Stage one: 1. Cancellara 2. Contador 3. Wiggins Team Astana has 3 riders in the top ten including Mr. Livestrong himself in tenth place. But I'll be routing for Garmin Slipstream and Highroad rather than Astana. In the individuals I'll be routing for Christian Vande Velde. Who are your favorites? Daniel
Tour Homepage (in English) http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html Team Astana http://www.astana-cyclingteam.com/ Team Columbia Highroad http://www.highroadsports.com/ Team Garmin Slipstream http://www.slipstreamsports.com/ Team Saxo-Bank http://www2.team-saxobank.com/ Astana and Saxo-Bank look to be the teams to beat this year. But my personal favorites are Slipstream and Highroad. Daniel
Has anyone found a site with streaming live video of the Tour? Such a thing exists? I can usually hunt around and find a radio version and of course it's usually real easy to find a web page that updates with status, but there's nothing like video. What's one to do at work during the day when the Tour is on?
There's some here: http://www.versus.com/tdf But it looks like snippets of just a couple of minutes at a time. http://www.cyclingfans.com/ More short videos Still looking...
http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2009/ This site has live tour coverage that is apparently not available in the US. My guess is Versus has an exclusive contract that disallows live coverage from any other source in the US. Their video page looks good though. Daniel
Great, I am in , cycling is my first love, started prior to my mandolin addiction. I saw the tour 20 years ago - Greg LeMond tenure. And, I saw Lance win Nevada City Bike race 2 weeks ago - great to live here in No. California
Watching the Tour in real time over the web. How cool is this? If you go to the main tour home page at http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html they have a list of about 15 sites doing webcast. Watching on Versus.
My hero when I first started riding was Tommy Simpson. He wore his Weltmeister jersey while riding the TDF. And died in the saddle!
Hey Frank, glad you could join us. I too feel in love with cycling - it was the '70s, and I worked at a bike shop in high school. Played the guitar back then and one of my compadres played banjo. (I guess it was only natural for the mandolin to come later). I lived in Crested Butte CO during the early 80s. The US National Cycling Team had a stage race there every summer that was real fun to watch. Then LeMond hit the scene and cycling interest in the US took a quantum leap... of course the rest is history with the arrival of Lance. Like him or not, he rekindled major interest in the sport here in the US. I've been to Nevada City - great town. I bet it was a great setting for the race. Now back to the Tour... woah, Stage 3 results are in and Lance has vaulted to 3rd place and just ahead of Contador!
Here in the UK you can watch the live feed from ITV4 on "the red button" (I assume you have these in the US)via the free to air satellite. I settled down this afternoon to watch stage 3 - great coverage and noted plenty of places to take the RV on our next trip to the South of France. I won't spoil the result in case anyone hasn't seen it but, three hours later, the leading group has just rounded the bend after the "Flamme Rouge" with 1Km to go and bang, the coverage swithches off! Did the Manx Missile sail into the lead as he did yesterday? No idea I'll have to wait until 19.00 to watch the replay. So much for so called "live coverage".
Armstrong sneaks into 3rd place and Contador drops to 4th! I want to be a fly on the wall at that team meeting. Daniel
Two riders down already, going to be quite a day! Spencer
I am watching the TT live: http://www.versus.com/tourdefrancelive
Danish TV just figured that Lance is 2 sec from the yellow Jersey, Spencer
Boy was that close, fractions of a second! Spencer
Hundredths of a second!
What was the actual difference, I missed it here? Spencer
I just checked versus.com/tdf and it appears they both have the same time; a tie!!
Cancellara retains the maillot jaune because they are virtually tied, but what a dramatic turn of events the past couple days. Maybe Lance is still superhuman, but the real test comes in the mountains... It's great seeing Levi in 5th place overall.
Lance sure was pulling that train!!! But, so was Cancellara. One on one, I'd bet on Lance, tho.
