BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

That sounds sweet. Anyone watching le tour in Pittsburgh? I don't have cable, but I signed up for the $30 versus coverage online and it sucks. Buggy, slow, intermittent and unwatchable.

3 times a day here!

I'll watch as much as I can.. Mostly catching the 8PM replay nightly.

Been watching, I get twitchy at work when it is on and I cant watch it.

Got my tab set up with http://www.letour.fr/us/index.html

I haven't watched live yet, though, just the wrap up video.

i watched some today. it's hard for me to just watch people riding bikes for hours.

@Mattre

Sweeeeeeeeet! I'd love to be there in person some year.

Mostly by luck I managed to catch stage 20 of the the 2004 Tour. I did zero planning and was more or less taken by surprise when I flew in that morning and realized I might be able to go. I remember being exhausted and trying to decipher from the French TV and newspaper where I had to go, when I had to be there, and how to get there. Somehow I found the right train and made it with like half an hour to spare. The whole thing was pretty surreal, but I'm really glad I went instead of just going to sleep.

I ended up somewhere by the Louvre; I don't remember helicopters but I remember all the cars, then the riders (although since it's not really a race stage it was more of like a parade of teams than one big mass). Then I realized I was pretty close to the finish so I walked that way. I didn't try to push through the crowds to get to the finish line (I wasn't sure if I needed a ticket to get into that area anyways), but I could see them doing laps. It was pretty cool, especially considering it was really just an accident that I saw it at all

it can be boring but you also get those exciting moments. the breakaways, the dogs running out onto the course and taking out half the riders. the pileup 500k from the line that stopped the race. the sprints to the end.

got to love it

yeah those parts are exciting. and i think seeing it in person would def be exciting. i am SO relieved that the dog is ok. i feel badly for those who crashed though.

so my uncle was in town yesterday and i hung out at my parents' house for a bit, where i caught a bit of the tour. i think my uncle was just trying to start something, but he was questioning why cycling is a sport. i didn't get into the conversation, but colin did. he isn't the first person though that has asked or just simply said "cycling isn't a sport".

Love watching the Tour on TV. Would be awesome to see it or some part of it in person.

Seeing all the motorcycles, helicopters, support vehicles makes it look like some other thing than cycling. But then that dog ran out in front of them, and I could relate.

Been there.

I'm really into the (overplayed) LA vs Contador thing this year.

The Versus coverage (cable) I have been really impressed with. They've been throwing in specials on the history along with the race coverage. It's pretty cool.

I'm tentatively keeping my fingers crossed, but between this and the World Cup coverage, it's like maybe Americans are realizing there is the entire rest of the world out there.

I may have a man-crush on Fabian Cancellara. 180 lb bike rider, he's a monster!

cancellara is a cool cat. i liked his comment last year about how the swiss invented time, which was why he was a second ahead.

I like (liked) VS, last year they had their coverage online and I could put it in the background at work and listen, then if something sounded exciting I could flip. now they want 30$ for me to watch it online.

ahhhh-no

Don't waste your money. I paid $30 and am trying to get a refund. The streaming is beyond worthless.

i wasnt going to, i did find several places streaming it and one was in english

http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/#tv-schedule

you just have to check em out and see how each is working

Yea, I tried that yesterday. I figured paying a few bucks would be less of a headache. I was wrong.

When it works, the picture is gorgeous. You can watch about 10-30 minutes of it before the plugin dies and you have to restart the browser, computer, whatever. I can't believe they want people to pay for that.

This year I have DVR so I will just watch it after work.

I previous years I would catch some highlight clips / final kms on youtube.

If you guys are DVR-ing when can I post a question about stage 2? Tomorrow? I don't want to spoil it.

Can I try to spoil stage 3 in advance? El Pistelero crashes hard & eats some pavé, loses 5 mins on GC.

I love the Tour de France! Every year I sit here for hours on end watching the race (I am so thankful for cable TV). I dunno, this must be what other people feel when it's time for the Superbowl or the World Cup of Whatever...

I just wish we had full-day, minute-by-minute coverage of Paris-Roubaix. But maybe that'll happen some year after I have a bike-only road form Shaler to Freeport...

OK...I actually took the week off from work this week...I love this stuff.

@Rocco We pretty much do. I've watched it live the last several years. Steephill.tv, Justin.tv and

http://voetbal-kijken.blogspot.com

the last of which is my favorite.

lance armstrong tweeted that he and a bunch of people fell. i still haven't seen it. i hope the new satellite box gets here ASAP

NPR had a story that mentioned the many falls:

Just a day in and chute and tombé ("fall" and "fallen") along with somber ooh-la-las were already well-overused.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128321497

Yes, lots of falls on one of the descents. Lots of bitching about the course (which should continue on the stones tomorrow), but Garmin's DS, Matt White, made a good point--these roads were just fine for Liege-Bastogne-Liege, so what's the matter with them now?

A fine ride by Chavanel, given that he fractured his skull earlier in the year. The French will be happy that a Frenchman will wear the yellow jersey into France tomorrow.

Versus seemed to have sorted out their issues. Below is the email they sent out. They ditched this horrid plugin that seems to be the root of all the problems. They now have a video that streams just like a youtube clip and works great so far. Now just give me some cowbells and cheering and I'll not get anything done for the next 2 weeks.

Dear Tour Tracker user,

First of all apologies for the problems over the last few days with the Tour Tracker service. We know that many of you have experienced problems and have contacted us through our support email or posted your feedback online. We've responded to many of you, but while we've worked on fixing these problems we know many of you have not yet received a response.

Due to the problems with the Autobahn plugin, after today's stage we removed the video player and replaced it with one that does not require Autobahn. Initial reaction is that this has fixed the streaming problems. This was also why the On Demand video of todays stage was delayed.

Another issue (particularly for the prologue) has been the start time of the coverage. We start the coverage when the International TV broadcast starts, some days this includes the start, some days it does not - it depends on when the host broadcaster in France decides to start the broadcast. The feed goes up on the Tracker at the same time as anyone in the world gets a TV feed.

The daily schedule of broadcast times is now published on the FAQ page: http://tracker.versus.com/faq

The other issue that many of you have commented on is the audio feed and the lack of background noise. We're frustrated with this as well. We're working hard on a resolution to this with the host broadcaster in France to correct the problem.

We're cycling fans too and understand that the problems over the past few days have been extremely frustrating, we appreciate your understanding and hope you will enjoy the rest of the tour without any further streaming problems with the service.

Regards,

The Tour Tracker Team.

i'm always amazed by the custom kit that people get. well, not so much the kit itself, but the quick turnaround time for it all.

chavenel has a half yellow, half green bike in honor of his two jerseys.

After yesterday's greasy downhill course with so many wrecks, I hope the cobbles don't wreak further havoc and result in another "protest finish" today...

I'd love to see Big George put his experience to use and win the stage, though.

So on stage 3 Cancellara was riding the cobbles with one hand, talking on his radio with the other, while dialing back his pace so he could lead teammate Andy Schleck and a dozen other riders, to keep him in GC contention, helping Hushovd to take the stage win, and incidentally take back the yellow jersey.

And on stage 2 helped to regroup the peloton after the chaos of the massive crash just because it seemed like the right thing to do, while losing the yellow.

BAMF.

Spartacus seems to be the "patron" in the peleton so far this year, with Armstrong being a shell of his former self, and Contador not quite strong/confident enough to control the race by his lonesome.

My money's on Hushovd for the green jersey at this point--if he can stay competitive in the sprints and pull off another breakaway like he did last year, he should have it in the bag.

There's a lot of hype about the Schleck's, I don't know what to think about them, they seem unlucky and/or fragile.

Andy Schleck has a lot of potential (he's a youngster, remember, winning the white jersey the last few years). Saxo will miss Frank in the mountains (remember last year's attempts to dethrone Contador?), that's for sure.

I'm not sure I'd go as far as to call Armstrong a shell yet either. His catch-up ride to the chasing peloton after his flat was pretty impressive, that's just the mental toughness of an old dog. Sure, in an earlier day he would have bunny-hopped the entire crash, organized the chase group into a coalition to run down the lead group, and crushed the cobbles into a smooth riding surface as he went, but now he's just human, a really good bike riding human.

Yeah, perhaps I overstated my case a bit. I'm just not sure LA can stamp his authority on a race anymore, but hey, I like being proved wrong.

I agree about his chase, and makes you wonder what he could have done had he not flatted.

While I'm here...who else thinks Cadel Evans should give up his dreams of being a Grand Tour GC contender and become a classics specialist/state winner? He's done quite well for himself on tough stages (see yesterday and the strada blanca stage in the Giro). I think if he put his mind to it, he could do well in the Ardennes classics (I'm not sure he has the luck for the northern classics).

Dude no way, Cadel is my hold out for 2nd or 3rd

place. He will podium by simply following wheels and

not having a single teammate near him for 80% of the

mountains. He killed the giro with its 12% climbs.

Also: former lance is characterized by having all

of the strongest riders on his team. They were

always there when he needed them (think floyd

chasing down Jan for lance).... Yesterday showed

that he didnt have that. Just the fact that

shcleck finished lead group shows that their team

was way better than radio shack.

yeah, it was a pretty big difference from previous years, when he had to drop his help in order to keep trying to close.

also: cancellara is quickly becoming my favorite racer. time trialing is such a kick in the nuts (at least on climbs, you sometimes have people near you for extra motivation), and yesterday it seemed like he led the first chase group for about 70% of the last 20k. every time they showed the group, he was at the head, eating wind for his teammate. thor hushovd really lucked out on that one.

Are there any bars in pittsburgh where people go specifically to watch le tour? (possibly OTB?) I am sans TV and would enjoy treating myself to a non-grainy, non-laptop view of the race, with a beer, amongst other fans.

RE: LA's team...steevo is right. Lance rode Brakovic (sp?) right off his wheel. Kloden may be a good lieutenant in the mountains, but he was nowhere to be found yesterday.

I think Cadel will do well this year, as he always does, but I'm not sure he can beat a pure climber like Contador. If Evans had a better team, I think he could won the Giro. Liquigas was just too tough, though, and always had another arrow in their proverbial quiver.

I think Cancellera was being generous to Hushovd after the sprint was neutralized on Monday. Yes, Cancellera did a lot of work to protect Schleck and maintain his gap on Contador, but I think he could have contested that sprint if he wanted to.

i don't know. hushovd is one of the best finishers in the world, and he basically had a free ride the whole way to the line. if cancellara was being too generous, it was in leading the group the whole way to the finish.

also: was it geraint thomas who fell and cut his face on his pedal yesterday? someone with a similar name, and from the uk, fell about halfway through, and if it was thomas, finishing second deserves some serious props.

crikey! i thought today was supposed to be an easy, non-technical day. these roundabouts are fun!

@the.republic.of.e. Go to OTB. Also: wheat beer and seitan wings.

