A couple of days late, but here we go.

Contador already 1:40 behind some of his top GC rivals following an eventful stage 1. Team time trial was a lot of fun to watch, and stage 3 showed that maybe the shake up in the points races will create some more mid-stage excitement.

My picks:

Andy Schleck to wear the yellow into Paris.
Thor Hushvold to take the green jersey.
No idea on the king of the mountains, but it might actually be meaningful with the changes to scoring. Maybe Ivan Basso or Frank Schleck.

7/4/2011 4:28:38 PM

who's good at cycling now that Greg LeMond retired?

i'm out of the loop

7/4/2011 4:32:42 PM

Tour de Stéroïdes

7/4/2011 4:52:09 PM

Quote :

"A couple of days late, but here we go."

there's probably a reason no one decided to make a thread

7/5/2011 1:26:45 AM

I've been pretty happy with Garmin this year. They have been my favorite team for a while so it's nice to see their success thus far. Doubt Hushovd will take green. He is going to be riding leadout for Farrar in the sprints and I read somewhere that he isn't riding for green.

As far as GC goes, I'd love to see Van de Velde or Hesjdal, but more realistically I like Cadel Evans and he has a great chance to do well.

Not a fan of the Schlecks and it would be a damn shame if Contador made any waves since he shouldnt even be riding this race seeing as how he tested positive for doping at last year's tour.

7/5/2011 9:48:12 AM

Unbelievable effort by Hushovd today to keep the yellow. Also great to see how well Cadel and Christian Vande Velde are looking.

7/9/2011 8:15:50 PM

Anyone see that car take out two riders of the breakaway today? That was nuts.

7/10/2011 11:11:02 AM

True race of attrition.

7/10/2011 12:53:29 PM

So who's going to win this deal?

7/19/2011 9:10:22 PM

Contador's attacks were savage today. Evans is looking the favourite. As for Frandy, you should have taken your chances in the Pyrenees.

I think Thursday might decide it - all the top riders will be scattered across the final climb to the Galibier.

7/19/2011 10:49:39 PM

Evans really impressed me today. Think it's his to lose right now. Contador's attacks were ruthless and I was really surprised the Schlecks cracked.

7/19/2011 11:07:34 PM

Haha... so transparent that Contador looked like shit last week and all of a sudden after a rest day (common for transfusions in the past) he is back to his old self.

I'm damn impressed with Evans and with Voeckler. I don't think Voeckler has the legs to hang on Thursday, but if he can manage not to lose too much time, he could very well still podium which would be great.

Andy and Frank just don't have the stones to hold an attack it seems. They are so worried about what everyone else is doing that they don't just go for it. No risk strategy bit them in the ass yesterday when contador attacked out of nowhere and caught them napping. Then they decided to cry about how dangerous the course was because it ended on the descent. Not a fan at all.

7/20/2011 9:22:50 AM

Yeah I was a little disappointed with Andy Schleck's excuses after Tuesday's stage. But whatever. I hate Contador, although I respect him as a rider. And Cadel Evans is one of the ugliest mofo's I've ever seen. He has like three asses on his face. I'm pulling for Andy after last years debaucle on Tourmalet, although I'm not sure he can pull it off.

Tomorrow will be interesting

7/20/2011 8:54:50 PM

If any of you ever wondered about cycling, today should be a good day to watch. Stage should get really interesting around 10:30am or so although it's already underway now.

http://sports-livez.com/channel/ch-6.php for streaming

7/21/2011 8:37:43 AM

Quote :

"Andy and Frank just don't have the stones to hold an attack it seems."

Oops!

7/21/2011 9:28:13 PM

What a day. I'll be curious to see if Andy has anything left tomorrow. My prediction is that he just tries to pace Cadel Evans and hopes to maintain something of his minute advantage in the time trial. Should be an exciting final few days.

7/21/2011 10:42:05 PM

Magnificent ride by Andy great tactics by the team. Everything fell into place and Cadel was isolated in the chase. I think Frank might attack today. I still think they need maybe 30 seconds more on Cadel heading into the time trial.

7/22/2011 6:22:18 AM

haha... called out big time. I'll have my crow grilled and drizzled with BBQ please.

Schleck with a monster ride yesterday. I'm still confused why the chase seemed to be so nonchalant about giving him a huge leash to begin with, but I can't take anything away from the smart tactics and the heart he showed.

