Tour de France 2007 thread (1 Viewer)

[rettucs]

Former British Cycling chief doctor Richard Freeman banned for four years

The former chief doctor of Team Sky and British Cycling Richard Freeman has been handed a four-year doping ban for possession of a banned substance and twice lying to UK Anti-Doping investigators

www.theguardian.com

I banned from boards dot ie THREE times (then gave up) over posting shit along these lines

OF COURSE THEY WERE DOPING

the brits are the dirtiest doping nation on the planet.

 

[rettucs]

Those drugs were just resting in his account.

Ah no, he's a very naughty man, and we ARE very cross with him indeed, but that's all water a long way under the bridge now, and in a lot of ways what is time? You can never truly step in the same river twice, as a wiser man than I said. Can't we just let bygones be bygones? And it was a different time, a different generation you understand.

In realityy he wasn't so much a team doctor as a rogue agent, very much separate from the team, operating by himself, talking to suspicious looking swarthy Italian looking men now that I think about it. More of a coffee boy, on a contractual basis.

We barely knew the guy. Anyway it was all so very, very long ago, and it's a relief to have that chapter well and truly closed now.

and we all know who he doped

and some of the riders he doped are still being doped. Some will be riding in the tour of spain this week

the brits are fucking all on the gear. Track, road, you name it.

 

[nuke terrorist]

and we all know who he doped

and some of the riders he doped are still being doped. Some will be riding in the tour of spain this week

the brits are fucking all on the gear. Track, road, you name it.

I feel sorry for Freeman as he was scapegoated despite being only a cog in a big doping machine.

Bringing in Shane Sutton to one of his hearings won me over. SS had the table unexpectedly turned and when asked about his own involvement in doping went ballistic especially when 'it came up' that he had gotten Viagra prescribed by Freeman. So Shane meant it when he asked the riders to give 110%.

As well as storming out of that hearing, Sutton shouting at MPs in a Commons Select Committee hearing showed he couldn't even cover up what a bully he was when on camera.

like the athletics this week I just watch cycling for the craic. no expectations any one at pro level is honest.
if someone finishes big races nowadays riding clean they are a legend.

Are any current pros these days speaking out like Gilles Delion or Carlos Dacruz or Jerome Pineau or Nicole Cooke did?
Pineau was a lot quieter towards the end of his career and went into team management.
David Moncoutie has been with Eurosport France for nearly a decade. Mr. Clean is remarkably comfortable in front of a camera considering he was so quiet during his career.

The current riders don't seem to have much option it seems. obey the omerta and get on with it or don't even try and be a pro. Social media has also changed a lot.

 

[nuke terrorist]

another rider I never heard of...
Jesus Aranzabal (1939 - September 2023) was a Basque domestique for most of his career to Luis Ocana, helping Ocana win the 1970 Vuelta. Aranzabal's own big moment was a victory in a 1972 Vuelta stage.

Jesús Aranzabal

Jesús Aranzabal (born 1939-12-25 in Bergara, passed away 2023-09-27) was a former professional road racing cyclist from Spain, active between 1964 and 1972. His best results are winning GC Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol and winning a stage in La Vuelta ciclista a España.

www.procyclingstats.com

https://web.archive.org/web/20141223215235/http://nyodh.es/index.php/deportistas-historicos/de-1931-a-1940/1168-jesus-aranzabal-algo-mas-que-la-sombra-de-ocana

 

[rettucs]

The current riders don't seem to have much option it seems. obey the omerta and get on with it or don't even try and be a pro. Social media has also changed a lot.

seems to be a bit of heat building on Jumbo-Visma though. Even Dan Martin calling them out. Going full Gewiss in a grand tour was very very dumb.

And now rumours afoot about them merging with Quickstep. You could say that cycling is at death's door up in the top pro ranks, but the reality is that its been dead for years.

 

[nuke terrorist]

seems to be a bit of heat building on Jumbo-Visma though. Even Dan Martin calling them out. Going full Gewiss in a grand tour was very very dumb.

And now rumours afoot about them merging with Quickstep. You could say that cycling is at death's door up in the top pro ranks, but the reality is that its been dead for years.

During the Vuelta Jerome Pineau accused Sepp Kuss of having a motor in his bike saying that no one can descend that fast without pedalling.

 

[nuke terrorist]

Amazing finish in Belgian one day race today. never seen anything like this.

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[rettucs]

Amazing finish in Belgian one day race today. never seen anything like this.

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what happened? Did his cleat break?

Crazy stuff alright, but that was a quality finish. Thats what cycling needs a lot more of. Tactical racing, set the fast men up, then let them battle it out.

I've never heard of that race before. From the dipping in and out of cycling I've been doing this year there are quite a few races I've never heard of before. Such as the one Roglic won last week.

Btw, great camerawork in that video.

 

[nuke terrorist]

what happened? Did his cleat break?

Crazy stuff alright, but that was a quality finish. Thats what cycling needs a lot more of. Tactical racing, set the fast men up, then let them battle it out.

I've never heard of that race before. From the dipping in and out of cycling I've been doing this year there are quite a few races I've never heard of before. Such as the one Roglic won last week.

Btw, great camerawork in that video.

never heard of Famenne Ardennes Classic either. it is only a 1.1 event and it is only 7 editions old.