If someone recommends some especially good stages to watch, I'd go to otb for a bp watchfest.

if anyone in the tour is fragile, it's definitely be cvv.

losing frank is a big blow, but having jens and cancellera to drill it into the mountains can help to shed some of the other contenders (or at least their help) and definitely benefit andy.

vino seemed to take another page from the "what is he thinking?" book by dropping his teammate in the closing km. it's like the team time trial in the giro all over again. vino did not even notice that he dropped contador.

thor can ride smart for the green jersey. zabel, even before today, said that cavendish is pretty much out for the green. and he works for htc-columbia. cavendish lost his super leadout from last year. he's lost a lot of respect in the peloton and looks terrible. sucks to be him.

also, versus still sucks. how did yesterday's ride of the day belong to contador? because he didn't fall? what about ryder from garmin? he attacked the break, got caught by a fast group that was putting time into the chase 1 over the closing kms, was able to grab a wheel, and still finished third on the stage! gimme eurosport any day.

I totally forgot about what Vino did yesterday--wouldn't want to be around the Astana dinner table last night.

Cavendish has 15 points(!) and Thor has 80 at this point. Pettachi is only 10 behind after today's stage.

so a few questions about the tour - i could look it up but i am wondering if it will spawn a discussion -

1) has a woman ever competed in the tour? if not, do you think one will ever?

2) saddle sores - i wonder if these guys get bad ones or if they're used to all of that time in the saddle?

There's a women's tour: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France_F%C3%A9minin. It gets little coverage here, sort of like the WNBA. Unlike, say, women's tennis, which is more or less on equal standing with men's, it is a second class event.

They are used to the time in the saddle.

1) No. There exists the Tour de France Feminin, but that doesn't get quite as much press.

2) I recall a story from Greg Lemond's glory days about a massive saddle sore he had one year. Of course, there is also Laurent Fignon claiming he lost the final day TT in 1989 (the first time, by the way, that the now-ubiquitous time trial bars were used) due to saddle sores.

Well, maybe I'm wrong. I suppose it's like runners who suddenly develop blisters, though. I'm sure it happens, but not from lack of training.

so are women just physically unable of competing with men? i'm not trying to be a feminist.. i am asking if that is the fact, cause it's fine if it is. i assume it's just science.

Saddle sores? Let chamois butter be your (close) friend.

stefb, women are slower than men. Although in triathlon right now we have a female competitor that is giving the boys a run for their money (Chrissie Wellington). She's come in 10th in the men's pro race and that is pretty much unheard of in the sport before now.

In case anyone still actually likes Cavendish, check his tantrum after yesterday's stage.

Hahaha, the helmet launched out the door was the icing on the cake. What a tool.

@Stefb There's a pretty dramatic disparity between the abilities of women and men. Very roughly what I can do as a mediocre male racer is equal to what the top flight pro women can do. And Lance, at his peak, can do roughly twice what I can do. Big big gap.

@Brian Georestricted now?

Also about M vs. F.

I think in triathlon they can relatively compete

only over long distances. The short (1 hour, 5 mins)

etc is where men really crush women as far as

physical ability. Apparently when it approaches like

10 hours it levels out some and after like 30 hours

women might actually be better (as some ultra

marathons have proven, but raam has dis proven)

@Chris: The Cav video? Not for me. I do, however, have to click on the thumbnail to the left first to get the video to play.

Silly Belgians.

Why was he so pissed this time?

ps, I thought stage 3 with the cobble stones was pretty awesome but my recording stopped right before the sprint. How annoying. I pretty much got to a few minutes after Lance caught up to the chase group.

@ M vs F ...

I think it was mostly women that survived the ultra++ Donner Party thing.

Why was he so pissed this time?

Because he lost, and he knows that he is 75 points adrift in the points table. His personal coach, Erik Zabel, has said is basically impossible for Cav to win the green jersey without Hushovd, Petacchi, and McEwen abandoning the race.

Yes, the pros do get saddle sores sometimes. Saddle sores are not caused by lack of fitness (though lack of experience is a big factor).

But the pros at least have "people" to take care of them. I don't have many friends I would ask, or trust, to treat a boil on my grundle.

Pretty cool real time tracking setup from Google for Team HTC -

http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/mytrackstour/

@Steevo - right now in the 140.6 tri distance (8-9 hours for the pros) Wellington is the first woman to even come close to the men. She is ahead of the other pro women by 20+ minutes. It is incredible to watch.

Cav stomping onto the bus and then throwing his helmet out the door was great!

thanks for the responses.

i totally forgot about this, but isn't the machine that paints messages in chalk on the road on the tour something that was invented at CMU?

stefb

Ha ha yeah that's a total CMU product. Graffiti robot.

Deeplocal of Pittsburgh is responsible for the current implementation, Chalkbot.

Maybe Cav's tantrum did the trick?

Hah, yea. Toss your gear down like a pissed off 2-year old then win a couple of stages.

Arrogant trash talk in t-minus 3.. 2.. 1..

they should invent a new jersey for being the biggest douche on the tour. then ol' marky mark could win every single year.

@cburch - and what color would THAT jersey be?

It would probably look a lot like Footon-Servetto's latest kit.

What were they thinking? World naked bike ride meets le tour de france?

Wow. Those are some serious package-enhancing trou.

Right as I turned on the first stage a Footon-Servetto guy rolled past right as the camera cut away and I thought some guy was streaking and managed to keep up with the peloton.

maybe a big picture of dane cook and carlos mencia on it?

and it should be brown. like a turd.

it should be pink and have a collar.

it must be a popped collar

Re: saddle sores....even Lancey-pants gets them.

I dunno, I guess I am in the minority here...So Cavendish had a meltdown, so what. I'm sure most of us have had a tirade at some point. He's only human.

The guy's a super-talented rider who has really high expectations for his performance. I think the pressure to perform would put a ton of stress on anyone.

