Cycling

[...]

I love the Tour de France. I only started watching it two years ago, but now I get edgy if I miss a stage. I have gone beyond just oggling the scenery and podium girls to knowing what the coloured jerseys stand for to pontificating about race tactics. No Geraint Thomas this year. I have not noticed a Schleck yet, either. Mark Cavendish, by the way, has an absolutely sensational girlfriend (Petra Todd) and, to be fair, he deserves her. He's an emotional guy. He fell off his bike yesterday. He looked like he was about to start crying as he limped over the finish line.

 

[matt b]

Only Frank Schleck this year (Andy's injured) and he's already minutes behind yellow.
Thomas is concentrating on Olympics.

Cav and Sagan have been good.

Radioshack have the worst helmets I think I've ever seen

 

[yyaldrin]

The tour is kinda Anglo-Saxificating innit? I liked it more when there were all this tropical Colombians, cult-cyclists from Italy and Spain and Ullrich <3

 

[matt b]

^ Nibali is a favoured GC contender

Euskaltel-Euskadi will make a showing in the mountains

Haven't Sky got a Columbian riding?

 

[luka]

i read a good book about the history of columbian cycling,i reccomendit

 

[jenks]

Wiggins in yellow tonight. Great day at Tour with Sky smashing it up at the front and Cadel left isolated.

The Metz massacre yesterday was pretty gruesome - dunno if anyone saw teh pictures from people like Millar and Ryder - major injuries, including one bloke riding to the stage finish with a punctured lung.

@luka - was it Kings of the Mountain by Matt Rendell? He's very good.

 

[jenks]

The tour is kinda Anglo-Saxificating innit? I liked it more when there were all this tropical Colombians, cult-cyclists from Italy and Spain and Ullrich <3

Plenty of spanish and italians riding - just not so well now that drug testing has got so good - maybe a coincidence, maybe not. I think the anglo-Saxonification might be overplayed - there's just a few from each country and it's a bit of a blip to have the best sprinterin the world and the current yellow jersey coming from GB.

Great to see Sagan from Slovakia coming through with a certain star quality but the core of the peleton are still mainly French/dutch/spanish/italian/belgian and german.

 

[luka]

thats the one jenks. amazing story.

 

[Tentative Andy]

^^ I'm warming to Sagan a lot, despite his smug face and daft celebrations.
Missed the first couple of Tour stages this year 'cause I was away on holiday, so it's taken me a bit longer than usual to fully get into it, but I think I'm hooked again now. Rewatching the highlights of yesterday's stage as I type.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Cracking stage today.

 

[jenks]

What Wiggo just did today was phenomenal - not so much winning - he has won TTs before - but the amount of time he put into Martin (ok puncture/broken wrist) and Fabian. No-one does that to Spartacus.
What about Froome? Makes Cadel's job that much harder - if he puts a dent in Brad then Froome can take his place, like cutting off the head of Hydra - a new Sky rider just steps up. Expect big rides by Porte, Eisel and EBH over the next week.
And, of course there's another TT on the penultimate stage, possibly meaning Brad can put another two minutes into Cadel.
Nibali and Menchov have to do something or they'll be handing the Tour on a plate to the Brits.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Wiggins' race to lose now?
(Feels weird to be saying that as early on as this, but he's got a serious advantage).

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

No-one does that to Spartacus

yeah but doesn't that make it kind of...you know. obv wiggins is great in the TT but to just obliterate the entire field like this. and not to mention froome doing the same. I mean it sucks that anytime a guy pulls a transcendent performance doping immediately comes up (tho obviously pro cycling has only itself to blame) but don't see how it can't loom here.

of course I'd happy to be wrong, and I don't want to steal yall's moment of glory - esp right on the heels of wimbledon - but anytime I hear words like "unreal" and "incredible" I start thinking of floyd landis (and sammy sosa/barry bonds/etc).

 

[jenks]

I really think you are barking up the wrong tree here - these guys make all their data etc available for all to see within the community.The main reason Sky didn't sign David Millar is because of his doping past - they just will not consider him.
I think it is more about the meticulous planning carried over from the GB track team - Brailsford, Yates, Boardman plus plenty of others working out just what needs to be doen and going and doing it. Lots of number crunching and very specific training - teh days of Eddy Merckx racing 200 days a year is well and truly over.
By all accounts Wiggins lived like a hermit in Tenerife for about 6 weeks just going up hills and suffering like a dog. Worth remembering that Wiggins has 3 golds on the track already and Froome should have won the Vuelta.

 

[...]

So exciting!

Being a pro cyclist looks absolute hell and the best fun in the world at the same time.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Re: doping, Froome is the guy I've had suspicions about, but I suspect this is knee-jerk stuff on my part due to me not following cycling too closely outside of the Tour. If I knew more about his form generally I prob wouldn't be so surprised by how he's going past all the established guys and seems to find energy when no-one else has it.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Love this btw.

If I was riding I would def want Marc Madiot as my team director.

 

[...]

I loved that as well. It's one of the most adorable things I've ever seen in sport.

 

[jenks]

the fake Peter sagan account on twitter is wonderfully silly:
@TweeterSagan

 

[...]

He looks like a surly, wiry Brad Pitt on a bike, but then as soon as he's on two feet, talking to a television camera, he's like any dopey Year 10 lad from the Shires (but with an Eastern European accent).