News 2012 Tour de France

[FADEC]

It is 2 weeks from now until the Tour de France starts for the 99th time. I thought I might start a thread for it.

The 2012 Tour de France:

http://www.letour.fr/2012/TDF/COURSE/docs/parcours.pdf

Official Homepage:

http://www.letour.fr/2012/TDF/COURSE/us/le_parcours.html

General information at Wikipedia:

 

[80mileshigh]

Well, it's started, and it's shaping up to be [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashes"]the Ashes[/ame] on wheels. A lot of Australians will be watching after Cadel's win last year. I'm confident he can beat Bilbo Baggins.

 

[tl8]

Well, it's started, and it's shaping up to be the Ashes on wheels. A lot of Australians will be watching after Cadel's win last year. I'm confident he can beat Bilbo Baggins.

Going by our current record in sport, he will probably struggle

That said, we will disown him if he loses.

 

[80mileshigh]

Some nice photos from the tour so far:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/07/tour_de_france_2012_part_one.html

Now they're in the mountains contending with crazy spectators and hazardous descents.

I don't know what Cadel can do to get back in front. Yesterday's breakaway group finished more than three minutes ahead of the pelaton, surely he's got the ability to do the same?

That said, I'm warming to Wiggins and his dry humour:

 

[Tex]

LOL! That was an awesome interview. Thanks for the video mate.

 

[Mojave]

LOL! That was an awesome interview. Thanks for the video mate.

Are you gonna fly to France and participate, tex?

 

[N_Molson]

M. Di Gregorio, a competitor from the Cofidis team, has been arrested and interrogated in Marseille for "possession of illegal doping substances". He was released today after 48 hours of interrogatory, and excluded from the competitors.

While he denies to have used any illegal doping substances, he recognizes to have received injections in the frame of a "proficient physical preparation".

 

[Tex]

Are you gonna fly to France and participate, tex?

Ha I wish! They would make real short work of me.

 

[DanM]

Watching today's stage really makes me wanna take a trip to the Alps.

 

[80mileshigh]

M. Di Gregorio, a competitor from the Cofidis team, has been arrested and interrogated in Marseille for "possession of illegal doping substances"

This is a shame but there is always someone.

On the topic of doping, I do think however that Lance Armstrong is innocent - for two reasons. Firstly the guy has extraordinary physical attributes, such as an aerobic capacity almost double a normal adult which might account for some of his dominance (he also completely beat stage 3 cancer). The second reason is that the allegations against him always seem to surface at the same time as the Tour de France. This guarantees maximum exposure of the claims and seems suspicious to me. I think it would be a tragedy if he was stripped of his titles on the basis of any allegation that had the slightest doubt cast upon it. For anyone not familiar with Armstrong's dominance check out the list of tour winners here:

The line here, 'you can lose the tour in one day but you can't win it in one day' must be in Cadel's mind now.

 

[80mileshigh]

Dramatic stage 14!

Some idiot threw tacks on the road causing multiple punctures across the field. Cadel punctured three times in the space of a few minutes (twice on the back tire and once on the front) and Wiggins had to replace his bike. Worse still Croation rider Robert Kiserlovski crashed on the descent, likely from a puncture and has been taken to hospital.

Wiggins and his team called a truce following this chaos and the peloton free-wheeled until Cadel could catch up. Post race Wiggins said 'there's enough police along this race that they should be able to find these people and ... take them to a football game' (!)

 

[N_Molson]

I know quite well the roads they used today as the stage took place on the Pyreneans foothills 80-150 km south of Toulouse. Forelast Saturday, with friends, we were returning from a village there and took a storm by night... It was scary, we almost had to stop, visibility was near 0.

Those roads are really small and everything but flat. Tight turns and lots of slopes. And with rain, it gets very slippery. In those conditions, people doing crazy thing, support cars and TV motorbikes can be real threats for the competitors.

 

[FADEC]

Dramatic stage 14!

Some idiot threw tacks on the road causing multiple punctures across the field. Cadel punctured three times in the space of a few minutes (twice on the back tire and once on the front) and Wiggins had to replace his bike. Worse still Croation rider Robert Kiserlovski crashed on the descent, likely from a puncture and has been taken to hospital.

Wiggins and his team called a truce following this chaos and the peloton free-wheeled until Cadel could catch up. Post race Wiggins said 'there's enough police along this race that they should be able to find these people and ... take them to a football game' (!)

I hope it's handled as attempted assault so that the idiots learn to use what is called brain.

Sometimes I wonder what this world has come to.

 

[N_Molson]

Idiots... Or a concurrent teams using dirty tricks... Some newspapers take seriously that possibility into account...

The tribunal of Foix has opened an inquiry for "Attempt to threaten the life of another person" and "Criminal damage with regard to the property of another person".

 

[80mileshigh]

Unbelievable news - Franck Schleck is out after failing a doping test! He showed traces of a diuretic that is sometimes used to mask the presence of other drugs.

For something nicer, check out part two of the Big Picture's photo-coverage:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/07/tour_de_france_2012_part_two.html

 

[MattBaker]

Well, he already had trouble in the Fuentes-story...

The worst thing is probably that his brother would've known about this or done the same, now the Tourmalet 2010 (Contador also doped) sounds a lot less spectacular.
And the other question is: If the 12th used doping, what are the Wiggins, Froome, Evans or Nibali doing?

Well, Schleck says the stuff was planted on him, Ullrich said the same in 2002 and got 6 months...

 

[80mileshigh]

Given the stage winners and race leader are tested every day I think it's more likely that a guy further down the standings will dope than the guys at the top. Although recent history says you are right to be skeptical.

 

[MattBaker]

Again, none of the Favorites can beat Wiggins.
If nothing seriously happens in the Time Trial Wiggins should have won the Tour (2:05 infront of Froome and 2:41 to Nibali).

Nevertheless, the winner of the Tour is Chris Froome in my opinion. If he wouldn't be in the same team like Wiggins or get the permission to attack he would've beaten Wiggins in at least three mountain stages...

 

[80mileshigh]

Nevertheless, the winner of the Tour is Chris Froome in my opinion. If he wouldn't be in the same team like Wiggins or get the permission to attack he would've beaten Wiggins in at least three mountain stages...

It's true Froome could have won those stages. But could he have closed a 03' 21'' gap and extended his own? That gap didn't come about because he was made to wait up for Wiggins on those occasions. I think Wiggins demonstrated his overall superiority on the time trials.

But Froome will win it one of these days.

Félicitations Bradley Wiggins!

---------- Post added 07-23-12 at 01:37 PM ---------- Previous post was 07-22-12 at 06:33 PM ----------

Wiggins victory speech was funny - 'don't get too drunk.' He reminds me a bit of the larrikin British motor racers of the 1970s.

Funnier still was the truly awful rendition of God Save the Queen. See the look on Wiggins face: