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Tour de France 2010


Chavez
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I always get sucked in. it'll be interesting to see what lance and his new team can do this year.

 

I've seen references to the new LA/Bruyneel team as "Retirement Shack."

 

Basso looked pretty good winning the Giro, and Liquigas looks pretty strong. Cadel has been riding a TON more aggressively since getting the rainbow jersey, and has a great road captain in Hincapie with BMC.

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Though they clearly suck at winning any of them, I would like to point out that the French created the three greatest sporting events in the world: world cup soccer, modern olympics, and the tour de france.

 

Bullcrap. . .the single greatest sporting event on the planet is happening at noon today, live from Coney Island, New York. It looks a little something like this:

 

 

:wacko::tup::lol: :lol: :tup:

Edited by SheikYerbuti
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maybe every time some a-hole posts a comment like this, I'll start another TDF thread :wacko:

Remember when golfers came in here to talk sh*t about the TdF? :tup:

 

 

Godd times, good times.

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Proof that Europeans are as big of douchewits as we Yanks - hmmm, I'm going to an event that features about 200 guys on bicycles, packed in tightly, zipping past at 25-30 mph....why don't I let Rover run around off the leash, what's the WORST that could happen?

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Proof that Europeans are as big of douchewits as we Yanks - hmmm, I'm going to an event that features about 200 guys on bicycles, packed in tightly, zipping past at 25-30 mph....why don't I let Rover run around off the leash, what's the WORST that could happen?

Or in France, Fifi?

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At least the soccer players aren't all on drugs.

What's funny about Operation Puerto is that apparently there were athletes from SEVERAL sports - at the very least, soccer and tennis as well - who were suspected....but only cycling took action.

 

 

Things that make you go "hmmmm...."

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Or in France, Fifi?

They were in Belgium today. :wacko:

 

 

I pwned Big John, now I can die happy!

Edited by Chavez
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Proof that Europeans are as big of douchewits as we Yanks - hmmm, I'm going to an event that features about 200 guys on bicycles, packed in tightly, zipping past at 25-30 mph....why don't I let Rover run around off the leash, what's the WORST that could happen?

Please tell me some d-bag didn't let his dog loose at the race today. :wacko:

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Please tell me some d-bag didn't let his dog loose at the race today. :wacko:

Don't worry - after running out in front of (I believe) 192 cyclists and causing a pileup, the pooch ran off unharmed.

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Don't worry - after running out in front of (I believe) 192 cyclists and causing a pileup, the pooch ran off unharmed.

Was the owner of the dog then pelted with rocks and rotten fruit? What a freaking idiot.

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I was watching the stage finish on the Vesus network "prime time" coverage last nite & couldn't sort out exactly what had happened to Farrar other than that he had a major problem just short of the finish ... apparently he was hit & broke his bike. Snippet below from a NY Times article. As an aside, from this article, it appears that unruly Viking & Cowboy fans are being held partly to blame for the mayhem during yesterday's stage.

 

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But some of the stage favorites — including Mark Cavendish, Óscar Freire and Tyler Farrar — saw their days end before the race was over.

 

Cavendish, who won six Tour stages last year, and Freire crashed while negotiating a turn with several miles to go. They were not seriously injured.

 

Later, Farrar ended up crossing the finish line in an unconventional way — on foot. A rider on the AG2R La Mondiale team had hit Farrar's rear wheel with about 200 meters to go, breaking Farrar's derailleur. Frustrated, Farrar left the bike and marched off, walking back to his team's bus.

 

"It's a shame because everything had gone so well and the team worked so hard for me," Farrar said. "But that's sprinting."

 

Crashes are relatively common in the final sprint, but it is not common for them to happen so many times — in so many places — during a regular stage. Sunday, though, was far from a common day at the Tour.

 

Armstrong, who says he is riding in his final Tour, said that riders were nervous, as they usually are in the Tour's opening stages, but that the enormous crowds had exacerbated the unease.

 

Fans along nearly the entire course were having such a big party that the revelers had spilled onto the road, leaving riders without much room to maneuver — or seemingly breathe.

 

There were fans in Viking hats waving beer mugs and fans draped in Texas flags doing little dances. Some Dutch fans were screaming and shouting as the riders passed by, pointing to their Team Netherlands soccer shirts, which they have perhaps worn since the Netherlands's World Cup victory over Brazil on Friday.

