Tour de France

[Chappy]

That's the part of the doping/tour de france that hurts .... you cheer and get excited about someone's performance , and then it came down to EPO or Cera or whatever drug of the day .... Boo to you Ricardo Rico ...

[Terry Newton]

Like I said earlier, these guys are stupid when they think that they aren't being watched. Now another team has hung it's head in shame and went home. Cadel and Christian are running neck and neck. This is an awesome race this year in spite of the cheats.

Terry Newton

[boa2]

If they didn't spotlight the issue with raids, controls & arrests, fans would focus only on rider performance, and all this discussion would simply disappear, leaving the sport in a positive light. Virtually every other sport has figured this out, but not pro cycling.

[boa2]

Originally Posted by boa2

If they didn't spotlight the issue with raids, controls & arrests, fans would focus only on rider performance, and all this discussion would simply disappear, leaving the sport in a positive light. Virtually every other sport has figured this out, but not pro cycling.

And by the way, I don't advocate cheating. I just find it preposterous, as well as self-defeating, that after decades of banned substance abuse, the sport of professional cycling continues to profess to itself and to the public that it will one day be clean.

[Lol-x]

That dude Ricardo Rico was arrested by the Police as it is a criminal offence in France to have banned substances. Such a shame and waste of talent, he lets everyone down.

Christian Vandevelde is riding pretty well, I might have to go over there and throw some drawing pins on the road just as he rides by to slow him down from catching Cadel

Man, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin are saying that some of the forthcoming mountain stages are the toughest in many years and that there will be a lot of riders abandon the tour (or miss the time cut-off), so it looks to be an interesting time ahead next week.

[Dan Pierce]

How 'bout Mark Cavendish and team Columbia. At 23 we should be hearing about him for years to come.
Even with all the hoopla and scandals it's still a great race to watch.
dP

[sheldonsmith]

I too am bummed about the TdF; I thought this was going to be a good year. Nonetheless, there are *clean* riders in the tour who are just hammers and who deserve respect for their athleticism and dedication. Riders like George Hincape and Jens Voigt are ones whom are the bright spots in cycling.

This is a picture of Jens that I snapped a couple of years ago before the San Luis to Santa Barbara stage of the Tour of California. Notice he is wearing a GMTII He is entirely approachable and we chatted about GMT's a bit before he had to dive back into the bus.

Yep, going back to be watching the Tour, but now I have trepidation on who is going to be tossed next.

-Sheldon

[Dan Pierce]

Originally Posted by sheldonsmith

I too am bummed about the TdF; I thought this was going to be a good year. Nonetheless, there are *clean* riders in the tour who are just hammers and who deserve respect for their athleticism and dedication. Riders like George Hincape and Jens Voigt are ones whom are the bright spots in cycling.

This is a picture of Jens that I snapped a couple of years ago before the San Luis to Santa Barbara stage of the Tour of California. Notice he is wearing a GMTII He is entirely approachable and we chatted about GMT's a bit before he had to dive back into the bus.

Yep, going back to be watching the Tour, but now I have trepidation on who is going to be tossed next.

-Sheldon

Sheldon, you took that shot? Very cool. A few years ago it seemed Jens was in every breakaway in every race. Agreed, Georgie and Jens are two of my favorite riders of all time. Both are class acts.
And since we're including great riders wearing great watches.................
dP

[boa2]

I just found out that next year's Tour of California begins in our city...yahoo!!!

Now, if I can just get myself up at 5:30am tomorrow to watch the TDF live!

Good to see you around, Sheldon.

[boa2]

Anyone else as shocked as I am at the result of the TDF? Sastre makes the third Spaniard in a row to win it. Tomorrow's stage is cursory, of course.

I can't believe Sastre passed Schleck!

Evans rode quite well. I really thought he would jump into first after today, but Sastre rode so well.

Incredible race!