He certainly doesn't deserve a poop-brown "douche of the Tour" jersey or anything horrid like that, IMHO.

I don't think it was necessarily his tantrum that made him douchey, though it probably didn't help. He has a bit of a reputation for being uhh, not the most humble of winners.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cavendish#Personality

Re Cav, if I was able to win stages at the TdF I'd probably be a bit of an asshole about it too. However, that whole pistols-in-the-air deal that AC does is definitely douche-collar material.

Hopefully today there will be a shakedown in the GC.

I agree with dwillen--the tantrum was just icing on the cake for his detractors. The way I see it, Cavendish is incredible sprinter when the chips fall his way, but when they don't, he doesn't seem to be able to make something out of that. Contrast that to someone like Oscar Freire, who won the green jersey in 2008 when the rest of his team was busy supporting Denis Menchov's bid for the yellow.

Contador's pistolero thing doesn't bother me as much, but his proctologist saddle was a bit much:

OK, I admit that the celebratory displays and gloating are immature and obnoxious...I don't think Cav is somebody I'd hang out with, I'm just saying that I understand how the pressure to win could make him act like an ass.

Generally, I expect that he's insecure and acts like an ass as a defense mechanism...when he screws up, it just reinforces his self doubt and he lashes out. He's just a kid.

Cavendish is master of such a narrow discipline: the 250 meter sprint after being delivered the lead by Mark Redshaw. He is nonexistent everywhere else.

Plus, as stated by others, he's so annoying in victory because he is so boorish when things don't go his way.

Finally Hushovd and Farrar show so much more class and grace, it makes Cavendish's act all the more unlikeable.

that saddle is too much.

Well, LA's tour is over. I wonder if he won't "come down" with something and abandon at some point.

i didn't see it today, but i saw the recap online. said that lance crashed and then was "out of it" later on. he did tweet this:

"When it rains it pours I guess.. Today was not my day needless to say. Quite banged but gonna hang in here and enjoy my last 2 weeks"

Too bad for Lance. I was really hoping he would have a least be in the running for the yellow for his final tour.

Lance was at the wrong end of just too many crashes. He'll ride to support Levi, I think. I feel bad for him but shit happens.

can you imagine having lance as your super domestique? good lord...

also, i'm really hoping thor can get himself the green jersey this year. he and boonen are my two favorite sprinters.

am i the only one that cheered when lance crashed the third time?

i don't understand the pro lance position. never got caught, blah blah blah. it's pretty much a fact that everyone he rode against was doped to the gills (this will lead to another argument). but really, there's no way he was clean and beat jan.

i'm super bummed that taylor phinney is riding with radioshack proper.. read into that however..

If everybody else was doping, than why didn't anybody else win during his seven wins? Not to mention the guy is like 38. Why didn't any younger guys beat him? He was third overall LAST year.

That was with crazy super doping testing. I don't think drugs are a substitute for raw talent and maybe that's why nobody could beat him, he was just more naturally talented than the guys that positively doped.

Plus, I don't know why crashing needs to be cheered. If you're going to lose, better to lose to actual talent not to stupid accidents and others' accidents.

Interesting in comparison, didn't Cav actually finish after Lance in stage 8? So what's so great about this guy? He can sprint?

Cav finished 32 minutes down yesterday. With the rest of the sprinters. Welcome to the autobus.

I'm glad the the LA storyline is over the Tour. Sure, it would have been better if he got shelled rather than crashing and getting shelled, but that's how cycling works sometimes.

The thing that saddens me most about the lA era (which, by the way, is really just an extension of what Indurain started) is that Tour winners became one-dimensional riders. Instead of actually trying to win other events, the entire season was centered around the Tour. Contrast that to, say, 1985, when Lemond took second in the Tour and finished fourth in both Paris-Roubaix and the Het Volk. Oh, and Bernard Hinault, who won the Tour, also won the Giro that year. Oh, and Hinault won Roubaix and the Tour in 1981.

Those were the days, when they rode in snow, uphill both ways. And they liked it.

Very few people are Lance-nostic. I think he's done a lot for the sport and he is an incredible athlete. I would have liked to see what he could do in his last tour, not have him out of the game due to a string of bad luck.

A spectator caught Lance's crash on tape. Hard to watch. You can hear him yelling and skidding across the pavement. Ouch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHBftK8okyA

Yeah, I'm super-psyched for pro cycling to completely disappear from American's radar again, I've really hated having normal people ask me how this "cycle racing" works.

But seriously, it's a little bit premature to say his tour is over, if he steps up and helps Levi get a podium, it'll remove some of that one-dimensionality and show what kind of sportsman he is.

BJan,

Enter Cadel. winning classics with the rainbow on

his back. Winning giro stages... placing high

overall and also attempting to be a GC rider again.

Go Cadel!

Lance Armstrong = Starbucks.

I hate it. I hate what it has done to indy coffee

shops, but when I was a teenager, all that was

around was the beehive and kiva han craig street. Now I can get coffee anywhere. whatever

steevo, I agree about Cadel. I used to find him to be kinda whiny, but since he won the rainbow jersey, he's been a totally different rider, and I like him a lot. I really appreciated the work that he and Gilbert did at the end of last season to deliver each other a few wins. Good stuff.

Also of note: Evans has won the leader's jersey in the last three grand tours.

@Steevo - love the Lance/Starbucks analogy.

Not long after I became interested in riding "10-speeds", Hinault and LeMond were battling. Watching them totally ramped up my interest. Obviously Armstrong has done the same - like Lemieux around here for ice hockey.

