Le Tour Topic

[T-Bone]

Thought i'd make a topic for all the comments on the Tour. Feel free to add anything, as long as it's related to the tour in some way, no matter how minor the connection is....

To start it off. Who else has spotted the new Campy and Dura-Ace? Voekler is riding with the new 11-Speed Record, so there's been a good chance to take a look at the shifters (not so much the other stuff, since the camera's been on the wrong side).

Valverde hasn't improved his fluro paint job after getting the yellow jersey, which is a shame, as normal yellow would probably look alright.

I'll wait until stage 3 before i start trying to guess the stage winners.

[weiyun]

Saw the new Campy 11 speed shifter...

[Toff]

I was looking at the Campy lever in larger than life on Geoff's big screen, and noticing a mixture of old and new bike parts.

I'm pretty sure I saw some new Dura Ace levers too, but the camera wouldn't stay on them long enough to confirm what I was looking at. They look very similar to Campy 11 speed when the camera is panning past.

Many teams were still using the old version with external cables though.

[T-Bone]

I've seen some of the new Dura-Ace in there too. According to cyclingnews Hushovd is using the new Dura-Ace, but i was too busy watching the sprint to take a good look.

Hopefully tonights stage will have a nice traditional bunch sprint, though the uphill finishes do make things a bit different for a change.

[weiyun]

I am waiting for the stage 4 TT. I understand that C Evans will be riding the new Ridley TT bike.

http://www.thefastestbikeintheworld.com/

[mikesbytes]

So its clear why I'm not in TDF, cos I don't have 09 Dura-ace or Campy 11 speed or the latest frame

[weiyun]

So its clear why I'm not in TDF, cos I don't have 09 Dura-ace or Campy 11 speed or the latest frame

And no amount of help from NightGodess could help you there either.

[timyone]

ok is this where i come to talk to people whhile i sit up watching the tour? its nearly on
I still havent had a shower after training :S

[mikesbytes]

NightGoddess has special powers

Go for your shower while Tour de Food is on

[timyone]

far out check out the home made butter! This food bit is pretty amazing!

[mikesbytes]

Can you BBQ it?

The shoe repair was interesting

[timyone]

far out hey!! one of the schlecks!!
what was he doing to his foot?

[T-Bone]

He was adjusting the float on his cleat (Advatage of speedplays). I don't think i'd want it done to my foot while riding though.

[timyone]

ok im back at the laptop for the last 10 km of the race!
What suspence!!

[timyone]

lol oops that didnt send
What a finish
Go robby!

[mikesbytes]

Live timing is on now, no need to wait for SBS

http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html

[weiyun]

19 deg C... Nice for TT!

[mikesbytes]

SBS telecast doesn't finish until 2.30am

[timyone]

man some of these disc wheels look amazing when they spin!!!

[timyone]

simon has the same back wheel as the one robbie mcewen used in the time trial?!! far out?!!

[timyone]

yenz void has had the lead for a while
I love that guy

[T-Bone]

Good to see Cancellara has his number 13 turned upside down, should provide him some good luck, unlike stage 2 where he had a small crash.

[timyone]

hey what sort of disc is the black and red one james?

[T-Bone]

At a guess without knowing what you're looking at, i'd say Fulcrum, though it could just be a custom painted disc. Who was using it?
http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/c ... 55fcch.jpg

Good ride by Schumacher!!!

[timyone]

lol maybe the number 13 helped

[Simon Llewellyn]

Those giants are interesting time trial bikes. They almost look like they have a look fork/head tube set up, only much uglier & cervelo styled rear. Maybe they grow on you the more you see them?

[mikesbytes]

Some of the frames are so small that the seat tube is longer than on my compact OCR.

[Toff]

Stage 17!


Wow!
Col du Galibier, then Col de la Croix de Fer, then Alpe D'Huez!
I mean Wow! - That would usually be threee separate days in any other tour!

This stage will just blow them all apart...

[timyone]

man yet again i stayed up for the end last night and man it was worth it!! that was a mad sprint I dont actually know all the riders or any thing but it was still heaps good.
they totally didnt catch that bteak away till 300 metres away!!

[FAswad]

I recorded bloody ABC by mistake. DAMN.

