our annual july discussion

[kiwi]

Late in the peice
Cadel looks as though he is just hanging on in the mountains,felt like he could have got away on the decent today(a few secs anyway).If he hangs on in the hills tomorrow i think the time trial wil put him into paris in Yellow.
Is it me or is there a ridiculous number of motorbikes this year?

[Tel]

Hi chaps, I`ve wanted Cadel Evans to win Since before the last tour, But Mrs Tel and myself have spent the Giro and the Tour shouting "do something Cadel do something" he is my favourite rider in the tour but dam hes boring, brave and incredibly fit but as dull as ditch water. The team manager wants shooting for the team selection you cant win the Tour without support in the mountains, Cadel deserves his win for this alone but I watch the Tour for excitement not to watch a guy waiting for the other riders to loose the race. Drugs forgiven God I miss Pantani rode with his heart and not his head/nagging earpeice. He got me interested in the grand tours and I`m not sure I`d be the same if I watched this year for the first time.
 Cheers, Tel.

[jeffhop]

must admit this has been one of the most interesting tours for years, plenty to shout for (Cav and Millar) and some decent mountain stages to marvel at, sastre up the alpe was awesome. must admit though i cant stand evans, nothing but a wheel sucking whinger    to me the star riders on the tour have been the schleck brothers theyve been great to watch and id really like to see frank on the podium. if any of our uk friends on here have the time to go to see the tour of britain this year i would take it as the line up is awesome! cav, millar, wiggins, backstedt, hammond, stuey o grady, brad mcgee, fred rodriguez, victor hugo pena and.......tyler hamilton! got to be worth watching

[kiwi]

I think cadel is not the best in the mountains,the tour winners over the last few years have always won (or shone) in the mountains,Cadel not quite the same extent...the shleck(sp) brother sure look like stars of the future esp Andy.Sure a very open/even tour so far tho,four or five can still win!

[willem]

Call me a disgruntled Yank if you like, but isn't this pretty much a contest of very good riders with extremely good pharmacists?

Seriously, if every rider dopes (as many of us reasonable people believe) and it makes such a dramatic difference, where's the sport? Grumble, mumble, humbug...

I think it's just hard for most Yanks to understand how this race is such a big deal with all the impurities and variations in effort. Seriously, these guys get fed, fixed, and followed every step of the way. Sometimes they're just chit chatting along and sometimes they're going like hell. Is it really a race? Why do they get to hang on to the cars? Questions, questions...

And, yes, Tyler Hamilton is an animal. I've seen him on Mount Washington and he is inhuman.

[kiwi]

its the same as any other proffesional sport......these are the best 150 cycle racers in the world,and cycling is a HUGE sport in europe.They are all inhuman,and the top 10 or so even more inhuman than most.sheesh watch the last day in paris,they are crankin along at 60 km hr for 40 minutes...