I wonder who will drive the interest next? Those of us who are already into cycling are already hooked, but who will draw new people to the sport?

sarah_q, are you sure that was Lance yelping? Pretty nasty crash though, must have hurt.

Without Lance what would people yell at us from their cars?

@bjanaszek this is why merckx will always be the greatest rider of all time in my book. and of course lance dopes, i go just go into it like i do football or any other major sport, i assume everyone is breaking or bending the rules to their benefit as much as they can. unfortunately the millions of dollars that get pumped into the sports and the athletes' bank accounts tend to have that effect.

rsprake -- that is definitely Lance skidding across the ground in the first few seconds. Not sure if that is him yelping but it does seem to correlate with the skidding across the pavement.

LOL at your last comment.

If that was me skidding 10 meters across the pavement, I sure wouldn't be getting up to ride 100+ miles and climb 2+ mountains - and still finish way before a lot of the other guys on the stage.

I figure that some US figure will rise to replace Lance.

After all, when Lance was young, cycling, sports or otherwise, was an obscure activity in the US. Now, it's on the radar.

I've read that Lance started out as a champion triathlete, but then realized that bike racers were treated like RaWk sTaRs in Europe. He decided that was what he wanted to be when he grew up.

Got to agree this year Evans is a total badass.

re; Dwillen - and NOT run to my team bus and toss my helmet out the door like a 3 year old.

@rsprake That's easy. Fag. It's what they yelled till about 2002.

After yesterdays stage I pretty much decided that if I ever visited the tour, I'd like to wrap a bike chain around my fist and beat down several of the spectators who chase the racers. That's got to be the stupidest most pathetic thing in all of sports. The 2 lead motorcycles should just carry tasers.

Yeah, that would piss me off. I'm riding a bike, back the fuck up and don't touch me. Same as in pretty much any other sport I can think of.

Lanced finished something like 10 minutes back in Sunday's stage. It's hard to attribute that kind of performance to a crash where he lost less than a minute and today he finished 2:50 back and these are mountain stages. The stages he has excelled at in the past. Lance is just a beaten down man.

I think there were like three LA crashes on Sunday and one involved skidding across the pavement at a fairly high rate of speed (I posted a youtube above).

Evans rode today with a broken elbow and reportedly never mentioned this to his teammates until after the race.

Yeah, it's too bad about Evans. Did BMC receive an invite to the Vuelta? Maybe he can get his grand tour win there.

It's a two horse show at the moment, between Contador and Schleck. I'd say Schleck has a chance, but he'll need an absolutely brilliant time trial to keep Contador at bay.

Schleck has a cool demeanor on the climbs that makes it seem like he can't get tired.

It does feel like it's shaping up that way. And is it just me, or does it also seem Alberto isn't getting a whole lotta love from his team? Schleck's chances took a hit also when his brother went down.

Should be interesting...

I think Astana is riding pretty well for Contador this year. Vino's move seemed suspect at the time, but likely help shed a few riders from Contador's group. Daniel Navarro did a ton of work to whittle the group down on the lower slopes of the last climb.

Schleck has a strong team, too (likely stronger than Astana), but they have to be careful not to burn the wick at both ends over the next few days.

The new HTC/Columbia team helmet

^^^^ Good one!

Well, so much for Hushovd for the green. Word on the street is that he isn't feeling 100%.

Cav's win today was pretty impressive--he started that sprint a looooong way out.

Edit: Renshaw was booted from the race for headbutting Julian Dean. Cav can't be happy about that.

I wonder if Petacchi will make it through the Pyrenees.

So I'm Alberto Contador. I'm about 3km from the finish of today's stage, sitting comfortably on the wheel of the yellow jersey. The climb isn't long enough to make back any serious time (and besides, why do I want to control the race yet), and my team mate, the dude who started Astana, basically, is up the road, looking like he'll at least challenge for the stage win. That'd be a good thing, right? I mean, he's coming back from a doping suspension, he's the same nationality as the dudes who bankroll my team, so, yeah, he should take the stage.

Or, maybe, I'll jump, leave the yellow jersey behind, pass my teammate, and only gain back 10 seconds in the GC. That makes a lot more sense to me.

Seriously, I don't get it. Is it so hard to throw your teammate a bone? I mean, maybe Rodriquez would have caught Vino, but at least you didn't cause your teammate to miss out on the stage win. Does Contador just not get it? Does he think this is how he stamps his authority on the peleton? By stealing wins from his teammate?

he should have pulled vino to the finish and then handed him the win. that would have been the classy thing to do.

Why did Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) abandon the Tour today?

http://www.versus.com/cycling/videos/matt-white-talks-about-tyler-farrar-leaving-the-tour/

He had a broken wrist since stage 2, I think. That stuff hurts. I couldn't imagine doing century after century up those huge mountains with a broken wrist and no pain meds.

Thanks. I was getting my info from Velonews and didn't see this. I thought maybe the head butt just put him over the edge.

Nice quote from Contador after the stage:

"Vino did a great job getting into the break. It was very important having him there. We didn't have to work on what was a very hot and difficult day. It was just a pity he couldn't stay away and win."

Read: it's too bad I'm better than him, but I said "thanks for the hard work" by getting 10 seconds back on the yellow jersey.

i couldn't believe that finish... i also thought it was pretty funny when schleck didn't respond and only lost 10 seconds... one of the commentators said "if he doesn't respond here, its the end of the tour"... some times these guys are daft.

If you read the report in cycling news, it is the end of Schleck's tour. Contador did massive psychological damage. How can Andy recover from that?

Schleck's tour is over unless he can gain significant time in the Pyrennes. He lost 1:09 in the prologue TT. How in the world is going to hold off (or make time on) Contador over 52 kilometers in the final TT.

