Tour de France 2007 thread (2 Viewers)

[Cormcolash]

Roglic is gone now anyway. Do ya reckon he tried to ride it clean this year? Hahaha. Or did he just crash every day and that did for him?

 

[nuke terrorist]

Roglic is gone now anyway. Do ya reckon he tried to ride it clean this year? Hahaha. Or did he just crash every day and that did for him?

did you you see the picture of Rog in all the bandages last week? he was in the nip but looked like a mummy.

he's had it worse - last year in the Dauphine and this year in Paris-Nice he had both races won going into the last day and then crashed badly very early on that Dauphine and at least twice on the way into Nice.
after the ski jump accident he had he never makes a fuss.

even with all that he's been the best rider the last few years.

 

[rettucs]

Roglic is a hugely likeable guy. Of course he's on the gear. Probably an engine tucked away in his bike somewhere too, but fuck it, cos he's not a prick I'm grand with all of that.

 

[flashback]

The problem is that you can't believe anything because the UCI has left dopers running the sport.

Passing a doping test is just taking the right amount of dope at the right times. So doping or not doping is a voluntary choice.

Riders are not able to engineer programs for themselves, they always minimally have a doc helping them. More likely they have a team doc, along with the DS. The UCI has ensured that basically every pro team has doping experts and confirmed dopers available and able to help.

Therefore the UCI has ensured that you can't believe what's going on. You'd have to assume that this is because the UCI is made up of people who still benefit from doping.

My point is that Tadej has no real choice, and no way to even look innocent, because he's been placed in a system run by dopers and enablers. He was damned from the start, because of the actions of aul cunts who have been screwing things up long before he was born.

As usual the UCI could stop all of this within a season, and as usual they prove that they don't care about cycling credibility or anything other than them getting paid.

 

[nuke terrorist]

The problem is that you can't believe anything because the UCI has left dopers running the sport.

Passing a doping test is just taking the right amount of dope at the right times. So doping or not doping is a voluntary choice.

Riders are not able to engineer programs for themselves, they always minimally have a doc helping them. More likely they have a team doc, along with the DS. The UCI has ensured that basically every pro team has doping experts and confirmed dopers available and able to help.

Therefore the UCI has ensured that you can't believe what's going on. You'd have to assume that this is because the UCI is made up of people who still benefit from doping.

My point is that Tadej has no real choice, and no way to even look innocent, because he's been placed in a system run by dopers and enablers. He was damned from the start, because of the actions of aul cunts who have been screwing things up long before he was born.

As usual the UCI could stop all of this within a season, and as usual they prove that they don't care about cycling credibility or anything other than them getting paid.

Yeah - vast majority of pro cyclists aren't bad eggs they are very talented, hard working, smart young people in an extremely ruthless profession.
I wouldn't want people like Brailsford, Shane Sutton, Manolo Saiz, Pat Lefevere, Riis etc never mind Doctors Ferrari, Fuentes etc going near anyone my nephew's age. A 20 year old has no concept of aging.

 

[flashback]

Yeah - vast majority of pro cyclists aren't bad eggs they are very talented, hard working, smart young people in an extremely ruthless profession.
I wouldn't want people like Brailsford, Shane Sutton, Manolo Saiz, Pat Lefevere, Riis etc never mind Doctors Ferrari, Fuentes etc going near anyone my nephew's age. A 20 year old has no concept of aging.

And this is the thing, by the time they're 20 they're well and truly on the path of no return. They'd be committed at 15 or younger.

Getting in contact and even training camps with pro Conti teams, going to the Worlds, getting phone numbers, and there'll be fuck all else on their minds other than clambering into World Tour, or whatever they call it now. They'll do whatever they're asked.

Take Tadej, enumerate the other options this lad had. He's certainly, without any doubt, a class rider. He's certainly one of the best in the world. The question is: is he doping. And the answer is: you'll probably never find out, but he's a fucking child and he's just gotten put into an extremely viscious meat grinder with the above lads, shown endless success, asked to follow the rules.

And we expect him to hold up his hand and say: No! Ethics!

The fuck. He's a fucking kid from Slovenia who's dedicated his life to cycling. He has fuck all other options (in his mind). He's got the weight of cycling on him telling him: it'll be grand, just stay in line. You're a star. Follow the rules. There is no choice. Sean Kelly had a choice when he was killing everyone in sight and generally wrecking the shop. Froome maybe had a choice, possibly, although he again probably felt that he had fuck all other options.

I dunno. I'm (as has been repeatedly demonstrated) a niaive cunt. I always fall on the rider's side. It would be lovely if Tadej was the next Cannibal, only not doping like Merckx, but I'm just feeling a bit sad now.

