RunRickyRun Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Great win for Cav. Hope he stays at HTC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloBarnesi Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Is Cadel Evans one of the most boring riders ever? Nope, Paul. Not for me. Could be better with the media though! He’s certainly not the most interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted July 24, 2011 Author VT Supporter Share Posted July 24, 2011 I hated Cadel Evans, the perpetual wheelsucker, until a few days ago. Best tour in years. The first Galibier stage has to be the best mountain breakaway since Landis in '06. The climb of Alpe d'Huez as aired in the US Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted July 24, 2011 Author VT Supporter Share Posted July 24, 2011 Great win for Cav. Hope he stays at HTC I've seen posts (lurking at RAWK) saying the Cav should join a team with real ambition (I think the implication was that Sky would be the best fit). If you're talking about sprint ambition, Cav would be crazy to leave HTC/Highroad (the team is looking for new sponsorship, so probably won't be HTC next year) and the leadout train he's got there. Cav going to Sky alongside Wiggins and Thomas might be good for marketing the sport in Britain (I chuckled a few times as Liggett and Sherwen each said that Cavendish was winning for the UK...), but as long as Sky has more of a GC orientation, I don't think the move would serve Cav. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 I was glad to see Andy miss out on winning. Serves him right for being too busy looking over his shoulder to attack in the pyrenees. He's the best mountain climber out there so any mountain finish should see him attacking especially when he's going to lose a truck load of time in the TT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunRickyRun Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 I've seen posts (lurking at RAWK) saying the Cav should join a team with real ambition (I think the implication was that Sky would be the best fit). If you're talking about sprint ambition, Cav would be crazy to leave HTC/Highroad (the team is looking for new sponsorship, so probably won't be HTC next year) and the leadout train he's got there. Cav going to Sky alongside Wiggins and Thomas might be good for marketing the sport in Britain (I chuckled a few times as Liggett and Sherwen each said that Cavendish was winning for the UK...), but as long as Sky has more of a GC orientation, I don't think the move would serve Cav. Totally agree. It's unlikely Sky would put five or six of their guys at the front of the race a day before a mountain stage in order to wheel in a breakaway. They would save their guys (quite rightly) for Wiggins. Plus they have Boasson Hagen who could be the next superstar and should feature in a lot of breakaways next year. (Mainly though, I hate sky (the company) and so can't really bring myself to cheer them on) David Millar has given Cav's profile a boost by naming the UK's greatest athelete (at the moment) and it seems like most of the sporting outlets have taken his claim seriously. Cavendish was front page of the Telegraph today - could never have imagined it a few years ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted July 25, 2011 Author VT Supporter Share Posted July 25, 2011 [Murdoch's] WSJ weighs in on the Tour Wasn't this supposed to be a Tour to Ignore? Who had the stomach for another gut punch? Professional cycling had tormented its fan base. Repeated performance-enhancing scandals, apologies, accusations, investigations and denials had cast too many long, inexcusable shadows over a beautiful sport. It was hard to compartmentalize, to rationalize, to believe. And forget about defending a cycling habit to baffled friends. The 2011 Tour de France appeared skippable. Alberto Contador was returning as defending champion and a heavy favorite, even though in early August, he would face a hearing on doping charges lingering from last year. Contador fiercely denied doping, but a hangover had enveloped the race before it had begun. Why invest three weeks in a race already stuck in a queasy fog? Then the Tour started, and it was impossible to resist. It always is. It sits there like a slice of key lime pie or the last piece of fried chicken, mocking will power. Cycling may punish you later, but it's so seductive in the present. That is what the sport knows, why it perseveres, despite its repeated, maddening mess-making. But the 2011 Tour proved to be refreshing and unpredictable, and utterly worth it. Contador was set back by a crash on the race's first stage, losing nearly a minute and a half of time. As he chased his way back into the standings, there were romantic mountain attacks, unlikely stage winners and a French rider spending a chunk of July in the yellow jersey - in a race not won by a Frenchman in 26 years. In the end, the Tour was taken by one of its perennial bridesmaids, Australia's Cadel Evans, who won with a mesmerizing, consistent performance in the mountains and a scorching time trial in the race's penultimate stage. At 34, Evans is the second-oldest winner of the Tour and the first Australian, and his geezer breakthrough comes after finishing runner up in 2007 and 2008 by a combined 81 seconds. But Old Man Evans was just one of several story lines in a compelling race. Here are a few: 1. Garmin-Cervelo's Freak Flag Flies. Not long ago, former professional cyclist Jonathan Vaughters partnered with owner [American] Doug Ellis to launch a U.S. cycling team with an unusual mission: go naked about anti-doping by implementing a rigorous internal testing regimen, publicizing the results and hiring riders who didn't mind chatting about a grimy subject the sport liked to whistle past. The team took some early grief for getting a lot of media attention without a ton of on-road results, but its 2011 Tour was a emphatic, glossy smash. Garmin-Cervelo won the team time trial stage and the top team classification overall in the race. Sprinter Tyler Farrar won a stage, World Champion Thor Hushovd took two more, and 33-year-old American Tom Danielson finished 9th overall in his first-ever Tour. Vaughters, a sideburned oenophile with Wes Anderson's wardrobe and Robert Parker's nose, has emerged as a leader in the sport, and his quirky team is now easily among the elite squads in the world. 2. Man on a Wire. If Bob Dylan were a bike racing fan, by now he'd already have written a song called, "The Ballad of Johnny Hoogerland," about the Dutch rider who suffered a grisly crash in Stage 9, flipping upside down and landing back-first on a barbed-wire fence. Legs shredded, Hoogerland managed to untangle himself and remount his bike, and his teary, bandaged ceremony atop the finishing podium gave the Tour a gripping, emotional high point. 