Tour de france 2015

[HCcD]

With just over a week to go before the start of the 2015 Edition of The Tour de France, have not really seen much promotions for it yet ??

Tour de france 2015

Running from Saturday July 4th to Sunday July 26th 2015, the 102th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,360 kilometres.

These stages have the following profiles:
9 flat stages
3 hill stages
7 mountain stages with 5 altitude finishes
1 individual time-trial stage
1 team time-trial stage
2 rest days

6 new stage cities

Utrecht, Zélande, Livarot, La Pierre-Saint-Martin, Muret, Sèvres - Grand Paris Seine Ouest.

[La]

I love that the climb to l'Alpe d'Huez is in Stage 20. That climb (plus the earlier HC climb in that stage of the Col de la Croix de Fer) will separate the men from the boys and anything can happen. The only thing better would be if it had been an ITT like it was a few years ago.

That climb is on my bucket list (and I don't even really have a bucket list, nor do I even like the term/concept ).

Also happy to see that they are going back to a climb I did when I was there in 2013: Col de Portet d'Aspet (Cat 2), though it looks like they're doing it from west to east, whereas I did it from east to west.

[La]

Starts tomorrow with a 13.8K time trial in Utrecht. Let's hope Ryder stays out of trouble this year.

Start position: 94
(164) Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
Start time: 15:33:00 (09:33 EDT)

[jonovision_man]

Good thing the uci kept Astana around, what would we do without a doping scandal to kick off the tour?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lars-bo ... sol-levels

Six strikes you're out? 7? What the heck does it take??

jono

[Dstew]

Good thing the uci kept Astana around, what would we do without a doping scandal to kick off the tour?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lars-bo ... sol-levels

Six strikes you're out? 7? What the heck does it take??

jono

Catch 22 - to be a poor [results and financial] team

[jonovision_man]

What a stage yesterday... flat stage, but very not boring! Wind and rain ripped the peloton apart, Quintana and Nibali both lost over a minute to Froome/Contador.

Hesjedal was caught out even worse, down over 5 minutes on the stage, over 6 minutes back overall. His Tour is done before it even started, guess he'll be supporting Martin and trying to snag a stage win.

jono

[La]

What a stage yesterday... flat stage, but very not boring! Wind and rain ripped the peloton apart, Quintana and Nibali both lost over a minute to Froome/Contador.

Hesjedal was caught out even worse, down over 5 minutes on the stage, over 6 minutes back overall. His Tour is done before it even started, guess he'll be supporting Martin and trying to snag a stage win.

There are still 19 stages left to race. I wouldn't count anyone out just yet.

Yes, that was one of the better (more interesting) flat stages due to the weather conditions.

[La]

Huge crash today. Race is currently stopped.

[jonovision_man]

Drama! My favourite quote from live.cyclingnews.com:

A couple more updates from the crash. Ten Dam dislocated his shoulder but, according the Lotto-NL-Jumbo's Twitter, was "popped back in".

Good as new, then?

jono

[HCcD]

Drama! My favourite quote from live.cyclingnews.com:

A couple more updates from the crash. Ten Dam dislocated his shoulder but, according the Lotto-NL-Jumbo's Twitter, was "popped back in".

Good as new, then?

jono

Cyclists are tough, unlike soccer players .. Ha !!!

[MINITEE]

Huge crash today. Race is currently stopped.

The video I've seen is scary. That took a lot of people down and fast. Hoping for minimal drop-outs.

[5km]

Good stage today - lots of cobbled sections. Luckily, for the riders, the rain didn't arrive as predicted. The favourites are all still in contention except for Pinot who lost a lot of time.

Tony Martin in yellow!

[jonovision_man]

Pinot was such a crybaby... he doesn't have the mental fortitude of a winner.

Another horrible stage for Cannondale-Garmin... Talansky managed to hang in there, but Hesjedal lost over 3 minutes and Dan Martin over 5 (crash)! Ryder is almost 10 minutes down now, probably already playing the role of lieutenant.

The guy I'm excited to see is Tejay Van Garderen. He's always been the guy to watch but never really lived up to it, sitting in 3rd right now, maybe this is his year? We'll see once the climbing starts.

jono

[jonovision_man]

More crashes today and another retirement (Bouhanni).

That's one thing I always find striking about Lance's 7 straight - put aside the doping for a moment. It's impressive that his team and him managed to avoid disasters year after year and get him to the finish line 7 times in a row. I'm sure some of that was luck, but they also just had a 6th sense of where to be when to avoid that stuff (mostly).

jono

[La]

That's one thing I always find striking about Lance's 7 straight - put aside the doping for a moment. It's impressive that his team and him managed to avoid disasters year after year and get him to the finish line 7 times in a row. I'm sure some of that was luck, but they also just had a 6th sense of where to be when to avoid that stuff (mostly).

