Tour 'de France

[lifetime fan]

Anyone else going to be watching and paying more attention this year with Team Sky participating?

 

Would love to see Wiggins improve on last year and possibly win it.

[stevebaby]

In oz we're getting 4 hours live coverage daily on free-to air, plus highlights a couple of times a day.

It starts at 10 pm each night till 2am.

This will be the 5th TdF when I've watched every stage. I'll be a fucking zombie by the time it finishes, cosidering I have a couple of TdF parties and drinking sessions and a daily ride of 30km to get through.

Wiggins is in good form,maybe the best of his career to date,but apart from the obvious favourites (Contador,Armstrong,Evans etc.), I wouldn't mind betting that this year could be the one for Andy Schleck.

Looking forward to stage 3 in the Arenburg. Paris-Roubaix is my next favourite race after the Tour, and I think this stage will be a cracker.

[longballs]

I am a bit of a casual fan myself, nothing close to an expect but I do enjoy it and hope to watch a fair bit of it this year.

[lifetime fan]

I'm not the greatest knowledge wise recently, I wasn't that interested during the Armstrong years but Miguel Indurain is a hero of mine.

[Thomo123]

I watch it pretty religiously every yr, poor start in the prologue by wiggins yesterday and looks like Armstrong is back in a bit of form after some poor timetrialing performances recently. It wont heat up till we get into the mountains tho....then the men get sorted from the boys. Cant see anyone getting close to contador though although seeing Wiggins with proper team backing will be very interesting.

[stevebaby]

A couple of my all time favourites...

Bernard Hinault - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eddy Merckx - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There's a story about Eddy Merckx in one of the five Tours that he won. Merckx was so far ahead of the peleton that noone else could possibly catch him to win. He was sharing a room with a team-mate, who was in second place.

Merckx was outlining his tactics for the following day...."Tomorrow,we ATTACK and ATTACK again!"

His bewildered team-mate could only reply,"Attack? Attack who?"

There are so many talented riders with a chance this year, and it's such a long race that anything can happen. It's going to be a ripper.

[lifetime fan]

I watch it pretty religiously every yr, poor start in the prologue by wiggins yesterday and looks like Armstrong is back in a bit of form after some poor timetrialing performances recently. It wont heat up till we get into the mountains tho....then the men get sorted from the boys. Cant see anyone getting close to contador though although seeing Wiggins with proper team backing will be very interesting.

 

This is the attraction for me. I still wonder to this day what would have happened with Graeme Obree.

[James]

I can't wait for it to start. They're actually gonna pass by my city. Definitely gonna watch. I'm gutted Tom Boonen won't be taking part, as he's one of my favorite cyclists. Think I'm gonna support Contador now.

[Thomo123]

Contador last yr did things ive never seen in the tour while ive watched it, phenominal performance. Its his to lose with the rest fighting for the podium positions, would be nice to see Cavendish get the green jersey. Armstrong will always be tainted by the drugs allegations, again dominating the start of the tour this yr.

[Captain]

I'm keeping an eye on it today. We have a debutant in Boasson Hagen so I'll keep an eye on his results.

[stevebaby]

Contador last yr did things ive never seen in the tour while ive watched it, phenominal performance. Its his to lose with the rest fighting for the podium positions, would be nice to see Cavendish get the green jersey. Armstrong will always be tainted by the drugs allegations, again dominating the start of the tour this yr.

Cavedish is a ruthless,aggressive and arrogant animal. He wants the green jersey badly this year.

I luff him.

[Haan'sThunderbolt]

The Greatest Annual show on earth, if it's half as good as this years Giro then we're in for a cracker. Can't see past Contador, but Andy Shleck needs to forget about his brother and try to attack Bertie. Stage 3 could be explosive, using parts of Paris-Roubaix.

Can't see Wiggins improving, though I'm hoping I'm wrong. Anything that ramps up the interest in UK can only be good.

[Captain]

Spectacular finish on that stage. First time I've seen a mass crash that close to the finish line that actually blocked the entire road.

