Contador rocked the field at the end of the climb and put 19s on Armstrong. The yellow jersey, unfortunately, is going to one of the riders in the break--Nocentini.

7/10/2009 11:35:07 AM

Quote :

"who has much more evidence against him."

like a positive test? OH WAIT!

7/10/2009 4:04:44 PM

Hate, hate, hate. jocristian is nothin but a hater. What happened, was nutsmackr too busy suckin on a cock?

Quote :

"He frequently deflects criticism of testing inconsistencies (like the scandal this spring when he met a tester at the door and then was unsupervised for 20 minutes--easily enough time to take a saline drip and thin his blood-- before he was tested) by creating this the boogieman that the French are out to get him."

What? Of course the French are out to get him. They fucking hate him, just like he hates them. Why do you think that they launched the smear campaign against him and leaked that '99 B test positive, in blatant violation of WADA and lab rules?

Quote :

"This article brings up alot of the stuff and tries to explain the culture difference and why doping has been so prevalent in cycling that its basically a known fact among cycling insiders and fans that Lance has cheated throughout his career."

No, it's obvious that he was using EPO back in '99, back when everybody was. Why the outrage? Because he has been so adamant that he's clean? What do you expect him to do, implicate himself? He was playing by the same rules as everybody else, pumping himself full of EPO because they didn't know how to test for it. The labs tested a lot of "B" samples from '98 and '99, and more than 80% came back positive. If it's cheating, then EVERYONE was cheating.

Nowadays he is clean or close to it, since they have tests to indirectly discover EPO usage and blood transfusions. If he's doping, his "biological passport" will show blood irregularities, and he'll get tested more often. Eventually he'll get caught. If he's clean and he lands on the podium in this tour, then it more than legitimizes his previous victories in my mind.



[Edited on July 11, 2009 at 12:44 AM. Reason : 2]

7/11/2009 12:42:19 AM

Quote :

"like a positive test? OH WAIT!"

OH WAIT. He did test positive for EPO in '99. Doh!

Quote :

"Hate, hate, hate. jocristian is nothin but a hater. What happened, was nutsmackr too busy suckin on a cock?"

Not at all. In fact, until recently I was always a huge armstrong fan--I still wear a freakin livestrong helmet.. lol. I was extremely disappointed as I got more educated about professional cycling in general and lance armstrong in particular. The circumstantial evidence is just too much for me to believe he is clean at this point. Hell, I would love to believe the reason he dominated the tour for so many years was simply because he didn't race a full season and only focused on one race.

The French don't hate every American rider so it has nothing to do with his nationality, they hate him because in order for him to convince Americans that he is clean he talks shit about their cycling federation and doping controls.

I don't know any cycling fan that watches more than just the tour de france who believes Lance has been clean.

7/12/2009 8:52:28 AM

new nike commercial is relevant to this thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VfiXAaEQiY

(i don't pretend to seriously follow cycling so please continue)

7/12/2009 6:21:17 PM

I think I heard Bob say that Lance has been randomly tested like 41 times so far leading up to and during this year's tour.

Even tested 3 times in 48 hours.

7/12/2009 10:13:30 PM

Quote :

"The circumstantial evidence"

i hope you're not in the legal profession...maybe you should keep a copy of this thread and give it to the DA so you can get out of jury duty as well

7/12/2009 11:33:16 PM

dont know nutsmackrs stance now but i coulda swore back in 2004 he use to be hardcore anti lance armstrong

7/13/2009 12:28:24 AM

anyone have a working stream?

7/13/2009 8:59:42 AM

There's been video the past week on http://www.versus.com/tdf, including streaming of the current stage.

7/13/2009 10:21:26 AM

so who is winning

7/13/2009 11:05:32 AM

Quote :

"I hope you're not in the legal profession...maybe you should keep a copy of this thread and give it to the DA so you can get out of jury duty as well"

What does being in the legal profession have to do with Lance doping? It's fine with me if noone in here believes anything I have said or has a second thought that Lance might have doped. I was just offering my opinion on Lance and why I felt that way. Feel free to disregard, but I think it's pretty interesting that most on here are positive that Bonds cheated (or at least don't have a problem believing he might have), but they will go to great lengths to defend a man who has more to gain from doping and who dominates a sport where doping is basically a way of life for most riders--or at least it had been until just a few years ago.

The Lance lovers are suggesting that Lance, who was clean, completely demolished a field for the better part of a decade where many have already admitted to or gotten caught doping. Like I said, I have no direct proof, but it sure looks pretty shady to me

The streaming link that Fail Boat posted has worked for me every day. It's not on today because today is a rest day.

