The OFFICIAL Tour de France, thread.

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Motors will make it worse, went over it in my car once, bad move..

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Hesjedal off again, still good odds on bet 365

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Armstrong puntures, team sky looking well in at the front, go Geraint get a high GC.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Geraint in white jersey I hope and high in GC

 

[Pantani]

Geraint in white jersey I hope and high in GC

Should be in white and second in GC. ITV thought he would be in yellow for about half an hour, obviously they were being a bit thick as he was in the group with Cancellara.

What a days racing that was fantastic. More exciting than anything that happened in the World Cup. Cancellara is a machine over those cobbles. All of that leading group were brilliant today. Evans looks like a real contender now. Nice to see Lance lose time too. Contador rode well too and is enough behind now that he will have to attack early in the mountains.

Geraint Thomas :vuvu2:

Oh, nearly forgot. A Schleck fell off again. These two are so accident prone.

 

[Gwylan]

Terrific race today - the cobbles certainly add some interest.
Fantastic comeback by Armstrong who looked dead and buried 10km out but barring some freak accident, it must be Contador's tour now.

Oh, and great ride by Geraint Thomas (or Gerrent as the commentators keeping calling him)

 

[Stat Brother]

Loved that today, proper racing!.

Obviously it was GT all the way, but NSC's finest, Ryder, sure did us proud today.
I was so impressed with so many riders today, but those 2 really had me on the edge of my seat.

 

[Gwylan]

Loved that today, proper racing!.

Obviously it was GT all the way, but NSC's finest, Ryder, sure did us proud today.

Why is he NSC's finest - have I missed something?

One interesting quirk of the individual standings is that 10 different nationalities occupy the top 10 places and there are 15 different nationalities in the top 20 (including 3 Brits)

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Evans looks like a real contender now.

He tries hard but there's always one day in a mountain stage he cracks.

He's a follower up mountains, doesnt have the explosiveness in his legs to be able to pull away from the top GC riders in the mountains.

Was always going to perform well today on the cobbles with his mountain bike background.

 

[Pantani]

He tries hard but there's always one day in a mountain stage he cracks.

He's a follower up mountains, doesnt have the explosiveness in his legs to be able to pull away from the top GC riders in the mountains.

True enough, can still see him getting third though.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

True enough, can still see him getting third though.

Yeah I can see him maybe even getting 2nd now as he's a decent enough time trialer and A Schleck is a donkey when it comes to that discipline..

Think Contador will still win, he's just the most complete package.

That's if Vino decides to ride for him and not against him.

 

[Stat Brother]

Why is he NSC's finest - have I missed something?

Cor drag it out of me, stop going on alright, I'll tell you!
I've nearly got a tip, for you all. - North Stand Chat

One of my better posts, and yes I'm very proud, hence dragging it up every possible time.

 

[Stat Brother]

As for Evans, he certainly seems to be a totally different person, now he's in rainbow.
Personally I wouldn't necessarily discount him because of the mountains.
BMC are better set up than Lotto ever was, saying that though I've discounted him because of The Giro.
No rider is coming out of the top 10 from there, and still have legs in 2 1/2 weeks time, not after that punishment.

 

[Stat Brother]

Should be in white and second in GC. ITV thought he would be in yellow for about half an hour, obviously they were being a bit thick as he was in the group with Cancellara.

They caught me out with that, ramped my excitement right up.

25 bloody years i've been listening to Phil Liggett and for 25 years he's been wrong, bless him, why do I still believe.

Makes Murray Walker seem like John Arlott.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Watched it on Eurosport earlier about to catch the itv highlights.

I am so proud of Geraints ride today, lets hope this will get Team Sky going. Bradley did very well today. I felt for Larry as he was looking good until he puntured and put in some effort to get himself back in the group.

GC

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank 14:54:00
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:00:23
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:39
4 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions 0:00:46
5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step 0:01:01
6 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:01:09
7 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team 0:01:19
8 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 0:01:31
9 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0:01:40

 

[perseus]

I am following Leipheimer, although a bit old, he is a name I remember from past Tour de France.

The referee inclusion was a mistake and put on the wrong thread. It took me a minute to recognise my mistake.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

REFEREE: Ravshan Irmatov

Ravshan Irmatov - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Are his linesmen on bikes!

 

[perseus]

Remember

Djamolidine Abdoujaparov

He came from Uzbeksiatan. Sprint crash on the Champs-Élysées.

 

[Stat Brother]

No one can forget that.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

I've been keeping an eye on Nicolas Roche.

Had a medium sized wager on him to finish top 20 by the end of the tour.

He's a decent all round rider who's been improving each year.