Le Tour de France

[Tosiek]

Now I realized you're right, Alex.

If Rasmussen will do well at mountains and gain time then even a perfect ride at TT one of those Evans, Kloden, Vino etc. won't take him the final victory.

Not sure if you feel the same, but when Armstrong was at Tour it was much more interesting and dramatic. Now there's no favourites but it's less enjoyable for me.

 

[Alex]

hmm, I dunno...I like the race being wide open, but I do miss Armstrongs years a bit...My most enjoyable recent tour was the one when Ullrich was only 1 minute or so away from Armstrong, CLOSE and had the big boys!!

That year, most people dont realise, you take out the teams time trial (which isnt really a measure of Ullrich and Armstrong themself) and Ullrich actually beat Armstrong...By even more when you consider that Ullrich crashed and lost loads of time on the final stage chasing Armstrongs time because he was behind, AND when you consider that the teams time trial was in the place of what usually probably would have been an individual time trial (something that in that year Ullrich had shown he was beating Armstrong in...)

 

[Alex]

After todays stage, I think that the race winner will come from one of three (possibly four) riders..

Valverde looks solid in the mountains and can time trial.

Evans looks quite strong in the mountains, and can time trial.

Kloden is riding very solidly, and I think along with Cancellara is the best time trialler in the field. If he had a team riding for him from the start then he'd be an either bigger chance...As it is he has a minute to make up on Evans and Valverde.

Contador I think is the strongest climber in the pack. Or if not neccesarily the strongest, he has the sharpest acceleration up the hills. So I think he is the only other threat, but will need some time before the time trials (hence I only think he is half a chance)...

I dont think Rasmussen's race as a gc rider will last past the time trial in a couple of days time. Sastre already losing a minute to Evans and co, with both time trials still to come isn't looking great. Mayo looked shakey today, and will lose a fair chunk on the ITTs aswell...

I think Valverde and Evans will be neck and neck in the time trial, chasing the yellow jersey in a few days. I can't see Kloden gettng the minute or so he needs off them in one time trial...Then it'll be a matter of defending it in the hills. And theyve both looked really good. I couldnt believe Evans acceleration to go with Contadors first move today. But Valverde has been persistant in the early mountains too...

If I HAD to back a winner now, Id probably JUST say Valverde...Simply because he has a stronger team, and if Cadel gets in yellow itll be harder for him to hold it (esp. with so many contenders), and I think the minute Kloden has already lost will come back to haunt him...But we should remember, take out Perieros one big break last year, and take out Landis, and Kloden and Evans were the top two in last years race too

 

[Tosiek]

Vinokurov showed his class today at time trial.

Cadel Evans was 1'14" behind him and now he's 2nd in General Classification. Vino is placed on 9th and loses to Rasmussen 5'10". Seems that Vinokurov didn't say the last word. He can do a big mess in the moutains and at TT again.

 

[Alex]

Yeah but 4mins is a big head start to give to other World Class bike riders...

I think Rasmussen did brilliantly to hold onto his lead (I couldnt believe that he did so well after his prevoius ITT form), but I think now he'll be a marked man in the pyrenees (where as before the bunch used to lt him go assuming he only wanted KOM jersey), and he'll lose over 1min in the final time trial to Evans...

I think that now the MAIN contenders are Evans, Kloden, Contador and Vino...But maybe one of the climbers will suprise us and take some big time out of these guys in the mountains...Hard to see that happening the way Evans and Contador have climbed so far though...

 

[Tosiek]

I predict that the Spanish climbers will attack today.

If they want reach higher position than only 7 place they should start it today. Astarloza, Sastre can be really strong in pyrenees together with placed on 3rd Contador. Although no one known climber can frighten favourites today like Hernandez at 9th stage.

 

[Javyol]

Cadell Evans look really strong atm. Hopeful;ly he can keep it up.

 

[Tosiek]

What a race!

Definitely the most exciting stage so far in this edition of TDF. Cantador won this time and showed that he's in good shape as Rasmussen. Evans couldn't take so high pace on last kilometres and lost too much time I think. Soler placed 3rd and kept shirt in peas.

Who can say now that cycling is boring, huh?

 

[rpvankasteren]

Actually, Rasmussen keeps the mountain jersey. He's still 2 points ahead of Soler.

 

[Tosiek]

Sorry, my bad...

 

[nor-rbk]

Vinokourov fails Tour doping test
Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping after winning Saturday's stage of the Tour de France, according to the Reuters news agency.

The pre-race favourite's Astana team reacted by withdrawing from the Tour with immediate effect.

