Mango

lol, the rain should make for an interesting day on the cobbles... I forsee a crash on the champs-elyssee.

sput·nik

yah 'twill be a hardy few circuits for sure, always a fun day to watch.

scandals be damned, this was a beautiful course & the guys made the mountain stages fun to watch. the finale up the aubusiqe--i was a bit let down tbh, but was cool to see Levi so strong, a big hint at his dominance to come today. a TT victory, & being on the podium only 30 seconds back from yellow is golden for him, a beautiful cap on an awesome year of wins.

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and those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music . . .

Sugar420

so, anybody could crash and its anybodys race?

sput·nik

in theory.. but then there is sort of a gentleman's code, as far as the stage has historically been concerned.

more likely, you'll see the top guys ride towards the very front of the pack to avoid the likely mixups&tangles on the slick corners.

then as they come into the very last sprint, the sprinters teams will be dragging the pack at 35+mph and things get intensely crazy on the wideopen road. there have been violent crashes some years, but hopefully we won't see that. not having McEwen in the bunch is a bummer, as QuickStep is so strong that the others will have a difficult time beating Boonen, who must be deadset on a stage victory in Paris as a requisite to capping off the Tour as his "comeback" of a shabby '07

personally, i'd love to see Zabel grab it as I don't know if he'll ride another tour.

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and those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music . . .

The Don

I'm still sad about rasmussen

did anyone catch the press meeting?

My mom told me about it and god, the whole family is just in shock what can I say?

It's taking quite it's toll on the danish look at cycling. Since Bjarne Riis announced that he was souped up when he won the tour, denmark really had it hearts and hopes set on rasmussen.

damnit.

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Captain Cannabis

i'm really big into the tour but missed the thread this year

vinekurov was my boy. he crashed hard and rode like a champ. i've always enjoyed watching rasmussen chase lance in the mountains back in the day so i liked him too. he did get totally owned on the second last mountain stage, even if he kept up to contador

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fuck the monkeys

sput·nik

^ aye... really too bad that conto didn't quite catch up to Georgie until the very top of teh 'Sourde, because that was set up perfectly to gain time on everyone on the subsequent descent.. George is always perfect down the mountains.


Discovery is run like a fine-tuned machine when it comes ot the TdF, and it's really no surprise Bruhneel keeps putting together winners.

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and those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music . . .

sput·nik

& Don, the damage must be pretty bad, i never really asked you about Bjarne when that whole TMobile90s bit all broke out. But then the revelations are that everyone was riding loaded, the most common sentiment being that no one was cheating when everyone knows what is happening.

but I ran into a Danish bloke on Friday night who was visiting his highscool buddies from a few years back when he was an exchange student here.. he actually looked much like Rasmussen, with maybe a smattering of Don. damn you euros & your beautiful pure genetics btw.

he was ripped apart by it, almost ashamed to even talk about the Tour.. said his Dad had called him up with the news, blubbering away like a young'n who lost his favorite toy.


I do still see it all as such silliness, certainly an example of overzealous enforcement of bland suspicions. You can bet they wouldn't have been pushing so hard if this had happened to, say, Cristophe Moreau.
Perhaps it's fair to say that no one really knows the team dynamics that lead to the final axe, but it seemed as though the boys were plenty happy to work for him day after ridiculous day.


So a Huge asterisk goes on the year for Contador, and for anyone who was watching the few glorydays in the Alps&Pyrenees, Rasmussen provided some superinspired rides & chases.

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and those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane
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Cerebro

Rasmussen was certainly made to do alot of work. It's a shame he was kicked.
I enjoyed Contador dancing on the pedals, atttacking Rasmussen..
Seeing the domestiques (sp?) put themselves into the red day after day is amazing, the 3 week duration is what blows me away.

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sput·nik

^yea the grandtours really are something else.. i like the classics but nothing like the 3 big tours of the year. these newer American bits are exciting for their regions.

only a month till the vuelta!
last year astana made it fun to follow.. hardly any coverage here aside from internet though.

we only had the TV/cable hooked up for the Tour this month.. will disconnect the whole rig tomorrow, but i guess we're keeping the intarweb for now.

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and those who were seen dancing
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Mango

No more discovery next year, and Johan Bruyneel retiring... Its a tragedy for American cycling.

sput·nik

you heard of Slipstream?


honestly, more like Bad news for cycling in general... Discovery warn't even such an "american" team.

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and those who were seen dancing
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Mango

Nah I haven't heard of slipstream

Well yeah its bad news for cycling, but it still is a big hit for american cycling. the team got cycling to be known in the united states and such

sput·nik

meh, i'd actually wager it will be the total opposite, just give it a year or two.

i love bruyneel as much as anyone, and he's surely brilliant. but i do think that a lot of people who are genuinely concerned with the doping bizz look at him and see an iffy streak. with Contador coming under all kinds of (resurrected puerto) scrutiny just after the tour finishes and the whole history of riders coming up positive for blood doping & occasionally steroids just shortly after leaving his team & "expertise" if you will. his knack for eying talent building riders is awesome, which then makes it just a bit suspect to anyone looking to speculate, of course.

but maybe the most damning thing is people hear his evasive language, they watch him sign Basso amidst fairly damning evidence, and see a director who is willing to look past those shadowy bits & thats just not where most of the people with the money invested think cycling can continue to go.
so they welcome his decision to bow out (juz' like Lance!) on top before any more skeletons can creep out of the closet.

I respect him for everything, and I think this was as good a time for him to gtfo as he'll ever see again. (he really may or may not have saved his bottom 'cuz i think eventually DocMichele is gonna go down, and then what that spells for PharmStrongs legacy is questionable. )



Slipstream, on the other hand, is an '07startup headed by Jonathan Vaughters, of USPostal origin (under Bruyneel.)
they're currently just a ProContinental team, so not granted all the race access like hte ProTour boys but they'll be in it by '09 if its still in existence. signed a bunch of ProTour horses this year for '08.. they're hoping to get 1of2 ProConti wildcards into the TdF.
you'll surely hear more next year.


Hincapie is headed to tMobile, it sounds like.

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and those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane
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Cerebro

I hear talk of an Australian team hoping to be up and heading toward the 09 tour.
Robbie McEwen is one of the main pushers, some Aussie Internet company may fund $20m. Obviously they would be looking for the likes of Cadel, Rogers, OGrady etc. Who knows?
Football took off here after the World Cup, we'll see.

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