The tour starts Saturday with the prologue and Lance is back.

I'm rooting for Vande Velde and the Garmin team, although Saxobank and Astana are gonna be tough to beat I think.

7/1/2009 9:36:35 AM

its the tour de lance

ibtl

7/1/2009 9:50:10 AM

Contador.

I don't think Lance has had enough time to get back in shape to actually win the entire thing.

7/1/2009 12:10:12 PM

I dunno, he looked pretty damn good at the tail end of the Giro and it's been almost two months since then.

I wouldn't mind seeing Contador do well, though. One of the most interesting things about this tour will be the power struggle between Lance and Contador to see who is gonna be the alpha dog. Some are predicting it may not even be decided until the second to last stage.

7/1/2009 12:57:37 PM

I haven't been studying Astana but I had an impression (hunch?) that it's going to play out just like that, with Contador being the protected one for awhile and then if they think Lance really has a chance then they'll switch to him. I suppose they really can take care of both and whoever wins the mountains wins. I'm just kinda pumped because I didn't get into cycling until '06, so I missed all the Lance tours the first time around.

7/1/2009 4:18:51 PM

the order of the stages is a bit different from the last couple of years. intermediate time trial with a bit of climbing to begin with, team time trial a little later on. the final time trial is a few days before the finish and isn't the penultimate stage....that honour goes to a stage ending with an ascent of the giant mont ventoux.

7/1/2009 10:33:39 PM

fucking sweet, they added the team time trial back. I started to comment in the last post I'd love to see it.

7/1/2009 10:44:07 PM

Yes, I also love the team trial, or as it used to be known, the US Postal Service Team Invitational. Glad it's back. I'm also interested in that final mountain stage on the next to last day of the tour. The overall order of the stages is something I do like, getting the south of France out of the way early. Did I read correctly that Alpe D'Huez is not involved at all this year? Either way, it looks like this could be a great tour.

7/2/2009 2:18:12 AM

Can't wait - picked up the preview mag at REI today to tide me till the weekend. This is one of the saving graces of the mid-summer sports lull

Alpe D'Huez has been more of an every-other-year thing as of late. It was in last year. I think it's a shame as it's certainly one of the more amazing climbs from a spectator's POV.

7/2/2009 3:07:57 AM

you guys really get excited for this shit?

7/2/2009 7:39:53 AM

^^ don't worry, mont ventoux is a spectacular climb as well. only 3 mountain-top finishes this year though, and with the short time trials, it'll probably be pretty close till the last few days.

[Edited on July 2, 2009 at 7:54 AM. Reason : ]

7/2/2009 7:54:42 AM

The tour is also experimenting with two stages with no radio usage. It will be interesting because you won't have the managers coaching from the cars and reeling the breaks in during the last 5km.

^ventoux has the potential to be spectacular. If there are a handful of guys within striking distance, you could have the GC come down to a climb on the last real day of the tour. It'd be even more awesome if Contador and Lance were both competing for the GC that day going completely balls out.

7/2/2009 9:20:01 AM

I don't think Sastre can be ruled out as well. He won two mountain finishes in the Giro and although he doesn't have a great team behind him, maybe he can hang in there and give it the kitchen sink up Ventoux.

7/2/2009 9:42:00 AM

I like Sastre, but last year he was helped immensely by having the schlecks behind him and no Lance to contend with. He is a great climber, but I just dont think he has the team behind him to be able to attack the likes of cancellera or the schlecks and lance or contador and to not lose some time in the TTT.

Hell, my favorite for the race is in the same boat riding for a weaker garmin team. Astana and Saxobank are just so stacked this year. Then again, Menchov won the Giro without the horses behind him so who knows? I'm excited about it, though.

7/2/2009 10:54:50 AM

Quote :

"The tour is also experimenting with two stages with no radio usage. It will be interesting because you won't have the managers coaching from the cars and reeling the breaks in during the last 5km."

I like the experiment but I think all that will happen is they'll just shut down every break when it happens or maybe in the later stages (if that is where they don't use the radio) they'll know who they can let go and don't care if they finish and who they'll make sure to shut down.


What, no Cadel Evans love here? Too old?

Quote :

"you guys really get excited for this shit?"

Sure, why not? It's arguably more healthy than trying to win wolf web sports threads.

7/2/2009 11:43:09 AM

Cadel Evans could make a run at it too although his team took a hit with Dekker testing positive for EPO. That's part of why this year is so good with such a wide open field.

Menchov looked so good at the Giro that I would throw him in the mix too, but his team is pretty weak and its hard to peak for two grand tours so close together.