 

[nuke terrorist]

Kelly of course grew up on a small farm left school early and was an apprentice brickie.
apart from Nico none of the Irish lads came from comfortably off backgrounds.
same with football - nearly the only rich kid's dads were players.

if you have lots of options you'd never put the long hours of work in the first place.

what has changed now is that in the 90's riders were turning pro age 21 or 22 would struggle through their first season then in their second the team would have an idea what the riders baseline was and the doctors would start offering doping products knowing the young pros might won't get a second contract without getting some results.
now lads are coming into the pros as young as 18 (the Ukrainian kid in the Giro) and winning huge races aged 20. the U-23 Worlds could end up being the U-21 or U-20

Pogacar seems like a nice, very calm guy who loves cycling and might have little else going on in his life and is OK with that.

I remember the second time Dario Frigo was caught w/ EPO during the 2005 Tour.
he and his wife were both arrested after their car was stopped.
realising Dario's career being over was the least of his problems, his father told the media that he was very worried for his son's future as he only had cycling and his wife and he was extremely worried how Dario would cope and asked the media to remember he was a human when covering the story.
thankfully a few years later I heard the couple were still together after all their legal problems were resolved.

journeyman cyclist Stefan Denifl being jailed when Ferrari and Lance somehow are at liberty to enjoy their millions is sickening.

 

[rettucs]

I remember the second time Dario Frigo was caught w/ EPO during the 2005 Tour.
he and his wife were both arrested after their car was stopped.
realising Dario's career being over was the least of his problems, his father told the media that he was very worried for his son's future as he only had cycling and his wife and he was extremely worried how Dario would cope and asked the media to remember he was a human when covering the story.
thankfully a few years later I heard the couple were still together after all their legal problems were resolved.

There's a lot of examples of this. Pantani being the main one, though his circumstances are a bit different. But the one that really stuck in my mind all these years is Frank Vandenbroucke. He completely went off the rails when he got busted, and eventually ended himself (not officially, but the path he went down lead to his death).

Mentioning Pogacar and how he probably had nothing else doing in his life. You just have to look at the South American riders for the best examples of that. I'd be more au fait with the Colombians, but the likes of Bernal and Quintana come from nothing. For them its no risk to do whatever it takes to succeed. If they fail, they're back to nothing - anyone would do the same.

I remember reading an article about Ilnur Zakarin, and it was pretty much the same. He got busted as a junior, but persisted and got his pro contract. Got some big results that set him up for life. Had he failed, it was back to the gulags.

Thing is, I like all the riders I mentioned above (I don't have an opinion on Pogacar yet - I certainly don't dislike him - hes only a kid, but I do love how mad he's sending british cycling twitter), and I wouldn't begrudge them for a second. Compare their lot to the likes of Kruiziger and Froome, who used their privilege to buy their way out of doping bans, its gets much easier to like them.

 

[rettucs]

Wondering what the UCI are going to do about this Slovenian dominance. I don't think it serves their interest to have an eastern european country dominating the sport. The big names these days are Belgians, French, Colombians, Slovenians.

the UCI are on the pigs back when Britain and America are all in on the sport. America has lost interest in a big way, with barely a scratch being made at pro ranks these days (I saw a tweet the other day wishing half a dozen or so American riders a happy independence day - 4 of the riders on the list were Canadian).

Britain will inevitably wane now too. They'll probably do well on the track in the Olympics, and with the likes of Thomas entering the home stretch of his career, there isn't really a grand tour successor in waiting. Pidcock will be great, but the Brits arent as all-in with the classics as they are with the GTs. And Geohegan-Harte's Giro win was a fluke.

Same with the Aussies. They'll take the odd stage here and there, but there aren't any marquee names on the horizon.

I was reading about Slovenia at the weekend. Sounds like a horrendous place, politically. They're EU, sympathetic to both Hungary's homophobia, and are pro-Trump. They have taken on the EU presidency for the next period, so they'll inevitably shoot themselves in the foot a few times in a very public way.

Its hardly a wealthy country though. In sporting terms, a cycling-mad Slovenia isn't really going to translate into sheckles for the UCI. Not in the way it did in America or britain. It certainly wouldn't be in their best interest to provide the same protections for Rogic or Pogacar, as it was for Armstrong or Wiggins.

 

[Cormcolash]

I was in Ljubljana a bunch of years ago, and it was class. You can see the Alps from the castle there. It was fuckin ROASTIN too, was 38º during the day.

Edit: Also how dare you besmirch Bradley, I'd like to see YOU win a tour!

 

[rettucs]

I was in Ljubljana a bunch of years ago, and it was class. You can see the Alps from the castle there. It was fuckin ROASTIN too, was 38º during the day.

Edit: Also how dare you besmirch Bradley, I'd like to see YOU win a tour!

BONE IDLE WANKER

 

[nuke terrorist]

I don't know about the current political situation in Slovenia.
I wouldn't say it was much worse than many other countries.
Along with Czech it always seemed like the most progressive, problem free, prosperous country in 'Eastern' Europe. Definitely not a poor place.

