FORUMS > Cycling Forum Rules

Well guys it's time for Le Tour de France.. it's an incredible event. We are so saddened by the way drugs have hurt the sport of professional road racing. So will you watch the Tour this year? Do have to admit that we'll be up early watching Phil Liggett broadcast on VS. Incredible riders and great efforts.. we can hope that Telecom leads all the proteams to clean up the sport once and for all.

So, will you be watching this year?

Well I am watching it right now and I think we are going to see a lot of new names this year. Some fresh faces and exciting stages.

I am thinking Vino is definately going to be one to watch this year. It is his year with a team to support him and also the experience. Kloden is also there and will be up there.

You will see Leipheimer and a few others be up there.

I also love listening to Phil and Paul. They are great. I hate the recaps in the evening with Bob cause he sucks as an announcer.

I also hate George Hincape. What a tool.

Who do you think is going to win?

I was so sickened by the "cult of lance" coverage that I couldn't bring myself to watch any more. I mean really, they had half-hour shows about Lance's furniture, and his china pattern! They didn't have ANY shows about actual riding or mechanics.

The only thing good about it is the live broadcasts are convenient to watch before work on the west coast.

Mingarden, you have to remember what lance did. Not only did he win it 7 times. He survived cancer and then won it 7 times. I agree that listening to phil and paul talk about lance was too much at times but lance is gone and there are so many new faces that this tour is going to be an interesting one.

Cancellera won the Prologue today and it was awesome. He totally dominated it! Its amazing how fast those guys go.

Hincape is such a cocky bastard and he needs to lose the stereotypical american attitude and realize what the tour actually is. No wonder he is not team leader. I think he is bitter that he isnt leader.

As I said its going to be an exciting tour!

I'm not sure Lance Armstrong was completely clean -- actually I'm not sure about any of them. I still like the tour though and watch what I can of it, and yes, it seems like one of the more open tours in a long time without any really must win names. Still I think the sport in general has a lot to do to dig itself out of the doping hole.

Yes,I`ll be watching the tour this year when I can find the time.An incredible athletic perfomance by the cyclists,and quite a show all round;begins in GB this year.On drugs,it seems there`s plenty to go round,but no more or less than many professional sports.Let`s hope the winner`s clear of them!

Well its interesting to read this article that talks about the doping in the sport of cycling and how the amount of testing they go through is beyond what any other sport goes through.

http://www.tsn.ca/oln/tour_de_france/news_story.asp?ID=212774&hubName=oln-tour_de_france

And I do agree that cycling has so much out of competition testing that it is rediculous and the NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA have very little or no testing. If they had testing I would reckon that there are more athletes in those leagues on drugs than cyclists. BUt the PLayers Unions would never allow something like that. Plus also remember that Lance, Landis are both american winning a French race. I would say there is a lot of conflict of interest there too.

Yup - Can_du makes a good point...for the first time a long time, the tour is up for grabs. Vino, Klodin, Leipheimer - though I'm pulling for Valverde.

...is there any way to get Al Trautwig off the screen?! I mean - he is aware that there are other teams besides Discovery, right?

I wasn't sure what to expect this year, but I'm fascinated by the competition building between the newer generation Contador pitted against the experienced legend of Lance. I can't wait until the Alp stages!!

As far as coverage, my solution is to tape it, and skip over all the BS drama created by the commentators. That way you can just watch the exictement unfold on screen right before your eyes.

slider,
it's astana... team discovery hasn't been around for awhile. you sure you are watching the same race

they all dope... as long as you don't mix blood, only your own, you won't get caught. that's happen to landis, he mixed. its big dollar in it for the doctors as well.

lance is coming backing! watch out!

I truly enjoyed the tour in high def, my family was there to watch stage 11 while I stayed home and looked for a job.....

The tour was great and I think I might wanna watchthe Tour of Ireland that VS. is going to cover this month.

UStriathlete saidslider,
it's astana... team discovery hasn't been around for awhile. you sure you are watching the same race

they all dope... as long as you don't mix blood, only your own, you won't get caught. that's happen to landis, he mixed. its big dollar in it for the doctors as well.

lance is coming backing! watch out!

That post is from a couple years ago...lol

The references to Vino and Valverde in the earlier posts, well not this year!