Pro Tour/ Euro/Whatever road thread

Dr Ferrari performed an extraction of half a liter of blood to be
transfused back into me during the Tour de France.

sounds like some xmen shit

a bit annoyed at ESPN taking a part in the sensationalizing of this--they don't even cover cycling

Complain! I did this when Sky Sports News covered the original Landis accusations - sent an email.... hang on, may even still have it -

How come you didn't report anything about the Tour de France this year and last year you didn't even mention Lance Armstrong's record win, but as soon as you get a nice, sensationalist story about Floyd Landis taking drugs you have a change of policy? I always thought you were Sky Sports first and news later, but you have proved me wrong.

So I sent that - and now look! They went and bought a goddam team.

http://www.cycle-smart.com/blog/2010/05/20/pretty-boy-floyd

http://nyvelocity.com/content/toto/2010/toto-turns-184#comment-75298

Cutty/Hunter/Shasta etc.
Broadly speaking, what proportion of American cycling fans believe(d) that Landis was innocent and had won the 2006 Tour clean?
And what proportion think that Armstrong was clean during his Tour wins?

bye lance

"American cycling fans"

Very few believe any cyclists are clean.

with Floyd i remember watching 06TdF on TV Landis coming back with a massive effort on stage 17 the day after bonking on stage 16 and the announcer (Ligget maybe?) just ranting and raving something like: "This man is superhuman, I have never seen such a valiant effort in my life, he has literally clawed his way back into contention" and all this other hyperbole that in retrospect is pretty lol.

with Lance, I never thought he was clean* but could see how he was given a free pass because he was a superstar and worth million$$$ to procycling and the governing body is way too corrupt for him to catch any heat. *i've heard theories that the type of testicular cancer he had very early in his career can be associated with steroid/ growth hormone abuse.

with Big George, Levi, and DZnutz it's a little harder to process (too soon)... but i always felt a little bad for LeMond but that wanes whenever he starts getting whiny like a little bitch.

if landis was only on test during stage 17 its still the greatest cycling exploit ive ever seen. otoh, if he was blood doping, its merely completely fucking astounding. otooh, what a dick.

^^^^otm

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/team-radioshack-reveal-further-emails-from-landis

Andrew,

Thank you for clarifying the position of the Tour of California on these subjects. I just wanted to be sure that I gave you the opportunity to be involved in cleaning up cycling as I have with so many in positions of power such as Steve Johnson and Jim Ochowitz but as I expected the Tour of California is interested in the status quo as were they and I wish you all luck with that. I certainly understand that my revealing that Lance Armstrong has relied on blood doping, EPO, and anabolics to win the three Tours de France in which I helped him will jeopardize your substantial investment in facilitating his appearance so from a business point of view I understand fully.

this guy is such a maroon

his prose style is... like tubgirl.

impressive dig by wiggo up monte grappa, even better was the camera busting him checking out some fitness chick by the side of the road!!

Was at the middle of the last little quick uphill at the LA TT today. Got a bunch of pictures real close of riders going by. It's amazing to me how clearly you can tell that a certain rider is going faster than others. Some people (Grabsch and Martin in particular) just looked so much faster than the others.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/470339/confusion-over-payment-armstrong-made-to-uci-for-a-sysmex-machine.html

Entertaining final stage of the Amgen tour. Their online race tracker is the business.

wow yes thankig u for the tip

Pat McQuaid is a motherfucker with some dark secrets.

That Zoncolan stage was fantastic. Basso was very impressive - I hope he's clean now. You've got to admire Evans, the way he keeps digging in and fighting on. It really should be between those two for the overall, it will be annoying if the GC gets decided by that weird 50-man break in the pouring rain last week.

RIP Wiggo T_T

Some great photos here

I wonder if Wiggins just blew up or if he deliberately took it easy. He managed to go off the front on the final climb the day before, but not by much and not for long. Maybe he just thought 'fuck it, I'm not going to be able to win this, might as well not blow my chances for the Tour by going all out to get 6th place here'.

can't remember where i read it but his target was wins in both ITTs and just looking to be competitive otherwise.

I've just failed to get any kind of online tv coverage of today's TT, and that includes Flemish audio. Anyone having better luck?

Eurosport player, £3.99 a month well spent.

Loving the helicopter shots into the arches of the Gallarie hoping to catch a fleeting glimpse of someone in Lycra.

Tour of Missouri RIP:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/05/news/tour-of-missouri-set-to-cancel-2010-race_118846

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/06/news/cancellara-calls-motorized-bikes-claims-stupid-as-uci-looks-at-scanning-bikes_119452

tbh i almost want that story to be true from a pure lolz standpoint

The "suspicious motion" they focus on is identical to what is known as "shifting into a higher gear" on shimano dura-ace... perhaps the Italians are unfamiliar with the Shimano shifting mechanism?

"He pushes a lever near his brake and suddenly his bicycle accelerates...."

uh...

I agree w/hunter

the included video is incredible on many levels

http://www.gruberassist.com/english/product/product-description/

Product attribute #3:

• Cycling becomes fitness cycling and is thereby healthier

lolwut

healthier for fatteys

Seems the UCI have finally released the paperwork for Lance's 'donation':
http://twitpic.com/1vs2dc

http://burlesquedesign.com/mike/somuchpileup/giroditalia.jpg

Cav not only reprimanded, fined, and disciplined... but his fellow racers stage a protest(!!) for his actions:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/06/news/tour-de-suisse-riders-delay-start-to-protest-mark-cavendishs-actions_121290?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Cavendish is being sanctioned 25 points in the sprinter competition and 30 seconds on the general classification. He also is being fined 200 Swiss francs.

Read more: http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/06/news/mark-cavendish-penalized-and-fined-for-finale-crash-at-tour-de-suisse_121246#ixzz0r2CZwcj3

the protest thing is quite interesting. might not have things his own way at the TDF!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-to-allow-disc-brakes-in-cyclo-cross-competition

!!!

finally

Inspectors needed to be diverted to hunt for motors up Fabian's Seat Tube.

Either that or its a bone to thrown to Shimano when they ban Di2 on the start line of the tour.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ricco-rumoured-to-ride-vuelta-for-quick-step

kinda want this to happen, easily the best pantomime villain out there

Just in case anyone isn't following the Tour de France thread on ILE, Porkpie has set up a fantasy tour league at this site:
http://road.cc/fantasy-tour-de-france
code number 1439

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704911704575326753200584006.html?KEYWORDS=floyd+landis

Mr. Landis said he walked upstairs to find his Tour de France trophy. With the iconic purple chalice in hand, he walked onto the balcony overlooking his driveway, hoisted the trophy over his head and threw it as hard as he could. It hit the pavement and shattered into hundreds of pieces.

LOOOOOOOOOL :/

the bit about not having enough bikes because they were selling them to get more 'gear' is pretty lol

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/verbruggen-labels-landis-a-nuisance