[Terry Newton]

Steve:

I am sorry that Cadel Evans could not pull it off for Australia though he did a fabulous job and comes in second again. He is proof that he is an amazing cyclist and will still be a force to be reckoned with next year in the Tour. In spite of a few cheats I believe it was probably one of the cleanest races in years and there were some truly awesome moments. To have the yellow jersey change shoulders seven times made the race exciting rather than having one man dominate the Tour year after year. Christian Vandevelde was awesome and, I believe, would have had a podium finish if it was not for the hard crash he had the other day. He lost several minutes in that mess. He did a really good time trial today. It is really exciting to see a tour being won by a minute or so. I remember the race where Lance won by 57 seconds. That was incredible as he crashed and then Jan crashed in the time trial which ensured Lance's win.

Long Live The Tour!

Terry Newton

[sheldonsmith]

What a great time trial. Although Cadel was the Tour favorite, he still needs to get a handle on his riding style when it comes to power. Every time I watch him, I see more energy going sideways rather than going forward. With every hill or when there is a bump that requires sitting down and powering it out, he stands on the pedals at low RPM when everyone else is sitting down.... Despite this, Cadel is truly a rider for the future as are all the top-10 TdF finishers; they are all clean, feet firmly on the ground (eg. no head cases), and the ones to watch in the coming years.

To follow-up on a previous note in this thread, I learned on Wednesday that the Tour of California is finishing a stage on Paso Robles, the town where I work. I have been drafted into the organizing committee which will be a good distraction from my day job.

Since we are talking bikes, below are two pictures sent to me after the San Luis Obispo Criterium (I finished in the field) taken last weekend. I am wearing my Seiko dive watch as the race was times at 45 minutes and five laps. Knowing the time during the race was crucial. I would have worn one of my GMT's, but this was my first 45+ age group event and did not know what to expect from the other riders. I found that the 45+ group is much more civil than the 35+ group; we all have to report to the office the next day, although I think many of them put in 20 hour work-weeks.

Other than watches, I can talk bikes all day...

-Sheldon

[Goodwatch]

Originally Posted by sheldonsmith

Other than watches, I can talk bikes all day...

-Sheldon

Not all day but often. I'm very keen on classic steel frames like this one:




And this is my own:

[boa2]

Awesome photos, Sheldon. Watches, bicycles...and if you're in Paso Robles, how about wine? Not to hi-jack the thread, but I do have to say that some of the best wines I've ever had are from Paso Robles: Justin Isosceles, Four Vines Heretic, etc. I see you ride for Bishop's Peak. Very cool!

So true about Cadel. I kept thinking Pedal faster! Go Forward! His cadence was like that of Ullrich, and he rocked back and forth a lot. What an amazing rider, and I do hope he wins the Tour at some point.

[Haole]

Having raced as a Cat. 2, semi-pro rider for a few years once upon a time I follow the race every year. Congratulations Carlos Sastre (barring any catastrophes), very well deserved. What a fantastic fricking race this year.

[Lol-x]

It is very disappointing to have your hopes built up and then to have them smashed. I expect Cadel will be feeling a lot of pain.
At this level of sporting competition, little things can mean a lot, I think that Cadel may have suffered for the following reasons:
1. A crash on the stage just at the beginning of the mountains, it was quite a hard fall, and that can have an effect, abrasions, bruising etc.
2. The pressure of being the favorite, this can mess with your mind.
3. CSC had a great team that supported their leader and also worked on Cadel.
4. Silence Lotto did not have any real supporting riders for Cadel in the mountains.
5. Sestre went into the TT stage with the yellow jersey, so he could see all the previous riders times, the weather, and lack of wind suited Sastre gaining 1.34 minutes over 53kms is 2 seconds per kilometer, and that is a very big ask after 3 weeks of intensive racing.
6. Cadel does have a very laboured riding style in the mountains, a low cadence seems to be out of favour with recent climbing champions. Maybe Cadel needs to look as this aspect of his style. I know Lance Armstrong did and it had very positive results on both his climbing and time trialing.
7. Sastre is an awesome rider, he performed to a higher level than Cadel, and well done Sastre deserves to win the TDF.