I say let's head over for L'Etape next year.

I was going to settle for Ocean Isle Beach, but the Alps sound cooler.

I'm sure my family won't mind.

I am now a solid Andy Schleck fan- for his talents, determination and grace under pressure, but I feel like Contador in the end won fairly and made up for any disrespect - implied or intentional, many felt he displayed towards the traditions of the Tour. It was fun watching the announcers nearly come to blows as well. Cavendish - Hell, my jaw is still on the floor. I have no words to describe him. A great Tour!

I was over all pleased with the TDF even if I did lose just a bit of respect for Contadore for disrespecting the tradition when he didn't wait to see if Schleck would get back into the race. It wasn't the disrespect for Andy as much as for the tradition of "racing" for the Yellow Jersey. It was a great victory for contadore but it will always have a bit of a tarnish attached to it. The reaction by the French as Contadore took the jersey after that stage will be replayed for a very long time. But traditions are not rules and so we will more than likely just see the tradition fade from memory.

To me the most amazing rider was Cavendish who seemed to get faster as the race went on. I don't think they need to test him for drugs but they might need to look and see if he is a cyborg.

The amazing thing about Cavendish, is that he is so -much- faster than the other guys, who are also hellaciously fast.

So it was not Patriotism that made me point out Cavendish as a phenominal Sprinter- Some of you think the same. My only problem is a thought sitting at the back of my Mind--I wonder whats he's on:innocent:

Hopefully nothing but every time a rider catches my eye on the Pro-Tour- he gets a 2 year drug ban.

But Contadour not waiting for Andy when the chain problem occured- As the time trial proved- Contadour would have won in any case.

Not much caught me this year but the Cobbles In the Flandres region- that was one hard stage and very early in the tour. The hill covered in Diesel that caught many riders out- but no-one gained due to peleton/accident Etiquette.

And I don't know if others thought the same but a lot of Mountain stages this year. To see the back markers struggling up those hills but still at a pace that I would struggle to achieve on the flat is a bit disheartening. And staying on speed, There was one of the camera bikes that showed it's speedometer while following the riders. 100 KPH--probably after a downhill but on the entry into one of the towns with a few curves in the road. Don't mind the 100KPH- but the thought of a manhole cover or stray dog at that speed in a town frightens me.

And if ever any of you get a chance to view the TDF "Live" then take it. It has come to the UK twice and I have been lucky enough in that it was within riding distance of my home on both occasions. No pics from the first occasion- but The spectacle of the day is fantastic.

Dunno what others over this side of the pond feel, but I think one of the great things about Le Tour over here is the TV coverage - which has been excellent. The TV commentary team - Phil Ligget, Paul ??? (an ex-pro who's name I can't remember), Chris Boardman and the link man Gary Imlach - are all really knowledgeable (neither patronising the viewer or dumbing down the content), engaging and full of enthusiasm... unlike the usual inane sports commentators these guys actually contributed to a great event (albeit not a classic Tour this year).

I loved the phrase by one of the commentators, when he said the breakaway group was not going to be able to withstand the press by the "raging peloton" that was closing on them. Raging it was: if my quick conversion from kph was accurate, the peloton was doing 43mph on the flat at that point. Yowza.

Yeah, I am sick of that.

I hope everyone was only on bikes this year.

An interesting thought is that the winning margin, had AC and AS stuck to each other like limpets, and the reversal of ITT start positions notwithstanding, with all finishing times playing out as they did, the winning margin would have been 8 seconds in AC's favor... Hmmm, where have we seen that result before?....:innocent:

AS did indeed ride an outstanding Tour, and it gives us non-bandwagoners hope that next year's race will be a good one without circus distractions. :rolleyes:

I didn't want to be the first to say it. I may be very naive, but I'm assuming the technology has improved dramatically in detection procedures, so hopefully Cavendish won't have the incessant naysayers that still start screaming "He's a doper!" every time Lance's name is mentioned. I hope he(Cav) has a long, prosperous, and pristine career both for his sake and for cycling.

You know it is funny, I never thought about "what is he on" about Cavendish. But I did when watching Usain Bolt shatter the 100 meter record.

I now have to wonder about Cav and that is disappointing for me because I have been a fan of his for some time now. It has something to do about the Isle of Man and the TT race there, awesome stuff is that race!

( no way is he on anything, he is just fast!)

I was moved as well when Cav won his first stage and was crying. He gained a little more respect from he and I had it anyway.

Say, I know.....we could go ride our bikes. :thumb:

It may have just been the excitement of the early part of the event, but I really enjoyed the early stages, along with the Tourmalet climb of course. My 84-year-old mom loved watching the riders in their colorful "costumes" and the French countryside... and there aren't many things we can watch together.

Great event though the outcome was not ideal!

I'm sorry. I've been in France and the Netherlands that last two weeks. Was there a race?

I can tell you the reaction of those with which I spoke in Leiden and Amsterdam was markedly different than those I spoke with in Paris. Then again Spain did beat the Netherlands in the World Cup. Folks in the Netherlands were not happy with Contador at all. One local paper reported that, "Contador shows all the signs of turning cycling's long standing honor that comes with sharing the brotherhood of pain extracted by the mountains into an eye gouging free for all one would expect from American wrestling. He shows himself to be an immature rider with little respect for the tradition of cycling. To 'let' Andy Schleck win several days later was an even bigger insult to Schleck."

In Paris, the reaction to which I was privy was that of indifference. One 20 something rider said that perhaps Schleck should have better mechanics on his team. Interestingly, there was much more positive comments about Armstrong than I would have ever expected. Generally, the criticism that he didn't ride for Levi was seen as not fair in that Levi was not in a position to contend. Rather, folks were impressed that he didn't abandon.