[timyone]

hey check this out if your interested in hearing some guy from cadel's team, talk about him and his stuff, while theres pics of them all
its off smh.com.au

http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2008/ ... index.html

[mikesbytes]

I recorded bloody ABC by mistake. DAMN.

A catchy phrase will help you remember "Soccer Before Sex"

[T-Bone]

they totally didnt catch that bteak away till 300 metres away!!

More like 20m from the finish to pass Vogondy.

I've recorded every stage so far if anyone wants to watch (the highlights are probably good enough so far). I've also stayed up and watched each stage, even when i've planned to get some sleep so i can train the next day, so the training isn't working out too well yet.

[timyone]

ok here we go again
man we need cars on the track for me to use to catch up to the other bikes

[timyone]

cavendish the fasted sprinter on the road hey...
I reckon every ones fave ozzy sprinter is ripped off with out any one helping him

[Toff]

I fell asleep last night and missed the finish! - I also missed the 7.15 highlights, and tried to stay away from news all day so I could see the finish on the 6pm highlights.

Wasn't able to post results in the tipping comp until very late as a result of not wanting to know who won yesterday's stage without seeing it.

[timyone]

ok i went to bed last night, because i dont want to be too tired before tonights riding, and nw cant find an article that just says what happened last night, ive found the results of who is who, but does any one have a link to an article on last nights round?

[christian]

If you go to the sbs website you can watch the highlights. Thats what I do, I'm not good late at night, I can't seem to make it past about 11.30.

[Stuart]

ok i went to bed last night, because i dont want to be too tired before tonights riding, and nw cant find an article that just says what happened last night, ive found the results of who is who, but does any one have a link to an article on last nights round?

SBS Site >> See SBS Tour Site

and the official website in English Le Tour de France

Loved Cadel's work on the Gendarmerie - in the best tradition of a motorcycle rider attacking a car wing mirror!

[mikesbytes]

Watched it all the way thru, first time I haven't fallen asleep

[Huw]

I have been watching as much as possible. What usually happens is that I start to nod off, eyes really droopy at about 50 km to go. Then, by about 20 to go, I'm wide awake, lapping up every move.

I just wanted to get something off my chest. Probably the fact that it's been annoying me says something about how unreasonably anal I can be, but let's see.

It's SBS's warm-up commentator - the Aussie dude who gets in the chair before Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin take over. You know, the guy right at the start of the night. I can't stand his mispronunciation of riders' names and common cycling parlance (usually French or Italian words). I'm talking the way he calls Alejandro "Alexandro", domestiques "domesticks", Heinrich Haussler "Hennrick Hessler" and other clangers, all with a grating Aussie twang. For me, a massive deal about watching the Tour is the great enjoyment that it is happening IN FRANCE. This means dudes with French, German and Italian names, and interesting, exotic expressions like flamme rouge, and gruppetto. Having them translated for me into some simplified Aussiese is something I could live without.

[lindsay]

A burning question...

About 10 years ago I gave up trying to spot any steel frames in the tour... Is it now time to give up trying to spot any alloy frames? Is every single bike 100% carbon?

[mikesbytes]

A burning question...

About 10 years ago I gave up trying to spot any steel frames in the tour... Is it now time to give up trying to spot any alloy frames? Is every single bike 100% carbon?

Full carbon or carbon wrapped alloy?

[lindsay]

carbon wrapped alloy

I don't think there's much of this around it there?

[Toff]

Wait until the really big climbs. Riders will occasionally switch bikes at the top of the big hills, so they descend on a different bike. That's about your only chance to see some non carbon.

[T-Bone]

I don't think there's much of this around it there?

Only in handlebars and stems. From my knowledge, there's no one riding on aluminium. Liquigas could have riders using the systemsix which is alloy rear end, though they'll most likely be on the all carbon supersix. The Mavic neutral service bikes are cannondales and from looking at a picture (http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/to ... avic_force) they coul be aluminium.

I don't think many riders change bikes at the top of climbs these days, there's just no time to do it.

[T-Bone]

Well, it's done, Cadel has the Yellow!!

Great stage to watch. CSC really made it interesting with all the work by Voigt and then Cancellara between the climbs. Valverde cracked, and Cunego just doesn't seem to have the right stuff yet.

It can only get better from here. Next Tuesday and Wednesday should be especially good.