[longballs]

Incredible finish, lets hope there aren't too many injuries, the first big crash on that corner looked nasty. The 2nd one was kind of funny with the entire road blocked.

[James]

What a finish.

 

videozone

[niall]

Beginning to take a bit of an interest this year, but I know sweet fuck all about the tactical side of the sport to be honest. Can anybody briefly explain (or point me in the direction of a website that can) the basics of the team tactics / how they're set up / what different strategies teams might use etc? Haven't got the first clue, and I've a feeling it might make the next few weeks a bit more interesting, rather than just looking at the times beside Contador & Armstrong's names! Cheers

[RobbieOR]

I love it. I havent a breeze about tactics like Niall but I enjot listening to Sean kelly. And Jame sRichardsons presents it.

[L19red]

teams are usually made up of a team leader, his domestiques and a number of specialists who will perform some domestique duties and go for stage wins in their area.

 

the team leader is usually a GC (general classification) rider who will be competing for the yellow jersey for the rider who completed the course in the shortest time. The white jersey is awarded to the young rider with the best GC time.

 

a domestiques job is to make life easy for the team leader so they will ride ahead of him to shelter him from the wind, fetch his food and drinks from the team cars, pace him back into the peleton if he has a puncture or an accident and even give him their bike if the support car is too far away etc. They are not racing to win the event and usually dont even go for a stage win.

 

The specialists will be competing for individual stage wins or the points jerseys.

 

On the flat stages the usual pattern is for a bunched finish with the big powerful sprinters competing for the win. The sprinters usually finish way down the GC as they dont make any time gains on the stages they win (all riders get he same time in a bunched finish) and they lose loads of time on the time trials and mountain stages. The best sprinter wears the green jersey and you get this by gaining points from the intermediate checkpoints and the stage finishes.

 

On the mountain stages the peleton usually gets strung out and GC riders and specialist climbers will make big time gains. The climbers are usually very light guys who dont have to drag loads of extra bulk up the step hills. the best climber gets the polka dot jersey you win this by building up points for crosssing each mountain at the front of the field and the harder the climb the more points you get stage wins dont count unless they are on top of a hill. Due to their very light frames they dont perform well in the sprints or the time trials as they dont have the power.

 

time trial stages also allow riders to build up a lead. Its an individual race where each rider goes as fast as he can against the clock so you get no support from your team.

 

GC riders are usually good on the climbs and in the time trials, although there are exception to this like Indurain who was a beast on the time trials and did enough to hang on in the mountains, and Pantani who did the opposite.

 

Tactics are set by the directeur sportif who drives along at the rear of the peleton.

[Johnni]

As a small time drug dealer i think going to this is my best opportunity to get rid of some of my stock piling up under my bed. Does smoking skunk make you go faster anyone?

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

teams are usually made up of a team leader, his domestiques and a number of specialists who will perform some domestique duties

 

So, basically just like a call centre?

[lifetime fan]

Two stages and two fantastic crashes, today is on cobbles too so just a hint of rain and they'll be going down like a cheap slag.

[James]

Christ alive. Two games in Belgium and they succeed at fucking up. What kind of organization is this? Is Belgium a poor country? I don't think so. Total chaos. C'mon, let the real, French Tour start.

[stevebaby]

As a small time drug dealer i think going to this is my best opportunity to get rid of some of my stock piling up under my bed. Does smoking skunk make you go faster anyone?

No,but it provides many opportunities to babble shit at pretty nurses,doctors and physio-terrorists.

DAMHIKT.

[R Kid]

Don't those bikes just make your member grow!

[R Kid]

Two stages and two fantastic crashes, today is on cobbles too so just a hint of rain and they'll be going down like a cheap slag.

 

Remember watching the tour d'espana last year and someone rode right into the back of a parked box van. Don'tknow how he missed it as he wasn't forced into he must have been staring at the road and not looking forward.

 

ALso how the fuck is Wiggo getting on this time round?