Cancellara won the first one on one. Saxo and Astana were basically even the last 10 km or so today. The local TV said that Cancellara held back in order not to split up the team. Saxo Bank finished whole, while about 3 Astana riders got left in the dust, so that's probably correct. But never count Armstrong out, that's for sure. It promises to be one of the most interesting races in years. I wonder how they are going to manage with all the stars on the Astana team, that's the 64 dollar question at the moment. They could take all the podium spots. Spencer
Very interesting stage! I love that the Team Trial has returned.
Nice to see Voeckler win a stage, he's always in there trying, and a nice recovery for the team after a disaster on the team trial yesterday. It always amazes me how quickly a minute and a half lead can disappear. Spencer
Love to see the wind become such a factor. It spoils lots of plans. I hear they are going to experiment with no team radios allowed on a couple stages this year to see what difference it makes. Any thoughts on that subject?
Bjarne Riis, head of Saxo Bank was quite opposed. He claimed that it would create chaos with the service vehicles. I'm not sure I agree, they seemed to to ok for years without radios. I think it takes a lot of the spontaneity out of the race. Yesterday, they had a camera inside of the Team Columbia service car. Brian Holm was telling them to go around the right side of the roundabouts. Couldn't understand much of the other comments, but those guys in the cars are in charge! Going to miss a couple of stages in the Pryannes (sp?) going to a bluegrass festival in Sweden. Hate to miss mountain stages, but first things first. Watch our for Jens Voight today, this is his kind of stage if he is lucky enough to get away. Spencer
Heavy rain at the finish line at the moment, has rained hard all day. Spencer
In the Netherlands we are fortunate that Dutch television is broadcasting live everyday. Unfortunately I have to go to work as well, but there are severall TV programs in which I can catch up. Nice stage today, ending up in Andorra at 30000 meters high. Dutch hope for the Tour de France Robert Gesink unfortunately broke his wrist yesterday. He'll be back in the Vuelta.
I watched the end of the live coverage today on the Internet and had to log off before the standings were shown. So I checked back in tonight and... Nocentini?! Holy Smoke! The American coverage did not mention Nocentini at all. Armstrong and Contador separated by 3 tenths of a second. Wow.
Two weeks to go, it looks like it will be a battle between Armstrong and Contador.
The stage has just finished. The Manx Missile is unstoppable!
We're all happy here in Denmark. Nicki has been an unselfish rider for years helping others to great things, really nice for him to win a stage (after 136 stages in his career!). I think everybody is getting ready for the fireworks coming up next week. Going to miss a lot of it as I am helping out at a youth soccer tournament next week, but I get to see some potential stars of the future. Does anybody put delayed broadcasts of entire stages on the web, or at least extended summaries? Spencer
Oh nooo! Levi Leipheimer is out with a broken wrist... Nice to see a dark horse win the stage today. Still lots of contenders. Looks like the Alps will settle it. Onward!
Quite the eventful day of racing! • Leipheimer retires with a broken wrist • A 13 man breakaway includes Hincapie and crosses the finish with enough of a lead to hand Hincapie the yellow jersey, except... • Garmin-Slipstream help AG2r close the gap in the lead out to a sprint finish and Hincapie misses yellow by 6 seconds • Armstrong and Bruyneel stir the pot between Columbia and Garmin by publicly wondering aloud why Garmin would attack in a sprint finish (This is possible gamesmanship on their part --taking the heat off of the Armstrong v. Contador controversy. Contador went all the way back to the team car to get a direct explanation about why Astana had stopped going after the breakaway.) • Cavendish (Columbia) loses 13 points for apparently attempting shove Hushovd into the barriers during the sprint. So Columbia isn't pure here either. MAybe it was the weather...? Daniel
Finally, a little racing. Now we know who is the strongest at the moment. But there is a week to go with the Alps, time trials, and a mountain finish. She hasn't sung yet! Spencer
Wild cards in the Astana plan: Bradley Wiggins, Carlos Sastre. Could be VERY intersting. Daniel
It looks like it's Contador's to lose. He made the climb up to Verbier look like childs play! It will be interesting to see the remaining mountain stages and the time trial to see who gets the podium. 2nd and 3rd place are up for grabs. It may even be decided on Mt Ventoux, the day before Paris. Great race!