[timyone]

man i stayed up in suspence for that one!
Didnt actually see him put the jersy on, because i got sick of the comentators, and wanted to go to sleep, but yeah what a race last night!!

Go yenz doidt!!! Hes my fave rider by a mile!!! (well out of people that arent sprinters)
Nice work team csc!

[mikesbytes]

I've successfully fallen asleep with 5k to go 2 nights in a row.

[timyone]

this one was a long last 5 km though

[lindsay]

Here's some great photos...

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/0 ... rance.html

[timyone]

nice pics lindsey! how nice is the first one!! of the disc wheel!! im stuck between that one, one of the sunflower pics, and the one of their legs wet for my new back ground

[lindsay]

I like the devil

[Toff]

The devil's bike is steel, not aluminium or carbon fibre. It is also 2 stories tall!

[Stuart]

Check this out - Google Maps Street View has lots of the stages availabel to watch as if you're driving the stage - awesome!

http://www.google.com/tourdefrance2008

Google has selected the route of the 2008 Tour de France to present the premier images of the new service "StreetView" of Google Maps in Europe. Now internet users can visualize at 360 degrees the roads of the principal stages of the Tour de France. Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France, reacted positively immediately after seeing the new component of Google Maps. "It is a new way for followers of the Tour to put themselves in the environment of the race; to locate the mountains and roads which will decide the champions, to find exactly the perfect place on the road where it will be ideal to wait to watch the peloton pass... I am certain that the spectators and television viewers will fully exploit this surprising new tool. I am delighted that, just like the Tour does, it will expose the regions of France."

[Toff]

Someimtes I want to be there. Not only for the bike racing but for the whole spectacle!

[Toff]

Article on Cadel's TT Bike.

http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2008/07 ... -dean.html

[Huw]

I love David Millar's wheels!

[timyone]

what sort of disc is evans's? is it a reverse gibley pattern?

[timyone]

[Huw]

[Trouty]

I'm so sad for Cadel - his team SUCKS and Sastre is on drugs

[Simon Llewellyn]

Sastre is on drugs

Why because he won? Sastre's one of the most consistent performers in the sport. If one's on drugs then I would say they all must be? They all rode fairly similar times....

I think Evans was beaten by CSC not by Sastre & he'll be back, hopefully with a couple of decent climbers on his team...

[timyone]

i was sort of thinking that it will kind of suck for scs if they dont win after the astronomical effort by the whole team

[jimmy]

I think that this Tour has shown that a strong team is critical to get a rider over the line.

CSC played the game very tactically, and as a result they managed to get their captain over the line. On paper Cadel stood a reasonable chance of taking back enough time in last nights timetrial, but on paper and in reality are two different things.

James

[T-Bone]

CSC raced a very smart race. When they moved Schleck up on GC, other teams would have been watching him, while Sastre was very quiet, obviously saving himself. It was always going to be tough for Cadel to make up the time, though i did expect him to pull back a bit more, but winning the race required a time trial win from him, and i think he was a bit worn out. Hopefully he'll return next year with a team that can provide the support, because on that side of things, CSC generally had 2 more riders than any other team on the final climb of the mountain stages.

Don't forget 2nd place is still pretty good, though in years to come, the race is going to get even tougher to win.

[mikesbytes]

Perhaps Cadel's legs were more burnt before the TT due to less team support during the tour.

[Simon Llewellyn]

Gees that was an awesome lead out train by quickstep. It looked like they were going to be one man short but it was timed to absolute perfection! Just think if the tornado had of been there!!

[Stuart]

Well I was pissed off that Cadel didn't win, but that's purely an Aussie reaction really and also linked to all the emotional effort I've put in to following him. The best TEAM won, no doubt about it. Sastre only had to put in the effort in 2 stages really, unlike Cadel whose team really weren't up to it - especially Popovych who was a disappointment for mine - especially after Cadel actually requested him for the team. Cadel has 1 more year to run on his contract so he's back with S-L next year but frankly I can't see him winning it. Not unless S-L get lots more money and better riders to support him.

But other teams also failed to produce so .....

"Evans has been loyal in praise for his team throughout the race despite its obvious weakness. But he still could not hide his frustration at not having the climbers to help him in the mountains. However, he conceded he was not the only overall contender left without back-up against the greater numbers of CSC.

"That was, in theory, our biggest room for improvement. There's three of them, there's one of us," he said, comparing Silence-Lotto and CSC.

