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Tour de France 2012 (Spoilers)
- Thread starter eternlgladiator
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Latest reports say that they were carpet tacks.
Over-exuberant fans with flares is quite a different thing from throwing tacks on the road.
Just disgusting. I think I heard today that there were 48 flats for the riders, 2 or 3 motorcycles with flats and a few cars as well. On the upside, I guess this is what it takes for ESPN to talk about Le Tour. Even if it was only for a couple minutes and none of them knew what to say.
Phil was saying this morning that the tacks caused one of the motorcycles to crash and the cameraman suffered a broken arm, broken leg, and broken pelvis. I haven't seen anything official in this regard but it adds more fuel to the fire.
I don't see any way they catch the person that did this but I really hope they do. They deserve to be severely punished for this.
String them up for attempted murder, that should be enough.
It's incredibly dangerous - given the speeds they can achieve, the amount of riders close together and the team cars also very close by.And watching them on some of the stages, the team cars are going quite quickly too. They'll probably never catch the culprit(s).
He is, even if he makes the occasional gaffe. Paul Sherwen is great, too. My wife and I had the great pleasure of meeting both of them at last year's USAPCC as they were on their way to pick up their assigned vehicles. (We had volunteered that day to help put decals on the fleet of team/staff/etc. cars and trucks.) They were very gracious and were quite willing to allow us fans to take pictures with them. I even remember Phil gave me a nice pull to get me closer in for our pic. I've been listening to his sportscasting since I was a small boy in Canada. It'll be a sad day if he ever retires.
That's a great story. I think they are fantastic commentators. I think Bob Roll is great too. I took awhile for him to grow on me but now I love his attitude and the RoadID commercials are hilarious.
haha. I just like when he groans. Last years commercials were better with him getting denied by everyone instead of not being able to get there.
So they also supply the commentary for US TV?
They also do ours for ITV, which isn't surprising as they are British. I've always wondered why they keep making conversions to Dollars and Fahrenheit.
Yes, very much so. For some of the lesser races, it's just Paul and Bobke.
Well, they have to do the conversion to miles anyways, so they might as well...They also do ours for ITV, which isn't surprising as they are British. I've always wondered why they keep making conversions to Dollars and Fahrenheit.
Well, they have to do the conversion to miles anyways, so they might as well...
I've been watching the Tour for so long that the mile conversions just confuse me now, even though I use miles while I'm driving or riding my bike.
Heck of a ride by Voekler today. Well deserved for the stage win, KOM jersey and aggressive rider award. He rode the stage today without a power-meter or race radio. Considering all the tech these guys ride with most of the time I'm surprised he gave up both.
Today was also a clear case of showing that while Wiggins is clearly a great rider, the yellow jersey truly gives you wings. He's in top form but it was said that about Cadel last year after he took the jersey and made some viscous attacks in the mountains. Nibali looks great but Froome appears to be even better and Wiggins better watch out for his teammate to put the pressure on a bit.
I'm getting kind of tired of the commentators calling Tejay better than he is. Phil and Paul rarely overdo it but today they did. He moved up ahead of Cadel by 11 seconds but is still in sixth place. Van Den Broeck and Zubeldia deserve credit too. Maybe now BMC will start giving protection to the best rider on their team (Tejay) for the rest of the tour and at least keep him in white. Cadel is done.
Also, said moment for Alex Vinokourov who pulled out of a pedal on the final sprint to get 4th instead of 3rd. ***** happens and at least it wasn't damaging but he wanted the stage podium pretty badly and at least deserved a fair shot at it.
Today was also a clear case of showing that while Wiggins is clearly a great rider, the yellow jersey truly gives you wings. He's in top form but it was said that about Cadel last year after he took the jersey and made some viscous attacks in the mountains. Nibali looks great but Froome appears to be even better and Wiggins better watch out for his teammate to put the pressure on a bit.