Slovenia has an extremely low birth rate. I remember reading it was 1.3 over ten years ago!
It's a real crossroads place formerly ruled the Austrian Empire, bordering Italy and a gateway to the Balkans and the Slavic world.

I like a few bands from there.
Yugoslavia had a great music scene in the 1980's in particular.

Always looks lovely on TV too.
I'd say Ljubljana is a great place to live but I've certainly never been there.

Anyway must look up what's happening there politics wise.
EDIT:
Just remembered Melania Trump!

 

[nuke terrorist]

Spoiler: Stage 10 Tuesday 6th July spoilers

Poor Colbrelli got a puncture with 22km left just a DQT had started an eschelon.
Got back on but was knackered for the sprint.
Morkov could have won after a leadout like that.

Also Backstedt was there today (always a plus) and there was feature at the end of the Breakaway post race show with 'Mr nice' David Moncoutie previewing tomorrow's stage with two ascents of Ventoux.

 

[rettucs]

The race is in big trouble and I'd imagine the organisers and sponsors are livid. Arriving at the supposed epic day with 2 ascents of mighty Ventoux, we should have been facing into a crucial day of the GC battle. Instead what we have is a race where, unless he's been told to stop taking the piss and to hold back, Pogacar could easily put another 5 minutes into everyone.

And I have a feeling he will be told to hold back. He still has a TT in reserve and he's going to destroy everyone in that.

Then on the flat stages, they are a damp squib because there are no top sprinters. When a has-been like Cavendish is winning at a canter, the race starts to take on the aura of a second rate race in the back-arse-end-of-nowhere. The novelty of an old codger coming back from the dead to win a stage was well gone by his second win.

The only hope now is for a couple of decent breakaway stages and a bit of drama from those.

Its not unusual for the Tour to be the most boring GT of the 3. Actually, in my memory, its almost always been the case. This year harks back to the Armstrong days in terms of how feeble the competition is.

 

[nuke terrorist]

The race is in big trouble and I'd imagine the organisers and sponsors are livid. Arriving at the supposed epic day with 2 ascents of mighty Ventoux, we should have been facing into a crucial day of the GC battle. Instead what we have is a race where, unless he's been told to stop taking the piss and to hold back, Pogacar could easily put another 5 minutes into everyone.

And I have a feeling he will be told to hold back. He still has a TT in reserve and he's going to destroy everyone in that.

Then on the flat stages, they are a damp squib because there are no top sprinters. When a has-been like Cavendish is winning at a canter, the race starts to take on the aura of a second rate race in the back-arse-end-of-nowhere. The novelty of an old codger coming back from the dead to win a stage was well gone by his second win.

The only hope now is for a couple of decent breakaway stages and a bit of drama from those.

Its not unusual for the Tour to be the most boring GT of the 3. Actually, in my memory, its almost always been the case. This year harks back to the Armstrong days in terms of how feeble the competition is.

YEAH - it's been a bog standard race. I don't think I've ever seen such an uninspiring Tour.
as you said a few good breakaway wins are the best we can hope for now.
although anything is better than 1999-2005.
no French stage wins either.

Mohorovic, Teuns and O'Connor's breakaway stage wins were good and that's about it.


I like the idea that someone is so strong that Brailsford's team strength in numbers tactic has been routed for a second year.
the only times I've seen someone win a grand tour will no real help in the mountains are LeMond in '89,
Savoldelli (2005 Giro) and Pogacar last year after Formolo abandoned on stage 11 and Aru on stage 9. Jan Polanc was the only other UAE rider to finish in the top 70.

 

[flashback]

They're damned if they do / damned if they don't now with Pogacar, if they catch him doping it would be devastating to the race and to the reputation of the sport in eyes of a lot of people, if they don't things just keep seeming a bit silly.

And it's their own fault, entirely. They could have actually done something about running a sport teaming with doping docs and DS's, and they thought it would be easier not to bother.

edit - The guy is riding a TdF, BY HIMSELF essentially, and killing everything in sight. People should be awed, but instead people are anxious. Such a shame.

 

[nuke terrorist]

Dan Martin, Alaphilippe, Rolland in 4 man break today.
Tony Martin had another bad crash early on he had to quit.
Cav got dropped at the start of the first 4 cat climb and is in big trouble.

 

[flashback]

Cav got dropped at the start of the first 4 cat climb and is in big trouble

TIME CUTS DON'T APPLY TODAY!

Calling it.

 

[nuke terrorist]

Cav was going so slow when Morkov had to wait for him.
He looks doomed - big surprise if he gets through this.
When a lot of riders get 'Hors Delay' in one go it's very sad.

In the 98 Giro Pantani won a stage where over 30 riders were eliminated.

 

[nuke terrorist]

Cav is actually only now a minute behind the peloton with 4 DQS riders and Colbrelli.
There's a good few riders behind them inc. Bouhanni.
Ah well.