The OFFICIAL Tour de France, thread.

[Statto]

Great ride Again for GT, I wonder if he can finish in the top 10 the GC. Cavendish has been unlucky so far, I f***ing cant bear to see that smug git Hushovd in green again, so cav has to win tomorrow. The GC is looking fascinating already, Sastre and Basso out of the running now, and Lance would do well from here to win it. The big winners were Evans, Wiggins and Thommo. Contador didnt do to badly, I still think he will win the thing.

 

[Pantani]

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.

What odds did you get on that? Roche is a shoe in for the top 20. He rode well today and will do ok in the mountains.

 

[Pantani]

Sprinters paradise today, only one categorised climb, a fourth category with more than 100km still to go. If Cavendish has any chance of winning green he must win today, AND hope Hushovd finishes well down. I think he will win but Hushovd will finish in the top 10.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Sprinters paradise today, only one categorised climb, a fourth category with more than 100km still to go. If Cavendish has any chance of winning green he must win today, AND hope Hushovd finishes well down. I think he will win but Hushovd will finish in the top 10.

Just get in the slip stream and roll to the finish

 

[perseus]

Sprinters paradise today, only one categorised climb, a fourth category with more than 100km still to go. If Cavendish has any chance of winning green he must win today, AND hope Hushovd finishes well down. I think he will win but Hushovd will finish in the top 10.

Radio Five are covering the last hour from 3:00 pm

No Bicycle icon.

Will a group go clear ahead of Peleton and they will only catch them in the last hour?

 

[Pantani]

Radio Five are covering the last hour from 3:00 pm

No Bicycle icon.

Will a group go clear ahead of Peleton and they will only catch them in the last hour?

Yes, a group has gone clear already. The sprinters teams will let them hang out there until the final 10km.

 

[perseus]

Just checked. There is a small escape which will be caught well before the end. Soon.

The stage reports on Le Tour web page are very clever. You can click on the breakaway rides and get their names etc.

Tour de France 2010

 

[Stat Brother]

Giving the live show a miss today, it should be one of those stages where the highlights is more than enough.
Esp after yesterday where I watched it live and then managed to wangle watching the highlights 90 mins later!.

 

[Pantani]

Cavendish you dick. At least ride to the end. No chance of green now. It seems his head isn't right for this tour. Another prediction goes pear shaped.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Oh dear in the words of the comentator

"Nailed to the floor"

Petacchi for green!

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

What odds did you get on that? Roche is a shoe in for the top 20. He rode well today and will do ok in the mountains.

I got him at $6.

Mountains naturally will be a challenge but he's the kind of rider that keeps plugging away which always gives you a chance of chance of finishing in a handy position by days end.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

So far the race for the Green jersey has been underwhelming.

I think the race planners have had a bit of a say in that with how they have mapped out the course.

 

[Stat Brother]

Well that's Cav's plan B out of the window, and he certainly didn't look like he was prepared to even entertain plan C.
I agree with Boardman, he'll be home for the weekend.

I've not been underwhelmed by the Green jersey, it's just a different competition now, than in Zarbel's day.
You've got to feel for Cav, he's been judged that he would win the competition, before he even has, and so they made it as hard as possible.
One generation earlier and Cav would have been taking jersey's off Erik's back.

That was a perfectly timed run from Petacchi, going for it a few secs before Renshaw left Cav too it.

I'm just a little miffed Farrer seems to have gone the same way as Cav, cos I could be sat here now looking like an uber cycling tipster.

 

[Pantani]

Well that's Cav's plan B out of the window, and he certainly didn't look like he was prepared to even entertain plan C.
I agree with Boardman, he'll be home for the weekend.

I've not been underwhelmed by the Green jersey, it's just a different competition now, than in Zarbel's day.
You've got to feel for Cav, he's been judged that he would win the competition, before he even has, and so they made it as hard as possible.
One generation earlier and Cav would have been taking jersey's off Erik's back.

That was a perfectly timed run from Petacchi, going for it a few secs before Renshaw left Cav too it.

I'm just a little miffed Farrer seems to have gone the same way as Cav, cos I could be sat here now looking like an uber cycling tipster.

Cycle tipping is a mugs game, judging by our efforts so far. Although if we are all wrong about Contador it will be some race.

 

[1066familyman]

Well that's Cav's plan B out of the window, and he certainly didn't look like he was prepared to even entertain plan C.
I agree with Boardman, he'll be home for the weekend.

I've not been underwhelmed by the Green jersey, it's just a different competition now, than in Zarbel's day.
You've got to feel for Cav, he's been judged that he would win the competition, before he even has, and so they made it as hard as possible.
One generation earlier and Cav would have been taking jersey's off Erik's back.

That was a perfectly timed run from Petacchi, going for it a few secs before Renshaw left Cav too it.

I'm just a little miffed Farrer seems to have gone the same way as Cav, cos I could be sat here now looking like an uber cycling tipster.

Farrer has an excuse though doesn't he, what with his fractured wrist an' all. I wonder if Cav's head has dropped becuase things got off to a bad start with that crash on stage 2 ? I also agree with you regarding what Chris Boardman said. Probably won't bother dragging himself over the Alps now there's nothing to play for.

Wonder if anyone had any bets on Pattachi taking another sprint like that ?

 

[1066familyman]

Cycle tipping is a mugs game, judging by our efforts so far. Although if we are all wrong about Contador it will be some race.

Cadel Evans might finally be worth an outside punt ?

Still seems highly unlikely that anyone will knock Contador off his perch, but like you say, wouldn't it be a fantastic race if they did.

 

[Pantani]

Cadel Evans might finally be worth an outside punt ?

Still seems highly unlikely that anyone will knock Contador off his perch, but like you say, wouldn't it be a fantastic race if they did.

Evans each way, for sure. I think he will finish third, maybe second if Andy Schleck doesn't shake him off in the mountains.

Although, as I have just tipped him expect to see Evans in a hedge tomorrow having gone too wide on a corner.

 

[1066familyman]

Evans each way, for sure. I think he will finish third, maybe second if Andy Schleck doesn't shake him off in the mountains.

Although, as I have just tipped him expect to see Evans in a hedge tomorrow having gone too wide on a corner.

Will this be Andy's first Tour without Frank by his side in the mountains ? Be interesting to see how he copes. In theory it shouldn't make much difference, but will be interesting nonetheless to see if psychologically it has any effect at all.

As for the tipping. Nice to see noone on here yet talking about Wiggins having a chance of pulling off something spectacular

 

[Stat Brother]

The thing with AS being all alone now, means he'll actually ride for himself.
His first reaction to any attacks won't be to look over his shoulder for big bruv.

I missed Farrar had broken his wrist, I genuinely thought he'd go well, plus I have a little soft spot for Garmin (no great surprise there!).
I left Wiggins alone as I've always felt last year was the one, and not just the start of something. Although I'm loving his post race interviews, clean, tidy, looking fresh, talking well, compare that to Evans after tuesday.

As for mug tipping, (your 100% right Pantani) and today, it's difficult without Cav.
All of a sudden his competition actually all look a little average, so I'm going to go for Gerald Gloick (sp) from Milram, just for the shear hell of it.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

The thing with AS being all alone now, means he'll actually ride for himself.
His first reaction to any attacks won't be to look over his shoulder for big bruv.

He never did that though.

It was always Frank pulling Andy along up the mountains, so he was more often looking at his back.