7/13/2009 1:49:08 PM

Leipheimer withdrew due to broken wrist

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/sports/cycling/18levi.html

7/17/2009 12:16:22 PM

yeah, that sucks big time. Aside from about two wrecks a day, absolutely nothing has happened in the last week of racing. The organizers have taken the sting out of some of the best climbs by making them fall in the middle of stages.

7/17/2009 12:55:42 PM

wtf?

Quote :

"Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Julien Dean (Garmin-Slipstream) were hit by lead pellets fired from an air rifle during Friday's stage 13 at the Tour de France. Neither rider was seriously injured and both plan to start in Saturday's fourteenth stage. Three shots were heard as the peloton were descending, 165km into Friday's stage. Freire and Dean were hit, with the third shot luckily missing any member of the peloton. Both teams confirmed the incident. “Oscar [Freire] was shot in the leg but he is okay,” Rabobank spokesman Luuc Eisenga told Cyclingnews. “Just the thought of it is very frightening.” Both teams confirmed the incident. “Oscar [Freire] was shot in the leg but he is okay,” Rabobank spokesman Luuc Eisenga told Cyclingnews. “Just the thought of it is very frightening.” Eisenga said that the team was reporting the incident to the French gendarmerie. After the stage, Rabobank team doctor Dion van Bommel removed a lead pellet from the three-time former World Champion's thigh. “He was very cool, but that is Oscar,” van Bommel said. “In the femur, such a pellet can cause little damage, but if it had hit Oscar in the eye, he would be blinded. I think this is outrageous, and I've never experienced anything like it in my career.” Garmin team manager, Jonathan Vaughters, told Cyclingnews: “[Julien] Dean was hit in the index finger. I think this is an issue for the police. It's a bit sad that this happened. The tour has remained open to the public because we trust them. It would be horrible to erode that trust"

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/freire-dean-shot-at-during-tour-stage
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/freire-responds-to-shooting-incident

7/18/2009 1:35:54 PM

Hincape was in the virtual Yellow for much of the race today, but apparently Garmin pushed the pace in the pelaton in the last 10km and clawed back 2 minutes, and Hincape finished 5 seconds out of yellow.....
probably his only chance to ever get in yellow, unless he can somehow manage to hang with Contador and Lance in another mtn stage, which isn't likely.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fuse-lit-once-again-in-columbias-rivalry-with-garmin
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/96th-tour-de-france-gt/stages/stage-15/results

Lance is pissed at Garmin
http://twitter.com/lancearmstrong (start at bottom)

Quote :

"@matkearns why we pulled so hard? When we started it was 6:00. When we stopped it was 8:40. Those are the facts... about 13 hours ago from UberTwitter in reply to matkearns Last thing. There were 13 guys in the breakaway. We had 2 guys riding "tempo". That is not chasing by any stretch of the imagination. about 14 hours ago from UberTwitter @bbelshaw told astana 2 chase? Not true @ all. My vision was george would have YJ by 2 mins. Was reality til ag2r and garmin started 2 pull. about 14 hours ago from UberTwitter in reply to bbelshaw @BritneyGears you're clueless about 14 hours ago from UberTwitter in reply to BritneyGears RT @dzabriskie: Pawns in their game... about 14 hours ago from UberTwitter @bfogelstrom And george should be pissed. Very pissed. He can talk to his teammates who were n the bunch w/ us then perhaps it will be clear about 14 hours ago from UberTwitter in reply to bfogelstrom @billmackiernan exactly, that's why we were riding medium to let the gap get as big as possible... about 14 hours ago from UberTwitter in reply to billmackiernan And I reiterate. @ghincapie deserves to be yellow tonight. He deserves more than that. Look to who pulled the last 50k to see who to blame.. about 14 hours ago from UberTwitter Until 10km to go he was solidly in yellow until GARMIN put on the gas and made sure it didn't happen. about 14 hours ago from UberTwitter Our team rode a moderate tempo to put him in the jersey by at least 2 mins. Ag2r said they would not defend then they started to ride. about 14 hours ago from UberTwitter St14 done. Sounds like there's quite a bit of confusion over this one... Noone, and I mean noone, wanted George in yellow more than me. about 14 hours ago from UberTwitter"

7/19/2009 2:21:54 AM

George was in Yellow a few years back while riding for Lance on the USPS team for a day or two IIRC. Would have been great to see him get it again, and although I like Garmin, I can't figure out why they would push the pace right there. I think there is some personal beef between Jonathan Vaughters, team director for Garmin and former estranged USPS rider, and Hincappie.

Hincappie initially blamed it on Astana, but I am sure he will revise his statements after he sees the tape. Astana was riding just hard enough to keep the gap reasonable and they didn't pull at all inside 20km.