Menchov or Gesnik have a very good shot at finishing second if they can follow wheels next week.

Does this have any merit to it?

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/16072010/58/tour-de-france-schleck-happy-limit-damage.html

And apparently the audio feed works (unlike the video feed)

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/audioplayer.html

This makes me ridiculously happy every time I see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h86FSFzRexI

(apparently directed by Christopher Guest)

i love the whole series. this is my favorite.

wow, the frenchman who won today had to be talked out of quitting yesterday. good show, man.

Just heard this from the commentators: "depends if Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador want to have a ding dong battle like they did yesterday!"

"...a ding dong battle..."??

I thought this was a family show.

Well, Schleck lost the jersey, after losing his chain. We can now begin the age old discussion of whether or not Contador should have waited for Schleck.

Also, Menchov and Sanchez picked up another 40 seconds on Schleck. Bad news, that.

Also, so much for the thought that today would Armstrong's day to win a stage. Tomorrow, right?

Since when is it ok to attack the yellow after a mechanical? This is outrageous! There is no way that Contador didn’t know what was happening. He should have sat up like the field almost ALWAYS does. Remember a few years back when Lance caught a handlebar and went down – the field respected the yellow. Contador and his manager are ASSES!

Schleck interviewed that he is out for revenge tomorrow. Go Andy!

Apparently Contador got booed a bit during the yellow jersey presentation.

As the commentators on the Bicycling live blog noted, Contador (and Menchov and Sanchez) probably won't get favors in the remaining days.

i wanted to see vinokourov help out schleck. that would've been sweet.

He did the pistol thing while being booed.

Ha ha.

There's an interesting collection of comments on the Cyclocosm blog about today's incident. A few good things pointed out:

* No one waits for anyone at a race like Paris-Roubaix. And no one waited for Armstrong when he flatted in stage 3.

* Evans (arguably) lost the Vuelta last year because of an ill-time flat and a botched wheel exchange. No one waited for him.

The Ullrich/Armstrong examples that are often cited as the model of peleton etiquette don't exactly fit this situation, either, particularly when Armstrong when down. That was because of spectator intervention, not a mechanical. Forcing the group to sit up made perfect sense, as a rider shouldn't be eliminated because of a spectator's mussette.

Hopefully Schleck goes all out tomorrow, though he did burn through quite a few matches today. I suspect he'll wait 'til Thursday, however, to really put in a dig (likely his plan all along, methinks), given that tomorrow's last climb is over 50km from the finish.

Big difference in one day vs multi day stage races.

Dropping your own chain while shifting isn't a mechanical it's rider error. We all know the dangers of shifting while bearing down on the crank on an uphill. That being said, can't wait to see Andy's reaction tomorrow.

If this was 1975 I'd agree throwing a chain might be rider error, but modern high end cranks are designed specifically to allow shifts under power, both up and down.

Odds are quite good some mechanic is in the dog house right now, and all the team bikes are being examined for proper front derailleur set up. The difference between a good shift and a chain derailment can be 2mm or less, in either limit screws, derailleur height or derailleur rotation or some combination of all three.

Post race video of Contador on the controversy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdOJLuePexs

what eric said. somebody is in TROUBLE.

also contador is fast topping my list of biggest d-bags in pro cycling. i wasn't sure if anyone was going to be able to dethrone cav, but damn its a close race.

also contador is fast topping my list of biggest d-bags in pro cycling

but he has such a lovely voice.

Saw the late telecast on Vs. last night. The key sequence: Schleck drops chain. Vinokourov notices chain drop, sits back in saddle, appears to ease off of what looked like an attack, then looks back over his right shoulder. As Vinokourov is ramping up for his attack, Contador jumps out of his saddle and starts digging also, once Vinokourov sits, Contador passes Schleck (with clear sight of his "mechanical" problem) on the right. Vonokourov looks over, sees Contador attacking, shakes his head slightly, and jumps up after him.

No doubt Contador knew what he was doing. Vinokourov appeared to be easing off, but then followed after his "team" mate.

Bobke described it best afterward: it was not "honorable" for Contador to take advantage. No one wants to win the Tour because somebody's chain dropped. You ought to want to win the Tour because you were the stronger rider over 21 stages.

I was iffy on Schleck before. I'm a huge fan now. Contador? D-bag (the footage of him on the podium is priceless however, trying to smile through the boos).

Well, so much for a stage win for LA. Have fun on the triathlon circuit.

Thursday's stage should be exciting, methinks.

i kinda dig andy schleck. he says an awful lot of fun things to the media, and i like the general tone he has when discussing the race. he seems like he's enjoying himself. i think that's part of what makes contador seem like such a d-bag to me.

thursday is going to be exciting for sure. can't wait.

so, who's everyone's favorite rider in this race? besides jens voigt. i have no idea what folks are like off bike, but on it i'm a huge fan of aggression. that riblon fella earned a lot of props, and i also dig the way ryder hesjedal has ridden this race.

Hesjedal has ridden a great race. I'm a fan of Sylvain Chavenal, too, as he never seems content to ride in the bunch (btw, why didn't anyone wait for him for he flatted while wearing the yellow jersey?).

Schleck and Contador have kissed and made up. Should be quite the lovefest up the Tourmalet.

The producers at Vs. are jumping out of windows.

The producers at Vs. are jumping out of windows.

Don't worry, Lancey-pants may still be on the podium! The yellow jersey doesn't matter anyway--it's all about the team GC!

Holy crap, the biggest shocker yet - I just saw an actual bicycle commercial on VS. I thought they only played car commercials.

