2007 Le Tour de France Official Thread

[Redgodzila]

Well the toughest cycling race is half way through it's 3 weeks traveling through France, and the battle at the top is intense. Talk about the 2007 Le Tour de France here!

Top 20 Positions after 13 stages

Jersey Leaders

Yellow Jersey(leader): Michael RASMUSSEN
Polkadot Jersey(leading climber): Michael RASMUSSEN
Green Jersey(leading sprinter): Tom BOONEN
White Jersey(leading under 25yo): Alberto CONTADOR

Todays Stage
Mazamat to Plateau de Beille- 197km

The 1st day of the punishing Pyrenees. Going to be an interesting stage!​

And with that, DISCUSS!

 

[Redgodzila]

Well I stayed up to 2am last night watching the time trial with a bunch of mates and a slab of beer. The time trial was very exciting to say the least! The rain made for many falls and ruined chances. The standout thou was obviously the rider from Kazasthan, Alexandre Vinokourov.

Riding with close to 60 stiches in his legs from a fall earlier in the tour, "Vino" powered home in the worst conditions of the day to beat 2nd placed Australian, Cadel Evans by over a minute! Mind you, Cadel had drying roads to ride on for most of his run, so a superhuman effort from "Vino"

And speaking of Cadal Evans, it has been extra special to watch this years tour to see a fellow Australian doing so well. You're making us proud, mate. Good luck for the rest of the tour, Cadal 👍

 

[DustDriver]

Don't forget Rasmussen, who normally isn't good at all in time trials, but came in 11th place!!
And he's good in the mountains, so he can gain time on Evans there.

 

[Redgodzila]

I can't believe the lack of interest to the worlds biggest cycling race . I guess this place really is jam packed full of stereotype gaming nerds and obese people

Don't forget Rasmussen, who normally isn't good at all in time trials, but came in 11th place!!
And he's good in the mountains, so he can gain time on Evans there.

Yes quite a result from Rasmussen! I recall 2 years ago when he had the yellow, he absolutly carked it in the time trial. Just couldn't keep 3 bikes in total on the road ! Great ride from Rasmussen 👍
I'm hoping that Evans can keep Rasmussen from putting on too much time in the mountains so when the final time-trial comes he can once again show off his superior time-trialing skills. That's the only way I see Cadel making time up . Oh well, still good watching!

 

[V1P3R]

It's been really quite without Lance in it and nobody in the US knowing anyone else. I'll watch it if I happen to catch it when my dad has it on, he likes it.

 

[Redgodzila]

It's been really quite without Lance in it and nobody in the US knowing anyone else. I'll watch it if I happen to catch it when my dad has it on, he likes it.

Ah, yes, the Lance factor 💡 . I guess Lance's legendary story and amazing run at the tour really captured the imagination of youse yanks. But now he has gone.

 

[daan]

Cadel blew it yesterday. He's not a climber and can't keep up with the mountain goats (Rasmussen, Soler, Contador etc) in the mountains. Rasmussen is looking good to keep the maillot jaune all the way to Paris, but he still needs to attack in order to gain more time in today's and Wednesday's mountain stages (tomorrow is a rest day) as we know he'll lose time in the final time trial.

EDIT: After today's stage, Cadel Evans lost another minute to Rasmussen and Contador. He's now 4 minutes behind Rasmussen, with another mountain stage still to come. Rasmussen's main challenge now seems to be coming from Contador, but he'll have to attack on Wednesday if he wants to beat Rasmussen, and stay ahead of Cadel. Contador can't wait until the time trial, as he can't do them either.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I did a search a while back for a TDF thread on GTP and came up empty. Then I did another one today and it still came up empty even for a search for "France"... strange.

Was about to give up but then decided to check this part of the forum and voila!

I suspect there aren't many cycling fans in a site dominated by driving game fans.



Any way, just wanted to pop in say Howdy and how much I have really enjoyed the tour so far with one HUGE exception...

I'm just really pissed at Rasmussen and Rabobank for once again casting doubt on the legitimacy of the Maillot Jaune. 👎👎

I agree with what Pat McQuaid, the President of the UCI, said about this situation and I too sincerely hope Rasmussen does not win the Tour!


Other than that, I'm loving this year’s Tour! Amazing sprint finishes, heroic mountain efforts, surprise time trial results, lots of unexpected finishes and leader boards, and almost too many spills & chills, have made this an amazing Tour so far! 👍👍

(of course last year was very similar to this one, and the Landis mess pretty much ruined it, and we could easily be seeing the same thing happen all over again, only this time with Rasmussen)

 

[daan]

Not Rasmussen, but Vino has failed a drugs test, and Astana have withdrawn, or been withdrawn, from the tour.

