Tour de France 09

[LostDoggy]

Starts in 3 days
Cadel Evans' teammate has just been done for EPO. His chances of winning are going to be tough.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/tourdefrance/evans-teammate-tests-positive/2009/07/02/1246127587360.html

[Mantis]

Re: Tour de France 09

Can't wait.

Going to be many a late night sitting up watching the mountain stages.

Best international sporting event of the year.

[Bornadog]

Re: Tour de France 09

Can't wait.

Going to be many a late night sitting up watching the mountain stages.

Best international sporting event of the year.

Yes, I really love it. Lets hope Cadel can go one step better. The Spanish will be hard to beat.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Tour de France 09

Yes, I really love it. Lets hope Cadel can go one step better. The Spanish will be hard to beat.

On the plus side, hopefully

1) he'll get a bit more support in the hills from his teammates (he'll hardly get any less).
2) he'll keep the rubber bits between him and the road for the entire tour this year
3) Armstrong is going to get all the publicity this year. Cadel didn't handle it well last year.


On the debit side

Alberto Contador is back
Levi Liepheimer is back
Carlos Sastre will be there again
The Schenk brothers will be there again and the younger one is going to be better.

[Bornadog]

Re: Tour de France 09

On the plus side, hopefully

1) he'll get a bit more support in the hills from his teammates (he'll hardly get any less).
2) he'll keep the rubber bits between him and the road for the entire tour this year
3) Armstrong is going to get all the publicity this year. Cadel didn't handle it well last year.


On the debit side

Alberto Contador is back
Levi Liepheimer is back
Carlos Sastre will be there again
The Schenk brothers will be there again and the younger one is going to be better.

Cadels biggest problem has been the support from his team. I haven't really seen his team this year, but with at least two out due to drugs ( including the German earlier in the year), hope they are strong enough to get him home.

[Hot_Doggies]

Re: Tour de France 09

Contador first, daylight second.

It would be a huge effort for Cadel to finish on the podium 3 yrs running.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Tour de France 09

Can't wait for this.

Anyone been down to the warehouse sale in Tulla?

[GVGjr]

Re: Tour de France 09

Day 1 results:

1. Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank in 19:32
2. Alberto Contador Astana in 19:50 at 00.18
3. Bradley Wiggins Garmin - Slipstream in 19:51 at 00:19
4. Andréas Kloden Astana in 19:54 at 00:22
5. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto in 19:55 at 00:23
6. Levi Leipheimer Astana in 20:02 at 00:30
7. Roman Kreuziger Liquigas in 20:04 at 00:32
8. Tony Martin Team Columbia - Htc in 20:05 at 00:33
9. Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas in 20:09 at 00:37
10. Lance Armstrong Astana in 20:12 at 00:40

[Mantis]

Re: Tour de France 09

Good start by Cadel. Although Contador & the Astana team look strong and I think Cadel's chances will be shot after the Team TT. Astana have 4 riders in side the top 10, Cadel's team (Silence Lotto) have just 3 inside the top 100.

Cancellera was a moral to win the TT. Big surprise was Dennis Menchov having a shocker and is almost out of the running.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Tour de France 09

With 4 placegetters Astana look like CSC of last year.
I heard the stats about Contador. Won the tour by 30 or so seconds, the Guelta and Giro also by low margins and time bonuses.
If he wins, it won't be by much.
Also Evans needs a number of contenders from different teams to help him out, if 1 team like Astana gang up on him again, he is no chance.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Tour de France 09

The other Aussie Rogers has almost conceded he won't win now. Usually a very good time trialer but he lost 1:13 on the prologue because he dropped his chain twice.

[BulldogBelle]

Re: Tour de France 09

Always look forward to watching the Tour De France, especially the mountain stages. So quite a few late nights coming up for me. A couple of friends of mine who are right into the cycling and big Lance Armstrong fans have flown over to follow the tour close up.

[Bornadog]

Re: Tour de France 09

[Mantis]

Re: Tour de France 09

Interesting that Armstrong gained about 40secs on Contador, Evans and the rest of the GC riders in last nights stage.

Not sure how tactics played out to allow this to happen, but one must think that Armstrong isn't seen as a major threat.

[Raw Toast]

Re: Tour de France 09

Big night, though I didn't stay up to see it - those winds can be very tricky and some claim that it was Contador that lossed the wheel that caused the break, Evans is normally in the right places for things like that, so he'll be a bit upset.

In some ways I don't mind that Armstrong made it and almost no one else - I hate almost all of Astana (except Kloden for some reason) and reckon the only way they can stuff it up is if things go really sour between Contador and Armstrong. It's got potential to be as bad as the last Tour that Armstrong competed in when Vinikurov made what could have been a defining break, only for his supposed team-mate Ullrich to bring Armstrong back to him (something the Schleck's were careful to avoid last year when Sastre made the break).

The team time trial is now very important, and for Silence-Lotto it's just about minimising the loss. Even if they have a bad one however, there's still a heap of racing to go in this one. The second last stage looks a cracker, especially coming after a time-trial where riders have to work out how much to leave in the tank for the climb...