The Tour De France 2006 1st-23rd of July

[the puerto rican feen]

Well who is going to win ?


Ivan Basso, was very strong in the Giro, and a very strong team also.

Jan Ulrich, won the Tour of Suisse with a very strong last day time trial, might be coming to form at the right time.

George Hincapie, a contender, might have won the Paris Roubaix except for cracking the forks. Discovery Teammate Paolo Savoldelli might be there or thereabouts too

Alexandre Vinokourov, been doing high altitude training in Kazahstan, hasnt featured in many races this season, form is not known.

Levi Leipheimer, won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, an outside chance maybe.

who else ?

No dominant rider like lance this year will make it exciting I hope

[boshea]

I'm rooting for Ulrich....but you just never know how he's going to show up...he looks to be coming into form, and seemed to look strong during hte Giro when he did push himself.....I wouldn't read too much into his result there, as it was a training tour, and used just to fine tune a few bits n pieces.

Basso will have to be one of the favourites going into it...............how ever I definitely wouldn't discount Vinoukorov....at least his constant attacking will make things interesting anyway.

Floyd Landis would be worth throwing a few quid on as well I reckon....has looked pretty good in the races I've seen him in so far this year.

I don't think any of the discovery team riders will do it this year....savoldelli isn't strong enough in the mountains, and I don't think hincapie is strong enough yet to win a 3 week tour....he's a good bet for some of the one day classics, but the tours are a different beast.....maybe give him a year or two.

[azfad]

vinikourov - he could have done much better last year if t-mobile had supported him instead of the very bland ulrich.

[storysham]

Oh yeah giro,


de italia.



meh, pissed.

[Carmona]

Oh yeah giro,


de italia.



meh, pissed.
Couldn't you just fuck off and die, or do you feel you have to say something stupid about every thread you don't like.

Find it hard to see past Basso.

[Rebel Yell]

Basso has to be favourite....I'd nearly fancy Sean Kelly win it this year if he came out of retirement, with no dominant force in it :)

[Carmona]

Ay, Sean Kelly. Anyone remember an RTE video of the 87 tour that Roche won and Kelly had to pull out of after doing in his shoulder? U2's with or without you...... a bit obvious like, but at the time I thought it was great.

[jungle]

How things have changed since this thread was started...

Anyway, it's the first day in the mountains today and none of the big boys (to the extent that there are any left...) are doing anything.

The way things stand some guy called Cyril Dessel is going to be in yellow tonight. Cedric Vasseur and Jens Voigt are attacking as they always do.

I had thought with all the others out that Andreas Kloden might be someone to watch this year, but there's been no sign of him doing anything today...

[the puerto rican feen]

yeah, teams in the peloton still taking it easy and not doing any chasing, not sure why, 50k to go, maybe they will put the squeeze on the leading group from now on

Voight has been dropped from the lead group and is 7 mins behind

the peloton is 11 mins back.

[jungle]

yeah, teams in the peloton still taking it easy and not doing any chasing, not sure why, 50k to go, maybe they will put the squeeze on the leading group from now on

Voight has been dropped from the lead group and is 7 mins behind

the peloton is 11 mins back.
Do you have this on TV?

From the internet commentary, it sounds like Voigt is back in the peleton now.

The leading group is nearly at the top of the Col de Marie Blanque. After that, I can't see them being caught before the finish. You'd always expect a small group of riders to be faster on a descent.

[the puerto rican feen]

Do you have this on TV?

From the internet commentary, it sounds like Voigt is back in the peleton now.

The leading group is nearly at the top of the Col de Marie Blanque. After that, I can't see them being caught before the finish. You'd always expect a small group of riders to be faster on a descent.


net at work is very slow, voigt is back in the peloton.

[jungle]

net at work is very slow, voigt is back in the peloton.
I'd guess the reason the main teams aren't taking it too seriously is because none of the perceived main contenders are away from the peleton.

Even so, there must be some good climbers in the breakaway (considering the nature of the stage) and they wouldn't really want to give away more than 10 minutes to them.

[jungle]

Top 15 after today

Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 DESSEL Cyril
2 MERCADO Juan Miguel 02' 34"
3 HONCHAR Serhiy 03' 45"
4 MORENI Cristian 03' 51"
5 LANDIS Floyd 04' 45"
6 ROGERS Michael 04' 53"
7 LANDALUZE Inigo 05' 22"
8 SINKEWITZ Patrik 05' 30"
9 KLÖDEN Andréas 05' 35"
10 KARPETS Vladimir 05' 37"
11 EVANS Cadel 05' 37"
12 ZABRISKIE David 05' 38"
13 FOTHEN Marcus 05' 48"
14 MOREAU Christophe 05' 52"
15 SAVOLDELLI Paolo 05' 55"

I suppose Landis, Kloden, Karpets and even Moreau are lurking there.