He failed the dope test the day after he won the time trial. Or rather he passed the dope test, proving he is a dope...

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Not Rasmussen, but Vino has failed a drugs test, and Astana have withdrawn, or been withdrawn, from the tour.

He failed the dope test the day after he won the time trial. Or rather he passed the dope test, proving he is a dope...

You know I thought something seemed odd, but considering what he has had to endure from his early crash I feel bad for him, but doping simply cannot be tolerated!

I also feel bad for Kloden who was 5th in the GC and who had a real chance of at least making a podium finish and seemed to be improving later in the stages, but maybe he too got some "help" from team doctors.

Astana was also leading in the team standings with several great efforts throughout the team.

So we have a seriously tainted rider wearing the yellow jersey with a solid 2:23 lead over 2nd place and thus a good chance of "winning" the TDF. The leading team has "resigned" from the TDF and facing severe penalties for doping... what's next?

 

[Flerbizky]

Not Rasmussen, but Vino has failed a drugs test, and Astana have withdrawn, or been withdrawn, from the tour.

He failed the dope test the day after he won the time trial. Or rather he passed the dope test, proving he is a dope...

Hell - I saw that one coming a mile away.. Dying in the small hills on Friday only to ride like he was on fire on Saturday and the dying on the Sunday stage losing 28 minutes to Rasmussen / Contador, then riding like a monkey on speed again on Monday...

Remember Landis' day in the mountains last year. Completely off one day, then another Speed Monkey stunt fast enough to secure the yellow jersey, in the mountains, the day after...

I'm sorry, I know riders have good and bad days, but I don't believe the human body can work that way...


Good thing for Rasmussen that Klöden is out - Best Contre la Montre rider in the top 5 in my book (Hmmm... Could that be for at reason - I mean, Astana DID occupy the Top Three on Saturday. Maybe Vino wasn't the only one riding dirty ;-) )

 

[DustDriver]

I hope Rasmussen wins the tour, just because everyone is picking on him and accusing him of taking dope.
But now Vino tested positive, and Rasmussen still hasn't.
People forget Rasmussen was good in the previous Tours, but Armstrong was just a bit better.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I suggest you read up on the investigation of Rabobank and Rasmussen... it's looking really bad for both!

I certainly would not jump to his support in light of the significant allegations and conditions.

However, considering how long it took to "resolve" the Ladis affair (is it even completely resolved?), I suspect even if Rasmussen and/or Rabobank is/are found guilty it wont immeadiately impact his/their Tour results.

 

[DustDriver]

Landis is still not convicted, they just mentioned on the Flemish Tour talk show.
He has a good defense I believe.

And you're still innocent until proven guilty, so in my opinion Rasmussen may win the Tour.

 

[Flerbizky]

I hope Rasmussen wins the tour, just because everyone is picking on him and accusing him of taking dope.
But now Vino tested positive, and Rasmussen still hasn't.
People forget Rasmussen was good in the previous Tours, but Armstrong was just a bit better.

Thank you 👍

+rep to you my good man !...

 

[DustDriver]

I was just watching at the Dutch Tour talk show and they had an interesting view on things.
In their opinion it's an open war between the ASO and the UCI.
How else are all the stories becoming public during the tour, although they're known at least a week or sometimes a month before by the UCI.

And although Rasmussen has made a mistake by not giving an update on his whereabouts, he has received a warning by the UCI and a fine by his own team + he now also has apologized for it.
Maybe i'm being a bit naive, but why watch it if you don't trust the outcome, no matter what it is.
Rasmussen is known to be a good climber, and the time trial wasn't really flat, so we'll have to wait to see how he performs in the next time trial.
And the battle between him and Constador is enjoyable to watch.

 

[daan]

Rasmussen is innocent until proven guilty. He's not provided a positive drugs test yet.

 

[V1P3R]

So... Landis and Lance are then? Does Bonds count?

 

[Touring Mars]

It does seem harsh on Rasmussen, but the onus is on the rider not to miss these crucial random tests. But the fact that he has always tested negative in 14 other tests prior to the TdF should stand him in good stead.

Vinokourov etc., however, need their heads examined - and I've got no sympathy for them. Drugs is killing the sport and it's riders, and so I can understand why the governing bodies of the sport need to take a firm line on drugs cheats.