I'm getting kind of tired of the commentators calling Tejay better than he is. Phil and Paul rarely overdo it but today they did. He moved up ahead of Cadel by 11 seconds but is still in sixth place. Van Den Broeck and Zubeldia deserve credit too. Maybe now BMC will start giving protection to the best rider on their team (Tejay) for the rest of the tour and at least keep him in white. Cadel is done.
Also, said moment for Alex Vinokourov who pulled out of a pedal on the final sprint to get 4th instead of 3rd. ***** happens and at least it wasn't damaging but he wanted the stage podium pretty badly and at least deserved a fair shot at it.
I have to watch it tonight, but I have heard that Voekler had a great ride.
I agree that Cadel seems done. Kind of surprising that he continually can not perform when he needs to. He is being out ridden. I think it would be a integrity move for him to try and help Tejay. Cadel must know that his catch at the Yellow Jersey is up.
He really had a fantastic ride. Cadel is only 11 seconds behind Tejay so I can see the arguement behind sticking with protecting him. Either way, they're both out of the yellow jersey competition barring a huge catastrophe. To me, that means Cadel should be helping protect Tejay's white jersey instead. Seems like the right thing to do in this case.
I'd say that's it. Tomorrow and Sunday are basically a formality. Wiggins and Froome will open their lead in the TT on Saturday. Cadel might fight back into the top ten with a good showing but he's out of GC. None of the other contenders are close to pulling it off and most had their spirits shattered today.
Tejay is still close in the white jersey competition but given his TT ability I don't see any reason he'll lose it now.
Peter Sagan has a commanding lead in the green jersey competition and he'll win at least one of Friday/Sunday to seal it up (even though he probably needs neither depending on who the winners are).
The KOM jersey is going to stick with Tom Voeckler and his 11 point lead. With one category 3, and three category 4 on friday and two category 4 on Sunday, there literally aren't enough points left to catch him (8 total, but one rider can only take 7 since you can't get first and second on the category 3 climb).
I honestly can't say who I think deserves the most aggressive rider award for the tour since its not regulated by points or time. Two riders stand out for me and they are Chris Froome and Tom Voeckler (Unless Wiggins were to screw up and Froome won GC, then I'd say he's out of this).
Tejay is still close in the white jersey competition but given his TT ability I don't see any reason he'll lose it now.
Peter Sagan has a commanding lead in the green jersey competition and he'll win at least one of Friday/Sunday to seal it up (even though he probably needs neither depending on who the winners are).
The KOM jersey is going to stick with Tom Voeckler and his 11 point lead. With one category 3, and three category 4 on friday and two category 4 on Sunday, there literally aren't enough points left to catch him (8 total, but one rider can only take 7 since you can't get first and second on the category 3 climb).
I honestly can't say who I think deserves the most aggressive rider award for the tour since its not regulated by points or time. Two riders stand out for me and they are Chris Froome and Tom Voeckler (Unless Wiggins were to screw up and Froome won GC, then I'd say he's out of this).
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Cadel is the lead rider in the BMC team, not some domestique.
It's up to the others to support him, and probably written into their contracts. If Cadel decides to do the super-domestique thing, okay, but I don't know if he absolutely has to.
It would be the right thing to do, though.
In this year, Evans preparation was not so good, and he was struck down by illness during one of the stages. It happens. Everyone this year has been beaten by a far superior team.
And I get sick of the people ragging on him as if because he isn't going to win this year, he somehow doesn't deserve last years win either.
Let's give the guy a break.
I'm not saying he's not the leader and isn't out but at the end of the day these sponsorships are about bringing money in. BMC should be talking to them and making sure Cadel takes the lead of the team and says we need to take care of Tejay now since he can still win something. That's what a good leader would do. The tour is an incredibly difficult race and just finishing is a big feat. A true leader does what's best for him AND his teammates. That's why Wiggins told Froome to go after the stage win today (even though he refused). If Tejay says screw the white jersey so we can get Cadel to the Podium so be it. But team BMC is Tejay's team for the rest of tour if I'm in charge.