7/2/2009 12:53:52 PM

Quote :

"^ventoux has the potential to be spectacular. If there are a handful of guys within striking distance, you could have the GC come down to a climb on the last real day of the tour. It'd be even more awesome if Contador and Lance were both competing for the GC that day going completely balls out."

7/2/2009 6:07:39 PM

iswydt

7/3/2009 8:36:06 AM

watching all the old ones on VS right now. Lance weekend


Need to blast AMERICA...........FUCK YEAH

7/3/2009 9:24:43 PM

I watched a few of those too.. the time trial at Alpe D'Huez, the stage a few years back where Ullrich missed the turn, and Armstrong waited for him (that was on a few days ago), and others. Now, we get to watch it live again. Can't wait.

7/4/2009 2:18:26 AM

anyone here have a JustinTV channel showing the Versus coverage?

i found this one showing the EuroSport coverage - http://www.justin.tv/golden_dragon

7/4/2009 10:07:52 AM

i'm having a hard time finding what the start times are and who hasn't actually gone yet (no TV), but looks like a great start for the US and Astana guys

as of 17:44 CEST
1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0:20:02
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Columbia-HTC 0:20:05
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:20:12
4 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Slipstream 0:20:20
5 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:20:24


that's awesome to have a real time trial start instead of the usual 5k, 3-4 minute sprint prologues

7/4/2009 11:55:08 AM

Astana turned it out with 4 guys in the top 10. Contador looks to have the early lead over Lance for the alpha dog on the team. I'm just glad noone wrecked.

^^ I think this link should work. http://www.justin.tv/jtvfamous4 I watched it on TV, but that's the link they were handing out on another forum I go to.

[Edited on July 4, 2009 at 5:43 PM. Reason : d]

7/4/2009 5:41:35 PM

http://atdhe.net/7528/watch-le-tour-de-france-2009

7/6/2009 10:11:23 AM

Thanks. I had been just watching the text updates on http://www.velonews.com (great site for commentary afterward btw), but video is much better.

7/6/2009 10:27:46 AM

Yeah, I was blown away when I found that feed. It's quite good for streaming. Not HD, but definitely good enough.

7/6/2009 10:37:51 AM

awesome finish here.... armstrong in a break up 38sec with 5km to go. All of the main contenders are back with the peleton.

Should be awesome to see what happens with Astana from here because there are 3 Astana members pushing the break away from their supposed leader Contador.

7/6/2009 12:00:45 PM

Yeah, kinda shocked Astana got caught napping. Amazing how dominating Cavendish is.

7/6/2009 12:14:53 PM

The Contador side of Astana got caught, but Lance and his group didn't. He just put himself in 3rd in the GC with that ending.

7/6/2009 12:16:22 PM

well if Astana performs like they should tomorrow in the Team Time Trial, Lance will jump right into Yellow. Then we'll see the debate heat up over who's the "team leader"!

7/6/2009 12:31:06 PM

contador can suck on that. if levi decides to get on the lance wagon i think he can do it. i dont think we will see contador pulling lance up the mountain on purpose. i truly think levi knows he is not going to be a gc contender on his own. he is smart enough to know if he works with someone he could be 3rd-5th in the gc.

7/6/2009 12:55:01 PM

in all fairness, the astana guys didn't pull the break very much until the end as they approached the finish. I honestly think they got caught up in an unexpected break and went along for the ride until they realized the peleton wasn't going to catch them

7/6/2009 3:27:19 PM

Lance and the team fined $92 for being late at registration this morning

dudes are riding $10000 bikes and we know he makes millions

$92

7/6/2009 8:01:12 PM

^bill gates got a speeding ticket the other day

dude is worth numerous billions of dollars, and they give him like a 100 dollar ticket

100

7/6/2009 8:04:55 PM

yup if I were rich like that I would just have a few millions set aside for parking tickets and speeding tickets

7/6/2009 8:44:44 PM

yeah, the fine was laughable. I read a quote somewhere and the race director was pissed saying he wanted to raise the fines. They weren't even late for the start, just not as early as they were supposed to be and it was supposedly because of heavy traffic.

7/6/2009 8:47:21 PM

Great ride by astana. lance nearly takes the yellow if not for a great effort by cancellara taking some heroic pulls for saxobank who finished with the minimum 5.

The Garmin guys are in great shape right now, but its hard to argue with 4 out of the top 5 in the GC being Astana.

7/7/2009 11:43:58 AM

5 of the top 7.

7/7/2009 11:54:12 AM

damn versus for having craig & bob yammering on during the 8PM telecast. i try not to find out what happened in the day's stage so that i can come back home and listen to the dulcet tones of phil and paul narrating the action.