"They had a budget two, two-and-a-half times ours. So of course they can buy better-quality riders.

"But [look at] a team like Rabobank, who have three times the budget. [Their leader, Denis] Menchov was isolated as well. On L'Alpe-d'Huez, there was 10 of us.

"There were three CSC [riders], two AG2R and the rest of us were alone. Caisse d'Epargne, Rabobank … they're strong teams.

"But [Caisse d'Epargne's Alejandro] Valverde was isolated and Menchov was isolated. What do you do?"

Roll on 2009

[lindsay]

Here's some more of the good photos...

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/0 ... usion.html

[Stuart]

Taken from here >> http://www.podiumcafe.com/2008/7/28/579 ... -de-france

Biggest Douche Award

Winner: Marc Sergeant - Marc gets the Golden Massengil for managing to assemble a useless team built shabbily around his GC threat, Cadel Evans. Then to top that off, bringing a world class sprinter to the tour, knowing damn well that the team couldn't give him an iota of support... and then that team not supporting the GC candidate in the end either. What sealed the deal was listening to him in the team car urging on Cadel during the final TT with all the enthusiasm and vigor of a Soviet bread line.

Runner up: I won't even acknowledge that little twerp's name.

[T-Bone]

Well, Ricco has admitted to using EPO. I'm pleased he has unlike others who try to deny and fight it out in court (you know which country they're from).

One interesting thing is this from cyclingnews:
Riccò has withdrawn his request to have a counter-analysis done on the B-sample, but said that the testing procedure needed some work. "Of the 10 controls taken, only two were positive. In theory all the tests should have been positive, therefore the method needs to be checked," he said.

So i guess the testing needs a little bit of improvement still.

[weiyun]

...but said that the testing procedure needed some work. "Of the 10 controls taken, only two were positive. In theory all the tests should have been positive, therefore the method needs to be checked," he said.

That's a BS statement!

What he was basically saying was that, his EPO dosage was just a tad too much and tripped into the +ve zone on those two controls. Next time he'll probably try to go lower with the dosage so that it'll stay below the detection threshold for all the controls.

He should stay being a pro cyclist (if anyone still wants him) and stay out of pharmaceutical sciences that he is clueless about. Quite pathetic really!

[jimmy]

From what I heard, he got caught by a marker in the EPO, the company that produces it worked with the WDA to put a marker into the product, so that it was detectable that way.

James

[T-Bone]

You can only say it's BS if you know that his dosage levels varied.

According to initial reports it was CERA that he was tested positive for, and from what i've read he would have only needed to inject monthly to maintain the RBC level. So, basically i'd have expected more than 2 positives, though they may not test for everything with each sample, depending on indicators detected.

The main thing is that he admitted to doping, which is a lot better than some others, the rest of the stuff he says isn't too important.

[weiyun]

The marker story was denied by Roche.

http://www.velonews.com/article/80701

The question is, what did they mean by "marker"? The marker may not have to be deliberately inserted, or rather a marker that's native to the drug's metabolism.

[mikesbytes]

What medical purpose does EPO have?

[weiyun]

You can only say it's BS if you know that his dosage levels varied.

According to initial reports it was CERA that he was tested positive for, and from what i've read he would have only needed to inject monthly to maintain the RBC level. So, basically i'd have expected more than 2 positives, though they may not test for everything with each sample, depending on indicators detected.

The main thing is that he admitted to doping, which is a lot better than some others, the rest of the stuff he says isn't too important.

Given that it's a biological test and variations in results exist even with the same sample, I don't think it's an issue of concern. Further, the physiological state of the athlete at the time when samples were taken may also have a bearing on the detectability, amongst many other factors. So I wouldn't be worried about whether the other 8 didn't turn positive. The only question is whether they set the threshold for a positive test too low where false negatives would mar the result. As demonstrated by the event, the answer is no, given Ricco's admission. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the test's sensitivity and specificity and where the thresholds are set.

[weiyun]

What medical purpose does EPO have?

A lot, to treat people with many forms of anaemia. One common use is for patients who suffer from renal ailments where the natural source of EPO is depleted. It's also used for patients who are marrow depleted/suppressed by chemo and radiotherapies for various reasons. Essentially, it's a wonder drug in medical circles.