Le Tour de France 2008

[DexterPunk]

no i ment at the end of the stage... during the actual stage is fair enough.

and its good having Cadel in yellow! easy to spot him.

[norbs]

no i ment at the end of the stage... during the actual stage is fair enough.

and its good having Cadel in yellow! easy to spot him.

One of the advantages of watching it on a dual screen PC. Big screen has the TV on SBS, the small screen has the live timings and other news happening. Its tops!

[Duke]

no i ment at the end of the stage... during the actual stage is fair enough.

and its good having Cadel in yellow! easy to spot him.

One of the advantages of watching it on a dual screen PC. Big screen has the TV on SBS, the small screen has the live timings and other news happening. Its tops!

Yep that's what I do to, log on to the leTour official website (http://www.letour.fr/us/homepage_courseTDF.html)and they usually beat SBS to posting the results for the stage and you can get the full list of GC pretty quick as well. The SBS Tour site also has it but not quite as fast. Both have live commentary & timing

[DexterPunk]

i could do that, but my lovely new HD tele is a bit too far from the PC.

[norbs]

Jesus. My thighs are aching. I reckon Evans did a great job to stay in touch at the front til the death. And good on Gerrans for the stage win!

[Duke]

What a stage, one of the very best in the Tour I have ever seen.
Awesome to see Gerrans get his 1st stage win, all the more given it was the stories told to him by his next door neighbour a Mister Phil Anderson that got him into the sport.
Cadel did a great job as everyone smacked him hard, it is not a bad thing to loose the Yellow at this stage given only 8sec's separates the top 3
Feel sorry for Oscar Pereiro sounds like a very nasty fall and he his lucky that it was only a broken shoulder.
Also would have been interesting to see what Denis Menchov could have done if he hadn't of slipped on that 1st attack he did.
Oh this yr is exciting...rest up guys 2 more days of this to come after the rest day tomorrow.

[DexterPunk]

it is not a bad thing to loose the Yellow at this stage given only 8sec's separates the top 3

no it may even be for the better, less pressure to try and hold it and concentrate on the bigger picture.

go Gerrans! [sings]We love you cuz your a victorian![/sings]

[Gizmo]

Now that was simply amazing! It's not a bad thing that Cadel has lost yellow, he dosn't have the team to help him. He'll get it back in the time trial i reckon. I'm looking forward to the rest day tonight!

[norbs]

You are right Flinty, if Menchov hadn't slipped, I wonder if he would have got a break. Team CSC looks pretty formidable. Evans looks pretty good, but I dont think he can stay with the real climbers.

Im looking forward to an early night tonight. Im stuggling at work today.

Funny thing about the coverage and peoples perceptions. There is a guy that works in the exchange on occasion who is a V8 nut, and also loves the F1. He knows I am involved in a racing forum and was asking me about the F1 season the other day. I told him I think it is boring these days and he ripped in. I told him I was watching the Tour and he nearly did a spleen laughing. I then explained what was happening with the teams and a bit of background. he just shrugged and walked off.

Well, he just walked past me 5 minutes ago and called me a crunt! I looked up and he looks like death warmed up. Apparently he sat up on Fri night and watched the Tour and is now well and truly hooked. I had a laugh and told him it is good watching. his next sentence was "Did you know they are riding 150+ kms a day for 3 weeks?" LOL. I fear I have created a monster.

And for those that missed Sven break his pushy.

[youtube] [/youtube]

[Duke]

Great story Norbs, yeah a lot of ppl watch it to see the scenery initially then get caught up in the chess game on wheels and get hooked into the racing as they just never knew what it is actually like before sitting down and watching the Tour.
As I ride to work everyone here keeps asking me if I stayed up and watched the end of each stage, I think I must look at them stupid, fancy asking a keen cyclist if he watched each stage to it's end
They can't quite believe it or more to the point that I am functioning until I tell them I go to bed @ 8pm and get up 30mins after the coverage starts.

Yeah that was a strong attack by Menchov which seemed to be perfectly timed as they others were either taken off-guard or were spent from a few efforts before. I guess we will never know if it had of worked as he did suffer over the last 1-2km's and nearly feel back to the group of Evans.

That crash was insane, easy way to write off a 10 grand Specialized that's for sure. How he didn't get hurt is beyond me and check the sign out afterward, he bends it from the force he hit it with. crap............

[norbs]

How far is your ride to work Flinty? When it warms up I am thinking of starting to ride in again. Its only 26kms each way, but alot of it is on 100kph narrow country roads. Im getting less brave as I get old.

[Duke]

How far is your ride to work Flinty? When it warms up I am thinking of starting to ride in again. Its only 26kms each way, but alot of it is on 100kph narrow country roads. Im getting less brave as I get old.