7/9/2009 7:19:54 AM

Quote :

"listen to the dulcet tones of phil and paul narrating the actionsucking on lance's dick. "

7/9/2009 9:31:05 AM

i think any american based coverage of the event , no matter who it is, would be doing the same

7/9/2009 12:55:05 PM

Yeah, i understand that, its just annoying because there are other american riders and american teams that are legitimate GC contenders and they barely talk about them. Besides, Lance is as dirty as you can get as far as doping goes in my opinion so it kills me to hear the announcers swoon over him constantly.

7/9/2009 1:02:19 PM

so I joined a fantasy TDF league with some friends of mine, and I'm a total noob at this sport.

can people who know post their best guesses for who will place top 15 for tomorrow's stage? The next two are climbing stages, right?

Quote :

"Your team: Tony Martin Alberto Contador Koldo Fernandez Franco Pellizotti Kurt-Asle Arvesen Julian Dean Mark Cavendish David Millar Lance Armstrong Your Bench: Jurgen Van De Walle Markus Fothen Sebastian Lang Christophe Riblon Thomas Voeckler Arnaud Coyot "

7/9/2009 5:37:08 PM

My money would be on these...in this order.

Lance Armstrong
Alberto Contador
Thomas Voeckler
Koldo Fernandez
Franco Pellizotti
Tony Martin

[Edited on July 9, 2009 at 9:33 PM. Reason : for climbing stages, at least]

7/9/2009 9:33:20 PM

Quote :

"Yeah, i understand that, its just annoying because there are other american riders and american teams that are legitimate GC contenders and they barely talk about them. Besides, Lance is as dirty as you can get as far as doping goes in my opinion so it kills me to hear the announcers swoon over him constantly. "

Do you have any proof to back up your opinion?

7/9/2009 10:44:24 PM

^funny, as soon as i read that, i, too, was going to pose the same question

7/9/2009 11:13:48 PM

Unfortunately, there is no direct proof, which is why he is still riding and not banned. The circumstantial evidence, though, is pretty damning.

Most of his "heroic efforts" that have blown the race open through the years have been so unprecedented that they are along the lines of Barry Bonds' record homer season--everyone knows something is off, but noone can prove anything.

B samples from 1999 did come back positive for EPO a few years ago and a good number of his US Postal Service Teammates have since been caught doping. He has had a sketchy and close relationship with an italian doctor who was implicated in a huge doping scandal. Hell, he joined a team that was banned from the Tour last year because of a huge doping scandal. I mean, the list goes on and on of sketchy stuff that he has been involved in or around.

The widespread thought that he is the most tested athlete and all that is basically a myth. He isn't tested anymore than the other top GC contenders. 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.

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.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/the_bonus/07/07/tour/index.html

You could say "well, its not really cheating if everyone is doing it" and you might partially have a point except that now there are several teams (garmin and columbia) that are running clean programs with rigorous off season testing programs by independent labs.

Anyways, I think having Lance at this year's tour adds drama and makes it more exciting, but I hope he gets hammered on the final climb today.

Also, I like this list, but I would flip-flop Contador and Armstrong today because it is in his home country.

Quote :

"Lance Armstrong Alberto Contador Thomas Voeckler Koldo Fernandez Franco Pellizotti Tony Martin"

[Edited on July 10, 2009 at 9:24 AM. Reason : d]

7/10/2009 8:55:02 AM

Quote :

"Hell, he joined a team that was banned from the Tour last year because of a huge doping scandal."

Put yourself in his shoes. Wouldnt you want to join the team that was managed by the same guy (Johan Bruyneel) that managed you through EVERY past TDF win?

7/10/2009 9:54:17 AM

I know why he joined the team (in addition to being sponsored by Trek), but that's half the point dude. Bruyneel was managing those US Postal/Discovery/Astana teams where, at the very least, many of the members were doping (as they have been caught or admitted later).

Some former US Postal members have said that there was systematic doping going on throughout the tour winning years and all members were expected to participate.

I understand it helps most casual cycling fans enjoy the tour more if there is a legitimate American hero in the mix to win. But if you have ever assumed or suspected Barry Bonds was a cheater, then you are being intellectually dishonest to not suspect the same of Lance--who has much more evidence against him.

You want a real American cyclist to root for? Christian Vandevelde (from the Garmin-Chipolte team) sits 12th in the GC and if not for a broken collarbone a couple months ago, he would probably be one of the favorites.


[Edited on July 10, 2009 at 10:12 AM. Reason : d]

7/10/2009 10:09:04 AM

I cant disagree with you. It does look sketchy.

7/10/2009 10:49:41 AM