The OFFICIAL Tour de France, thread.

[Tyrone Biggums]

I'm thinking of taking my dog down to watch it tomorrow, hope his old lead holds up.....

I took my dog along to the recent Jayco tour stage held in Geelong this year.

Won't be doing that again, was always in the back of my mind that' he'd slip his lead!

World championships being held here this year so can't wait for it to arrive.

 

[Stat Brother]

i'm a bit scared for cav now plan a has failed. i hope plan b works out.
as for today it looks like a lumpy spring classic, so i'm going to let my heart rule my head and once again go for ryder hesenjal, even though he should be working for millar.
i think todays result will be full of gc riders, i wouldn't want to be a 'big boy' and miss out today.

 

[Pantani]

i'm a bit scared for cav now plan a has failed. i hope plan b works out.

I was yesterday, today I feel he is still in with a chance. It depends on Hushovd today, Cervelo seem to be targeting this stage so Cav needs to stay with Hushovd or he could be too far behind already.

 

[Pantani]

Andy Schleck just fallen off. He's borrowed a team mates bike to catch back up. Absolute chaos out there, the peleton is in bits.

Schleck 3 minutes down at the moment, he is in big trouble.

Armstrong and Frank Schleck have also been down.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Chavenal goes for it alone 1:50 up, a French man on a Belguim team riding the king of Belguims bike.

Sounds like Wiggo, Contador and Larry all in the chasing group. Andy is well down and in trouble.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

oh la la riders protest, make for a boring finish, well done Monsoir Chavenal, into France in yellow.

 

[Pantani]

oh la la riders protest, make for a boring finish, well done Monsoir Chavenal, into France in yellow.

Tremendous ride from Chavanel. Deserves yellow and will be there for days to come. That riders protest was pathetic, they should be racing once they are all back together. When in France...

 

[Stat Brother]

I'll wait for the highlights, as I was only able to dip in and out today.

I did hear super phil say 'Chavanel will be riding into yellow', so obviously I'm really surprised to see he won .

Here's hoping nobody from the 'creditability' thread, has a look around our little chat, here!.

 

[Pantani]

I'll wait for the highlights, as I was only able to dip in and out today.

I did here super phil say 'Chavanel will be riding into yellow', so obviously I'm really surprised to see he won .

Here's hoping nobody from the 'creditability' thread, has a look around our little chat, here!.

I think I have gained reverse creditability now, if I predict something it definitely won't happen.

 

[Stat Brother]

Well that was a bit of a nothing protest.
If they're going to complain about it being a bit wet and slippy, they might as well go home now.
Not exactly in the spirit of Le Tour, men have paid the ultimate sacrifice to ride, complaining about today/yesterday is very weak.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Here come the cobbles, that will give them something to moan about, especially if it rains. I felt Cancellara thought he was above the race today, really wanted someone to have a sprint at the end.

Why would the organisors allow the green jersey points be netralised just because of a crash on a decent, that is part of bike racing.

Should be a corker tomorrow, will suit Thor over Cav as he does well in the spring classics. Geraint Thomas a youth champion of Paris Roubaix could enjoy himself as well if he does not have to guard Wiggo.

 

[Stat Brother]

Yep definitely the one I've been waiting for, and it turns out Wifey will be here too.
So if I can't come up with something to barter away, the TV all afternnon awaits.

 

[Gwylan]

Missed today's but this stage should be fantastic. Going to get up early so work can be done by midday so I don't miss out on the fun.

 

[1066familyman]

Just finished watching back the live ITV4 coverage from this afternoon that I recorded on the new humax freesat box I installed at the weekend - Tour de France being one of the main reasons for getting it. Fantastic bit of kit to enjoy all the action on this year

Anyway... today's stage. Bit of a pathetic protest lead by Fabian 'shop steward' Cancellara at the end there. Wonder if he'd had led that kind of protest had it not been the Schleck brothers that crashed, effectively forcing him to relinquish yellow today ?

Fantastic ride from Chavanel and a well deserved prize of wearing yellow for a good few days now

 

[parf]

Hope the riders are going to race tomorrow and wiggo puts them under pressure with sky team

 

[k2bluesky]

Such bullshit the protest organized by Cancellara, some guys can't descend in the wet, some can't climb, some are crap at time trials too Mr. Cancellara so maybe we'll neutralize the time trial so you lose the advantage at something you can do.
The guys who made the tour great in the past would piss themselves laughing 'cause a few guys fall off they all stop racing - just ride slower next time Mr. Cancellara if you're scared and let those who can, win. Interesting few days coming as Chavanel can climb OK too if I remember and with a 3 mins lead should hang on until the brutal stages.

 

[Pantani]

Such bullshit the protest organized by Cancellara, some guys can't descend in the wet, some can't climb, some are crap at time trials too Mr. Cancellara so maybe we'll neutralize the time trial so you lose the advantage at something you can do.
The guys who made the tour great in the past would piss themselves laughing 'cause a few guys fall off they all stop racing - just ride slower next time Mr. Cancellara if you're scared and let those who can, win. Interesting few days coming as Chavanel can climb OK too if I remember and with a 3 mins lead should hang on until the brutal stages.

Great post, the fact is the Schlecks fall off their bikes all the time. Both of them are sketchy descenders. The exact same roads are used in Liege-Baston-Liege, one of the great spring classics, with no problems. Hushovd will be the most pissed off though as he had an almost guaranteed second place, as it stood, and the green jersey firmly in his grasp already.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

On the tweets from various riders today looked like every rider had a spill at some point and ended up with grazes and bruises.

Acording to the riders tweets pretty much everyone had an encounter with the ground yesteday (Robbie saying if we think there moaning we should try coming off an f'ing bike at 60KPH) so the bruises will hurt when they get ontothe pave this afternoon.

I think most of it is the tension as they know what is coming and do not want to lose out early.

The Guardian today said Contador has never riden the pave (just a couple of times in training) it suits riders with bigger builds as your body takes a right pounding, lets hope the British lads stay upright and punture free, you could lose some serious time here if you end up at the back of the line.

 

[Pantani]

On the tweets from various riders today looked like every rider had a spill at some point and ended up with grazes and bruises.

Acording to the riders tweets pretty much everyone had an encounter with the ground yesteday (Robbie saying if we think there moaning we should try coming off an f'ing bike at 60KPH) so the bruises will hurt when they get ontothe pave this afternoon.

I think most of it is the tension as they know what is coming and do not want to lose out early.

The Guardian today said Contador has never riden the pave (just a couple of times in training) it suits riders with bigger builds as your body takes a right pounding, lets hope the British lads stay upright and punture free, you could lose some serious time here if you end up at the back of the line.

He should get a motor in his bike like Cancellara.

 

[Pantani]

Stat Brother your mate Ryder Hesjedal is 4:30 up in a break away with Cummings and four others.