The Official 99th Tour de France thread, 2012.

[Pantani]

Great stage.

Am I right in thinking that without his puncture earlier this week Froom would be in Yellow?

A proper climber in Polka Dots!

He would be 9 seconds off I think.

 

[lost in london]

Lost in the moment of all things Sky.

I was loving Van Den Broeck, after his mechanical.
Smashing past all those riders rockin n rollin in their saddles, like they were fat club riders.

Beyond the obvious, that was my highlight of the stage. You could almost hear him saying 'oh for f*cks sake, I'm going to have to get back up there by myself am I? Can you all please just get the hell out of my way?'

Today has turned into a bit of a belter - Wiggins, Froome, Vicente, that fillet steak I just ate, the Malbec with it, and Craig Charles playing some incredible tunes on 6 Music.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

If you want a laugh, read this -

http://mobile.news.com.au/sport/tou...2-tour-de-france/story-fndzz4y6-1226419910179

Australians really are the most self-deluded bunch of idiots. Having suffered their media for a year, they never let the truth get in the way of saying it's Australian so it's the best.

 

[1066familyman]

If you want a laugh, read this -

http://mobile.news.com.au/sport/tou...2-tour-de-france/story-fndzz4y6-1226419910179

Australians really are the most self-deluded bunch of idiots. Having suffered their media for a year, they never let the truth get in the way of saying it's Australian so it's the best.

f*** me, if that's a victory for Evans then I wonder what a defeat looks like?

 

[Weststander]

Great day, and the desparate aussie media didn't even get the stage win after Cadel went to the front.

Would be funny to hear the last 2 minutes live commentary on Aussie sports tv, to get the arrogant high followed by "OMG Froom has overtaken our hero".

 

[The Hon Sec]

Got to agree with Lost in London. Wiggins, Froome, Sky Pro Cycling, VINCENTE and that Liver and Bacon together with a couple of pints of Harveys I just had at our local. Brilliant!

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Great day, and the desparate aussie media didn't even get the stage win after Cadel went to the front.

Would be funny to hear the last 2 minutes live commentary on Aussie sports tv, to get the arrogant high followed by "OMG Froom has overtaken our hero".

Aussie commentary is the same as itv4. When they had one of their own doing the giro a couple of years ago it was dire.

 

[Stat Brother]

Mark Cavendish ‏[MENTION=12437]Mark[/MENTION]Cavendish
Aside from results, my highlight today was a guy dressed as a giant prawn enthusiastically screaming "Allez" in the Frenchest accent ever.

 

[Stat Brother]

Does anyone know if today was as exciting for non cycling fans?

 

[Stat Brother]

Stage 8:-

 

[essbee]

Bradley Wiggins tour de france

Can't believe it. One of the greatest days in British cycling history as
Brad takes the Yellow Jersey for the long-term and not a ******** whisper on the BBC sports website.

What's wrong with those people? ffs

 

[Pantani]

Can't believe it. One of the greatest days in British cycling history as
Brad takes the Yellow Jersey for the long-term and not a ******** whisper on the BBC sports website.

What's wrong with those people? ffs

It is on the BBC home page and on the Sport home page. Not sure what you want more than that. Every day the result has been in the BBC Sports headlines, as I found to my cost a few days ago (trying to avoid the result until the highlights on ITV).

 

[jackanada]

Can't believe it. One of the greatest days in British cycling history as
Brad takes the Yellow Jersey for the long-term and not a ******** whisper on the BBC sports website.

What's wrong with those people? ffs

Its there, off to the side, quite small, roughly equal billing with Alonso taking pole.

 

[Pantani]

Sagan is a bit mental but you have to love this, pulling a wheelie across the line, when he is over 12 minutes down on the stage.

 

[Stat Brother]

There's some nice shots here:-

Team Sky | Pro Cycling | Photo Gallery | Tour stage seven gallery

 

[Stat Brother]

Thread wise, we are 2 days up on last year.

Page 19 was stage 10.

God I really do have to go to bed.

Nighty night all, morning Woodchip & Ty.

 

[Statto]

Greatn day yesterday. Fantastic ride by sky, they completley done a job on BMC and Leopard Treck! Monday presents a great opportunity for Wiggo to getmore time on Evans in the time trial.

Of his main challengers, Id actually see Nibali as more of an overall threat, with the squad hes got behind him, after winning a tough Vuelta in 2010. Gonna be a fascinating last 2 weeks. Come on Brad!

 

[Pantani]

Greatn day yesterday. Fantastic ride by sky, they completley done a job on BMC and Leopard Treck! Monday presents a great opportunity for Wiggo to getmore time on Evans in the time trial.

Of his main challengers, Id actually see Nibali as more of an overall threat, with the squad hes got behind him, after winning a tough Vuelta in 2010. Gonna be a fascinating last 2 weeks. Come on Brad!

Nibali always seems to be close to doing something, but at the highest level he always seems to be just a bit short at the crucial moment. Sky must not let anyone from Liquigas get in a break though, as Nibali can easily escape on a descent and if he joins up with a team mate will be very hard to bring back.

In the cold light of day this morning I feel there is still a long way to go for Wiggins. Today's stage is likely to see Nibali and Evans try something on the descent, probably unsuccessfully due to a reasonably long flat run in but it will still be a potential problem. Evans is an extremely strong time trialist at the end of three week Tours and Wiggins only leads by 10 seconds.

Today is the day we will see a genuine contender for KoM appear in the break. I'm gonna go for Voeckler or Mollema. Stage winner will be someone from the break, which again will have some big names in it, my guess is Valverde.

 

[Stat Brother]

Definitely a long way to go. But crucially, for me, nothing to fear.

It all depends how much authority Sky want to stamp on the race on Monday.
Brad, Chris, and Mick could all go balls out and knock all but Cadel out of the reckoning.

Or they could ride conservatively with a view of being safe, and stuffing to everyone on the penultimate stage.

Today will be a marking day, the escape will stay away.

Nibali has to be looking a plan B in the Alps on Wed and Thurs.

 

[Stat Brother]

Jens is good twitter value, unlike the Sky boys!

Jens Voigt ‏@thejensie
Totally exspect a brutal fast strage with tons of attacks, hope i got permission from my directors to "mingle" with the action a little...