The plot thickens with the Schleck brothers ahead of Lance. It will be an interesting battle for 2nd and 3rd place the next couple days. Kloden and Armstrong will likely gain time back in the time trial, but I expect the Schlecks will be putting the hammer down on Mt Ventoux.
Don't count Wiggins out yet. That guy is apparently a TT demon. This race has been so inspiring that I've been getting up early (6am) and doing 18 to 20 miles on my bike every morning this week. Heard yesterday that the peloton was doing 18mph UP the slope of the Grand St. Bernard. 18mph is a little higer than my flat road average on 20 mile ride. Ooof! Need to lose 25 pounds and start a regimen of performance enhancing supplements.
You're right Dan. Don't count Wiggins out. Nor Frank Schleck. It looks like 3rd place is still up for grabs... Funny you mentioned the 18 mph comparison between your rides and the Tour's pace going up the mountain. I had the exact same thought during my last ride. Pretty humbling... Tomorrow should be good drama.
Well, get a bike that weighs 13.2 lbs; that will help you fly.
Evan, Have you seen the prices of carbon fiber bikes? I'd have to choose between a Trek Madone and a Mix A5! But losing 25 pounds off my body will be more effective than dropping a couple of pounds off my bike anyway! (I'm 6'2" and weigh 212lbs) Wiggins might be cracking under the strain of being so near the podium. He didn't do quite as well as he was expected to do today. Lance is a freakin' monster, the New York Yankees of the Tour de France.
I expect CF bikes are approaching their weight in silver, or a percentage of gold... Now: RADIO SHACK is coming, boys!
Wiggins blamed a headwind for slowing him at the end of the time trial yesterday. As for today, the Manx Missile rules - yet again. Bet he's near the back tomorrow though!
Stage 20 was fun to watch (could you believe all the fans!), but devoid of the Mt. Ventoux drama many were predicting. Hats off to Contador, Schleck, and Armstrong. Lance was amazing, considering his age, time off the bike, and injury this April. Hats off to Wiggins too for an impressive performance. I've enjoyed the tour and hanging out with y'all, and I look forward to the announcements of who will join the new Livestrong team. [Mando content - I got to change strings and play quite a bit during all those long commercial breaks].
I think if Contador had been less of a rider than he is, or if Frank Schleck had been in better shape today, the stage would have been much more interesting. But Contador held off all of Andy Schleck's accelerations and Armstrong had no trouble with Frank Schleck or Wiggins. Wiggins was amazing hanging on tooth and nail to 4th. I think lack of experience alone ket him off the podium. Vande Velde pulled of 8th despite 5 fractured vertebrae suffered in the Giro d'Italia. Next year Garmin will likely be as strong Saxo Bank was this year. And it looks like Astana will get a little weaker without Armstrong. Tomorrow will be fun. Sprinters on the Champs Elysee! Daniel
Nice finish. It's great that the Manx Missile got a 6th stage victory. It was cool to watch Garmin give Columbia a run for their money. It bodes well for next year, though I think Garmin has more interest in the overall classification than in winning sprint stages. Columbia seems built to support Cavendish. Next year prediction: Astana will be a completely different team, if it still exists. Brunyeel will go to Radio Shack with Armstrong as will Leipheimer. Bet on Hincapie leaving Columbia to join Armstrong too. Contador will leave Astana and join another well-heeled team. Maybe he'll join Euskatel-Euskadi. As interesting as last year's tour was, this year's makes last year's look dull by comparison! Daniel
I agree that the Tour was much more interesting this year with Lance back, Contador back, the Schlecks improving, Cavendish's six stage wins, Wiggins rise as a contendor, and the announcement of the Radio Shack Team. I also agree with your predications for next year Dan. Thanks for starting this Social Group. It was fun.
