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Post by muddyfox on Jul 1, 2009 19:59:15 GMT
The Tour de France starts this weekend and it can't come soon enough for me cos I love it! It looks like a really interesting route this year with not only the Tour starting in Monaco (very unusual to start in the South) but a number of glamour cities visited during the stages including Monaco (obviously), Marseille, Montpellier, Barcelona and Verbier plus Annecy (beautiful lake and close to Les Gets and with the penultimate stage not a simple flat stage but with the ultimate climb to Mont Ventoux! With the return of the team time trial as well this is gonna be a great year and we already have the weather for it too. More info here on the official tour site
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flix
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Post by flix on Jul 2, 2009 14:56:12 GMT
Looking forward to it. My Dad's going to see it on Sunday as it's passing by where he lives - jammy git!
Care to make any top 3 predictions?
Mine are
1) Contador 2) Evans 3) Schleck (A.)
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easynow
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Post by easynow on Jul 2, 2009 16:42:37 GMT
My parents usually go over to France and follow it about, hopping about to catch sections of the best stages, which in my dads opinion is mostly the mountain stages. When it went through Kent a few years ago it almost passed his house so watched it there before going over to France to catch other stages. I remember going to see it when i was little and remember hours of waiting, a long procession of advertising vehicles, a rush of motorcycles and the peleton, and saying "When are they coming back daddy, can I see them again" and being really upset that that was it... (that was just last year...)
Overall predictions. I'm going to go for the obvious choice. Its got to be Lance Armstrong. I'm bigging him up all the way. Hes the only rider in the current tour, and also the only rider since the very early days of the tour, who is not being paid to race. He is taking no wages from his team, and all the sponsorship money he generates during the tour is going to the Live Strong Foundation. And despite his history, time is against him but Id love to see him stick another one on the French who clearly dislike him. He also took the time out of a busy schedule to quietly contact someone I knew. Not many top riders would do stuff like that.
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flix
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Post by flix on Jul 3, 2009 8:53:29 GMT
I have a lot of time for Lance Armstrong too, both as a cyclist and as a man. I'm pretty sure he wasn't 100% clean at the height of his cycling powers, but I don't think any of his main rivals were, either, so he to my mind he is still the best rider of his generation. That said, I think he'll struggle to win the Tour this year - Contador in full flight would have been more of a challenge for him, even at the peak of his powers, than riders like Ullrich, Pantani or Basso were. Factoring in his age, time out from cycling etc, I reckon he can get top ten this year and maybe a stage, but will come up short of the podium. Edit: Just come across Armstrong & Pantani on Ventoux from 2000. Incredible riding, but tell me they were clean! Be interesting to see how the riders fair this year on Ventoux by way of comparison
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Post by timk on Jul 3, 2009 12:05:37 GMT
after the shambles of last year, I'm just hoping for a race where the stage winners and overall leader aren't continually expelled for failing drugs tests. Nice, usable stage profile guide hereThe couple of stages without race radios could be interesting. Also starting to regret not arranging to visit Jo's parents in Annecy for the time trial.
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easynow
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Post by easynow on Jul 3, 2009 15:04:56 GMT
Armstrong & Pantani on Ventoux from 2000. Incredible riding, but tell me they were clean! Well we know 100% Pantini wasnt clean. Im halfway through his biography at the moment. Its quite a sad book, worth a read. Definately a character... Id like to think Armstrong was clean and just an incredible and exceptional athlete. They do come along sometimes, unfortunately in this day and age when they do suspicion follows by default. The bottom line is he has been spot tested more times than any other rider in the history of the tour, sometimes in the middle of the night when they got him out of bed with his wife and then had observed blood samples and urine samples taken by an independent doctor supplied by the French authorities. In fact he was hounded so much by the French authorities doing spot checks he sold up and moved out of France. Hes had breath tests, urine tests, blood tests, hair sample tests, nail sample tests and saliva tests and never a single positive result. Not even anything slightly suspect. If he wasn't clean, (and there has to be I concede a small chance he wasn't) then he has the most efficient and effective medical cover up regime known to man.
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easynow
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Post by easynow on Jul 3, 2009 15:40:19 GMT
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 3, 2009 18:09:07 GMT
Edit: Just come across Armstrong & Pantani on Ventoux from 2000. Incredible riding, but tell me they were clean! Be interesting to see how the riders fair this year on Ventoux by way of comparison a great video but crucially misses the key point. Armstrong is ahead for the whole climb and then as they turn the final corner Pantani is ahead but you never saw him overtake. Poor camerawork We now know Pantani was not clean but as Nick says, Armstrong has been tested incessantly and not failed. Can't argue with that.
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 3, 2009 18:10:01 GMT
2002. Ullrich flats while in the lead, and Armstrong slows the peleton and waits for him to get back. no linky
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 3, 2009 18:17:15 GMT
an absolute classic, i remember i was 'working from home' that day and watched it all unfold in real-time, it's just superb
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 3, 2009 18:22:30 GMT
AAhh! yes I was err... working err... from home on that day too. A great edit to the music but Beloki's crying and screams of pain on the Eurosport version weren't nice. A broken hip i seem to recall, he was never the same after that.
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 3, 2009 18:28:30 GMT
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 3, 2009 18:29:33 GMT
Looking forward to it. My Dad's going to see it on Sunday as it's passing by where he lives - jammy git! Care to make any top 3 predictions? Mine are 1) Contador 2) Schleck (A.) 3) Evans
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easynow
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Post by easynow on Jul 3, 2009 20:13:20 GMT
2002. Ullrich flats while in the lead, and Armstrong slows the peleton and waits for him to get back. no linky Ive searched and cant find a clip of it anywhere. I just remember watching it at my dads and him jumping up and down shouting at Armstrong to get a move on.
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Ben
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Post by Ben on Jul 4, 2009 13:13:14 GMT
1) Contador 2) Schleck A 3) Menchov 4) Lance 5) Evans
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 26, 2009 20:43:39 GMT
woo-hoo! Me n Ben both forecast the one-two correctly and Ben even had Lance up there too.
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 27, 2009 11:48:29 GMT
i missed this yesterday as i'm not familiar with non british national anthems but during the final presentation Lance and Contador look mystified as apparently the Danish national anthem is played!
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 27, 2009 12:08:01 GMT
whilst some say that Frank Schleck is an (indian) god
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 27, 2009 18:28:58 GMT
British Guy did not win the tour de francean alternative take on TDF with classic lines like "The winner now has to wear a yellow jersey for a whole year, although it's not really a jersey, it's more of a zip-up lycra cardigan on backwards." and "Franco Pellizotti was crowned King of the Mountains, Britain's Bradley Wiggins was King of the Fields and Streams, and Hanuman, the Hindu demi-god, was named King of the Monkeys"
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Post by muddyfox on Jul 29, 2009 6:16:15 GMT
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Post by timk on Jul 29, 2009 12:25:04 GMT
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