to watch every moment of the Tour de France

[stubbornhubby]

No, Wait!

...with the man Cavendish in real contention for Green, a British team for the first time in yonks, and Bradley Wiggins capable of getting on the podium, and a route that takes the peleton up the tourmalet not once but twice..

IASNBU

Lance Armstrong starts in 25mins...

I love the TDF - there I have said it out loud. Last year we were lucky enough to watch one of the stages with the DC, was a great day, and I loved the way the whole village entered into the spirit of things.

We came away with so many goodies from the caravan at the start - my DC had about 10 caps each and numerous sweets and keyrings etc.

Allez allez

what a dramatic stage again today in the Tour de Crash..

rubyrubyruby - I gues he is doing L'Etape du tour?

if he finishes, then that will be very impressive L'Etape has an absolute killer minimum pace you have to maintain, Many, many people abandon or get swept up by the broom wagon.

And this year's L'Etape is the stage that finishes at tthe top of the tourmalet, isn't it?

The Tourmalet???!! He is a brave man!

this thread will still be running when he does it... so come back and let us know how he gets on.

stayingdavidtennantsgirl - I keep reading about a 'feud' between Armstrong and Contador.

Evidently Contador went 'rogue' on the tour last year, and didn't follow the team plan/strategy. Obviously it worked to his personal benefit though.

Would love to know more about how Contador is perceived by other riders, and how/why his entire former team abandoned him.

There's no love lost between Contador and Armstrong. Most of last year's Astana team went with Armstrong to Radio Shack. Contador's left with Astana, most of whom will probably work for Vinokourov given the chance.

Anyway, the Schleck brothers are my bet!

And I'd quite like to see Cadel win (don't think he will) - he seems so very odd that he's almost endearing!

And I love the commentary on ITV4 - Phil 'n' Paul are just so random - "digging deep into the suitcase of courage" -

I spoke to DH about the Contador/Astana situation and I feel quite sorry for Contador. Astana was having trouble paying people last year and RadioShack will easily be a more organized and reliable team. I suspect that the reason for the move for most riders - not that Armstrong is in any way more likeable to ride for than Contador.

What a stage today - as disappointing as it was to have the finish neutralized, I'm thrilled for Cav's sake. My three year old wrote him a fan letter last year (well I wrote it and he drew a picture) and we sent it and got a lovely reply back from his agents that was very appreciated. He's got all my loyalty (except for the smidgeon for Wiggins - as nice as the Schlecks are I'm cheering for the Brits).

Am beginning to wonder if there will be any riders left by next week - at the end of today's programme they were talking about all the cobbles they're going to be riding over tomorrow.

I have watched the Tour for many years, starting back in the 80s as my dad and brother were very keen cyclists.

I can't ride a bike, myself.

Contador was the leader of the team last year, arguably it was lance who went rogue

stubbornhubby - can you give more info please? What did Armstrong do that was wrong last year?

i said 'arguably' - on the face of it he did nothing wrong, but he didn't give anyone the impression that he was comfortable playing second fiddle to Contador, who was the leader, after all.

After watching the highlights last night -

meh!

there was no excuse for not sprinting the last 5km.

Yes - as the commentators said, they've known the route for the best part of a year, it's roads that some/many have ridden before - and they have all ridden on wet, greasy roads before - surely this is all part of road racing? Falls are part of racing too, and I think that the riders have a responsibility not only to their team sponsors and their teams but also to the people who have turned out and waited hours to see the race - a responsibility to do their best and not petulantly boycotting the final sprint in some sort of protest.

It did seem as if not all the riders were happy with Cancellara's edict - it will be interesting to see what is said today in pre-race interviews (and yesterday's post race interviews too).

IMO it was right to wait allow the peleton to regroup, but once eveyone was back together - race is on...

Absolutely right.

What was the explanation given for the mass crash? I heard one commentator say a motorcycle had crashed and leaked oil/fluids on the road a few minutes before the cyclists came through.

Did anyone else hear that or something else? Any confirmation?

What time does racing begin today?

they are racing already.
this site is good for following the race - and read back to see lots of discussion about the crash yesterday, how oily was the bike etc etc

velonews.competitor.com/live

thanks to you both.

stubbornhubby - commentary on yesterday's crash from the site you linked:

'It was pretty bad. It was steep, narrow and wet. When Lampre's Gavazzi (a member of the original break) crashed in a turn, he was not far from being pulled in by the peloton. He crashed and the camera moto behind him swerved to avoid him. In doing so, the moto crashed and apparently spilled oil and fuel on to the wet road.'

So it appears it was oil/fuel on the road that caused so many to go down yesterday.

Ds2 has it on on Eurosport now - and they are on the sections of cobbles that they said could cause huge problems - and they have!

Frank Schleck has fallen on a stretch of cobbles, and it looks like he's not going to be able to go on - his bike's been put back on the car, apparently.