Please post evidence that the ruling body have singled out Americans more than Europeans. I think if you look at the results from testing you will find far more Europeans booted than Americans.

Do Tour riders only drink their own water these days or will they grab water from spectators like marathoners? I don't get to watch it on tv, hence the question.

Only their own.

Some used to take water from spectators and became very, very ill. Had to drop out. Actually not that many years ago.



And I know a lot of marathoners (sister has done 13) and none would EVER dream of taking water from other than the officials or friends. Terrible idea.

Some have had urine thrown on them, no telling what's in the water.

MORE SPOILER
I couldn't believe it! Needed to take 40.5s, and got 40... the DRAMA!!!

It might be to LA's benefit to NOT wear the yellow so early. Let Cancellara be the target. The yellow shouldn't change now for another 3 or 4 stages.

5 Astana riders in the top 10, what a powerhouse!

notables;
12 Vande Velde +1,16
17 Hincapie +1,36
20 Schleck,A + 1,41
gotta be worried;
29 Sastre +2,41
35 Evans +2,59
72 Menchov +3,52

They don't need to contaminate the water of the cyclists...!;)

You can win the Tour if you don't get caught. 7 times.

Or, they will punch you in the lung in the mountain stages like they did to Merckx.

Well less than a second out of first place at the end of the fourth stage...

Looks like Highlander quite nearly nailed this one!

Quite a bit of squawk about who the team leader is. Makes me wonder if the team is actually riding for Lance but playing a tactical game of letting every else assume that he is NOT the team leader.

Tactically speaking, don't put anything past Johan Bruyneel. This guy is the chess master of cycling.

angela

Friday is going to be the big day. Cancellara cant climb, and that stage ends in an ascent to Andorra. Who is going to climb better, Contador, LA, someone else?

LA will have yellow by the end of 5. Cancellara is a flatlander. Who's the better GC will prove itself.

Cadell is cooked, btw. Menchov too.

Looks like the Schlecks are out of it as well.

I'm holding out hope for Christian; I like him - a retro grouch at heart, he's still into downtube shifter bikes. :D

Not Tour-related, but as close as I'm going to get. Stage 7 finish of the Amgen Tour of CA this past year. 45 mph finish.

Nocentini (1) Weening (3) and Roulston (2).
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1247043200.jpg

Sherwood

if he is behind by 0.0, why is the other guy wearing the yellow/

Because he had it first.

Ah, one has to take it away from the leader, so to speak.

With Lance at 37 you have to admit the odds are pretty long that he will actually make the podium this year. It only takes one bad day in the upcoming mtns to lose this race. He looks damn old in the interviews...let's see if he still has that motor.

During the regular stages and TTT, they round off to the whole second. In case of a tie, they go back to the individual time trials, which they had in the opening stage. Cancellara is ahead by .22secs but it is shown that they are on the same second.

Sad that some people feel that this is a fair race. The frogs have been against Lance for years now.

Proof? Hope that the BBC is good enough... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/8132867.stm

Notice that NO ONE other than the leading American was given this warning.

~~~~~


Armstrong given dope test warning

TOUR DE FRANCE
Date: 4 July - 26 July

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong has made a comeback in search of an eighth Tour victory

France's sports minister has said Lance Armstrong will be "particularly monitored" in anti-doping checks at this year's Tour de France.

Roselyne Bachelot said the seven-times winner, who has come out of retirement to compete and has always denied taking banned substances, would be watched.

"He will be particularly, particularly, particularly monitored," she said.

The head of France's anti-doping agency says the American would be treated like anyone else when it came to dope tests.

In recent years, the world's most famous cycling race has been blighted by numerous doping incidents, and the International Cycling Union plans more than 500 tests during this year's race in an effort to alleviate the problem.

"There needs to be a really very, very active fight against doping," said Bachelot.

"The organisers know how much a positive doping test could have harmful effects."

i dont think he is saying that. but they have singled lance out. of course more euros have been booted, look at the ratio of US to euros. but i will have to agree that i think the french hate to see a non french win, especially an american, perhaps more when lance first started winning. look at how many french teams have been let in under the wild card. they should have let that us team in(cant think of the name) years ago but opted for french teams that were not as good, that us team ended up folding, perhaps becasue they did not get in and their sponsors backed out.

what i dont get is that they accuse LA of doping because he has won the tour so much, but they do not take into account that he trains SPECIFICALLY for the tour and he does not win that much outside of the tour. if they are basing his doping on how much he wins, why hasnt someone accused eddie merckx of doping? he won all year long. no one has ever been able to maintain that kind of condition all year long.

if i were lance, i would offer to let an official spend 24/7 with me, he can even watch as i take a dump if that will prove that i am clean.

i have read that they will not take anything that has been opened, can you blame them.

That much?? when? Not a big fan of that type of thinking, like Indurian. At east he rodes the worlds.

T,

I have our poster from france on block, so cannot and do not want to see what he has to say or post. He seems to be as slanted as the french sports minister most of the time, thus the reason for his being blocked on my end. Was not aware of his comments about Americans versus Europeans but it does not surprise me. He has blinders on much of the time IMHO. I posted my post due to its reference to the race and not this person, who I could care less about.

Lance has been under a microscope for years, even more so in france. For anyone to say that he has not been singled out, well they are living in a totally different world. I raced bikes years ago along with John Howard in the late 60's, so have been following the Tour for years. When I lived in Europe saw it many time and its truely a great race. Hope that the officials and spectators allow it to be a fair race this time.