364 replies to this topic

[HoofHearted]

Calling all pedal-philes! (sorry)

The most arduous sporting event in the world is back.

Begins today with one of the tour`s frequent visits to foreign parts.

An 8 km prologue time trial around central London today, Stage 1 Greenwich - Canterbury tomorrow. Finishing with the usual procession into Paris on 29 July.

As usual, there`s the usual shambles with drugs, many of the teams have refused to sign up to an anti-doping charter, and Alessandro Petacchi has been suspended for failing a dope test.

Possible winners this year? Can`t really look past Alexander Vinokourov, Andreas Kloden, or Alejandro Valverde ,who probably has age on his side.

[MattIowa1]

I'll probably end up watching who's on the leaderboard and start going...

OK, he's doping, he's probably doping, doping, not doping, doping, doping....

Might be a fun game to play...guess who's on drugs!

[khyber]

Yesterday's sprint finish with Fab to the line. Wow!!
What I truly love about the Tour is the great commentary. Its a knowledgeable, witty, group of guys who really know a turn of phrase or two. I can't wait for the "suitcase of pain."

[Cheezitsofcool]

I'll probably end up watching who's on the leaderboard and start going...

OK, he's doping, he's probably doping, doping, not doping, doping, doping....

Might be a fun game to play...guess who's on drugs!

Funny, I've been doing that with baseball, basketball and football for years!

Oh, and Le Tour sont ici??? = The Tour are here.

Ouch!

Because grammar matters in every language, how about changing the topic to "Le Tour est arrivé"?

[Wally]

Perhaps Bob Roll of the Tour de Fraaaaaance named the forum?

And I believe Vino had a collision with the suitcase of pain today.

Has anyone else had problems with the videos on versus.com? I tried to watch some of the post-race interviews today and had no luck getting any of them to load. Is anyone watching this?

[tardigrade]

I've been biking again for the first time after a bad accident some years ago, so I watch to see people who are having a worse time than I am!

Seriously, I've been following the sport since the LeMond days - even got to catch Le Tour in France once, and once I get past Roll's pronunciation of Fraaaaaaance the Versus coverage isn't that bad. Yeah, it could be better, but it's better than nothing.

Being a connoisseur of falls: I'm surprised Vino's even riding after yesterday's fall. Ouch!

[travel9x]

I'm not that familiar with past Tours (started watching two years ago) but doesn't this year's Tour seem to be crash city? I really felt for Rogers on today's stage.

Edited by travel9x, Jul 15, 2007 @ 5:35 PM.

[vayacon]

There usually are quite a few crashes in the first week, but this is one of the more crash-tastic years, I'd say, with a lot of bad luck. Michael Rogers broke my heart yesterday: I wonder, if they'd known it was a dislocated shoulder, if they could have popped it back in and he could have kept on going?

[OopsSorry]

Did anyone have no sound for a couple of days on Versus? Today I hope to catch up with my DVR'd coverage, but know that for a good amount of yesterday and the day before, there was no sound. Anyone else?

[TraceyBee]

We had sound, OopsSorry. The only technical problem we're having is the satellite picture break-up that everyone's getting.

[Ravenna McBride]

There usually are quite a few crashes in the first week, but this is one of the more crash-tastic years, I'd say, with a lot of bad luck. Michael Rogers broke my heart yesterday: I wonder, if they'd known it was a dislocated shoulder, if they could have popped it back in and he could have kept on going?

Tough luck for the Aussies this year. Michael Rogers (who we saw retire) and Stuart O'Grady who apparently had a horrible crash and was shown being loaded into an ambulance. Multiple broken ribs forced his retirement. Robbie McEwen went out Sunday on time. Cadel Evans is their last hope (though not a bad horse to back at all).

Go Levi!

[OopsSorry]

Thanks, TraceyBee. Comcast Chicago swore it was nationwide and a problem with Versus, not their system. I now have a bit of evidence to the contrary!

Those crashes yesterday in the rainy time trial were very difficult to watch. Poor Cancellara.

Anyone know why Phil and Paul are sooo into Levi Leipheimer? I love these two to death, but the seemingly-unfounded plugs are annoying.

[Shant]

I think that is encouraged by the higher ups at Versus. American cycling fans apparently need to know that even though Lance is gone there is an American in contention or they won't tune in. Or so the producers of televised sporting events seem to think. There is some truth to that I'm sure. I think the French are doing the same to some extent based on the footage shown. I'm Canadian and don't have a countryman to cheer for but I don't care I just want to watch the race.