FWIW, that Michelin commercial about the "evil gas pump" is downright offensive. The Leaf commercial isn't much better.

i don't mind the leaf commercial all that much because at least it's a little bit inventive. but the evil gas pump thing makes me want to kick babies almost as much as "triple hops brewed" miller light.

The part of the beer commercial where Lance is supposed to be "treating" himself though, by pouring like an extra 3 tablespoons of milk into his already pretty dry looking cereal, has me laughing til my sides hurt every time I see it. Probably because I know people like that: I really want to splurge on something, just kind of go crazy - I know. I'll have half a blueberry.

I think when Lance splurges he goes out with both Olsen twins.

In the "How Stupid Do They Think We Are/We Must Be Pretty Stupid - Beer Commercial" category, the winner is: The beer bottle with the twisty neck, so that the "pour will be more refreshing." Or something.

(This award had been retired with the advent of the "Specially Lined Can.")

i honestly can't describe how much i hate the "triple hops brewed" thing. as someone who's brewed my share of beers, i've added hops at least three times to just about all of them, so it annoys me that they're acting like it's unusual. and can you really say you've added hops if you throw in three cones for every 20,000 barrels? they should call it triple corn brewed.

sorry, i'm a bit of a beer snob. though i am willing to drink anything, it just irks me when these huge companies try to tell you that their beer tastes different or better than the other huge companies' beer. or when they pretend that their beers are actually meant to taste like anything (hint: if you want to taste a beer, you shouldn't drink it at 32 degrees fahrenheit).

whew, i let that one run away with me! apologies!

Back on target...is anyone going to a public place to watch the stage tomorrow?

ever hear the expression "american beer is like sex in a canoe,

its f---ing pretty close to water!"

heard it, sure, but disagree completely. most american styles are actually english styles on steroids.

i wish i could watch the tour in public tomorrow. right now all signs point to me riding from buffalo to erie while it's going on.

Well, Hejsedal had the ride of his life today to climb into 8th place in the GC. He has nearly a minute on 9th place, too.

It was pretty impressive watching Schleck and Contador ride away from everyone. Schleck's second place seems pretty secure since they put serious time into the other contenders. I highly doubt he can beat Contador in the TT, but stranger things have happened. Schleck needs to remember he's only 25--the likelihood that Contador will break Lance's record looks slim, given Schleck can only go up from here.

the only coverage kdka sports report gave the tour today was that there were sheep on the climb.

Ha ha, the sheep were pretty awesome. They came up over the hillside and right in front of the chase group. They continued to run along side the riders as if they were all in devil costumes, cheering them on.

Schleck and Contador were impressive though, they had a nice moment after the race where they hugged like to UFC fighters after a match. They both gave it their all.

Apparently they checked Lance's bike for a motor after Tuesday's stage.

Today's climb was awesome. Schleck and Contador gave it there all. The crowd was getting frantic near the end. I kept thinking someone in the crowd was going to accidentally hit someone.

Watched it at OTB. Did anyone else see the four fans in the very revealing neon green 'Borat' one-piece swimsuits?

Yes, that was...interesting. Those fans near the top were insane!

I just finished the replay. There were the 3 dudes in borat costumes, and some dude with assless chaps that was running along a few minutes prior. The cameraman did his best to keep the frame right above his waist. Crazy Europeans.

i thought there have been borat outfits like that in the past also.

i wonder if it annoys the cyclists when fans start to run along side of them. the other day, i saw someone/ some people dressed as a huge water bottle that also opens at the bottom.

The commentators on the webcast love that guy. Apparently his name is Dave. They get all excited when they see him.

"Oh and there is Dave running along side in his brilliant invention! It is a bottle that opens on both sides, its a wonder nobody has thought of it sooner!"

I wonder if Dave gave Phil and Paul some free water bottles.

I wonder if Dave gave Phil and Paul some free water bottles.

The 2nd time I heard that I knew that "Dave" had paid Versus to mention the bottle every time it appeared. Like a character in a movie drinking a Coke instead of a Pepsi--it's a product placement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhCyB3xLmYg

That's a pretty awesome product, now I have a bottle I can lose both ends of!

the sheep (or are they goats?)

Pavement has "G O" painted, so they must have run out of room for the "A T S".

I was really hoping Schleck could pull it off.

he's got a long career ahead. plenty of time to trade white for yellow.

Just hope he doesn't become the Jan to AC's Lance.

I was *so* pulling for Schleck today...

I can't get past Contador taking advantage of Schleck's mechanical problems to take the yellow. I hate seeing him win after doing that.

Did you hear the announcer as they crossed the line? He said that Contador let Shleck win? Maybe a figure of speech, but it really bugged me. I want him to take it back.

It was pretty clear that Contador didn't really contest the sprint on Thursday. A sporting gesture given Contador sat on Schleck's wheel all day.

If I'm Schleck, I'm ruing the time I lost during the prologue. Even a half decent TT on that day, and it may have been a very different race.

Road cycling is the only sport I can think of that people think it is unsporting to take advantage of mechanical problems.

Isn't the point to determine who is the stronger cyclist - not who has the more reliable derailleur?

My impression that much of the "etiquette" these days is a relatively new thing. I recall an interview with Pedro Delgado (tour winner, doper) where he said that in the 80s (and before), riders attacked whenever they damn well pleased.

I can understand slowing down for Armstrong when he was brought down by a spectator. Mechanicals? Maybe not.

Sure it is a test of strength, but it also a test of descending speeds, and climbing, and general bike handling, and teamwork, and preparation, including equipping team bikes with reliable components and hiring mechanics with the skill to prevent mechanical from happening.

