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Tour de France 2015

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Sluffy
karlypants
luckyPeterpiper
boltonbonce
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1Tour de France 2015 Empty Tour de France 2015 Wed Jul 01 2015, 23:04

Sluffy

Sluffy
Admin

Starts this Saturday.

Loads of British interest this time.

Cavendish looks odds on to win stages again - his greatest rival - a bloke called Kittel - is off form this year and not been picked to tide (funny how some riders are great one moment and can't win a bean the next - I'm saying no more!).

On form this season there is no one better than Cavendish in a sprint, he's got a great team to get him to the front on the flat stages - and I can't really see anyone beating him on equal terms.

We've even got a chance of being in yellow after the first day's time trial (where riders ride individually against the clock) with Alex Dowsett - the man who held the hour record that Wiggins recently beat.

The time trial is a bit on the short side - distance wise - so Dowsett is not the favourite - but he certainly is in with a good chance.

As for GC (General Classification) - or who is going to be first in Paris, again you can't really look much beyond Froome and Contador - that is as long as they don't fall off their bikes like they did last year!

Contador (former drug cheat) had one of those days in the Tour de Italy (The Giro) about three weeks ago, where he blew everyone away on a hill climb.

It was an amazing ride that immediately normal people would wonder if he was riding clean - but I guess he must have been, or at least within the scope of what we know about how to catch those cheating these days.

Interesting - or at least for me - Panarama did an experiment of doping someone and seeing if the cycling system would catch them.

It didn't!

(On iplayer still - called Catch me if you can - if anyone is interested)

Another viewpoint - re past doping - is that it can alter the body in such a way that your body as benefitted from being made stronger, so much so that even when you stop taking drugs, you have become stronger and better than you were before - and now riding clean.

This is one of the views as to why disgraced two times drug cheat Justin Gatlin is running the extraordinary times that he currently is, at an age when normal form significantly diminishes.

Or then again maybe Contador is just sprcial!

Either way it all adds to the theatre of the race for me.

We also have eight other brits in the field and several of them are capable of winning an odd stage or two if their team gives them the green light - look out especially for Yates twins, both of whom are very good riders.

I was a bit disapointed in last years race with Cavendish, Froome and Contador being out so soon after the start, so this years should be very much better.

Should be fun!



Last edited by Sluffy on Wed Jul 01 2015, 23:13; edited 1 time in total

2Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Wed Jul 01 2015, 23:11

boltonbonce

boltonbonce
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

Tour de France 2015 Cartoon3

3Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Wed Jul 01 2015, 23:55

Sluffy

Sluffy
Admin

Cheating - whether we like it or not - goes on in sport.

Football in particular cannot claim the moral high ground from Blatter and his mates at the very top of the sport, right down to the Sunday morning pub players trying to con the ref for a foul or throw in.

Drugs have been part of cycling for decades - indeed one of the all time greats of cycling, Jacques Anquetil said long before anyone had heard of Lance Armstrong - 'that only a fool would think we ride these races on just water'!

I'm not condoning drug taking, just saying that its been integral part of the sport for decades - no doubt continues still in some ways - and adds to the many twist and turns over the race and the season, that adds spice to the event.

But where do you draw the line?

Stuart Broad quite clearly was 'out' in a crucial test match against Australia - and didn't walk - was he cheating?  The Americans had a big to do over one of the American Football teams 'deflating' balls so they were easier to catch.  A few years ago McLearn even had someone spy on their rival Ferrari, etc, etc.

Like it or not we ALL love a big scandal in the sport we follow.

If people simply see cycling is all about drug cheats and don't want anything to do with it (I'm not saying you are btw) then thats up to them - their loss imo.

There's a hell of a lot more to someone simply  injecting themselves and cycling up a road.  

If anybody does want to try and get into the Tour I'd be very happy to try and explain on this thread what is going on and the reasons behind them.

4Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Thu Jul 02 2015, 06:46

boltonbonce

boltonbonce
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

I've reached the point where any mention of this race causes me to shut down. Athletics has begun to have the same effect.
Put simply,I don't trust the sport from top to bottom,and I don't know how they go about putting their house in order.

5Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Thu Jul 02 2015, 11:06

Sluffy

Sluffy
Admin

Is it any worse than football though?

World wide corruption widespread from those who administer it.
Country's paying massive bribes to host the competition.
Cheating at every level of the game.
The creation of mega rich spoilt 'laddish' players from people paid more in a few weeks than many people in the world will ever earn in their lives.

The cyclists take drugs to cheat to win.
Footballers dive to get players sent off or win penaltys in order to cheat to win.

The end objectives are very much just the same, its only the route they take because of the demands of their different sports that are differ.