Phil and Paul have probably been told to do "Levi Watch" to keep people interested. It has been a bit annoying when Levi or Chris Horner are interviewed over and over again before they get to the stage winner or jersey wearers. They are interesting guys but mix it up a little for crying out loud. There are so many other guys who may never get a stage or a jersey who still do great things I'd like to here from (lead out men for sprinters for instance - that's a skill right there). I do think that now that Levi is top 5 the attention is more justified.

[Wally]

I agree--a bit much with Leipheimer. And it was kind of annoying to me that they didn't have anyone to interview Contador after his stage win, saying some day they would interview him--when his English gets better. Versus can't hire a Spanish-speaking interviewer? It was a departure from some of the over-coverage of Team Discovery. I know they are trying to appeal to the American audience and they have done some impressive rides but I feel like if we knew more about some of the other riders the race would be more exciting. I was pleased this weekend they finally seemed to have interviews of Rasmussen. And I wish they would have more behind-the-scenes type coverage talking about how cyclists train, how teams develop their strategies, how long it took Phil to come up with the phrase "ride of fire," etc.

I am a little surprised at how little the Versus coverage talks about doping scandals. There has been little discussion of the Landis affair and I haven't noticed any discussion of the Rasmussen controversy this year, though I may have missed it. I appreciate that they do really focus on the racing but it seems like they need more commentary and backstory.

[Richyyy]

I agree--a bit much with Leipheimer. And it was kind of annoying to me that they didn't have anyone to interview Contador after his stage win, saying some day they would interview him--when his English gets better. Versus can't hire a Spanish-speaking interviewer?

Interesting. Our coverage over here in the UK uses the same commentators for the stages, but obviously everything around the actual footage is different. We have an interviewer guy on the ground called Ned Boulting (that might be spelt incorrectly) who apparently can speak about 7 languages and effortlessly switched to Spanish to interview one of the key players tonight (probably Contador). He also managed to turn a 'no comment' from Rasmussen into something resembling a denial.

Much of the conclusion to the show tonight was about the Rasmussen situation and interviewing various guys about what they thought about it. I find it amusing that David Millar is now considered something of an 'expert' because he got caught cheating and has now come back onto the tour. It's understandable, but it's like - "David, you were a lying, cheating bastard who screwed the world of cycling by cheating your way to any success you ever had. How do you feel this latest scandal is affecting the Tour?"

[Shant]

What was the general consensus about the Rasmussen situation? It seems like a bit of a tempest in a teapot to me. He screwed up and was punished for it and so far hasn't had a positive drug test, just a tendency to thumb his nose at authority. That whole mountain biker and the shoebox story is off the wall but still just talk right now. What gets me is the timing of the announcement. He got in trouble back in June which is when it should of hit the press. It's hard not to see the timing as payback for not following the rules and not being sufficiently repentent about messing up. Drama, drama, drama.

[vayacon]

I really don't think there was a consensus. When they interviewed the commentators, they were torn between suggesting Rasmussen was bringing the sport into further bad repute, and questioning why it wasn't leaked until he was in yellow. They were pretty negative though, one said it felt like 98 with raids, depression etc. When Boulting interviewed Rasmussen himself, and he (rather wafflingly) said the shoebox story wasn't true, Boulting said he could have saved us all a lot of bother and speculation if he'd only said that earlier. The cyclists interviewed had all just come off hours of racing. A few of them said if he's done it, he should be out right now, and seemed fairly pissed off. Cadel Evans said he didn't give a dayum. Millar did the same drugs-are-bad speech, but ended up saying it was good for cycling because it shows the testing system just doesn't work and needs to be changed. And Robbie Hunter did a nice, strong interview saying Rasmussen hadn't been caught doing anything wrong (ie there's a reason 2 misses doesn't equal a positive) and the pack of journalists should just calm down, sit back and watch the racing, which is what it's all about. I think they're all getting a bit sick of riding hard all day than being mobbed by people who don't ask them anything about the race and just go on about drugs...

Edited by vayacon, Jul 24, 2007 @ 12:56 AM.

[Wally]

The UCI seems to have handled this terribly. Why is all of this coming out during the Tour if the second missed test was in June? And the UCI is saying now that maybe Rasmussen shouldn't be racing, even though they knew about the missed tests before the Tour started. And then making statements that they hope he doesn't win? And then backtracking. They really seem to have no idea what they're doing and have absolutely no idea how to manage damage control.

I'm not sure how reliable this is but I read in VeloNews that Richards (the mountain biker claiming to have been asked by Rasmussen to transport doping materials) talked to a reporter in 2002 but because he wanted to remain anonymous the story never ran, though it did show up in "From Lance to Landis" by David Walsh. If this is true it does make the story more convincing, though I suppose it doesn't say anything about whether he is doping now. And I don't know what doping tool would allow him to stay miraculously upright during a time trial.

I agree that this year's Tour has been really exciting but totally overshadowed by the fact that all anyone in the media wants to talk about is doping. It's a shame.

Thanks for the tip on Boulting's interviews, Richyyy, I've found some of them online. I wish Versus would air them. I wonder what their logic is behind not airing them? This is an English-only Tour day France? Hee!

[jolanda]

I knew it, I fucking knew it. *shakes head*

The Dutch news is reporting that L'Equipe is saying(yeah I know, I know lol) that Vinokourov tested positive on bood doping.

I'm Dutch and had a hard time to translate this properly, so I hope that makes any sense

edited to add that the reports are also saying that he and his team have left the Tour.

Edited by jolanda, Jul 24, 2007 @ 11:16 AM.

[cabiness2]

edited to add that the reports are also saying that he and his team have left the Tour.

The entire team? That takes out Kloden and Kasechkin, 5th and 8th respectively in the GC, and the #1 team. This would mean an almost-certain victory for Discovery Channel in the team competition.

[jolanda]

A little more info, he tested positive after the time trial on saturday. Accoding to L'Equipe he had a blood transfusion shortly before the time trial.

The entire team? That takes out Kloden and Kasechkin, 5th and 8th respectively in the GC, and the #1 team. This would mean an almost-certain victory for Discovery Channel in the team competition.

Yes, that's what I'm reading, the whole team left the Tour

Edited by jolanda, Jul 24, 2007 @ 11:11 AM.

[valueofaloonie]

Well, damn it. This is my first year watching the Tour (or even being remotely interested in cycling), so I'm completely in the dark here. Does this mean anything for Vinokourov's stage victory yesterday? Are they (and I'm not even sure who 'they' are...) going to take it away from him?

[Crimson Belle]

Does this mean anything for Vinokourov's stage victory yesterday? Are they (and I'm not even sure who 'they' are...) going to take it away from him?

After all the hoops are jumped through (hearings and such), almost certainly.

[jolanda]

actual news reports: BBC and ESPN

Edited by jolanda, Jul 24, 2007 @ 11:59 AM.

[Cop Shoot Cop]

I realize this is strange, and I am disappointed by the people who have been doping, but for some reason, it does not seem to affect my enjoyment of the race. In reality, on an intellectual level, I suppose, I recognize the significant health risks that doping presents, and that it needs to be policed, but somehow or another, perhaps through a cynicism that has now seeped all the way into my bones, I expect that everyone is doping, and that in addition to losing riders through illness, accident and exhaustion, we now have to speculate about attrition through testing as one of the key elements of the race. I was impressed with Vinokourov yesterday, but that time trial really did make me wonder.

Does anyone else think that T-Mobile has figured in the center of a lot of what is going on with all of the doping mess? Vino is a former T-Mobile rider, Sinkewitz is current T-Mobile, Ulrich was T-Mobile, and I would bet money that Kloden will test positive at some point. Not to forget Sevilla also getting into the mess last year. Did Landis ever ride for T-Mobile?

[jolanda]

Does anyone else think that T-Mobile has figured in the center of a lot of what is going on with all of the doping mess?

Honestly? No. I think all teams use, a lot of Armstrongs former teammates either tested positive or admitted to taking doping. Team CSC anyone? The team formerly known as Mapei, they were head and shoulders above the rest in the mid/late '90's, I doubt that they were clean. Musseeuw admitted to taking doping. I believe the problem is much deeper than just one team. YMMV of course and it doesn't help that I've gotten incredibly jaded through the years.

I still enjoy watching sports oddly enough.

Edited by jolanda, Jul 24, 2007 @ 12:34 PM.

[Arscelona]

I realize this is strange, and I am disappointed by the people who have been doping, but for some reason, it does not seem to affect my enjoyment of the race.

Its not really affecting me either except my favorites being out, Ivan Basso and Vino. I still want Rasmussen to go out there and win it. I think cycling is the only sport where I am/wouldnt be up in arms about drug usage. But I am completely bothered that it doesnt bother me more.

I would bet money that Kloden will test positive at some point.

I kinda think that too, why else would the whole team pull out of the comp, they were probably afraid they all would get exposed.

[jolanda]

Reportedly the Tour organisation asked the team to leave,they didn't go voluntarily.

[Arscelona]

That makes more sense.

[Ravenna McBride]

Holy cheet! I better go check the blogs when I'm done here. Just wanted to quickly address this:

This would mean an almost-certain victory for Discovery Channel in the team competition.

I think Discovery was already #1 team. They were in yellow during yesterday's ride and had 3 in the top 10 again (and higher up in the GC than Astana's 3).