Tour de France 2012 [congrats Bradley Wiggins!]

sailor said:

A few riders are skipping to concentrate on the Olympics but a few are going to try both. Cavendish being one.

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That's unbelievable. I salute their superior cardio.

The danger of doing both is getting hurt in the tour. Hesjedal may be able to ride in the olympic road race but probably not at full strength. Samuel Sanchez probably won't defend his gold medal due to the broken wrist and shoulder he suffered in the latest crash. With only a week between the end of the tour and the olympic race, there isn't much recovery time. Time trialists have it a little better, a few more days in between.

Cavendish had to find another team when HTC folded. They were geared for him, their leadout train the best. They didn't have a real GC contender and were after stage wins. But they ran out of money. Most other upper echelon teams were either strictly GC or already had sprinters on board. He probably figured he could freelance with Sky, like Robbie McEwan did for his career. Also, he lost some weight this year for the olympics. The course has a small climb on it, not even a cat 4. But they do it 9 times. Sprinters are generally heavier/more muscled than climbers to generate the power for the sprint. The less weight you have to haul over a climb, the better. So Cavendish probably doesn't have the power that he is used to and that affects how he times his last thrust to the line. Being in the crashes hasn't helped.

HTC would control the race at the end because they had so many on their train. Other teams wouldn't allocate as many to their sprinters. With them gone, more teams have their trains going and that causes mass confusion at times. As Voekler said 'the road is only so wide and everyone is trying to be there.' A recipe for chaos. 20 withdrawals so far, 1 due to sickness, 19 for injury. The last time they had this many during the first week was when entire teams were tossed if one was caught doping. No dopings this week.

I'm afraid you spoke too soon (Di Gregorio, though it appears to be related to an ongoing investigation from 2011, not this year's Tour).

I'm terrifically impressed with that young Wiggins boy

Guardian: Aware of what's going on behind him, where six or seven riders including Evans, Carpets, Cummings and Kloden had punctured, Bradley Wiggins signals too those with him to slow down and wait for Evans to catch up. Wiggins has sportingly decided that, seeing as there was no car on hand to help his rival, it would be unfair for him to take advantage of his misfortune.

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Such a nice thing to do - he's been very well brought up.

I'm a Cadel fan from way back, so I haven't been that pleased with Wiggins being in yellow. I have to say I'm a lot happier with it now Wiggins showed such sportsmanlike behavior today. Wiggins also showed he has the true patron authority over the peloton. That was impressive.

It's good to see that sort of sportsmanship and it happens in the Tour quite often. Jan Ulrich fell on a mountain descent and Lance Armstrong slowed to allow him to catch up. The next year the roles were reversed. Armstrong fell while climbing, I think it's the one where his handlebars caught a bag held by a spectator. Ulrich waited for Armstrong to repay the courtesy.

On the other side, a couple of years ago Andy Schleck had his chain come off on an ascent and Alberto Contador attacked. He was skewered in the papers that night for 'breaking the code'.

I hope they catch the twits that threw the tacks. Doubtful but one can always hope.

That section of the course was lined with hundreds of spectators armed with cameras, taking pictures obsessively. Bet someone shot something that would help identify the [expletive deleteds], or at least help pinpoint the time the carpet tacks were scattered.

The tack thrower(s) should be forced to pay for every piece of equipment they ruined. Since Tour bikes are not your average machine, that should be quite the painful lesson. I'm thinking that with so many cameras being used, some good old-fashioned footage scrutiny will yeild results.

The Tour is filled with people who know what sportsmanship really means. I have forgotten the name of the rider (it was in the 90s, I think) who wasn't wearing a helmet and crashed headfirst into the side of a cliff on a Pyreness descent. Killed instantly. The next day, every team held back so the deceased rider's team could cross the finish line in a row, hand in hand. My husband and I sat there watching it, in tears.

Fabio Casartelli, 1995, 15th stage. There is a memorial where he died, a sundial that casts a shadow on 3 dates: his birth, death and the date he won an olympic gold medal for the road race. wiki link

Thanks, sailor.

We used to love watching the Tour. Now we cringe every time we see a "breaking News" banner.

Bad day for Cadel. Very sad. Lost a lot of time, down to 7th.

Not as bad as Fränk Schleck's day, of course.

Gah. Worse than the tack-throwing asshat day?

callalily61 said:

Gah. Worse than the tack-throwing asshat day?

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That was bad, but it gave the peloton a chance to show their good side in waiting for the many who flatted.

I don't think there is a good side to Schleck getting busted for banned substances, unless it's to show that they are catching suspected drug cheats in cycling. Heaven knows that's something they don't do much in baseball or football.

Cadel losing so much time--well, that has a good side for the Wiggins and Nibali supporters. Just not for me .

Priene said:

ISo if Wiggins doesn't get cracked today he's probably going to win the Tour, and Britain will have its first winner since...ever.

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If Cadel isn't going to win it, that's the best outcome & I'm thrilled for all you Brits .

So Wiggins heads Cav's leadout train, they time it to perfection and Cav wins it from 600m out. The sun's coming out, Bradley Wiggins is in yellow with only the TT to come and Cav looks like he'll be unbeatable at Box Hill.

What is the world coming to?

Wiggins wins the TT!

I'm betting Wiggins is taking part in leading Cavendish out on the Champs-Élysées tomorrow. That sprint Friday was amazing!