A few races on recently have changed their names or been on different times of the year e.g. Luxembourg.

the only race Roglic rode since the Vuelta was Giro dell'Emilia?? you probably meant something else?
it got a great field this time. love that final climb to the sanctuary.
Remember it was used in the Giro in 2009? Deignan set Gerrans up for the win in a break and some lad called Froome got hammered. think that was posted here at least once before.

 

[nuke terrorist]

2024 Tour de France presentation on now.
Women's race will start in Rotterdam and finish on L'Alpe d'Huez.

Men's route just about to be announced...

 

[nuke terrorist]

nice start to the Tour (starting in Italy for first time). opening with Florence-Rimini, Cesantico to Bologna to remember Pantani, Piacenza-Torino.
Pyrenees are a bit too far into the race IMO but lots of other nice stuff inc. gravel stage, Bonnette pass and two days in Nice and Haut Var after the Alps to round it out as Paris is doing the Olympics shortly afterwards.

 

[Cormcolash]

Gravel stage YEEAAHHHH

 

[nuke terrorist]

nice start to the Tour (starting in Italy for first time). opening with Florence-Rimini, Cesantico to Bologna to remember Pantani, Piacenza-Torino.
Pyrenees are a bit too far into the race IMO but lots of other nice stuff inc. gravel stage, Bonnette pass and two days in Nice and Haut Var after the Alps to round it out as Paris is doing the Olympics shortly afterwards.

Final stage is 34 km TT from Monaco to Nice. First time since 1989 that happened.
The gravel racing scene kicked in too late for my generation so I never followed it.
Love Strade Bianche and the times it's included road races though.

 

[flashback]

Strade Bianchi should be a Classic.

 

[rettucs]

Strade Bianchi should be a Classic.

I think its too new, isn't it?

If I recall correctly, the classics are

Milan - San Remo
Paris Roubaix
Tour of Flanders
Liege-bastonne-liege
Lombardy

I'd be for doing away with L-B-L because it has a history of being won by the worst cunts in the sport

 

[flashback]

I think its too new, isn't it?

If I recall correctly, the classics are

Milan - San Remo
Paris Roubaix
Tour of Flanders
Liege-bastonne-liege
Lombardy

I'd be for doing away with L-B-L because it has a history of being won by the worst cunts in the sport

Probably is, I dunno what the rule is. I think it's screaming out to be a Classic. It's a lovely amount of mental.

 

[nuke terrorist]

I think its too new, isn't it?

If I recall correctly, the classics are

Milan - San Remo
Paris Roubaix
Tour of Flanders
Liege-bastonne-liege
Lombardy

I'd be for doing away with L-B-L because it has a history of being won by the worst cunts in the sport

Those are the big five. Generally known as "Monuments".

The Fleche Wallonne gets a better field than Roubaix but only started in the 1930s and doesn't have a weekend slot.

Some classics lose status or even disappear:
500km plus one day race Bordeaux - Paris (inaugurated in 1891(!!) a year before L-B-L) became and anachronism (it was partly paced by dernies) and folded in 1988 when it couldn't attract top riders for years.

Paris - Brussels (first edition 1893) and hasn't been considered important since the 80's. Rubbish unselective route led to too many mediocre winners. No longer considered a classic.

Paris-Tours reputation has been going downhill for a long time.

Zurich Metzege like Bordeaux-Paris lasted over 90 editions from 1914 and then suddenly went out of business to lack of sponsorship after 2007.
In fairness Zurich wasn't important outside Suisse until the 1950's.

Probably is, I dunno what the rule is. I think it's screaming out to be a Classic. It's a lovely amount of mental.

Strade Bianche was set up in the 2000's to bring back the white gravel roads heavily used in Italian cycling until after the war.
First time it started we had no idea what was going to happen.
Folks thought it would suit a pave rider.
But it has gotten a great spread different winners.

I had wrongly thought Evans won Strade Bianche.
I think one of the first times gravel was included in a modern stage race Cadel won the stage which no one predicted beforehand but then we thought "well he was a MB legend...".
Can't remember what race that was now.

There was an early stage of the women's TdF in 2022 that went on to a very rough stoney gravel section and it caused mayhem. Huge amounts of dust, punctures and crashes - horrible surface that day.

 

[nuke terrorist]

Two lads I didn't know passed.away this week -

Jose Catieau (1946 - 30 November 2023)
French domestique who rode 7 Tours and a Vuelta.
He was a teammate of Luis Ocana in 1973 when he won the Tour by 15 minutes in Eddy's absence. In the '73 Tour Caiteau also won a stage, held yellow for 4 days and was 14th overall (see wiki bio).

José Catieau - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

José Catieau

José Catieau (born 1946-07-17 in Coutiches, passed away 2023-11-30) was a former professional road racing cyclist from France, active between 1965 and 1976. His best results are winning a stage in Tour de France and winning Paris - Camembert.

www.procyclingstats.com

Roger Chaussabel (1932 - 29 November 2023)
Roger (born same year as Charly Gaul) was lantern rouge in his debut Tour in 1956 (88th place). He rode three Tours 1956-58 and a Vuelta. His only pro win was a stage of the GP Midi Libre.

Roger Chaussabel — Wikipédia

fr.wikipedia.org

Roger Chaussabel

Roger Chaussabel (born 1932-02-18) is a former professional road racing cyclist from France, active between 1953 and 1961. His best results are winning a stage in GP du Midi-Libre and 2nd place in stage Tour de l'Aude.

www.procyclingstats.com