[jungle]

Iban Mayo has gone off the back of the peloton on the Col du Tourmalet.

About to lose another big name?

[the puerto rican feen]

Iban Mayo has gone off the back of the peloton on the Col du Tourmalet.

About to lose another big name?


he finished with the sprinters yesterday

[jungle]

he finished with the sprinters yesterday
Yeah. At almost half an hour back he was hardly a threst really.

[boshea]

Yeah. At almost half an hour back he was hardly a threst really.


he has a throat infection...he'll abandon any minute now....has been looking like it for the past few km, but there's cameras lurking and he won't want to be seen to abandon on tv.

[doppellanger]

I suppose Landis, Kloden, Karpets and even Moreau are lurking there.

Landis needs a hip replacement. I can´t believe anyone who needs a hip replacement can win the Tour de France. At least not without some sort of pharmacological help.

[boshea]

Landis needs a hip replacement. I can´t believe anyone who needs a hip replacement can win the Tour de France. At least not without some sort of pharmacological help.

not a hip replacement...just an operation on his hip!!

Roy Keane played for years with a dodgy hip, and will need a replacement in the next few years...pretty much ended his career.....are you suspecting him of having some pharmalogical help also?

[jungle]

he has a throat infection...he'll abandon any minute now....has been looking like it for the past few km, but there's cameras lurking and he won't want to be seen to abandon on tv.
Well predicted...

[boshea]

Well predicted...


:D

Thank you sir.

[jungle]

It's going to be tight to retain the yellow jersey now.

Landis, Kloeden, Rogers and Moreau are all taking time off the leader and the gap is growing.

Anyone else think it was a pity the Col du Tourmalet was the first climb today?

[the puerto rican feen]

If Landis didnt get the time bonus, dessel might have kept the yellow jersey, it is going to be very interesting as Phonak have not been a strong team so far, let us see how they defend the yellow jersey.

It would have been nice to see a finish on the Col du Tourmalet.



Results
Provisional
1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 6.06.25
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner
3 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 0.17
5 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC
6 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 1.04
7 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1.31
8 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC
9 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile
10 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 2.29

General classification after stage 11

1 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 49.18.07
2 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 0.08
3 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 1.01
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 1.17
5 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 1.52
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile 2.29
7 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 3.22
8 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) Agritubel 3.33
9 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 3.44
10 Marcus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 4.17

[homer jay]

looks really tight at the top of the GC, its great to see such a close race.

[POL]

the tour was never the same since they held a few stages in Ireland

[the puerto rican feen]

the tour was never the same since they held a few stages in Ireland


This surprised me, I was waiting for the "you know nothing about cycling" comment.

[POL]

hey, life is full of surprises

[homer jay]

the tour was never the same since they held a few stages in Ireland

yeah, but i'd say its more to do with the drug revelations that year more than the fact that it was taken over seas.

[the puerto rican feen]

Good ride by popovych today, brought him in to the top 10. Paolo Salvodelli didnt finish as he crashed with a spectator yesterday and hit the ground with his head and needed stitches.


1 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 4.34.58 (46.151 km/h)
2 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 0.27
3 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank 0.29
4 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.35
5 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick-Step-Innergetic 4.25
6 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto
7 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval
8 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram
9 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
10 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
11 Luca Paolini (Ita) Liquigas
12 David Kopp (Ger) Gerolsteiner
13 Axel Merckx (Bel) Phonak
14 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Cofidis
15 Marcus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner
16 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
17 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile
18 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quick-Step-Innergetic
19 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
20 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak

General classification after stage 12

1 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 53.57.30
2 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 0.08
3 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 1.01
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 1.17
5 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 1.52
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile 2.29
7 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 3.22
8 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) Agritubel 3.33
9 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 3.44
10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 4.15

[the puerto rican feen]

The peloton finished half an hour behind.
Tactics by the Phonak team allowing the Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears team to soak up the pressure for a few days, I wonder how this guy will get on in the mountains

1 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 5.24.36 (42.513 km/h)
2 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
3 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 0.40
4 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas
5 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Milram 6.24
6 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 29.57
7 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Francaise Des Jeux
8 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick-Step-Innergetic
9 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux
10 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Cofidis

GC

1 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 59.50.34
2 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 1.29
3 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 1.37
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 2.30
5 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 2.46
6 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 3.21
7 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile 3.58
8 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 4.51
9 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) Agritubel 5.02
10 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 5.13
11 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 5.44
12 Marcus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 5.46
13 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5.55
14 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) T-Mobile 7.07
15 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 7.08
16 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 7.23
17 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 8.16
18 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 8.21
19 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 8.36
20 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 9.06

[jungle]

Alpe d'Huez today and it's already near the end of the stage.

