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Yelina · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 2:37 pm Post subject: Le Tour de France

Today begins the famous Tour de France. As you may have heard, the prologue takes place in London. It's 7,9km long and will notably pass in High Park and posh parts.

I don't agree with their decision to have stages in other countries. It's the TOUR DE FRANCE and not the Tour d'Europe! What's the relation with England and Belgium??? The only link there could be is the participation of cyclists having these nationalities! And yet, I know a Scottish cyclist but not an English one (ok, ok, I don't know all of the 189 cyclists!).

Furthermore, because of their bad organisation (I mean, having stages abroad) the Tour doesn't even pass in the West!

Now that Lance Armstrong stopped taking part of the Tour for 2 years, the leader is the Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov (though he didn't take part last year because of doping suspicions). Nevertheless, he'll still be suspected as his sporting doctor is the one who looked after Armstrong, Ulrich and other famous doped cyclists. The only advantage for him would be that we never managed to really prove Armstrong's doping. Then, it's likely we couldn't do either for Vinokourov.

What I find to be a good decision is their new rule, i.e the cyclists must swear they are not on dopings. If it turns out that they're caught redhanded, they must pay back all their 2007 wage to the International Organisation of Cyclism. Unfortunately, I assume it won't dissuade some from doing it all the same.

So, as I afore-mentioned, there are 189 participants at the starting of the prologue. These sharers gather in 21 teams of which only 6 are French.

AG2R Prévoyance --> leader: Christophe Moreau (French Champion)
Agritubel
Astana
Barloworld
Bouygues Telecom
Caisse d'Épargne
Cofidis, le Crédit par Téléphone
Crédit Agricole
Team CSC
Discovery ChannelPro Cycling Team
Euskaltel - Euskadi
Française des Jeux
Gerolsteiner
Lampre - Fondital
Liquigas
Milram
Predictor - Lotto
Quick Step - Innergetic
Rabobank
Saunier Duval - Prodir
T-Mobile Team

I'd like that for once, on July 29th, the winner is a non-doped one. It annoys me to hear so many doping problems in this sport whereas that's obvious other sports do it as well.
Few years ago I "lost" my little favorite cyclist, Mederic Clain. He was suspected of doping because he did the Tour with a broken hand (and actually, it turned out that he really doped). But don't you remember, the same year Tyler Hamilton did the Tour with his COLLARBONE broken. It was clear he was doped as well, but no one managed to prove it though.

Even though this sport is soiled by doping I think the cyclists have more merit that other sportmen such as football players or tennis players for example (sorry, Loic!

).
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Loic · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject:

I cannot understand the hold which cycling has over the French, but I can try to appreciate it. It must be a sort of free show for the spectators as well as good publicity for the little hamlets which fortuitously lie along the route.

However, drug doping is prevalent in competitive cycling and I think its reputation has been tainted in recent years. So are ongoing investigations still been conducted over the manner which Floyd Landis seized victory from the jaws of defeat in the last leg of the Tour de France last year?

I admire the cyclists, though. Endurance athletics baffle me because frankly, I see sports like running or long-distance swimming as something akin to conditioning in order to excel at games such as football. But it is in human nature to push our limits and to redefine what is possible. For this reason alone, I'd gallantly salute all of the participants - as long as they do not resort to performance enhancement drugs, that is.
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Yelina · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:51 pm Post subject:

Loic · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:15 pm Post subject:

A cable channel covers cycling events like the Tour de France, but well, I don't have such a channel. At my place, you'd only be able to watch ESPN which does a good job in bringing the English Premier League to our sitting rooms as well as Zee TV Channel that does a better job in bringing cricket to warm my heart.

But I'd pay attention to the Tour via the backpage of my newspaper.
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Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire.

Yelina · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:32 pm Post subject:

Yelina · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:41 pm Post subject:

Today, the winner of the prologue is the Swiss Cancelarra (Team CSC). The second is the German Klöden and the third one is the American Hincapie. The first French arrived at the 11th position. This is Benoît Vaugrenard and he's Breton

Vinokourov is only at 30 hundreds behind Cancelarra. It's not a good thing if he gets the Maillot jaune in the first days of the Tour because he would do as Armstrong did, viz keep it till the end!
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Irrintzi · Expert Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 168

Irrintzi · Expert Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 168

It's also necessary to underline the number of present supporters of London: 3 million supporters.
The weather was very beautiful also.

Yelina · Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 11:20 am Post subject:

Indeed! I think the two supporters the most eager of cyclism are the Basques and the Bretons!
Two years ago, I went to the Pyrénées see a stage of the Tour and it was quite funny to be surrounded by orange people!

Yelina · Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:15 pm Post subject:

The first stage of today led the Australian McEwen to the victory. It must have been his good day as 15 km before the end of the stage, he fell in the pack.

The stage, which started from London and finished at Canterbury did 203 km. The French cyclist Stéphane Augé launched an attack at the beginning of the race, but this effort seemed vain as he has been caught up first by Millar and Grivko and then by Bichot and Kuschynski.
However, Millar managed to to take alone the head of the race for about 50km.

So at the end of the day, Cancellara still wears the Maillot Jaune, Kloden is still the second and Millar "stole" the third place at Hincapie.

Just for a bit of chauvinism

, the 4th cyclist and the 5th one at the finish are two brand-new French cyclists. They are Sébastien Chavanel (Sylvain's brother) and Romain Feillu.
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Yelina · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:33 pm Post subject:

Ca y est! Ce qui était quasi-sûr s'est avéré! Vinokourov est dopé! Ce n'était pas une surprise et c'est dommage qu'ils aient mis tant de temps à le prouver! Mais bon, vaut mieux tard que jamais!
Ca serait bien que Rasmussen et quelques autres y passent aussi afin que ce sport puisse à nouveau resplendir.

Malheureusement, je crois que les gens perdent de plus en plus leur entrain en ce qui concerne le Tour de France. On peut le remarquer lors des étapes de montagne par exemple. Les années passées, les routes étaient bondées, les gens devaient prendre leur place tôt le matin pour être sûr de pouvoir voir quelque chose dans l'après-midi, alors que cette année c'est presque désert. Tu ne vois que dix pelés de temps temps!
Un sondage a d'ailleurs révélé que 78% des gens pensent que les gagnants du tour de France ne sont pas honnêtes, donc comme la confiance disparaît, ce n'est pas étonnant que les spectateurs disparaissent également!

J'espère que pour l'année prochaine un grand nettoyage sera entrepris et que les participants du tour pourront clamer haut et fort ne pas être dopé!
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Karout hep bezañ karet
A zo kriz ha kalet

Loic · Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:48 am Post subject:

I think this year's iconic classic has been tainted. The credibility of professional cycling has been besmirched. I don't know what to make of it as I have never been an enthusiastic follower of Le Tour de France, but as Greg LeMond said, the Tour will surely bounce back in future.

I feel sorry for the many cyclists who believe that if winning means resorting to the help of drugs, then they would rather lose. I feel sorry for new tour leader Alberto Contador whose young 24 years are now weighed down by suspicions that he has not inherited the yellow jersey based on his merit.

Now, he stands on the verge of claiming the biggest title cycling has to offer. But I noticed that he barely smiled when he stepped on to the leader's podium - such is the dismay engulfing both participants and supporters of the race alike.

Oh well, back to watching the second Test in Nottingham at Trent Bridge. (Damn the weather!) I am sure Rahul Dravid's men as well as Michael Vaughan's IX do not rely on any stimulants more powerful than a simple cup of tea.

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Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire.