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willoyd

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Anybody else glued to this? ITV4 actually has live commentary every day this year - that'll mean some serious taping. Already off to a good start with 2 Brits in the top 5 yesterday, and a spectacular crash just before the finish today, with Cavendish already down and out of the day's reckoning in a self-induced pile-up a kilometre or so earlier. It looks promising!

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I do catch bits a pieces of it, unfortunately its usually on when i have just gotten home from work and am cooking my dinner, can't wait for it to get into the mountans though i love it.

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The highlights programme (ITV4 7pm) is repeated at 8 on ITV4+1, so that might help you keep up with things. Final 5km today was mega - Mark Renshaw's lead out was so impressive.

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  • 1 year later...

Any big Tour fans on here, I am an addict, it clashes for a while with Wimbledon but I reckon I can do both at the same time. Some real British hope this year with Bradley Wiggins but for a sport of endurance and pain it can't be beaten.

 

Its possibly one of the few sports where you get to see the countryside around the whole country and a history lesson at the same time.

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Hi Pickle! I'm glued too. :) Well, we don't quite get to see the entire day's racing, but maybe about 4 hours live. Lots of late nights for me this month! I love it partly for the countryside and history lessons too. :) Do you get to see the French chef sampling the regions delicacies as well?

 

I'm hoping that Cadel Evans will get back-to-back wins. Go Cadel!

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I don't get to see It lIve often maInly because i am In work though i do sneak onto the Internet every so often just for a catch up and I follow Team Sky on TwItter (Go Bradley!!! - :P ) but watch the hIghlIghts In the evenIng.

 

I mIssed the French Chef though what a shame, I dId feel as though I got a tour of all the Chateaux's In the LIege valley yesterday though...brIng on the mountaIns can't waIt.

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I guess I rather like having the time difference then. Although now that I work from home I can watch it any time it's on. :)

 

Wow, there have been a lot of crashes tonight. It's a very exciting stage!

 

 

What do you think of the controversy surrounding Lance Armstrong? I really don't want to believe that it's true. How can he have passed every single drug test over the years and now they're saying he was taking drugs? It's weird.

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Am I right in saying Bradley Wiggins is doing very well. I don't really follow it at all, but glad to hear the Brits are doing well.

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Such an exciting stage tonight, but unfortunately not in a good way. Cadel Evans has had to stop several times because of flat tyres, and the first stop he had to wait nearly two minutes because his team car and nearest teammates were so far away. You wouldn't think two minutes would matter so much in a race that lasts several weeks and several thousand kilometres!

 

Wiggins and the rest of his group slowed down for a while to wait for Cadel (how nice!) but I think they've now given up waiting due to his extra unscheduled breaks. Wiggins also had a flat, as have a couple of other riders. So many flats is very strange, I think, and the commentators are postulating that someone may have put tacks on the road. Oh, I hope not! Who would do such a terrible thing? :(

 

Another rider has crashed out of the race and has been taken to hospital with a broken collar bone. :(

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Oh wow, the commentators just confirmed that 28 tacks were thrown on the road. What a grub! I hope they find that person and punish them. Not only does it change the outcome of the race, both for today and potentially overall, but riders could have been seriously injured if they had come off their bikes!

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I can't say that I am following the Tour de France, but I am looking forward to cheering on team GB in a little under 2 weeks when our village will play host the Olympic Road Cycling races.

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Fantastic and dramatic yesterday hope todays has been as good but I only get to see the highlights, love it when they get to the mountains. I do think yesterdays slowing of the Peloton showed real sportsmanship though something sadly lacking in so many more 'popular' sports.

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What a brilliant sprint finish today I am holding high hopes for the Olympics for Mark Cavendish today....role of the Yellow Jersey for Sunday now. Sorry Kylie but Cadel did not have the legs for the mountains this year.

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Yeah, poor Cadel. But not to worry. I'm very happy he has won one for our country, and I'm glad to see England will get its first winner this year. Wiggins looks like he has barely broken a sweat. :) The Tour is such a gruelling race that I wish everyone could win it. They all work so hard.

 

Disappointed that Frank Schleck was sent home because of drugs. :(

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  • 1 year later...

Last day of the tour today and it has been fantastic to watch. So many great stages and some great performances from the riders. Quintana has had an amazing first tour and I won't be surprised to see him win the tour at some point in the future. Another victory for a team Sky rider which is probably more impressive than last year as they have been attacked constantly by the other teams. Froome FTW!

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  • 11 months later...

Never mind the tennis in some obscure suburb of some city down south, the football, or the F1 racing - the biggest annual sports event in the world just passed the end of my road today! Estimates suggest that over 1 million people saw the Tour de France from the roadside, which doesn't surprise me from what I saw. An incredible occasion. Apart from the event itself, really enjoyed being able to cycle for miles on non-traffic roads after the Tour passed by, something that should be done much more often: it was noticeable how many youngsters were out, and how many people were enjoying walking/cycling the roads, something that can't/won't happen with the crazy structures we normally have in this country.

Edited by willoyd
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How exciting having the bikes pass the end of your road...! Just saw on the sports news about Cavendish...that looked a nasty crash...hope he is ok.

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  • 1 year later...

I thought I would resurrect this topic as today is stage 3 of the tour. This year the field is probably the strongest it has been for a while with no clear favourite in my opinion. As a brit I would like to see Froome win it but if he can't I would love to see either Richie Porte or Quintana win the GC. I really thought Cavendish was on for another stage win yesterday but it looked as though he went a little bit too soon but I'm sure he will pick up stages wins as the tour progresses.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I thought I would resurrect this topic as today is stage 3 of the tour. This year the field is probably the strongest it has been for a while with no clear favourite in my opinion. As a brit I would like to see Froome win it but if he can't I would love to see either Richie Porte or Quintana win the GC. I really thought Cavendish was on for another stage win yesterday but it looked as though he went a little bit too soon but I'm sure he will pick up stages wins as the tour progresses.

 

Well, you must have been please today then: Froome, Porte and Quintana in that order!

 

I can't say I'm a great fan of Froome, but that was impressive.  Just hope it doesn't mean the race is going to turn into a bit of a procession now, as it was looking all set to be really exciting.  Good to see G and Adam Yates in the top 10 too, the former especially given how hard he's been working for Froome.

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Well, you must have been please today then: Froome, Porte and Quintana in that order!

 

I can't say I'm a great fan of Froome, but that was impressive.  Just hope it doesn't mean the race is going to turn into a bit of a procession now, as it was looking all set to be really exciting.  Good to see G and Adam Yates in the top 10 too, the former especially given how hard he's been working for Froome.

 

The last 6km today was something else. I should be overjoyed with today's result but like you I am worried that the race will be over as a competition. However, and I hate cycling for doing this to me but I have a nagging doubt at the back of my mind about what I saw today. There is no evidence that something nefarious is going on and I want to believe everything is above board, I hate that I have this doubt and I hope that everything is as advertised. Tomorrow will be a big day in a lot of ways. The other teams need to attack, and attack hard to regain some of the time lost. Logic dictates that the main protagonists from Sky today (Froome, Jones and to a lesser extent Porte) should be a little off the pace after today's exertions, if they have another very strong day the questions will only grow and grow. It's very sad that cycling will probably have these kinds of questions asked of it forever more.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry haven't come back sooner - too busy watching!

 

For me, I think the questions have been well answered: those races have not been the races of competitors doping: too many weaknesses in armour, days needed for recovery, Froome et al pretty much hanging in there defending, other riders able to produce on brilliant day and then struggling the day after, and so on and son.. It's been a brilliant race with some enthralling stages, not least today on Alpe d'Huez. |Yes, there'll be some on drugs (that's not going to have been eliminated completely), but the way this race was run, it looked very clean.

 

Specifically on that performance you refer to, listening to discussions on the power outputs, physiology etc., it actually made a lot of sense. The big plus from Froome's point of view is that he arrived on that first day in the Pyrenees very fresh, and equally so at the bottom of that climb. As a result, he was able to push his heart rate higher than can normally do at such a stage. I suspect others, having done things like get caught on by the crosswinds on Day 2, weren't able to do likewise, hence Froome could push it harder relatively. In fact, his absolute performance was not that remarkable - the wattage outputs being quoted by the French media being complete nonsense. Thus, later on, when Froome was more tired, Quintana, and others, was able to attack, and it was about defending and keeping losses to a minimum.

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The fact that certain climbs have been done by clean riders quicker than the dopers could manage still sits a uncomfortably with me a bit. On the talk of power etc, I would love to see a day when we are provided with data from all the teams. In terms of performance, Sky performed as a team far better than any of the others. If Astana had been all working together at the start and had Movistar sorted out their tactics a bit better we could have had a right humdinger in the Alps.

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