The Official 98th Tour de France, thread, 2011.

[Stat Brother]

Hypothetical tour etiquette question:

Someone finished 2nd in the GC by just one second on the penultimate stage, be it TT or whatever. However, they are only a few points behind in the green jersey competition, which they decide to turn their attention to in Paris on the Sunday. However, by contesting the sprint, they would be attacking the yellow jersey in Paris, which is supposedly not the done thing. What is the outcome?

(Btw I am aware how unlikely this scenario is these days!)

Balls out to Paris.
Attacking yellow is reasonably new as yellow has been so far in the lead.
The honourable thing to do, the night before, would be to state your intentions to take it to the bitter end.

The problems being it's the flatest stage, so would be difficult.
And the precedent set in 2009 when MR came round the last bend so perfectly handing the win to Cav (or my mum) that day, Renshaw came in a very distant second while the peleton crawled in a couple of days later, but were all given the same time.

 

[Stat Brother]

I've not seen it, having been @ Falmer.
But top work Cadel, there was some really impressive 'diesel locomotive' chasing in the mountains.
Not to mention his attacks up hill in the first week.
As TB says we've no reason to believe he's not clean (what a terrible way of having to put that), and he goes on and wins, when you assume the other contenders are too.
How many would he have won had it been a level playing field?

AS should be ashamed of posting that time.
If he 'refuses' to TT he can never be considered a potential winner.
He's had 2 winters to TT, with the tour at stake, and still seems to be going backwards, literally and metaphorically.

 

[Pantani]

AS should be ashamed of posting that time.
If he 'refuses' to TT he can never be considered a potential winner.
He's had 2 winters to TT, with the tour at stake, and still seems to be going backwards, literally and metaphorically.

Agree with this too, losing 2 and a half minutes over 42.5km is just not good enough. Andy will never win the Tour as it is extremely unlikely there will be another Tour this mountain orientated. He should think about riding the Giro instead next year so he can at least get a grand Tour under his belt.

 

[perseus]

I think Clenbuterol speeds up the recovery period, which is why the older riders could not recover so quickly this year.

I liked the bit when they said that Voeckler rode his best ever time trial. And then they said, if he looked behind him he would see Cadel Evans cycling up like an express train (my translation) a few seconds behind him.

 

[perseus]

A good summary @ 2011 Tour de France - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Stat Brother]

Can someone talk me through Garmin's team selection:-

51 Thor Hushovd (Nor)
52 Thomas Danielson (USA)
53 Julian Dean (NZl)
54 Tyler Farrar (USA)
55 Ryder Hesjedal (Can)
56 David Millar (GBr)
57 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu)
58 Christian Vande Velde (USA)
59 David Zabriskie (USA)

Because the way I see it doesn't make sense.

Danielson, NSC's Ryder (another year, same crowbar ), and CVV all GC?.
Farrar & Hoshovd both sprinters?
Dean lead out, last man.
Millar & Zab, TT, hard miles, plus break away for Miller.
I've no idea what RN does.

Is it just a case of 'let the road decide', for GC and Sprint stage wins/green?

I'm having a scan through the thread, it's a bit scary that this is only post nos 13!, Via La Tour

Stage wins, yellow jersey and team prize, who would have guessed JV knew more than me.

 

[Stat Brother]

And what a shock to see no one outside of Australia giving him a hope in hell, again - this could be his year, fingers crossed.

Loyal patriotism can get you a long way.

 

[Stat Brother]

Just giving you guys some notice, I'll soon be boring the arse off you lot with photos of my winter hack bike build project.

don't look at the pedals Stoichkov
Sadly I'm a week behind so can't finish this today.
I'm just waiting for the bars and brakes to be delivered, as I have to cables and tape, ready to go.

 

[1066familyman]

It's the Italian Job !

 

[Stat Brother]

Can argue with Cav and Cadel.

My initial scoring for Le Tour will be 8.5 out of 10.

 

[adrian29uk]

We are not finished yet. Some of these should be covered on Eurosport.

30/07/2011 30/07/2011 Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian - San Sebastian Spain
31/07/2011 06/08/2011 Tour de Pologne Poland
08/08/2011 14/08/2011 Eneco Tour Bel/Ned/Lux
20/08/2011 11/09/2011 Vuelta a España Spain
21/08/2011 21/08/2011 Vattenfall Cyclassics Germany
28/08/2011 28/08/2011 GP Ouest France - Plouay France
05/09/2011 09/09/2011 Tour of BeijingChina
09/09/2011 09/09/2011 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec Canada
11/09/2011 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal Canada
15/10/2011 Giro di Lombardia Italy

 

[1066familyman]

Fantastic Tour this year ! I'd give it 9.5 out of 10 no bother.

Really pleased for Evans. I've never been a fan of his because he's never been exciting to watch, can be a grumpy old git and is never going to win any personality competitions. But let's face it, he's come out as a different rider this year, has won the thing single handed in a very mediocre team and has been a great advert for sheer honest endeavour. I take my hat off to him and a very worthy winner for the first ever Aussie to win Le Tour. Well done Cadel !

You can blame the peleton truce following the big crash that took out Vino, Zabriskie and Van den Broeck amongst others for gifting Voeckler the yellow jersey if you want to be really harsh - but by Christ did he defend it with style !!! Watching Tommy hang in there day after day when everyone's written him off was a sheer joy to see. To think he may even have kept Yellow right up to the TT had he been a little less naive on the final day of the Alpes speaks volumes for his attitude to racing and his courage.

One of the greatest pleasures for me came on the final TT. To see Pierre Rolland rewarded with the white jersey after all the work he done for Voeckler was sweet indeed. The fact that he held onto a time gap that most people would have bet against him on makes it even sweeter still.

Polka dot was probably the least exciting in some ways. Sanchez won it without doing anything too spectacular ( by his standards ). Yes he won on Luz Ardiden, and a great victory it was too, but even I managed to predict that one ! I was really hoping Vanendert would put it out there for a few more days to be a surprise winner of this.

Finally Cav. So pleased for him to finally get that coveted Green Jersey. It's an amazing record he has already with 20 stage wins in just four years, and it's almost like he's only just begun. Who knows where his amazing record setting will end !?

I love Le Tour de France every year but this year seems to me like one of the best I can remember. Perhaps that's just because a Contador, Armstrong or Big Mig type didn't win as per usual, but it's not just as simple as that. After all the slating of the Schlecks on here, most of it justified to be fair, it's great that Andy finally had the balls to throw the gauntlet down and come out fighting like that on that first Galibier stage. It will go down as an historic stage and it really set the race alight, so well done AS for that. Sort out those TT's Schlecks and we may have equal amounts of excitement for a good few years to come.

Now it's only the review programme left and that strange empty feeling I always get every year when Le Tour is finally over.

Looking forward to seeing everyone back here next year.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Excellent thread one and all. I am a relative novice to following the tour (about 10 years in) so the insights from the old stagers and actual road cyclists much appreciated. Special thanks to Mr Stat Brother.

 

[Stoichkov]

Excellent thread one and all.

30 pages without a binfest. Come on people...

 

[Stat Brother]

Yeah I think it's a Tour in the 9's, I was working on the theory 10 was impossible, but it's certainly better than 8.5. So I'll upgrade that to 9.51.
HIGHLIGHTS
Cadel - sterling effort all 3 weeks, culmination of 18 months hard work, since winning the Worlds.
Cav - He's the best, would rather not see him @ Sky, as would love to see them mould GC riders.
Garmin/Thor - Just about my favourite team, did the Argyle proud.
Matt Rendall - Interviewing Cadel from the finish line to the toilet, top work you mentalist.
Andy - Attacking!.
Gilbert - Seeing a hill and insisting to ride balls out up it.
Geraint - Great attack, rather let down by the Team and Brad.
Tommy V - The Stat household gave out a massive cheer when you hung on for one more day.

LOWLIGHTS (not many)
Kolobnev - God I hope your the only one.
The Schlecks - Sort it out boys, buy a wind tunnel and freaking well use it.
Brad - Not sure, as I was fairly luke warm about his chances, anyway.

Special thanks to Mr Stat Brother.

Ease up tiger, even I was getting bored with the sound of my own typing!.

I'm sure I'll post up my completed bike picture, it being my first ever build and I'm well proud, sorry!.

Well chaps, I desperately hope we are signing off soon, and we don't get another Steak-gate.
So I'll say now, once again it's been emotional, I've loved the chat, predictions (which I think were better this year) and reviews.

Ty/rcf you best congratulate Cadel from all his new fans on NSC.

 

[Northstandite]

Cadel deserved, as best allrounder at multitude of disiplines.

The Schleck brothers may have had the skinny frames for the Alps, but sustained power (with the weight of extra muscle) is required for time trialing against the clock.

Well done Cav & his lead out team. The best.

 

[Stat Brother]

30 pages without a binfest. Come on people...

For the second year.
This time next year we could have 100 NSC pages accredited to us lot, and not even the hint of any binfestary.

 

[teaboy]

Isn't that a Liquigas-Cannondale team bike. Oh....

 

[The Hon Sec]

Have enjoyed this thread on a daily basis. Thanks everyone. Looking forward to next year ... again.

 

[rcf0712]

Loyal patriotism can get you a long way.

lol, I'm from Hove mate! I just had a sneaky feeling he'd do it this time - the Tour Down Under should be a lot more high profile down here now. What a great tour, loved it, absolutely loved it....