Kloeden and Landis look like they've dropped the others in the battle for the yellow jersey.

Now to see if one can lose the other before the top.

[homer jay]

Alpe d'Huez today and it's already near the end of the stage.

Kloeden and Landis look like they've dropped the others in the battle for the yellow jersey.

Now to see if one can lose the other before the top.

i take it popovych has been dropped as well?

[jungle]

i take it popovych has been dropped as well?
This is the latest newsflash, so it looks that way

16:33 - Situation With 5km To Go...
With 5km to go this was the situation: Cunego, Schleck and Mazzoleni were in the lead.
At 35" - Chavanel, Lobato and Garzelli.
At 1’15" - De la Fuente.
At 1’45" - Landis, Merckx, Kloden, Leipheimer and Sastre.
At 1’55" - Evans and Menchov


As you can see Sastre is back up with Kloeden and Landis

[jungle]

This is the latest newsflash, so it looks that way



As you can see Sastre is back up with Kloeden and Landis
And as I say that Kloeden and Landis have gone off the front of that group.

I'd say Kloeden needs to take a bit of time off Landis in the mountains, because I'd see Landis coming back in a time trial.

[jungle]

Top 10 at the end of today's stage

1 LANDIS
2 PEREIRO SIO 00' 10"
3 DESSEL 02' 02"
4 MENCHOV 02' 12"
5 SASTRE 02' 17"
6 KLÖDEN 02' 29"
7 EVANS 02' 56"
8 ROGERS 05' 01"
9 LEIPHEIMER 06' 18"
10 ZUBELDIA 06' 20"

[homer jay]

1 LANDIS
2 PEREIRO SIO 00' 10"

class, reminds of fignon/le mond

[jungle]

Climbs for today's stage

There are four climbs in the stage from Bourg d’Oisans to La Toussuire. They are:
The Col du Galibier (‘Souvenir Henri Desgrange’ for the highest pass of the 93rd Tour: ‘Hors Category’ 2,646m high, 42.8km long with an average gradient of 4.5% with the summit at the 45.5km mark).
The Col de la Croix-de-Fer (‘Hors Category’, 2,067m high, 22.7km long, 6.9% at 126.5km).
The Col du Mollard (category-two, 5.8km long, 6.8% at 146.5km).
And the final rise to the finish at La Toussuire (category-one, 1,705m high, 18.7km long, 5.9%).

The riders are just starting on the ascent of the Col du Galibier.

I wish the organizers would finish stages on HC climbs. They have the real potential to separate the challengers for the yellow jersey.

Mind you, I also with they'd go over the Pyrenees after the Alps.

[jungle]

Popovych has attacked the peleton today. My feeling is that he's gone too early.

[homer jay]

Popovych has attacked the peleton today. My feeling is that he's gone too early.

is there live coverage on the net anywhere?

[jungle]

www.letour.fr has text coverage.

For whatever reason they don't have radio coverage this year.

In theory, video streaming (with French commentary) is available at http://tour-de-france.france2.fr/videos/ but it never seems to be working.

[boshea]

http://www.eurosport.com/cycling/tour-de-france/2006/livefullpage_mtc1296 76.shtml

Km by Km analysis/news by the Eurosport team.

[jungle]

Landis has gone out the back.

Pereiro Sio, Dessel, Menchov, Sastre, Kloeden and Evans are all likely to leapfrog him tonight

[homer jay]

Landis has gone out the back.

Pereiro Sio, Dessel, Menchov, Sastre, Kloeden and Evans are all likely to leapfrog him tonight

been following it as much as work allows on that link you put up. looks like sastre in yellow tonight. sounds like a great stage. was merckx blown out the back as well? was hoping he'd do well

[jungle]

been following it as much as work allows on that link you put up. looks like sastre in yellow tonight. sounds like a great stage. was merckx blown out the back as well? was hoping he'd do well
Think it depends. Sastre still has a bit of work to do to get ahead of Pereiro Sio.

