on the race, RBF, total chaos today and making for a good spectacle, as contador is now out after crashing - the report is his bike frame snapped. Bad for him but opens it up with the two favourites out
Didn´t actually see the crash itself max, but reports have since confirmed that he broke his shin - pretty ridiculous if it was the bike frame that snapped. Bet Astana are going to wrap Nibali in cotton wool after all that´s gone on, he has to be odds-on now, but must admit the race has been devalued a bit.
Cycling with a beard does not affect aerodynamics... http://road.cc/content/news/119553-video-beard-or-not-beard A ZZ top style beard, however, may require further investigation
Have to admit, overall feelings, now that the Tour is over, are surprisingly positive, considering two of the favourites crashed out and also one of the top sprinters, Cavendish. OK, Nibali had it pretty much all his own way at the top, but the podium places were very well contested right up until the last day. Very impressed with Tinkoff Saxo, and how they bounced back from Contador´s disappointment, to pick up 3 stage wins and the mountain jersey with Maika. Some good sprint finishes, with Kittel, Greipel and Kristoff, and as always some great mountain stages. Probably the only real disappointment was SKY, who totally failed to recover from Froome´s departure with no-one capable of picking up the mantle. Bring on ´Le Tour´ 2015
A reasonable tour. Looking forward to next time with Froome and especially Quintana. Look out for Warren Barguil as well. He won a couple of stages at the Vuelta last year. Actually the Vuelta should be worth a watch this year with Quintana going head to head with Froome
Froome and Quintana are going head to head in the vuelta which gas highlights on itv 4 apparently Starts end of aug I thought it was a great tour despite froome and contador crashing out. Some new young guns (the French guys), Thomas continues to improve and that stage on the cobbles in the rain was brilliant Nibali deserves the win but wasn't under any pressure
Oh dear I seem to have missed all the excitement again. Never mind I must make a note in my diary for next year to drive to a roadside in France and wait patiently for hundreds of cyclists to whizz past me in large groups before turning round and driving back to the UK. Sorry but I've just wet myself in excitement at the thought. The problem this year was that it clashed with the other games for nonentities playing irrelevant games in Glasgow. It was so difficult to decide whether to stay in and watch ' Le Tour ' or watch Swaziland play the Solomon Islands at synchronised tiddlywinks on pogo sticks that I just had to go to the Pub to avoid making the decision. Shame Howard or Marina didn't win but I understand Compo and Clegg are in training for next year so there should be strong British interest.
Surely you know by now Max that if you mention cycling, cycle racing or irrelevant( to spectators) minority sports I come out all guns blazing. I am just a bit surprised that no Commonwealth Games lover or tiddlywinks player has joined in!!! Must be losing my touch.
i know, i thought you'd got it out of your system already. Don't worry we'll have a thread for the Vuelta a Espana in august and maybe the Tour of Britain in September even
The cycling threads have been something of an eye-opener for me. I am wont to peddle nonchalantly around the by-roads of Norfolk, stopping to refuel at some interesting hostelry along the way, or light-heartedly scoffing a cornetto on some convenient straw bale with ne'ery a care in the world. I now realise that a large proportion of the residents of this fine county do, in fact, have evil intentions - malice prepense if you will - when driving their poisonous metal cans along our shared highway, and the subject of this ill-intent is me. Excursions will never be the same.
