:eek: Heavy carnage in today's stage....dang......bad luck for quite a few riders - not just the injured but also those who were caught up in the delays.....hope Tom Danielson can continue tomorrow......ugh!

Hope Pete Sagan learned his lesson messing with the pure sprinters. I think he will make it pretty big in the future. Too early to tell, I really don't think he is the tour material but a really strong one day rider.

Baz,

I am from the old days also and started racing as a Jr. (the next 16 years after that) back in 84. I have not missed watching the Tour since 1983. That was only a 5 minute board cast on ABC Wild World of Sports on Sundays. I saw a video a couple of years later after LeMond's first Worlds in a Pizza Joint with my cycling club during a meeting. That was the longest bike racing I have seem on TV.

The Inner Ring

Any other good TdF info sources?

Ryder Hesjedal (Canadian rider & winner of the the 2012 Giro d'Italia) is in 8th place as of yesterday. Good position to finish 'top 5' or better.

Cheers
JB

Yeah, I don't have to tell you the coverage has come a long way! Never raced myself - just some mini-tri's but I wasn't a serious competitor. That's cool though. Somewhere I have VHS recordings of the Big Mig years in the early 90's when I first got my Trek and was going at it hard.

Thanks for the link JYL...good stuff! ;)

JB:

I like Ryder a lot - and the team he is on - loaded with talent. Looks like Tom Danielson is staying in it for now....those wrecks are ugly!

I'd like to see Ryder end up in the top 5 for sure. He should do well in the mountains.

Loooong way to go yet.....:eek:

Indeed. I lived in France in the '70s and you actually had to go see it live. :)


http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/Renault2.jpg

On a classic flat sprint Sagan has been beaten every time this Tour. Granted he hasn't had a train. On an uphill sprint, he is unbeaten. So, a "strong man" rider? Or does he climb well enough to be a GC contender someday?

I think he will be a really strong all round rider like Jalabert of France in a few years. Not a sprinting specialist, but they will fear him in a 3-5 men break near the finish. Looking at him, I think he can climb ok. He will put the hurt on them in the Ardennes classics or even Paris Nice in the Spring. Give him a few more years, he will even be faster all rounder. Can he time trial?

John,

That's really cool stuff. I really like how they have something about the sponsers. Thanks.

Jeff

I think the coverage was best during the early 2000s, right before Lance and just with Sherwin and Legget. No BS and it was not always about Lance. Now, there's little bit of Hollywood involved.

In the ToC, his time trial was 3 min behind the #1 35 min 59 sec time.

Tyler Farrar was looking for someone to punch after the stage today.

^ yep, and Ivan Basso went out in the same crash. I've always liked Ivan's secret weapon. Any one noticed it? His grimas (sp) looks like a smile, the harder the climb, the more he smiles. :-)

It has been a tough tour as far as crashes go. I'm looking forward to the mountains.

Cheers Richard

When the tour enters the mountains, does RadioShack focus on F. Schleck as their yellow hopes? He's their climber, but Cancellera is a stronger time trialist.

Always like Basso myself Richard. Is he out now or did you mean just for that crash?

I agree - it's been a bit brutal this year wrt the crashes...:eek:

The finish today was representative of why this event is so exciting to watch. I thought for sure the Argentine breakout rider would win it. Not so fast my friend....that finish was insane!

:p

Hey Baz, Basso was in the crash today just before the end of the race, Hope he is back tomorrow. Weird how many big name riders are going down, where is their posse?

The overtake for the win today must have been crushing for those in the break away, they just about got blown into the weeds as they were passed. The kick that some guys have after all the miles is mind blowing.

Cheers Richard

Can they actually do a sprint stage without a big crash? It's sort of tiresome. Like if F1 had a turn 1 pileup at every start.

I couldn't really see what Farrar was so angry about. From the overhead slow mo it looked like he was trying to shoulder the guy to his right and lost it. Took out Sagan, almost took out Greipel, how could he clip back into his pedals and win - incredible. Sky had a four or five man train in front of Cavendish but it seemed like all but one had vanished by the time the sprint started - don't know if I am not seeing right, if the crash discombobulated them, or if they couldn't keep up.