TOUR de FRANCE TOUR de FRANCE !! Let's talk!

[Not Afraid]

It's time for the annual July Kraftwerk singalong and the watching of my FAVORITE sporting event, the Tour de France!

I always seem to ferret out at least 2 or 3 Tour fans on these boards. So, this is the place. Talk about the race, the standings, the accidents, the hopes, the glories, the tragedies, history.......all of it. I can never get enough.

This is literally the ONLY sporting event I watch (other than the Olympics) and for several short days in the Month of July, I become a fanatic. I've been watching since 1983. I'm like a werewolf during at full moon when it comes to Le Tour.

So, fans? Fanatics? Lovers of the sport? Let's talk!

[Alchimedes]

Oh man I had thought about doing this!! yes!!!
Armstrong really blew by Ullrich today!! Not to mention four Americans in the top 15 places!!! Wow!! I never thought I would see this day.
It is too bad Jan Ullrich had that crash yesterday. What a blow to his morale!
Any thought on this And congrats to future star Zabriskie!! Nice job!!

[Not Afraid]

Zabriskie was a surprise! I am very happy for him. I love the queing up that goes on in these first stages. You really see the teams starting to work themselves out.

[Alchimedes]

It is really amazing how the Tour is like a huge show. but I heard a story when Lance gets ready for a race he tunes out everything.
Sheryl Crow once aprroached him and he didn't even know she was there. These guys are so focused!!!
Disappointed in Ivan Basso and Levi Leipheimer. I hope they are just getting warmed up.
It was awesome last month when Zabriskie won that time trial in the Giro.

[Not Afraid]

Great finish today! It's nice to see some pretty important sprinters vying for the stage win. Robbie McEwan is such a solid racer, but Thomas Booden has him beat on sheer leg power alone. The size difference between the two racers was astounding.

It's also nice to see Thomas Voecker in another color than yellow. I'm sure he wouldn't mind another run at the yellow, but wearing polkadot for a bit (at least in the flatter stages) is sort of cool.

I'm going to miss tomorrow's stage. I will have WiFi at the beach but no television coverage - and no TIVO or VCR. Yeah, it's the dark ages here.

[Alchimedes]

Yea Tom had a tooth ache and almost did not Race the Tour. What nice JOB!! Boonen also made it look easy. His teammates celebrating is always awesome to see textbook team work!! Quick step has some big guns for domestiques. My wife has crush on Thomas Voekler! Lance in Green is odd. Great photos, here is a great site for checking out the results.
www.cyclingnews.com Let 's hope Lance and the top general classification riders can stay out of the crashes. This Tour is so wide open.

I agree Thomas V in Yellow was great for France they need A TDF champion. Once these guys have tasted yellow they want more!

[Alchimedes]

Tom Boonen again!!! Wow what power. Although I would have loved to see Erik Dekker win. (personal favorite) They were just danglin out there!

[Not Afraid]

I was at the Beach all day yesterday and missed coverage. Boonen is just ON! Very cool for him and his team.

I agree, Lance in Green is so strange. Polkadot maybe, but green? He's such a great all around cyclist.

I was reading a list of birth and death for July 16th and Miguel Induráin will turn 41 on that day.

[Alchimedes]

Rough day for CSC Pro Team they lost the jersey. LANCE IS IN YELLOW!!
Although I think it is too early to carry the jersey to Paris. I believe there will be a breakaway that will shake things up in the coming weeks. This race is so much up in the air as to who will win it? We won't see the climbing "guns" until the Tour goes vertical. Poor Zabriskie had A rough day The crash at almost 60 kmh was harsh he was badly injured but made it back solo.
Not Afraid,
did you see the controversy between OGRADY and MCWEN?

Mcewen, is just so stupid he just won't let upon the fact that he was pushing (on camera)OGrady in the Stage Two Sprint. They were both relagated to last. Then Ogrady's placing was reinstated.
The Bumping in the sprint at 35+ mph has got to be nerve racking or the sprinters just have nerves of steel! But today's stage was a true

[dontbecheekin]

Go Lance!

sorry, I root for him but I really know nothing about cycling. Just a lance fan for some reason! woo!

[DLRP_bopazot]

i used to watch that sport every day during the event but not anymore i don't have time to watch it .

i can go easily to the final at the Champs Elysées .

I Remember that time where '' Le Tour de France'' were at Disneyland Paris for a Stop and Started on Main-Street USA .

[MiceMan]

Ok, did I hear that Lance was in first? Or is it just wishful thinking? Where can I check the standings?

[Not Afraid]

Man. I just need to not have a life for the month of July. Day 2 of missing the coverage and I may miss it tomorrow too.

Yay for Lance, but it is not usual (but not impossible) to keep the Yellow the entire race. Induráin did it. Lance usually seems avoids it. Butm we'll see what happens. The time Induráin kept it for the entire race was the most boring Tour ever, but, man, was he a machine!

I need to go look at highlights and see about the O'Grady issue.

Oh, and OLN.com or the Tour de France website will have coverage.

[Alchimedes]

www.cyclingnews.com.. try that it is much better!

[Alchimedes]

One more thing Lance Im sure you know has a completely different fit to his bike, his position on the sadlle was lower Precancer and he was a " gear masher " or bigger gears slower pedal cadence.
Post cancer -he has a new fit ON HIS BIKE, lost weight, and has smoothed out his pedaling.

I have old race videos of his bike fit versus new it is astounding. if he had not had cancer(not that anyone should have it)he never would have won the Tour he would still be a One day Classics racer.