2006 Tour De France

Clever, I will take it in good fun since I dont feel like an internet brawl today, haha.

If you were at all serious, predict stage times, riders placings in overall, mountain stages, sprints etc.

[quote]chrismcl wrote:
Amsterdam Animal wrote:

But it sucks big time b/c I was really looking forward to this year. I still am but it completely fucks up my Tour Fantasy game.

So what was your “Tour Fantasy game”???

Ivan Basso straps you down to a bed with innertubes while Jan Ullrich slathers you down with chamois cream. And oop! in comes Joseba Beloki wearing nothing but a yellow jersey…[/quote]

[quote]greatgro wrote:
trailrash wrote:
I should not jump to the quick conclusion that they are guilty. I actually have a tough time beleiving these two were really doping, but who knows.
Really? You’re kidding, right? All these guys are doping. Now since they all are, it’s a level playing field IMO so I’m fine with it. But to think that the guys that test clean are clean or the guys who get caught are the only ones doing stuff is way beyond naive.[/quote]

No I’m Not kidding. Am I naive because I believe this? With all of the doping shit going on I am surprised that these two who were heavy favorites to win this year would risk their chance to finally win by doping.

As for it being a level playing field, I think that is another debate.

I have read that Riis is fighting this and I hope to see Ullrich and Basso in the prologue tomorrow. Though I’m doubting we will but I can hope cant i?

I was just bustin your balls. And at the same time I was sorta curious what you actually meant. And you’re right, this news does throw a monkey wrench in most people’s GC predictions.

And is it just me, or does this haircut simply not work for Jan Ullrich? He looks like hes straight outta the 70s.

This surely makes the tour less appealing now, i was really looking forward to it too.

[quote]ChrisKing wrote:
greatgro wrote:
trailrash wrote:
I should not jump to the quick conclusion that they are guilty. I actually have a tough time beleiving these two were really doping, but who knows.
Really? You’re kidding, right? All these guys are doping. Now since they all are, it’s a level playing field IMO so I’m fine with it. But to think that the guys that test clean are clean or the guys who get caught are the only ones doing stuff is way beyond naive.

It’s even more foolish to assume that everyone is doing it. I know people on ProTour Teams and can tell you that not everyone is doping. Still, many likely are, but it’s currently far from the majority of athletes.

Outside of the superstars, most of these guys don’t even get paid enough to afford the high-level drug programs required to avoid detection.[/quote]

The teams supply the drugs. The team doctors administer them. If you don’t, you’re going to get beaten by a team who does.

Then the teams suspend you after a hint of accusation and you take the fall.

What an awesome ride by Hincapie today. Levi and Zabriskie are both looking to be in awesome form as well. Cant’t wait to see how this tour pans out.

I had them finishing 30 seconds faster today. Is it me or did they ride a lot slower today? The time trial was only 4.4 miles, I had them going 55 an hour which I know they have done before over a longer trial? I thought it was flat and wide open?

Also, I looked at the top 50-60 or so finishers and could not really see anyone winning this thing. The Americans have chances of cources, maybe Morceau? I know he was there in the mountain stages for the most part last year. Lets go Michael Booger, you have won last good tour in you!!

Who is your pick to win it all?

[quote]trailrash wrote:
What an awesome ride by Hincapie today. Levi and Zabriskie are both looking to be in awesome form as well. Cant’t wait to see how this tour pans out.

[/quote]

Well, I guess ullrich not having such a clean record when it comes to doping in the past doesnt exactly help him…

and yeah, that hair has to go.

On letour.com under profiles… it says there are two TT’s, but didnt state one was a team time trial. Is the last TT from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines the team time trial?

Todays was the prologue which is tecnically a time trial but not sure they classify it as such.

Stage 7 is an indivdual time trial
http://www.velonews.com/tour2006/news/articles/10121.0.html

Stage 19 is an individaul time trial
http://www.velonews.com/tour2006/news/articles/10135.0.html
This is the one you are referring to, its an individual time trial.

No team trial time this year according to my sources. Prob good for some of those teams whose riders got suspended. They would have had to ride short handed since they were not allowed to replace riders.

[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
On letour.com under profiles… it says there are two TT’s, but didnt state one was a team time trial. Is the last TT from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines the team time trial?[/quote]

[quote]deanosumo wrote:
The teams supply the drugs. The team doctors administer them. If you don’t, you’re going to get beaten by a team who does.