Vinokourov suffered a bad crash on stage five and dropped out of overall contention as he lost time in the Alps.

However he looked back to his best in a dominant time-trial on Saturday and won another arduous stage on Monday.

Vinokourov was third in the 2003 Tour de France and fifth in 2005 and was tipped for victory this year after a fine showing in the Dauphine Libere warm-up race.

He was also strongly favoured for last year's race, but he was forced to withdraw on the eve of the Tour when five of his Liberty Seguros team-mates were implicated in another doping scandal, leaving the team with insufficient riders.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/6914301.stm

 

[Tosiek]

The atmosphere around cycling makes more and more ****ty, stage after stage.

 

[RobbieD_PL]

I wanted to make a Borat joke about this, but I dont think it'll be worth it.

 

[Tajike]

And the chaos ensues:

Just heard that Rabobank has taken Rasmussen out of the Tour. They are still deciding if the rest of the team will start tomorrow or not

 

[nor-rbk]

What the hell?!? Well, that just makes the scandal complete. I don't completely agree with this one though, since Rasmussen hasn't tested positive, all his tests are negative. What he has done is something what dozens of athletes does every year, and I guess that probably half of the peloton has done the same mistake once. But then again, his press conference yesterday was very doubtful and I won't be surprised if he has cheated.

And in addition to this, Cristian Moreni has tested positive for testosterone after the 11th stage and has been kicked out as well. Cofidis has also decided to withdraw the whole team. Alberto Contador is also from what I've heard under investigation, as he is linked to this Dr. Fuentes or what the moron is called.

The only positive out of this is that the anti-doping program seems to work. One after one is caught, and hopefully we'll get rid of those scums soon.

 

[Tosiek]

This Tour became a totally crap. That's good that those cheaters are eliminated but what's going to happen if Rasmussen is not guilty? He just trained not in the right place and refuse the ani-doping test but nothing came on the lights at Tour so I don't understand. :/

 

[Alex]

He broke the rules? That is cheating. Whether he took drugs or not, he broke the rules, and therefore cheated. Look up cheating in the dictionary...

Rasmussen was fully aware of the rules, and Im sure his team wouldn't have kicked him out themself if they didn't have good grounds...It would have cost them an absolute fortune to kick out a tour leader. And they did it themself.

If in years to come, Rasmussen is found innocent, then he is stupid for breaking the dope control rules in the first place. Those rules are there to make the sport as clean as possible. If you let him away with not following them, where do you stop?

I think it's a good thing he is gone. And to be honest, I said from the start his form in the time trial was suspect..Last year he finished 114th in the first time trial...5mins behind Cadel, who was only 11th (where Rasmussen finished this year)...That's a BIG improvement! And the commentators went on about it being the yellow jersey urging him on...That's the biggest load of bullocks ever. Yes it does help having the yellow Im sure but honestly, over 100places? Not to mention the time...He finished nearly exactly the same 5mins behind Evans in the 2nd time trial too, and lost a load of time to Kloden in the second time trial...(he was over 8mins behind in it at the end)

 

[Alex]

What the hell?!? Well, that just makes the scandal complete. I don't completely agree with this one though, since Rasmussen hasn't tested positive, all his tests are negative. What he has done is something what dozens of athletes does every year, and I guess that probably half of the peloton has done the same mistake once. But then again, his press conference yesterday was very doubtful and I won't be surprised if he has cheated.

And in addition to this, Cristian Moreni has tested positive for testosterone after the 11th stage and has been kicked out as well. Cofidis has also decided to withdraw the whole team. Alberto Contador is also from what I've heard under investigation, as he is linked to this Dr. Fuentes or what the moron is called.

The only positive out of this is that the anti-doping program seems to work. One after one is caught, and hopefully we'll get rid of those scums soon.

I agree with most of your post

Well said, especially the last part...And the best part is atleast Cycling is doing something about it...If this many cyclists cheat, can you imagine the amount of doping going on in every other sport in the world...Cycling tests more than any other sport, and we have this many cheats. Imagine those other sports that don't test nearly as much!

 

[PSVFOREVER]

Great tour I've never followed it with such interest. Of course it's correct that Rasmussen has been dropped. Rabobank certainly knows more of it, and I would put my money on Rasmussen being a dopehead. Still, great entertainment this Tour! Way better than the Armstrong era.

 

[Alex]

Yeah, it has been nice and close, meaning it's much more interesting!

Only once was the Armstrong era really good to watch, and that was when he and Jan were only seperated by ~1min heading into Paris (also the year that Jan raced for Bianchi, not T-Mobile)