2009 Tour de France

[SeattleGriz]

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.

I agree. It was fantastic. I love the crap he spoke after the race about all the guys who missed the break. He asked why someone who wanted to win the race wouldn't be at the front of the peloton. I also liked when he said a person didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know what was going to happen when the route switched into the head and side winds. Sounded like a slam on Contador to me!

On a separate note, the SKIL-Shimano boys from the Netherlands knew where to be when the wind change happened. These guys are a wildcard team and were not expected to do much. Showed their savvy today.

[grizzaholic]

Not to be a dolt here, I know I don't care for soccer and cycling, but is cycling really getting that much airtime this year? Besides the little blip on sportscenter in the morning what channel is broadcasting it? Please don't say verses.

[Grizalltheway]

Not to be a dolt here, I know I don't care for soccer and cycling, but is cycling really getting that much airtime this year? Besides the little blip on sportscenter in the morning what channel is broadcasting it? Please don't say verses.

Okay, I'll say Versus.

[grizzaholic]

Not to be a dolt here, I know I don't care for soccer and cycling, but is cycling really getting that much airtime this year? Besides the little blip on sportscenter in the morning what channel is broadcasting it? Please don't say verses.

Okay, I'll say Versus.

Really??!! I guess I will miss it all then.

And WTAG, get a new avatar. That one doesn't suit you very much. Just my opinion.

[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.

I agree. It was fantastic. I love the crap he spoke after the race about all the guys who missed the break. He asked why someone who wanted to win the race wouldn't be at the front of the peloton. I also liked when he said a person didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know what was going to happen when the route switched into the head and side winds. Sounded like a slam on Contador to me!

On a separate note, the SKIL-Shimano boys from the Netherlands knew where to be when the wind change happened. These guys are a wildcard team and were not expected to do much. Showed their savvy today.

To add to that it was cool when George ripped on the sprinter teams for not wanting to race so Columbia took it to them.
Yeah for a team that was thrown together at the last moment they really are hanging in there, SKIL I mean.

[polsongrizz]

All I can say about today's stage is "wow". Pulling back 40 sec in a team trial is insane.

How about Team Garmin finishing with only five riders and taking first at that time?

[grizzaholic]

I guess Lance's team is always late. And they get fined for being late too. A whopping $92 bucks. There shouldn't be a fine. If it is such a big deal to be someplace 20 minutes early, either make the fine big like 10 grand, or just make it manditory, as in you show up 20 mintues early or no race for you.

[BlueHen86]

All I can say about today's stage is "wow". Pulling back 40 sec in a team trial is insane.

How about Team Garmin finishing with only five riders and taking first at that time?

Nice job by Garmin. Losing the 4 riders wasn't unexpected, but still, the 5 remaining riders had to work that much harder.

Armstrong just missed getting the yellow jersey - by less than a second. He is in second place overall, less than 1 second behind the leader. I don't know if Lance can win the Tour this year, but it would have been great to see him in yellow again. On the other hand, because he is not in yellow, Astana won't have to work extra hard to keep him there. It might be better for them to save enrgy until the mountains.

[Grizalltheway]

Okay, I'll say Versus.

Really??!! I guess I will miss it all then.

And WTAG, get a new avatar. That one doesn't suit you very much. Just my opinion.

Shup it, mop boy

[Grizalltheway]

Okay, I'll say Versus.

Really??!! I guess I will miss it all then.

And WTAG, get a new avatar. That one doesn't suit you very much. Just my opinion.

There, happy?

[grizzaholic]

Really??!! I guess I will miss it all then.

And WTAG, get a new avatar. That one doesn't suit you very much. Just my opinion.

There, happy?

Much better fuckronot.

[Grizalltheway]

There, happy?

Much better fuckronot.

Smokes, let's go!

[grizzaholic]

Much better fuckronot.

Smokes, let's go!

You don't even smoke.

[Grizalltheway]

Smokes, let's go!

You don't even smoke.

Not cigarettes, at least.

[grizzaholic]

You don't even smoke.

Not cigarettes, at least.

Wedge, you were supposed to say, " Come on hairdo, smokes"

[SeattleGriz]

All I can say about today's stage is "wow". Pulling back 40 sec in a team trial is insane.

How about Team Garmin finishing with only five riders and taking first at that time?

Nice job by Garmin. Losing the 4 riders wasn't unexpected, but still, the 5 remaining riders had to work that much harder.

Armstrong just missed getting the yellow jersey - by less than a second. He is in second place overall, less than 1 second behind the leader. I don't know if Lance can win the Tour this year, but it would have been great to see him in yellow again. On the other hand, because he is not in yellow, Astana won't have to work extra hard to keep him there. It might be better for them to save enrgy until the mountains.

