2009 Tour de France

[dbackjon]

Begins Saturday.

Favorites for the race include 2008 winner Carlos Sastre, 2007 winner Alberto Contador, 2009 Giro d'Italia winner Denis Menchov and two time runner-up Cadel Evans.[6] Lance Armstrong, the seven-time winner from 1999 to 2005, has come out of retirement and is competing in the race on the same team as Contador.

[dbackjon]

Americans Competing:

Team Astana
Lance Armstrong
Levi Leipheimer


Team Garmen-Slipstream
Christian Vande Velde
David Zabriskie
Tyler Farrar
Danny Pate

Team Columbia-HTC
George Hincapie

[grizzaholic]

Will I even notice that it is running? Probably not.

[Grizalltheway]

Let's go Leipheimer! Time to get that monkey off your back.

[ChetSteadman]

Let's go Leipheimer! Time to get that monkey off your back.

While I'd love for Levi to win, there's no way both Lance and Alberto work for him. In fact, I don't know that anyone from Astana really has a realistic chance - there may be too many chiefs and not enough indians.

[SeattleGriz]

Let's go Leipheimer! Time to get that monkey off your back.

While I'd love for Levi to win, there's no way both Lance and Alberto work for him. In fact, I don't know that anyone from Astana really has a realistic chance - there may be too many chiefs and not enough indians.

Don't forget Kloden as well on Astana. He is no slouch.

My money is on Contador. He seems to have access to the best drugs at this point.

On a side note, even if Lance could win, I don't think he will just because he doesn't want the "dough-pay" (phonetic of French word for doper) chants started up.

[SeattleGriz]

Let's go Leipheimer! Time to get that monkey off your back.

I wish Levi would win as well, as I used to race with him back in the day when he still lived in Montana, but he just doesn't have the killer instinct and is WAY too cautious when descending.

[SeattleGriz]

cyclingnews.com

http://www.cyclingnews.com/

Great site for following the Le Tour.

[BlueHen86]

cyclingnews.com

http://www.cyclingnews.com/

Great site for following the Le Tour.

Thanks for the link.

[polsongrizz]

Will I even notice that it is running? Probably not.

You suck.

[Grizalltheway]

Will I even notice that it is running? Probably not.

You suck.

[grizzaholic]

Will I even notice that it is running? Probably not.

You suck.

Well I will call you next time I roll through town. JEEESCH. Never knew you were into watching guys in speedos pedal up a hill. Seems really exciting.

[ChetSteadman]

cyclingnews.com

http://www.cyclingnews.com/

Great site for following the Le Tour.

cyclingnews will have a blog of sorts that updates every minute or so as to what is going on in the race, during each stage. If you can't watch on TV, you can keep up with it there (if you care that much). They also have great photo galleries from each stage. For the next two weeks, from 9am-1pm, I'll have a browser window open reading.

[SeattleGriz]

You suck.

Well I will call you next time I roll through town. JEEESCH. Never knew you were into watching guys in speedos pedal up a hill. Seems really exciting.

Speedos would be triathlons.

I don't blame you for not enjoying cycling, but you really should try to catch the last 15 minutes of racing (30 minutes of programming left in coverage) during the first week. It is absolute mayhem when they sprint it out of for the victory. Good chance to see 40mph multi man crashes.

Even if they don't crash, the buildup to the sprint is unreal. Guys screaming along at the front in single file, pulling off when they can't keep the pace only to have a teammate take over and so on until they have brought the teams designated sprinter within 300 meters of the finish and he finishes it with a sprint of around 45mph. PHENOMENAL to see the precision.

[polsongrizz]

You suck.

Well I will call you next time I roll through town. JEEESCH. Never knew you were into watching guys in speedos pedal up a hill. Seems really exciting.

Football is guys in long johns slapping each on on the ass after fondling each other in the pile, I don't see the difference .
You better call, made me cry...

[SeattleGriz]

Nascar got nothing on Le Tour

[youtube][/youtube]

[polsongrizz]

Tour is on right now. Lance is third at the moment with the big names still to go. Although Levi has gone and is in first.

[SeattleGriz]

Tour is on right now. Lance is third at the moment with the big names still to go. Although Levi has gone and is in first.

Glad my cable provider finally has it in HD. Monaco looks awesome.

[BlueHen86]

Tour is on right now. Lance is third at the moment with the big names still to go. Although Levi has gone and is in first.

Glad my cable provider finally has it in HD. Monaco looks awesome.

Absolutely! I can see why people want to go there.

I wouldn't mind attending a stage or two of the tour someday, but if I do, it will probably be on a mountain side near the end of a stage. I love the stages that end in hard climbs.

Years ago, the team time time trial portion Tour DuPont went right by my house in Claymont, DE. I lived about a mile from the turning point, see I got to see the teams go up and back.

[SeattleGriz]

This opening prologue looks brutal. Starting with a climb right out of the gate.

[polsongrizz]

The big boys ended up with some killer times. Way faster than I thought.

[SeattleGriz]

The winner of today's prologue, Fabian Cancellara, is huge for a cyclist - 180lbs. He destroyed that descent. Four Astana riders in the top 10 is amazing, but we knew they had a loaded team.

[SeattleGriz]

Glad my cable provider finally has it in HD. Monaco looks awesome.

Absolutely! I can see why people want to go there.

I wouldn't mind attending a stage or two of the tour someday, but if I do, it will probably be on a mountain side near the end of a stage. I love the stages that end in hard climbs.

Years ago, the team time time trial portion Tour DuPont went right by my house in Claymont, DE. I lived about a mile from the turning point, see I got to see the teams go up and back.

As much as the Tour de France is the biggest and baddest of the grand tours, I have been leaning towards going to the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy). I suppose it is because I know I won't be able to make it over to Europe except maybe once or twice in my life and Italy is on the top of my list as of now.

[ChetSteadman]

I'd love to see Paris-Roubaix one day, almost as much as I'd like to see one of the mountaintop finishes in one of the Grand Tours. The Hell of the North just looks brutal.

[polsongrizz]

Today's race was amazing. I don't know if Lance is good enough to win the whole thing but he worked his ass off to stay in the breakaway today.
He is now in 3rd.