Imagine if DH riders got a "do over" whenever they got a flat, or XC guys got to stop the race to repair a flat, or cyclocrossers got to stop the race to swap to a better tires for conditions, or adjust tire pressure. Mechanicals are a fact of life in bike racing, waiting for someone is certainly sporting, but I wouldn't consider it unsportsmanlike to not wait.

To be fair, as Chris pointed out above, this sort of thing is limited to the Grand Tours--no one waits for anyone during a race like Paris-Roubaix, and this was reflected during stage 3, where there was a fair bit of chaos (and several riders found themselves on the wrong side of that chaos.

I suspect that in something like a Grand Tour, the idea is that the entire race shouldn't come down to a single mechanical failure or off. Of course, these "rules" do get applied pretty subjectively, as no one waited for Cadel Evans when he flatted and neutral support bungled the wheel change. I suspect that bit of bad luck was the difference between a win and a loss for Cuddles.

I don't want to spoil it for anyone who may not have seen today's tt yet, but I have to say I gained some respect for Contador today. Schleck gave him a challenge, and you could tell Contador rode himself to a very deep and painful place in response.

+1 on added respect for Contador digging deep today.

He's not my favorite rider, and I stand by my comments on the "mechanical problems" thing, but it was really obvious that AC was pulling out the stops today. For all his good and bad, he never just phones it in.

...I'm always torn on stuff like this. I admire AC's efforts, but I think he's a smack...I totally support Livestrong, but I think Lance is a dick (although I feel sorta bad for the guy with all the Federal pressure that's on him now).

I really would have been happy to see Schleck win the GC -- next year'll be the year though!

The sad/frustrating part is that Contador will likely hang up his hat for the remainder of the season. (He's not the first winner to do this--see Indurain and Armstrong.) He could carve out a very different (better?) legacy than Armstrong by winning a bunch of Grand Tours, not simply the Tour de France.

Contador also suggested that maybe next year would be a Giro/Vuelta year, too.

it's practically impossible in the modern era to go for gc in two grand tours unless you do italy and spain. i've seen some training data to back that up but one only need look at evans or basso.

plus, contaboor has won a couple of editions of each. he's already up on lance in that regard.

I secretly was hoping Contador had a mecahnical problem for about, oh what was it, maybe :40?

That would have evened things out a bit.

Today I saw for the first time a Specialized commercial with Contador and Schleck -

"I can eat 21 gels and a deep fried turkey"

it's possible it's the best ad ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzPq0hDdDhs

deep fried turkey FTW!

Bottle brushes work wonders...

Has anybody lost a chain in the competitive part of the Dirty Dozen?

Sad it's over, but at least we won't have to hear 'the time trial of his life' anymore.

Dealing with saddle sores and a new invention with tape, the nut up.

http://video.competitor.com/2010/07/cycling/dz-nut-tour-de-france/

that was easily the most ridiculous video of the tour... wtf

Maybe I'm thick, but, that's a gag, right?

A pitcher of ice water will do pretty much the same thing.

so i may have missed this, but why do there have to be teams? why can't everyone just race each other and who ever is fastest wins the race?

maybe i'm a douche, but if i was racing someone and they stopped or slowed for any reason, i would totally keep going. people keep going when others wipe out on cobblestone, don't they?

there are teams so someone can get water or bring back breaks or ride tempo in the mountains. it's like asking why not have a QB and a runner and call it a football game.

to answer your second question there is a huge difference in one day vs multi day races.

eh, i think it would be interesting to see a tour without teams. people can get their own water. they pee for themselves. i wonder how different it would be if people didn't draft off of each other, etc.

watch triathlons then. :p

Who from the tour is going for a bike ride today? Lance? (retired- maybe, just for fun) Contador? (No- recovering from celebrating)

Schleck? (Yes!- getting ready for next year!)

Ok, I'm sold on Andy. After 3 weeks of brutal daily racing, at the final interview he says "I'm a little bit sad, I'm going to miss this". Looked like he was fresh as a daisy. Ah, youth. He will definitely be out on the bike today.

Well, many of the top riders will be doing a series of crits across Europe for the next week or so. Most of these are nothing more than fast parades, but these guys will be back at it pretty quickly.

Vaguely related...

ha!

and stef if there was no drafting no teams no strategy no nothing the race would be boring as all hell. it might as well be done in a spin class at that point.

As much as I don't like AC and I was pulling for Schleck, I had to remind myself it's a bike race not a personality contest, and AC is a f-ing great cyclist. Plus it's not like he's not forcing himself on young women in bathrooms at seedy college bars.

To revive Chaingate for a bit, if Grant sez 'berto didn't need to wait for Andy, well, 'berto didn't need to wait.

To revive Chaingate for a bit, if Grant sez 'berto didn't need to wait for Andy, well, 'berto didn't need to wait.

Sure, and that Yellow Jersey? Please. They need a Cowboy shirt

Oh, brother. Cotton, awesome, especially when it's damp and the temperature drops into the 50's. Grant doesn't say so but I'm pretty sure these are the shirts the Donner party was wearing.

The Donner party would have waited for Schleck in the mountains... waited for him to die so they could eat him!

Contador to leave Astana at end of 2010 - AP

MADRID – Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will leave Astana at the end of this season after the Spanish cyclist rejected the team's offer to extend his contract.

Contador said Wednesday he will study his options before deciding which team to ride for next season.

And rumour has it that he will end up with Riis at Saxo/Sungard/whatever they will be called next year. And the Schlecks will be riding for a Luxembourgian team.

I heard Chuck Norris is riding with a team of tie-fighter ninjas next year.