Le Tour?

4xsama · Post by **4xsama** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:37 pm

Any of you guys watching the Tour (de France)?

It's on a bit late for me (sleepy bo bo's @ 9.30 or so) but into the highlites.

Good on SBS. They do the Paris Dakar to boot.
I reckon Cadel Evans (Aus) will win in the next couple of years. He was world MTB champ so the mountains should be his strength.

By the by, what % of the riders do you think are on the gear (steroids etc)?

TheZigster · Post by **TheZigster** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:49 pm

I'm going to go out on a limb here and voice my confidence that there will be a lot less drug use this year. After having signed away a years salary on top of UCI fines/bans etc I can't imagine how they would justify cheating on an individual basis. However, I can imagine that pressure from teams would be intense and they are in a win/win situation. They pressure the athlete without actually doing/suggesting anything, the athlete dopes, gets caught, the team gets publicity (any publicity is good publicity!) and then they disown the rider. Not that I know anything about the world of Pro-cycling. LOTS of speculation in the above.

I've been watching as much as I can of the live stages but my eyelids seem to have a different agenda and I always have to catch the highlights the next morning before work.

I'm annoyed I missed the latest TT as that would have been great to watch being in the wet and all. Amazing scenery too lately in the Pyrenees. Very jealous here!

Point · Post by **Point** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:14 pm

we have a TV at work just to watch the highlights. (I work in a bike shop). I can't manage to stay awake for the live stages either, although my son tries to. We also have some posters that say "Year for the Aussies" and then we lose 3 on the one stage. Very sad. And Cadel was doing well up until today, they pushed him a bit too hard. I hope he can claw it back, but under his own steam and not the power of the syringe...

I'd say all of the riders would have some kind of performance enhancing 'vitamins' that they would be on, it's just whether it tips over the boundary of whether it's legal or not. I just can't see how they can ride at that level of intensity for that amount of time.

cooloothin · Post by **cooloothin** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:53 pm

they're freaks. its that simple. or it is with the ones that win consistently. lance and miguel both, not normal men. There was a doco on miguel's physiology a long while back. The rest of us would be clinically dead at his resting heart-beat and breathing rate.

Post by **Alex** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:46 pm

yes these guys are severely fit, i think youll be surprised at the LACK of drug taking. My old man in his younger years was a pro-cyclist(you'd never pick it looking at me

) He has ridden the tour de france and afew world championships, he was in the olympic team, but i had been born so he didnt go, and won many aussie titles. He reckons in his days there was very very little drug taking, and its the slight minority letting the sport down.

i have nothing but pure respect for these guys, they are fitter, and can go harder than any other sport, riding 2-300km a day, at a very high average speed. They are absolute freaks.

my2c

alex

TheZigster · Post by **TheZigster** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:06 am

Shame, shame. We say all that and the Vino goes and proves us all wrong with his doping and Astana getting booted from the tour. How do we know who to trust anymore?

Willie · Post by **Willie** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:19 pm

It's unfortunate (as I am a keen cyclist and big fan of the tour and cycling as a whole) that it has been proven that pro-cycling is the dirtiest (re: drugs) sport, followed closely by pro-athletics.

I've been saying for a number of years, lets have an Olympics style competition and allow the athletes to take what ever and as many drugs as they like ( half would probably die!). Then allow those who are truly gifted and dedicated athletes and sportspersons to compete in the traditional sports with no drugs. Watch how many would defect to the 'no-rules' competition. (Just my thoughts)

Cheers,

4xsama · Post by **4xsama** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:54 pm

What 'no rules' competition?

Willie · Post by **Willie** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:38 pm

4xsama wrote:What 'no rules' competition?

The "no rules on drugs" rule I mentioned. Let them take whatever they like and see what performances can be achieved...