Pro Tour/ Euro/Whatever road thread

Alberto Contador is affected by a doping control at the last Tour de France on July 21, where it was found the substance clenbuterol.

From the time of the first communication from the UCI, August 24, Alberto Contador alleged food contamination as the only possible explanation of what happened and has put it in the hands of the cycling authorities, in the confidence that they can clarify this very serious problem, which is now made public.

The experts consulted so far have agreed also that this is a food contamination case, especially considering the number of tests passed by Alberto Contador during the Tour de France, making it possible to define precisely both the time the emergence of the substance as the tiny amount detected, ruling out any other source or intentionality.

Alberto Contador will offer today, 30 September, at 12.00 hours, a Press Conference at Hotel Las Artes in Pinto (Paseo de las Artes, n º 15), in order to give his version of what happened to the public.

Read more: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/5836/Alberto-Contador-positive-for-clenbuterol-at-Tour-de-France-team-claiming-food-contamination.aspx#ixzz10xwgYLw6

Watching worlds TT on jp stream, commentators are horrible:

http://www.justin.tv/d/zura929#/w/428158992/2

are they austrayan commentators? If it's mike fucking tomalaris then yes it would defs be horrible..

worse, clueless jp dorks with very little cycling background apparently.

Top 10:

1 CANCELLARA
2 MILLAR
3 MARTIN
4 PORTE
5 ROGERS
6 MOERENHOUT
7 SANCHEZ
8 ZABRISKIE
9 BODNAR
10 LARSSON

awes top ten

Porte is a hero

Now Mosquera and Garcia busted for doping in the Vuelta:
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/501502/mosquera-and-garcia-positive-at-vuelta.html

thought i heard someone down there saying contador had gone pos, lolol

coincidentally here is spain's ll cool sanchez, possibly my one good photo:

http://i55.tinypic.com/2usajxd.jpg

nice snap!

i got kinda caught up with cheering them all on to take properly good pics - lots of pro photographers around there in the way too.

i did get a few that aren't quite as exciting, here's dave z:

http://i52.tinypic.com/2i6yq1x.jpg

millar just leaving start ramp:

http://i52.tinypic.com/2mr787l.jpg

martin

http://i55.tinypic.com/9posgi.jpg

fabian - wish i'd clicked a fraction later, awesome to see him in full flight

http://i55.tinypic.com/28ldemt.jpg

not a fan of the sky kits, but these union jack kits are rad.

TayPhin is first racer to podium both events at worlds!?!?!

Kinda digging this bike:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/uci-road-world-championships-cm/under-23-men-road-race/photos/143683

Would look dope in white though. :-P

i thot one article said he was the 6th racer to do that? xpost

sorry, first U23 rider.

GOD OF THUNDER

!!!!

<3

v exciting finish

Just watched it. I thought Evans was fantastic.

THOR!!!

(just catching up now)

(idiot BBC commentators aided by idiot aussie OB team managed to miss Gilbert being caught)

A good comment piece on the Contador clenbuterol thing

Amgen Tour of California stage cities announced: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/Route/stages.html

I'll definitely be at the stages within driving range (Solvang, Baldy, Thousand Oaks).

the funniest thing is the Leipheimer holds a Gran Fondo to help Santa Rosa raise $175k to secure Santa Rosa as a stage in the tour.

registration alone for the event totals $680k which is massive.

so i was quite surprised to see the tour skip Santa Rosa this year, where is that money going exactly?

no sf stage, closest thing is livermore to san jose (no thanks).

are you in the 805 sous les paves?

I have put thursday through sunday in my calendar and currently flights into Santa Barbara and out of Burbank look reasonable. Might book this on payday.

Question: Is it possible to do this European style and camp out beside the road, at least on the mountain stages?

Of the three SoCal stages, the only mountain stage is the Claremont to Mt. Baldy stage, which appears to be a HC TT as that is only about 12 miles long. That is a pretty remote area so they will more than likely allow camping but I can't guarantee that. Solvang is will be the site of the ITT, leaving the Santa Clarita - Thousand Oaks finale the only proper road stage. There are a couple hills on that route (I assume they'll head out toward the coast along the 126 and then cut through either Moorpark, Fillmore or Santa Rosa Valley to get to TO) but nothing too dramatic.

I'm figuring on a nice long weekend of good food, good wine with occasional bursts of cycling. Proper TdF style.

Ha, well, this area is a bit of step down culinarily from France but there is decent wine to be had.

step up from Pittsburgh, step up.

Quite frankly I crave the novelty of Trader Joe's two buck chuck and a salad without french fries in.

I bought an amazing bottle of wine in Solvang about 5 years ago. Sorry, that's not much help, is it.

Levi has gotta be half happy / sad with the route. On one hand Santa Rosa gets punked, on the other, the course looks very much like it was designed to get Levi the jersey again. Looks like the strategy will be: 1) Win Solvang TT, 2) cover attacks on Baldy the next day, 3) win.

xxp shasta: I'm in North San Diego County so it'll be a long drive, but doable nonetheless.

Nice. I spent 3 years in North SD County close to 20 years ago.

when i was growing up, my stepdad would go to solvang to ride in these centuries
http://www.bikescor.com/solvang/
ha, this looks kinda like shasta
http://www.bikescor.com/solvang/images/century-rider5.jpg

went up to santa ynez last year to wine taste and ate at this restaurant. it was pretty amazing.
http://www.ballardinn.com/

Loved the Commonwealth Games road race (men's) - anyone else see it? No spoilerz just in case.

Was at the in-laws' this weekend, so I saw about ten minutes of the road race on a TV in a giant Tesco's. I saw Millar in a small leading group and Cavendish leading some others up to them, but frustratingly there was no information on how much further they had to race so I had to call it a day there (otherwise my wife might have become frustrated if I stayed in the supermarket for three hours).

i missed it - was entertaining the parents at that point of the evening instead!

local paper has gone with 'alby beats hot dogs to take gold' as the headline. he was looking pretty out of shape earlier in the year, but jeez!

lol @ that headline

Interesting interview with Wiggins, basically admitting they fucked up this year:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/feature-wiggins-year-of-wisening-up

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140459433294&hlp=false&rvr_id=152033070195&crlp=1_263602_304652&UA=M*S%3F&GUID=13ede00e12a0a06c1b520492ff7e8280&itemid=140459433294&ff4=263602_304652

http://www.isleofman.com/img/news/normal/29760/1.jpg?v=468992

Loving the sportive club level kit Cav gets to wear for Team Isle of Man

he hung round to help the rest of the team after the road race, too.

saw the last hour or so of lombardy last night - gilbert just destroyed everyone in filthy conditions.

2011 Tour route published, TTT, Galbier Twice

http://road.cc/sites/default/files/images/Tour%20de%20France%202011%20stage%2018.preview_500.jpg

http://road.cc/sites/default/files/images/Tour%20de%20France%202011%20stage%2019.jpg

Stage finish on the Galibier?

Read something about how the Vuelta's influence is leading to a decline in the ITT as a component of le Tour. TTT is always nice though.

No prologue either, with a sprinter unfriendly bump on the run in to the finish of the first stage.

wanna see them copy the giro's weirdo itt from a couple of years ago in cinque terre - a looooooong (1.5 hrs), hilly, dodgy road course for road bikes. cancellara dropped out to avoid- rather than disrupt his preparations BAWK BAWK.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2009/05/news/menchov-wins-stage-12-time-trial-at-cinque-terre-and-takes-lead_92271