 

[DustDriver]

Lol, Rasmussen has been pulled out of the tour by his team for some reason.
What the hell is happening?

 

[Sureboss]

The Doctors got suspicious when he said. "I've got the sniffles can you help me?"............

 

[DustDriver]

Seems like he lied about him going to Mexico.
Turns out he was training in secret in Italy.
That's why his team sent him packing.
I feel for Bogert now. It's his last Tour and he was giving everything he got to defend Rasmussen's yellow jersey.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Seems there is much more to the story regarding Dr. Cassani claiming to have seen Rasmussen in the Dolomites on June 13 or 14 despite Rasmussen's claims he was in Mexico training. This would help to explain why he didn’t inform the UCI of his whereabouts in June and more importantly, explain why he may have wanted to avoid the drug test the following week.

While Rasmussen may have been "clean" for the Tour, it appears he should never have been allowed to even start the race. If the 'Chicken' is clean, and nothing he has done prior to the Tour has helped him in any way, that would be a terrible tragedy considering how well he has performed, especially in today's 16th stage where he truly showed amazing efforts! However, only he can be blamed for his withdrawal, and he must face the consequences of his actions!

I'm glad though that it was Rabobank that pulled Rasmussen now, rather than to see yet another Tour end with a victory only to be taken away do to significant rules violations… although this decision should have happened even before the Tour started. In stead, it just diminishes the event and takes attention away from all the great efforts from “clean” riders.

If Contador wins, which is by no means a done deal, instead of it making headlines as one of the youngest riders to win the TDF and who has shown tremendous efforts throughout the Tour, all everyone will be talking about is the forced withdrawal of Rasmussen, Moreni, and Vinokourov, and the "voluntary" withdrawal of the entire Astana team including Tour favorite Kloden, from the TDF under a dark cloud of suspicion, and questions about the involvement of other Rabobank riders and managers prior to the start of the TDF.

 

[Flerbizky]

TdF now officially sucks... hard...

And I've been following this for as long as I can remember...

/* Wanders off crying ever so lightly */

 

[Touring Mars]

I feel for Bogert now.

That's the sad thing about it - all the decent riders who pay dearly for their team-mate's actions. Not sad to see Rasmussen go now, since he should be penalised for missing the tests - but now that it transpires that he's been lying about stuff too, he has to go. And the whole Cofidis team are gone too...

 

[Bram Turismo]

Am I the only one who did see this coming?

Seriously, if you don't mention where you were and then it turns out you lied, these things do happen. Especially with all the dope of the today.

Where's the sport! I was looking forward to Vinokourov but when I heard he was on the dope, I was "meh, just meh..." Cycling as we knew it has dissapeared I believe (Eddy Merckx FTW!).

I simply cannot understand why they get on doping in the first place, they always get caught no matter what. Think about it, if Landis didn't do it last year, he would be in this years Tour, probably amongst the leaders...

Anyway, I think Contador will walk away with the yellow shirt this year, this has to be one of the owrst Tours ever! Vinokourovs time trial was suspicious in the first place though...Losing heaps of time on one day and being ahead with heaps of time the other day isn't normal in the first place 👎

 

[daan]

Anyway, I think Contador will walk away with the yellow shirt this year, this has to be one of the owrst Tours ever! Vinokourovs time trial was suspicious in the first place though...Losing heaps of time on one day and being ahead with heaps of time the other day isn't normal in the first place 👎

Contador is only 1'53ish ahead of Evans. Nothing much will happen in the next 2 stages for the overall, but there may be changes in the time trial. Evans can do time trials, Contador can't, although wearing the maillot jaune will surely spur him on. Its certainly not a foregone conclusion anymore.

 

[Bram Turismo]

What about Leipheimer? He's not too far from Evans as well...I'm looking forward if Tom Boonen can keep his green shirt for the sprintersclass 👍

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Belated Congratulations to:

• Iban Mayo of SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR for being the real winner of stage 8
• Linus Gerdemann of T-MOBILE TEAM for being the real race leader after Stage 8
• Alejandro Valverde of CAISSE D’EPARGNE for being the real race leader after Stages 9,10,11,12
• Cadel Evans of PREDICTOR - LOTTO for being the real winner of stage 13's ITT.
• Cadel Evans of PREDICTOR - LOTTO for being the real race leader after Stage 13
• Alberto Contador of DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM for being the real race leader after Stages 14,15,16
• Kim Kirchen of T-MOBILE TEAM for being the real winner of stage 15
• Levi Leipheimer of DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM for being the real winner of stage 16

While extremely unfortunate, and despite including several great riders, the withdrawl of all the riders from Cofidis and Astana (which now doesn't look like they learned their lesson from their association with Operación Puerto as Liberty Seguros) their withdrawl hasn't really impacted the GC standings or any of the other jersey competitions.