Lance made a huge mistake last year is saying a strong team would make the difference for Contador. He just hooks on to what ever team is doing well and sucks wheel. There should be a rule that allows a team to headbutt a guy who does this.

Has the chain drop incident changed the "unwritten rules" of the TdF? Maybe next year it is hey you crashed in yellow, so what! Had Lance been lucky enough to have a team wheel guy near when he flatted I think things might have been different. It is going to be interesting to see what happens to Team Radio Shack. I suggest get your team jersey while you can.

I am lobbying for the return of Smiling Bob from Enzite at every TdF commercial break!

I guess you missed those stages where Astana's Navarro led Contador up the big climbs long after Andy Schleck was the lone Saxo-Bank rider left in the group. Marking a rider who needs to put time into you more than you need to put time into him is as much a tradition in racing as is finding fault with everything done by someone you don't like.

liked the title.... non-spoiler indeed. it was fun while it lasted. rooted for lance. guy has guts. good on him for hanging in there all the way to the end. not many I think would do that and still be in the to 25% of the group. which is still the most elite of the elite out there. I sort of suspect he would ride circles around all of us. as for AC and AS will be an interesting year next year but we say that about the TdF every year. am looking forward to it. oh and thank heavens we don't have to wait 4 years for it to come back to town.

I, for one, thought it was (overall) a great race. Three comments.

First, though I'm not a particular fan of Contador, he certainly (in my view) was a fully deserving winner on GC, and is at the moment clearly -- even when not at his best -- the 'best' rider (GC) in the major tours. I held that view at the start, and have seen nothing that would alter it. As to 'Chaingate' -- non-issue, as Armstrong, Hinault, Riis (yes, AS's own manager) and many others have said. The time AC took back on AS as a result (direct or indirect) of the 'incident' was more than offset by time AS didn't lose or gained on AC during stages 2 and 3 in circumstances just as or more questionable re. "traditions of the Tour". If AS can learn to t/t, the gap between him and AC will close right up.

Second, Mark Cavendish: why do the "what's he on?" comments have to start? What evidence of any kind whatsoever is there that leads to these comments? If it's the current 'gap' between him and the rest of today's sprinters, then we'd better start saying the same thing about AC and AS, who are clearly a step above the rest of today's GC riders. He (Cav.) is a small, light rider with (presumably) a genetically-determined overabundance of fast-twitch muscle fibre and a track racing background. Very high peak power output to weight ratio, which he can turn fully 'on' very, very quickly. Plus, he seems to be learning sprint tactics very quickly, witness his ability to win easily even with a weakened lead-out.

Third: yay! Ryder Hesjedal!
That is all.

...or how NOT to pronounce them if you were listening to Phil and Bobke. I mean, they couldn't even make up their minds how to pronounce "Farrar" - even after Tyler's team manager showed 'em.

SP
Bend, OR

Team Astana decimated the peloton on the climbs and made it a two man race for GC with Contador being able to match Schleck in the mountains and having a track record of beating him in time trials with a margin thus almost assuring a GC victory for Contador. And they controlled the front of the peloton making sure that only certain riders got into breakaways. I was impressed with Astana and Contador. Even though Radio Shack had a great team and won the team competition, I am not sure if any of the RS riders could match Navarro to lead Lance up the climbs.

I think the reason we hold our breath or mention what someone might be on is simply because so many of the people we watch anymore. Pro sports, college sports, even High School sports. We have secreat deals that will allow someone to race in olympic events as a woman who may or may not be a woman by DNA tests to baseball players coming out after years of denial and confessing to doping.

Lance is tested just about every time he rides and has come up clean yet the question persists even in cycling circles. The question just pops into your head even if someone is just naturally more talented than everyone else. We all hope our favorites are clean but no one is really surprised when they discover another one has failed a test.

I watched the TdF on my DVR and skipped commercials except for catching an update from the Daily Line. Jenn Sterger is amazing and did a great job discussing sports.:innocent:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...n_Sterger2.jpg

OH YES SHE did.

What did she say?

jppe:
Sorry for the late reply.
Most memorable TdeF: when Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by seconds in that time trial. A suspenseful tour and some great riding.
Best all 'round rider by a huge margin was Eddie Merckx . . . he won everything in sight and not just in the Tour de France. He deseved the nickname 'the Cannibal!'
But then, being Belgian-born, I may be a bit prejudiced!
Pedal on!
Rudy/zonatandem

Even when someone else is talking, Jenn Sterger just has that look on her face...

Not bad, but I like my sports reporters a bit more "real". :innocent:

I was rooting for AS to win this year. :(
Last year AC beat AS by 4 min 11 secs. This year only by 39 secs (or 8 secs if you discount the 31 sec lead AS had before the chain thing).
Next year AS will probably beat AC. AC will be riding with another team.
"Alberto Contador has opted not to extend his contract with Astana. In a statement, Contador’s management team said, “Alberto Contador wants to have time to calmly explore all possibilities available to him to ride during the coming seasons, but so far none has been excluded.”


If you want to see the Vuelta next month on Versus then its time to let the management at Versus know your desires.
I remember way back in the early 2000s, Versus showed the Giro and the Vuelta, along with some of the other major races. Those were the good old days. :beer:

Yeah, I remember that! There was this one freakish year, 2001?, when OLN broadcast all three grand tours. It was incredible. I'm sure all the fishing and rodeo people were chucking hairballs, but, that was just an amazing year of televised cycling, at least in the USA.

Well, maybe Taylor Phinney or some other young American will come along and revitalize broadcast cycling in the US, but until then, I think it's still going to be the same old TdF every July.

Best moment for me: Schleck looking for weakness in Contador's eyes on Tourmalet, and finding none.