tour de france 2005 (4 Viewers)

hmmmm... vinokourov seems well up for it this year. I imagine T-Mobile will send him on the attack to try and weaken the discovery team, whilst Ullrich sits in....
I'm hoping some of the other teams will help out... Heras, Mayo (the spanish guy not the county!) Basso. Its not that I want to see Lance lose as such - It would just be good to have an interesting race (like 2003 for example).
 
Anyone have any ideas on what the mountain tactics might be at the weekend,will Armstrong attack or do you reckon he let Ullrich/Basso try it on and just defend.Im hoping basso goes for it, he was lookin good in the giro til he got ill, but i didn't expect Armstrong to be looking as good again this year.
The Boonen/McEwen battle each day has been fantastic, wheres Pettachi though? Is the tour just not part of his schedule or is it injury? The Fassa's were amazing in the Giro.
 
inspector horse said:
Anyone have any ideas on what the mountain tactics might be at the weekend,will Armstrong attack or do you reckon he let Ullrich/Basso try it on and just defend.Im hoping basso goes for it, he was lookin good in the giro til he got ill, but i didn't expect Armstrong to be looking as good again this year.
The Boonen/McEwen battle each day has been fantastic, wheres Pettachi though? Is the tour just not part of his schedule or is it injury? The Fassa's were amazing in the Giro.
petacchi is riding the vuelta this time instead with a view to preparing for the world champs in madrid afterward. it's supposed to be a very flat circuit and is predicted to end in a sprint in the autumn. saturday and sunday won't cause major time gaps if any between the main contenders but riders looking for a foothold in the mountains jersey will need to pick up points . christophe moreau is apparently making noise about going for it and probably some of the other frenchies too. especially on sunday a breakaway will have a great chance. bring it on mutha!
 
the worlds this years ends just outside the san bernabeu i think. if ireland stays at 15 in the european ranking, it will gain 3 places. if ireland drops to 16th in the european rankings, it will have 0 places. doesn't seem fair, does it?

the vuelta has a time trial that ends in the nou camp

basso hasn't been lucky this week. him and his team have had to do some chasing back due to crashing and punctures.

vinokourov was unlucky not to win on thursday. i liked his agressiveness to attack. i saw there yesterday when going over the rail way lines, he just avoided the crash . 2 riders away was the crash./ he was also sticking to armstrong's wheel in the closing stages yesterday. ullrich has been riding close to the front so far and that's been nice to see.

I personally think these 2 days are the days for breakaways. i don't think these will be the days for changes overall. i think the first changes overall. yes riders will get dropped and a smaller peloton is going to come in today but i don't think armstrong, ullrich and basso will make a gap on anyone and gain time. after the top of the category 2 climb, it's still about 6km to the finish and it's only a category 2 climb then. after tyhe category 1, tomorrow, it's 50km to the end so that won't change much. vinokourov might be the only leading contender then has the balls to do anything today i think

voeckler (the so-called hope of french cycling) was dropped on a 4th category climb on thursday and ended up 5 minutes behind. zabriskie on that stage was even further behind.

i also bought a good pc game there on the internet and it came on wednesday, pro cycling manager. i'm playing as AG2r and i'm doing good in it.
 
discovery team had a suprising lapse on gerardmer stage on saturday. armstrong was left very exposed - hard to believe it happened. i'm glad weening got the win the lanky guy has ridden well in several mountain races this year particularly a stage in the tour of the basque country moncoutie won without success and like bernucci the other day it was his first pro win! not bad for someone who doesn't look anything like a climber. kloden didn't look up to much so far this season so his performance was a big plus for the race outlook. voigt is a weird rider. he is not outstanding in anyone area and is a bit weak in the high mountains but seems to come up with wins from all angles. he even finished last year in the top 10 in the world rankings i think. he just goes out and makes things happen for himself and it's hugely successfull . yellow for one day only surely though. DIY or what ! rasmussen outstripped moreau's bid for the mountains prize and probably finished off anyone else's chances of taking he jersey through breakaway point building. two good days we needed a breakaway win. zabriske lost 51 minutes on saturday (last) and quit on the last stage to mulhouse. quiet a few have packed it in today including kirsipuu who's packed every tour since he started in 1993 which is surely a record (???). it looked like climber angel gomez broke his collar bone. 15 or so broken hearts all ready departed. i desperarately hope the race is wide open still after courchevel.....
 
