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Le Tour 2008


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[quote user="Tandem_Pilot"]Strange - how Mark Cavendish has now won 3 stages but is at 147 on the general Classement?

[/quote]

On some of the stages that he hasn't won he has been way behind the winning group e.g. 30 minutes or so one day. He is now 5th in the battle for the Green jersey but 41 points behind O'Freire (sp?) with no chance of catching up. The latest news is that M.C. will leave the Tour before the Alps, shame that as I'm sure he would love to win the final stage to the Marble Arch lookalike.

John

p.s. Ricco won 2 stages and he is now helping the boys in bleu with their enquiries.

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Who's Chapman?

 

Now Cavendish has 4 and abandoned ..good call because he was never going to win the intermediates and hence the green.

 

Hey Pierre  ZFP -  good call at the start of the thread but I  fear the Schleck brothers /CSC  didn't do enough today to take time out of Evan's ...so it's all down to the Alpe-d'Hueze on Wednesday....did I ever say how appauled I was at the idea of an Ozzie victory??? Allez Luxembourg!!!!!! ( but I'm old enough that despite everything my heart is still with Major Tom.........I know, I know, but he was...etc....)

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[quote user="Stefan"]

Who's Chapman?

 

Now Cavendish has 4 and abandoned ..good call because he was never going to win the intermediates and hence the green.

[/quote]

IMO a rider should finish the tour to the best of his ability, not win 4 sprints then go home to do something else as soon as they hit the mountains.

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[quote user="Stefan"]

Hey Pierre  ZFP -  good call at the start of the thread but I  fear the Schleck brothers /CSC  didn't do enough today to take time out of Evan's ...so it's all down to the Alpe-d'Hueze on Wednesday....did I ever say how appauled I was at the idea of an Ozzie victory??? Allez Luxembourg!!!!!!

[/quote]

If only I'd followed my own advice and actually put a few bob on Frank - ah well, I'm never one for betting anyway.

So, much praise to Frank and to Andy (taking the White Jersey) and to the whole CSC Saxo Bank team who lead by over 4 minutes.

I have been invited to a 'bit of a do' tonight to celebrate their success so far.  Being Luxembourg I'm sure there will be the standard 'healthy' fare of beer, crement and sausages.  Just the perfect diet for watching TV

Allez Luxembourg indeed!

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It's not in the "spirit" of the Tour. It reminds me of the Cipollini period.

  "Grand spécialiste des victoires d'étapes lors des premiers jours des

courses à étapes, Mario Cipollini n'a jamais bouclé un Tour de France

malgré huit participations, à cause de la particularité de cette course

de comporter plusieurs étapes de très haute montagne au cours de la

deuxième semaine. Adulé pour ces victoires et son charisme par

certains, ce cycliste est détesté par nombre d'amateurs du Tour de

France, probablement frustrés par un spectable moins télégénique et qui

le considéraient comme un « voleur d'étapes ». La direction du Tour de

France finit par refuser d'inviter son équipe Saeco plusieurs années de

suite."
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OOPS!!!!!!

"Barloworld's John-Lee Augustyn tops the Col de la Bonette in

first place, but as he screams down the descent, he overcooks a corner,

goes tumbling down the side of the mountain, while his busted bike

keeps going...and going...and going.

Before you watch this video, know that Augustyn re-mounted a back-up bike and finished 35th in today's stage"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPdNfsf4Z5c

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[quote user="Tandem_Pilot"]OOPS!!!!!!

"Barloworld's John-Lee Augustyn tops the Col de la Bonette in

first place, but as he screams down the descent, he overcooks a corner,

goes tumbling down the side of the mountain, while his busted bike

keeps going...and going...and going.

Before you watch this video, know that Augustyn re-mounted a back-up bike and finished 35th in today's stage"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPdNfsf4Z5c

[/quote]

There's no getting away from it... there are some tough lads out there.

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[quote user="Tandem_Pilot"]OOPS!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPdNfsf4Z5c


[/quote]

He crashed just seconds after the commentator said that he was not a very experienced descender.....

Seeing it live, very edge-of-the-seat stuff... I wondered about the spectator who immediately climbed down to help him up. Then later, never saw how his bike was retrieved... if it was, and if it was worth retrieving????

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Most exciting tour in years - I'm loving it! [:D]

Did anybody see the best 20 Tour moments on ITV4 last night?  Was I the only one who cried?  Several times?  Especially the Motorolla team in '95 after their team mate died ... filling up now thinking of it!

 

We'll need to start a support thread next week, when the tour is finished and we have months to wait before we're thrown a bone (next year's schedule).

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Delighted: because:

  • Anyone in the 'shake-up' who wins on the Alpe d'Huez, deserves to win the TdF
  • Evans is an Aussie
  • Evans is a grumpy Aussie

 ........ but I echo Raindog's hopes re dope.  You can say something and 12 hrs later .......... ! 

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Hard luck Luxembourg ( but a least a white Jersey for Andy Schleck) and, for, pretty much for all the reasons Gardian has come up with well done Sastre and the whole CSC team - especially Stuart O'Grady for working like a Trojan ( see, I'm not a complete Oozyphobe)  ....and yes, fingers crossed that the result stands.
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Wonderful atmosphere. The village really came alive and as it was an individual time trial, it was an all day event.

Before the first rider arrived, a pretty young thing on the back of a motorised mountain even threw her tee-shirt at me. Well, a tee-shirt but I like to let my imagination run riot occasionally.

All we lacked was a big screen and audible commentary to know how things were going after they had left us (first village after start of the stage). But we knew it could go down to the wire on this, the decisive stage 20, so everyone crammed into the bar as soon as Sastre had gone through to follow his progress to the finish on the owner's telly. Pandemonium, and couldn't see a thing, but great.

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