Then the teams suspend you after a hint of accusation and you take the fall.
[/quote]

Outside of a renegade team doctor or two, you won’t find mediacal staff associated with Protour teams adminstering banned substances.

So, as a whole, the teams do not supply drugs. This was different in the 70s, 80s, and even early 90s, but the team culture has changed greatly since then.

Dude, how can you say that? Where is your evidence or is this only your opinion? You are stating this as if its a fact.

[quote]ChrisKing wrote:
deanosumo wrote:
The teams supply the drugs. The team doctors administer them. If you don’t, you’re going to get beaten by a team who does.

Then the teams suspend you after a hint of accusation and you take the fall.

Outside of a renegade team doctor or two, you won’t find mediacal staff associated with Protour teams adminstering banned substances.

So, as a whole, the teams do not supply drugs. This was different in the 70s, 80s, and even early 90s, but the team culture has changed greatly since then.[/quote]

These guys are all doping. You can talk to guys on pro teams and they’ll tell you everyone is, you have to to keep up. As much as I would love cycling to be a clean sport, it’s not and it hasn’t been for many, many years.

The ones who aren’t getting caught are the ones that have a better staff working for them, or they have things that they can’t test for yet. However, I’d rather watch a cyclist whose taking something ride the tour, or any other cycling race than some lame ass baseball player taking steroids to hit a silly ball.

[quote]Amsterdam Animal wrote:
No team trial time this year according to my sources. Prob good for some of those teams whose riders got suspended. They would have had to ride short handed since they were not allowed to replace riders.

[/quote]

Thanks for clearing that up. I guess its good for the riders who have a short team, although I dont agree with it.

Do you know the actual reason there isnt a TTT this year?

(I havent followed the tour in a year or two)

I think it was because the American-based Discovery Channel team (and the USPS team before they changed sponsors) kept kicking other team’s asses so bad that they couldn’t have it anymore.

“Fuck le team time trial. Ze Americans always win! So it must be finis!!!”

[quote]chrismcl wrote:
I think it was because the American-based Discovery Channel team (and the USPS team before they changed sponsors) kept kicking other team’s asses so bad that they couldn’t have it anymore.

“Fuck le team time trial. Ze Americans always win! So it must be finis!!!”[/quote]

Gotta say - very few things can make me chuckle on an online forum - but that was a good laugh :slight_smile:

I was honestly expecting Basso to take this entire thing home. Ulrich is past his prime, and Basso seemed like the next Lance. I’m absolutely shocked at what happened though. Cycling is already a pretty roughed up sport, now this makes it appear even less popular.

Shucks.

Does anyone here actually ride/cycle?

Another thing that I just heard about the team time trial and why they got rid of it is because in years past, there was a limit to the amount of time you could lose on another team in the TTT. So the weaker teams that knew they were going to lose some time already would saunter through the thing like its a fuckin Sunday ride in the park. They were probably gonna take the max amount of time lost anyways so why bother? Thats supposedly one of the reasons why they got rid of it.

Or they could’ve simply gotten rid of the max time lost rule. But that’d be too easy, and the Americans would gain more time.

And to answer your question, yes, I ride. (When my bike isn’t on the other side of the country) I don’t race, just use it for cross-training for speedskating.

[quote]Mediated Life wrote:
chrismcl wrote:
I think it was because the American-based Discovery Channel team (and the USPS team before they changed sponsors) kept kicking other team’s asses so bad that they couldn’t have it anymore.

“Fuck le team time trial. Ze Americans always win! So it must be finis!!!”

Gotta say - very few things can make me chuckle on an online forum - but that was a good laugh :slight_smile:

I was honestly expecting Basso to take this entire thing home. Ulrich is past his prime, and Basso seemed like the next Lance. I’m absolutely shocked at what happened though. Cycling is already a pretty roughed up sport, now this makes it appear even less popular.

Shucks.

Does anyone here actually ride/cycle? [/quote]

I do

[quote]Mediated Life wrote:
Does anyone here actually ride/cycle? [/quote]

I used to ride all the time, I entered a few races and won the junior catagory. I used to finish with the lead group of a cat 5 race, too. (juniors and cat 5 raced together since there were usually only a few juniors.)

Now I’m more interested in lifting, and 3 and 4 hours of cardio isnt exactly great for putting on weight.

I still ride on occassion though, wish I stll rode as often as I did though.