disappointment..... at least armstrong didn't win the stage. none of the other three at todays finish can time trial in his league so he's probably not bothered. other than moreau sandy casar is the best placed home rider in 34th place on GC. valverde didn't reach the heights i expected this year until today but this was i think his career highlight so far. EDIT: vino was the biggest let down on a day many big guns failed the race.
 
i've been out of sync here so.......GREAT WIN by MONCOUTIE on thursday yeah ! it was the first tour stage for 8 years i'd missed though i was gone and didn't even see the highlights although i saw he was in the break before i had to go and the stage was perfect for his style so i was not suprised. also totschnig kept some interest alive with his win he's been finishing in the top ten on 3 week races for ten years so it was about time for a win. hincapie on the other hand never looked like a rider who could win tour mountain stage. until the early 2000's his climbing was weak enough for people to suggest he should not be riding the tour as he gave no support to armstrong in the mountains. but since about 2001 when he finished 71th on GC he has improved markedly each year. tonight he is 18th on GC. pereiro who did a huge amount of work on the stage was rightly angry that hincapie did no work until the last 5 km. pereiro was in at least 3 breakaways and has nothing to show for it. the race otherwise continues to be pointless as far as the overall picture :( goes and french disappointment. vive david ! you made this thing worthwhile.....
 
i'm really sad valverde didn't get to finish. going by his performance on courchevel (spl?) i'd say he'd have been up there with basso/ulrich/armstrong/rasmussen etc. each day. next year should be very interesting and given ulrich being one year older and the strength of csc i'd say basso has a great chance. i'd love to see ulrich win it though - he deserves a second title. should have been allowed win it the year riise won it but he followed team orders. unfortunately i have to concede though that lance is a legend. can't help feeling that if ulrich had prepared the same way as lance every year that things would have been much much closer.
 
just going to do one last post as everyone except me lost interest in this thread a long time ago. what channel did you watch the tour on ? i mostly saw it on eurosport but also a bit on british eurosport and particularly today on t na g as eurosport didn't show the stage properly. it was interesting seeing david duffield and brian robinson in front of the camera on british eurosport. when i first heard dd in 1991 i thought he was crap but i eventually realized his greatness and it wouldn't be the same without him. i like james richardson but he doesn't really know anything about cycling and didn't pretend to. what vino did today was amazing to win and move up a place. rasmussen - what the hell ? i can't believe how he messed it up. reminds me of riis throwing a bothersome tt bike into the ditch in 1997. a treasured memory of mr 60%. guerini's win reminded me he plus wladimir belli and sprinter gian matteo fagnini rode the fbd ras in 1992 and the irish riders rammed belli around dunleary in the final critirium stage taking him out so he lost the lead on the final procession stage to stephen spratt who apparently had nothing to do with this shit. years later belli was asked if he remembered this he vaguely did describing it as 'strange'. thomas lovkvist the tours youngest rider in 2005 at 21 and kazakh maxim inglinski both rode the ras in 2003. inglinski has finished a promising 37th on GC and lovkvist 61th including 23rd in the final tt. lovkvist has huge potential having won a string of races last year and by the end of the decade i think he will be one of the best riders. apart from moncoutie and moreau it was poor for france sadly. brochard was the second french rider on GC in 28th. not a promising future. casar was unlucky not to win a stage - 29th on gc. the others just did not do themselves justice..... my predictions at the start of the thread - armstrong obviously correct. boonen was still wearing green when his fourth crash forced him to quit 2 stage wins too. vinokourov didn't target the mountains jersey at all obviously , i did say moreau and the home boys would put in a go but still i got it wrong overall. i only realized karpets, valverde and popyvch were still young enough for the white jersey after i chose contador who solidly finished 31th on GC 3rd in the classification. at 22 wil have two more chances though. kasheshkin - 19th was another great youngster. there plenty of cool races coming up for the rest of the season and i'll definately be following the all on the net and if possible tv many of the other races are more open and exciting than the tour. as far as armstrong goes i'm not going to miss him he never respected the other races. he won nothing this year until saturday. he'll have plenty of time to make more commericals for lovely companies like NIKE and COCA COLA now. it been suggested this week he may be interested in running for office like his pal george bush as texan governor ! it disgusts me people often know a lot about armstrong but little about cycling. and we won't have to listen to him threating people like christophe bassons, fillipo simeoni and jean cyril robin for speaking honestly against doping. " trying to destroy cycling " ??? what has he got to hide these guys just told the truth. bassons is way more interesting than armstrong to name but one. my favourite riders are the cult ones moncoutie, chavanel, phillipe gilbert and others not virenque, armstrong and other phonies. it's very interesting to read what david walsh impressions of were of armstrong in his Inside The Tour The De France book about the 1993 tour and where armstrong is now.
 