On the other hand, if you watched the stage, you could see Hincappie sitting up and looking around, jockeying for position for the stage win quite a bit inside 10k. If he would have just put his head down and hammered, he could have kept that 5 seconds easy.

Today should be a great stage with the second of 3 mountain top finishes. Might shake up the GC a bit.

[Edited on July 19, 2009 at 9:17 AM. Reason : d]

7/19/2009 9:14:27 AM

the race is over. only question now is if Lance can hold on to second, and who will end up 3rd

Quote :

"General classification after stage 15 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 63:17:56 2 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:01:37 3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:01:46 4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:02:17 5 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:02:26 6 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:30 7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:02:51 8 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC 0:03:07 9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:03:09 10 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:03:25"

7/19/2009 11:39:20 AM

eh. Contador looked damn good on that climb and you may be right, but there are still some serious mountains left and a TT.

Who knows, that climb could have cooked him.

7/19/2009 12:15:41 PM

He straight BEASTED that final climb.

Great job Contador.

7/20/2009 9:25:48 AM

Nice effort by Lance and Kloden for pacing him as long as he did. But even Lance admitted the yellow jersey is most likely out of his reach.

http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/cycling/Versus_Tour_de_France/14579858

7/20/2009 11:23:19 AM

yep. read hist post race comments later yesterday after I posted. I guess he didn't look like he was suffering as much on the broadcast as much as he said he was afterwards.

I still am hoping for wiggins or one of the schleck brothers to beat contador, but it doesn't look likely with the way he climbed yesterday.

7/20/2009 12:13:06 PM

so is it for sure that lance isnt going to win or is he just waiting to come from behind?

7/20/2009 12:47:02 PM

I would never count Lance out. But the smart money is on the other front runner's.

7/20/2009 1:44:35 PM

Lance said he would be riding in support of Contador from here out so barring an injury or crash, Lance will not win the Tour this year.

7/20/2009 2:13:03 PM

I'm sure it's situational just like anything else. If Contador can keep riding the way he has the entire tour he'll win whether or not Lance will play his supporting role. But Lance is still a competitor, if he thinks he has a chance to win, he'll go all out against Contador.

7/20/2009 2:22:09 PM

Naw dog. Armstrong is American, not some sneaky frog like Hinault. He'll keep his word and support Contador unless Contador cracks or gets injured.

7/20/2009 3:08:27 PM

I thought it was fairly obvious when game plan was for Armstrong to get the yellow early that they knew he couldn't win the tour this year. I can imagine Contador, being Spanish and full of swagger and the most recent champion didn't really like being told to ride in second place, if only for a stage and he took off against team orders. Personally, if Lance comes back next year I'd love for nothing more than to see them boot Contador out and for those two to go head to head. This is assuming that Lance really does have something left in his body for it, which just might not be the case.

7/20/2009 4:42:41 PM

My understanding is that, if there is an Astana next year (which seems doubtful given their money issues this year), Lance definitely won't be on it. There have already been talks of a Livestrong-Trek team next year.

Would be cool to see a really fit Lance go head to head against Contador next year, though.

Not a fan of Contador at all. I don't have any reason to hate him except for that gay-ass Shooter Mcgavin celebration he does, I just can't stand him.

Oh yeah, now I remember... he whined about Levi Leipheimer not working hard enough for him at last year's vuelta as evidenced by LL coming in second.

[Edited on July 20, 2009 at 5:13 PM. Reason : d]

7/20/2009 5:10:55 PM

Jens Voigt took a nasty spill on the final descent today. I hope he is ok, and last I heard he was on the way to the hospital. Looked like his front wheel hit a rock and threw the bike out from under him. Ended up hitting the pavement face first going 55-60kmph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY6ljmQfvjI

Also, this should fuel speculation of a Lance Armstrong led team being created next year.

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/95588/bruyneel-astana-to-part-ways

[Edited on July 21, 2009 at 2:04 PM. Reason : d]

7/21/2009 1:39:08 PM

Quote :

"so is it for sure that lance isnt going to win or is he just waiting to come from behind?"

you can't "come from behind" if the only person in front of you is your teammate. The only chance for Lance to put time on Contador is to beat him in the TT, but there's almost no way he could put 1:40 on him, considering Contador beat him in the prologue.

7/21/2009 11:00:20 PM

contador pretty much wrapped it up in that last stage. He is such a solid all around rider and is amongst the best climbers. He's in his prime -Lance is admitedly not. However, crazier things have happened. Contador is a crash/flat away from ceding the leader role -although he certainly deserves it.

