same town where they finish, but not all the time. Sometimes they fly or take a train between towns.

Is George riding?

Yes. Here's the Discovery roster: Levi Leipheimer, Alberto Contador, Vladimir Gusev, George Hincapie, Egoi Martinez, Benjamin Noval, Sergio Paulinho, Yaroslav Popovych and Tomas Vaitkus.

Will this guy be riding? It's often said that one needs an intimate connection with your bike to be successful.

Actually, he was just suspended for penis "Enhancement" Drugs. ;)

Here are my Picks for this years Tour.
Keep an eye on Oscar Periero and Caisse d'Epargne's Alejandro Valverde.

Valverde has for the most part been quiet this spring and maybe focusing his peak performance for the Tour De France. Look for these two in the hills.

After winning this year's Dauphine Libere' Frenchman Christophe Moreau may bring back a French renaissance to the Tour De France.

Levi Leipheimer is my American choice for this year's tour. Look for him in the last week. It's still so up in the air on who will win.
Alexandre Vinokourave and Andrea Kloden.
Georgie Hincapie will be in the top 20. I still have a rough time believing he could win the Tour. I would like to see him win a stage of the Tour.

Here are this morning's Tour preliminary results in the prologue in London.
Here
Enjoy! This site is the best for live results and action from the Tour every few minutes.

We just found OLN (now Versus) on our TV. It's the end of the program, but at least we know where to find it. I'm glad to see George doing well. He's a good guy.

Oooh! I just saw O'Grady's crash.

After a huge crash Robbie McEwen takes the stage. Apparently he came out of nowhere. Amazing!
The Prologue winner Cancellara averaged 34.5 miles per hour and almost caught the motor bikes in front of him at one point.

That was some crash yesterday. Sorry to hear that the one Discovery Channel rider broke his thumb and had to abandon the Tour. What a bummer of a way to go. It was a serious enough break that it will require surgery though. He looked like he was in a lot of pain as he was helped over the line by a teammate.

The first week is always about survival for the potential General classification leaders.
One thing about racing in Europe is that the riders are (at times) literally shoulder to shoulder, whereas here in the states there is a bit of space between them. The trust factor and a little bit of professional bike handling only goes so far 35+mph.
In case you plan to watch it here is one result from today's stage quite a shocker:

There was full coverage on last night. It went on for several hours - which is great until it gets to be 11 pm and there is still quite a bit of racing to do. I made the call to go to bed. Now it seems I missed an awful crash? Discovery lost a team member? I'm just going to have to learn to deal with lack of sleep.

Yes, that was the Discovery Channel Team rider. They have changed their colors to more of a green this year. Tomas Vaitkus is the rider who is out. He was a sprint specialist.

Or you could get up earlier. :coffee:

So, after crashing before the Tour ended last night we got smart. We're watching the 5 pm coverage and will be at the end my 8 pm. MUCH more manageable time line. However, I'm THRILLED their coverage is so complete this year. And, the countryside is especially beautiful.

That's one thing about Europe I love. Riding my bike through Holland was the best thing we ever did. It just amazes me how interconnected the bike paths are.

Hincapie almost snagged the stage today. He is on the left of the picture with his US Pro champion jersey.
Check out this photo

Yes! Too bad Popo ran off the road, or he might have had it. I'm hoping Popo will go for it again on Monday after the Galibier. Who knows?

So does anyone have any more insight into what will become of the Disco boys after this year? Have there been any developments on a replacement since Discovery is ending their sponsorship this year?

Yesterday's descent made me crazy. I've been VERY descent shy since Fabio Casertelli death.

It's nice to see George in the top 5 finishers. I really hope he does well.

There is another team sponsor who has declined further sponsorship besides DISCO. However, I don't remember who that is.

Pozzato is hot!

Italian guys dress well don't they when they are not on their bikes.;)

Boonen won today, with a messed up rear wheel and rear derailleur. He was stuck in his 53 big chain ring with an 11 tooth. Huge ass gear!!! :snap:

When the Tour is over, I'm going to have perfect the perfect pushup down pat, then I'll have a Miller Light and go buy a Harley.

I will continue to wonder how HP has inserted a computer into that model's boobs

WHOA NELLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness, what a crazy day! Rest day tomorrow, and I think there are a lot of riders who will be thankful for it.

We just woke up from a nao to watch today's stage. We turned it on in time to see Michael Rogers pulling himself off the side of the road. I'm actually glad I missed the crash (if it was even captured on film). I hate descents. They make my toes curl.

They didn't get the crash on film, just the result: Rogers getting up from off of the ground and Arroyo climbing up from out of the ravine next to the road.

And Stuart O'Grady being cardet off in an ambulance with a neck brace on. Terrible day!

Slightly off-topic, but last night we tuned in to the "Tour de France" channel while we surfed comcast looking for something interesting. They were showing a countdown of the worst bull riding accidents of this rodeo season. I wish I could say we didn't watch the whole thing...

Did everyone see the dog get hit by the T Mobile rider? Here's a slideshow of images. Craziness!

I thought the fans were bad!

Deutche Telecom is having a bad Tour. :( Now German TV is suspending coverage of the Tour because a T-Mobil rider tested positive for testosterone. The don't want to cover a tainted race.

Yes, it's too bad. Gerdemann had a great statement the other day about putting a new face on the tour and cleaning things up. Too bad his teammate seems to have tainted Gerdemann's eloquence.

I'll have to catch today's stage tonight. Looks like what might have been another ho-hum flat stage turned out to be a bit dramatic after all.

I can't wait to see what Disco does in the Pyrenees. Contador and Popo did fantastic in the Alps. Popo's smile as he came over the line was great.