Not sure what's happened to Merckx

[homer jay]

Think it depends. Sastre still has a bit of work to do to get ahead of Pereiro Sio.

yup, pereiro in yellow, i hadn't realised he was in landis' group. he's 1'59" ahead of sastre and 2'30" ahead of kloeden in GC. merckx came back and caught up with landis. gotta remember to watch the highlights later

[the puerto rican feen]

It was an eventful day, the yellow jersey blown out, Sastre in second, Kloden there too. Another big day in the mountains tomorrow

The time-trial this week could decide the destination of the yellow jersey.


Provisional
1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 5.36.04
2 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 1.41
3 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 1.54
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 1.56
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile
6 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 2.37
7 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Crédit Agricole
8 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance
9 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 3.24
10 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3.42
11 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank
12 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile
13 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) T-Mobile
14 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 4.21

General classification after stage 16

1 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 74.38.05
2 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 1.50
3 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile 2.29
4 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 2.43
5 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 2.56
6 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 3.58
7 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 6.47
8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 7.03
9 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 7.46
10 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 8.06
11 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 8.08

[jungle]

Kloeden is an OK timetrialist.

Dunno much about the others.

Any ideas?

[jungle]

Big break on today with an 11 minute lead already. No significant riders involved, so the chase will be half-hearted.

Still, I reckon they've gone to early. Any rider looking for the stage win would have been advised to wait for the ascent of Col de la Colombière. They will probably end up getting a nice lead and getting overhauled on one of the last two ascents.

The tour is likely to be decided today. If Pereiro stays in contact with the rest of the top 5 he will win. It is conceivable that it'll go down to the final time trial, but I'd put my money on the rider in yellow tonight winning the tour.

[jungle]

What a day.

Landis made back almost all of the time he lost yesterday. Sastre also gained a lot of the gap to Pereiro. Only 30 seconds now separates the top 3 riders.

Any of the top 3 could still win this.

[the puerto rican feen]

Superb comeback from Landis, great ride too from Sastre to put him right up there and Pereiro to hang in there.

Time trial saturday to decide the yellow jersey, anyone know about the time trial form of the top 10.

Results
Provisional
1 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 5.23.36
2 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 5.40
3 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 5.57
4 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 6.40
5 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 7.08
6 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC
7 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
8 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile
9 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
10 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 7.20

General classification after stage 17

1 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 80.08.49
2 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 0.11
3 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 0.31
4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile 2.29
5 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 3.08
6 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 4.14
7 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 4.24
8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 5.45
9 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 8.16

[jungle]

Superb comeback from Landis, great ride too from Sastre to put him right up there and Pereiro to hang in there.

Time trial saturday to decide the yellow jersey, anyone know about the time trial form of the top 10.



Landis and Evans are both good time-trialist. They were both in the top 10 of the final time trial last year

Landis, Kloeden and Menchov all had top 10 finishes in the time-trial earlier in the tour.

You'd make Landis a slight favourite now.

[the puerto rican feen]

Results from Stage 7 - Saturday, July 8: Saint-Grégoire - Rennes ITT, 52 km

Interesting to see that Landis was the stronger of the top three. The report I read stated that Sastre rode over his head. Maybe CSC plan to try and attack tomorrow to gain more time ?


1 Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) T-Mobile 1.01.43.60
2 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 1.00.62

4 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 1.23.87

8 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile 1.43.26
9 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 1.43.90

11 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 1.49.39

15 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance 2.03.46

18 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 2.10.59

23 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 2.40.92

[jungle]

Not much change today. No great surprise there.

[Carmona]

So down to the last three to go in the zime trial, I suppose landis is fave, but I'd love to see Sastre do well.

[jungle]

Fantastic win by Floyd Landis eventually. His ride in stage 17 was that of a great rider, especially considering what had happened to him the day before.

He gave great service to Lance Armstrong as part of the US Postal team for a number of years. I always felt that there were riders in that team who could challenge for the tour if they weren't backing up Armstrong, but I don't know if Landis would have been the name I'd have picked out.

Anyway, congrats to the man.

[Teknique]

Fantastic win by Floyd Landis eventually. His ride in stage 17 was that of a great rider, especially considering what had happened to him the day before.



Simply amazing , 1 of the most impressive sporting performaces I've seen in a long long time

He looked dead and buried after wednesday only to come back from the dead Thursday

[homer jay]

couldn't believe he won after the stage he hit the wall in. fair fucks to the guy, great comeback.

[the puerto rican feen]

Great win by Landis, way more impressive than any of armstrongs wins in my opinion as phonak wouldnt be the strongest team in the peloton.

That comeback on thursday was amazing.

[jungle]

It'll be interesting to see what happens next year. With the surgery Landis has planned, it's almost inconceivable that he will be back in time for the 2007 tour. Should be another very open one.