tour de france 2005 (1 Viewer)

nuke terrorist

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i'm coming out of the closet as a pro cycling fan. the big one stars on saturday in vendee. LA gear is retiring afterwards. armstrong claimed over the winter he might skip the tour and concentrate on other races - nonsense which was never on the cards. instead he showed less interest in the other races than ever only riding one classic (flanders) rarely racing with a total of 0 victories so far this this season. for someone who has been given so much he could have put on a show for the punters for once but - no he took the safe option again. it makes me sad the tour gets so much attention at the expense of the rest of the season. in the giro (tour of italy) perhaps no more of than 40% of the top 100 ranked riders start. in the tour it is about 55% in recent years showing within the sport there is a a lot more than just one race. some PREDICTIONS: WINNER OVERALL : armstrong's got to be the favourite. just give us a more open race than last year please. GREEN JERSEY: TOM BOONEN ( Quickstep) he's ready for this. MOUNTAINS JERSEY: i think a lot of french riders wil covet setting the pace in this one but ther is no obvious canidate to win this. christophe moreau ( ex festina 98 scandal) is i believe the only current french rider who's finished in the top ten on the tour. so i'll play it safe and go for ALEX VINOKOUROV ( T- Mobile) he needs something to keep him busy if ullrich going better than him. WHITE JERSEY- BEST RIDER UNDER 25 : ALBERTO CONTADOR ( 22, Liberty Seguros) recovered from a seizure and brain clot surgery last year to win catalan week and 2 stages plus 3rd place in tour of basque country. has been quite since though.... frank schlek ( 22, team csc) also finished 4th tour de suisse recently so he should be strong too. HOW WILL THE FRENCH RIDERS GET ON? since 1998 strict drug testing has entered french cycling which now has never been weaker. the three remaining pros fom the festina scandal rous 35, brochard 37 (le mullet) and moreau 33, are probably been the most sucessful french riders still racing. but i am very supportive of the new generation who hopefully ride in a different atmosphere. my favourite is David Moncoutie ( 30, cofidis) he has ridden and finished 5 tours winning a stage last year but has only one high GC finish 13th in 2002 - three weeks is too long. this year he won the mountains jersey in paris-nice plus 3rd on a stage, a mountain stage in basque tour, was 3rd on a stage and overall in tour of catalonia and 2nd stage and 6th overall in dauphine libere (LA was 4th). he is strongly anti doping and refuses to ever use syringes. a stage win by breakaway in the hills or mountains is his most likely route to sucess. there are plenty of home riders capable of winning a stage but it's hard to see any home glory beyond that. Pineau and Chavenel look particularly good. the bouygues telecom team is totally french two of the afore mentioned old farts plus otherwise young riders. ................................ there is no irish chaps this year MARK SCANLON had health problems this season and wasn't in contention to be selected for ag2r.
 
nuke terrorist said:
i'm coming out of the closet as a pro cycling fan.

i remember when i came out of the closet, i was tmade to feel like a social outcast by my friends and family:(

in the giro (tour of italy) perhaps no more of than 40% of the top 100 ranked riders start. in the tour it is about 55% in recent years showing within the sport there is a a lot more than just one race.

i personally prefer the vuelta (i was a once fan and i am now a liberty seguros fan)though i habve to say this years giro was great. rujano impressed me and the selle italia team showed that there's a life outside of the pro tour. hopefully ag2r will do the same in the tour but i doubt it, (as i'm a realist and i've been watching the tour for over 10 years, other races for 6 years)

some PREDICTIONS: WINNER OVERALL : armstrong's got to be the favourite. just give us a more open race than last year please.

i think armstrong will win with ullrich a close second. i hope it is as close as the 2003 edition or this years giro.

GREEN JERSEY: TOM BOONEN ( Quickstep) he's ready for this.

robbie mcEwen is my pick. i like bonnen but i think it'll be McEwen./ bonnen next year

MOUNTAINS JERSEY: i think a lot of french riders wil covet setting the pace in this one but ther is no obvious canidate to win this. christophe moreau ( ex festina 98 scandal) is i believe the only current french rider who's finished in the top ten on the tour. so i'll play it safe and go for ALEX VINOKOUROV ( T- Mobile) he needs something to keep him busy if ullrich going better than him.

my pick is Moncoutie. though wasn't moreau high up in it last year?

