Tour De France 2013

[bennydorano]

Careful now.  Today's incident shows how it's not over 'til it's over.  Contador comes off and near takes Froome with him.

In other matters, Cavendish is caught short and takes a big skittery dump in a field.  

[Tony Baloney]

Careful now.  Today's incident shows how it's not over 'til it's over.  Contador comes off and near takes Froome with him.

In other matters, Cavendish is caught short and takes a big skittery dump in a field.

He had a very funny tweet on the matter earlier!

"@MarkCavendish: Had the embarrassment of having to stop in a field today in front of the whole peloton with a VERY poorly stomach. #mindyourstep"

[magpie seanie]

Someone mentioned to me that Froome is quicker than Lance at his peak.

Are we supposed to believe he is clean?

[maddog]

Someone mentioned to me that Froome is quicker than Lance at his peak.

Are we supposed to believe he is clean?

He was marginally quicker up mont ventoux yes. There could be a lot of factors in that - like was one of them riding into a head wind the other a tail wind. What was the distance cycled before the climb, what was the pace like before that. Froome is a much more natural climber than Armstrong ever was in terms of his build and power to weight ratio. Armstrong was on his own mainly chasing down Pantani, Froome had Quintana to draft behind for a few km.

Or he could be doped to the eye balls. Dont think the debate is going to go away, if he is clean as a whistle i feel for him

[nrico2006]

Someone mentioned to me that Froome is quicker than Lance at his peak.

Are we supposed to believe he is clean?

He was marginally quicker up mont ventoux yes. There could be a lot of factors in that - like was one of them riding into a head wind the other a tail wind. What was the distance cycled before the climb, what was the pace like before that. Froome is a much more natural climber than Armstrong ever was in terms of his build and power to weight ratio. Armstrong was on his own mainly chasing down Pantani, Froome had Quintana to draft behind for a few km.

Or he could be doped to the eye balls. Dont think the debate is going to go away, if he is clean as a whistle i feel for him

Froome is going well, puts into perspective the hoo haah around Wiggins for the past year as it now seems certain that Froome simply took one for the team last year and let Wiggins win.

[yellowcard]

Someone mentioned to me that Froome is quicker than Lance at his peak.

Are we supposed to believe he is clean?

He was marginally quicker up mont ventoux yes. There could be a lot of factors in that - like was one of them riding into a head wind the other a tail wind. What was the distance cycled before the climb, what was the pace like before that. Froome is a much more natural climber than Armstrong ever was in terms of his build and power to weight ratio. Armstrong was on his own mainly chasing down Pantani, Froome had Quintana to draft behind for a few km.

Or he could be doped to the eye balls. Dont think the debate is going to go away, if he is clean as a whistle i feel for him

That pretty much sums up my feelings on it as well. If he is clean he is already one of the most talented riders of all time and will likely go on to win multiple tours barring injury. If that is the case I feel for him as well since he has not got the acclaim he should be getting for his achievements in blowing the field away on the tour. The French public are apparently highly sceptical of his performances. The barrage of questioning must be seriously vexing for him if he is clean. On the other hand he could be doping but there is no concrete evidence of this other than pure innuendo surrounding the non release of data from Sky, the times on some of the climbs and the prior association with Leinders etc.

Leaving aside his allegiance to his paymaster Murdoch, David Walsh seems convinced that he is clean and for now we should trust the judgement of a man who has been a long standing anti doping crusader and the biggest thorn in the side of Lance Armstrong. Would he put his credibility on the line for the sake of a pay packet with his job in the Sunday Times?

[Declan]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jul/18/team-sky-chris-froome-data?CMP=twt_gu

Interesting stuff

[yellowcard]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jul/18/team-sky-chris-froome-data?CMP=twt_gu

Interesting stuff

Good article. Releasing the power output data definitely helps Sky in the PR department and they should be taking steps such as this to becoming more transparent. This will all help in convincing the doubters but there will always be sceptics who will find another angle. They could for instance also release the data prior to the 2011 Vuelta which is when his performance first exceeded the form he had shown to that point. I think Froome has handled himself really well with the media on the tour considering the pounding he has taken and imo he is a lot more likeable than Wiggins was.

Anyway todays stage is an absolute brute, crowds of up to 1 million people expected on the double ascent of Alpe d'huez, should be some spectacle.

[WeeDonns]

have any of you been following @IrishCorner10 on twitter. They say they have around 1000 Irish on corner 10 on Alpe d'Huez

[screenexile]

Froome Dopé

Great Banner!!

[Billys Boots]

Dan Martin in trouble on Alpe d'Huez today.  Froome attacking again on last climb. 

[Tony Baloney]

Amazing number of attention seekers and general arseholes on these mountain stages. The cyclists should be allowed to carry a truncheon.

[bennydorano]

Off to France on hols tomorrow & hoping to take in a stage, prob going to miss most of the TV coverage this year.

Was looking at the betting last nite & the race for Yellow & Green are 2 non events betting wise.  Only bet i've done is for Thomas De Gendt (Vacansolieu) to finish in the Top 10 @ 6/1. Cavendish unbackable for the opening stage, i'll have an EW bet on Nacer Bouhanni of FDJ @ 17/1 for an interest, he's been having a good year.

if your on alp de huez on the thursday and see a guy with a tricolour and a tyrone flag what will be me

Gerry must be there

[Bingo]

Amazing number of attention seekers and general arseholes on these mountain stages. The cyclists should be allowed to carry a truncheon.

What makes you say that?



http://images.ftw.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/ku-xlarge.gif

[Tony Baloney]

Amazing number of attention seekers and general arseholes on these mountain stages. The cyclists should be allowed to carry a truncheon.

What makes you say that?



http://images.ftw.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/ku-xlarge.gif

Saw that tube the other day.