3. (Almost) Nobody Beats the Cav. The swaggering Mark Cavendish is a sprinter for the ages - you know it; he knows it. The 26-year-old from the Isle of Man won five stages in this year's Tour, giving him 20 in his young career, and next year you will see him try and defend his sprinter's green jersey, break the sprinters' record for Tour stage wins, and then one week later, attempt to win a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. 4. Thomas Voeckler's Panache. For many, the enduring image of this year's race won't be Hoogerland's wire crash but an exhausted, speechless Thomas Voeckler atop the Col du Galibier, his shoulders heaving, his head hung low over his handlebars, having clung to his yellow jersey for one last, improbable night. For ten stages, the 32-year-old French rider riveted his country by sitting atop the race, defending the maillot jaune with a grit that recalled gaunt-cheeked, vintage champions. 5. Cadel vs. "Frandy". With Voeckler fading and Contador struggling to regain time, control of the race shifted to Evans and his sibling rivals: brothers Frank and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg. Andy pulled off a magnificent long escape to take the Galibier stage, with Frank finishing second. But after nearly every attack Evans would respond, jaw clenched, caterpillar eyebrows rising above his sunglasses. Evans isn't the prettiest rider - he hunkers low over his saddle and pounds out a steady rhythm, like Yogi Berra stomping grapes. But the former mountain bike champ never ceded too much time to the Schlecks, knowing he could outpace them in the time trial. When Evans clinched the yellow jersey on Saturday, one of cycling's most famous hard faces melted. Evans kissed a lion stuffed animal and wept. The best all-around rider had won, and Andy Schleck offered a gracious congratulations and a Schwarzenegger-ian vow. "I'll be back," he said. So will cycling fans -- so recently exasperated and now re-exhilarated. This really was the Tour that the sport needed. Judging from the ascent times in the mountains, this was the cleanest Tour in many a year: Contador's 41:30 is one of the slowest fastest ascents of Alpe d'Huez in the modern (fully-timed) era: [table] [row]1994[col]Pantani (strongly suspected doper)[col]38:00 [row]1995[col]Pantani (see above)[col]38:04 [row]1997[col]Pantani (see above)[col]37:35 [row]1999[col]???? [row]2001[col]Armstrong (strongly suspected doper)[col]38:01 [row]2003[col]Mayo (convicted doper)[col]39:06 [row]2004 (time trial)[col]Armstrong (see above)[col]37:36 [row]2006[col]Landis (convicted doper)[col]38:34 [row]2008[col]Sastre[col]39:31 [row]2011[col]Sanchez[col]41:30 [/table] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted July 26, 2011 Author VT Supporter Share Posted July 26, 2011 Highroad is apparently close to announcing a new sponsor for bigger money than HTC was paying... The Globular has posted a couple of Big Picture entries on the Tour: Part 1 Part 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milfner Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 What the **** is wrong with that bloke's calf? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LockStockVilla Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 What the **** is wrong with that bloke's calf? Looks like Gremlins are about to start popping out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark8691 Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 There George Hincapie's calfs and he has varicose veins apparently. See here Can you hear Sigorney Weaver scream? Thanks for the great pics Levi! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted July 26, 2011 Author VT Supporter Share Posted July 26, 2011 From a comment to Mark's link: The throttle I used to have on my genitals as a teenager would have surely caused this condition in my member if mere pressure caused it. The only difference between pink, purple, and horrendous disfigurement, is grip strength. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Wiggins takes the red jersey at La Vuelta today after an excellent few days from both him and Froome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veloman Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Wiggins takes the red jersey at La Vuelta today after an excellent few days from both him and Froome. Excellent news that ! If Cavendish goes there, it will be very interesting next year - notwithstanding a number of riders will be involved in the Olympics. La Vuelta - one of the Big Three Grand Tours. (Why do the Spanish always pronounce "V" as "B" - why dont they just spell it with a "B" ! The other day one 'Dan Martin' won a stage, he has his nationality as Irish but he is in fact from Tamworth ! His Dad, Neil Martin, was a very classy road man and is married to Stephen Roche's sister -hence the Irish connection . Just in case you wondered like.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 The other day one 'Dan Martin' won a stage, he has his nationality as Irish but he is in fact from Tamworth ! His Dad, Neil Martin, was a very classy road man and is married to Stephen Roche's sister -hence the Irish connection . Just in case you wondered like.... Yes, I saw that stage (didn't he go in a breakaway with Nicholas Roche, too?). Thanks for the snippet of info. Another tremendous performance from Wiggins and Froome yesterday - dropped Nibali and others on that final climb (gained about 1 min on him and a couple of other GC contenders). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted September 4, 2011 Author VT Supporter Share Posted September 4, 2011 Wanted to pay attention to La Vuelta, but Universal Sports' coverage is absolute gash. The USA Pro Cycling Challenge got the better riders (Evans, the Schlecks, etc.) and got my viewing hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted September 4, 2011 Author VT Supporter Share Posted September 4, 2011 Perhaps we should retitle this to "Pro Cycling: General Chat"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veloman Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Perhaps we should retitle this to "Pro Cycling: General Chat"? That's a damn good idea; can the mods do that easily? If you are in the U.S. Levi , any rumours about RadioShack's future ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Today's Vuelta stage was pterry evil. Some serious gradients on that climb. Cobo was terrific and took the red jersey. Froome did really well, though, and so did Wiggins until he cracked towards the end - Froome came in 4th and Wiggins 6th/7th? I still think Wiggins did himself proud. Looking forward to the last week as it'll be interesting to see if/how Froome/Wiggins attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunRickyRun Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Great result for Wiggins finishing 2nd in the World Championships TT. Tony Martin put in a blistering time though - over a minute ahead of the field. Lets hope Cav caps off a great year on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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