WHITE JERSEY- BEST RIDER UNDER 25 : ALBERTO CONTADOR ( 22, Liberty Seguros) recovered from a seizure and brain clot surgery last year to win catalan week and 2 stages plus 3rd place in tour of basque country
.

coincidentally, on another board, i said that i though Contador or Luis Sanchez (his team mate) will be in contention for the white jersey

but then again i'm a liberty seguros fan

frank schlek ( 22, team csc) also finished 4th tour de suisse recently so he should be strong too.

according to cyclingnews.com, schleck ain't in the team. i like schleck though, i think he was on my fantasy team for the giro.

fantasy tour game is on www.velogames.com there's a free version for cheap bastards like me and a fee version

anyother ones (that are free) i'd be itnerested to know about

in other news, griffin is doing well in the tour of east java. 2nd overall and a stage win with one stage left (a criterium)
 
I want Jan Ullrich to win. He drinks. He fights. He's a fucking bastard and not some cycling version of Anastacia.
 
BBC4 tonight

8:20pm C'Était un Rendezvous
Claude Lelouche's near-mythical film of a high-speed trip, to the sound of a roaring engine, through early morning Paris in the 1970s.

8:30pm Death on the Mountain
The Story of Tom Simpson: Recounting the dramatic 1967 Tour de France when Tom Simpson died trying to climb the notorious Mont Ventoux in southern France. Part of BBC FOUR's Tour de France season.
 
Ulrich mowed down two cyclists in his car while off his tits on coke and pills.He also had two hookers in the car with him at the time.He is fucking rock and roll and my money is on him this year.I wouldnt rule out Basso though.Eurosport are covering it and channel four are doing the highlights Leo.

FACT: more people watch the tour than the world cup.
ICUH8N said:
I want Jan Ullrich to win. He drinks. He fights. He's a fucking bastard and not some cycling version of Anastacia.
 
TG4 are also doing live coverage from 1:40 from monday onwards (damn wimbledon, though i do have british eurosport. that's also 5 minutes mor elive than eurosport)

god that italian football presenter on eurosport knows nothing about cycling. "this is an extended time trial". no it's not, if anything it's an extended prologue, it's a short time trial

TG4 also have a highlights programme on at half 1 in the morning and then repeated at about half 10 in the morning
 
virenque- what the fuck! no! he commentating on eurosport ! he wrote a lovely book in 1999 when people were making up bad stories about him called MA VITRE (my truth) lovely pic of the handsome chap on the front. sorry about schlek mix up i can't remember if he rode giro. he beat kirchen to become nat champ too i think he's got a kid brother as a team mate as well. what is it about riders who go to CSC becoming amazing time trialists all of a sudden mr 60% we want to know! i cannot remember zabriske winning a race in europe before the last vuelta look at him now. only one french rider finished in the top 40 on the tt - beneteau and the only other one in the top 60 was moreau. vinokourov is really on fire " sorry jan!". i also correctly predicted on saturday that ace climber leonardo piepoli would finish last on the stage. he done it before. i think there is a great chance a breakaway could succeed this week it would be great to see someone shake up the race like voekler or vasseur did in the past. i've just realized today that valverde, popovych and karpets are all still eligeble for the young riders jersey. i think they're all 25 but it is born after 1 january 1980 i suppose. i don't know if i'd gone for contador if i had known ! two riders who i seem to remember seeing in the RAS of just two years ago are riding kazakh maxim inglinski of domina vacanze and prodigy swede thomas lovkivst of FDJ who might still be only 21. he's won a string of races (last year) and done solidly in a lot of big one's this season. paul kimmage wrote a piece on philippe gilbert in the sunday times today. he had an amazing start to the season gilbert with several wins but since a great ride in milano-san remo he's really suprisingly struggled and in a belgian interview he said a lot of the riders at the dauphine libere made him realize he wouldn't ever reach his potential because he won't go down the d---s route. it's tragic to hear one of the most talented very youngest riders in the race so disillusioned. i better go and watch todays stage then.....
 