I'd rather cycling was clean and footballers didn't dive but I know it still happens, so I'll carry on enjoying them both despite their imperfections.

Up to others to make their own value judgements - I'm not here to persuade anyone - just to share the enjoyment of what essentially is a wonderful sporting occassion that for whatever reason as never really been popularised in this country although it is widely loved by millions of people throughout the rest of the world.

6Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Thu Jul 02 2015, 11:19

boltonbonce

boltonbonce
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

Footballers do cheat,but at least,in the main, it's in full view. We know when a player dives,or feigns injury,we've seen it all before.
The sad thing is,those riders racing clean are tarred with the same brush as the cheats,and I can almost understand how some turn to drugs in an effort to level up the playing field.
Most sports seem to be tainted by greed these days,which is why I've found the WC in Canada so refreshing. Well done ladies.

7Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Thu Jul 02 2015, 11:21

luckyPeterpiper

luckyPeterpiper
Ivan Campo
Ivan Campo

No interest in this now. 

Should be called the Tour De Drugs.

8Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Thu Jul 02 2015, 20:16

Guest


Guest

I'll be watching but, then again, I always do.

And if I stopped watching Pro Tour Cycling because of the suggestion that they're all on EPO and HGH, I'd have to stop watching NFL as well and there's no way I'm doing that.

9Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Thu Jul 02 2015, 20:54

boltonbonce

boltonbonce
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

I'm beginning to wonder what our lot have been on.

Horlicks,more than likely. Surprised

10Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Sun Jul 05 2015, 18:24

Guest


Guest

Slaying The Badger's on tonight on ITV4.

I've seen it before and I would imagine Sluffy has, but if you're slightly into cycling, it's a good watch.

The Badger in question is my boyhood hero Bernard Hinault and it's the story of how he basically shat on his team-mate Greg LeMond by reneging on an agreement about not trying to scupper LeMond's chances of winning the 1986 Tour de France.

Even if you're not into cycling, it's a fascinating story.

11Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Sun Jul 05 2015, 18:38

boltonbonce

boltonbonce
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

Your boyhood hero sounds a bit of a bounder.  Shocked

12Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Sun Jul 05 2015, 18:47

Guest


Guest

He had a fairly "individual" way of dealing with dissenters:

Tour de France 2015 Bernard-Hinault-punch

13Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Sun Jul 05 2015, 19:01

boltonbonce

boltonbonce
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

Not quite understanding the 'Hero' tag Bread. scratch

14Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Sun Jul 05 2015, 19:27

Guest


Guest

I was well into my road cycling as a teen and I was doing about 400 miles a week.

I actually used to be able to sprint all the way up Smithills Dean Rd, believe it or not.

I just wanted to be like Hinault because in my view, he was head and shoulders above the rest and he was also a bit of a character.

(You've got to remember that I was about 15 at the time.)

And let's face it, I was hardly going to pick Simon Rudge or George Oghani as a sporting idol, was I....?

15Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Sun Jul 05 2015, 19:46

boltonbonce

boltonbonce
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

Sounds like a tough cookie.
Tour de France 2015 1436121959-852d7fff-3f5b

16Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Sun Jul 05 2015, 21:11

karlypants

karlypants
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

Tour de France 2015 Hqdefault

17Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Mon Jul 06 2015, 19:55

karlypants

karlypants
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

18Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Mon Jul 06 2015, 20:13

Guest


Guest

karlypants wrote:Been an accident on Stage Three and had to be halted after 26mph crash had wiped out several riders.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-3151121/Tour-France-temporarily-halted-horror-high-speed-crash-involving-Yellow-Jersey-wearer-Fabien-Cancellara.html




Just wait 'til tomorrow when they have to contend with the cobbles.

If there's any rain, it'll be carnage.

19Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Mon Jul 06 2015, 21:28

Sluffy

Sluffy
Admin

Great story lines in the race so far.

Froome in yellow is the headline obviously.
Fantastic crash - sad about everybody that was hurt but it just goes to show the race is pretty random at times and the best riders can be taken out in a blink of an eye.
Hard lines for Tony Martin - this year they've brought back time bonuses for the top three places - if they hadn't Martin would have been in yellow yesterday and again today.  I'm not sure if Martin as ever been in yellow (I don't think he has?) and it is a big thing in the cycling world - so to miss out by just 3 seconds yesterday and a single second today most be gutting for him.

On the pave (thats cobbled roads to me and you) tomorrow.

Could be fun.

Hope so!

20Tour de France 2015 Empty Re: Tour de France 2015 Mon Jul 06 2015, 22:22

Copper Dragon

Copper Dragon
Ivan Campo
Ivan Campo

How's Sir Bradley Wiggins doing Sluffy?


(Sorry cocker  Very Happy )

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