Again, impressed by cadel to bring back 2 minutes of the gap on his own after not getting a bit of help--even by the yellow jersey, who had a teammate. I'd normally be happy that the underdog kept the jersey, but that was a pretty lame way to do it. I'm still picking Cadel to wear the yellow in France.

Who knows how today is gonna go. Only 60k stage with three huge climbs. Evans is looking really strong so I would normally pick him outright on this stage, but I don't know if he burned too many matches yesterday in the chase. I'd probably go with Frank taking this stage.

[Edited on July 22, 2011 at 7:41 AM. Reason : d]

7/22/2011 7:41:03 AM

not a fan of vokeler any more after he and his team have done basically zero in the time he's had the yellow. especially yesterday. he's a leech

7/22/2011 9:26:28 AM

To be fair, his team is pretty weak so I can't blame them too much. If it was me, I would do what I had to do to keep the jersey and if that meant letting other teams do the work, so be it. I know it's tradition for the yellow jersey to control the peloton, but he flat out wouldn't have been able to keep it this long if his team had been at the front everyday.

Yesterday was a little different to me because Cadel was isolated and doing work and voeckler had a teammate, but they still made Cadel do the work to chase. Today, though, Voeckler is showing some major guys to hold that gap at :30s all by himself. Couldn't tell if Evans really cracked on that climb or if it was a mechanical because he did change his bike right as contador and schleck were riding away.

7/22/2011 9:56:05 AM

wonder if evans has what it takes to get the 57 seconds off of andy tomorrow.

7/22/2011 2:30:18 PM

I'm thinking yes, but the route for the TT is good for Andy. Even though i initially said Andy would win I'm pulling for Evans, really liked the strength he's shown the last couple says and he's a beast in time trials.

7/22/2011 3:13:19 PM

I think Evans can easily take 30+ sec on the TT, but 57s is gonna be tough, especially with Andy in the yellow. Great great stage today, though. Was looking really sketchy for evans for a while, but he has shown how strong he is this year time and time again.

7/22/2011 3:27:51 PM

Some of you may know this, but the Criterium du Dauphine TT a few weeks ago was run on the same course as tomorrow's TT.

Here are the results: http://www.roadcycling.com/articles/2011-Criterium-du-Dauphine-Results---Stage-3-Time-Trial_004361.shtml

I knew Cadel was a good TTer, but I wasn't aware of just how elite he was. He put minutes into some very good riders. To go even a step further, look at last year's Tour de France TT results where Andy had the TT of his life racing for the yellow jersey and Andy still finished 44th on the day http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/07/tour-de-france/tour-de-france-stage-19-results_123032. Zabriskie (who finished 2 spots ahead of Evans in the Dauphine this year) finished 5th that day. Evans didn't race the Tour TT and Schleck didn't race the Dauphine so it's hard to find a true comparison, but I still think it's pretty interesting.

Now that I look at it, I think it sets up tomorrow for Evans to win and possible win pretty big. I wouldn't be surprised if he got 2 min. on Andy tomorrow.

Also, I read a really interesting article on how this year's tour is likely the cleanest in decades. I think things like the EPO test and Biological passport have really reduced the amount of doping going on and what doping remains has to be small enough as to have relatively marginal results.

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2011/07/tour-de-france-post-pyrenees-state-of.html

[Edited on July 22, 2011 at 4:26 PM. Reason : d]

7/22/2011 4:23:01 PM

What a monster couple of days in the Tour. Contador blew the race apart, Andy's tactics were spot on again and Cadel is a magnificent fighter.

I think the slightly hilly time trial actually favours Cadel more than Andy. Cadel's got much more power and can just keep chugging along.

I think Andy will fight but I still see Cadel winning it by about 30 seconds.

Fabian Cancellara or Tony Martin for the stage win tomorrow.

7/22/2011 7:56:17 PM

Evans is looking strong in the TT.

7/23/2011 10:42:00 AM

Evans crushed it. Nice job.

7/23/2011 11:23:22 AM

Massive time trial by Evans. Great to see him win.

7/23/2011 12:10:12 PM

I know that the Tour de France prides itself on tradition and sportsmanship, but has anyone ever attempted to attack on the last day?

7/23/2011 2:11:49 PM

Not that I know. The only time something significant happened on the last day was when the final time trial was held on the last day in 1989 when Lemond overhauled Fignon.

7/23/2011 2:45:51 PM

Haha. Vaughters had a cardboard cutout of Dave Zabriskie up on the podium for the best team presentation.

7/24/2011 12:23:55 PM

7/24/2011 6:28:26 PM

7/29/2011 7:34:23 PM