Quote :

"if Lance comes back next year"

he certainly wont be on the same team as contador. the american audience is going to be pissed that he "let contador win it" this year. its all about the $$ and the tour isnt half as profitable without lance being seen by americans as the leader of his own team.

FLOYD LANDIS in 2010!

7/22/2009 12:10:32 AM

awe....some.....

Look at Lance sitting of Frank Shleck's wheel. Schleck probably thought he could ride away from the old man up those steep hills

TWICE!

[Edited on July 22, 2009 at 10:17 AM. Reason : 2]

7/22/2009 10:16:22 AM

Quote :

"the american audience is going to be pissed that he "let contador win it" this year. its all about the $$ and the tour isnt half as profitable without lance being seen by americans as the leader of his own team"

What were you smoking when you typed that?

7/22/2009 10:30:38 AM

without America...... ZE TOUR WOULD BE NOZING!

7/22/2009 10:34:30 AM

Quote :

"Schleck probably thought he could ride away from the old man up those steep hills"

He can and did. Lance just doesn't have the climbing legs as some of the best guys this year. I imagine he will be back with a vengeance next year though.

7/22/2009 10:39:58 AM

what a complete toolbag contador is... just attacked for no apparent reason, dropped his teammate kloden and may have screwed the podium chances of kloden and armstrong in the process

Such a fuckhead. I knew he wasn't a team rider when he attacked on arcalis, but this just seals it.

7/22/2009 11:02:50 AM

Yeah, I don't know the reasoning behind attacking so soon. He was not in Danger of losing the Schleck brothers or his overall lead. It's a shame, that attack may have moved his team members off of the podium.

7/22/2009 11:23:19 AM

i think he was planning on dropping the Schlecks on that attack, but it backfired pretty badly

7/22/2009 11:27:10 AM

I'm sure that's what he was trying to do, but it was nothing more than a showboating move and it was a slap in the face to Kloden who hauled his ass up the mountain in the first place. He already had 2:30 on Andy and the Schlecks are average TTs at best and he already had a big time gap on the only other non-Astana contender in Wiggins. All he had to do was mark their moves and he basically had it wrapped up.

I'm bummed for Wiggins. Really like his style and I hope he can make some time in tomorrow's TT.

[Edited on July 22, 2009 at 11:38 AM. Reason : d]

7/22/2009 11:36:23 AM

so why did armstrong come back to get on a team with a guy thats better than him?

7/22/2009 1:10:46 PM

Astana was directed by Lance's longtime friend and director, Johan Bruyneel, and they are sponsored by Lance's preferred bike maker, Trek.

7/22/2009 1:41:37 PM

I follow Lance on Twitter and even HE said that he had no idea why Contador made that last kick.

7/23/2009 9:10:47 AM

he's young and brash and arrogant.

If it had been Lance, he would have known to use Kloden for as long as possible, because the Schlecks would team up against him if the break didn't stick. Contador, though, actually thought he was going to break cleanly away and finish the rest of the climb by himself, while the Schlecks and Kloden struggled behind them. It might not have even occurred to him that if his attack didn't stick that he would have lost Kloden in the process.

7/23/2009 10:03:31 AM

Contador is tearing this shit up.....

And Lance may be slipping

7/23/2009 11:24:49 AM

Contador's splits have been jaw dropping... my money is still on cancellara though. Fabian killed the second half of the course earlier.

7/23/2009 11:26:50 AM

Contador up by 15 seconds at the final checkpoint

hell yeah he beat Cancellara by 3 seconds

7/23/2009 11:36:40 AM

Radioshack to partner with Livestrong to sponsor Lance's new team next year. I have a feeling Contador won't be on it.

http://www.livestrong.com/lance-armstrong/video/radioshack-and-lance-to-form-new-cycling-team-in-2010/5687253c-7dc3-45d2-aae5-9d028d738b21/?utm_source=pacelinenewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=090723

7/23/2009 12:55:19 PM

good picture set
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/2009_tour_de_france.html

Tomorrow will be crazy. No telling what will happen..... hopefully Contador can take care of himself, so Lance can put some time into Andy Schleck. Probably not gonna happen, though..... I don't see how Frank and Andy will ever let Lance go.

Kloden will probably go past Wiggins into 4th, for whatever that's worth. Too bad, it is 100% Contador's fault that Kloden isn't in 2nd or 3rd right now.

7/24/2009 1:01:49 PM

I'd put my money on the schlecks going balls out and one of them taking the stage and maybe even some time (not enough to even make a dent on the lead) on contador and dropping lance and kloden. I wouldn't be surprised to see Sastre take the stage.

podium on sunday will be contador, andy schleck, frank schleck.

7/24/2009 1:08:31 PM