OFFICIAL 2025 Tour de France thread

Wobbie

I hope andy doesn't become to alberto what jan became to lance....a supremely gifted bike rider in the shadow of the one and only more dominant rider in the world. right now, they are head and shoulders above the field but andy will lose in the TT (or so the experts say)

on another note: phil....i love you man, but lance would NOT "be near the podium if not for his crashes and bad luck."

Pats54

imalive wrote:

I hope andy doesn't become to alberto what jan became to lance....a supremely gifted bike rider in the shadow of the one and only more dominant rider in the world. right now, they are head and shoulders above the field but andy will lose in the TT (or so the experts say)

on another note: phil....i love you man, but lance would NOT "be near the podium if not for his crashes and bad luck."

TT could be interesting as anything can happen (mechanical, dehydrated as LA did a few yrs ago). Although AC is better according to the expert. Would have been intersting to see how Andy would have done had Frank been there with him.

polaris_x

Pats54 wrote:

TT could be interesting as anything can happen (mechanical, dehydrated as LA did a few yrs ago). Although AC is better according to the expert. Would have been intersting to see how Andy would have done had Frank been there with him.

yeah ... it would be a completely different race with frank there ... they would have attacked alberto into submission i think ...

i think andy should ride a pretty good TT although his prologue was pretty shitty ... we'll see i suppose ...

back to yesterday tho - i love the time gaps and how pretty much all the top riders were coming in on their own and not in some semi-large group of 5 or 6 guys pacing each other up ... balls to the wall yesterday for sure ...

gonna go out on a limb today and say julian dean wins the sprint!! ...

Pats54

polaris_x wrote:

Pats54 wrote:

TT could be interesting as anything can happen (mechanical, dehydrated as LA did a few yrs ago). Although AC is better according to the expert. Would have been intersting to see how Andy would have done had Frank been there with him.

yeah ... it would be a completely different race with frank there ... they would have attacked alberto into submission i think ...

i think andy should ride a pretty good TT although his prologue was pretty shitty ... we'll see i suppose ...

back to yesterday tho - i love the time gaps and how pretty much all the top riders were coming in on their own and not in some semi-large group of 5 or 6 guys pacing each other up ... balls to the wall yesterday for sure ...

gonna go out on a limb today and say julian dean wins the sprint!! ...

Yes his prologue was pretty bad. I am hoping that is only because the distance is so short not properly warmed up etc. etc.. Hopefully on a longer ride he can get into a groove more and just hammer out a great time and make things interesting.

Wish there had been a couple more stages like yesterday. Tourmalet is a friggin beast of a climb. Crazy fans on that climb as well, especially those half naked guys WTF. Big temp. contrast from the last two weeks probably had an impact on some fo those riders. Interesting that Horner climbed into the top 10 especially sonce all of the talk has been Levi.

polaris_x

Pats54 wrote:

Yes his prologue was pretty bad. I am hoping that is only because the distance is so short not properly warmed up etc. etc.. Hopefully on a longer ride he can get into a groove more and just hammer out a great time and make things interesting.

Wish there had been a couple more stages like yesterday. Tourmalet is a friggin beast of a climb. Crazy fans on that climb as well, especially those half naked guys WTF. Big temp. contrast from the last two weeks probably had an impact on some fo those riders. Interesting that Horner climbed into the top 10 especially sonce all of the talk has been Levi.

the prologue was quite curvy i understand which meant the guys who took the most chances on the turns were rewarded ...

yeah ... i was wondering how the heck someone could attack as there was only space for single file at some points ... but that is pretty awesome ... i know fans have gotten in the way before but let's hope it continues to stay this fanatic without impeding the race ... if i was a cyclist - i would love it! ... horner has been solid all race ... i didn't think levi could keep up with the big boys on the big stages and yesterday was a bad day for him to not have some legs ... i'm wondering if he didn't do something proper on his rest day (i hear some guys rode indoors instead of outdoors) ...

nuffingman

Todays stage they all look like they're having a spin in the country. No doubt it will hot up at the finish. Only 3 stages after today and it's over for another year. :(

Pats54

On a different note. Why the hell is our Govt. investigating doping in cycling, LA et al. With all of the issues we have going on in the country seems like a waste of time & $$'s to rehash these issues. Let it go and move on.

polaris_x

Pats54 wrote:

On a different note. Why the hell is our Govt. investigating doping in cycling, LA et al. With all of the issues we have going on in the country seems like a waste of time & $$'s to rehash these issues. Let it go and move on.

because steroid use is illegal ... the varying degrees differs from state to state country to country ... in most states ... it's illegal to use steroids without a medical conditioning requiring it ... mainly because of the side effects steroids have ... traffiking of steroids is also illegal ...

so ... they are investigating because of the illegal usage of steroids ... hence why marion jones had to do time ...

having said all that - i do think there are many things that take precedent however, a law is useless without enforcement ...

nuffingman

Pats54 wrote:

On a different note. Why the hell is our Govt. investigating doping in cycling, LA et al. With all of the issues we have going on in the country seems like a waste of time & $$'s to rehash these issues. Let it go and move on.

Yep, it's a bit like jumping on a bus at the final stop. The governing bodies have been there and done it, leave it to them. You can guarantee there are a few guys out there now that are using but nobody has detected it yet. No doubt there'll be more revelations in the next year or so.

Wobbie

Pats54 wrote:

On a different note. Why the hell is our Govt. investigating doping in cycling, LA et al. With all of the issues we have going on in the country seems like a waste of time & $$'s to rehash these issues. Let it go and move on.

i guess the same reason they've spent $50M and 7 years trying (pitifully) to put a case together against Barry Bonds :roll:

Wobbie

"these are desperate times!"

polaris_x

wow ... like a stroll in the park for cavendish ... like a missle ... my guy Dean finished second tho!! ... woohoo!

Pats54

polaris_x wrote:

wow ... like a stroll in the park for cavendish ... like a missle ... my guy Dean finished second tho!! ... woohoo!

He so fast when he is on.

Pats54

imalive wrote:

"these are desperate times!"

Just seems like such a joke. They go hard after stuff like this and hard core crimes the punishment is light.

nuffingman

Well done Cavendish a brilliant sprint the end. He must have thighs that could crush a coconut.

Wobbie

nuffingman wrote:

Well done Cavendish a brilliant sprint the end. He must have thighs that could crush a coconut.

he is a bad ass mofo!

Pats54

imalive wrote:

nuffingman wrote:

Well done Cavendish a brilliant sprint the end. He must have thighs that could crush a coconut.

he is a bad ass mofo!

Even minus his lead out train he is still a beast.

Wobbie

"unfortunately, tyler farrar is no longer with us" :shock: :shock:

PJGirl321

Pats54 wrote:

On a different note. Why the hell is our Govt. investigating doping in cycling, LA et al. With all of the issues we have going on in the country seems like a waste of time & $$'s to rehash these issues. Let it go and move on.

And LA has never tested positive.

So Cav won today. I hope Fabian wins the TT.

Riverrunner

PJGirl321 wrote:

Fabian is the Eddie Vedder of cycling. :thumbup:

Yes he is.