 

"Millions and millions of people on the road is a blessing and a curse," Armstrong said. "It makes the guys super-nervous. Everybody was scared all day."

 

More than a few unexpected situations arose. As Matt White, a race director on Garmin-Transitions, put it: "We were expecting winds, but we didn't expect the massive crowds — or dogs."

 

An unlucky dog wandered onto the course early on, causing several top riders to fall. No word on the condition of the dog. By the end of the day, from various mishaps, 14 riders — including Levi Leipheimer and Ivan Basso — were listed as having multiple wounds and bruises.

 

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Edited by ts
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And he was hurt today. :wacko:

Damage Report

 

Garmin-Transitions: One of the hardest hit, with five riders crashing, including Julian Dean, Tyler Farrar and Christian Vande Velde. Robbie Hunter also crashed, while David Millar reportedly hit the deck three separate times. Vande Velde watched any chance of a high GC position vanish as he lost five minutes to the GC favorites. Farrar crossed the line 20 minutes behind Chavanel, heavily bandaged and in tears, and along with Dean and Vande Velde, was en route to the hospital for x-rays immediately following the stage.

 

RadioShack: Lance Armstrong, Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer crashed. None were seriously injured. “There was something on the road,” Armstrong said. “We just couldn’t stay on our bikes…. It was more of a slide. I’ve got some good abrasions. It was so slippery that you just slid, so not much swelling. It was mostly abrasions. I will feel fine tomorrow… It seems that almost everybody crashed. Everyone will be banged up tomorrow. Between today and yesterday, the vast majority of the peloton has been on the ground at least once.”

Trek Travel

 

Saxo Bank: GC contenders Fränk and Andy Schleck each crashed and put in a massive effort to chase back on, with the help of the stoic Jens Voigt, while race leader Fabian Cancellara sacrificed his yellow jersey in order to help his teammates get back into the bunch. “The first thing on my mind after the crash was Andy and Fränk. They are our captains, and of course, I want to show solidarity, respect and loyalty to them and to the race by waiting, even though I lost the jersey,” Cancellara said. “It was the right thing to do, to wait, so everybody comes together to the finish line together. When you have everybody on the ground and people five minutes behind because they can’t find their bike then it’s only normal.”

2010 Tour de France stage 2, Frank Schleck

 

 

BMC Racing: Cadel Evans, George Hincapie and Mauro Santambrogio all crashed, with Hincapie going down twice in 200 meters. All three have road rash, but nothing broken. “It was a straight road, downhill, with oil on it, and the whole peloton went down,” Evans said. “Sorry to the public for not racing. But it would not have been fair to the many who were injured.”

 

 

Cervélo TestTeam: All riders managed to get through the crashes, and the team was upset with the peloton’s decision not to contest the finish. “I feel frustrated by what happened today,” said Thor Hushovd. “Our team was working hard and we would have had a good chance for victory. I feel like they have taken something away from us today. There were a few sprinters who did not make it to the front group, but there was no reason not to contest the sprint. Everyone made a gentleman’s agreement not to sprint, but I lost an important opportunity to try to win the stage and gain points.”

 

Team Sky: Michael Barry and Bradley Wiggins each hit the deck. “It was ridiculously slippery,” said Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford. “They were coming down the last couple of descents and there were guys in the trees. It was carnage in the true sense of the word. Sixty guys must have crashed in different places.”

 

Astana: Seven of the team’s nine riders crashed, including Alberto Contador. Others included Alexander Vinokourov, David de la Fuente, Maxim Iglinskiy, Paolo Tiralong and Jesus Hernandez, who crashed twice. Only Dani Navarro and Benjamin Noval managed to avoid the pileup. Contador has suffered a blow and abrasions on the right hip, knee and elbow. “On this road it was impossible not to fall. I fell on a straight part at about 60kph and when I thought about what could have happened, I saw that at every turn there were people on the ground; it was impossible to go without falling.”

 

Katusha: Russian Vladimir Karpets and Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen both crashed. McEwen went to the hospital to have a deep wound in his elbow treated.

 

Liquigas: GC co-captain Roman Kreuziger also crashed, though Ivan Basso, who crashed Sunday, did not. “I was at the front of the peloton and suddenly there were riders on the road and I had no time to hit the brakes,” Kreuziger said. “I hit my right knee pretty bad, but I am hoping I can get some massage tonight and be ready for tomorrow.”

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