Boy. After finally getting to watch the stage, I almost think losing a couple of guys wasn't such a bad thing, especially since they burned themselves out first for the others. The course was so technical and up and down you couldn't use all the horsepower like you would a flat wide open time trial.

In regards to Lance. First hilly stage, he will be in yellow. The stage will be hilly enough to shed Cancellara, but not hilly enough for Contador to leapfrog Lance. The only way he won't at least be in yellow for a couple of days, is if they let some nobody get in a huge break and take the yellow, knowing he can't hold it for more than a week.

Of course, this is all my

[SeattleGriz]

This is one of the reasons I really like cycling, because they let you show off your championship colors - current and past.

Here is a photo of Team Astana with Alberto Contador wearing his Spanish Time Trial Champion colors in their full glory.



Here is a photo of current World Road Champion, Alessandro Ballan, wearing the multi colors signifying his title. Lampres usual colors are blue and pink.



Here is an awesome "twofer" photo of Tom Boonen. He is wearing the Belgian national colors on the main part of this jersey because he is the current (2009) Belgian road champion, and the world champion multi color piping around his sleeves and collar, designating he is a former world champion (2005).



Now, to throw one more curve into the national jerseys, here is a photo of the Belgian national time trial champion. It's not Boonen wearing the Belgian colors in yesterdays team time trial event, because Boonen is not the Belgian time trial champion. He is the road race champion.

The rider is Stijn Devolder. Boonen is the big dude on the far left of the photo. A rider can only wear the national colors in the event they won.

So tomorrow, when they go back to road racing, Devolder will wear the normal white team jersey, and Boonen will wear his road champion/former world champion piping jersey like he is above.

Confused yet?

[polsongrizz]

Today's race much as expected with the exception that the break-a-ways demolished any thoughts the sprinters had of winning.
Nice job by Voeckler of BBOX after the huge crash yesterday when they lost four riders on one turn.

SG, it is always fun trying to figure out which jersey means what and why is this person wearing it during this stage. BTW, great pics.

[SeattleGriz]

Today's race much as expected with the exception that the break-a-ways demolished any thoughts the sprinters had of winning.
Nice job by Voeckler of BBOX after the huge crash yesterday when they lost four riders on one turn.

SG, it is always fun trying to figure out which jersey means what and why is this person wearing it during this stage. BTW, great pics.

I figured if we had some lurkers on this thread, at least I would try and explain why a rider on a particular team wasn't wearing the same color jersey as his teammates.

I'll go through the Tour de France specific jerseys tonight.

Got the photos from www.cyclingnews.com

[bandl]

I thought the riders wore those rainbow colors because they're gay. Who knew?

[SeattleGriz]

I thought the riders wore those rainbow colors because they're gay. Who knew?

I know you are kidding, but that sounds just like the people who used to say, "look at them faggety neon uniforms them cyclists wear", only to wear neon a year later when it became popular!

My favorite was all the cowboys and their cowboy neon shirts.

[bandl]

I thought the riders wore those rainbow colors because they're gay. Who knew?

That sounds just like the people who used to say, "look at them faggety neon uniforms them cyclists wear", only to wear neon a year later when it became popular!

I know, right?!?! The unoriginal queers.

I like TdF, btw. I just don't care about the uni's.

[SeattleGriz]

That sounds just like the people who used to say, "look at them faggety neon uniforms them cyclists wear", only to wear neon a year later when it became popular!

I know, right?!?! The unoriginal queers.

I like TdF, btw. I just don't care about the uni's.

I always viewed it as a result of how boring most people view cycling. Gotta have a loud kit (official name of cycling uniforms), to catch people's eyes for the sponsors.

[bandl]

I know, right?!?! The unoriginal queers.

I like TdF, btw. I just don't care about the uni's.

I always viewed it as a result of how boring most people view cycling. Gotta have a loud kit (official name of cycling uniforms), to catch people's eyes for the sponsors.

I dunno, I personally think the uni's make them look about gay. Personally, I like the race because I know how fokking hard it is.

[polsongrizz]

I always viewed it as a result of how boring most people view cycling. Gotta have a loud kit (official name of cycling uniforms), to catch people's eyes for the sponsors.

I dunno, I personally think the uni's make them look about gay. Personally, I like the race because I know how fokking hard it is.

Talk about gay!!!

Just Kidding, the hard part is perhaps the most simple part of all. All you have to do is get into shape. The really hard part is how alert one has to be in the Peloton at all the little attacks that keep coming and with your opponents. Should I attack now or should I wait. One has to be a great tactician in this sport and the best ever is Lance.