The Official Tour de France Thread

[Tech83]

Just like you two..... just tuning in for the crashes. You ghouls

[h2oville rocket]

Another brutal day today- Andy Schlek looked like he was down for good but came back nicely- it helps to have your teammate in yellow holding down the peloton and to have Jens Voit and Frank Schlek pulling you back. I think early breakaways will be the order of the day, especially with the cobblestones tomorrow- stay out of trouble. Certainly worked today. If Schlek is hurt very badly this becomes a two or three man race- Evans is always supposed to be a contender but always disappoints so that would leave Frank Schlek with no Andy, Armstrong and Contrador. Armstrong and Contrador are riding cautiously-be interesting to see if Lance tests him on the cobbles tomorrow.

[Tech83]

It seems Dayton Time Warner has replaced the Speed channel. It so important to have the Big Ten network so we can watch endless reruns of football games for 1994.

[h2oville rocket]

It seems Dayton Time Warner has replaced the Speed channel. It so important to have the Big Ten network so we can watch endless reruns of football games for 1994.

Was the Speed Channel doing the Tour? I follow it on Versus- pretty much all day coverage (repeated) so if I miss the morningI can catch it in the evening. OR if I see it in the morning I can watch it again in the afternoon, then catch it again at night. Nine hours of the Tour! Life is pretty good this time of year! In the last month four of the biggest sporting events in the world- - US Open, Wimbledon, World Cup and the biggest spectator event of them all, the Tour.

[Ydfalcon]

It seems Dayton Time Warner has replaced the Speed channel. It so important to have the Big Ten network so we can watch endless reruns of football games for 1994.

Yeah, it's on Versus. But if you have basic or standard I believe it's called (78-ish channels), then you won't have it. It's 323 (1323 HD) if you have the package that goes that far.


Today was a pretty exciting day, as everyone predicted. Couple of good shakeups in the overall standings. Tough to see Chavanel lose the yellow jersey already, especially since it was due not to poor riding, but a series of mechanical problems throughout the day. Gotta wonder how long Cancellara will hold on to it this time. I'm also curious to see how Frank Schleck is after his second big crash in as many days. If he's out, I gotta think that puts a little more doubt into Andy's ability to win. One Schleck without the other to pull him up the mountains later on? Although Andy is probably the better of the two, I really would wonder if he can climb well enough solo, or if Saxo Bank would have somebody else who could fill in that role well enough.

Lance's flat front tire really hurt him today, but he did still have a pretty impressive ride over the cobbles to catch back up to one of the chase groups. Falling down to 18th had to hurt though, and he's now round about a minute back to Contador, 2:30 back from the leader, which I'm imagining will be very hard to make up, barring Contador having a really bad day somewhere down the line.

[Tech83]

Maybe it was Verse.... either way.... the Big Ten Network is what precipitated the channel shifting.

[Ydfalcon]

Maybe it was Verse.... either way.... the Big Ten Network is what precipitated the channel shifting.

Pretty much, yes. I think they did carry both Versus and the Big Ten Network for awhile there, but with the realignment in the latter half of last year, they moved Versus to only being on that digital tier.

[h2oville rocket]

Another crazy stage. Seems like Cancellara is having a GREAT Tour so far= back in yellow, saved Schlek's bacon yesterday and dragged him to the front today. Tough break for Lance and Contrador did well. Actually, my whipping boy Cadell may have placed himself back in the mix-if Contrador breaks down he might be right there at the finish.

I did get a kick out of Vinacourov- he drops his teammate and GC contender like a hot potato and everyone acts shocked. I remember before the drug thing he was well known for crazy breakaways and pointless solo rides that left teammates in the dust, only to peter out ten Ks from the finish. I would expect no less- hope Contrador wasn't counting on him in the mountains.

[Tech83]

Meanwhile, the Big Ten Network covered the indoor track championships.... that would have occurred in Feb or March.

[h2oville rocket]

Meanwhile, the Big Ten Network covered the indoor track championships.... that would have occurred in Feb or March.

Can't fault anyone for showing track on TV EVER> Don't care if its the 1924 Olympics-its track, therefopre its worthy.

[Tech83]

Meanwhile, the Big Ten Network covered the indoor track championships.... that would have occurred in Feb or March.

Can't fault anyone for showing track on TV EVER> Don't care if its the 1924 Olympics-its track, therefopre its worthy.

Normally I would agree, but not when I would like to watch the Tour.

[h2oville rocket]

We started watching it when we used to go to Houghton Lake in the summers- they would always play the last week on some obscure cable channel up there. First one I saw was LeMond whipping Laurent because he wore his aero helmet and Laurent didn't. I was hooked and haven't missed one since.We changed our cable provider specifically to get Versus.

[Tech83]

FWIW - Nicholas is watching the Tour here in the studio at www.cycling.tv. I don't know if its a live feed, but its there......

[h2oville rocket]

Cavendish comes back and takes his first stage (and his first real points towards the green). Gets a nice leadout and wins by a huge margin. Everyone else stays safe and saves it for the mountains. I've been impressed by Hushov who is in the Top Ten overall- pretty good for a 180 lb sprinter. Pataki has won more stages but Thor is showing himself to be more than a one trick pony.

[h2oville rocket]

And Chavanel is back in yellow- may last only a day but he had a great ride-as in stage 2 he broke out early and maintained. Nice ride by some guy I never heard of from the new team that looks like they're riding naked as well. Lots of changes in the overall standings and most of the big contenders are in the top ten now. Evans, of course, is looking to make me eat my words and is in second. Tomorrow: The Alps!!!