Tour de France 2012

[beardyian]

Bradley Wiggings (a Brit) is just one stage away from being the first ever British cyclist to win the Tour.
arty:

As well as Chris Froome (another Brit) in 2nd and World Champion (and fastest man on the planet) Mark Cavendish winning stages this has been a good Tour for the little island that never had cycling winners just 10-15 years ago


Amazing acceleration for the win by Cavendish on stage 18 >>

:vroam:

 

[onemorechance]

Yeah Britain enjoying a period that comes as close to dominance as it gets in cycling. Crushed on the track and now the road

 

[Colbefc]

I love watching cycling and have loved watching this years Tour. Sky have got their tactics just right, Marc Cavendish is prob the fastest cyclist ever. I am watching the closing stages of the tour now, hope Cav takes the stage again.
It is rumoured that Chris Froome will be Sky's team leader in the Vuelta which would be great.


well done lads

 

[onemorechance]

Absolutely superb

 

[beardyian]

Quote Wiggins 'Mission Complete'

 

[Colbefc]

That was brilliant. Well done Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Marc Cavendish and the rest of the Sky team.
Must admit I thought Cav had gone too early but he is just too good for the rest.
One of the best afternoons sport I have ever watched, absolutely unbeleivable

 

[Chemist]

Not to take too much away from the individual achievements, it also shows what a bit of backing and support can do for a team.

 

[Gesshoo]

Hope Chris Froome gets his chance at the Tour soon.

 

[onemorechance]

Bump for...

Hope Chris Froome gets his chance at the Tour soon.

Well at least he's going to get his chance leading Team Sky at the Vuelta. Would be absolutely ridiculous if he was able to cap off the season he's had with a win in one of the classics

There's also pretty strong rumours Cavendish is going to leave Team Sky, which is hardly a surprise. As nice as it is to have the 'best' British riders at Sky, Cav needs to move to consistently win the green/get the record for most Tour stage wins

 

[Colbefc]

I think that wherever Mark Cavendish ends up he wants to make sure they also sign Mark Renshaw. They worked brilliantly together at HTC. He was the p-erfect lead off man for Cav.:cheers:

 

[onemorechance]

Yeah I watched the 'Mark Cavendish - Human Missile' video on youtube (well worth a watch by the way) and that partnership looked incredible

 

[onemorechance]

Anyone been watching La Vuelta? Some absolutely wonderful stuff on Stage 3 from Contador, mightily impressive from Froome just to stay with him in the end. He might be a dirty doping bastard, but I'm quickly falling in love with the way Contador rides a bike

Then on Stage 4 we've had the controversy of the Sky attack, subsequent Movistar crash and Sky and a couple of other teams just not slowing down. Sounds like the justification is that not only had Sky already attacked when the crash occurred rather than the other way around, but Movistar have been pretty scummy this season. Bit of a taste of their own medicine kind of job

 

[beardyian]

Anyone been watching La Vuelta? Some absolutely wonderful stuff on Stage 3 from Contador, mightily impressive from Froome just to stay with him in the end. He might be a dirty doping bastard, but I'm quickly falling in love with the way Contador rides a bike

Then on Stage 4 we've had the controversy of the Sky attack, subsequent Movistar crash and Sky and a couple of other teams just not slowing down. Sounds like the justification is that not only had Sky already attacked when the crash occurred rather than the other way around, but Movistar have been pretty scummy this season. Bit of a taste of their own medicine kind of job

Remember back in the Tour de france when there had been a crash Wiggins and Sky slowed the whole peleton down but there was one Movistar rider who just went flying up the road - claiming he hadn't realised what had happened, i think it was the day a load of tacks had been thron down on a moutain top finish (Cadel Evans etc getting punctures)

 

[onemorechance]

Aye I believe it's fair to say Movistar don't have the greatest of reputations on issues like this.

Incredibly dull stage today, tuned into a stream to the commentator saying 'Well we're getting towards the end of today's stage, thank goodness'

 

[beardyian]

Tut Tut Mr Lance Armstrong

 

[onemorechance]

I've never been less surprised at any 'news'. Trying to claim he beasted an era where every single one of his peers has subsequently admitted or been caught doping was just ridiculous. Can't take anything away from him though, he was still clearly an absolute phenomenon

They should just draw a line under that era, accept what happened and move on trying to make the sport

 

[Cdub512]

imo it doesnt matter if armstrong lost his titles. regardless of your opinion on him, he won 7 straight titles against a ton of dopers. 7 titles in a row for anyone is amazing regardless if they doped. good thing is he will for sure be remembered for all the great things he's done with his livestrong foundation.

 

[onemorechance]

Some top work by the Velocast crew on providing a great history on the Armstrong saga

http://velocastcc.squarespace.com/race-radio/2012/8/27/lance-armstrong-special-edition.html

 

[4thandinches]

Lance Armstrong is filthy rich (worth about 125 million) just for riding a bicycle. But I cannot fault him, as the opportunity presented itself and he took advantage of the situation. Likewise, he won't get any sympathy from me down the road if health problems result from his usage.

 

[DINGO8MYBABY]

I'm gonna have my Lance Armstrong say here: It doesn't bother me that he was doping, as apparently all the cyclists of his era were doping. It's a different situation than baseball, where some players were juicing and some weren't.

 

[onemorechance]

Armstrong said “You won’t ****ing believe this, I got popped for EPO." He laughed, "No worries, dude. We’re gonna have a meeting with them. It’s all taken care of.”

..

 

[onemorechance]

Witness after witness would have been called to the stand and witness after witness would have confirmed the following: That Lance Armstrong used the banned drug EPO. That Lance Armstrong used the banned drug Testosterone. That Lance Armstrong provided his teammates the banned drug EPO. That Lance Armstrong administered to a teammate the banned drug Testosterone. That Lance Armstrong enforced the doping program on his team bythreatening a rider with termination if he did not dope in accordance with the plan drawn up byDr. Michele Ferrari. That Lance Armstrong’s doping program was organized by Dr. Ferrari.That Lance Armstrong pushed his teammates to use Dr. Ferrari. That Lance Armstrong used banned blood transfusions to cheat. That Lance Armstrong would have his blood withdrawn andstored throughout the year and then receive banned blood transfusions in the team doctor’s hotelroom on nights during the Tour de France. That Lance Armstrong surrounded himself with drugrunners and doping doctors so that he could achieve his goal of winning the Tour de France year after year. That Lance Armstrong and his handlers engaged in a massive and long running scheme to use drugs, cover their tracks, intimidate witnesses, tarnish reputations, lie to hearing panels and the press and do whatever was necessary to conceal the truth.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/109619079/Reasoned-Decision

 

[Pothole]

He was just a better cheat than anyone else is all. He will always be remembered as just that, a stinkin cheat.

 

[Pothole]

Dropped by Nike and resigned from his own charity. hahahahah

 

[beardyian]

Breaking news.........

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20008520

Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by the sport's governing body.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) has accepted the findings of the United States Anti-Doping agency's (Usada) investigation into Armstrong.
UCI president Pat McQuaid said: "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling."
On what he called a "landmark day for cycling", McQuaid added that Armstrong had been stripped of all results since 1 August, 1998 and banned for life.