Leiphiemer rode a decent time trial today. Vino stole the day with a blazing fast time trial. While Ex Pro Mountain Biker Cadel Evans from Australia moved up and almost took the Maillot Jaune' from Rasmussen.
This two should not be counted out. Cadel Evans almost won the Tour of Italy a couple of years back. So he is a GC type rider for sure.

The worst part about this Tour is another Tour Leader is under the virtual microscope for not showing up to doping controls.

Michael Rasmussen missed a few drug tests. So he is banned from the Danish cycling teams in the World Championships. He isNOT positive as of yet or at all.
I'm so tired of these guys thinking they will get away with it. It was only a matter of time. :(

Great stage though today, lots of GC changes. I can't see Rasmussen winning through the Pyrenees.

Georgie Hincapie sure put on a show though with some tough as nails domestique work on the front for his teammates. Alberto(Disco team) won today and solidified a top three placing.:)

Oooooh, Al-BER-to! :cool:

I can't wait for the next few stages!

Another great stage battle today! I could only watch the newsflashes online. I can't wait to get home and watch the coverage tonight! :)

I missed yesterday's stage except for a brief recap. I was saddened by Kloden and Vino's time losses. But, this is sure turning out to be a great and surprising race.

Since my new job I have not been on my carbon steed. I think tomorrow is likely moment. I have too. It will be nice just to be out.

AND, it's a rest day for the Tour tomorrow!

This has been a FANTASTIC Tour so far!

SAD NEWS... VINO POSITIVE
 

The whole Astana team has pulled out because of Alexandre Vinokourov's positive result after the Time trial he won. Here is the story

This is getting obscene. Cycling is getting destroyed by these morons. I wouldn't be surprised if I had raced against a few of them that have used banned substances.

OMG! But you know what? I actually had a little suspicion in the back of mind just because of the way he completely annihilated the times set by the other competitors, and also because of the way he seemed to bounce back yesterday after having blown up the day before.

Very sad news indeed.

OMG! Did he think he would not be caught? As if the sport hasn't lost enough credibility.

Aw merde.

Uh oh. I know nothing. I'm scared.

Here it goes again. Rasmussen has PULLED FROM THE TOUR!!! :mad: He lied about his whereabouts for testing. Damn these guys!! They just don't get it.

Maybe they should just let them do the Performance drugs and just go for it. :(

His team is staying in.

WHAT? He's had the yellow jersey for DAYS! So, Alberto now has it?

Under bad circumstances, unfortunately- yes he is officially the leader of the Tour and because of the Vino "Bomb" the Discovery team is in first place in the Overall G.C for time for a Team. Since Astana pulled out as well.

This is number three of bad days in the Tour. He lied about where he was training. He was training in Italy in the Dolomites and instead he was supposed to be in Mexico in June. He lied to his team and the press earlier in the year.

Rabobank (Rasmussen's former team) is staying in the race and they have not been asked to leave. Cofidis was the other team that had a rider also positive, so they pulled out today. :(

These are the days of our Yellow Jersey.

By the way, there is an investigation into a group of elite cyclists called the(get ready for this) I found this out from one of my buddies in the racing scene,
VMore down below.











V
V
v
v
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The "Men in Black,"


apparently this group is dresses in Black and trains with doctors who supply them with whatever they want just to keep them at the top of the racing scene. I know of one rider that is American that possibly could be part of this. I am looking into it. ;)

WHAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!?????????

Holy crap! I can't believe that! What a crazy Tour!

I can't stop using exclamation points!

Bah - this is getting frustrating. Spend a day watching someone pull an incredible win only to find out the real race is taking place with whoever is coming in 5th and 6th since the top performers are all on their way to being disqualified. It's killing the fun of watching the sport.

It was so strange to watch today's stage knowing that Rasmussen is out. I bet he was as surprised as we were - and I'm not too sure I'm supportive of this decision. But, maybe there is a part of it I don't understand yet.

At least I watch a sport where they take drugging seriously. (Trying to say something positive!)

I'm really in shock. I've watched the Tour religiously since 1984. It's a COMPLETELY different experience this time around.

From Lance to Landis Inside the American Doping Controversy at the Tour De France By David Walsh
Here is the latest book that is on the shelves.
Also Landis launched his book just in time for this Years tour.
Positively False
I look forward to seeing this put away and get back to racing next year. It's such a beautiful race. The American fan population is huge in the mountains now.

From Cyclingnews.com
WOOOOHOOOO!!! fINALLY A STAGE IN Modesto!! :snap: :snap: I already have that day off!!

Today's stage erased some of the bad vibes that have gone on with a gritty win from France's Sandy Casar. He unfortunately was hit by a black Laborador. The dog just walked into the path of the race. He had a nice Cherry on his right cheek. But it worked out in the end with a gutsy move on a turn.

Sandy Casar is an example of how frickin' hard this sport can be. :snap: :cheers: :cheers: A toast to this man who has been second twice previous to this for stage wins and a win for the France. :) :cool:
On a Side note, too bad Axel Merckx didn't get his TDF stage win since he is retiring. (He is the son of the great Eddy Merckx- all time champion of cycling with the most winsin history.)
You can tell I really enjoyed this!

I was on this ride the other day, boy I barely made it through..;)

Lance is at the start of the TT today to cheer on the Disco boys.

Wooo! Way to go Disco!

Lance sat in with Phil and Paul for some of the commentary today. It was great to hear him weigh in on some of the discussion. Another great year of coverage from Versus.

Woohoo, Disco wins! Nice to see the respect from Levi and Cadel.