nuke terrorist said:
just going to do one last post as everyone except me lost interest in this thread a long time ago. what channel did you watch the tour on ?​


both TG4 and eurosport were my sources. it depended whether my father was working or not.

lovkvist has huge potential having won a string of races last year and by the end of the decade i think he will be one of the best riders.

i like lovkist. his 1/4 of a page a month in pro cycling is interesting./ i hop[e he does well

aas far as armstrong goes i'm not going to miss him he never respected the other races. he won nothing this year until saturday. he'll have plenty of time to make more commericals for lovely companies like NIKE and COCA COLA now. it been suggested this week he may be interested in running for office like his pal george bush as texan governor ! it disgusts me people often know a lot about armstrong but little about cycling. and we won't have to listen to him threating people like christophe bassons, fillipo simeoni and jean cyril robin for speaking honestly against doping. " trying to destroy cycling " ??? what has he got to hide these guys just told the truth. bassons is way more interesting than armstrong to name but one[/quote]

not an armstrong fan? the quetion on political office is what party he would run under. he opposed the iraq war, he's going out with a very liberal person in Sheryl Crow. he's also from a lower class family but he's also friends with Bush but i don't think it's certain he'd run for the republicans.

my favourite riders are the cult ones moncoutie, chavanel, phillipe gilbert and others not virenque, armstrong and other phonies. it's very interesting to read what david walsh impressions of were of armstrong in his Inside The Tour The De France book about the 1993 tour and where armstrong is now.

well with vitrenque, you can't really blame him for doping (releasing the book "my truth", yes but not for doping). it was in the culture of the festina team and it was systematic in the team. it isn't his fault he doped.

overall i think it was an excellent tour. the only one in re cent years that was as exciting was in 2003. people weren't afraid to put armstrong under pressure and i liked that, it made it alot of good to watch. i don't really care that armstrong won, i just liked that it was a close race.

i was dissapointed that rasmussen fucked it up on the final TT. i had him in my fantasy team on velogames.com and it really moved my team down a good few places with him not doing really well in the TT(i came in the top 500 out of 1,600 players as well as 6th in one of the 4 mini competitions)

I personally think this was Ullrich's last chance to win the overall, in the next 2 tours, he'll probably be on the podium but he's not going to win

hopefully next year Valverde will finish the tour and Cunego will take part, it'll make it very interesting as well as poppovych and basso. lets hope for a great tour in 2006 and a great vuelta at the end of august
 
armstrong voted for bush in the last elections cyclingnews.com reported. i haven't got any time for politicans and american ones are especially full of shit. kerry his other pal is also pro war. sheryl crow is just another coperate cock pop star. his endorsees coke ( desperately unhealthy drink marketed to children ) and nike ( sweatshop labour ). i KNOW you need to make a LOT of compromises to be a professional athlete but i have to be critical of all this. i haven't seen lovkist ( sorry not sure how to spell his name ) in the mag as i don't buy cycling mags that much anymore but i will check that out. i found i often only read the cycling history stories and there was to many interviews with the same cyclists over and over i.e. armstrong, hamilton, mc ewen, cipolini , ullrich, etc. i think cycling is about the entire peloton and not just the grand champions. soccer isn't just about chelsea and real madrid. some very good riders never get interviewed by the cycling press. i must have about ten magazines or more hamilton is on the cover of. but i don't think i've ever read a FULL interview with say marcos serrano. it's great hearing from someone never featured before ! deignan finished 6th in wollonia stage and scanlon is also in action there today. you can be critical of something you :heart: !
 

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