Yeah I know how you feel, every year I ride I get more & more cautious when on the roads but that is not a bad thing imho.
I do 27km's (1 hr) each way, try to do everyday but depends on weather and after work commitments so I guess I would avg about 3.5 times a week.
I also ride Sunday early morning so I get 300-350km's a week if all goes to plan.
Get back on it mate you won't regret it.

[norbs]

How far is your ride to work Flinty? When it warms up I am thinking of starting to ride in again. Its only 26kms each way, but alot of it is on 100kph narrow country roads. Im getting less brave as I get old.

Yeah I know how you feel, every year I ride I get more & more cautious when on the roads but that is not a bad thing imho.
I do 27km's (1 hr) each way, try to do everyday but depends on weather and after work commitments so I guess I would avg about 3.5 times a week.
I also ride Sunday early morning so I get 300-350km's a week if all goes to plan.
Get back on it mate you won't regret it.

Mate, I know that. I used to love riding to work when I was younger. Kept the weight down and you feel good getting a big oxygen hit morning and night. Im trying to get motivated to do another fund raising event. That certainly got me out and about on the bike. Although, it could be time to retire the old mountain bike. I wandered into a bike shop last week for a snoop, and couldnt believe how light the new road bikes are. And they look the goods as well.

[norbs]

How good was tonights racing. That poor South African bastard flying over the edge. Menchov dropping off the back. Schumachers break away. Evans' finishing with the CSC team. Awesome stuff. And great stuff Evans.

[Duke]

An Epic Tour Stage, that last mountain tonight was an absolute monster. I actually think it was so hard, steep & high that none of the GC leaders could actually attack each other without fear of exploding which worked in Cadel's favour. Speaking of Cadel how was that decent, he showed them a clean pair of heals and even put significant time into Menchov who after tonight has to be his main threat for the Tour win.
1 night of hills left with the stage finishing on the classic and famous Alpe d'Huez tomorrow.
I just can't see any of the others putting enough time into Cadel, it is his Tour for the taking, go get it champ

[Duke]

How good was tonights racing. That poor South African bastard flying over the edge..

Yeah, got to feel for him, what was he doing though it wasn't like it was a blind corner and he seemed to be on the inside of it coming into it
He did make the finish: 35. AUGUSTYN John-Lee 52 BARLOWORLD 4h 36' 54" + 05' 27
I wonder who ventured down the mountain to get a free bike

[Nigel]

I wonder if anyone nicked the bike that was down the mountain.

[Gizmo]

I feel asleep as the main group got to the sumit of the first climb. I'm wishing i stayed up now!

[norbs]

I feel asleep as the main group got to the sumit of the first climb. I'm wishing i stayed up now!

How can you sleep through it? I have been on the edge of my seat. Watching Evans battle up the Bonette-Restefond climb was awesome. Those guys really are freaks. And Evans certainly took off down the hill.

[Duke]

I feel asleep as the main group got to the sumit of the first climb. I'm wishing i stayed up now!

How can you sleep through it? I have been on the edge of my seat. Watching Evans battle up the Bonette-Restefond climb was awesome. Those guys really are freaks. And Evans certainly took off down the hill.

Oh dear Giz, I am with norbs as I was actually shaking watching Cadel lead the group down the last hill, exciting stuff

[norbs]

I feel asleep as the main group got to the sumit of the first climb. I'm wishing i stayed up now!

How can you sleep through it? I have been on the edge of my seat. Watching Evans battle up the Bonette-Restefond climb was awesome. Those guys really are freaks. And Evans certainly took off down the hill.

Oh dear Giz, I am with norbs as I was actually shaking watching Cadel lead the group down the last hill, exciting stuff

I have found myself getting rather agitated if Evans was behind another rider and you couldnt see him on the coverage. I was thinking he had been dropped off or had a spill. It was good when he was in yellow.

[Duke]

Thought a few of you guys might like this - live rider heart rate & cycling data from Polar: http://livedata.polar.fi/letour/index.php?lang=en

[norbs]

This is handy too.

http://www.justin.tv/widgets/jtv_live.r ... zymanborn2

Live before SBS comes on.

[Gizmo]

Thanks for the links guys. I'm trying to stay up tonight, starting to get the flu so i dont' know if i'll last. I love watching them go downhill. Hincapie was the last man i thought would have a fall.

[Duke]

OMG!!! Sastre with a huge final climb has really put the cat amongst the pigeons but I don't think it is enough as I feel Cadel know's exactly how much time he can make up in the final ITT and he rode it that way, I know it is not a done deal yet but I have faith that we will see the first Aussie TDF winner come Sun/Mon.
I know one thing if he does win it, it would have to go down as one of the best wins of all time as he had no help from his team and conquered as strong a team as Lance Armstrong ever had. Be a fitting Aussie David and Goliath story.