Lance Armstrong: Hey, aren't you Peter La Fleur?
Peter La Fleur: Lance Armstrong!
Lance Armstrong: Ya, that's me. But I'm a big fan of yours
Peter La Fleur: Really?
Lance Armstrong: Ya, I've been watching the dodgeball tournament on the ocho. ESPN 8. I just can't get enough of it. Good luck in the tournament. I'm really pulling for you against those jerks from Globo gym. I think you better hurry up or you're gonna be late.
Peter La Fleur: Uh, actually I decided to quit... Lance.
Lance Armstrong: Quit? You know, once I was thinking of quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and won the Tour de France 5 times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit. So what are you dying of that's keeping you from the finals?
Peter La Fleur: Right now it feels a little bit like... shame.
Lance Armstrong: Well, I guess if a person quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't anything to regret for the rest of their life. Well good luck to you Peter. I'm sure this decision won't haunt you for the rest of your life.


.|..|
 
Good call on Tom Boonen there mr. terrorist.
Armstrong looks frighteningly good though. He'll increase his advantage over Ullrich, Basso etc. in the TTT as well. Then it'll be up to them to attack him in the mountains. Which hasn't worked too well over the last 5 or 6 years...
Still, we can hope.
Also interesting to see another American has discovered better drugs than LA...
 
PHILIP DEIGNAN(AG2R) won his first pro race yesterday taking the 1.1 cat race the Tour du Doubs also in France. MARK SCANLON his team mate finished 3rd. this really bears well for the rest of the season and follows on from David O'Loughlin's victory in Canada and Paul Griffin's one + 2nd on g.c. in East Java. the TTT 2nd place team get a capped time of i think of 20 secs behind the winners even the last place team time losses are capped at 3 minutes so overall contenders chances aren't finished like in the past . i think there is far too much time trialing in the tour up to 40% + on the in Spain or Italy. i especially dislike TTT's. i think CSC will take 2nd place behind Discovery. the exciting stages are still to come... how many tour winners in the modern era didn't dominate in the TT's ? Pantani certainly but even Delgado and Riis where among the best of there eras. tour winner = best tester :(
 
Ullrich's team Boss has come out and said that no one can beat Lance in current form.I wonder where he learned his motivational skills from?
snap-apple said:
Good call on Tom Boonen there mr. terrorist.
Armstrong looks frighteningly good though. He'll increase his advantage over Ullrich, Basso etc. in the TTT as well. Then it'll be up to them to attack him in the mountains. Which hasn't worked too well over the last 5 or 6 years...
Still, we can hope.
Also interesting to see another American has discovered better drugs than LA...
 
wasnt a great start for Ulrich first he slams into the back of a car and through the windscreen !! then he gets passed out by lance. From the little i know i hope Ulrich kicks ass mainly for his love of Coke and Boobies!!!!
 
i like the team time trials but then again i do like time trials in general. team time trialls are things of beauty to watch when the team are good

i also like how the loses are limited because it makes it closer
 
All cyclists on the tour either piss in their shorts or extract themselves and piss as they go.Thats why they shave their legs not for aerodynamics but so the piss runs off smoother.

Not mad on that team trial rule though
Pantone247 said:
http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224061704

anyone read this???

best book to have a bit about pissing on your hands to keep the feeling in them, while cycling down a mountain, ever... I can not recomend it enough
 
Pantone247 said:
http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224061704

anyone read this???

best book to have a bit about pissing on your hands to keep the feeling in them, while cycling down a mountain, ever... I can not recomend it enough
i couldn't get this link to work but i would assume you are talking about PAUL KIMMAGE'S Rough Ride autobiography. it is by far the best sports book i've ever read and possibly my favourite book even! paul pisses on his hands to keep warm on a freezing mountain stage in the 1989 giro he finished 84th two places ahead of bjarne riis ( one of his best results in a three week race before 1993). i found his race diaries gripping account of his roomate Gauthier abandon for the first time in his eight tours is heartbreaking. his account of his of his battle to finish the famous hinault/ lemond stage at alphe d'huez in 86 inside the time limit. his writing on his abandonment of the 1987 is the highlight for me. it is a book of which tells exactly what it is like to be an also ran in professional sport. it brought home to me a lifestyle i couldn't imagine behind the kelly's, fignon's and roche's of cycling and the rest of sport. if you ever watch cycling you need to have read this AMAZING book . enough said. EDIT: CHARLY GAUL 50's climbing legend is reputed to have invented pissing on the bike after losing the 1955 giro to another future tour winner gastone nencini - the italian's attacked enmasse when gaul stopped to take a leak.
 

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