Other than the key results mentioned above, from what I can tell, the expulsion of Sinkewitz, Vinokourov, Moreni, and Rasmussen have obviously not had any impact on the white jersey competition and had no significant impact on the polka-dot jersey competition.

What is not clear is how the race for the green jersey would have been different considering Rasmussen had 72 points, Vino had 39 points, and Moreni had 32 points. As close as the race is for the green jersey, had these riders not been allowed to participate in the tour, those points would have been distributed differently and we could have seen a different ranking in the green jersey competition.


There were some interesting comments, much of which I tend to agree with, and some which I do not, made prior the live coverage of the Tour de France on VS:

All we want to do quite simply is to give the Tour de France back to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been lining the sides of the roads since the tour began. This is much bigger than just a sporting event even though it might be the biggest cycling event in the world. There is a link between the Tour de France and its audience. These thousands, these hundreds of thousands of people who’ve watched in London, and since London, and all the stages, and the mountains, these people love the Tour, these people are the Tour, and we have to do everything we can to give it back to them. We are resolved to make this happen!

Those who don’t understand this, what we have already said about playing Russian Roulette, they have to understand we are going to break this chain. Not just with the last link of the riders, but with the entire team, including the Doctors and the mangers.

We have to make things clear. We need to set the matter straight. Who is the enemy here? The enemy is not cycling. The enemy is not the Tour de France. The enemy is doping. We want to kill doping. We need to fight and eliminate this completely!

Times have changed and unfortunately Michael Rasmussen hasn’t realized it yet, neither has Alexandre Vinokourov. They wont be tolerated any more and now the rear guard, the cheats of the Tour de France are being thrown out. It’s now you’re guilty until you prove your innocence. In the case of Rasmussen of course it was his team that took the decision, not the race officials. Cassani said he had seen him riding for two days in the Dolomites in Italy. Now if he was in the Dolomites before the Tour de France, implications says he is probably mixing with these unscrupulous doctors, he is probably taking drugs, and he comes off the high altitude to ride a good Tour de France, and they are quite right to throw him out, and may he never ride again!

I don’t think this is cycling’s darkest hour. I think it might with hindsight in a few years time be its finest hour because they have now trapped the cheats.

What I am pleased about is, it is the riders now. There is a growing boiling turmoil within the peloton, they are against drugs now, and they are fighting everybody. They no longer think or like Alexandre Vinokourov. OK we've proved nothing against Rasmussen, he's left the Tour. They don't like him anymore. Tom Boonan has said it, he doesn't trust them now. Let's hope the three guys at the top of the classification, because I know all three of them I believe they don't take drugs, and that's the best face for the Tour now.

You’ve got to think about smoke without fire. I think the association is Michael Rasmussen has avoided a number of out-of-competition tests. We have nothing categorically right to prove about Michael Rasmussen, but it is the association. I think the pressure is that everybody actually really believes that Michael Rasmussen did something. It is a sad state of affairs in the world now when you have to be guilty until you can prove your own innocence, but I think if we want the sport to go forward, that’s the only way we can actually react just now.

We were all very upset with the news coming through about Michael Rasmussen. I was probably more shocked and stunned by the performance of Alexandre Vinokourov, because that was a massive surprise. When we saw Michael Rasmussen out on the attack on a day which was phenomenal and it's a day we have seen him do over the last three years and that's why we didn't really suspect anything. The thing that really started to put a question mark in my mind was his individual time trial. That's his Achilles’ heal it always has been, and catching him passing a man like Alejendre Valverde all of a sudden you have to think to yourself, is that really possible? And we are finding out now that it is not.

I'll tell you one thing. I watched Alberto Contador yesterday, he went out with a goal, he wanted to try and beat Michael Rasmussen, but when he got to the top of the climb he showed fatigue, his shoulders started to drop, his head started to drop, he showed the fatigue of a man who had tried everything, but was tired. That's an indication to me that he was absolutely clean, as to is Cadel Evans. Cadel Evans was never able to match the accelerations of Michael Rasmussen in the mountains. And of course, Levi Leipheimer has ridden a solid race without having to dig deep into his suitcase to look for something special to get him over the mountains. I reckon now that the top three guys are clean.

 

[V1P3R]

It's sad the condition of ALL sports these days... yet nothin wrong with hockey.