The collision with the spectator climbing Luz Ardiden in 2003, and the near-crash with Beloki (who did crash and break his leg) on a descent into Gap when he had to ride through a field and hop over a culvert with his bike to get back on the road, are among my favourite Lance moments in the Tour. Those were the glory days when most people were so innocent believing that he was clean.

[jonovision_man]

That's one thing I always find striking about Lance's 7 straight - put aside the doping for a moment. It's impressive that his team and him managed to avoid disasters year after year and get him to the finish line 7 times in a row. I'm sure some of that was luck, but they also just had a 6th sense of where to be when to avoid that stuff (mostly).

The collision with the spectator climbing Luz Ardiden in 2003, and the near-crash with Beloki (who did crash and break his leg) on a descent into Gap when he had to ride through a field and hop over a culvert with his bike to get back on the road, are among my favourite Lance moments in the Tour. Those were the glory days when most people were so innocent believing that he was clean.

Love the field one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haEbtHiUcBc

jono

[trixiee]

was on the edge of my seat yesterday, rooting for Tony Martin, when my PVR crapped out! Our satellite was also down all day yesterday.
Hoping that everything is back in order tonight!

[5km]

That's one thing I always find striking about Lance's 7 straight - put aside the doping for a moment. It's impressive that his team and him managed to avoid disasters year after year and get him to the finish line 7 times in a row. I'm sure some of that was luck, but they also just had a 6th sense of where to be when to avoid that stuff (mostly).

The collision with the spectator climbing Luz Ardiden in 2003, and the near-crash with Beloki (who did crash and break his leg) on a descent into Gap when he had to ride through a field and hop over a culvert with his bike to get back on the road, are among my favourite Lance moments in the Tour. Those were the glory days when most people were so innocent believing that he was clean.

Love the field one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haEbtHiUcBc

jono

Those were exciting moments indeed.

Lance hooked a spectator's shopping bag with his handlebars and went down. I believe he was fighting with Jan Ullrich during the climb and Jan waited for Lance to rejoin him. It was an example of good sportsmanship. That was unlike the controversial incident in which Contador attacked when Andi Schleck dropped his chain on a climb.

I think Beloki fractured his pelvis in that fall and basically, his career was over.

[jonovision_man]

Lance hooked a spectator's shopping bag with his handlebars and went down. I believe he was fighting with Jan Ullrich during the climb and Jan waited for Lance to rejoin him. It was an example of good sportsmanship. That was unlike the controversial incident in which Contador attacked when Andi Schleck dropped his chain on a climb.

Well Andy got the last laugh when Contador was DQ'd for doping!

jono

[jonovision_man]

Team time-trial today... looks hilly, should be interesting to see the various strategies. I'm betting a lot of teams will cross the line with the minimum 5 riders rather than wait for the 6th going up the last climb.

jono

[jonovision_man]

Strategy was pretty much as above - ditch all but 5 riders you need up the last climb. Felt bad for Nicolas Roche... he was Sky's 5th guy, and his struggles late were the difference between 1st and 2nd on the day.

Cannondale-Garmin were absolutely nowhere, lost so much time... I guess they pushed hard for the stage win yesterday (which they didn't get) so that's the strategy now, forget the overall, go for individual wins.

jono

[jonovision_man]

Basso withdraws due to cancer diagnosis

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/07/ ... cer_377869

jono

[La]

Basso withdraws due to cancer diagnosis

1) That's sad.
2) Until I was watching the TTT yesterday, I had no idea that Basso was still competing!
3) Same as Lance. Effect of doping all those years?

[HCcD]

Lance hooked a spectator's shopping bag with his handlebars and went down. I believe he was fighting with Jan Ullrich during the climb and Jan waited for Lance to rejoin him. It was an example of good sportsmanship. That was unlike the controversial incident in which Contador attacked when Andi Schleck dropped his chain on a climb.

Well Andy got the last laugh when Contador was DQ'd for doping!

jono

Doping ??

I thought he had eaten tainted Spanish Moo after the stage, the night before ??

[jonovision_man]

Basso withdraws due to cancer diagnosis

1) That's sad.
2) Until I was watching the TTT yesterday, I had no idea that Basso was still competing!
3) Same as Lance. Effect of doping all those years?

Very sad, certainly not the way one wants to end one's career.

Could be doping related, certainly a bunch of the crap they took raised their cancer risk. But people who don't dope get cancer too, so nobody can say for sure I guess.

jono