As a road biker, I like keeping track of the tour and several other pro bicycling races. Like to see the few Americans do good and Peter Sagan.

As far as the whole Lance saga, even if you pass off the doping as "they were all doing it", the fact he was willing to destroy friends and teammates lives because of his lies makes him a POS. And I do factor in the whole LiveStrong as inspirational and positive to those with cancer.

Germany's Marcel Kittel (a green jersey threat) won a sprint finish to take the second tour stage today.

Chris Froome (GB, team Sky) crashed in the wet conditions, but recovered to maintain his lead over other GC contenders.

Geraint Thomas (GB, team Sky), who also crashed, retained the yellow jersey that he earned by winning the stage 1 time trial yesterday.

I wonder if they do a tear down exam on the gears and such before and after a race to prevent motor and magnet cheating ?

http://www.bicycling.com/racin...g-with-secret-motors

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Lance Armstrong is a disgrace, and the single reason I gave up watching what used to be as important to me as The Masters.

I have been racing ad following racing a long time. I think there are a lot of layers to that particular onion.
Yes, lance was doping, but yes, about all the other top competitors were too.
Yes, Lance is an arrogant a-hole, but there are a lot of arrogant a-holes at the top levels of professional sports.

So, in my estimation, Lance was really not that much different than a lot, except that he actually was BETTER at tour-racing than everyone else. Since it coincided with the collapse of the doping era, he was a convenient public scapegoat.

To me, the Livestrong thing is a side issue. Everyone who makes billions has to find ways to make use of/"shelter" it, and Lance had a unique personal story that really did allow him to simultaneously "do some good" and "shelter his money". Remember that most of the Livestrong funds were not actually spent on cancer research, but to "promote cancer awareness". So every time Lance would travel, he would give a little speech about "cancer awareness" and it would then all be paid for by the foundation and/or become tax deductable.

The tour and other races are actually more exciting now than ever due to the unpredictability factors.

quote:

Originally posted by Fla. Jim:
I wonder if they do a tear down exam on the gears and such before and after a race to prevent motor and magnet cheating ?

Yes, believe it or not, they actually scan the bikes for heat signatures that any motor would have to generate.

There are so many wearing yellow now it's hard to tell the clowns from the cowboy.

It used to be that wearing yellow was forbidden, but more and more teams are designing jerseys with yellow, or helmets.

I used to enjoy it, but the Sky dominance seemed to have killed a lot of the attacking. I really got into the Schleck/Contador rivalry & there was a lot of action those years. Then it became the Team Sky slow & steady train.

Watched some of last year & forgot to set the DVR for it this year.

Peter Sagan (Slovak, Bora - Hansgrohe), won stage 3 today, a sprint finish. Sagan is a rare bird – a decent sprinter who is also a pretty good road man. His road skills give him a good chance for a sprint win on courses where the pure sprinters are far back from the front.

Froome was only 2 seconds back, retaining his good position among the GC contenders.

And Peter Sagan has been disqualified from the Tour. That was a nasty crash. He must have cut off Cavendish too much for the jury to ignore. Not boring so far.

Edit: I initially didn't see anything Sagan did to cause the crash nor did the commentators on Eurosport.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:
And Peter Sagan has been disqualified from the Tour. That was a nasty crash. He must have cut off Cavendish too much for the judges to ignore. Not boring so far.

The TV coverage showed them embracing and talking friendly like at the bus, and said not a peep about the DQ, but I saw it when I searched for info on Cavendish's injuries and status.

That elbow was fairly prominent. Now two of the biggest stars and competitors are likely out, the sponsors are not happy.

The DQ is beginning to look like a regrettable mistake. We'll see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMSRbpOLIAk&sns=em

Sagan should be out. He tossed a nasty elbow at Greipel yesterday and now this? Adios.

Velonews has an interesting write up on the Crash.

Silent

As for the GC contenders…

Geraint Thomas, yellow jersey, went down in a multi rider crash 1 KM from the finish, loosing 2+ minutes by the clock. But since the crash was within 3 KM from the finish, he didn't loose any official time, and retains the yellow.

Chris Froome is still in second place, 12s back. Among other GC danger men, Nairo Quintana is 48s back, and Alberto Contadore is 54s back.

quote:

Britain's Mark Cavendish pulled out of the Tour de France after breaking his right shoulder in a crash.

The 32-year-old collided with world champion Peter Sagan before hitting the barriers in a sprint finish on stage four in Vittel.

Cavendish, who has won 30 career stages, said he was "massively disappointed".

Link

quote:

World champion Peter Sagan's team have appealed against his disqualification from the Tour de France for causing the crash which ended Mark Cavendish's race.

The Briton accused Sagan, 27, of elbowing him during the sprint finish to stage four in Vittel.

Cavendish, 32, crashed into the barriers and later pulled out of the race with a broken shoulder.

Link

I am sure some of the folks are really good athletes, but with all the cheating you don't know if that is natural or if it comes from a bottle or a syringe.

quote:

Originally posted by dwright1951:
I am sure some of the folks are really good athletes, but with all the cheating you don't know if that is natural or if it comes from a bottle or a syringe.

The irony is that cyclists got caught more because they have a very aggressive anti-doping campaign and get tested more.
When was the last time the NFL conducted random drug tests ? I honestly don't know. Does anyone ?

On Sagan/Cav: When I watched it, it looked like Cav started leaning into Sagan from behind, actually making contact first, and Sagan threw his elbow out in a defensive gesture. I see on the cycling websites that a lot of others saw it that way too.
Oh, well...it's over now. It is a loss of the Tour.

I believe the old Cafe de Columbia team, or some of them, got caught smuggling cocaine, something lke that.

Looks to me like Cav was slightly behind Sagan, and he picked the wrong spot to try to squeeze in - bad decision by Cav. It was Cav's bad decision that causes the crash and the Sagan DQ.

So the current world champ, a stage winner, and most likely the green jersey winner is DQ'd out, not good for the tour. Terrible decision.

Sagan's elbow never contacted Cavendish that I have seen. I've heard Cavendish's brake hood hit Sagan's arm, and the elbow out is a reaction to that or him steadying his bike after contact with Cavendish.

I think Sagan's disqualification was a mistake, not completely fair, and set a precedence for future behavior that won't be held consistently. Especially considering the move the Frenchman Dumare who won did cutting off the rider behind just before the finish.